Stairway to CEO

In This Episode You’ll Hear About: How her go-getter nature kept her busy in college with internships and jobs leading to a job in PR and a realization that PR was not her long term goal Why a marketing job at Estee Lauder Companies was a better fit for her and became the start of what now has been 20 years in the beauty industry What led Allison to Mac Cosmetics and then L’Oreal Paris while she w...

In This Episode You’ll Hear About: How growing up in the creative city of Sante Fe provided the fertile ground of learning to think outside the box How her airline stewardess mother and businessman father inspired her growing up Her first business startup on campus at Stanford where she ran a yogurt and pizza shop while studying both English and Policy Her experience at Stanford business school af...

###In This Episode You’ll Hear About: How Bry’s big family and entrepreneurial father provided a great childhood, team spirit, and competitive edge, with lots of inspiration that led her to where she is today How she studied computer animation at university in London, was interested in film and advertising, and was a full-time producer in London by the time she finished her degree How lessons in t...

###In This Episode You’ll Hear About: How Adelle’s childhood in Central Coast California included entrepreneurial flair and drive to be a high achieving difference-maker How she started out wanting to become an actress, studied political science in college, and then found herself enrolled in the Acton School of Business in Austin, TX, graduating with an MBA. Why after graduating from Acton, Adelle...

###In This Episode You’ll Hear About: How Jordan always was that kid who was looking for a way to work and hustle to make some money because he liked the freedom to do his own thing How he ended up in real estate after studying some in pre-med, some in pre-law and still not really knowing what he wanted to do His time in economic development for a public/private partnership between a couple of cou...

In This Episode You’ll Hear About: How this first-generation Texan, with parents who immigrated from Asia, earned an engineering degree and thought she’d become a doctor How, instead of taking a path in medicine, Christine found herself on the manufacturing side of the Folgers Coffee Company with Procter & Gamble How her desire to go back to school led her to earn her MBA and taking her to the...

In This Episode You’ll Hear About: Why growing up with a celebrity veterinarian father in LA in what neighbors called “The Dr. Dolittle House” set Brandon up to understand the needs of pet owners How his raging case of ADHD as a kid helped him learn to think outside of the box, learn how to assess his own abilities, and work with others who were better than him in areas of weakness How he, like ma...

In This Episode You’ll Hear About: How an early start helping out in her father’s store gave Gail an appreciation for owning her own business and led to an independent spirit Why she loves to get herself out of her comfort zone and challenge herself as much as possible and how she started doing that even as a child How her study of political science and journalism lead to a pivotal moment of inspi...

In This Episode You’ll Hear About: How growing up in Southern California included lots of siblings, the beach, and hard work at his parents’ donut shops How a successful pool business paid his way through college and then became the first “exit” of his entrepreneurial career His first out of college employment as a hazardous waste scientist How his younger brother’s success with an online business...

In This Episode You’ll Hear About: How growing up in small-town in the Midwest established a hard-working ethic and a discipline influenced by a unique school in Iowa that taught transcendental meditation How dreams of California took Jessica back west to UCLA for college to study Fine Art How her dad is known as the Father of the Infomercial Her experience working as a Television Literary Agent a...

In This Episode You’ll Hear About: How his love for building things started early on and his entrepreneurial drive was influenced by his mother His first businesses on eBay and in IT and how he made good money selling security cameras to restaurants while still in high school How his love for the League of Legends video game led him to go to LA for an internship at Riot Games where he helped them...

In This Episode You’ll Hear About: How growing up in California, playing varsity sports and running for offices like class president showed her that her personality was full of drive and fight Why college in New Orleans with a study abroad in Spain became an eye-opening and important experience How her internship at Ford Models and Susan Blonde Inc music company in NYC during college summers was b...

In This Episode You’ll Hear About: How Chris Tolles experience with art school at RISD built a foundation for his love for design Why his international and humanitarian travel on a Thomas J Watson Fellowship ignited his entrepreneurial drive How volunteering at an MIT D-Lab conference and sneaking into an event led to an invitation to join an MIT startup How he turned an award-winning green initia...

In This Episode You’ll Hear About: How Brian Ree started his first tutoring business in high school How the internet boom inspired an idea for an online fine jewelry lifestyle brand How a hobby turned into a content business and developed 450,000 active subscribers Why studying and reading about other entrepreneurs and finding patterns is an important part of the entrepreneur’s journey How he came...

In this episode, David Greenfeld and I chat about his entrepreneurial journey from being a hip hop artist, to working for Tesla, to living in Italy where he became inspired to build Dream Pops. Dream Pops is changing the game in the ice cream world by providing a delicious, modern, plant-based frozen dessert that looks really cool, tastes incredible, and is good for you! They’re packed with superf...

Welcome to episode 8 of the Stairway to CEO podcast, I’m your host Lee Greene and in this episode, I sat down with April Uchitel, the recently appointed CEO of Violet Grey. Violet Grey is a luxury beauty brand and online retailer known for its expert curation of industry-approved beauty products. April shares with us her impressive career journey, from climbing the corporate fashion ladder at DVF...

Today, on the Stairway to CEO podcast, I’m hanging out with Erik Huberman, the Founder & CEO of Hawke Media. Hawke Media is a full-service marketing agency based here in Santa Monica, California. Since launching 4 years ago, Erik has been named one of Inc Magazine’s “Top 25 Marketing Influencers” and was on Forbes 30 under 30 list in 2016. In this episode, Erik shares with us his entrepreneuri...

Welcome to Episode 6 of the Stairway to CEO podcast, I’m your host Lee Greene and today I spoke with Katie Johnson, the Co-Founder & CEO of Carbon38. Carbon38 is a luxury activewear brand and online retailer featuring a curated selection of activewear designers. Katie shares her story about how she went from working as a professional broadway dancer to building Carbon38 into a hundred million...

Welcome to the fifth episode of Stairway to CEO! In this episode, I interviewed Courtney Reum, the Co-Founder of M13, a consumer product-focused, brand development, and venture capital firm based in Los Angeles. Along with angel investing and building an impressive portfolio packed with top startups including Pinterest, Lyft, Ring, SpaceX, and Thrive Market, just to name a few, he also Co-Founded...

Welcome to the fourth episode of the Stairway to CEO podcast! In this episode, I interviewed Brian Garrett, the Co-Founder and Managing Director of Crosscut Ventures, a top VC fund in LA where he's been investing in startups for over 10 years. Brian shares his story—from a family tragedy that happened at age 13 to a recent healing experience that helped him break through the barriers that have bee...

Welcome to the third episode of the Stairway to CEO podcast! In this episode, I interviewed Sahil Jain, the young and brilliant Co-Founder and CEO of AdStage. AdStage is an advertising technology company that allows businesses to better understand and consolidate all of the data from their online ad spend across multiple networks in one place. Sahil shares his journey from dropping out of high sch...

Ariel Kaye has known from a young age that she wanted to learn, improve and move forward in all aspects of life. Today, she talks with us about her journey in starting Parachute Home, a popular direct consumer brand offering bed and bath linens as well as other home essentials for the modern home. We discuss the challenges and rewards of fundraising, how to build a collaborative environment and wa...

Title: Following Your Gut with Daina Trout, the Co-Founder & CEO of Health-Ade Kombucha   Description: Welcome to the first episode of Stairway to CEO! I am your host, Lee Greene. In this week’s episode, we are joined by Daina Trout, Co-Founder and CEO of Health-Ade Kombucha. Daina not only has one of the most successful kombucha drinks on the market, but she is a candid and powerful business...