School for Startups Radio

March 25, 2024 - Top 2% of the Best Designers Johnathan Grzybowski and ID Partner Rod Boothby

Johnathan Grzybowski – CMO and Co-Founder of Penji
Be damn good and ask for reviews! To date, we are the number one ratedgraphic design company next to Canva in the world.
Johnathan Grzybowski is the CMO and co-founder of Penji. Penji is a platform that gives you on-demand access to the top 2% of the best designers in the world. As a SaaS, we focus on different kinds of marketing strategies, streamlined leadership, and top-of-the-line service for our customers to effectively grow our company. Johnathan has been eager to share his success story and we found your podcast to be a perfect fit. After experiencing firsthand how difficult it was to find talented graphic designers for his business, Johnathan and his co-founder Khai launched Penji in 2017. Their goal was to provide an innovative solution by making essential tools and resources more accessible and affordable for entrepreneurs, business owners, and leaders. Penji has been named as “top startup to watch” according to Philadelphia Magazine and mentioned in major publications like Success Magazine, Huffington Post, Forbes, and Inc. Prior to Penji, Johnathan founded multiple marketing-related startups and worked for Apple. Johnathan is also the host of Blind Entrepreneurship, a podcast that has been mentioned as a top business podcast on Apple Podcasts and downloaded over 100,000 times. His mission with his podcast and business is to empower the next generation of entrepreneurs so they too can execute their vision to profitability.Rod Boothby – CEO of IDPartner
Proving who you are online and in social media is a great way to getrid of a lot fraud, misinformation, exploitation, all of these things, justby simply knowing someone is a real person and who they claim to be.
Rod Boothby is CEO of IDPartner, a company he co-founded in 2021 to establish a user-controlled, global marketplace for identity verification that enables people to thrive online. Rod is an accomplished entrepreneur and business leader with over 20 years of experience at the intersection of economics, finance and technology. His extensive experience in the technology industry includes co-founding npm, Inc, where he served as COO. npm was acquired by Microsoft. Under leadership of Rod and his co-founders, npm became the world’s largest registry of open-source JavaScript packages, serving as a critical resource for developers around the world. Today, npm packages support nearly every major website, improving the lives of 5 billion people on a daily basis. In addition to his entrepreneurial endeavors, Rod held a range of quantitative, technical, and leadership roles at leading financial institutions such as Wells Fargo Bank, AIG, Ernst & Young, and most recently, Global Head of Identity at Santander. During his tenure at these companies, he demonstrated an ability to drive innovation and foster growth while focusing on delivering value to customers. Rod also co-organized the Open Digital Trust Initiative at the Institute of International Finance and the Global Assured Identity Network movement with leading standards bodies. He has repeatedly designed, built and brought to market IaaS and SaaS products; one with 20 million users. He has raised over $125 Million in VC funding at three start-ups. One, Joyent, was acquired by Samsung.

March 22, 2024 - Build-a-Bear Maxine Clark and FranklinCovey Project Management Kory Kogon

Maxine Clark – Founder of Build-A-Bear Workshop®, CEO of the Clark-Fox Family Foundation, and Chief Inspirator of the Delmar DivINe™
Office buildings empty but we have 670 people that come here to workat least several times a week. We don’t have a problem filling our space.There is something about working in community and being part of somethingthat’s bigger than you that makes you feel like you can do more than youhave already done.
Maxine Clark founded Build-A-Bear Workshop®, a teddy-bear-themed retail-entertainment experience, and under her leadership, it became a publicly traded company on the NYSE in 2004. Today, Build-A-Bear boasts more than 500 stores worldwide, with more than 500 million stuffed animals sold globally. Upon stepping down from her role as Chief Executive Bear in 2013, she embarked on a mission to empower women and minority entrepreneurs while using her entrepreneurial skills to create opportunities for St. Louis families. Her latest venture, the Delmar DivINe™, transformed the historic St. Luke’s Hospital in the St. Louis West End into a multi-use real estate development, which opened its doors in late 2021. Recently, Venture For America, a national nonprofit and two-year fellowship program for recent college graduates pursuing careers in entrepreneurship, announced the appointment of Maxine Clark as the newest member of its national board of directors. She is recognized not only for her business accomplishments but also for her dedication to education and community engagement. She’s an active member of the Build-A-Bear Workshop Board of Directors, a past member of Footlocker, Inc.’s board of directors, and serves as an Emeritus member of the Washington University Board of Trustees, and of Goldfarb School of Nursing. In recognition of her contributions, Clark was named to the Missouri Public Affairs Hall of Fame in 2017 and was honored as Women of the Year by the Greater Missouri Leadership Foundation in 2015. About Venture For America: Venture For America (VFA) is a national nonprofit organization designed to create entrepreneurial opportunities for early-career professionals. Founded in 2011 and headquartered in Detroit, VFA is a two-year paid Fellowship program that helps its Fellows find job opportunities at startups in cities across the United States. Through its Fellowship, VFA serves as an on-ramp to entrepreneurship by providing Fellows with coaching, connections, and community. The nonprofit is committed to ensuring those who have been historically excluded, especially women and people of color, see themselves as future startup leaders or founders.Kory Kogon – Vice President of Content at FrankilnCovey and Author of Project Management for the Unofficial Project Manager: A FranklinCovey Title 
Project managers need to master 5 behaviors. It sounds simple butit’s really hard when you’re under pressure. Demonstrate respect foreverybody, listen to their people, clarify expectations, extend trust andpractice accountability.
Kory Kogon is FranklinCovey’s vice president of Content and Senior Consultant. She is the Wall Street Journal bestselling co-author of The 5 Choices: The Path to Extraordinary Productivity, and has appeared as an expert on TODAY, MSNBC’s Your Business, Forbes.com, Inc.com, and on FastCompany.com. She is also one of the authors of the following FranklinCovey work sessions: The 5 Choices to Extraordinary Productivity®, Project Management Essentials for the Unofficial Project Manager™, and Presentation Advantage®. Kory brings more than 25 years of business expertise, from frontline positions to an executive team member.

March 21, 2024 - Energy Raven Shannon Bloemker and Family Businesses Wayne Elliott

Shannon Bloemker – CEO and Founder of Energy Raven
Our focus is on home buyers, looking at the home you are about topurchase. People know nothing about the energy usage of that house.We created a software that your home inspector can use to performenergy use analytics, alongside the inspection.
Shannon Bloemker is the CEO and Founder of Energy Raven, an energy assessment tool for homebuyers. Shannon is a serial entrepreneur and holds a Master’s Degree in Sustainability from Harvard University. She is a former investment strategist with more than 15 years of experience in real estate investment, renovation, and property management and is a certified home inspector. Shannon has deep knowledge of the real estate market, having worked as a strategist for several prop-tech companies, including real estate finance, SFR and ESG investing, residential and commercial investment strategy, and sustainable construction. Shannon also has extensive experience in many facets of company-building. She has led several startups from concept to financial success – including her own. Her early career at Franklin-Templeton and Salomon Brothers on the mortgage-backed securities desk, combined with her Masters in Sustainability and LEED experience, have created a strong foundation from which her career has evolved.Wayne Elliott – Ship Recycling and Strauss Naturals Advocate – Ups and Downs of a Family Business 
The things a partner should bring to you are either money, expertise,or as a working partner where the two of you can run this businessand cover for each other when do you need a holiday. There really isno other reason. You don’t go into the restaurant business becauseyour aunt Mabel makes a heck of a pie!
Wayne Elliott has been in the ship recycling business for 40 years. His company can take a 1000-foot-long ship and reduce it to a pile to reusable materials. He has grown into other areas such as battery recycling. He recounts his life-changing experience with SHD, a health supplement he stumbled upon after battling angina and its debilitating symptoms. Struggling with leg cramps, shortness of breath, night sweats, and chest pains, Wayne also grappled with anxiety and a lack of energy, resigning himself to the fate of heart-related issues that plagued his family. However, upon learning about SHD through a friend in Vancouver and being inspired by studies from renowned institutions like Harvard, Wayne decided to give it a try. Astonishingly, within two weeks of taking SHD, he noticed improvements in unexpected ways – his hearing returned, and his respiratory system cleared, leading to a significant boost in energy. Over the course of three months, Wayne transformed into a revitalized version of himself, feeling as energetic as he did decades ago. This transformation propelled him into a new phase of life where he actively engaged with others, becoming a spokesperson for Jim Strauss, the creator of SHD. Wayne’s involvement extended to radio shows and lectures, allowing him to share his incredible journey with thousands of people suffering from various health issues. His enthusiasm and dedication to natural health solutions led him to become a regular guest on radio networks in the USA and Canada, where he continued to spread the word about his positive experiences with SHD and its miraculous effects on individuals dealing with diabetes, heart disease, low energy, and clogged arteries. Wayne’s story highlights the power of painless, safe, and affordable health products, emphasizing the beauty of solutions that genuinely work. His gratitude towards Jim Strauss and the Strauss Heart Drops is profound, as he believes that without this intervention, he might not have been alive today, reinforcing the transformative impact of natural health remedies in the face of life-threatening conditions. Strauss Naturals is sponsoring the show with support for our radio-minute segments. Wayne says very simply that their products saved him. He became an advocate for the company and has been working with them for 29 years.

March 20, 2024 - Synergy + Pangea Andy Hilliard and Career Advantage Caroline Dowd-Higgins

Andy Hilliard – CEO of Accelerance and Author of Synergea: A Blueprint for Building Effective, Globally Distributed Teams in the New Era of Software Development
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At age 26, Andy Hilliard had a quarter-life crisis that changed the trajectory of his life. In an effort to find himself, Andy joined the Peace Corps in 1988. On assignment in Costa Rica, he fell in love with the culture—and the woman who became his wife. The experience led Andy to dedicate himself to enriching businesses and individuals through valuable cultural exchange. As CEO of Accelerance, Andy helps companies find the talent they need to scale high- performing, globally distributed software engineering and product development teams. Software development outsourcing is experiencing a new renaissance, fueled by a scarcity of technological expertise, centers of excellence in unlikely places, and tools that facilitate remote work. What was once a tactical move to save a few dollars, outsourcing software development to experts in other countries has become a strategic imperative. Businesses of all sizes and across all industries are forming alliances with multiple nearshore and offshore partners to drive innovation and improve resilience in an uncertain world. Andy and Accelerance travel the world, assessing and certifying development partners with a proprietary matching system, so clients can connect with confidence to the top 1% of outsourcing partners worldwide. The Accelerance team also helps clients optimize their outsourcing partner relationships through mutual understanding, communication, and effective management. Previously, Andy founded the groundbreaking nearshore software development services company, Isthmus Costa Rica. He began his global software services career as a Division Manager at Cognizant Technology Solutions during its formative years. Currently living in Kenwood, California, Andy has visited more than 60 countries. He holds an MBA in International Business, Finance, and Marketing from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern.Caroline Dowd-Higgins – Speaker & Executive Coach I Career Management & Leadership Development | Women Leaders | Talent Development | TEDx Speaker | Media Host | Book Author, Feature Contributor, & Blogger and Author of Your Career Advantage: Overcome Challenges to Achieve a Rewarding Work Life
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Caroline Dowd-Higgins is passionate about unlocking the art-of-the-possible in her work with individuals and organizations as a certified executive coach, a best-selling author, a dynamic speaker, and sought-after consultant. Her new book, “Your Career Advantage: Overcome Challenges to Achieve a Rewarding Work Life” is empowering people to enjoy their careers and love their lives. Caroline hosts the award-winning podcast, Your Working Life with listeners in 34 countries. She is proud to be a certified Minority Women’s Business Enterprise. Her celebrated TEDxWOMEN talk about reframing failure is available on YouTube. Caroline Dowd-Higgins can truly relate to the concept of career reinvention because she has experienced it herself – more than once. Having left the professional music world as an opera singer, she leveraged her transferable skills to forge a path in the corporate and higher-education spheres, eventually ascending to senior executive leadership roles. Recognizing that careers are rarely linear, she departed from traditional employment to establish her own speaking, coaching, and consulting practice, driven by her entrepreneurial spirit and a desire to make a more significant impact in helping others. Her greatest satisfaction stems from empowering women to own their self-confidence, enabling them to stand taller and embrace their potential. Specializing in assisting women leaders in optimizing their strengths and refining their emotional intelligence to navigate the complexities of the professional realm, Caroline believes that seeking out resources to flourish is crucial, with executive coaching offering a secure environment to address challenges and devise solutions. She understands the transformative nature of granting oneself permission to define success on personal terms and is dedicated to assisting women in activating their empowerment. Drawing from her own experiences of failing forward, taking risks, and identifying one’s purpose, Caroline offers actionable lessons. With over two decades of industry leadership and private consulting under her belt, she possesses firsthand knowledge that can help individuals overcome obstacles and elevate their careers to find meaning and purpose. Caroline firmly believes that everyone deserves to design their own career trajectory, ensuring it doesn’t happen by chance but by intentional design.

March 18, 2024 - Vev.co Michel Elings and Cadence OTC Samantha Miller

Michel Elings – CEO & co-founder of Vev  
VEV is a way to turn your idea into a business, all from your computeror even better, from your phone. 
Michel Elings is CEO & co-founder of Vev, a platform to accept orders, reservations, bookings, tickets and payments from one simple page! It’s a new small business tool making waves in Europe that is coming to the US for the first time. It’s called Vev, and it’s the easiest way to start your own business, whether you provide a service, sell a product, or build an experience. Michel, whose previous company formed the backbone of Apple News, is now out with a free web app and simple set of tools to allow anyone to start a business and begin taking orders or reservations within three clicks. Whether you are a personal trainer, pet stylist, artisan crafter, or baker, Vev has created 200 pre-built templates with easy prompts and free tools such as a calendar to book appointments, a CRM system to manage sales, and a delivery/order tracker. Unlike other small business services or apps, there is no sales team, no forced demo, and no expensive subscription or commitment. Vev is available as a web app on desktop or mobile, and as a native iOS app available on the Apple App Store. On February 1st, Vev added the ability to accept payments in the US (via Stripe), and a new premium version called Vev+ that brings more advanced features.Samantha Miller – Co-Founder and CEO of Cadence OTC
Our birth control device sells at half the price, and we are distributingthrough convenience stores. We see convenience stores as a fantastic wayto get reproductive health products to women everywhere. There’s morethan 150,000 convenience stores and they are in every single neighborhood.
Samantha Miller serves as co-Founder and CEO of Cadence OTC, on a mission to increase over-the-counter (OTC) access to safe, effective, affordable contraceptives. She is a small pharma executive leader with more than two decades of experience in strategic partnering, product and technology acquisitions, commercial planning, supply chain, regulatory management, and corporate financing. Samantha started her career as a scientist, and quickly found her passion for building new companies. She has deep entrepreneurial experience having served as chief business officer for pharma start-ups InCarda Therapeutics and Dance Biopharm. She also led business development for mid-market ventures Theravance, Nektar, and Onyx, and values her early training at P&G Pharmaceuticals. She has negotiated and closed more than 50 licensing & partnering agreements with a total aggregate deal value of over $3 billion, and she has led more than fifteen equity financing rounds with total funds raised >$300 million. Samantha holds a BS in biochemistry from the University of California, San Diego, an MSc in microbiology & immunology and an MBA from the University of Rochester.

March 15, 2024 - Private Equity Guru Adam Coffey and Burn Out Emily Ballesteros

Adam Coffey – CEO, Operating Partner, Board Member, CEO Coach, Consultant, Empire Builder, Dealmaker, #1 Best Selling Author of Empire Builder: The Road to a Billion 
I buy companies from people who typicallydon’t know they are sellers before I meet them.
Adam Coffey is an Empire builder, CEO coach, in-demand speaker, and three-time #1 bestselling author Adam Coffey builds high-performance cultures that drive transformative exponential growth. A CEO for more than two decades, he led three national private equity-backed service companies for nine PE sponsors, completing 58 acquisitions and realizing billions of dollars in successful exits. Coffey is a founding partner of CEO Advisory Guru, serving as management consultant and independent director to PE portfolio companies, family offices, and elite executives. His specialties include growth strategy, mergers and acquisitions, new business development, and exits. A proud US Army veteran, Coffey lives in Texas with his family. Read the transcript here.Emily Ballesteros – Burnout Management and Author of The Cure for Burnout: How to Find Balance and Reclaim Your Life 
Burnout is doing more today than you can recover from tomorrow, repeatedly.The people that tend to burnout most often are high achievers and people pleasers.
Emily Ballesteros holds a master’s degree in industrial-organizational psychology and worked in corporate training and development before launching her burnout management business. In addition to being featured in media such as The Wall Street Journal and Fox News, she regularly provides burnout training for corporations like PepsiCo, Salesforce, and Paypal, among others. Her book, The Cure for Burnout, is being published by Penguin Random House on February 13th, 2024.

March 14, 2024 - Ideas into Reality Grace Hawthorne and Strauss Naturals Wayne Elliott

Grace Hawthorne – Teaching at d. School (Stanford’s Design School) and Author of Make Possibilities Happen: How to Transform Ideas into Reality (Stanford d.school Library)
The one skill that is always at the top is being Biased to Action.
Grace Hawthorne is the author of a quick and insightful guide called Make Possibilities Happen: How to Transform Ideas into Reality (with the Stanford d.school). Hawthorne has been transforming great ideas into actual products on the market for clients like Walmart for years. She’s a highly accomplished artist, designer, entrepreneur, educator, and creativity researcher. “This is the book I wish I’d had when I was starting,” says Hawthorne. “I want people to feel agency and understand that you already possess (almost) everything you need to make things happen.” She is the Founder/CEO of Paper Punk, an award winning Origami meets LEGO mashup that helps people exercise their creativity and Foldmade, an innovative work supply system that helps people get stuff done. As an Adjunct Professor at Stanford University’s design institute (aka: the d.school), she teaches courses on creativity and failure and started a groundbreaking research project on creative capacity building published in Science and covered by Wired magazine. Previously, she founded ReadyMade, the culturally groundbreaking design magazine that ignited the maker movement, and led its acquisition by Meredith Corporation (NASDAQ: MDP). She co-authored the critically acclaimed book on reuse design, ReadyMade: How to Make Almost Everything (Random House/Potter). Her artwork has been exhibited in several national museums including the Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt Design Museum Triennial and you can find her products on shelves of mass retailers nationwide. She believes that (almost) everything is possible.Wayne Elliott – Ship Recycling and Strauss Naturals Advocate
If you are rolling along in a business and all of a sudden, yourtransportation costs double, you are in a whole new businessnow. There are so many pitfalls out there these days. If I had togeneralize, in most businesses it is not a good time for considerablegrowth. It’s a risky time.
Wayne Elliott has been in the ship recycling business for 40 years. His company can take a 1000-foot-long ship and reduce it to a pile to reusable materials. He has grown into other areas such as battery recycling. He recounts his life-changing experience with SHD, a health supplement he stumbled upon after battling angina and its debilitating symptoms. Struggling with leg cramps, shortness of breath, night sweats, and chest pains, Wayne also grappled with anxiety and a lack of energy, resigning himself to the fate of heart-related issues that plagued his family. However, upon learning about SHD through a friend in Vancouver and being inspired by studies from renowned institutions like Harvard, Wayne decided to give it a try. Astonishingly, within two weeks of taking SHD, he noticed improvements in unexpected ways – his hearing returned, and his respiratory system cleared, leading to a significant boost in energy. Over the course of three months, Wayne transformed into a revitalized version of himself, feeling as energetic as he did decades ago. This transformation propelled him into a new phase of life where he actively engaged with others, becoming a spokesperson for Jim Strauss, the creator of SHD. Wayne’s involvement extended to radio shows and lectures, allowing him to share his incredible journey with thousands of people suffering from various health issues. His enthusiasm and dedication to natural health solutions led him to become a regular guest on radio networks in the USA and Canada, where he continued to spread the word about his positive experiences with SHD and its miraculous effects on individuals dealing with diabetes, heart disease, low energy, and clogged arteries. Wayne’s story highlights the power of painless, safe, and affordable health products, emphasizing the beauty of solutions that genuinely work. His gratitude towards Jim Strauss and the Strauss Heart Drops is profound, as he believes that without this intervention, he might not have been alive today, reinforcing the transformative impact of natural health remedies in the face of life-threatening conditions. Strauss Naturals is sponsoring the show with support for our radio-minute segments. Wayne says very simply that their products saved him. He became an advocate for the company and has been working with them for 29 years.

March 13, 2024 - 10x Marketing Solomon Thimothy and Sick and Successful Natalie Suppes

Solomon Thimothy – Co-Founder and CEO of IMS
Zuckerberg gives me the cheapest cost per click.
Solomon Thimothy is a highly accomplished entrepreneur with over 17 years of experience in marketing and sales. As the co-founder and CEO of IMS, a leading inbound marketing and sales agency, as well as Clickx, he has helped businesses increase their revenue using the 10X Framework. Solomon is also an expert in lead generation and customer acquisition, as well as a USA Today and Wall Street Journal best-selling author. In addition to his work, Solomon is also an angel investor and startup advisor. He has helped numerous startups grow and scale, leveraging his expertise in marketing, sales, and business strategy. For the last decade, he has been working as a consultant helping businesses grow and thrive in a hyper-competitive environment. As the CEO and Co-Founder of Clickx, he works with new and developed agency owners to build scalable business models. The platform provides agency owners with every tool and resource they need to grow a profitable digital marketing agency; whether that’s reaching $10k or scaling past $50k MRR. As the CEO OneIMS, he looks for ways to grow and share my expertise with like-minded businesses. His philosophy is simple: “ALL-IN” Success in digital marketing depends entirely on a firm’s ability and willingness to invest the necessary time and resources into achieving the results they want.Natalie Suppes – Founder of S and S Creative – Working with Chronic Illnesses  
A friend asked me to run her social media page for her brick-and-mortarbusiness. That business doubled in revenue in two weeks.
First and foremost Natalie Suppes is a Mother, a Daughter, and a Wife. She is passionate about helping other women in any way she can. In 2007 she was diagnosed with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (Crohn’s) and struggled for many years. She was in and out of the hospital while pushing to fulfill her dreams of finishing university and starting her own business. Over the last few years, Natalie has grown a respected brand online with over 30,000 followers through showing the authentic real-life behind-the-scenes of her life. She is trusted online as someone who tells it how it is. Natalie is real, honest, and heartfelt. Natale has worked in a corporate setting since 2011 managing multi-million dollar territoires across Canada and globally. She is a highly motivated individual with a strong work ethic and over 15 years of sales and customer service expertise. Holding a Bachelor of Commerce (Honours) Degree, with a major in Marketing and International Business Natalie has strong organizational and negotiation skills. Natalie started S&S Creative because she realized that there was a gap in the marketing industry servicing small to mid-size organizations with strategic marketing at an affordable rate. Starting S&S Creative is a part of her mission not only to help amplify the voices of other entrepreneurs but to make it known that it is possible to be sick and successful and frankly quite common.

March 11, 2024 - Environmental VC Meir Rabkin and Pajama Program Moves the World Genevieve Piturro

Meir Rabkin - Founder and Managing Partner of Blue Vision Capital
There is a generational investment opportunity in the venture capitalclimate space. When you look at valuations, there has been a 9X valuationcompression since 2021. Valuations are at an all-time historic low inventure capital. Pile on the $1.7 trillion that is going into that and youare creating a very attractive generational opportunity to go into this space.
Meir Rabkin is the founder and managing partner of Blue Vision Capital, a climate-tech venture capital fund dedicated to investing in early-stage startups to reduce global warming by focusing on innovative capital-efficient technologies. Meir’s dedication to the fund aligns with his passion for the environment as he has been involved in various causes, such as the Climate Solution Prize, and Hands on USA, where he volunteered to clean up debris left by Hurricane Katrina. Before launching Blue Vision Capital, Meir accumulated over 18 years in the investment sector working in large asset management firms and banking, including Mackenzie Investments, a $200B asset management firm, with a career kickoff at Wealth Management at Investors Group, a national leader in delivering personalized financial solutions to Canadians through a network of advisors located across Canada. Throughout his career, Meir has built an extensive network of Ultra High Net Worth (UHNW) clients, such as CEOs of multinational corporations, serial entrepreneurs and founders. A seasoned angel investor, Meir’s track record includes several IPO’s and unicorns.Genevieve Piturro - Founder of Pajama Program
It takes so many people! It is not the power of one that changes things, it isthe power of one another that moves mountains and moves people.
Genevieve Piturro has been invited to present her TEDx Talk in NYC Jan 29, 2024 titled: How Do You Become a Voice that Moves the World? "One woman came up with her own idea to honor her calling, and her name is Genevieve Piturro." -Oprah Winfrey. A successful TV exec, Genevieve dramatically changed direction and found purpose when a 6-yr old girl’s question rocked her life. She founded the national organization, Pajama Program, in 2001. Gen is an inspirational speaker/consultant, sharing life and leadership lessons from her 5x award winning best seller, Purpose, Passion, and Pajamas: How to Transform Your Life, Embrace the Human Connection and Lead with Meaning. Understanding how vital Purpose and The Human Connection are in leadership, team building, and the bottom line, Piturro designs personalized keynotes embracing these two pillars of success. Genevieve’s second book, Purpose, Passion and Moxie: How to Lead the Way and Leave a Legacy, is a workbook to help you start a nonprofit from scratch to success, and was released September, 2023. A TEDX speaker, Genevieve has been interviewed on OPRAH, TODAY, GMA, The Early Show, CNN, Fox & Friends, The Wall Street Journal and more and she rang the Nasdaq Bell in 2016. 

March 8, 2024 - Wave Mental Health Dr. Sarah Adler and Power of our Minds Brandy Gillmore

Meir Rabkin – Founder and Managing Partner of Blue Vision Capital
There is a generational investment opportunity in the venture capital climatespace. When you look at valuations, there has been a 9X valuation compressionsince 2021. Valuations are at an all-time historic low in venture capital. Pile onthe $1.7 trillion that is going into that and you are creating a very attractivegenerational opportunity to go into this space.
Meir Rabkin is the founder and managing partner of Blue Vision Capital, a climate-tech venture capital fund dedicated to investing in early-stage startups to reduce global warming by focusing on innovative capital-efficient technologies. Meir’s dedication to the fund aligns with his passion for the environment as he has been involved in various causes, such as the Climate Solution Prize, and Hands on USA, where he volunteered to clean up debris left by Hurricane Katrina. Before launching Blue Vision Capital, Meir accumulated over 18 years in the investment sector working in large asset management firms and banking, including Mackenzie Investments, a $200B asset management firm, with a career kickoff at Wealth Management at Investors Group, a national leader in delivering personalized financial solutions to Canadians through a network of advisors located across Canada. Throughout his career, Meir has built an extensive network of Ultra High Net Worth (UHNW) clients, such as CEOs of multinational corporations, serial entrepreneurs and founders. A seasoned angel investor, Meir’s track record includes several IPO’s and unicorns.
Genevieve Piturro – Founder of Pajama Program
It takes so many people! It is not the power of one that changes things, it isthe power of one another that moves mountains and moves people.
Genevieve Piturro has been invited to present her TEDx Talk in NYC Jan 29, 2024 titled: How Do You Become a Voice that Moves the World? “One woman came up with her own idea to honor her calling, and her name is Genevieve Piturro.” -Oprah Winfrey. A successful TV exec, Genevieve dramatically changed direction and found purpose when a 6-yr old girl’s question rocked her life. She founded the national organization, Pajama Program, in 2001. Gen is an inspirational speaker/consultant, sharing life and leadership lessons from her 5x award winning best seller, Purpose, Passion, and Pajamas: How to Transform Your Life, Embrace the Human Connection and Lead with Meaning. Understanding how vital Purpose and The Human Connection are in leadership, team building, and the bottom line, Piturro designs personalized keynotes embracing these two pillars of success. Genevieve’s second book, Purpose, Passion and Moxie: How to Lead the Way and Leave a Legacy, is a workbook to help you start a nonprofit from scratch to success, and was released September, 2023. A TEDX speaker, Genevieve has been interviewed on OPRAH, TODAY, GMA, The Early Show, CNN, Fox & Friends, The Wall Street Journal and more and she rang the Nasdaq Bell in 2016.