HumanizeHer with Erica Lockheimer

In this inspiring episode of the HumanizeHer Podcast, we dive deep into the career and life journey of Lillian Samuel , the CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Bay Area . Breaking down the corporate armor, Lillian shares her story of transitioning from a high-flying executive retail career - managing global sourcing and buying for brands like Bloomingdale's , Gap , and Cost Plus - to becoming a...

In this live episode celebrating our 3rd Annual HumanizeHer Celebration, Founder and Podcast Host Erica Lockheimer reflects on the podcast's growth - from 2,000 YouTube Subscribers to over 165,000 YouTube Subscribers and 2 million monthly platform views and more importantly 59 stories told - highlighting HumanizeHer's mission to elevate women's stories, foster real community, and support women on...

In this episode of the HumanizeHer Podcast, we welcome  Shelley Huff , CEO and Co-Founder of The Interval and former C-suite executive at retail giants like Walmart and Serta Simmons Bedding . Shelley opens up about her personal journey navigating major "life quakes" - leading a company through a complex Chapter 11 restructuring, coping with sudden grief, and experiencing the unexpected jolt of be...

In this episode of the HumanizeHer Podcast, we sit down with Laura Burkhauser , CEO of Descript , for an insightful and candid conversation about the evolution of creative tools, career pivots, and personal resilience.   Laura Burkhauser was running a hundred-million-dollar product at Twitter . She had the executive title. The salary. The status. Then she fell in love with a problem she couldn't i...

In this episode of the HumanizeHer Podcast, professional beach volleyball player and former tech Product Marketing Manager Torrey Van Winden joins us to discuss the systemic financial disparities facing female athletes, her experience overcoming career-threatening injuries, and her ambitious comeback bid for the LA 2028 Olympics.   Torrey left her stable corporate job to chase one thing: a spot on...

In this episode of the HumanizeHer Podcast, we sit down with Gina Bianchini , Co-Founder and CEO of Mighty Networks . Gina shares her vision for shifting the online landscape away from isolated, transactional social media toward meaningful, intentional digital and real-world connections. Reflecting on her entrepreneurial trajectory - from her childhood experiences with local passion clubs and comm...

We took HumanizeHer to the SheTO Ignite Summit 2025 and rolled out our own red carpet to catch some of tech's most brilliant women…twirls, crowns, capes, and all! 🦸‍♀️   SheTO is the premier global network for women and non-binary engineering leaders, and the SheTO Ignite Summit is all about celebrating the people who are actually building the industry. Founder Nidhi Gupta built SheTO from a sing...

Note: This episode includes a candid discussion of domestic abuse, including emotional, financial, and physical abuse. If this content is difficult for you, please prioritize your own wellbeing. Support is available 24/7 through the National Domestic Violence Hotline - call 1-800-799-7233, text START to 88788, or visit  thehotline.org .   In this emotional and empowering episode of the HumanizeHer...

In this episode, we sit down with Dana A. Griffin - the Co-Founder and CEO of Eldera.ai , redefining what it means to age in a longevity society. Raised by her grandparents in Transylvania, she was shaped early by the wisdom of older adults and a thread that runs through everything she's built. Before Eldera.ai, Dana was a data and advertising executive, named an Ad Age 40 Under 40. In 2018 she pi...

In this inspiring and thought-provoking episode of the HumanizeHer Podcast, hosts sit down with Tara Chklovski , CEO and Founder of Technovation (formerly Iridescent). Tara shares her incredible personal trajectory, growing up in India surrounded by formidable female role models - her grandmother who built a school from scratch at age 65 and her mother who joined the Indian military as a doctor at...

In this engaging and insightful episode of the HumanizeHer Podcast, we sit down with long-time tech leader and advocate, Sarah Clatterbuck . Bringing a rich history of engineering leadership from top tech giants including Yahoo , Apple , LinkedIn , and Google - Sarah shares stories from her multi-decade career and her passionate work driving diversity, inclusion, and web accessibility.   As a seni...

🌟 Meet Sumer Strawbree , our YOUNGEST guest ever! This powerhouse entrepreneur, author, digital artist, and paid speaker is changing lives through the power of positive affirmations and self-love.   In this uplifting and inspiring episode of the HumanizeHer Podcast, Sumer Strawbree (along with a special appearance by her father and manager and our first male ally on the show - what better start t...

In this powerful and candid episode of the HumanizeHer Podcast, we sit down with tech royalty Parisa Tabriz , VP and General Manager of Google Chrome , the browser billions of people use every single day. She's also known as Google's "Security Princess" - a title she gave herself on a business card almost twenty years ago that ended up sticking for life.   Parisa has been at Google for nineteen ye...

In this episode of the HumanizeHer Podcast, we sit down with Mandy McClung , Managing Director at Morgan Stanley , for her podcast debut. Balancing career wisdom with approachable personal insights, Mandy demystifies the massive world of wealth management and shares actionable ways to build long-term financial independence.   Financial independence is freedom and no one knows that better than Mand...

In this episode of the HumanizeHer Podcast, we sit down with  Dr. Hema Raghavan , the CTO and Co-Founder of Kumo.ai and a true pioneer in the artificial intelligence space. As former LinkedIn colleagues, HumanizeHer host Erica Lockheimer and Hema take a trip down memory lane of their days together at LinkedIn .   Hema is an absolute powerhouse building at the absolute frontier of deep technical AI...

In this powerful episode, we sit down with Libby Leffler , the Co-Founder and CEO of First (affectionately dubbed the "TurboTax for prenups"). Libby spent two decades helping build the world's most powerful rocket ships - from Google and Facebook to SoFi and Compass . But at the height of her corporate career, with a newborn at home, she chose to step away and finally do the thing she was scared t...

HumanizeHer x Shangri La "Visionary Voices" brings HumanizeHer's signature conversations to Shangri La , a Center of Cultures & Ideas and Museum of Islamic Art in Honolulu, Hawai'i, featuring three special episodes with visionary women leaders from Hawai'i.   In this episode, we are sitting down with one of the most powerful forces in venture capital building from the Pacific. Chenoa Farnsworth is...

HumanizeHer x Shangri La "Visionary Voices" brings HumanizeHer's signature conversations to Shangri La, a Center of Cultures & Ideas and Museum of Islamic Art in Honolulu, Hawai'i, featuring three special episodes with visionary women leaders from Hawai'i.   In this episode of HumanizeHer, we sit down with Dawn Lippert - and this conversation might just change the way you see the planet. It starte...

For the first time, we crossed the ocean and brought HumanizeHer to Hawaiʻi, gear in tow, women to meet, and a community to build.  HumanizeHer x Shangri La brought HumanizeHer's signature podcast conversations to Shangri La, a Center of Cultures & Ideas and Museum of Islamic Art in Honolulu, Hawaiʻi, for our Visionary Voices event, celebrating culture and building community during Women's History...

HumanizeHer x Shangri La "Visionary Voices" brings HumanizeHer's signature conversations to Shangri La, a Center of Cultures & Ideas and Museum of Islamic Art in Honolulu, Hawai'i, featuring three special episodes with visionary women leaders from Hawai'i.   In this episode of HumanizeHer, we sit down with Meli James - born and raised in Hawai'i, she left for Cornell University and caught the entr...

We are kicking off a new series called IRL (In Real Life) HumanizeHer . This series gives you a behind-the-scenes, unpolished view of conferences, gatherings, and our on-the-ground action. We are showing the raw effort, the amazing connections, and the technical brilliance that goes into building this movement. We recently held our Annual HumanizeHer Event — a celebration of one year of commitment...

In this episode, we welcome the legendary  Pat Wadors - current Chief Human Resources Officer at Intuitive and former HR visionary at LinkedIn , ServiceNow , and Yahoo . Known for her transformative leadership and for coining the concept of DIBs (Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging), Pat dives deep into her journey of "stumbling" into HR and eventually becoming one of the most influential voices i...

In this insightful episode,  Karen Catlin , former VP of Engineering at Adobe with over three decades in the tech industry, shares her evolution from a "declared computer science major who had never touched a computer" to now leadership coach and one of the most influential voices in workplace inclusion as an acclaimed author of the Better Allies book series.   Highlights of the Conversation: "Gol...

Margaret Abe-Koga (Santa Clara County Supervisor) joins the HumanizeHer Podcast to pull back the curtain on a life dedicated to public service, representation, and resilience.   In this episode, Margaret shares the raw and inspiring narrative of an immigrant daughter who became the voice for those who feel voiceless. From an "anchor baby" born at Stanford Hospital to a seasoned policymaker managin...

In this episode, we get to celebrate a massive milestone with Jody Mettler , the Chief Operating Officer of BitGo and their President of the Trust Company.   As BitGo rings the bell on its recent IPO, Jody shares her journey from a 20-year career at Citi to leading the "backbone" of the digital asset industry. This episode serves as both a high-level masterclass in crypto infrastructure and a pers...