Confident

Whether we’re talking about the fear of failure or anything else holding you back, confidence is the key to unleashing your power. Welcome to “Confident”TM with me, Sheri West, and my fearless daughter, Olivia. Join our conversations with fierce female leaders -and explore how you can become the confident, inclusive leader our world needs.

“Beauty doesn’t define you, but there’s power in defining your own beauty.” - Renee Reyes

Trigger warning: Conversation includes reference to sexual assault, kidnapping, drug addiction, self-harm, and abuse.

Renee Reyes is the Founder/CEO of The AloPeace Project, a Spokesmodel, and part-time Horticulturist. She is also the reigning Miss Stamford USA - proving that you don’t need hair to be beautiful. This beauty pageant winner is using her platform as a way to spread awareness about alopecia and to change today’s beauty standards for the better. She also was the recipient of the Miss Connecticut USA Community Service Award for her efforts in starting The AloPeace Project nonprofit dedicated to humanizing and empowering the conversation around alopecia.

In this episode, Sheri and Olivia West sat down with a TRUE QUEEN. In a graceful display of vulnerability, Renee shares accounts of a heart-breaking journey of strength through traumatic experiences, which led her to a brighter place in life - a place dedicated to supporting others. Renee talks about how the stress of her earlier experiences triggered her genetic alopecia - an autoimmune disorder that causes your hair to come out. She also shares why she decided to enter the beauty pageant world, how her presence has impacted beauty standards and the inspiration and mission behind her nonprofit.

DID YOU KNOW?! Renee can read 1,121 words per minute! That's almost 3x the amount of an average college-age student. 

DO YOU WANT TO JOIN THE CONVERSATION? Visit www.golivegirl.org/podcast to submit a question YOU want us to answer on an upcoming episode. 

As always, stay true to yourself, stay kind, stay confident and show up as your best self every day!

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Connect with us on social media @goLiveGirl and be sure to subscribe, rate, review on Spotify and Apple Podcasts!

Read Sheri’s blog post on the story and launch of Confident!

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Whether we’re talking about the fear of failure or anything else holding you back, confidence is the key to unleashing your power. Welcome to “Confident”TM with me, Sheri West, and my fearless daughter, Olivia. Join our conversations with fierce female leaders -and explore how you can become the confident, inclusive leader our world needs.

Joan Kuhl is an author, speaker, and unabashed champion of girls leadership and advancing women in the workplace. She speaks internationally and consults with Fortune 100 companies and top 20 Business Schools as well as serves as a Board Member for the Frances Hesselbein Leadership Institute and Girls Inc.. Her expertise has been featured in the NY Times, Harvard Business Review, CNBC Success Magazine and she is a regular contributor to ForbesWomen. Joan is the author of 3 books, including “Dig Your Heels In: Navigate Corporate BS And Build The Company You Deserve”. She earned her MBA from Rutgers University where she studied global business strategies in China and is the mother of two daughters.

After spending 14 years in the pharma industry, Joan transitioned to mentoring and coaching and launched her company, Why Millennials Matter. In this inspiring episode, she shares her journey.

Through her work, Joan empowers women at all points of their journey from early childhood through college and business school and at every level in the workplace. Listen in as she shares at which stage she finds that women meet the greatest obstacles and how she help them overcome these obstacles. We also discuss the common self-limiting behaviors that hold women back, including Imposter Syndrome, Stifled Authenticity, Perfectionism, & Overthinking and how her book “Digging In Your Heels” helps with these and so much more!

DID YOU KNOW?! Joan’s first job was at McDonalds at just 14 years old. In this episode, you’ll hear the two major life lessons she learned while on the job that proved transferrable to her life-long career.

DO YOU WANT TO JOIN THE CONVERSATION? Visit www.golivegirl.org/podcast to submit a question YOU want us to answer on an upcoming episode. 

As always, stay true to yourself, stay kind, stay confident and show up as your best self every day!

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Connect with us on social media @goLiveGirl and be sure to subscribe, rate, review on Spotify and Apple Podcasts!

Read Sheri’s blog post on the story and launch of Confident!

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Whether we’re talking about the fear of failure or anything else holding you back, confidence is the key to unleashing your power. Welcome to “Confident”TM with me, Sheri West, and my fearless daughter, Olivia. Join our conversations with fierce female leaders -and explore how you can become the confident, inclusive leader our world needs.

Colleen Ammerman is the director of the Gender Initiative at Harvard Business School. She works with faculty leadership to support a research community and a platform for disseminating insights for advancing equity, diversity, and inclusion in organizations. She is also co-author of the book: Glass Half-Broken: Shattering the Barriers That Still Hold Women Back at Work (a book for EVERYONE, not just women and gives actionable advice to be a change agent).

In this episode, Colleen sits down with Sheri and Olivia to discuss everything from her work at the HBS Gender Initiative and how they are advancing gender equality, what’s it going to take to see real change, what leadership skills young women need to develop to lean in and close the female leadership gap, and - of course - all things related to her new book. 

Follow Colleen: Twitter: @colleenammerman LinkedIn: Colleen Ammerman

SUPPLEMENT READING

How to Close the Gender Gap - Harvard Business Review

Pandemic's Toll Shows Most 'Workplaces Still Don't Work for Women' - Newsweek

DO YOU WANT TO JOIN THE CONVERSATION? Visit www.golivegirl.org/podcast to submit a question YOU want us to answer on an upcoming episode. 

As always, stay true to yourself, stay kind, stay confident and show up as your best self every day!

————

Connect with us on social media @goLiveGirl and be sure to subscribe, rate, review on Spotify and Apple Podcasts!

Read Sheri’s blog post on the story and launch of Confident!

Permalink

Whether we’re talking about the fear of failure or anything else holding you back, confidence is the key to unleashing your power. Welcome to “Confident”TM with me, Sheri West, and my fearless daughter, Olivia. Join our conversations with fierce female leaders -and explore how you can become the confident, inclusive leader our world needs.

Dr. Charlene Alexander is the Vice President and Chief Diversity Officer at Oregon State University. Previously, she served as the associate provost for diversity and professor of counseling psychology at Ball State University for 20 years. Dr. Alexander’s research interests are in the areas of multicultural counseling, school counseling, and international psychology. She is the co-editor of the Handbook of Multicultural Education, currently in its 4th edition.

In this episode, interviewed by Sheri and Olivia West, Dr. Alexander shared about her experience growing up in the Caribbean and going to school in England before coming to the US, and how it’s shaped the way she sees the world she’s engaged in. She also acknowledges that diversity, equity, and inclusion is a lifelong journey and shares how can we be continuous learners in this area, along with what advice she wishes her teen self had heard, and so much more!

DO YOU WANT TO JOIN THE CONVERSATION? Visit www.golivegirl.org/podcast to submit a question YOU want us to answer on an upcoming episode. 

As always, stay true to yourself, stay kind, stay confident and show up as your best self every day!

————

Connect with us on social media @goLiveGirl and be sure to subscribe, rate, review on Spotify and Apple Podcasts!

Read Sheri’s blog post on the story and launch of Confident!

Permalink

Whether we’re talking about the fear of failure or anything else holding you back, confidence is the key to unleashing your power. Welcome to “Confident”TM with me, Sheri West, and my fearless daughter, Olivia. Join our conversations with fierce female leaders -and explore how you can become the confident, inclusive leader our world needs.

Mita Mallick - named 2020 LinkedIn Top Voices - is a corporate change-maker with a track record of transforming businesses and cultures. She is the head of inclusion, equity and impact at Carta. Mita is a columnist for SWAAY, and her writing has been published in the Harvard Business Review, The New York Post and Business Insider.

In this raw episode, interviewed by Sheri and Olivia West - Mita shares with us about her background, experiences of hate and bullying and how she has risen to became such an informed, confident leader. She also gives her perspective on why she believes there is so much hate in our world today, what individuals do to counter hate and so much more.

We are excited to have you join us for our brand new season of Confident. 

DO YOU WANT TO JOIN THE CONVERSATION? Visit www.golivegirl.org/podcast to submit a question YOU want us to answer on an upcoming episode. 

As always, stay true to yourself, stay kind, stay confident and show up as your best self every day!

————

Connect with us on social media @goLiveGirl and be sure to subscribe, rate, review on Spotify and Apple Podcasts!

Read Sheri’s blog post on the story and launch of Confident!

Permalink

Whether we’re talking about the fear of failure or anything else holding you back, confidence is the key to unleashing your power. Welcome to “Confident”TM with me, Sheri West, and my fearless daughter, Olivia. Join our conversations with fierce female leaders -and explore how you can become the confident, inclusive leader our world needs.

In this episode, Sheri and Olivia West sit down with the amazing powerhouse, Shellye Archambeau. Shellye is the former CEO of MetricStream, which landed her as one of Silicon Valley’s first Black Female CEOs, and built the company from a struggling start-up to a global leader. She was named the second most influential African American in IT by Business Insider and has guest lectured at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business and The Wharton School of Business.

Shellye now serves on the Boards of Verizon, Nordstrom, Roper Technologies and Okta and she is the author of Unapologetically Ambitious. I LOVED this book as it captures so much of what we strive to teach young women! 

Tune in to hear Shellye discuss her book and guide us through how to take risks, break barriers, and create success on your own terms.

To hear more in the audience Q&A, watch the full replay on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j78NqDcyKpc

Be sure to listen to the Confident Podcast by LiveGirl on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or Google Podcasts!

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Connect with us on social media @goLiveGirl and be sure to subscribe, rate, review on Spotify and Apple Podcasts!

Read Sheri’s blog post on the story and launch of Confident!

Permalink

Whether we’re talking about the fear of failure or anything else holding you back, confidence is the key to unleashing your power. Welcome to “Confident”TM with me, Sheri West, and my fearless daughter, Olivia. Join our conversations with fierce female leaders -and explore how you can become the confident, inclusive leader our world needs.

In this episode, Sheri and Olivia West sit down with the fearless young CEO - Alexis Curtis!

Alexa is the 23-year-old Founder & CEO of “Life Unfiltered with Alexa”, a lifestyle website and podcast for teens & parents discussing topics such as social media and mental health. You may be familiar with her from her Radio Disney show called “Fearless Everyday with Alexa Curtis”.  

Listen to Alexa, Sheri and Olivia as they talk all things relating to owning your fearlessness. 

DID YOU KNOW? Alexa started a fashion blog at 12 years old?! She later transformed her blog into full lifestyle platform, “Life Unfiltered”, including “The New Unfiltered” podcast, a weekly call-in show! In this interview, Alexa talks about her entrepreneurial spirit that guided her along the way, pandemic-related mental health trends, and gives advice for young women wanting to start up their own business plus sooo much more!

You can check Alexa out on IG at @alexa_curtis 

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Connect with us on social media @goLiveGirl and be sure to subscribe, rate, review on Spotify and Apple Podcasts!

Read Sheri’s blog post on the story and launch of Confident!

Permalink

Whether we’re talking about the fear of failure or anything else holding you back, confidence is the key to unleashing your power. Welcome to “Confident”TM with me, Sheri West, and my fearless daughter, Olivia. Join our conversations with fierce female leaders -and explore how you can become the confident, inclusive leader our world needs.

In this exclusive interview, Sheri and Olivia West sit down with the inspiring and esteemed, Amy Siskind who shares advice to young women on how they can stand up and be heard!

Amy Siskind is a national spokesperson, writer and expert on helping women and girls advance and succeed. A former Wall Street executive, she’s President and Co-founder of The New Agenda, a national organization working on issues including economic independence and advancement, gender representation and bias, and campus sexual assault. She is perhaps best known as the author of The Weekly List, which has been turned into both a book and a podcast, and was recognized as one of the POLITICO 50. She also serves on Cornell University’s highly prestigious President’s Council of Cornell Women and Cornell University Council, and was recently honored by the Westchester County Legislators for her LGBTQ advocacy. 

In this special episode, Sheri and Olivia sit down with Amy and talk about everything from the environment for women in Wall Street, her bravery in transitioning into politics, the structural biases against women that prompted her to launch the New Agenda and her role as an activist of American Democracy!

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Connect with us on social media @goLiveGirl and be sure to subscribe, rate, review on Spotify and Apple Podcasts!

Read Sheri’s blog post on the story and launch of Confident!

Permalink

Whether we’re talking about the fear of failure or anything else holding you back, confidence is the key to unleashing your power. Welcome to ConfidentTM with me, Sheri West, and my fearless daughter, Olivia. The world needs confident, inclusive leaders who embrace diversity to rise up. The time is now. Join us.

In this episode, Sheri and Olivia sit down with Julie Lythcott-Haims and talk about EVERYTHING as it relates to the importance of black authors building more inclusive spaces, how she experienced bravery in changing her career, courage in dealing with the media, advice to young women on standing firm and sooo much more!

Julie Lythcott-Haims is the New York Times bestselling author of the anti-helicopter parenting manifesto How to Raise an Adult. Her TED Talk on the subject has more than 5 million views, and she is a regular contributor with CBS This Morning on parenting. Her second book is the award-winning memoir Real American, which illustrates her experience as a Black and biracial person in white spaces. Julie is a former corporate lawyer and Stanford dean, and she holds a BA from Stanford, a JD from Harvard, and an MFA in Writing from California College of the Arts. She serves on the board of Common Sense Media, and on the advisory board of LeanIn.Org. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her family.

This week’s “fiercely love yourself” challenge --is to Act as if. Always act in a way that is consistent with where you want to go.

You can check out Julie’s latest book available now for pre-order “Your Turn: How to Be an Adult”. Follow her at @jlythcotthaims.

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Connect with us on social media @goLiveGirl and be sure to subscribe, rate, review on Spotify and Apple Podcasts!

Read Sheri’s blog post on the story and launch of Confident!

Permalink

Whether we’re talking about the fear of failure or anything else holding you back, confidence is the key to unleashing your power. Welcome to ConfidentTM with me, Sheri West, and my fearless daughter, Olivia. The world needs confident, inclusive leaders who embrace diversity to rise up. The time is now. Join us.

Illana Raia is the Founder & CEO of Etregirls.com and Author of "Être: Girls, Who Do You Want To Be?"

Illana contributes to HuffPost, Ellevate, Ms. Magazine and Thrive Global and was named a Mogul Influencer in 2017. She has appeared in the HuffPost "Talk To Me" video series, participated in the 2018 Balance Project Interviews and the 2019 #WomenWhoRock campaign.

In this interview, Sheri and Olivia talk to Illana about it all! She starts off by sharing her journey from lawyer to founding Être Girls. A key tenant of Être is to provide girls access to role models, so naturally, we share about the importance of diverse role models, the election of the first woman and woman of color to Vice President, as well as the double standard with women being perceived as too ambitious.

Illana is also a MASTER networker - to end the conversation, Illana shares a few of her much-needed Networking in a Pandemic 101 tips!

To learn more about Être, visit: etregirls.com or follow @etregirls on Instagram.

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Connect with us on social media @goLiveGirl and be sure to subscribe, rate, review on Spotify and Apple Podcasts!

Read Sheri’s blog post on the story and launch of Confident!

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