Making It with Jess Ekstrom

In this inspiring and candid episode of Making It with Jess Ekstrom, Jess sits down with Carson Harkrader , CEO of Carolina Solar Energy, to talk about leading in a male-dominated industry and building a career with purpose. Carson shares her unexpected path from office manager to eight years at GE before joining the business her father founded. She opens up about why being the only woman in the r...

What if you didn’t need more experience, a perfect plan, or permission to start? In this candid and empowering episode of Making It with Jess Ekstrom, Jess revisits a previously unreleased conversation with restaurateur and former sex crimes prosecutor Martha Hoover. Martha shares how she opened her first restaurant without ever having worked in one, discovered she was pregnant with her third chil...

In this honest and heartfelt episode of Making It with Jess Ekstrom, Jess sits down with Molly Barker, founder of Girls on the Run, a program that has reached 2.7 million participants. Jess opens with a confession she’s never shared before: she cheated in Girls on the Run. Molly responds with her own childhood story, opening a conversation about competition, comparison, and the pressure girls feel...

In this episode of Making It with Jess Ekstrom, Jess sits down with former sports agent, author, and leadership expert Molly Fletcher. Molly shares how she went from sleeping on a friend’s couch in Atlanta to recruiting athletes in an industry that often did not expect a woman to be the agent in the room. She and Jess talk about being underestimated, asking for what you want before you feel ready,...

In this insightful episode of Making It with Jess Ekstrom, Jess sits down with Sabina Osorio, Senior Director of Growth Marketing for TED Conferences, to explore what transforms an idea into something people can understand, remember, and share. Sabina reveals the preparation behind a powerful TED Talk, including why speakers must edit ruthlessly, rehearse extensively, and resist the urge to sell f...

In this inspiring and eye-opening episode of Making It with Jess Ekstrom , Jess sits down in person with disability advocate, social entrepreneur, and author Tiffany Yu. Tiffany reflects on acquiring her disability at nine years old after a traumatic car accident that permanently paralyzed her arm. She opens up about the cultural shame, silence, and assimilation tactics she navigated for over a de...

In this enlightening episode of Making It with Jess Ekstrom , Jess sits down with Claude Silver, the Chief Heart Officer at VaynerMedia and author of Be Yourself at Work . Claude opens up about her non-traditional path to executive leadership—from struggling with academics and feeling like a failure in her early 20s to finding her calling in transformative psychology and emotional intelligence. Sh...

In this energizing episode of Making It with Jess Ekstrom , Jess sits down with Claire Coder , the visionary founder of Aunt Flow . Claire shares the exact moment at age 18 that inspired her to drop out of college to make tampons and pads just as free, dignified, and accessible as toilet paper in public restrooms. She opens up about the evolution of her company—from packing subscription boxes in a...

Jess sits down with Libby Ward, the creator behind the viral movement Diary of an Honest Mom and author of Honest Motherhood . Libby shares her personal evolution from a self-described people-pleasing "plate spinner" to a fierce advocate for maternal mental health. She opens up about the crushing shift from the "baby parade" celebration of pregnancy to the overwhelming isolation of postpartum depr...

Jess sits down with Carly Zakin and Danielle Weisberg, the brilliant co-founders of The Skimm. Proving that cold DMs can actually work , Jess dives deep into their 14-year entrepreneurial journey — from meeting during a study abroad program in Rome and quitting their dream jobs at NBC News to building a massive news media empire and raising multiple rounds of venture capital. Carly and Danielle sh...

Recorded on location in Austin, Texas, Jess catches up with long-time friend Jessica Honegger, the visionary founder of Noonday Collection. Jessica shares the raw, inspiring origin story of how she pawned her grandmother’s gold jewelry to build a website and launched Noonday as a simple fundraiser to finance her son's adoption from Rwanda. After scaling Noonday into an explosive powerhouse and one...

In this special live episode of Making It with Jess Ekstrom , recorded in front of a live audience at Mic Drop Live, Jess sits down with Allyson Felix, the most decorated track and field athlete of all time. While her medal count is legendary, her true legacy lies in her resilience off the track. Allyson opens up about her bold decision to train for the LA 2028 Olympics at age 40, defying societal...

Have you ever hit the thing you were chasing — the milestone, the launch, the moment — and felt the goalpost immediately move? Have you ever wondered if ambition itself could be both the engine and the thief? This episode is a live one. Jess is in New York City at Argent's flagship store for the launch of her new book Making It Without Losing It — officially a USA Today bestseller — and she's in c...

Have you ever held onto an idea so tightly — workshopping it, perfecting it, protecting it — that you never actually put it out into the world? Have you ever wondered if the path to finding your voice is less about getting it right and more about just getting it out ? Selena Rezvani didn't get to where she is by waiting for an invitation. She got there by writing a typewriter-typed appeal letter t...

Have you ever realized that the person who shaped you most never once thought of themselves as remarkable? Have you ever sat down with someone you've known your whole life — and learned something that changed everything? This episode is a little different. Today's guest isn't a founder or a bestselling author or a keynote speaker. She's something harder to find and harder to hold onto. She's Lauri...

Have you ever realized, only after it was too late, that a person was one of the most important ones in your life? Have you ever found something life-changing somewhere you never thought to look? This episode is a story Jess has been sitting with for almost five years. Not because it isn't important — but because she didn't yet have the language for what it changed in her. It's about a $20-a-night...

Have you ever made a choice that felt completely right to you — but everyone around you thought you were giving up? Have you ever wondered if slowing down and leaning in could actually be the same move? Neha Ruch was fresh out of Stanford Business School, climbing fast, and checking every box the Lean In era told her to check. Then she had her son on New Year's Day 2016 — and in the fog of new mot...

Have you ever started something just to make people happy — and accidentally built a business? Have you ever landed your biggest dream moment (hi, Oprah) and found yourself on the other end of it crying... because the crates broke? Marissa Allen knows both sides of that coin intimately. She didn't set out to be a founder. She was an NFL wife, a former college soccer player, a stay-at-home mom of t...

We spend our entire lives avoiding "goodbye." We trade Instagram handles, promise to "catch up soon," and say "until next time"—all to protect ourselves from the discomfort of a finished chapter. But what happens when you lean into the finality instead? In this reflective solo episode, Jess Ekstrom breaks down a chance encounter at a Colorado campground that changed her entire perspective on prese...

Have you ever had a dream job—the kind people tell you is the "coolest job in the world"—only to realize that your identity has become so wrapped up in it that you don’t know who you are without the title? How do you walk away from a legacy to build something entirely your own? Welcome to Making It with Jess Ekstrom . This week, Jess sits down with Lindsay Shookus , the legendary former producer a...

Have you ever felt like you had to mute your personality, change your style, or "fit the mold" just to be taken seriously in business? What if the very things people told you to tone down were actually your greatest superpowers for building a $100M empire? Welcome to the premiere episode of Making It with Jess Ekstrom . This week, Jess sits down with Anne Mahlum , the visionary founder of [Solidco...

What if an algorithm could perfectly articulate the unfair advantages men have in business, and what if that knowledge was the catalyst you needed to completely change your career? In the season finale on Amplify, Jess sits down with LauraAura , host of the wildly popular Gutsy Podcast and an acclaimed speaker. Laura shares the moment a Taylor Swift song drove her to ask ChatGPT a provocative ques...

The world is constantly in a state of chaos—from an unexpected crisis at work to the personal high stakes of having a baby during a global pandemic. How do you find the calm confidence needed to navigate those moments when you feel most exposed? This week on Amplify, Jess sits down with Caitlin Gardner, a veteran crisis communications expert who is the founder of Blooming Communications. Caitlin's...

Have you ever confused a bigger salary with a richer life? What if the key to getting what you truly want isn’t a better tactic, but a deeper understanding of your own values?  In this Amplify episode, Jess sits down with negotiation expert Kathryn Valentine , a former McKinsey consultant with an impressive background featured in Harvard Business Review and The Wall Street Journal. Kathryn's journ...