Evolution or Revolution

Ella Taylor a financial planner and is the CEO of Ella Financial Advising . She spends her days talking to people all about their money - and more importantly how they are using their money to create the life they want. Ella Financial Advising's mission is to make financial planning more inclusive and to use investing as a force for planetary wellbeing . At the core of her work is the belief...

Cory Gerlach is a writer and ocean sailor currently living on a sailboat in Guatemala. With a Harvard PhD in  biomedical science and years of government work, he decided to pivot towards a life filled with self-discovery. He wasn't a sailor when he started. In fact, Cory Gerlach was on a successful path in a stable, government job. But 10 years in, his question was not just about his career c...

Mary-Lynne Williams is the CEO & Founder of Buffalo Firefly in NYC and Richmond VA. Buffalo Firefly is an Energy Wellness Company whose core mission is to bring the power of sound & energy medicine to the masses, allowing us to recalibrate and elevate from surviving to thriving. Energy medicine and sound healing allow us to regulate our nervous systems as a regular practice, encourage mind...

Stacey Gordon wanted to be a novelist since she was a kid. She loved reading and writing.  However, as an adult she was juggling a demanding career in tech, parenting, work travel, and life...with nothing left over for her own creative pursuits.  Stacey shares how she gave herself the space for writing and creating without sitting down to type or put pen to paper. How she continued her path throug...

After 20 years in tech consulting and leadership, Danielle was laid off. She knew it was time for a change. But what? Tech didn't seem like a path forward anymore. She made the unexpected but extremely gratifying shift into housing, becoming a housing provider for people challenged by the Bay Area rental market. Her company, Rising Tide Residences offers room rentals for men, women and famili...

"I think the journey that most of us are on with work really has to do with a process of self discovery that has followed us our whole lives.” When Erin Wade was fired from her job as a lawyer, she decided it was time to take on a big project - creating a restaurant space that prioritized purpose, culture, and  hospitality. Erin is the founder of Homeroom, a restaurant with a cult following i...

In this conversation, Courtney Kaplan interviews Tina Santiago-Keenan, co-founder of Secret City, a creative design and production studio that creates immersive experiences. Tina shares her journey from working in tech at Facebook and Uber Eats to launching Secret City, which combines elements of escape rooms and immersive theater. The discussion covers the challenges of entrepreneurship, the impa...

Over the years, I’ve seen how we can lead ourselves into dead ends when it comes to change. There are some ways we think about change that are actually pretty unproductive and not really useful.. and are also common patterns. So, in this episode, I want to share a few of the ways we get blocked. Anything sound familiar? Getting to know how you sabotage or position yourself in dead ends is helpful...

Today’s episode is different - it’s called: Change is here. But I don’t wanna. I wanted to share thoughts about dealing with professional change when you’d rather freak out. On the pod, I interview people who are choosing new paths. But many folks that didn’t make a decision, but have faced a layoff, downsizing, health crisis or other change that perhaps they didn’t plan for or expect. Today, I sh...

Have you thought about launching your own product? I know I have.   My guest today, Anna Bloom, has worked as a design leader at AirBnB, Facebook, and Cash App. In 2021, she took a leap to launch her own thing while still working full-time. Anna shares what it takes to get a physical product on the shelves and what keeps her going during difficult times.  PS Quick note, this isn’t a sponsored podc...

As a retirement coach, Serene Lewis helps people identify and set reachable goals in the areas of money, mindset and community.  Often we think about retiring "someday" but having a plan makes it real and can make it happen sooner. Especially in uncertain times, you may be facing retirement or a big change sooner than you expected. Serene says, "I’ve observed that about 80% of peopl...

Jason Kriese shares a his massive evolution from corporate life as an executive to going back to school in order to better align his time and efforts with his values of service.  Jason was an operations leader and user experience advocate who can effectively manage the integration of complex design efforts into engineering organizations.  As VP of Design Operations at Salesforce, he founded and le...

Brandy Cerne spent her twenties in New York. As Brandy says:  "I get asked a lot, 'Do you have experience in this field?' The short answer is no, I don't have direct hotel experience. The long answer is that all of my career has led me here." She working in brand she experienced a masterclass in hospitality at Shake Shack from Danny Meyer and Randy Garutti.  She took a car...

Kat Vellos has written books, taught workshops, and given talks about about how people can break out of feeling lonely by creating opportunities to connect with others.  In this episode, Kat talks about how we can use the same techniques in our professional lives. When we are considering professional transitions, we often need to reach out for support. Maybe there's someone in a role you&apos...

Jennifer Kanyamibwa-Biggs has worked with the best of them at Twitter, Slack, Strava, but also in government roles with Mayor Michael Bloomberg as well as non-profits. She is also a co-founder of Plant Lady Juice a VC backed wellness company based in Atlanta. We talk about how Jennifer adapts and evolves her skills into new industries and ventures. She shares how she makes big decisions and the th...

At 40 years old, Mark Brenwall had it all. He lived in a loft in San Francisco's Mission District. Working in tech, he had money, he had friends and big nights on the town.  But it took him 20 years to realize it just wasn't for him.  Sobriety helped give him to space to see that he wasn't happy -- but also wasn't sure what was next. Mark  shares each step of those transitional...

Join me in my first ever episode to talk with Erin Ryan. She'll share her revolutionary journey from San Francisco, to becoming a homebirth midwife in Vermont, moving her three children to Bali (twice) and re-inventing her life again when her marriage ended. Today you'll find her in Tonga, Fiji, Sri Lanka, Lao, and Bangladesh connecting with community,  and advocating for and training wi...