Making It with Jess Ekstrom

Recorded on location in Austin, Texas, Jess catches up with long-time friend Jessica Honegger, the visionary founder of Noonday Collection. Jessica shares the raw, inspiring origin story of how she pawned her grandmother’s gold jewelry to build a website and launched Noonday as a simple fundraiser to finance her son's adoption from Rwanda. After scaling Noonday into an explosive powerhouse and one...

In this special live episode of Making It with Jess Ekstrom , recorded in front of a live audience at Mic Drop Live, Jess sits down with Allyson Felix, the most decorated track and field athlete of all time. While her medal count is legendary, her true legacy lies in her resilience off the track. Allyson opens up about her bold decision to train for the LA 2028 Olympics at age 40, defying societal...

Have you ever hit the thing you were chasing — the milestone, the launch, the moment — and felt the goalpost immediately move? Have you ever wondered if ambition itself could be both the engine and the thief? This episode is a live one. Jess is in New York City at Argent's flagship store for the launch of her new book Making It Without Losing It — officially a USA Today bestseller — and she's in c...

Have you ever held onto an idea so tightly — workshopping it, perfecting it, protecting it — that you never actually put it out into the world? Have you ever wondered if the path to finding your voice is less about getting it right and more about just getting it out ? Selena Rezvani didn't get to where she is by waiting for an invitation. She got there by writing a typewriter-typed appeal letter t...

Have you ever realized that the person who shaped you most never once thought of themselves as remarkable? Have you ever sat down with someone you've known your whole life — and learned something that changed everything? This episode is a little different. Today's guest isn't a founder or a bestselling author or a keynote speaker. She's something harder to find and harder to hold onto. She's Lauri...

Have you ever realized, only after it was too late, that a person was one of the most important ones in your life? Have you ever found something life-changing somewhere you never thought to look? This episode is a story Jess has been sitting with for almost five years. Not because it isn't important — but because she didn't yet have the language for what it changed in her. It's about a $20-a-night...

Have you ever made a choice that felt completely right to you — but everyone around you thought you were giving up? Have you ever wondered if slowing down and leaning in could actually be the same move? Neha Ruch was fresh out of Stanford Business School, climbing fast, and checking every box the Lean In era told her to check. Then she had her son on New Year's Day 2016 — and in the fog of new mot...

Have you ever started something just to make people happy — and accidentally built a business? Have you ever landed your biggest dream moment (hi, Oprah) and found yourself on the other end of it crying... because the crates broke? Marissa Allen knows both sides of that coin intimately. She didn't set out to be a founder. She was an NFL wife, a former college soccer player, a stay-at-home mom of t...

We spend our entire lives avoiding "goodbye." We trade Instagram handles, promise to "catch up soon," and say "until next time"—all to protect ourselves from the discomfort of a finished chapter. But what happens when you lean into the finality instead? In this reflective solo episode, Jess Ekstrom breaks down a chance encounter at a Colorado campground that changed her entire perspective on prese...

Have you ever had a dream job—the kind people tell you is the "coolest job in the world"—only to realize that your identity has become so wrapped up in it that you don’t know who you are without the title? How do you walk away from a legacy to build something entirely your own? Welcome to Making It with Jess Ekstrom . This week, Jess sits down with Lindsay Shookus , the legendary former producer a...

Have you ever felt like you had to mute your personality, change your style, or "fit the mold" just to be taken seriously in business? What if the very things people told you to tone down were actually your greatest superpowers for building a $100M empire? Welcome to the premiere episode of Making It with Jess Ekstrom . This week, Jess sits down with Anne Mahlum , the visionary founder of [Solidco...

What if an algorithm could perfectly articulate the unfair advantages men have in business, and what if that knowledge was the catalyst you needed to completely change your career? In the season finale on Amplify, Jess sits down with LauraAura , host of the wildly popular Gutsy Podcast and an acclaimed speaker. Laura shares the moment a Taylor Swift song drove her to ask ChatGPT a provocative ques...

The world is constantly in a state of chaos—from an unexpected crisis at work to the personal high stakes of having a baby during a global pandemic. How do you find the calm confidence needed to navigate those moments when you feel most exposed? This week on Amplify, Jess sits down with Caitlin Gardner, a veteran crisis communications expert who is the founder of Blooming Communications. Caitlin's...

Have you ever confused a bigger salary with a richer life? What if the key to getting what you truly want isn’t a better tactic, but a deeper understanding of your own values?  In this Amplify episode, Jess sits down with negotiation expert Kathryn Valentine , a former McKinsey consultant with an impressive background featured in Harvard Business Review and The Wall Street Journal. Kathryn's journ...

Have you ever questioned if you should quit your career to focus on family, only to realize that constant self-doubt is draining energy you could use elsewhere? What if continuing to work is not just a financial necessity, but a vital investment in your own identity? This week on Amplify, Jess sits down with Hazel Sy , a Fortune 500 executive, board member, and powerful advocate for working parent...

Have you ever secretly loved being underestimated? That feeling of having nothing to lose and everything to prove. But what happens when you start to succeed, and that pressure of being watched threatens to sabotage your progress? This week on Amplify, Jess sits down with her dear friend, author, and speaker Mary Marantz , whose new book Underestimated explores how to break free from the fears tha...

Amy Porterfield really wanted freedom, flexibility, and autonomy in her career. She entered the digital course industry, which allowed her to work from home while still making money. Starting small, her first course made just $267, but she pulled in over $100 million in revenue through tweaks and relaunches. How did she do it?  How can you leverage digital courses to balance work and family life a...

Have you ever felt like you're not what meets the eye, with a deep, complex backstory hidden behind a seemingly successful exterior? What if the most difficult parts of your past, the ones you tried to escape, are actually the secret ingredients to your greatest triumphs and your most powerful message? This week on Amplify, Jess sits down with Adam Tanaka, a founder and speaker who has built and s...

Have you ever felt completely lost in your career, only to find that your most challenging experiences became your greatest assets? And how can AI, often seen as a threat to creativity, actually unlock your most authentic stories? This week on Amplify, Jess sits down with Patrice Poltzer, co-founder of My Story Pro AI, a storytelling and AI strategist, and a former award-winning producer for The T...

Do you sometimes feel like your creative well has run dry? In a world increasingly dominated by AI and efficiency, how do we protect and cultivate our unique human spark? This week on Amplify, Jess sits down with Natalie Nixon, PhD, a renowned creativity expert, innovation strategist, and author, famously dubbed the "Creativity Whisperer to the C-Suite." Natalie shares profound insights on how to...

Are you tired of feeling like you have to be inauthentic to be liked? Do you struggle with setting boundaries and advocating for yourself, fearing it might damage your relationships? This week on Amplify, Jess sits down with her dear friend, Kwame Christian, a top-booked negotiation keynote speaker and host of the #1 podcast, Negotiate Anything .  Kwame shares a deeply personal and formative child...

 I recently had the opportunity to step onto the red dot at TEDx Sugar Creek Women, and I was surrounded by so many amazing speakers. For eight years, I've been refining my thoughts on public speaking, and it really just all culminated in this eight minute talk - The Secret to Great Public Speaking (No, It's Not Confidence).  Here's a sneak peek, and for the full video, go to https://www.youtube.c...

Are you struggling to maintain relationships with people you love, even when you disagree on fundamental issues? This week on Amplify, Jess sits down with her good friend, Brit Barron, a speaker, DEI consultant, and author of Do You Still Talk to Grandma?   Brit's work offers a much-needed guide for navigating the increasingly polarized world we live in, helping us find common ground and connectio...

Are you constantly feeling overwhelmed by the endless "shoulds" and unsolicited advice coming your way? This week on Amplify, Jess sits down with her good friend, Dr. Sarah Glova, a keynote speaker, writer, researcher, and unapologetic truth-teller. Her viral talk, "Stop Giving Women Advice," is backed by science, and when Jess saw the title, she knew she had to have her on the show. Sarah thoroug...