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Sonita Lontoh has been an entrepreneur as well as an executive with several large companies including HP and Siemens, and serves on corporate boards. Her advice to women is to be patient and realize their career journeys are long and moves may not be linear. Sonita’s leadership style has changed over her career and she says that while she has always had a technology-focused approach, she has become more customer-focused. Sonita urges companies to truly integrate their female employee resource groups with more involvement by the company CEOs and the corporate boards which will lead to more opportunities for women. LeadingShe.com Instagram.com/LeadingShe Facebook.com/LeadingShe https://www.linkedin.com/company/leadingshe/

Kathy Courtney, is COO of GreenState Credit Union, one of the largest credit unions in the country, and is a strong leader.  During her long career, she worked with large financial institutions in big cities in the U.S. and internationally yet returned to her home state of Iowa to work with GreenState Credit Union.  https://www.greenstate.org/. Kathy talks about calling out gender bias treatment in a non-confrontational yet direct way.  She recommends women take the next level up positions offered and though there may be fear, career growth is likely. After her husband’s serious health diagnosis, she reorganized her priorities placing more emphasis on family and not working quite as hard.  Kathy says offering flexible work options to employees builds strong company loyalty.  What a great LeadingShe episode and wonderful leader! LeadingShe.com Instagram.com/LeadingShe Facebook.com/LeadingShe https://www.linkedin.com/company/leadingshe/

Sue Bevan Baggott was educated as an engineer and was an executive with Proctor & Gamble for 19 years. Though she has an analytical approach to business, she learned how to read people through her experience as a child and employs an empathic leadership style today. In her coaching business, Power Within Consulting, LLC, she tells her clients that it is possible to enjoy financial success and find happiness in our careers. With clients she starts with the question, “what life experience do you want and how does your career enable that”? We discuss the challenges women have had being represented equally in angel investing and on corporate boards. Other topics include experiencing burnout and the changing expectations of companies by the millennial generation. Listen in for a wonderful episode on LeadingShe! https://www.linkedin.com/in/suebaggott1/ http://powerwithinconsulting.com/ LeadingShe.com Instagram.com/LeadingShe Facebook.com/LeadingShe https://www.linkedin.com/company/leadingshe/

D. Sangeeta is a PhD, and founder and CEO of gotara.com who started the company during the pandemic to help improve the gender gap in STEM positions for women. Sangeeta cites the statistics of women leaving STEM positions at twice the rate as men and in her work, she identifies reasons for this such as non-supportive managers, lack of opportunities, lack of recognition and lack of communication.   The mission of Gotara is to offer career support and a global career network to women in STEM professions.   Her 26-year corporate career included top executive positions Amazon, GE and Neilsen.  Sangeeta admits to experiencing fear around taking on new positions yet she took the risk. She suggests women should risk accepting new positions and opportunities especially when someone is recommending them. She talks about being straightforward and vocal which has been a strength during her career.   Sangeeta faced various gender bias and ethnic bias experiences during her career and has some great wisdom to share.  Listen in, it’s a great podcast! www.gotara.com LeadingShe.com Instagram.com/LeadingShe Facebook.com/LeadingShe https://www.linkedin.com/company/leadingshe/

Gay Gaddis founded her company T3, an advertising agency, which she grew into the largest, woman-owned independent agency in the U.S.   Her experiences are extraordinary as she relates the messages from her great book, Cowgirl Power, Kick Ass in Business and Life. She talks about the importance of tapping into our gut instincts when making decisions.  Gay talks about how she survived and thrived after she lost her biggest client after she set a boundary with this client. She says she learned long ago to embrace criticism as a way to improve her work.  Long-term employee loyalty was built at her company by beginning a unique and revolutionary approach to supporting employees who became parents. Her remedy for burnout was to change her environment and take breaks.   Gay Gaddis, she’s a Cowgirl!LeadingShe.com Instagram.com/LeadingShe Facebook.com/LeadingShe https://www.linkedin.com/company/leadingshe/

Joyce Russell served as President of Adecco, leading the largest business unit of Adecco Group North America, which is one of the largest employee staffing businesses in the world. She is energetic, positive and ambitious!  Joyce tells many stories which she profiles in her book, Put a Cherry on Top: Generosity in Life & Leadership about going above and beyond in efforts to serve clients and the challenges of combining career and family.  She talks about how we must become very good at hiring people and talk to their direct supervisors/managers as references. Joyce emphasizes the importance of preparation for presentations and setting priorities to achieve success.  Self-care is important to her including getting enough sleep and exercising and recommends these ways to stay healthy and effective. Joyce says that confrontation and dealing with employees directly shows them we care.  What a great book and wonderful guest Joyce Russell has been on LeadingShe! LeadingShe.com Instagram.com/LeadingShe Facebook.com/LeadingShe https://www.linkedin.com/company/leadingshe/

As the state of Rhode Island’s first woman Secretary of Commerce, Liz Tanner is passionate about making it easy for businesses to deal with the government processes by using technology for better efficiency. She says that when she brought more work balance into her life it made her a better leader. Liz insists that we need to have our voices and call out a lack of fairness or bias when we see it or experience it if we expect things to change.  What a great guest Liz Tanner has been on LeadingShe! LeadingShe.com Instagram.com/LeadingShe Facebook.com/LeadingShe https://www.linkedin.com/company/leadingshe/

Jenifer Rogers is an executive with Asurion in Japan where she has lived for many years.  She learned early in her career to advocate for herself and let people know how qualified she was to take on new opportunities. Jenifer believes companies can help career women by helping them explain their ambitions. As a woman and foreigner, she serves on four Japanese company boards being where she feels empowered to share her views.  Her parents encouraged her to try many things as a child including music and gymnastics. What a great episode on LeadingShe.com! LeadingShe.com Instagram.com/LeadingShe Facebook.com/LeadingShe https://www.linkedin.com/company/leadingshe/

Cindy Doe, a C-suite executive with the large firm, EY talks about how important it is for companies to create a culture of support and sponsorship for women. She says that her sponsors helped her during meetings when she was not in the rooms by supporting her and advocating for her.   Cindy  states that it is a mistake through our unconscious biases to make assumptions and decisions about people based upon gender, race, sexual orientation and age. Cindy and her husband made the decision and financial sacrifice by deciding that one of them should stay home with the children when they were young and decided it would be her husband. Later she also employed a nanny, and she is proud of their raising of three children to adulthood with her demanding career. What a great podcast with Cindy Doe! LeadingShe.com Instagram.com/LeadingShe Facebook.com/LeadingShe https://www.linkedin.com/company/leadingshe/

Deb McDermott as CEO of Standard Media Group, LLC, is one of the top women in U.S. media today.  Her love of people and truly caring about her employees led her to write a letter reassuring them of no layoffs with a merger.  Deb says diversity training is critical in making sure the news is delivered without bias.  She urges women to be fearless in their careers. Insisting upon being herself and truly authentic has been a cornerstone of her career.   Deb says it is important that women let their managers know that they are interested in new opportunities and promotions. What an inspiring leader with great experiences and messages! LeadingShe.com Instagram.com/LeadingShe Facebook.com/LeadingShe https://www.linkedin.com/company/leadingshe/

Julie Fasone-Holder was a C-Suite executive with Dow Chemical and spends much of her time now providing executive coaching through her company JFHinsights. (jfhinsights.com) She says that women negotiate many things throughout their lives yet often they do not negotiate on behalf of themselves.  Julie says men often view networking as a safety net for their career success while women view networking as a job.   She says it is important for women to self-promote internally about how their contributions benefit their companies. Listen in to a fascinating episode! LeadingShe.com Instagram.com/LeadingShe Facebook.com/LeadingShe https://www.linkedin.com/company/leadingshe/

As founder and CEO of 9th Gear Technologies and capital markets specialist, Maryanne Morrow is a risk-taker and “unapologetically ambitious”. Her enthusiasm, energy and boldness are evident as she works in the male-dominated field of Fintech.  She hires only people who are positive, motivated and team players.  Maryanne would tell her 25-year old self to “take more risks” which is a message she offers to listeners. She insists that women need men to sponsor and advocate for them in a highly supportive and meaningful way.  What a delightful podcast guest Maryanne Morrow has been! LeadingShe.com Instagram.com/LeadingShe Facebook.com/LeadingShe https://www.linkedin.com/company/leadingshe/

Ann Hambly, the Founder and CEO of 1st Service Solutions took the risk 17 years ago to start her company with a pioneering idea and though there have been many ups and downs, she has weathered them.  We talk about taking risk, not burning bridges and raising children while developing our careers.  Ann recommends that career women who are mothers be fully present to their kids when with them and fully present to their careers when there, not longing to be elsewhere.  She has learned to pivot the direction of her business in response to changes in the market and economy. Ann and I discuss being resilient and not taking things personally. An eternal optimist, she recommends that we take our time and do much due diligence before we enter into business partnerships and consider giving up any part of the company we have built.  What an insightful podcast guest Ann Hambly has been! LeadingShe.com Instagram.com/LeadingShe Facebook.com/LeadingShe https://www.linkedin.com/company/leadingshe/

Colleen Birdnow Brown has held many leadership positions with the companies Fisher Communications, Lee Enterprises, Gannett Company and American Apparel over her career and now serves on a number of corporate boards.  She says often women are called upon during corporate crisis situations to bring bold leadership to challenges. Early in her career she learned when everyone on the team was successful, she and her organization were successful. Her leadership is characterized by collaboration and strong communication while she always guarded her reputation and that of her companies.  Colleen is honest about many past failures yet through incredible resiliency she learned in early childhood, she did not focus on failures as she learned from them and made important changes.  LeadingShe.com Instagram.com/LeadingShe Facebook.com/LeadingShe https://www.linkedin.com/company/leadingshe/

Jill McIntosh is a Senior Partner at Simpactful Consulting and was a corporate executive with Kroger for 16 years.  Through her leadership with an executive women’s organization and attending a Catholic girl’s school, she has long believed that women should fully support each other.  She has encouraged her three daughters to play sports and to be confident, find their voices as they advocate for themselves speaking the truth in respectful ways.  Her leadership has been characterized by taking risks and risking failure.  Jill believes corporations are benefiting by having more women on their boards in terms of diversity of experiences and opinions. LeadingShe.com Instagram.com/LeadingShe Facebook.com/LeadingShe https://www.linkedin.com/company/leadingshe/

Coco Brown, Founder and CEO Athena Alliance, talks about “loneliness at the top” which she experienced during her time leading the company Taos, an IT-services company. This spurred the genesis of a women’s dinner group which grew to 150 members and led to the formation of Athena Alliance.  Though progress has been made, the numbers of women in C-suites, on corporate boards and those receiving venture capital funding are still too low.  Coco believes women should invest in themselves during their careers, like men often do, by placing earnings toward wealth creation as well as spending for things like executive coaching and golf memberships.  Coco talks about the tectonic shifts in business enabled by technology and instantaneous information---businesses are no longer driving what we want, customers are telling businesses what we want and expect.  Fascinating discussion with Coco Brown! LeadingShe.com Instagram.com/LeadingShe Facebook.com/LeadingShe https://www.linkedin.com/company/leadingshe/

Heather Ettinger is Founder and CEO of her firm, Luma Wealth and thrives in the male-dominated financial management industry by helping guide women toward financial wellness with knowledge and insights. She provides a no-nonsense approach to financial advice and direction and understands women want transparency as well as the appreciation that money helps them realize their hopes and dreams. Heather is an ice-hockey player and says that choosing her husband Jeff was one of the best decisions of her life. She wanted to go into her family’s industry yet forge her own path which she has successfully done. Heather says we need to take risks in our lives and pursue stretch opportunities. What a delightful podcast guest Heather Ettinger was! LeadingShe.com Instagram.com/LeadingShe Facebook.com/LeadingShe https://www.linkedin.com/company/leadingshe/

Janice Ellig is CEO of the Ellig group, known as "The Closer", she is one of the top recruiters in the country specializing in the placement of executive women in C-suites and on corporate boards. She says that though there has been gender parity progress, it is still an issue at the top corporate levels and on corporate boards. Janice points out that statistics prove out that better decision-making happens and corporations are more successful when leadership and corporate boards are diverse. There are some great messages from Janice in this episode as she talks about brand, persistence, confidence and continually reinventing ourselves. She says we must take responsibility for having our voices heard and making sure our facts are correct otherwise it could affect our credibility. What a great episode with Janice Ellig! LeadingShe.com Instagram.com/LeadingShe Facebook.com/LeadingShe https://www.linkedin.com/company/leadingshe/

Nicole Eckels is a highly-focused and driven entrepreneur as Co-Founder and CEO at Sapphire Group and Glasshouse Fragrances. She moved to Australia in 2005 from New York City and when she could not find a good candle, she decided to start her business. In this episode she talks accepting that rejection is simply part of life and how being decisive is critical when leading in business. In the fickle world of retail and e-commerce, she continues to adjust the company’s vision and business model for success by being resilient to changes in the business. What a great conversation with Nicole Eckels! LeadingShe.com Instagram.com/LeadingShe Facebook.com/LeadingShe https://www.linkedin.com/company/leadingshe/

Audrey Talkington is the COO of BridgePact International, Inc. a Minneapolis-based company, where she has worked in various capacities since 2006.  In 2021, the company launched the next phase of development and introduced TrendEvity, the exclusive marketing arm for BridgePact.  These companies support businesses by offering the MyBPX Business System to support business owners to grow by focusing on generating more revenue while lowering operational expenses for their business.   Audrey says that there is “no glass ceiling for women entrepreneurs”.  A driven and self-proclaimed Type-A personality, she embraces positivity and allows the adversity she has experienced to motivate her to succeed. Audrey has found she can use humor judiciously to deal with many business situations.  What a great podcast with our LeadingShe.com guest Audrey Talkington! Trendevity.com; trendevity.biz LeadingShe.com Instagram.com/LeadingShe Facebook.com/LeadingShe https://www.linkedin.com/company/leadingshe/