Mindset For Success

Guest Christine Astorino was five years into her career as a trained landscape architect when she had an aha moment. Human-Centered Design and innovation were her passions, and creativity was her “north star." Christine joined her family business to redesign a children’s hospital and saw how transformational Human-Centered Design could be; even just entering a brightly colored parking space can create an emotional connection and  c...

Guest Jennifer Freed founded her own company after obtaining her film degree at Stanford. Twenty years later, Jennifer decided to start a second business. An early realization of wanting to thrive at work, while still having a flexible schedule for her and her family helped to shape her entrepreneurial choice. Jennifer’s business success relies on finding the right people to help her grow her business. A top priority for Jennifer i...

Guest Tiffany St. Bernard was a competitive figure skater from the age of eight to eighteen. Skating taught her determination, discipline, hard work, and the importance of getting help. Tiffany's father and grandmother were entrepreneurs, helping pave the way for her to become an entrepreneur herself. Since childhood, Tiffany preferred to “go against the grain” and not fit in. Instead, she sought challenges, thrived on doing innova...

Guest Kate Pletcher grew up in a family of nine siblings and knew early on that she wanted to be an entrepreneur. Her large family taught her to barter for things that she didn’t have and accept what wasn’t available - both have helped her shape her boutique executive search firm. Companies needed amazing but part-time employees and moms wanted flexibility in their work schedules. Kate saw this as an opportunity to place moms in co...

Guest Ashley Reed had a successful marketing career for eighteen years when she felt something was “off.” A health crisis led her to reevaluate how her personal values needed to be reflected in her work. She went on to found her own business to support personal success in high-performers. Ashley’s curiosity, independence, and comfort with questioning the norms have helped her forge her path. Ashley is keenly aware of the toll of wo...

Guest Dr. Katie Kam is a vegan wanting to end animal slaughter by creating the win-win solution of providing cultured meat that avoids harm to animals and the environment. Her role as founder and CEO of BioBQ is the culmination of 25-years of cumulative experience as a biologist, chemist, civil engineer, community planner, business owner, science teacher, and engineering research professor. Through her experiences with the developm...

Guest Jennifer Harris is the founder and CEO of Technology Management Concepts (TMC), a Gold-Certified Microsoft Partner specializing in ERP & CRM, and the “premiere” Microsoft Dynamics Partner in Southern California. With her solid foundation of over thirty years in the field, Jennifer is known as a visionary leader as she leads one of the fastest-growing women-owned technology companies in the nation. She believes that unknown st...

Guest Victoria Betancourt currently runs Coneybeare, LLC, a staffing and recruiting firm she took over from her mother in 1990, and "Boutique Eco Resort" in the coffee region of Colombia, South America. With a bachelor's in Psychology from the University of Michigan and a Master of Architecture from Columbia University in New York, her business mission is to "create entrepreneurs" by teaching her employees how to run ...

Guest Dr. Cherie Banks is an Award-Winning Global Leader, International Speaker, Business Investor, and Enterprise Entrepreneur. She’s a Founder & CEO to many successful companies with a multi-million dollar brand dedicated to building businesses, creating generational wealth, and living-in-legacy. As an honored recipient of prestigious awards in business, law, education, and community, she has mastered the ability to trust not onl...

Guest Linda Mbagwa moved to London from Nigeria at the age of six, where she and her six siblings and mother faced some financial and mental health hardships. At eight, Linda decided she needed to become rich to take care of her family and herself. After university, Linda achieved phenomenal financial success in a record-breaking six months, which demonstrated her determination and independence. Linda’s intuition – fostered by begi...

Guest Kirsten Hund Blair enjoyed a culturally diverse and racially aware upbringing. Her parents modeled how to help people in different ways. Kirsten’s parents moved for her father’s work to Taiwan from the ages of 3 to 7. Kirsten understood that she didn’t fit in Taiwan, yet she benefitted from the culturally diverse community of support that her parents created. To this day, Kirsten is most at home in diverse settings. She seeks...

Guest Samantha Lee’s father had epilepsy which prevented him from driving; as a young girl, Sam and her father talked about how automobile technology could change his life. Sam’s early independence and her drive to learn new things – even those not available to her – paved her journey to become an entrepreneur. Two years ago, Saw realized her mission was to help people who are not autonomous; she founded Meili Technologies. Sam’s s...

Guest Denetrias Charlemagne grew up in a non-traditional household of immigrant parents and strong female role models who valued education. At 13 Dee was accepted to an elite boarding school. There she experienced homesickness, in part because she didn’t always fit in with her peers. Dee’s determination to not be labeled means she doesn’t dwell on her or others’ differences. Instead, her innate enthusiastic curiosity for new people...

Guest Amanda Hamilton left a successful 10-year career in Corporate Retail when she understood that she wanted to be more authentic and control her work. Amanda’s search for independence was tested when her new business website debuted the first month of the pandemic. Her remembering mitigates the risk that she has always been able to figure things out. Amanda also draws strength in her 27-member team at work. On those days where s...

Guest Sara Stender Delaney’s family lived in Anguilla for a year, where Sara remembers being the only white student in her classroom. Early diverse experiences shaped Sara’s awareness of being different from others. After a traumatic event in college, Sara saw a film on genocide and rape in Rwanda. Lost and unfulfilled by her traditional business degree Sara moved to Rwanda to open a restaurant with war survivors. Their warmth and ...

Guest Kristin Lust figured out early that she yearned to be an entrepreneur. Always a self-starter and driven to do things her way, Kristin began a dog walking business as a young girl. Her independence and determination were tested when she first went to law school and nearly risked losing her hard-won scholarship by a falling GPA. Kristin realized that she did not want to work for a traditional law firm in her first law firm. Kri...

Guest Angie Conley knew from childhood that she wanted to do something meaningful. Her father, a cardiologist, fostered an interest in science and biology and helping people. Angie realized in her first medical device consulting job that she thrived when challenged, not when she stood still like “a cog in a wheel.” Five years ago, Angie founded Albitech Medical, which helps people with disabilities live better lives with artificial...

Guest Alexa Hampton has always invested in doing hard things that she knew she wouldn't fail. A successful ten-year run in venture capital gave Alexa the "applause" she worked for, and it "made her look good on paper." In 2021, Alexa was ready for a new challenge and became a co-founder of SelfMade. In this new role, Alexa realized for the first time in her professional life that she chose a demanding role in which she is not guara...

Guest Zahra Al-Harazi’s inspiring childhood instilled an early need to find her path. Born in Uganda as an only child and raised in Yemen to a Yemeni father and an Indian mother, fostered a sense of deep loneliness and an outsider. It never occurred to Zahra that she would remain an outsider. Each new experience was an opportunity to try to fit in, even at the expense of breaking the rules. A marriage allowed Zahra to move to Canad...