Career Curves

Careers don't happen in a vacuum, but rather unfold in the context of our lives. Anu Shultes' career journey has included setbacks, hard landings and serious illness. In spite of it all she persisted, found her voice, and earlier this year was named CEO of LendUp, a socially responsible FinTech company redefining financial services for the emerging middle class.
 
Anu candidly shares how she faced adversity head-on and became fearless along the way.  Her career decisions not only led her to the helm of a company, but also shaped the leader and person she is today. 

Meet the Guest
Anu Shultes is CEO of LendUp, a mission-driven financial technology company focused on expanding access to credit and creating pathways to better financial health. A 25-year veteran of the financial services industry, Anu has a personal mission to lift people out of poverty and infuses her work with her passion for financial inclusion. Anu’s career spans a broad spectrum of roles across subprime credit cards, subprime loans, and prepaid cards. Her significant experience building efficient operational processes and teams to support them has led her to become one of the few female CEOs in fintech.  

Links

• Here's the book Anu read early in her career that influenced the choices she made: How to Become a CEO
• Visit LendUp on LinkedIn 
• Visit LendUp

Conventional wisdom tells us that if we want to be successful in our careers, we need a clear goal and a plan. What if the plan is broad and general like, "Go after interesting opportunities?" As Corey Lambert's story shows, this can be enough. He has already had a successful career at some of the hottest startups even though he's still in his thirties and has never had a more formal career plan.

Corey shares how he found his roles, what he learned about himself, and how this led him to make changes until he landed where he is today.

Meet the Guest
Corey Lambert graduated from New York University with a degree in English quite some time ago. While the smoke clears on his future plans, he helps technology startups scale their office spaces. 

A native of Muskegon, Michigan, Corey currently resides in San Francisco, California with his partner, their two rescue dogs and George Clooney, his 11-inch MacBook Air.

Have you ever dreamed of taking what you know and venturing out as a consultant? Anna Beuselinck did that and then decided she wanted even more, so she created an organic farm, garden and vineyard retreat. 

Anna openly shares her story, including how and why she made the moves she made to lead a life she purposefully designed.

Meet the Guest
Anna Beuselinck, Life Gardener,  is called a Life Gardener because she believes in planting seeds of humanity.  She is both co-founder and CEO of Campovida Winery, Farm and Retreat Center and founder of Partners in Performance, a leadership development consultancy.

Links
To find more about Anna's endeavors, visit:

• Campovida
• DO Lectures USA Talk
• Stock Farm 

Can you take something you're passionate about and make it the focal point of your career? Manny Hernandez did, but it was a tough journey filled with long days and personal sacrifices.

Manny candidly shares why he made the choices he did and the challenges he faced including the one that forced him to leave the organization he built and loved.

Meet the Guest
Manny Hernandez is an internationally recognized health advocate who has lived with diabetes since 2002. He co-founded the Diabetes Hands Foundation (DHF) driven by the belief that no one living with diabetes should feel alone. DHF was a global leader in diabetes social media and diabetes advocacy between 2007 and 2017.
 
In May 2015, he joined Livongo Health, the leading consumer digital health company with the vision to empower all people with chronic conditions to live better and healthier lives as SVP of Member Experience. In October 2017, he became Livongo’s SVP of Culture and Learning.
 
Since 2016, he has been a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of Diabetic Living Magazine. He has held key volunteer roles with International Diabetes Federation, American Diabetes Association, American Association of Diabetes Educators, and other diabetes advocacy groups.
 
Born in Venezuela, he came to the US in 2000 and lives in the Bay Area with his wife and artist Andreina Davila, his musician son Santiago, and their poodle Lucas. Manny holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Universidad Metropolitana in Venezuela and a Master of Engineering in Electrical Engineering from Cornell University.

Gallup Strengths:
1. Woo
2. Communication
3. Positivity
4. Achiever
5. Includer

Links

If you or someone you know is touched by diabetes, join the online communities founded by Manny and his wife, Andreina Davila.

• TuDiabetes.org
• EsTuDiabetes.org

How do you bounce back from an early setback? Our guest today knows. He was on the path to do what many people dream of doing, making it into the big leagues as a professional athlete, and then an injury cut his pro career short.

Mike Robbins, who has reinvented himself a number of times, shares his personal experiences and what he's learned about the importance of being true to yourself.

Meet the Guest
Mike Robbins is the author of four books, Focus on the Good Stuff, Be Yourself Everyone Else is Already Take, Nothing Changes Until Your Do, and Bring Your Whole Self to Work. He delivers keynotes and seminars that empower people, leaders, and organizations to be more successful, appreciative, and authentic.

Prior to his current work, Mike played baseball at Stanford and then professionally with the KC Royals.  After his athletic career was cut short by injuries, he worked in the tech world, before starting his consulting business in 2001.  His clients include Google, Wells Fargo, eBay, Gap, Microsoft, and others.  

Links

• www.Mike-Robbins.com
• Mike's books:
  • Focus on the Good Stuff
  • Be Yourself Everyone Else is Already Taken
  • Nothing Changes Until You Do
  • Bring Your Whole Self to Work
• Mike's TED Talk: Bring Your Whole Self to Work
• Mike's Podcast: We're All in This Together

When you hear that someone makes a list of top most influential leaders, it's easy to assume they were driven by a clear vision for their career since they were young. The truth is that success like this can be had even by people who start out not knowing what they want to do.

In the premier episode of Career Curves, guest Kellie McElhaney shares how she went from not knowing what she wanted to do to becoming passionate about corporate social responsibility and equity fluent leadership, and how these became the center point for her work. She also shares why she chose academia as the arena where she could make the most impact.

Meet the Guest
Dr. Kellie McElhaney is on the faculty and is the Founder and Executive Director of the Center for Equity, Gender and Inclusion (EGAL) at the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley. 

Launched in November 2017, EGAL's mission is to educate equity fluent leaders to ignite and accelerate change.  Kellie helped develop this concept and teaches it across the globe.  Equity fluent leaders understand the value of different lived experiences and courageously use their power to address barriers, increase access, and drive change for positive impact.  Haas graduates over 1,000 leaders a year; EGAL will ensure that they are all equity fluent.  The center deeply partners with the corporate and civil sectors.
 
In 2003, Kellie founded the Center for Responsible Business (CRB), solidifying corporate responsibility as a core competency and competitive advantage of Berkeley-Haas. Due to Kellie’s leadership, Haas was rated #1 in the world for corporate responsibility by The Financial Times.  She received the Founder and Visionary Award at Haas in 2013 for this work.
 
Kellie authored the book, Just Good Business: The Strategic Guide to Aligning Corporate Responsibility and Brand. She writes case studies of companies who are investing in women, and broader diversity and inclusion, and does research in the area of equal, pay, conscious inclusion, equity fluent leadership, and value-creating strategies of diversity and inclusion.  Her Gap, Inc. Equal Pay case won the California Management Review Case of the Year in 2017.  She was named one of the Bay Area’s Most Influential Women in 2019 by the S.F. Business Times.
 
Kellie’s consulting client list includes:  Ernst & Young, NVIDIA, Gap, Inc., Women’s Initiative Foundation (France), Orrick, Levi, , Network for Executive Women, Twilio, Vimplecom, KAUST, Nokia, Navigant Consulting, NetGear, Personal Capital, CALSTRS, Financial Professionals Association, Driscoll Berries, GE Oil & Gas, Triage Consulting Group, Ulster Bank, Accenture, Yum! Brands, Chevron, ING, Energizer Holdings, Inc., Pandora, Aboitiz, Outotec, Pillsbury Winthrop.
 
Kellie currently serves on the Board of Directors for Sierra Europe Offshore, LTD., the Closed Loop Fund, and Empower Her Network, and on the Gender Equity Diversity Subcommittee of the University of California Athletics Board.
 
Kellie lives in Oakland, California and has two college-aged daughters.  She earned her B.A. from the University of North Carolina, her M.A. from Ohio University, and her Ph.D. from the University of Michigan.  Prior to moving in to academia, Kellie worked in retail banking in commercial lending, acquisitions and corporate leadership development. 

Links

• Kellie’s TEDx Talk: CSR 3.0
• Center for Equity, Gender and Leadership at Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley
• Center for Responsible Business at Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley

Staying with one company doesn't mean you're stagnating or failing to grow. In this episode of Career Curves, guest Dan Henkle shares how the moves he made within one company to build a rich, challenging, fulfilling career.

Our first official episode of the Career Curves podcast and website, careercurves.com, is now available. Subscribe today!

Meet the Guest
Dan Henkle is a Human Resources and Sustainability Executive with 30 years of experience at Oracle and Gap Inc. Key roles have included SVP of Global Human Resources, SVP of Global Sustainability and President of the Gap Foundation.  He has a proven ability to lead in highly complex, global operating environments and to develop highly effective teams across a variety of disciplines and geographies.  He also has a consistent track record of improving overall business performance and employee engagement.  Dan is currently the CEO of The Henkle Group and Co-Founder of Career Curves.   

Dan is the Chair of the Board of Directors for the global human rights organization Social Accountability International.  He also serves as Chair of the Board of Trustees for the Drew School in San Francisco. 

Dan earned his BS in Accounting and General Management at Purdue University and his MBA with an emphasis in Organizational Behavior from UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business.  He currently lives in San Francisco.  

What can you do when the paths you're supposed to take aren't the ones you want to take? In this episode of Career Curves, guest Bill Auerbach shares his career journey and how a stint in comedy helped him discover the path that was right for him.

Our first official episode of the Career Curves podcast and website, careercurves.com, are now available. Subscribe today!

Meet the Guest
Bill Auerbach, CEO Coaching Right Now, brings over 20 years of experience in organizational development, communication, training, and coaching toward his mission of developing future corporate leaders. He brings specific expertise in the corporate, entrepreneurial and non-profit fields, and his clients come from a wide variety of industries — including professional services, manufacturing, consumer goods, health care, technology and retail. High-profile clients have included PepsiCo, Kimberly Clark, Blue Shield of California, Gap, Old Navy, Banana Republic, DSW, Macy’s, Hess Oil and McGladrey.

Bill is also very active in the non-profit sector, where he’s put his coaching expertise to use helping special-needs individuals and their families. He’s also served as Chairman of the Board of Keshet, an organization dedicated to enriching the lives of developmentally challenged children and adults.

Bill earned his BA in business economics from UCLA. He currently lives in the Chicago area.

Links
Coaching Right Now

Introducing the Career Curves podcast: real people telling true stories about real careers

Many people find themselves stuck in their careers and don't know how to get unstuck. We're here to help.

On each episode of Career Curves, we'll talk to someone having an interesting, curvy career to find out how they have navigated the twists and turns. We’ll focus on the opportunities and challenges that came their way, digging into key decisions they've faced and how they've made them. Listen in and walk away with inspiration and ideas to help you maneuver through the curves in your own career.

Subscribe today!