Women with Cool Jobs

How can informational interviews help you find a cool job? An informational interview is an informal chat (like a chat over coffee) that you can have with someone who has a really cool job. This is one of the best, (basically) FREE methods to find out the nitty-gritty details of a job that interests you from a woman who is doing it right now. Find out if you'll love it or if it's actuall...

Shera Walker is a master electrician and a handywoman who is breaking down stereotypes and creating a life that balances work, family, and fun. She has done both commercial and residential work as an electrician and now has her own handywoman business  called “Mizz-Fix-It”  based in Gainesville, FL.  Shera apprenticed in high school under a master electrician after winning a statewide wiring compe...

Amy Elliott is an Additive Manufacturing Scientist (aka 3D Printing Scientist) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory where she researches 3D printing as an energy-efficient manufacturing method.   These aren't your hobbyist 3D printers. These are hundreds of thousands, if not million, dollar machines that create metals, ceramics, and very large plastics. Oak Ridge National Laboratory is THE epicen...

As the Chief Community Officer at Commsor, Alex Angel is a community-management expert for online environments. She manages a community of community managers. Accordingly, she helps define best practices and guidelines for her entire industry along with industry colleagues (who are part of her community.) Alex previously worked at Reddit and Nike, and did community management consulting. Community...

Myria Perez is a Fossil Preparator (aka paleontologist) at the Perot Museum of Nature and Science in Dallas, Texas. She reconstructs the Earth’s history by carefully unearthing each new fossil and then puts these prehistoric dinosaur puzzle pieces back together. Myria fell in love with dinosaurs as a little girl and started volunteering at 12 years old. She has worked with and been mentored by som...

Excavator,  Dozer, Loader, Grader, Rock truck. What's it like to be a heavy equipment operator sitting in the cab of a giant machine where the tires are as big as you? Sam Inskip is a Heavy Equipment Operator in rural Yukon, Canada (which is super far north, next to Alaska.) She has operated more than 10 types of equipment in many different environments: in civil work, gold mining, large eart...

As luck (or fate) would have it, Julie Berman created her own cool job by starting the "Women with Cool Jobs" podcast in Oct. 2020. After a thought kept coming back to her about how cool it would be to learn more about inspirational women with cool jobs, she decided to create a podcast. She had never listened to a podcast and didn't even know where the podcast app icon was on her iP...

Tami Forman is the Executive Director of Path Forward , a nonprofit organization that creates mid-career returnships to help caregivers return to full-time work. "Returnships" provide an on-ramp for individuals (often women) who are ready to return to full-time work after taking a break to care for loved ones. Whether it’s been 5 years or 15 years, getting back into the workforce after b...

Erin Hernandez-Reisner's start in the photography world was unexpected-- she thought she'd be an actress. Instead, her ex-husband's dad handed her a camera to support him going to law school. From the beginning, her natural skill combined with her deep understanding of the beauty and imperfections of life are what make her an incredibly talented and sought-after artist. Erin  create...

Latin American mompreneur Marjorie Spitalnik created award-winning plush dolls after realizing that her daughter's textbooks didn't feature enough female role models for kids to look up to, and she wanted to change that. As a result, Little Rebels includes a line of interactive, plush dolls that educate kids about iconic women such as Marie Curie, Amelia Earhart, Malala Yousafzai, and Ma...

Carly Leisk is a cheesemonger, a merchant who specializes in cheese. As Carly points out, most delicious foods have one thing in common: cheese! Pizza, mac n' cheese, grilled cheese, fondue, nachos... Its ability to be transformed from a comfort food, to a simple meal, to a decadent experience is magical. Carly shares that while she went to NYC to become an actress, she ended up realizing tha...

Smokejumper, Madison Whittemore, jumps out of airplanes and walks towards danger to put out wildland fires across the United States.  As a smokejumper, she is among an elite crew of highly skilled wildland firefighters. Along with her colleagues, she jumps out of an airplane in 100 lbs. of gear, parachutes down to the ground, and then heads towards the fire. Madison is the epitome of a strong, dri...

Cassandra Bankson is a skinfluencer, medical aesthetician,  and entrepreneur with more than 10 years of experience as a skincare expert. She runs a YouTube channel where her content, skincare advice, and acne story inspire over 10 million viewers every month. She also has a social media following of more than 2 million people online.   Cassandra is a pro at explaining incredibly complex concepts,...

Nan Ponting had an exceptional career in the field of clinical laboratory medicine and is now retired. She started as a Medical Technologist working in a hospital clinical laboratory and ended her career as the Associate Vice President of Program Management (reporting to the Chief Scientific Officer) of one of the two largest clinical laboratories in the United States. Over her 40-year career, she...

Lori Erickson is the Vice President of Casting at CBS Studios where she oversees the casting process for shows across several broadcast and streaming platforms. She currently oversees SWAT, MacGyver, NCIS, NCIS: LA, The Equalizer and Unicorn on CBS, Diary of a Future President on Disney+, and The Moodys on FOX. Plus, she is also working on some pilots. Her responsibilities include: scouting for ta...

Rosie Chhun, an LA-based calligrapher and owner of Wander Crafter , has collaborated with luxury brands (such as Jay-Z, Netflix, Neiman Marcus, and Nordstrom’s) in addition to small organizations and individuals.  After truly defining her niche in 2020 ( engraving luxury perfume bottles and high-end lipsticks), she plans to make this her full-time career in 2021.   Rosie first turned to calligraph...

Compilation Inspiration --Amazing past guests share tips, insights, and experiences on how to:  Grow your confidence,  Own your awesomeness,  Embrace imperfection, and  Accept that not having ALL the answers is ok.  My 2021 challenges for you: You are NOT an imposter!!! Imposters are purposely deceitful .  That is not you. Challenge 1: Please stop using the term "imposter syndrome" to de...

Gelie Akhenblit started growing communities before it was cool and is an expert at teaching small business owners and solopreneurs how to build authentic relationships that lead to trust and, ultimately, to business growth. She founded Networking Phoenix , the largest networking community in Phoenix, AZ, which has over 40,000 members.   While she started out by growing a community through in-perso...

Jessica Henderson, the owner of Chocolate Monkey , is a craft chocolate educator with a passion for helping people understand the difference between the chocolate you buy at the local grocery store versus fine, carefully-made craft chocolate. In addition to the very enjoyable part of tasting craft chocolates, Jessica enjoys sharing information on the entire process of how chocolate bars are create...

Judaline Cassidy is a New York City plumber, tradeswoman, activist, podcast host, motivational speaker, and the founder of the nonprofit Tools and Tiaras, Inc. She has been featured on the Drew Barrymore Show, as a CNN Champion for Change, on Mike Holmes "Holmes at Home", and more. Judaline has worked on everything from new construction in 80- and 90-story buildings to now working as a C...

Lina Bearat designs freeways, analyzes crash data to implement safety improvements, coordinates traffic signals to get you from A to B faster--in sum, she's a transportation rock star. Lina is a transportation engineer and project manager for a large engineering consulting firm where she loves to mentor other women to help them reach career goals.  She started at the firm right after undergra...

Carol Sankar is the founder of The Confidence Factor for Women . Carol shares actionable techniques every woman can use to increase her confidence and become more successful. She went from being the shyest girl in the room to being able to speak in front of audiences of 20,000 people as the keynote. She has been featured on the TODAY Show, Steve Harvey, TEDx, and has been featured in Forbes, Essen...

Marita Cheng is a robot-building entreprenuer and a passionate advocate for women in technology. We discover how each step of her journey has led to her current company, Aubot , which creates telepresence robots. Marita is an Australian woman who started dreaming big as a tech entrepreneur at the age of 18 and wanted to build robots. She was inducted as the youngest Member of the Order of Australi...

Welcome to "Women with Cool Jobs"! I'm your host, Julie, and together we're going to explore what we don't know we don't know. We're going to learn from rock-star women with unique, trailblazing, and innovative careers. We'll discuss where she is today, how she got here, and actionable steps you can take if you want to go on a similar path or one that's...

Tiana Kamen created the nonprofit Farm to Keiki , which offers preschool curriculum along with a gorgeous book to teach young children in Hawaii the joys of nature, growing food, and eating healthy. She was an early pioneer in Hawaii and was recognized by Michelle Obama's Let's Move! initiative for her leadership in the Farm to Early Childcare and Education movement.  Her passion for ens...