Today’s guest is a sought-after speaker and writer. She works with people and organizations that want to lead with authenticity to create happier, more effective teams.

Described as the confidence fairy godmother we all need, she has worked with Fortune 500 companies and professional associations from across North America. She has shared her insights in over 150 articles in publications including Huffington Post, Forbes, and Harpers Bazaar.

Her book “You Got This: The Ultimate Negotiation Guide for Professional Women” provides a fresh and instantly applicable toolkit for anyone ready to develop their authentic voice in negotiation.

Please join me in welcoming Lelia Gowland.

In this episode we discuss:

• Her thoughts on leadership: “Leadership is about authenticity and getting increasingly clear about who I am and how I want to show up in the world.”
• How talking about really difficult things in her life is not something to be ashamed of but the universal human experience.
• “You never misbehaved.” We learn about what Lelia was like when she was a kid from the source, her loving parents.
• How she learned to quiet the people-pleasing voices in her head.
• The three factors that help her define the alignment of her strengths and figure out how she wants to live her life.
• Her being a strong, curious kid AND also being aware of what people wanted from her.
• All of the things she wanted to be when she grew up and the song she created to help her remember. YES! She sings it on the show.
• How she achieved all of her life goals while wanting to “be a doctor during snack time.”
• “I only cry once a day, I think I’m doing great.” The justification she gave her college boyfriend to describe how she was thriving in college.
• How the New Leaders Council affected her life and life trajectory.
• Her first speech in Florida and how successful it was even with a huge tech glitch.
• How she made space to grow and serve the people she is called to serve.
• How she came out to her newsletter community with the fear that she would lose her community.
• How her business evolved when she came out.
• How she nurtures and sustains her network. 
• What she’s looking forward to in the next year.

Today’s guest can help you network your way to more friends, more adventures, and way more success. She knows two key things–the people you meet will change your life and networking is how you meet those people.

She is a motivating, high-energy speaker, teaching the importance of networking, and why you are your best business development tool. 

She is the author of “This Sh!t Works: A No-Nonsense Guide to Networking Your Way to More Friends, More Adventures, and More Success”, a book dedicated to making networking easy, accessible, and fun, as well as the host of This Sh!t Works a podcast dedicated to all things business development.

Please join me in welcoming Julie Brown. 

In this episode we discuss:

• her thoughts on leadership: “Leadership is up to each person to define. Anyone can be a leader. It’s not a title or years of experience. You can be a leader every day by influencing others, empowering others, and taking risks.”
• Her dream job of being in GLOW - Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling.
• Her desire to be seen, heard, and respected.
• Her college experience was wanting to be a lawyer, she got a degree in science with a minor in business.
• How the world led her to architecture and business development.
• How she met her classically trained architect husband, I promise it’s not what you think!
• When she decided to be in charge of her employment after losing a job and an impending pandemic.
• How she discovered the parts of entrepreneurship that she enjoyed.
• The ability for a business to change. “Just because you’re doing this now doesn’t mean you have to keep doing this forever. Your business can change.”
• How she found the National Speakers Association.
• The challenges she faced trying to speak on stages.
• Why she invested in a videographer to record her initial speeches to learn from them.
• Why she encourages others to make mistakes, “That’s how you learn from them.”
• How she nurtures her network.

Today’s guest is living proof that one can pursue one’s passion in life, and do so while making a profit.

He’s worked with some of the top companies and entrepreneurs on the planet such as Shark Tank’s Kevin Harrington, Tony Robbins, Dean Graziosi, Kim Walsh Philips, Ryan Levesque, Michael Hyatt, Claire Diaz-Ortiz, Lewis Howes, Brian Tracy, Jeff Walker, and more.

He’s here to help you on your quest to turn your passion and message into a profitable and growing business. He’s been through the startup phase multiple times in the past two decades and has built a following from scratch. Today, he lives out his passion for helping others find their purpose, passion, message, and path to profitability.

He’s the host of The Affiliate Guy Podcast, your source for affiliate marketing news, tips, and strategies to take your online business to the next level.

Please join me in welcoming Matt McWilliams. 

In this episode we discuss:

• his thoughts on leadership: “Leadership isn’t easy. It’s being one step ahead of your audience and understanding that you don’t need to be 2 miles ahead.”
• His belief that leadership has nothing to do with you and everything to do with your avatar, ideal client.
• Why he considers himself an “acting extrovert” and how he recharges after social interactions.
• How his social life changed when he began living with his mom, then his dad.
• His realization while visiting Dolly Parton’s house at 12 years old.
• His dreams of playing professional sports as a career.
• The love of his first job at 22, working with his dad, and how that developed his love of networking.
• How he discovered network marketing and realized its impact after a $7,000 sales day while watching TV.
• When he decided that he could teach what he had learned about marketing and networking.
• His experience running for public office and what he learned about people.
• How he ran his first affiliate program when there was nothing in the world that existed about affiliate marketing.
• How he became a recognized expert in affiliate marketing.
• What he’s looking forward to in the year ahead.

Today’s guest helps launch new companies, create new brands, and refresh existing identities by bringing strategic expertise to design and marketing.

Her studio, Agency Bel, helps companies launch and grow by creating their identities, from strategy to logos, websites, and social media.

She is known for coining the concept of Conscious Branding, helping her clients succeed by focusing on being responsive and responsible to their customers and communities. She has worked with both Fortune 50 companies and startups.

She served 10 years on the Boston Board of Directors of AIGA, a professional design organization. And currently serves as the executive officer of the board for the New Art Center and as the marketing chair for a national health advocacy organization.

Please join me in welcoming Laura Sauter.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Her thoughts on leadership: “Leadership is really plugging in. It’s wanting to be at the source of the action. It’s a connection between playing (engaging) and moving things forward.
• Why she feels comfortable being part of the group that moves things along.
• The influence her mom had on her upbringing as a single mom and head of household.
• How she landed a prestigious internship right out of high school and how it prepared her for new opportunities across the world.
• How she wasn’t discouraged by the stack of “no, thank you’s” she received very early in her career.
• The importance of doing internships in different places and how learning and experiencing different areas and cultures can be so enriching.
• How her 6th grade English teacher opened her eyes to advertising.
• Finding her “home” in advertising in high school and making commercials.
• Her first job working with Town & Country in an advertising world that had only just begun to transition to computers when she had graduated college.
• The roots of her entrepreneurship journey.
• How she found her first clients through the people she already knew in Boston.
• Why she has chosen to focus on clients who are from health and home.
• How she nurtures and sustains the outer layers of her network.
• Why she feels that professional and personal development are so important.
• Her nimbleness moving through the world.
• What she’s looking forward to.

Today’s guest believes that healing, awareness, empathy, and engagement are critical in today’s increasingly connected, yet polarized world. Her work aims to support deeper connections and mutual understanding among different groups, toward a more equitable society.

She is a diversity, equity, and inclusion specialist, coach, and international keynote speaker. She has worked with organizations across all sectors on DEI, intercultural communication, supplier diversity, and employee engagement. Her expertise has been featured in media outlets such as The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, NPR, and the Washington Post.

Her latest book “The Power of Employee Resource Groups: How People Create Authentic Change” shares how to build ERGs to empower underrepresented employees and positively impact diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts within organizations and society.

Please join me in welcoming Farzana Nayani. 

In this episode we discuss:

• her thoughts on leadership: “Leadership is finding yourself and knowing who you are and using that to reach people.”
  the importance of being a model of leadership to those around you.
• how sports played a large role in her leadership journey and how that experience even helped her get comfortable around other genders.
• her path from grad school to becoming an entrepreneur.
• the traumatizing moment as a mom that catapulted her decision to be an entrepreneur.
• the impact of all that she is on her business.
• why she considers herself as a cross-pollinator with her clients and the benefit of being industry agnostic.
• the impact that the murder of George Floyd had on her business and how it inspired her to write “Raising Multiracial Children.”
• the importance of strategic volunteering.
• how she builds connections and maintains that to grow her network by speaking pro-bono or at a lower rate.
• how she nurtures the outer levels of her network.
• what she’s looking forward to in the year ahead.