Beyond the Corporate Ladder

Artificial Intelligence is changing business faster than ever, but what does that really mean for leaders and HR professionals? In this episode of Beyond the Corporate Ladder, Stephen Lee-Thomas sits down with Heather Mallette, Founder & CEO of The Decision Line, to discuss how AI is transforming Human Resources from a transactional department into a strategic business partner. Heather shares...

What happens when entrepreneurship becomes a vehicle for healing, empathy, and purpose? In this episode of Beyond the Corporate Ladder, Stephen Lee-Thomas sits down with Shabana Serang entrepreneur, nonprofit founder, podcast host, and creator of the Mercy Mindset movement. Shabana shares her deeply personal journey growing up as the daughter of immigrants, watching her father work tirelessly to b...

What separates great leaders from average managers? In this episode of Beyond the Corporate Ladder, Stephen Lee-Thomas sits down with senior healthcare executive Russell Meadows to discuss leadership, team building, decision-making, and navigating complexity in high-pressure environments. Russ shares lessons from decades in healthcare leadership, including how he built high-performing teams, solve...

What happens when you’ve done everything “right” in your corporate career… but still feel disconnected from fulfillment? In Episode 9 of Beyond the Corporate Ladder, Stephen Lee-Thomas sits down with Rachel Cotter Davis to explore leadership, burnout, organizational change, and the deeply personal journey of career reinvention. Rachel shares insights from her experience as a senior director in cha...

What would you do if you had no plan, but knew your life needed to change? In this episode of Beyond the Corporate Ladder, Stephen Lee-Thomas sits down with Dwight Dillon-Seminario, who shares his journey from professional musician to entrepreneur helping others build passive income and reclaim their time. After a major life shift, Dwight made a bold decision, he quit without a backup plan and lea...

In Episode 7 of Beyond the Corporate Ladder, we talk leadership, growth, and multifamily real estate with Corey Muldrow, who has scaled his portfolio to over $100M+ in assets under management. Corey shares his journey from healthcare and anesthesia practice to becoming a full-time multifamily investor and operator alongside his wife, Candice. Together, they discuss how their journey began with a s...

What if your job isn’t as secure as you think and you’re building wealth in the wrong place? In this episode of Beyond the Corporate Ladder, Stephen Lee-Thomas sits down with real estate investor John Todderud to break down his journey from software engineer to full-time investor. John shares how he transitioned out of corporate life, built wealth through real estate, and created a lifestyle that...

What happens when you achieve success… and still feel empty? In this episode of Beyond the Corporate Ladder, Stephen sits down with Randy Campadore, a high-performance coach for men in midlife, who shares his journey from building multi-million dollar real estate projects to losing it all… and ultimately rediscovering purpose. Randy opens up about the “illusion of success,” the identity crisis man...

In Episode 4 of Beyond the Corporate Ladder, we talk about leadership and growth with Johnny Lynum, who has scaled his portfolio through active investing and now helps high-net-worth investors transition into passive institutional real estate opportunities. Johnny shares his journey from serving over 20 years in the U.S. Air Force to becoming a full-time real estate investor and founder of Lynum C...

In this episode of Beyond the Corporate Ladder, Stephen sits down with Justin Spillers, former real estate attorney turned full-time multifamily operator and co-founder of Real Estate Alpha. After seven years practicing law, Justin realized he didn’t want to spend his life advising business owners, he wanted to become one. What started as passive investing in 2016 eventually grew into a vertically...

In Episode 2 of the Beyond the Corporate Ladder, I sit down with Adam Gower, former CEO of a joint venture between Universal Studios and Paramount Studios and founder of GowerCrowd. Adam’s career journey is anything but ordinary. He began as an apprentice electrician, moved into real estate capital raising, and eventually led a major international real estate operation across Asia Pacific. Today,...

In Episode 1 of Beyond the Corporate Ladder, we sit down with Matt Shields, entrepreneur, technologist, and founder of Tech Love, who brings over 20 years of experience building businesses across technology and real estate. Matt shares his journey from early entrepreneurship and app development to owning and operating $40M in multifamily real estate, and how a life-altering stroke forced him to re...