Built for This

In this episode of Built For This, Carly Pepin sits down with Shlomi Beer, co-founder and CEO of ImpersonAlly, to explore how artificial intelligence is reshaping cybersecurity and why protecting your brand has never been more important. With decades of experience in AI, data science, and startup leadership, Shlomi explains how generative AI has transformed the world of online fraud. From fake web...

In this episode of Built For This, Carly Pepin sits down with Terry Stanley, a grocery industry veteran and former CEO of Fresh Value, to explore the timeless leadership principles that have shaped more than five decades of business success. Over the course of his career, Terry helped grow Fresh Value from nine stores to fifteen, expanding into new markets while preserving the close-knit culture t...

In this episode of Built For This, Carly Pepin sits down with Edris Yousefi, entrepreneur, growth strategist, and founder of Lucky Dog Mobile Groomers, to explore what it really takes to build businesses that scale by empowering people. Drawing on experience across franchising, SaaS, healthcare technology, and multi-location business growth, Edris shares the lessons he's learned from launching, sc...

In this episode of Built For This, Carly Pepin sits down with Kate Assaraf, founder of DIP, a sustainability-focused haircare company that is redefining what it means to build a purpose-driven brand. What started as frustration with ineffective plastic-free haircare products became a mission to create salon-quality shampoo and conditioner bars that could outperform traditional luxury brands while...

In this episode of Built For This, Carly Pepin sits down with Rohini Kasturi, CEO of HG Insights, for a forward-looking conversation about leadership, business transformation, artificial intelligence, and what it takes to drive growth in an increasingly data-driven world. Drawing on decades of experience leading SaaS companies, scaling technology businesses, and guiding organizations through major...

In this episode of Built For This, Carly Pepin sits down with Lance Juhas, Co-CEO of Piada Italian Street Food, for a conversation about leadership, hospitality, growth, and what it really takes to scale a restaurant brand without losing the culture that made it successful in the first place. With more than 36 years of experience in the restaurant industry, Lance shares the journey behind Piada's...

In this episode of Built For This, Carly Pepin sits down with Carlos Diego Cavalcanti, CEO and CTO of Valcann and cloud services leader for EPI-USE Latin America, for a thoughtful conversation about entrepreneurship, leadership, technology, and the human relationships that drive long-term success. Diego shares the story of founding Valcann  in 2014 as a cloud computing startup and navigating its e...

In this episode of Built For This, Carly Pepin sits down with Jennifer Chow, co-founder of Nurture Life, to explore the intersection of entrepreneurship, nutrition, and the challenge of helping children build healthier relationships with food. Jennifer shares the story behind Nurture Life and the gap she discovered as a parent. While there were growing options for babies transitioning to solid foo...

In this episode of Built For This, Carly Pepin sits down with Dr. Hany Demian, board-certified chronic pain specialist, healthcare entrepreneur, and founder of Presentia Healthcare, for a fascinating conversation about the future of health, longevity, leadership, and performance. What started as a career path toward surgery evolved into a mission to fundamentally change how healthcare approaches c...

In this episode of Built For This, Carly Pepin sits down with entrepreneur, startup founder, and technology innovator Yakov Filippenko to explore the realities of building companies, navigating failure, and preparing for the future of work. Yakov shares his entrepreneurial journey from product management at Yandex to co-founding SailPlay, a customer loyalty platform that expanded into 45 countries...

In this episode of Built For This, Carly Pepin sits down with Michael Wu, President and General Manager of Phison Technology USA, to explore the technology powering much of today’s digital world and the leadership principles that have helped drive Phison’s remarkable growth. Michael shares the story of joining Phison USA as employee number one and helping grow the organization from a one-person op...

In this episode of Built For This, Carly Pepin sits down with entrepreneur and innovator Kate Doerksen, co-founder and CEO of Sage Haven, a safer messaging platform designed to protect children from cyberbullying, harmful content, and unhealthy digital habits. Kate shares her remarkable entrepreneurial journey, beginning with the creation of Ditto, a pioneering augmented reality and AI eyewear tec...

In this episode of Built for This, Carly Pepin sits down with Josh Block, President of Block Imaging and author of People Matter at Work, for a powerful conversation about leadership, trust, company culture, and what it takes to scale a business without losing sight of people. Josh shares the story of unexpectedly stepping into leadership at just 29 years old after his father transitioned him from...

In this episode of Built for This, Carly Pepin sits down with Tommy Lather, founder of Takeoff Monkey, to explore how automation, customer service, and operational simplicity helped transform a hands-on service business into a highly scalable company. Tommy shares his unconventional journey from working in landscaping and estimating to building a rapidly growing takeoff services company that now p...

In this episode of Built for This, Carly Pepin sits down with Hadley Nightingale, CEO of New Zealand Property Buyers, to unpack the realities of building a fast-growing business while navigating some of life’s hardest personal and professional challenges. What started as Hadley’s own property investment journey quickly revealed a major gap in the New Zealand real estate market: buyers lacked true...

In this episode of Built for This, Carly Pepin sits down with Keziah Wonstolen, founder of Vannin Chief of Staff, to explore why the chief of staff role has become one of the fastest-growing and most valuable positions in modern business leadership. Drawing from her background at Accenture and her own experience serving as a chief of staff, Keziah shares how she built a company dedicated to helpin...

In this episode of Built for This, Carly Pepin sits down with Buddy Teaster, President and CEO of Soles4Souls, to explore how business principles can create sustainable social impact around the world. Buddy shares how Soles4Souls evolved from a disaster-relief nonprofit into a global organization focused on creating economic opportunity through entrepreneurship. Rather than relying solely on tradi...

In this episode of Built for This, Carly Pepin sits down with Mark Kenigsberg, VP at Azami, to explore what it really takes to transform a traditional sales-led organization into a scalable, product-led growth business. Mark shares how he joined Azami, a legal tech company specializing in intellectual property and patent software, during a period of major organizational change. Instead of focusing...

In this episode of Built for This, Carly Pepin sits down with Chris Farr, VP of Operations at Envision Technologies, to explore how the IT industry has evolved from reactive “break-fix” support into a strategic partnership that directly impacts business growth, cybersecurity, and operational efficiency. Chris shares his journey from hands-on network engineer to operational leader, reflecting on wh...

In this episode of Built for This, Carly Pepin sits down with Shari Cedar, CEO and co-owner of AK Building Services, to explore what it really takes to build and scale a people-driven business over the long term. Shari shares her unconventional journey from a successful career in television production to co-building a commercial cleaning company alongside her husband. What began as a gradual trans...

In this episode of Built For This, Carly Pepin sits down with entrepreneur and innovator Kate Doerksen, co-founder and CEO of Sage Haven, a safer messaging platform designed to protect children from cyberbullying, harmful content, and unhealthy digital habits. Kate shares her remarkable entrepreneurial journey, beginning with the creation of Ditto, a pioneering augmented reality and AI eyewear tec...

In this insightful episode of Built for This, Carly Pepin sits down with Tim Berney, founder and CEO of VI Marketing and Branding, to explore how marketing can go beyond visibility and actually influence real human behavior. With more than three decades of experience, Tim shares how his work has shifted from traditional awareness campaigns to behavior-driven strategies that shape decisions, habits...

In this forward-thinking episode of Built for This, Carly Pepin sits down with Laurent Cohen, a serial entrepreneur with more than 30 years of experience building and scaling businesses across multiple industries, to explore what truly drives growth in the age of AI. Laurent shares a candid perspective on entrepreneurship as a mindset rooted in creativity, risk-taking, and constant reinvention. At...

In this candid episode of Built for This, Carly Pepin sits down with Sarah Boyd, Co-CEO and CRO of The Digital Dept., to explore what it really takes to scale a business beyond your own capacity and build a high-performing team. Sarah shares her early journey founding Simply with a small team, handling every aspect of the business herself, until she reached a turning point. Realizing she could not...

In this strategic episode of Built for This, Carly Pepin sits down with Jackson Calame, entrepreneur and growth strategist, to unpack why so many businesses struggle to scale despite having strong vision and relentless effort. Drawing from years of experience across startups, SaaS, and operational leadership, Jackson introduces a powerful framework built on real-world lessons: the six critical “av...