Women with Cool Jobs

How do people make decisions? Is it based on facts, logic, emotions, or other factors? Jen Clinehens, a behavioral marketer, helps organizations large and small better understand the psychology and science behind customer decisions and opinions.  Jen has worked with brands like AT&T, McDonald's, Adidas, and Starbucks and is the Founder and Managing Director of Choice Hacking, a customer e...

It's back to school for kids and parents! It's a time of renewal, change, and getting back into a groove.  If you're a mom whose child has gone back to school and you're wondering about your next steps and if it's time to find full-time work,  it's essential to know about “returnships”. Returnships are an on-ramp for caregivers to get back into the workforce and find...

If there’s someone you want to connect with, whether for podcasting, networking, or to make a new friend, there are some easy steps you can follow to initiate the connection.  In this episode, I share my process and tips that I've learned over the past 3+ years for how I've been able to connect with some of the coolest people. From the beginning, I have had a really great success rate fo...

Dr. Nika Gueci is the inaugural Executive Director of ASU’s Center for Mindfulness, Compassion & Resilience where the mission is “to change the world into a more compassionate and inclusive place by creating a mindful, welcoming culture of caring and belonging." Learn about how Nika found a job that lights her up, where she can be authentically herself, and that enables her to be a leader...

What if you could leverage the WISDOM OF YOUR FUTURE SELF to guide your present choices? What would your older self say to your "young" self?    It's my birthday, and I'm reflecting! I'm going to be 39 this year, and it dawned on me that this is the last year of my 30s... a decade in which I've been growing a family, a podcast, a business.   It's the end of an er...

Are you considering a new career, but you're not sure how to figure out what to look for or what's next? Julie shares how to get more clarity on what you love and what you want for your career and life.  Better navigate career changes by understanding what lights you up and fulfills you, and on the flip side, what drains and stifles you. Not sure how? Start by taking the free Sparketype...

Lindsay Cordova, a site manager at UPS Integrad, is responsible for the overall operation of the McKinney, TX, facility that trains both new and experienced truck drivers who deliver and pick up UPS packages. The overarching goal of the training is to keep drivers and communities safe.   From overseeing the overall operations and logistics at the facility, to cultivating strong relationships with...

Karen Graci is a story editor working on an animated TV show at Disney Television Animation. As the story editor, she's the head of the writing department where she oversees the writers’ room, plus she works with the showrunners. In addition to editing, Karen also is actively writing. People often think of "grammar, punctuation, and spelling" when it comes to being an editor, but Ka...

Aastha Gaur is the Director of User Experience at Google. She leads the experience design team that transforms customer engagement with Artificial Intelligence (AI). Her team has 120 people who design what solutions should look like and how they should act; Google's largest business is advertisers. Aastha says that you don’t need a tech degree to be a successful female leader in tech.  She sa...

Anna Petchell is a woman with not just one, but many cool jobs, including as a Sport Outside Broadcast Camera Operator & Super Yacht Crew Career Coach. The steps she has taken were often seldom paved by women in fields traditionally done by men. As a Freelance Sport Outside Broadcast Camera Operator, she films the big outside sports events, such as football, rugby, tennis, Formula One, lacross...

Emily Soloby is on a mission to advocate for and support women — physically with her safety boot company, Juno Jones, and in general — by normalizing the idea of women in nontraditional fields. From a high schooler known for her boots to now creating her own footwear company, Emily's varied career path has always included helping women.   She’s the co-owner of AAA School of Trucking, a trade...

Alisha Fernandez Miranda is an expert and leader in corporate philanthropy and social impact (a former CEO and current chair of a consultancy) who helps large companies and organizations spend their money well and in a way that aligns with their mission and goals. On the flip side, she helps nonprofits successfully raise more money so they can further their mission and make a greater impact in the...

Karen Santucci is a veteran court reporter who is now the Director of the Court Reporting Program at Plaza College in Forest Hills, New York. Court reporters play an essential and required role in judicial proceedings, plus they do captioning work when requested in relation to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA.) It’s a cool way to get into the courtroom without being a lawyer or judge, or i...

Ayse Birsel is one of the world’s leading industrial designers. She's designed everything from kitchen gadgets, to toilets, office furniture, concept cars, and so much more. (You’ve probably held or sat on something she has designed for Miller Knoll, Target, TOTO, Toyota, or IKEA, among many others.) She's earned awesome nicknames: Queen of Toilets, Queen Bee (for offices), and Design Ev...

Pilar Flynn is a co-executive producer/showrunner at the Walt Disney Company where she's producing the animated TV series “Marvel’s Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur,” which is  based on Marvel's hit comic books. Pilar is involved in both the business side and the creative side of producing, which is rare. She's a Latina and mom of 2 girls that grew up in Chile and Ecuador. She dreamt of...

Do you feel like you did all the "right" things? You checked all the boxes. Maybe you got that degree. You have the experience. You got married. Or you had 2.5 kids. But despite all these "right" moves, does something still feel like it's missing, not aligned, or just plain wrong? Julie shares her story of how she thought she was going the "right" direction, a bi...

Understanding your ability vs. your capacity can empower you to live a sparked life. You're living now with your current abilities that are based off everything you've done and the person you've been up to this point. Your capacity is what you are capable of doing and who you are capable of being in the future. Your capacity is infinite, which means you have the power to explore who...

This episode includes Julie's best tips and tricks for how to start or join a conversation--whether you need them for holiday gatherings or networking events. The tips Julie shares are actionable and can be used right away in a variety of settings and under many circumstances. It can be intimidating to walk into a room in a new setting, especially if you know no one or where you don't re...

Kristyn Plancarte is a marine biologist and animal behavior expert with more than a decade of experience. She has worked with marine mammals like sea otters, sea lions, walruses, false killer wales, African penguins, and beluga whales. She ensures their health and welfare; trains them to perform specific actions like doing eye drops, giving a blood sample, or spraying the audience with water; and...

Rebecca Ryan is a noted top 50 professional futurist, economist, best-selling author and entrepreneur.  She helps organizations consider multiple plausible futures , not just one! She tracks trends and figures out what the future is likely going to be and how we could be ready for the future.  Many organizations create future-facing plans that are actually based on the past. Strategic foresight he...

If someone would've shared that there was an opportunity to be part of a podcast interviewing women who had unique, trailblazing, and innovative careers -- I wouldn't have applied. I literally didn't even know what a podcast was, nor did I know how to listen to one. Fast forward, and I not only started that podcast, I've been doing it  and releasing an episode every other Wedne...

Michele Galloway is the Automotive Fleet Manager at UPS (United Parcel Service) for the entire state of Utah. She runs the department that maintains and fixes all the UPS vehicles for the state.  She’s breaking ground for women in the automotive field, as she is the only female UPS Automotive Manager in the Western half of the United States. (Note: It's not because UPS doesn’t hire women, but...

Heather Maio-Smith is a visionary who had this beautiful goal of letting the children and adults of tomorrow be able to interact with and learn from those who came before them. She is the Chief Visionary Officer, Co-Founder, and President of StoryFile, which uses incredible video technology combined with artificial intelligence to support a 2- way conversation.  Instead of traditional one-way vide...

Kids love to try new personas and experiment with how it makes them feel. First, she’ll try on a lab coat and pretend to be a vet helping sick animals. Five minutes later, she’ll change into a  tutu and dance and wiggle around the room. There’s a permission here in this process to try on how different scenarios, skills, and characteristics make us feel. We can ask: Do we enjoy it and does it make...

Here's a quick tutorial (& tips) for how to get clear on what sparks you and lights you up!  Not sure what kind of cool job you want, but you know what you're doing now isn't cutting it? Like it totally doesn’t feel aligned? Or you're bored and need more of something, you just don't know what that something is or how to figure it out? Maybe you're asking yourself...