Emily Claver has been an assistant in some capacity for 33 years. She supported the c-suite at a $40m ad agency, the president of the Kansas City Chiefs NFL franchise (for 8 seasons), and now as executive and personal assistant to Brooke Castillo, the founder of The Life Coach School. In this episode, Emily and I had a great time chatting about her career, especially the part where she worked for my favorite NFL team. :-) Emily currently makes $225,000 a year as an executive and personal assista...
Jun 27, 2021•35 min•Ep. 121
Conor Sweeney is Principal and Chief of Staff to the Cofounder and CFO at Box, Inc. (BOX) where he oversees business operations, executive communications, and strategic program management across the Global Finance & Operations organization. In this episode, Conor shares one of the best overviews I've ever heard on what a Chief of Staff actually does. He also shares a bit of his story on how he ended up as a CoS, how he partners with c-suite assistants, and how assistants who aspire to be a C...
Jun 20, 2021•49 min•Ep. 120
Ruth Kilah is the Founder and CEO of Hoxton Hyde, a workshop and online course provider that helps assistants increase their productivity and prioritize work life balance. In this episode, Ruth and I discuss recognizing burnout, setting up and communicating boundaries with our executives, and how productivity improves when we slow down and prioritize our health and wellbeing. Show Notes -> leaderassistant.com/119 Premium Membership -> leaderassistant.com/membership Book -> leaderassista...
Jun 13, 2021•39 min•Ep. 119
After nearly a decade as the Executive Assistant, Producer, and “Chief of Simon Sinek,” New York Times Best-Selling author and TED celebrity, Monique Helstrom has had unparalleled experiences and gained unique perspectives from thought leaders, executives, celebrities, educators, military, and the general workforce that this world depends on. This bonus episode is from one of our weekly Leader Assistant Zoom Chats where Monique joined us to talk about all things communication. I trust you'll enj...
Jun 06, 2021•26 min•Ep. 118
Cathy Rong is the Lead Executive Assistant in the Office of the CEO at Complex Network. Prior to Complex, Cathy held executive assistant positions within the advertising and creative industries. In this episode, Cathy and I discuss implementing OKRs at your company, leading a team of assistants, onboarding team members, and more. Show Notes -> leaderassistant.com/117 Premium Membership -> leaderassistant.com/membership Book -> leaderassistantbook.com Events -> leaderassistantlive.com...
May 30, 2021•29 min•Ep. 117
Lucia Landini is a senior executive assistant skilled at working with leaders to achieve shared goals. In this episode, Lucia and I talk about happiness at work, self-esteem, soft skills, and more! Show Notes -> leaderassistant.com/116 Premium Membership -> leaderassistant.com/membership Book -> leaderassistantbook.com Events -> leaderassistantlive.com Free Community -> leaderassistant.com/community -- In-person meeting planning can be a lot to manage. That’s where TROOP Planner c...
May 23, 2021•30 min•Ep. 116
Suzie Flynn is a motivational speaker, international mindset & business coach with years of experience as an executive assistant throughout her career. In this episode, Suzie talks about whether or not becoming a remote virtual assistant is the road for you, how to shift your mindset from being an employee to being a business owner, tips on working remotely and finding clients, and more. Show Notes -> leaderassistant.com/115 Premium Membership -> leaderassistant.com/membership Book -&g...
May 16, 2021•29 min•Ep. 115
Tara Sims is Sr. Manager of Administrative Services at Comcast. She supports the newly named President of Xfinity and Central Division President, and leads a team of administrative professionals that support the Central Division Office. In this fun and engaging conversation, I chat with Tara about confidence, leading an administrative team, building community through consistency, and paying attention to leaders around you. Show Notes -> leaderassistant.com/114 Premium Membership -> leadera...
May 09, 2021•53 min
Elissa Berg has been in the administrative world for over 14 years, working in almost every department. She's currently executive assistant to the president of Luxe Hotels. Elissa was the very first premium Leader Assistant member when we launched the premium membership ! In this episode, Elissa talks about the power of a strong community, how coaching has helped her lead well, and what to do if you're being underutilized in a role. She also gives us an inside look at her recent job transition. ...
May 02, 2021•33 min
In this episode, Karen Isaacs shares what she’s learned after placing thousands of EAs throughout her career. Some of the topics we chat about are interviewing, salary negotiation, and working with recruiters. Show Notes -> leaderassistant.com/112 Book -> leaderassistantbook.com Events -> leaderassistantlive.com Free Community -> leaderassistant.com/community Premium Membership -> leaderassistant.com/membership -- In-person meeting planning can be a lot to manage. That’s where TRO...
Apr 25, 2021•26 min•Ep. 112
Kaleen is the Executive Assistant to Terry Cook, Founding Partner & CEO, of Parcion Private Wealth. Prior to joining Parcion, Kaleen worked for multiple UHNW individuals and has served in various capacities in the private service sector. In this episode, Kaleen talks about what it’s like to work with ultra high net worth individuals, tips for project management, and how to distinguish between an individual contributor and a great leader. Show Notes -> leaderassistant.com/111 Book -> le...
Apr 18, 2021•32 min•Ep. 111
Scot Wisniewski is Senior Executive Assistant to the Global Head of Studios at Spotify, and he has over 20 years of experience as an EA. In this episode of The Leader Assistant Podcast, Scot and I chat about what makes an assistant a leader, podcasting, email and calendar management, working remotely, and tips for new assistants. Show Notes -> leaderassistant.com/110 Book -> leaderassistantbook.com Events -> leaderassistantlive.com Paid Membership -> leaderassistant.com/membership Fr...
Apr 11, 2021•36 min•Ep. 110
Melissa Smith is the Founder & CEO of the Association of Virtual Assistants and The PVA. She’s also the bestselling author of Hire the Right Virtual Assistant and Become A Successful Virtual Assistant. In this episode, Melissa shares her story of transitioning to a remote executive assistant long before working from home was trendy. We discuss tips for leading well while working remotely, how to price your services as a virtual assistant, future-proofing your career, and more. Enjoy our conv...
Apr 04, 2021•53 min•Ep. 109
Jennifer Brown is an award-winning entrepreneur, dynamic speaker and diversity and inclusion expert. In this episode, Jennifer talks about working with a fully remote team, email management from the executive's perspective, and how executive assistants can help cultivate an inclusive workplace. Show Notes -> leaderassistant.com/108 Book -> leaderassistantbook.com Events -> leaderassistantlive.com Paid Membership -> leaderassistant.com/membership Free Community -> leaderassistant.c...
Mar 28, 2021•48 min•Ep. 108
Deborah Mendes is a senior executive assistant with 20 years experience supporting high level executives in large global companies. In this episode, Deborah shares her tips on managing constant interruptions, self-care, self-awareness, and health and wellness in the workplace. Show Notes -> leaderassistant.com/107 Book -> leaderassistantbook.com Events -> leaderassistantlive.com Paid Membership -> leaderassistant.com/membership Free Community -> leaderassistant.com/community -- In...
Mar 21, 2021•45 min•Ep. 107
Carissa Burgett has years of experience as an assistant at the C-suite level, and she’s passionate about being a strategic business partner and mentor to fellow admins. For her entire life, Carissa has had severe chronic pain. In this episode, she shares how she manages the pain while maintaining focus and professionalism in her career as an assistant. She also shares tips on self-care and how to have empathy in the workplace. Show Notes -> leaderassistant.com/106 Book -> leaderassistantbo...
Mar 14, 2021•38 min•Ep. 106
After finding the courage to say "bye-bye" to her corporate marketing career, Kathy Goughenour built a 6-figure virtual assistant business from her tiny house in the middle of a forest. In this episode, Kathy shares her story about leaving a fortune 500 company to start her own virtual assistant business. She has a lot of great tips on working remotely, running your own business, pricing your services, finding your niche, and why specializing is the way to go. Show Notes -> leaderassistant.co...
Mar 07, 2021•45 min•Ep. 105
I don’t know if I’m supposed to tell you this, but I’m going to because that’s how I roll. The doubts I’ve faced, and continue to face, throughout the life of this podcast are overwhelming. My emotional health has been tested as I've taken the vulnerable step of sharing ideas and lessons learned from my years as an executive assistant, trainer, and coach. It’s nerve-wracking to think about thousands of you listening to me each week. It's painful to read a negative review when I've put literally ...
Mar 06, 2021•3 min0
Dayne Shuda has worked with executive assistants for about 7-8 years and has had a full-time remote assistant since 2015. His assistant happens to be in Australia, but he’s in Wisconsin. Over the years, he’s learned a few things about organization, burnout, and working with a remote team. In this episode, Dayne shares tips on written communication, working with a remote assistant on the other side of the world, and how assistants can anticipate the needs of their executive. Show Notes -> lead...
Feb 28, 2021•32 min•Ep. 104
Anne-Marie Staples has over 20 years of administrative experience supporting business professionals from the director to CEO level. She models a work hard-play hard ethic as founder of the company classroom instruments band and ringer of the office cowbell because, as SNL taught us, who doesn't need "more cowbell!" In this episode, Anne-Marie shares some tips on cultivating company culture, growing your internal network, managing email, what executives should look for in an assistant, and more. ...
Feb 21, 2021•27 min•Ep. 103
Angelic Veasman has more than 23 years of experience in business operations and currently runs her own business supporting executives, coaches, and entrepreneurs. In this episode, Angelic shares tips on managing email, how to be productive, becoming a virtual assistant, specializing as a VA, event planning, project management, and more! Show Notes -> leaderassistant.com/102 Book -> leaderassistantbook.com Events -> leaderassistantlive.com Paid Membership -> leaderassistant.com/member...
Feb 14, 2021•37 min•Ep. 102
Emilie Given's focus is to inspire other women to create a career that allows them to focus on passion over paperwork and family over familiarity. She runs a virtual assistant team and has a lot of wisdom to share! In this episode, Emilie talks about what it was like being an executive assistant at Amazon, how almost dying pushed her to make the move to becoming a virtual assistant, how to find VA clients, managing multiple executives, and more! Show Notes -> leaderassistant.com/101 Book ->...
Feb 07, 2021•33 min•Ep. 101
Vanessa Nieman is a career administrative professional with over 25 years of experience. She worked her way from being a student assistant in her college years, to C-level support at larger organizations. Vanessa's career as an assistant chose her and then she came to embrace the role fully, but even more so in recent years as the support systems and networks for assistants have developed. In this episode, Vanessa shares valuable insight on getting the respect you deserve, saying no in a profess...
Jan 31, 2021•38 min•Ep. 100
Dimitra Zographos is a passionate advocate for the EA profession, appreciating the difference, value and influence it can bring to an executive, executive team and an entire organization. In this episode, Dimitra discusses leaving a legacy, the power of assistant networking, and more! Show Notes -> leaderassistant.com/99 Book -> leaderassistantbook.com Events -> leaderassistantlive.com Paid Membership -> leaderassistant.com/membership Free Community -> leaderassistant.com/communit...
Jan 24, 2021•39 min•Ep. 99
Melinda Vail-Goodnight is an accidental executive assistant who stayed by choice and has enjoyed over 14 years in the role, including the last 6 years at Southwest Airlines. In this episode, Melinda talks about managing email, interruptions, and the various types of professional development available for assistants. Enjoy our conversation and be sure to fly Southwest once it's safe to travel. ;-) Show Notes -> leaderassistant.com/98 Book -> leaderassistantbook.com Paid Membership -> lea...
Jan 17, 2021•26 min•Ep. 98
Jackie Ludwig's career includes working as an EA for senior level and c-suite executives at Korn Ferry, Rolex and YPO, to name just a few. In this episode, Jackie shares a bit of her story and tips on professional development, managing an executive's inbox, networking, and more! Show Notes -> leaderassistant.com/97 Book -> leaderassistantbook.com Paid Membership -> leaderassistant.com/membership Free Community -> leaderassistant.com/community -- In-person meeting planning can be a lo...
Jan 10, 2021•29 min•Ep. 97
Lucy Chamberlain has motivated, empowered, and armed audiences with tools to support a life and career that serves the individual and organization better. Lucy and I had a great conversation about job hunting, networking, resumes, interviews, and negotiation. Show Notes -> leaderassistant.com/96 Book -> leaderassistantbook.com Paid Membership -> leaderassistant.com/membership Free Community -> leaderassistant.com/community -- In-person meeting planning can be a lot to manage. That’s ...
Jan 03, 2021•28 min•Ep. 96
Scott Miller is the author of Management Mess to Leadership Success: 30 Challenges to Become the Leader You Would Follow and other bestselling books. As assistants, we're great at learning from each other, attending assistant training events, listening to assistant podcasts, etc. But Leader Assistants will read books and listen to podcasts their executive's listen to, and attend training events that their executive's attend. This is why I'm excited to share my conversation with Scott, who is not...
Dec 27, 2020•37 min•Ep. 95
Elijah D. Griffiths is a career executive assistant that has operated with chief of staff and senior advisor grit to c-suite staff for over 8 years. Elijah chats about managing an executive's inbox, networking, getting the respect we deserve, and more! Show Notes -> leaderassistant.com/94 Book -> leaderassistantbook.com Paid Membership -> leaderassistant.com/membership Free Community -> leaderassistant.com/community -- In-person meeting planning can be a lot to manage. That’s where T...
Dec 20, 2020•26 min•Ep. 94
James Sobczak [SOB-zak] is currently an executive assistant staffing both the Chief Physician & Dean for Clinical Affairs and the Dean for Academic Affairs in the Biological Sciences Division at the University of Chicago. James is a kind, articulate, wise executive assistant and I'm so thrilled to share our conversation! James talks about being a male assistant in a female-dominated profession, how he's prioritized professional development and growth opportunities, and how we should see our ...
Dec 13, 2020•44 min•Ep. 93
