School for Startups Radio

March 15, 2023 - Innovating Innovation Mike Stemple and Family Planning Wendy Sage-Hayward

Mike Stemple - Innovation Expert and Author of Innovating Innovation!: Why Corporate Innovation Struggles in the Age of the Entrepreneur 
The first thing I do is control my environment. The environment that we comeup with ideas in is scientifically proven to matter. If you are near a body of water, you will be more innovative. If you take your shoes off and your feet are more connected to the earth, you become more creative. If you smell smells from your childhood that remind you of your childhood mindset, like play dough, it helps you be more creative.
Mike Stemple has built 20+ startups, is an expert at ideation, innovation, startup psychology, and brand creation. His most notable company exits include SkinIt (sold in 2007), Original Wraps (bought by 3M), Odojo (bought by SafetyWeb), and nReach (bought by SmartServ). Mike lives in San Diego, is a mentor at Techstars, an ex-sponsored athlete (ultra-runner), a semi-famous sports artist, and a proud veteran of the US Army (combat medic).
 
Wendy Sage-Hayward - Senior Consultant at the Family Business Consulting Group and Author of Own It!: How to Develop a Family Enterprise Owner’s Mindset at Every Age (A Family Business Publication)
Instead of being a family business, like the first generation is, often by the 3rdor 4th generation do you have a business family. You may not be anchoredaround the original business, it has grown to have peripheral businesses likereal estate and heirloom assets.
Wendy is a senior consultant at the Family Business Consulting Group, working closely with business leaders, family firms and boards. She brings deep knowledge and perspective to global clients across sectors, facilitating meaningful conversations with multi-generational families on governance, firm continuity, leadership, next generation preparation and conflict resolution. She is especially adept at establishing integrated governance structures for the family, business and ownership, to promote alignment, communication and harmony within and across these constituencies. She is a partner and board director of a U.S. family firm more than 130 years old, helping to lead approximately 50 cousin partners from the third through sixth generations. Her background and experience with her own family enterprise motivated Wendy to dedicate her career to the needs of family enterprises as a consultant, educator, author and adjudicator. As an educator, Wendy is an adjunct professor at the University of British Columbia’s Sauder School of Business, where she leads programs for business families and their advisors in the Business Families Centre. Previously, she taught board dynamics in the Director’s Education Program for the Institute of Corporate Directors at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management. Wendy is co-author of the book Human Resources in Family Business: Maximizing the Power of Your People, a definitive work on family firm HR strategies and tactics. A sought-after speaker, she has presented on a range of family business topics at North American conferences including the CAFÉ Symposium, Transitions East, Business Transitions Forum, and the Canadian Bar Association of BC. Wendy is a member of the Family Enterprise Xchange Foundation’s Leadership Council, which is focused on four key areas: Learning and Development, Family Enterprise Research, Global Family Enterprise Community and Global Advisor Community. She’s also a Lead Instructor and Adjudicator for the Family Enterprise Xchange’s Advisor program, a role that ensures she brings a sense of objectivity and fairness to tricky issues at the intersection of family and business.

March 14, 2023 - Collabor(H)ate Dr. Deb Mashek and Design-Centered Dr. Rob Mathews

Dr. Deb Mashek - Collaboration Expert and Author of Collabor(h)ate: How to build incredible collaborative relationships at work (even if you’d rather work alone)
The first way to improve collaboration is to acknowledge that just becauseyou are not aware of a problem does not mean that you don't have a problem.How do you figure out if you have a problem? The best way is to actually talkto the other collaborators and ask ‘what would you like to see more of fromme’ and ‘what would you like to see less of from me?’
Dr. Deb Mashek, PhD is an experienced business advisor, professor, higher education administrator, and national nonprofit executive. She was named one of the Top 35 Women in Higher Education by Diverse: Issues in Higher Education, and she has been featured in media outlets including MIT Sloan Management Review, The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Hechinger Report, Inside Higher Ed, Fortune, Reason, Business Week, University Business Insider, and The Hill. She writes regularly for Psychology Today. Previously Full Professor of Social Psychology at Harvey Mudd College, Deb served as the college’s Associate Dean for Faculty Development and as the founding Director of the Claremont College’s Office of Consortial Academic Collaboration. She served as the inaugural Executive Director of Heterodox Academy, a national nonprofit advancing constructive disagreement on college campuses. Deb served on the board of BridgeUSA and is a Senior Fellow at Claremont Graduate University. Deb is the founder of Myco Consulting LLC, where she she helps business leaders navigate the relationship headwinds that tank timelines, bottom lines, and well-being. A member of both the Association for Collaborative Leadership and the International Coaching Federation, Deb has been an invited speaker on collaboration and viewpoint diversity at leading organizations including the United Nations, the American Psychological Association, the Council of Independent Colleges, and the Association of American Colleges & Universities.
 
Dr. Rob Mathews - Director of the Institute for Entrepreneurship and Free Enterprise at Ball State University and Author of Design-Centered Entrepreneurship 2nd Edition and Entrepreneurship the Disney Way
You must dig in and it can be uncomfortable work. Go observe people and takenotes. Ask a lot of questions. Humble yourself to learn about what is going on in their world. But to really listen to people takes work and that's what entrepreneurs do.
Dr. Rob Mathews is a long time entrepreneur and educator. He is the Director of the Institute for Entrepreneurship and Free Enterprise at Ball State University. His new book Entrepreneurship the Disney Way brings entrepreneurship, innovation, and leadership to life through the compelling story of one of the most recognizable businessmen and companies of our time. The author's interviews with high-level executives provides the reader with a rare inside look into the way his company functions. Disney fans, executives, and students of entrepreneurship, innovation, and leadership will find it a delightful and informing read. Rob is also Co-Owner of Mind2Momentum.

March 13, 2023 – Scale w Soul Todd Emaus and NOPE Beth Ann Shaeffer

Todd Emaus - Culture Builder and Author of Scale without Losing Your Soul: The Startup Culture Guide
If you are a person that is committed to giving, that is an amazing value toarticulate, and bring other people in that are committed to giving with the company. If you are not committed to that, and you name that as a value, you will invite an incredible amount of skepticism and you are introducing risk into the business. The primary role of the founder is to de-risk the business.
Todd Emaus is a coach and culture builder who helps founders & leaders move past obstacles, win the mental game, build effective teams & lead companies that matter. Todd’s experiences founding multiple businesses, raising venture capital, and leading rapidly growing teams provide the backdrop for a deep empathy for today’s leaders and the challenges that they face. Todd is a partner at Evolution. His clients have included founders and leaders at some of the most iconic and ambitious organizations of our generation including Twitter, Slack, Bandcamp, Iterable, Magic Spoon, Snapdocs, Conductor, Tilt, Firstbase, and others.
 
Beth Ann Shaeffer - Founder of NOPE Beverages    
The first thing I did was start Googling. What were the options already out there? I started going to grocery stores to see if I could find something that was out there, to see if I missed it. I didn't find anything, so I knew there was a need for this.
Beth Ann Shaeffer is the Founder of NOPE Beverages, a premium cocktail alternative with 0% alcohol. Beth created the brand in her kitchen when her ex-husband - whom she is still great friends with - became sober and didn't want him to feel left out. Her carbonated, ready-to-drink cocktails are crafted with the same natural fruit and herbs that she used to create them in her kitchen.

March 10, 2023 - Podcast Booker Spencer Carpenter and LAWS2SUCCESS Steven Dworman

Spencer Carpenter - Founder of Outlier Audio - Getting on Podcasts for Marketing your Business
I've had people clients that raised $8 million from being on one podcast! For that guy, no matter what price he paid for the podcast, it was worth it!
Spencer Carpenter is the founder of Outlier Audio, a full-service podcast booking agency that represents talented entrepreneurs, business professionals, and investors. Prior to being in the podcasting space, Spencer spent over a decade working in the music industry, taking on various roles including talent management and representation, event and festival organizing, record label head, and more. Spencer's pivot to the podcasting space came when the music industry shut down due to COVID-19 and he saw a need to help entrepreneurs, investors, and business professionals get on to the new medium as a way to continue growing their businesses. Since 2020, Spencer has booked 800+ interviews that have garnered millions of listens for over 150 talented entrepreneurs, business professionals, and investors. His clients range from solopreneurs, to published authors, investment funds with over $1B under management, Inc 500 companies, and Top 10 Keynote Speakers, all using podcasts to grow their businesses.
 
Steven Dworman - Author of LAWS2SUCCES
As people move from watching television to streaming, The info commercial market has completely dried up from what it used to be.
Steve Dworman has emerged as the industry expert. In 1991 he began publishing The INFOMERCIAL MARKETING REPORT, a monthly subscription newsletter read in over 20 countries worldwide. He also published with Adweek Magazines, Adweek’s Direct Response Television Sourcebook. Having produced and run his own direct response television campaigns, Dworman lconsulted with Fortune 500 companies such as Procter & Gamble, Estee Lauder, Mattel, Avon, Apple, Microsoft, and many others. He’s been quoted by over 3,000 news sources including: Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Economist, The New York Times, CNN, The Washington Post, The Chicago Tribune to name just a few. He has a keen eye for picking products and was responsible for many huge successes in the industry such as Total Gym, which grossed over $2 billion in sales. He created the first women's perfume sold on television called, "Curiosity," that grossed $60 million in sales in 6 months. In 2001 he wrote, directed and acted in a feature film entitled, Divorce: the Musical. The film was featured on CNN, and in a front-page story in The Los Angeles Times. It was selected as best film of the year by the Children's Rights Organization. Steve partnered with Boardroom, Inc, to create the most successful book campaigns in television history. He wrote, directed, and produced a series of infomercials featuring 3 Nobel Prize winners and Hugh Downs, John Cleese, and Carnie Wilson that grossed over $300 million dollars. All were direct sales for a $39.95 book with no retail or backend. He created the first reality tv App for the iphone called ‘Real Weather Girls,” which resulted in 70K downloads in 2 1/2 weeks. He also co-created the video podcast, “Inside Beautiful,” which became #1 in iTunes in only two weeks, moving above Harpers, Vogue, InStyle, etc. He is currently working producing his play about magic with some of the top magic and Disney consultants available.

March 8, 2023 – Ably Founder Matthew O’Riordan and She is You Felicity Buddig

Matthew O'Riordan - CEO at Ably
Ably powers features in people's apps like chat, notifications, multiplayercollaborations, live updates, really anything where you are getting a real timeexperience while using an app. Our listeners are probably using apps todaythat depend on our services!
Matthew O'Riordan is the Co-founder and CEO of Ably Realtime and he'd be a great fit. He's a serial entrepreneur having started his first company as a teenager with an engineering and web development background. Ably powers synchronized digital experiences in realtime supporting organizations like Bloomberg, HubSpot, Verizon, and Hopin on a global scale.
 
Felicity Buddig- Founder of She is You.
We have the power to change our story! We can overcome the trauma and abuse. We don't have to let it still own us. There is power in forgiveness!
Felicity Buddig is a transformational coach and Reiki Practitioner on a mission to help women redesign their lives. This mission comes directly from her own personal experience with self-discovery. From an abusive marriage to a healthy, fulfilling relationship, through multiple careers and a lifetime of coaching the women in my own life, her courage and determination to walk away into the unknown and redesign her story is a shining example that where there’s a will there’s a way. She Is You was pulled from the very pages of my Felicity's personal journey of self-discovery. It was a phrase she wrote often, as she works with women, helping them figure out what is keeping them stuck in situations that ranged from unfulfilling to downright damaging.

March 7, 2023 – Better Printing Through Education Victor Peña and European eCommerce Platform Matteo Grassi

Victor Peña - Founder & CEO at OmniPrint International Inc. 
Every leader, every owner, every CEO is the limitation of their business. They are the limitation of the team. My main job is to keep raising my own limits. My own limits need to be raised so the leadership team underneath me can also be raised.
Victor Pena is the Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Omniprint International, which is a multi-million dollar printer manufacturer, he’s an experienced leader of innovative teams, with product of the year awards for the last 5 consecutive years. He’s also created products from scratch, like the Cheetah Industrial DTG Printer, the Wurk online platform for print automation and workflow tracking, and the Gamut Plus Enhanced Direct to Garment Inks. Focused digital marketer with solid fundamentals and creative strategies for lead creation, development and management. "We are in the wild west of digital advertising, if you don't have a solid internet marketing and social media growth strategy you are basically saying you're ok with your business failing in 3 years" In addition to all of these accomplishments, he’s also a Commercial and Multi Family Real estate investor. Principal owner of Hugo Holdings LLC. where they buy, hold & manage apartment buildings, inspiring "Positive Living". He’s also an angel investor and Board member of Hundy Inc, which is a new app for positive short term loans for people based on trust not credit. Growing Philanthropist. Helping in causes relating to helping our troops through the Gary Senise Foundation and our youth through CHOC and other private foundations. He grew up in a Mexican household, working construction and odd jobs to get through college. Tech and education gave him an outlet to provide for his business, for the team that he employs, and for his family. Always striving to be a better Husband to my wife @taniaepena while making sure she's part of the journey building an empire together.SFS Minute 129: What Is Your Limiting Factor?Matteo Grassi - Co-Founder of PopUp - European eCommerce Platform
About 60 or 70% of all ecommerce stores are under 25 products. Focus ona small amount of products. The more products you have, the more complexityyou will see and you don't need a lot of products to generate revenue.
Matteo Grassi co-founded Popup, the next-generation no-code eCommerce platform, seven direct-to-consumer brands, an NGO/DAO, and an anonymous support group for male founders. I used to be a professional breakdancer, and even joined the circus for a time, juggling with fire and performing music. He left my Italian village and his psychology degree behind to start dancing and acting professionally on Broadway. He then joined a group of traveling performers and spent a year juggling fire and touring Southeast Asia and Australia. In mid-2010, he decided to leave the arts and traveling behind to get a job as a brand strategist in Milan, working with top clients. However, he eventually realized that Matteo wasn't happy in this career path and decided to find himself. As a result, he put his side e-commerce business on autopilot, went to an Indian ashram, and returned to Europe to make four music albums. He has create documentaries, interviews, and shows on YouTube. For the last ones he travelled into an active warzone and went undercover inside sex-positive parties. Later, he co-founded a natural cosmetics company and an e-commerce accelerator, which he exited with a lot of learning but little fulfillment. He then partnered with two former Shopify colleagues to co-found seven direct-to-consumer e-commerce brands that went from zero to $16 million in revenue, all with a initial investment of just $1,000. With over 200 e-commerce stores built and launched in his career, Matteo has tested every possible platform and solution available. This led him to realize that the market was missing a no-code e-commerce platform that lets you control the customer journey visually. So, he co-founded Popup, the only no-code e-commerce platform that allows you to do just that.

March 6, 2023 – Freeport Art App Colin Johnson and Startup Network Europe Adam Fulham

Colin Johnson - CEO and co-founder of Freeport
There are NFT cultures and communities that have been built upon speculation. There are cultures and communities that have been built upon actual stories like the human spirit of gathering. 99% of those NFTs built on speculation are going away.
Colin Johnson has extensive experience delivering large scale tech & payment products. Before moving into web3, he spent five years at Apple where he oversaw marketing for Apple Cash, growing the product from less than 1M to over 50M users. While marketing for Apple, he worked his way onto a crypto research team with a small group of participants, delivering presentations on the risks, rewards and strategic approaches for Apple in the crypto space. After deciding to leave Apple and dive into web3, he dedicated two months to strategizing and executing the Restore Earth campaign with Angel Protocol on the Terra blockchain. In this campaign he worked with the Galactic Punks team and developed an incredible collection of NFTs to incentivize donations - which themselves were being sold for thousands of dollars each, and are now the core of a philanthropic web3 community. The campaign was wildly successful, raising over $1.5M for three climate-focused charitable organizations. Now, as the CEO and co-founder of Freeport, Colin is intently focused on moving as much real world value as possible onto the Ethereum blockchain. Freeport is merging the worlds of fine art and web3, allowing users to buy, sell and display their favorite pieces of physical fine art and NFTs - all in one place, with assets that have been SEC qualified. Thanks to the tokenization of assets, customers can collect pieces from artists they’ve never been able to access before - like the pilot collection  of five incredibly rare Warhols.
Adam Fulham - Founder & CEO of Startup Network Europe
An Angel Investor in the United States is just as good as a VC in Europe. Many angels in the US are so well structured, but here in Europe everyone is an Angel Investor!
Adam Fulham is the Founder & CEO of Startup Network Europe, which holds conferences and builds communities for European Startups. Startup Network Europe launched in November 2019, as a physical events business. They relaunched in April 2020 as an online events business, in response to COVID-19. Things have gone great ever since. Since April 2021, their conferences have gathered tens of thousands of European Startup Founders, Angel Investors, and Venture Capitalists. In addition to this, they also build Startup Communities across the European Continent. Startup Network Europe helps start-ups by hosting online meetups, seminars, and trade conferences. Most of these events are free, as a way of reaching out and giving back to the start-up community. Some – particularly niche seminars for niche audiences – are paid and that’s how they monetize. Adam says that the best thing about entrepreneurism is that you make lots of mistakes, which you have to look at as your fault and your fault alone. Blaming yourself on things you can control, instead of external factors you can’t control, is really liberating as it enables you to take action and change.

March 3, 2023 - Common Sense Billionaire John Catsimatidis and Wise Decisions Thru Science Jim Loehr & Sheila Ohlsson Walker

John Catsimatidis - CEO of The Red Apple Group and the Author of How Far Do You Want to Go?: Lessons from a Common-Sense Billionaire
There are two ways to get rich, working hard and using your common sense like I always said or getting lucky. I did it the old-fashioned way. I worked hard.
Billionaire entrepreneur John Catsimatidis, owner and CEO of the Red Apple Group, reveals how his instincts and common sense have propelled him to massive business success in this detailed account of an incredible rags-to-riches story. Born on the small Greek island of Nisyros, John Catsimatidis immigrated to the States with his family and quickly became a true New Yorker, raised in Harlem. He went to school by day and worked in a small grocery store by night to help his parents pay the bills until, just eight credits short of graduating from New York University, he opted to work in the grocery business full-time. Today, that grocery business has become the Red Apple Group, a conglomerate with interests in energy, real estate, aviation, baseball, entertainment, and media, including the iconic radio station WABC, where John hosts leading figures in government, politics, business, and economics.  As Catsimatidis has discovered, the American Dream doesn’t come with an instruction manual—or even a sign to let you know when you’ve arrived at the finish line. How Far Do You Want to Go? tells Catsimatidis’s dynamic story, from his beginnings in the grocery business to entering the political arena, including a New York City mayoral campaign. He’s tried his hand at nearly everything, but he’s far from finished with his adventures. Now, he offers readers a glimpse into the wisdom he’s gained—and the excitement he has for what the future holds in store.
 
Jim Loehr & Sheila Ohlsson Walker - Authors of Wise Decisions: A Science-Based Approach to Making Better Choices 
We make somewhere around 1000 decisions a day without even knowing what we are referencing. We want the process to become intentional. We want people first to start recognizing that these decisions are being made, what time to get up in the morning? Should I hit the snooze alarm? Shall I skip breakfast? What should I eat for breakfast? What route should I take to work? Most of those were not even aware we're making decisions. The first thing we want is to journal and to start becoming aware of the decisions that you are making.
Dr. Jim Loehr, co-author of WISE DECISIONS, is a world-renowned performance psychologist, Co-Founder of the Human Performance Institute, and author of eighteen books including The Only Way to Win. He also co-authored the national bestseller The Power of Full Engagement. Dr. Loehr is well known for his individual work with top-flight athletes and Olympians. He holds a masters and doctorate in psychology, serves on several scientific boards, is a full member of the American Psychological Association, and has been inducted into three Halls of Fame.

March 1, 2023 - Trust Me Real Estate Jeffrey Meshel and Complaint Is a Gift Janelle Barlow

Jeffrey Meshel - Speaker, Co-Founder of Candor Capital Partners, Founder of Lux Miami and Author of Trust Is a Double-Edged Sword: Trust Me
If you are really into something, or have a hobby that you really like, or you have a product that you are really consumed by, you can create your own! You can find the resources to enable you to start something. But it all starts with you starting something!
Jeffrey Meshel has owned and run numerous business ventures, including three real estate companies that are each over 35 years old. He is also a business book author who has been featured on The Today Show. He is co-founder / managing partner of Candor Capital Partners. He is also is a partner with, and co-founder of, LUX Miami. Candor Capital is a real estate acquisition platform that also originates short-term bridge loans secured against commercial/residential properties. Its current portfolio consists of commercial properties rented by medical companies, industrial properties and residential multifamily. LUX Miami is a high -end luxury car dealership and rental business based out of Miami, Florida. Formerly, Jeff was the founder and CEO of Paradigm Capital and Paradigm properties, chairman and founder of DIVORCEFORCE, a web-based community that empowered people affected by divorce. Jeff served on the Board of Directors of Signature Bank for 15 years. Mr. Meshel is on the board of the CPR Foundation (Community Police Relations). He is also the founder and chairman of the Strategic Forum, a high-level networking organization. He is the author of One Phone Call Away....Secrets of a Master Networker, The Opportunity Magnet, and Trust Is A Double-Edged Sword…Trust Me. Jeff splits his time between South Beach and New York City.
 
Dr. Janelle Barlow - Author of A Complaint Is a Gift: Recovering Customer Loyalty When Things Go Wrong
The title of the book says it all! What customers are doing is giving you a gift. So that youcan keep them or learn from them, a gift to find out what the marketplace it's saying, all ofthose are gifts. I should just sell the title, ‘A Complaint Is a Gift!’
 
Janelle Barlow, PhD, is an award-winning speaker, trainer, consultant and author who translates research into practical tools to improve customer service and complaint handling. She works with Customer Service Representatives, managers and entire companies, both nationally and internationally, to help them recover and retain customer loyalty. She has recently released the third edition of her bestseller (more than 275,000 copies sold to date), A Complaint Is a Gift: How to Learn from Critical Feedback and Recover Customer Loyalty. And she has the tools to improve both customer service and complaint handling. Her emphasis is on complaint handling with the release of the Third Edition of A Complaint Is a Gift and the co-authored First Edition of A Complaint Is a Gift, Workbook, 101 Activities, Exercises, and Tools to Learn from Critical Feedback and Recover Customer Loyalty. She has managed teams of trainers working company-wide with such organizations as Viking Ocean Cruises, and Viking River Cruises, Desert Diamond Entertainment Industries, Isle of Capri Casinos, AT&T Wireless Call Centers, Mandarin Oriental Hotels, Mars Candy, Our Lucaya, Bahamas, Sun Communities, Unisys, US House of Representatives, ARAMARK Business Services, Blue Chip Casino, Butterfield Bank Bermuda, Smart Telephone Philippines, Megafon, Life Bank, Caterpillar, Unisys, and Royal Plaza, Singapore.
 
 

February 28, 2023 - Saving the Ocean Larry Wyman and Sacred Promise Natasha Charles

Larry Wyman - Co-founder of Okeanos
At Okeanos we found a way to substitute calcium carbonate, which is basicallypulverized stone, for plastic, and we can reduce the amount of plastic in a package by 50% or more, and lower the CO2 footprint that is involved in making it.
Larry Wyman was a founding partner in the international commercial real estate development firm HRO International, Ltd. beginning in 1981, when he left the practice of law at Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver and Jacobson in New York. He was responsible for all aspects of the commercial development process on 12 major projects in New York City during the 1980’s and 1990’s. He also directed HRO’s activities in London and Frankfurt from 1996 to 2004, as well as HRO Asset Management in New York beginning in 2004. Since stepping down from day-to-day involvement at HRO, he remains a member of HRO’s advisory board, with projects now focused in Paris. He became a Board Member of Okeanos in September, 2019, and has since stepped into the role of Chief Strategy Officer. Larry and his wife of 35 years, Sheryl, have two adult children, Nicole and Max, both of whom live in New York City.
 
Natasha Charles - Intuitive Coaching with Natasha Charles and Co-Author of Sacred Promise: An Anthology  
Absolutely! Do you want to live your life with intention. You can ask for as little or as much as you choose. Are you coming to it with a bucket or with a thimble? What are you coming to life with? And what are you asking for? You start by planning.
Natasha Charles is an intuitive full life coach, consultant, Forbes Coaches Council member (30 features, 2 articles, 2021 - 2022), Wharton Women's Circle Facilitator, Wharton Alumni Association of Philadelphia Monthly Networking Breakfast series co-host, and a Maxwell Leadership Certified Team coach, speaker, trainer, mastermind group facilitator, and DISC Behavioral Analysis Trainer. She is a contributing author for 'Sacred Promise', an anthology compiled by humanitarian, bestselling author, and Oprah Winfrey's all-time favorite guest, Dr. Tererai Trent, with foreword written by New York Times bestselling author, of 'Eat, Pray, Love' Elizabeth Gilbert. Natasha is a 'Baton Activator' for Tererai Trent International, committed to raising $15,000 of a $300,000 goal to support the college educations of 22 students (70% female) and one primary school in rural Zimbabwe. Education disrupts cycles of poverty, illiteracy, abuse, and girl child marriage. Natasha is passionate about cultivating and maintaining the positive mindset, vision creation and execution, encouragement, empowerment, resilience, the creative process, work-life integration, quality of-life, and women's (womxn's) issues. Through transformative conversations, she helps individuals and couples to powerfully shift limiting beliefs and create a life that they love. Natasha is an alumna of BLK Capital Management Corp, Inc and a Scholars of Finance mentor. She has a former career in senior administration where she served as a high-impact dynamic leader and change agent with over 15 years of experience in the nonprofit, medical education, and higher education spaces.