Take the Stage

Today on Take the Stage, we are shining the spotlight on Sam Ory. Sam started her career with a degree in Design from Parsons The New School For Design. Your read that right! So how did Sam parlay her fashion degree into a successful career in PE as founder and General Partner of Ouroboros Group? We touch on confidence, leveraging different professional experiences, and turning perceived "deficits...

Today on Take the Stage, we are shining the spotlight on Michelle Lewis. From a Fine Arts degree to Principal at The Capstreet Group, Michelle's career path is all but ordinary. We discuss how she was able to turn her non-traditional background into a career in PE and also touch on personal topics familiar to many working parents, such as "Mom guilt", family dynamics, and turning "being the only o...

Today on Take the Stage, we are shining a spotlight on Deana Morrow, whose impressive track-record spans 20 years of executive leadership, M&A, corporate development and investment banking experience. From a Physics and Aeronautical Engineering graduate to CEO of a gourmet food manufacturing company to Managing Director of an award-winning M&A consulting firm, Deana’s career path is fascin...

In today’s episode, we are shining a spotlight on Elisabeth Wadsworth. Elisabeth has spent the last 15 years working within finance, investment banking, hedge funds and PE. A true NYC powerhouse, Elisabeth discusses her non-traditional journey from political science major to high-impact board advisor. Beyond her exciting career journey, we cover entering the workforce amidst financial downturn, th...

Networking - It's an ever so important term that many feel a needlessly uncomfortable amount of dread towards. To many, the words “daunting,” “awkwardness” and “intimidating” also come to mind. Alexis chunks the process of networking down into manageable and simple mini-steps. She offers 4 pieces of advice that are simple for anyone to implement. These tips will help you to jumpstart your relation...

In this episode, we are shining the spotlight on Malia Funk, a second year associate at a Lower Middle Market firm. Malia's journey into PE started in Hawaii, traversed to OSU, and wound up in Manhattan. It’s much more complex than geographical change or happenstance. It’s purposeful. Methodical. Calculated. No paths are created equally and no two paths are the same. The traditional road to privat...

Today we are shining the spotlight on a true trailblazer in the tech and media scene. Cristina Garces is CEO and founder of Optiva Media, a niche engineering services company that delivers audio and video technology solutions across the entire digital TV and audio media market chain.  (0:31): Who is Optiva Media? Cristina provides the background. (1:43): A Women in Business 2020 Grant Thornto...

Today we'll be shining the spotlight on Sugata Jain, former Director of IE Business School's Startup Lab and currently a lady who rocks the male-dominated space that is venture capital and early stage startups. In this episode we cover several key topics including:  [13:59] Pain points when working with entrepreneurs   [16:40] Pain points of VCs/investors when sourcing business oppo...