Kind of a Big Deal

What does it actually look like to build a life around your truest gifts - not because someone gave you permission, but because you finally stopped waiting for it? Brett Blackburn has been doing exactly that for over 20 years. As a psychic intuitive, channel, Reiki master, and creator of Inspired Light, Brett helps people remove the blockages, limiting beliefs, and inherited programming that have...

What if the clearest leadership lessons don't come from decades in the corner office, but from paying close attention while you're still early in the climb? Savannah graduated into the pandemic with no real plan, found her way into chamber work almost by accident, and has spent the years since becoming the kind of person everyone in the room trusts - wise well beyond her years, with a st...

What does it actually take to build a life and a business that are actually yours, not just impressive on paper? Jen Baxter has rebuilt her career three times: eight years in health insurance, a job in book publishing that ended on a Zoom call, and now her own business helping nonfiction authors build their audience on Substack.  Along the way she's had to figure out what stability even means...

What does it look like to leave a 20-year career not because you have to, but because you finally recognize you're ready? Angeliki is an MD-PhD with 35 years in medicine, the last two decades at Pfizer as a molecular medicine and pathology specialist. She was building AI-powered cancer prediction tools twenty years before "AI" became a buzzword, holds international patents with over...

What if you could build a business that refuses to choose between making money and making a difference - and that treats the people you serve like the full human beings they are? Melissa Camilleri is the co-founder of Stand for the And, an education company that supports people to develop, launch, and facilitate scalable learning experiences with their IP. Their both/and philosophy isn't just...

What does it look like to build a career at the intersection of tech, business, and people - and realize, looking back, that it was always going to end up here? Noa Barak is a tech customer and go-to-market enablement and growth advisor who has spent her career doing the work most people don't see - building the infrastructure that helps companies scale without falling apart.  She's work...

What does it actually look like to build something before anyone is paying attention? Molly started with a personal blog, written to process her own life. For months, nothing happened. No readers, no traction, just blind faith and a lot of content that never saw the light of day. Then one post went viral. An NBC reporter found a completely different post. And suddenly the Today Show came calling....

For 25 years, Tamika built something extraordinary. Eight years as lead nail tech at the iconic Claremont Hotel and Spa. Seventeen more running her own salon. Clean books, 45,000 manicures and pedicures by her own count, a product line with clients like Facebook and Amazon, and yes - even Steph Curry's very first manicure. And through all of it, she never once called herself an entrepreneur....

Some people's stories stop you in your tracks. Gina's is one of them. She came to the US at 18 from Venezuela with $300 in her pocket, a toddler by her side, not a word of English. She built a career in retail from the ground up, eventually leading a team of 600 at Victoria's Secret in New York City. She navigated breast cancer. She became an executive coach and keynote speaker. And...

Some people move through their careers searching for the thread that connects it all. Genevieve Levy found hers - two weeks before we sat down to record. I've known Genevieve for a decade. We met through our kids, - sidelines, carpool, the general beautiful chaos of raising children in a community you love. She's been Coach G to my daughter for years, and watching her show up in that rol...

What do you do when the organization you've given everything to - the one you helped build from the inside out - is suddenly gone? Nurit Siegel Smith spent 25 years building a career at the intersection of arts, culture, and social impact. As Executive Director of Music Forward Foundation, she helped 20,000 young people across the country find pathways into the music industry, including build...

What happens when you spend decades achieving everything you were supposed to want - only to realize it fits like an itchy sweater? In this episode, I sit down with Ariana, co-founder and managing partner of Flight Design Co. and co-founder of Kindredly. What I love most about her story isn't what's on her resume. It's what lives underneath it. She's a poet, a photographer, a f...

What does it look like to stay completely, unapologetically yourself - across every job, every pivot, every industry? In this episode, I sit down with my ride-or-die bestie Vanessa — creative director, UX designer, co-founder, freelancer, fine artist, and one of the most genuinely creative people I've ever known.  We go all the way back to the corners of an art school painting lab, survived a...

What do you do when the career you need doesn't exist yet? In this episode, I sit down with Lindsay Green Barber, founder of Impact Architects - a research and strategy firm helping journalism, media, and philanthropy organizations measure what actually matters.  Lindsay's path here was anything but straight: a PhD, two years of fieldwork in Ecuador, a postdoc fellowship, and a skillset...

What happens when the life you built… stops feeling like your own? In this episode, I sit down with Shayne Corriea, who spent over a decade building a successful financial advisory business—only to reach a breaking point where her health, energy, and sense of self were completely depleted. What followed wasn’t a simple pivot. It involved burnout, a full identity reset, and the difficult decision t...

What if storytelling isn’t just how you communicate your work - but how you create impact and shape the legacy you leave behind? Join me as I sit down with Tamiko Heim, a leader working at the intersection of community, government, systems, and real human impact. Tamiko’s perspective on storytelling goes far beyond messaging. For her, it’s how people make sense of the work, how communities connect...

What if the most important part of leadership isn’t what you say or do - but how you see people? Join me as I sit down with Jackie Kendricks, Director of Education at Roberts Family Development Center, who has spent years working alongside children, families, and young adults in community. Jackie’s path into this work began in education, but it deepened as she stepped into nonprofit and community-...

“Engagement is the metric of whether people actually care.” Join me as I sit down with Simone Aponte, VP News Director at KTVU, who has spent her career inside newsrooms - from writing scripts at 3:00 AM to leading teams shaping how communities receive and understand information. Simone has seen the media landscape shift in real time - not just in how news is produced, but in how trust is built, h...

What if the biggest factor shaping your leadership isn’t strategy, experience, or authority - but the emotional energy you bring into the room? Join me as I sit down with communication and leadership expert Beth Wonson, who has spent more than 15 years helping organizations and leaders navigate difficult conversations, workplace conflict, and the emotional dynamics that show up whenever humans wor...

Join me as I sit down with strategic consultant Kyla Bryant, whose work centers on leadership, workforce development, and helping organizations build people-first systems. Kyla’s leadership philosophy started on prom day at a cosmetology school when she raised her hand to organize a chaotic situation she hadn’t been trained for. That moment became the foundation for a mindset she still carries tod...

Join me as I sit down with Shonna Shearson, President and CEO of First U.S. Community Credit Union, whose leadership journey is anything but a straight line. Shonna began her career thinking she might become a teacher, eventually moving into training and development before discovering the cooperative world of credit unions - an industry rooted in community, financial empowerment, and collective im...

Join me as I sit down with psychologist and leadership development consultant Dr. Christina Pate, whose work explores the intersection of human behavior, organizational culture, and sustainable performance. Christina’s path into this work began with her own experience of burnout - not as something to push through, but as information that something deeper was misaligned. Since then, she has focused...

What happens when the company you helped build disappears - and you’re left rebuilding your identity in real time? Join me as I sit down with Michelle Skoor - former colleague, executive teammate, and one of the most grounded leaders I know. We worked side-by-side inside a fast-scaling, venture-backed social impact tech company that ultimately imploded. What followed wasn’t just professional trans...

What would you do if the thing you built your identity around vanished overnight? Join me as I sit down with Channelle Charest - a former executive at a rapidly scaling, venture-backed tech company that imploded almost overnight. What followed wasn’t just a career shift. It was an identity reckoning. Channelle and I shared that experience from the inside. We were leaders. We were deeply invested....

What if the pressure to “have a plan” is the very thing keeping you stuck? Join me as I sit down with Celeste Gutierrez - a recent graduate who thought she had her path mapped out, until she realized (just one month before finishing) that it no longer fit. Instead of forcing clarity, she chose exploration. What makes this conversation powerful isn’t just her age - it’s her approach. Celeste is nav...