Chief Change Officer

Collin Plume didn’t build Noble Gold to chase hype—he built it to restore trust in a system Gen X knows can break.  In this first of a two-part series, Collin shares how early lessons from insurance sales, real estate, and recession-era survival shaped his people-first approach to wealth building. He explains why real assets like gold and silver aren’t just investments—they’re anchors of ownership...

In Part 2 of her conversation, Nina Sossamon-Pogue moves from storytelling to strategy—offering real-world tools for navigating change, resilience, and reinvention. From building a reverse resume to mapping your own success timeline, she shares frameworks that help Gen Xers (and anyone feeling stuck) turn lived experience into a launchpad.  Instead of chasing corporate validation or viral moments,...

Nina Sossamon-Pogue didn’t build a personal brand around change—she built a life out of it.  In this first of a two-part series, she shares how elite gymnastics hardwired her resilience, how journalism sharpened her communication instincts, and how a strategic leap into tech proved that reinvention is less about following trends—and more about knowing who you are at the core.  For Gen Xers who’ve...

In Part 2 of her conversation, Erica Sosna bridges personal resilience and professional wisdom—sharing how The Career Equation helps both individuals and organizations build careers that actually fit. Instead of offering empty advice, Erica gives a practical, human-centered model that empowers people to align their skills, passions, impact, and environment into a sustainable career path.  For Gen...

Erica Sosna was already a respected career strategist, author of The Career Equation , and founder of a successful consultancy. But when a near-fatal accident left her paralyzed in 2022, everything changed.  In this first of a two-part series, Erica shares how she rebuilt her life—and her career—on new terms. From learning to walk again to rethinking the purpose of work itself, she offers a bluepr...

In Part 2, Adaira shares how she and Resa shaped Micro Skills into a fast-impact, high-utility guide for early career professionals—and why it intentionally skips fluff in favor of action. She opens up about saying yes too often, burning out from “non-potable work,” and how she finally embraced what she calls JOMO—the joy of missing out. We also hear how they trimmed the book’s original title (“Ch...

Dr. Adaira Landry grew up in an under-resourced city, entered Berkeley at 16, and faced early career confusion without access to mentors or professional networks.  In Part 1, she shares the formative life moments that led her into emergency medicine—from stepping in to help save a man’s life on campus to surviving a painful burn injury alone. She also reflects on how mentorship found her late, how...

In Part 2, Resa explains why she and Adaira started their book MicroSkills with the most overlooked chapter: self-care. From emotional and civic health to better rest and boundaries, she unpacks how showing up well starts before you speak. She also shares practical tools for navigating hard moments—like having a failure buddy—and reveals why thoughtful email etiquette isn’t just about manners, but...

In Part 1, Dr. Resa Lewiss shares how growing up in Rhode Island, challenging gendered assumptions at home, and studying the liberal arts all shaped her path to medicine. She opens up about the moment emergency medicine clicked for her, and how her love for procedures and working with her hands helped her find her place in a specialty that sees everything, all at once. Key Highlights of Our Interv...

In the second half of their conversation, Edward J. van Luinen, Ed. D. and Tricia Cerrone reveal the system behind their decade-long collaboration—and the framework that became their book, Collaborate to Compete. But this isn’t just theory. It’s a Gen X playbook for how to lead, design, and scale collaboration that actually sticks. Grounded in five core behaviors—generosity, resourcefulness, co-cr...

Edward J. van Luinen, Ed. D. and Tricia Cerrone didn’t build a personal brand around collaboration—they lived one.  In this first of a two-part series, they reflect on the working relationship that began at Disney and slowly evolved into a business, a book, and a model for how Gen X builds enduring trust.  Forget quick team-building hacks and shallow LinkedIn takes—this is collaboration done the G...

John Gates has been on the inside of more salary negotiations than most of us will see in a lifetime—over 75,000 offers across industries and levels. From a scrappy upbringing in Oregon to global recruiting roles at Capital One and beyond, John learned how the game works. And now, he’s helping jobseekers stop lowballing themselves and start playing smarter.  In this episode, he debunks the biggest...

Jason Bloomfield didn’t learn change in an MBA program—he learned it through real life.  As a teenager, he became the de facto head of household. Now, as Global Head of People Change and Experience Design at Ericsson, he leads transformation across 180 countries. In this episode, Jason shares how active listening, design thinking, and human-first systems have helped him move organizations from dys...

In the second half of her conversation, Erika Ayers Badan—CEO of Food52, former CEO of Barstool Sports, board leader, media powerhouse, and author of _No One Cares About Your Career_—lets us behind the curtain.  From negotiating screen time as a kid to rewriting the rules as a high-profile executive, she reflects on how grit, autonomy, and unfiltered curiosity shaped everything—from her parenting...

Erika Ayers Badan isn’t here to polish the truth—she’s here to say it louder.  In this first of a two-part series, the current CEO of Food52 and former CEO of Barstool Sports breaks down the raw realities behind her debut book, No One Cares About Your Career. From writing on commuter trains to fielding hundreds of workplace questions a week, Erika shares why her advice hits different—because it’s...

Mark Bayer spent 20 years in the U.S. Congress shaping major policies and managing high-stakes communication for senior lawmakers.  In Part Two, Mark gets practical—breaking down the actual tools and mindset shifts PhDs need to thrive in the private sector. From his 11 Keys to Translating Complexity ( complexitymadeclear.com ) to why metaphors matter more than models, he shows how scientists can g...

Mark Bayer spent 20 years in the U.S. Congress shaping major policies and managing high-stakes communication for senior lawmakers.  In Part One, he reflects on what those years taught him about messaging, persuasion, and why most PhDs—despite their brilliance—struggle to translate their value. From Capitol Hill to Harvard Medical School, Mark now helps scientists and researchers communicate like i...

From facing seven years in prison at 17 to leading soldiers in Afghanistan, Jevon Wooden’s story is more than a redemption arc—it’s about owning your power the moment you realize you’ve still got one. In Part 1, Jevon, the author of "Functional to Phenomenal" and "Own Your Kingdom", opens up about growing up in one of America’s poorest cities, learning to survive, and ultimatel...

From facing seven years in prison at 17 to leading soldiers in Afghanistan, Jevon Wooden’s story is more than a redemption arc—it’s about owning your power the moment you realize you’ve still got one. In Part 1, Jevon, the author of "Functional to Phenomenal" and "Own Your Kingdom", opens up about growing up in one of America’s poorest cities, learning to survive, and ultimatel...

In Part 3 of this series, narrative strategist Chris Hare leaves us with a gift: the tools to take control of our own stories.  Whether it’s envisioning your future in a quiet theater, asking loved ones for feedback through a meaningful 360, or identifying the patterns that shaped your past, Chris’s methods are built for reflection and action. This isn’t productivity advice or LinkedIn bait—it’s p...

In Part 2 of his three-part series, narrative strategist Chris Hare shares the stories he used to survive.  From a near-suicidal season while working at Amazon to a healing moment years later in a record store, this episode unpacks how internal stories—if left unchecked—can become prisons. But when named, challenged, and re-authored, they can also become paths to freedom.  For Gen Xers who’ve spen...

In Part 1 of this three-part series, Chris Hare shares how a single founder story sparked a strategy pivot inside Amazon—and why storytelling isn’t fluff, it’s infrastructure.  As a behind-the-scenes strategist for some of tech’s biggest companies, Chris has spent decades shaping narratives that align people, purpose, and performance. But his real power lies in his Gen X sensibility: low drama, hi...

In Part 2 of her conversation, Sara Lobkovich doesn’t just tell us what strategy is—she shows us who it’s for.  Her book, You Are a Strategist , is more than a guide to OKRs or goal-setting. It’s a toolkit for people who’ve always felt misaligned, misunderstood, or mislabeled in traditional business environments. Drawing from her own experience as a trauma survivor, neurodivergent thinker, and lat...

Sara Lobkovich didn’t pivot to be edgy. She adapted because the system never fit—and she refused to shrink herself to match it.  In this first of a two-part series, Sara walks us through her nonlinear arc: from teen internet entrepreneur to lawyer, from burnout strategist to behavioral goal-setting expert. Along the way, she reveals how quiet defiance, early activism, and radical self-curiosity he...

In this second half of her story, Holly Bond comes full circle—returning to the recruiting world she once left behind, this time to rebuild it from the ground up. At Facets, she’s proving that scaling a business doesn’t require sacrificing soul. From her pay structure to her candidate experience to her team’s human-first process, Holly is quietly leading a revolution in executive search.  She also...