Polina Osherov is Co-Founder and Executive Director of PATTERN. She is also a commercial photographer. She credits her success to persistence, hard work, and knowing how to pick her battles. She describes herself as direct, driven, and solution-oriented. We describe her as a creative badass!

From the Soviet Union to Australia - a life that led her to Indianapolis. A dad who was a cinematographer and photographer - her introduction to photography. A career that included being a small business owner, an entrepreneur, a photographer, co-founder and executive director of Patter - a creative person with a passion for fashion. She talked about all of that and so much more.

Some say she's intimdating, but she wears a pair of cat ears that have become part of her brand (which she tells us about). And although she says her gift is tough love and she's faced many challenges, she's forged ahead and is kicking ass. 

We introduce you to this creative badass woman in this episdoe. 

Jennifer describes herself as gritty, loving and humorous. Friends say she's tenacious, loving, passionate. We think Jennifer Cvar is a badass! She's the founder and executive director of Momentum Indy | Indy Crit, thriving and serving as the only female founder/manager in the American Cup Series, which she also helped to found. 

She grew up riding her bike as a kid and loving the independence her bike gave her. Fast forward to after college when she started taking spin classes at the YMCA at the Athenaeum in Indianapolis. There she met a group of mostly male cyclists who invited her to join their group rides. Frustrated that she was always in the back, she built up her stamina and strength and before long moved up to the front – and even onto podiums after competing in crits. 

Her career in racing competitively led her to creating the Indy Crit, an annual bike race in downtown Indianapolis that has gone from just a race to a weekend to a long festival. We caught up with her right before the 2022 Crit (took place Aug. 27).

To learn more about the IU Health Momentum Indy, two-day bicycle festival, visit momentumindy.org 

Janet is the longest-serving arts leaders in Indianapolis. She has created art with amazing professionals from around the country for nearly 40 years. While she describes herself as tenacious, loud and forward-moving, she believes others would say she’s demonstrative, energetic and mouthy. The word we use is BADASS! 

Janet joined the Indiana Repertory Theatre in 1980 as a dramaturg (which she explained to us), then as associate artistic director, and, since 1996, as artistic director. In this episode, she talked about her career, her time in New York (and why she came back), challenges, successes, and so much more. 

After her 40-year career at the IRT, Janet will retire on June 30, 2023, after the 2022–2023 Season. Her final season will also be the IRT’s 50th Anniversary Season, which she talked about too. 

Get your tickets at irtlive.com 

This badass woman founded The Can Lady Project, an Indianapolis nonprofit, which has collected more than 20 million cans, raised thousands of dollars for teachers, and works to educate local youth. In 2007, she was inspired to help her community by doing something simple: recycling. Think you can't make a difference? You CAN - just ask the Can Lady. She basically started a recycling initiative that donates field trips and supplies to teachers all funded by cans that you toss and she recycles. Since its inception the project has generated more than $60K in donations. What CAN you do?

"I could sit around, do nothing and complain, or I could get up and do something to get money in the hands of teachers and teach kids about recycling." - Mary Stumpp

In this episode, hear how she got started, why she started the project, how she drew the attention of Mike Rowe's Facebook series, and so much more.

To learn more, make a donation, and to help The Can Lady visit facebook.com/thecanladyproject/

In 2017, Deb completed a 50 by 60 challenge with her husband – where they ran a marathon in all 50 states before they turned 60 (they’ve actually completed over 60 marathons AND a 100 mile race). In 2018, they crossed off their bucket list a bike ride across the country (literally from coast to coast). And as if that isn’t enough, a month after they finished their coast-to-coast ride, they started planning a ride along the Continental Divide.

When she's not running or cycling, she's busy with her seven adult children, five grandsons and two granddaughters. She cooks a “healthyish” scratch meal for her extended family of 21 once a week. Deb is retired, which according to her means working on her bucket list: volunteering, spending time with her family, and lots of self-directed learning. In addition to learning to play Pickleball and solving Wordles, Deb is teaching herself Spanish and French so she can better communicate with the Spanish and French speaking neighbors in the food pantry where she volunteers weekly.

She talks about all this and more in this episode of Badassery Life.

In this episode we talked with Cara about her career, her fight for women and women's sexual health, and her persepctive on Roe v Wade and abortion. Listen to this episode and learn why she's passionate about vulva vaginal disease and about her purpose of bringing light to dark places. Cara talks about things people don't like to talk about and finds a way to normalize them. She's using her voice and her voice needs to be heard.

Cara Berg Raunick is a doctorally-prepared women’s health nurse practitioner and a lifelong advocate for women’s and sexual health. She’s involved with an organization called PATH4YOU, a diverse team of healthcare providers and individuals passionate about quality reproductive care for all AND she’s serving as concert co-producer of SPRING AWAKENING, benefiting All-Options Hoosier Abortion Fund taking place at the Cabaret in Indianapolis on August 13. (visit riverbendproduction.com/springawakening for tickets)  <-- we talked about all of that and more!  

Lindsey is a wife, mother of two, volunteer, co-founder of an annual memory run/walk in memory of her mom, and an active member of her church. She's also on a journey being a parent of a transgender daughter. She's learning how to support her child who is gender diverse, doesn't fit the norms and struggles with anxiety, ADHD and depression. Lindsey is supporting her child with beauty, grace and in such a badass way that inspires others. 

Lindsey told us she's "a mom trying to love, support my children and create equity, inclusion and belonging in the world (through my motherhood and work)". She's loyal, authentic, kind and devoted to her family and values, loyal. She has incredible grit.

In this epsiode, Lindsey talks about her challenges, feeling vulnerable and the support network helping her walk this beautiful and tough transgender journey.  

Suzi is considered to be one of the women at the beginning of the #metoo movement. She was a key witness on a harassment trial against a popular celebrity in her home country of Australia. In 2014, she found herself in a London Court room, getting her inner warrior on in support of all women who have been victimized, by sharing her story to the world as a bad character witness in the child sexual assault trial of an international British star. We talked about that and more.

Her past has been filled with challenges: self-esteem issues, she almost went bankrupt, had a dysfunctional family on both sides that involved drug and alcohol addiction and suicide. But today, Suzi is a multi-award winning film and television hair and makeup artist and an international award-winning motivational speaker. She’s also the author of the upcoming book series Bare Naked and Beautiful, a live audience talk show host and MC, an educator, a facilitator, a mother, an ex-wife, a Holistic Confidence Coach, a model, and Mrs Earth Australia 2017.

Shelly is a mother, wife, musician, lesbian, Christian, hippie, helper, leader, and listener. She’s also the new (and first female) Executive Director of Indy Pride – an Indianapolis-based nonprofit that produces events that educate, honor our history, and celebrate the diversity of the Indianapolis Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer community.

In this episode we talked with Shelly about her challenges (personally and professionally), feeling vulnerable, what makes her happy, what's led to her success, and the incredible work she's doing for the LGBTQ+ community and her advocacy work on behalf of trans youth.

Shelly shared that she's living her badassery life bcause she has "the great opportunity to represent a whole community and provide opportunities for them to connect with each other." 

For the past two decades, Susan Baughman has played a major role in Indy's biggest sporting events. Most recently, she served as the president of the 2022 College Football Playoff Host Committee - a female sports executive leading that event for the first time in Indianapolis. She's a long-time leader in the Indianapolis sports movement who likes creating positive connections with people. She describes herself as positive, tenacious and friendly - we describe her as a true badass! 

In this episode she talks about growing up on a farm, her challenges in the business world, what really matters to her, and more. Find out how she was able to build a pool in the then "Conseco Fieldhouse" for the 2024 World Swimming Championships, how she likes to keep in touch with people for years to see them progress in life, and what the playbook looks like for her future.