Leaders Lane™

You know you need to be visible — to share your ideas, your expertise, your story — but fear creeps in. What if I’m judged? What if I’m not ready? What if no one cares? Episode 150 marks a milestone — and a conversation every leader needs to hear. In this special episode of Leaders Lane , Carlii Lyon , a global leader in personal branding, pulls back the curtain on what it really takes to show up...

Struggling to speak with confidence in high-stakes moments? Want to lead meetings, conversations — even your career — with more influence and clarity? In this episode of Leaders Lane , I speak with Dr. Laura Sicola , a global expert in leadership communication and executive presence. Whether you're leading a team, pitching an idea, or stepping into the next level of your career, how you show u...

In this episode of Leaders Lane , I sit down with Genevieve Piturro — a woman who walked away from a high-powered TV marketing career and found her true purpose in pajamas. After a life-changing moment and a quiet question from within — “If this is the next 30 years of your life... is this enough?” — Genevieve left corporate life behind to found the Pajama Program , a nonprofit delivering pajamas...

From fighter jets to AI-powered learning — and the loss that changed everything. What do survival training, business culture, and AI have in common? That’s what I explored with Mike Thompson — a former military trainer, now CEO of one of America’s fastest-growing companies. Mike’s story is extraordinary. He began in advertising. Trained teams in survival with the Air Force. Became a pilot. Built a...

What if your boredom was the key to your next big idea? I spoke to a man who’s stood on volcanoes, fought for patents, and invented a device that’s saved lives at sea. Dr. Robert Yonover is a volcanologist, geochemist — and accidental entrepreneur. But his most powerful tool isn’t tech. It’s creativity. You see, he didn’t invent ocean rescue tech because he wanted to be famous. He did it because h...

Picture this: You're crushing it in business. Your leadership skills are on point. You're the person everyone comes to when sh*t hits the fan.  Then your phone rings with news that changes everything—and suddenly, you're the one who needs to lead yourself through the unthinkable. That's exactly what happened to executive coach Joelle Kaufman.  One minute she's teaching CEOs how to handle their wor...

Phil Portman had the six-figure job. The respect. The routine. But somewhere between morning meetings and endless emails, he realised: He was succeeding at a life he didn’t want. In this episode, we dig into what no one talks about: How success—when misaligned—can be its own kind of failure. We talk about: The identity crisis that hit after Phil “made it” Why building a business just to escape a j...

I didn’t expect a conversation about submarines to change how I think about leadership — but that’s exactly what happened. Matt DiGeronimo spent years submerged beneath the surface as a nucle ar submarine officer in the US Navy. Tight quarters. High stakes. Zero room for ego. Now, he brings that same level of clarity and pressure-tested insight into his work as a writer, executive, and leadership...

I invited branding expert Versaviya Despars onto Leaders Lane because she’s one of the few creatives who doesn’t just make things look good —she makes them work .  Her story starts where many of ours do: with rejection. She didn’t land her dream job. So she built her own studio instead. We talked about that pivotal moment, and how it taught her the most important skill in branding: saying one clea...

What if your biggest wins don’t follow the timeline you imagined? In this episode of Leaders Lane , I chat with Connor Treacy — a cultural strategist and entrepreneur whose story proves that success rarely shows up on schedule, but often in ways you never saw coming. At just 19, Connor orchestrated a “Project X”–style party that caught national media attention — a wild event that became the launch...

What happens when the business takes off faster than you expected —but the weight of success feels just as heavy as failure? In this episode of Leaders Lane , I chat with Mia Plecic , founder of Slick Hair , whose viral growth story during the pandemic made headlines… but what followed rarely gets talked about. Mia built a beauty brand in lockdown, scaled it through TikTok, landed in retail stores...

When I sat down with Larry Namer , co-founder of E! Entertainment Television , I didn’t expect to walk away with a masterclass in reinvention, resilience, and real leadership. Larry grew up in Coney Island , fixing cables and dreaming big—but he didn’t just climb the ladder. He rebuilt the whole thing. This is the story of how a kid from Brooklyn helped launch one of the most iconic media brands i...

What happens when your identity is so wrapped up in your job title… and then everything shift s? In this episode of Leaders Lane , I chat with Melissa Cohen, who left behind a high-flying fashion career and found herself rebuilding from scratch—on LinkedIn of all places. We dive into: Why your headline really matters The balance between being personal and professional online How commenting (yes, c...

Building Better: How Lil McAvaney is Changing the Clean Beauty Game. What happens when you stop waiting for perfect conditions—and just start? In this episode of Leaders Lane , I chat with Lil McAvaney, founder of Summer Skin , a clean and conscious self-tanning and skincare brand rewriting the rules of beauty. Lil shares the raw, behind-the-scenes reality of bringing products to life—from spendin...

What do elevator sales, the United Nations, and authentic leadership have in common? In this episode of Leaders Lane , I sit down with Erin Herman—keynote speaker, consultant, and all-round powerhouse—to explore the often messy, yet incredibly human side of leadership. We talk about what happens when we ditch perfection, lean into resistance (instead of running from it), and start leading with pur...

When was the last time you looked around your home or office and wondered: Is this space supporting the life I want? In this episode, I sit down with Award Winning Feng Shui master and author Jane Langof—who traded in accounting ledgers for energy maps—and now helps people design lives that feel as good as they look. Jane’s approach to Feng Shui is practical, powerful, and refreshingly modern. Whe...

What if the root cause of every leadership hurdle wasn’t a lack of strategy, structure, or skill—but something much deeper? Did you know connection makes it impossible to fight? In this mind-expanding conversation, I sit down with Dr. Ravi Iyer — Harvard-trained physician-scientist, author, inventor, 3x TEDx speaker, and one of the Top Doctors of America . With a 42-year career spanning medicine,...

Somewhere along the way, we started believing that if your business isn’t growing fast, hiring like crazy, or chasing investment... it’s failing. But what if building a small, values-driven brand that supports your life—not consumes it—is the real flex? In Episode 133 of Leaders Lane , I sat down with Briony Kennedy , founder of Adorn Cosmetics , who’s built a sustainable beauty brand by staying t...

This week, I sat down with Jingjing Liu, a powerhouse leader who went from thriving in the male-dominated automotive industry to founding Zazazoo , Asia’s first sexual well-being hub. And now, co-founding The Elevate Group. Her journey is one of bold transformation—stepping away from a traditional corporate path to tackle one of society’s most taboo topics: female pleasure and confidence. But this...

This week on Leaders Lane, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Josh Perry, a former X-Games athlete who’s faced more adversity than most of us could imagine. After being diagnosed with multiple brain tumours and battling through years of physical and mental challenges, Josh became a performance coach and speaker with a unique perspective.  We talk about how fear is just a thought that can be r...

Ever felt stuck, waiting for motivation to strike before you take action? In this episode, Angela Davies,  shares why that approach doesn’t work—and what to do instead.  As the Founder of Mind Your Grit, and an experienced keynote speaker and workplace wellbeing expert for 16 years — Ange opens up about her journey from corporate leadership to wellbeing expertise, shaped by personal challenges lik...

In this episode, I dive into how you can transform everyday moments into engaging leadership content. Because let’s be real—nobody wants to read another dry, step-by-step guide. The best content? It’s human, relatable, and fun. I share some personal stories (because, of course, I practice what I preach) and break down why storytelling is the secret sauce to creating content that actually resonates...

What do elite traders, CEOs, and top executives do when self-doubt creeps in? They call Dr. Kim Granland. A Peak Performance Psychologist with over 20 years of coaching experience, Dr. Kim helps high achievers strengthen their mindset, build resilience, and push beyond limitations. With a background in banking at Barclays, Westpac, and NatWest Markets, she understands the high-stakes world of busi...

Episode 127: The Courage to Be Fully You: Cathy Heller on Authenticity & Abundance In this powerful episode, Monica sits down with Cathy Heller , a top podcaster, best-selling author, and coach who has helped millions unlock their potential. As the host of The Cathy Heller Podcast (formerly Don’t Keep Your Day Job ), she has amassed over 45 million downloads , inspiring listeners to embrace their...

What happens when you scale businesses from zero to $100M, lose a few along the way, and realise that small businesses are getting left behind? You build something to change that. In this episode, Mick Spencer —entrepreneur, investor, and bestselling author—gets real about the highs and lows of business. He shares why urgency is a double-edged sword, how the best leaders take full accountability,...