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Many founders try to build a large audience before asking anyone to pay, but Clara Ma built Ask a Chief of Staff around the opposite premise: prove the value first and let committed customers shape what comes next. She explains how charging from day one, staying bootstrapped, hiring for leverage, and protecting her time helped her build a profitable 500+ member community while keeping the business in service of her life rather than the other way around. 

SHOW NOTES

Strategic Focus

At the center of this conversation is a question every founder eventually faces: are you building a business that depends on more of you, or one that creates enough value and leverage to grow beyond you? Clara’s experience shows how pricing, delegation, disciplined hiring, and a clear operating model can shape both profitability and founder freedom.

Key Takeaways

•  Why charging for a community from day one can strengthen perceived value, attract more committed members, and create a healthier participation culture. 
•  How Clara used recruiting revenue to validate demand, then expanded into a paid community rather than overbuilding the business before customers asked for more. 
•  Why hiring an executive assistant in month three created more strategic capacity, and how she now evaluates whether a problem needs automation, a contractor, or a long term team member. 
•  What a Chief of Staff actually does, how the role differs from a COO, and why the best hire is often the person who complements the leader rather than simply matches a title. 

GUEST CONTACT & CONNECT

Clara Ma is the founder and CEO of Ask a Chief of Staff, a bootstrapped community and recruiting platform serving Chiefs of Staff and the executives who hire them. She previously served as a Chief of Staff at Hugging Face during its Series A and was named to the Inc. Magazine 2026 Female Founders 500.

• Website: askachiefofstaff.com
•  LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/clarama/
•  Substack: askachiefofstaff.substack.com
•  YouTube: youtube.com/@askachiefofstaff

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The most dangerous career risk for many experienced women is not the leap, but staying in roles and systems that keep minimizing their power. Stephanie Georges brings four decades of Wall Street and C suite transformation experience to a sharper conversation about dignity, agency, AI, and why midlife can become a serious entrepreneurial advantage when women stop waiting for permission and start building the conditions for their next chapter.

SHOW NOTES

Strategic Focus

This conversation asks what happens when highly capable women reach the edge of reinvention and realize that competence alone will not protect their purpose, health, or power. For founders and executives, Stephanie’s lens is especially useful because she treats dignity not as a soft idea, but as a strategic operating principle for making decisions, designing better systems, and building platforms that serve women with more precision.

Key Takeaways

• Why the real risk may be staying too long in a role, relationship, or system that quietly drains agency.
• How dignity offers a broader, less zero sum frame than equity for changing the narrative around women’s power.
• Why women over 50 carry underrecognized economic, professional, and lived experience that the business world has not fully learned how to value.
• How AI can become more useful for women when it is trained around women’s language, research, health needs, and workplace realities rather than generic assumptions.

GUEST CONTACT & CONNECT

Stephanie Georges is a seasoned executive, strategist, Harvard Advanced Leadership Initiative Senior Fellow, and co creator of The Meraki Dignity Project, a women’s movement and AI enabled platform supporting women over 50 through major life transitions.

Website: https://www.merakidignity.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/merakidignity/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/merakidignity/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheMerakiDignityProject
Substack: https://substack.com/@merakidignity

Join the proveHER community and read the companion Blogcast for more conversations and practical resources for women building, leading, and redefining what comes next.

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Growth in entertainment is no longer just about getting attention; it is about turning emotional connection into live experiences, licensing, merchandise, sports, and global partnerships without diluting what people loved in the first place. Veronica Hart, Chief Growth Officer of RWS Global, unpacks how leaders can build new revenue streams, protect brand integrity, and create momentum in complex markets while making sure women are not waiting for permission to claim their seat at the table.

SHOW NOTES

Strategic Focus

This conversation explores the discipline behind modern brand growth: how companies decide when an idea has enough audience demand to expand, how leaders build alignment across creative and commercial teams, and why women’s perspectives are not a side conversation but a business requirement when companies are trying to reach the full market.

Key Takeaways

•  Brand expansion works when companies understand where fans are emotionally invested, then create products, experiences, and partnerships that feel like a natural extension rather than a cash grab. 
•  Live experiences are becoming a serious growth channel because consumers need a compelling reason to leave the couch, show up in person, and participate in a story beyond the screen. 
•  Women leaders bring a critical lens to growth strategy because companies often leave meaningful revenue untapped when they fail to account for women as consumers, decision makers, and cultural drivers. 
•  Veronica’s career shows the power of taking an opportunity further than assigned, especially for women who have been conditioned to ask for permission when the better move is to take the work, run with it, and raise the standard. 

GUEST CONTACT & CONNECT

Veronica Hart is the Chief Growth Officer of RWS Global, where she leads growth strategy across live entertainment, brand experiences, licensing, merchandise, and global partnerships. Her career includes executive leadership roles at Paramount, CBS Consumer Products, Sesame Workshop, The Jim Henson Company, and HIT Entertainment, as well as service as Chair of the Board for Licensing International.

Website: www.rwsglobal.com
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/rws-global/
Instagram: @rwsglobalofficial

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Megan Malli, CEO of AnswerLab, reframes transformation as a deeply human discipline, where AI, customer insight, and leadership all fail when they are layered onto broken workflows or disconnected cultures. In this conversation, she shows why curiosity, trust, and human centered strategy are becoming the real executive advantage for companies that need to move faster without losing the people they depend on.

Show Notes

The Strategic Focus: This episode explores what it takes to lead through uncertainty when technology is accelerating, customer behavior is shifting, and traditional planning cycles no longer hold. Megan makes the case that the future belongs to leaders who can replace control with trust, turn research into business currency, and build organizations where better answers emerge from the right people being invited into the room.

Key Takeaways:

• Why AI cannot rescue a weak workflow, and how leaders can redesign the work before adding new tools.
• How human centered research helps companies move beyond what happened and understand what customers actually need next.
• Why high achieving women often keep raising the bar without claiming the room, and how imposter syndrome can become a leadership signal rather than a limitation.
• How trust, curiosity, and visibility inside teams create stronger decisions, better adoption, and more durable momentum during change.

Guest Contact & Connect

Megan Malli is the CEO of AnswerLab, a user experience research and strategy company helping major brands translate human insight into better business decisions.

Company: https://www.answerlab.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/meganamalli/

Join the proveHER community and read the companion blogcast for more founder led conversations on leadership, growth, and building businesses with greater courage and clarity.

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Anne Huntington Sharma explains how leaders can honor a company’s history while still making the difficult decisions required for its next chapter. Drawing from her path from “center number 17” to President and CEO of Huntington Learning Center, she explores succession, franchise growth, digital transformation, and the discipline of evolving only when change creates measurable value.

Show Notes

The Strategic Focus

This conversation examines what it takes to lead a second generation company with credibility, patience, and strategic clarity, especially when the business must preserve a proven model while adapting to new technology, changing customer expectations, and a complex franchise network.

Key Takeaways

• Legacy leadership requires more than inheritance; it demands outside experience, operational credibility, and the humility to build a team with deeper expertise than your own.
• Successful transformation begins with a real market need, followed by careful testing, franchisee input, and consistent communication before broad implementation.
• Succession is not a single event but a long process built on trust, role clarity, honest dialogue, and a shared understanding of what the business will need next.
• Franchising can create scalable impact and recurring revenue, but only when the model is repeatable, the founder can relinquish control, and franchisees have meaningful forums for feedback.

Guest Contact & Connect

Anne Huntington Sharma is President, CEO, and Board Member of Huntington Learning Center, where she leads strategy, partnerships, innovation, and the continued evolution of a nearly 50 year education brand.

Website: https://huntingtonhelps.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anne-huntington-sharma/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/huntingtonhelps/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HuntingtonHelps

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Jane Bertch left corporate banking, moved through London into Paris, and built La Cuisine Paris into the largest English language French cooking school in the city, despite having no culinary background and no perfect plan. In this conversation, she shares why clarity comes through action, how community turns an experience based business into something durable, and why women should stop waiting for permission to begin again.

Show Notes

Jane’s story is a masterclass in founder reinvention, not as a polished leap from certainty to success, but as a lived process of testing, adapting, listening to clients, and building community around an idea that once felt wildly impractical.

• Clarity comes through action: Jane makes a powerful case for practicing in public, reminding women that waiting for complete readiness often delays the very learning that creates confidence. 
• A lasting business is built through responsiveness: La Cuisine Paris grew through relationships, word of mouth, client trust, and constant adaptation, proving that beautiful ideas only survive when they meet real market desire. 
• Community is not a soft asset: From her cooking school to her retreats and future work with women entrepreneurs, Jane shows how the right people, in the right environment, can help women see and step into a larger version of themselves. 
• Reinvention belongs at every age: At 50, Jane is expanding beyond La Cuisine Paris into women’s development, retreats, writing, and entrepreneurial support, carrying the message that it is never too late to plant the tree. 

Guest Contact & Connect

Jane Bertch is the founder of La Cuisine Paris, author of The French Ingredient, and creator of women centered experiences through JCMB Consulting, including retreats, entrepreneurial programs, and her Substack, Prompts from Paris.

Website: La Cuisine Paris
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 00 33 6 25 58 80 83
LinkedIn: Jane Bertch on LinkedIn
Instagram: @janebertch
Substack: Prompts from Paris

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Jillian Salinas, founder of Beach City Coffee, joins Badass Women in Business to share how a backyard roasting hobby became a national retail brand rooted in community, sustainability, and resilience. Her story offers a grounded look at what it takes to rebuild after disruption, enter major retail without a clear roadmap, and grow without abandoning the values that made people care in the first place.

Show Notes

The Strategic Focus:
This conversation explores the long game of building a values-led consumer brand, where staying power comes not from chasing every opportunity, but from staying deeply connected to community, moving quickly when the market shifts, and making operational choices that reflect the company’s original purpose.

Key Takeaways:

• Community can become a strategic advantage. Jillian’s growth was not built only on product quality, but on relationships, trust, and a brand story people could believe in.
• Resilience often means rebuilding before you feel ready. When Beach City Coffee’s original revenue stream disappeared during the pandemic, Jillian had to pivot quickly and pursue retail growth without a perfect roadmap.
• Sustainability has to survive scale. Beach City Coffee’s compostable, PFAS-free packaging reflects Jillian’s belief that environmental responsibility should be built into the business model, not added later as a marketing layer.
• Purpose-driven growth requires discipline. As the brand expanded into major retailers, including Whole Foods, Walmart, Kroger, Ralphs, Frys, and King Soopers, Jillian stayed focused on protecting the principles that shaped the company from the beginning.

Guest Contact & Connect

Jillian Salinas is the founder of Beach City Coffee, a Redondo Beach-based coffee brand that grew from small-batch roasting into a national retail presence while championing compostable packaging, community, and ocean-conscious business practices.

Connect with Beach City Coffee:
Website
Instagram
LinkedIn
Facebook
TikTok

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Nuttha Goutier built Sabai Thai Spa from less than $1,000, a clear vision, and a deep belief that wellness should feel like belonging, not a transaction. In this conversation, she shares how Thai hospitality, community care, disciplined systems, and a staff first culture helped turn one spa into a growing franchise brand with ambitious expansion plans across Canada and beyond.

Show Notes

Nuttha’s story is a powerful reminder that the strongest brands are not built only through capital, polish, or speed, but through a clear point of view, a repeatable customer experience, and the courage to protect the culture that made the business work in the first place.

• How Nuttha translated the warmth of Thai village life into a spa experience designed around all five senses, genuine hospitality, and emotional connection.
• Why Sabai Thai Spa grew through grassroots marketing, word of mouth, community trust, and a customer journey that made people feel deeply cared for.
• How systems, training, and operational discipline allowed Nuttha to step out of the day to day business and prepare the brand for franchise growth.
• Why she believes staff come before customers, and how caring for the team creates the kind of service culture customers can feel immediately.

Guest Contact & Connect

Nuttha Goutier is the founder of Sabai Thai Spa, a Thai inspired wellness franchise built around hospitality, care, and community.

Website: https://sabaithai.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nutthagoutier/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nutthagoutier/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61573378331497

Join the proveHER community and read the companion blogcast for more conversations with women building companies, leading boldly, and redefining what success can look like.

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When Dr. Maheen Musoof Adamson watched her father lose his ability to speak after a stroke, her life’s work became deeply personal. In this episode, she shares how that experience led her to build Soof Solutions, an AI-enabled communication platform helping stroke, ALS, and non-speaking patients express their needs through eye movement, while challenging what healthcare innovation can look like when science, empathy, and access lead the way.

Show Notes

This conversation is about building technology that serves real human need, not just market excitement. Dr. Adamson shares how she moved from neuroscience, Stanford, and government research into entrepreneurship, and why responsible healthcare innovation requires clinical rigor, emotional conviction, global access, and the courage to lead without abandoning your values.

• How her father’s stroke became the catalyst for building Soof Solutions.
• Why eye-tracking technology can help patients communicate needs like water, comfort, pain, or connection.
• What it takes to raise capital and build trust as a Pakistani American Muslim woman in healthcare innovation.
• Why mentorship, women’s networks, and support systems matter when founders can no longer “white knuckle” their way through leadership.

Guest Contact & Connect

Dr. Maheen Musoof Adamson is a Clinical Professor of Neurosurgery at Stanford School of Medicine, Research Director for a national women Veterans center, Senior Scientist at VA Palo Alto Healthcare System, and CEO and Founder of Soof Solutions.

Website: https://soofsolutions.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maheenmadamson/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/soofsolutions_/
X: https://x.com/soofsupport

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Most entrepreneurs view legal support as something they need when problems arise, yet the most successful founders understand that legal strategy is one of the earliest and most important investments they can make in protecting enterprise value. In this conversation, Hillary Hughes shares how thoughtful contracts, intellectual property protection, governance structures, and investor readiness can help founders avoid costly mistakes, preserve negotiating power, and build businesses that are both investable and acquirable.

Show Notes

The Strategic Focus
This episode explores the often-overlooked connection between legal infrastructure and business growth, demonstrating how the decisions founders make in the earliest stages of company building can significantly impact valuation, fundraising success, operational stability, and long-term exit opportunities. Through practical examples and cautionary tales, Hillary reveals why proactive legal planning is not an expense, but a critical component of sustainable growth.

Key Takeaways

• Why founders should view legal counsel as a strategic business partner rather than a resource reserved for disputes and emergencies.
• The hidden risks within contracts, intellectual property ownership, vendor relationships, and manufacturing agreements that can destroy enterprise value during due diligence.
• What investors look for when evaluating a business, and how strong governance, clean records, and operational discipline increase confidence and valuation.
• Why AI can be a powerful tool for education, but remains an imperfect substitute for experienced legal judgment when negotiating complex agreements.

Guest Contact & Connect

Hillary Hughes
Chair, Business Practice | Foster Garvey
Consumer Brands Industry Group Leader
Website: Foster Garvey
LinkedIn: Connect with Hillary Hughes

Join the proveHER Community for resources, events, and conversations designed to help ambitious women build, scale, and exit successful businesses. For additional insights from this episode, visit the companion Blogcast at Badass Women in Business.

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