Cultivate with Alex Canavan

In this episode, host Alex sits down with Christy Ford and Susie Matheson — co-founders of The Scout Guide, a nationally recognized franchise publishing company now spanning more than 100 markets across the country — for a conversation about what it really means to build something deeply human at massive scale, and why the most powerful things are often started over a cup of coffee with no money and no plan.

Christy, a former New York City photographer, moved to Charlottesville, Virginia, opened an antique home store with her mom, and became a small business owner almost by accident. Susie, a former magazine sales rep turned stay-at-home mom, started a blog called The Local Shopping Scout because she couldn't stop asking people the one question nobody else was asking: why did you start this? Together, in 2010, they launched The Scout Guide — a print publication celebrating the faces and stories behind local businesses. Within a year and a half, the demand to bring it to other cities was so overwhelming, their lawyers told them they had to become a franchise. They had nine markets before they even knew what a franchise agreement looked like.

Today, The Scout Guide is in over 100 markets, has created a nationwide network of over 100 women-owned franchise businesses, and has become one of the most intentional media brands in the country — built entirely around the belief that local businesses deserve to be seen, celebrated, and told in a way that does them justice.

They didn't build it to be proud of it. They built it because it had a good mission. And that, as it turns out, is exactly why it worked.

💬 Topics we cover:

• Why Christy and Susie believe this is actually one of the best moments in history for small local businesses — and what changed
• How they went from a blog and a cup of coffee to a nationally franchised media company in under two years
• What becoming a franchise forced them to build — and why that structure saved them from themselves
• Why they tell every founder to build their business like they're going to sell it — even if they never do
• What it actually takes to delegate, trust, and let go when you're a woman who built everything from scratch

• What their franchisees have taught them about confidence, community, and what it means to come back to work on your own terms
• Why doing things that move the needle beats every creative idea that doesn't make money
• What they both think about print, quiet, and why the magic only happens when you stop filling the space

If you've ever wondered whether something small and scrappy and deeply human could actually scale — this is the episode for you.

New episodes drop every Monday. Ready to Cultivate? Hit Subscribe.

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In this episode, host Alex sits down with Lisa Marie Newcomb — founder of Thrive in Healing, co-founder of the Syracuse Yoga Collective, Lululemon Ambassador, and author of A Life Imagined . The conversation is about what it really means to heal out loud, show up for your community, and build a life that looks different than the one you imagined — and find that it's still beautiful.

Since launching Thrive in Healing in 2019, Lisa has worked across the nonprofit, education, and community sectors to bring wellness directly into the spaces where people live, work, learn, and gather — with a focus on burnout prevention, emotional wellbeing, and culturally responsive healing. She's also the co-founder of the Syracuse Yoga Collective and a two-time Lululemon Ambassador. And in the middle of all of it, she went on sabbatical, sat down, and started writing — because she believed so many of us are grieving things we don't even have the language for yet.

This year, Lisa became the very first recipient of the CNY Women's Network Inspiring Woman Award — an honor created for the woman who shows up unapologetically, leads with courage, and stands boldly in spaces where women are often told to shrink. She was the unanimous choice. And this conversation shows you exactly why.

Lisa is also someone close to Alex's heart — one of her very first guests on Cultivate — and coming back three years later, you can feel how much both of them have grown.

💬 Topics we cover:

• What intentional alone time actually looks like when you're a caregiver, a founder, and a community builder all at once
• Why so many of us are grieving things we don't have the language to name — and how A Life Imagined gives us that language
• What it felt like to write the chapter about infertility and realize, somewhere in the middle of it, that she didn't feel that way anymore
• What it takes to host meaningful events and what she believes makes someone a good community member
• The difference between access and true community, and why community only works when it's vulnerable
• What it felt like to receive the Inspiring Woman Award — and what she truly believes it means to be an inspiring woman
• Why healing and being seen don't require permission — and never did

If you've ever been in a season that looked nothing like what you planned — and wondered if it was still okay to call it beautiful — this is the episode for you.

New episodes drop every Monday. Ready to Cultivate? Hit Subscribe.

Lisa's Previous Episode

To check out Thrive in Healing’s website, click ⁠here⁠

To check out Thrive in Healing’s Instagram, ⁠click here⁠

To check out Thrive in Healing’s booking link, ⁠click here⁠

To check out Syracuse Yoga Collective’s website, ⁠click here⁠

To check out Syracuse Yoga Collective’s Instagram, ⁠click here

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In this episode, host Alex sits down with Erika Ayers Badan — CMO of AOL, first-ever CEO of Barstool Sports, board member, author, and now founder of Mule Media — for a conversation about what it really means to bet on yourself when the data says don't, build something that didn't exist before you showed up, and lead with the kind of conviction that turns a regional blog into a media empire.

Erika spent time in marketing at Demand Media, Yahoo, and Microsoft before becoming CMO of AOL and President and Chief Revenue Officer of Bkstg. Then in 2016, she walked into Barstool Sports — a company with no infrastructure, no playbook, and a lot of prevailing wisdom telling her not to — and over the next nine years, grew its valuation from $15 million to over $100 million. She expanded it into multimedia, merchandising, streaming, and pay-per-view, and landed on Forbes' list of the Most Powerful Women in U.S. Sports. After leaving Barstool in 2024, she became CEO of Food52, leading the brand through a major restructuring. Now she's building Mule Media — a company created to bring women together across career, motherhood, leadership, and reinvention — and she's doing it on her own terms.

She also sits on the boards of AXON Enterprise, the Premier Lacrosse League, and VICE. And somewhere in the middle of all of it, she wrote a book called Nobody Cares About Your Career.

The data said don't go to Barstool. The prevailing wisdom agreed. She went anyway. And it was the single best decision she ever made.

💬 Topics we cover:

• What it actually took to walk into Barstool Sports in 2016 — and what she had to become to lead it
• Why she believes working like a woman is a superpower — and how she built an entire brand around that conviction
• What she learned about community building at Barstool that most brands are still getting completely wrong
• The difference between access and true community — and why it only works if it's vulnerable
• How she and Leila are building Mule Media to serve women from 18 to empty nest — and why the creator economy makes now the exact right moment
• What she tells the ambitious person waiting for permission to finally build the thing
• Why getting comfortable being uncomfortable is the only real career strategy that holds

If you've ever trusted your gut over the data, bet on yourself when nobody else would, or believed that the thing that makes you different is actually your greatest asset — this is the episode for you.

New episodes drop every Monday. Ready to Cultivate? Hit Subscribe.

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In this episode, Alex sits down with Sean Kelsey — CEO of Nave Law Firm, foster care alumnus, community builder, and author of The Uneducated CEO — for a conversation about what it really costs to become who you're trying to be. Not in theory. In practice. In the space between the trigger and the reaction.

Sean walked into one of the largest DWI law firms in Central New York with no law degree, no formal business training, and one real credential — his past. What he had was a kid's worth of survival instincts, a relentless drive to figure it out, and a belief that negative situations can always be turned into opportunities. Somehow, he became the CEO.

But this conversation isn't really about that.

It's about the version of Sean that got there — the one who led by fear, who thrived in chaos because chaos was all he'd ever known, and who sat at a kitchen table one ordinary afternoon and realized he was about to break everything around him. It's about what he found on the other side of that moment: therapy, intentionality, a Wellness Army he built for his staff, and a book he wrote not to be published — but to hold himself accountable while finally, slowly, giving himself grace.

Because the same intensity that builds the thing can crack it. And Sean Kelsey knows exactly what that costs.

💬 Topics we cover:

• How growing up in foster care — riding buses alone at eight, holiday dinners at 7-Eleven — became the foundation of everything he built
• What he walked into at Nave Law Firm with no degree, and how he turned a defendant's perspective into a blueprint for scaling operations
• The moment at the kitchen table when he realized the problem wasn't his staff, his family, or his circumstances — it was him
• What leading by fear actually looks like from the inside — and what it took to change
• Why he built a Wellness Army for his team, and what it means to put people before clients before everything else
• How he went from feeling like he didn't belong in the room to becoming board president of the organization that gave him that very feeling
• What The Uneducated CEO is really about — and why he wrote it to give himself grace while still holding himself accountable

If you've ever outworked the room, outrun your own pain, and started to wonder what all of it is actually costing you — this is the episode you needed to hear.

New episodes drop every Monday. Ready to Cultivate? Hit Subscribe.

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In this episode, host Alex sits down with Lauren Makler — Co-Founder and CEO of Cofertility, a human-first fertility ecosystem that allows women to freeze their eggs for free when they donate half — for a conversation about turning personal pain into public purpose, building something counterintuitive in an industry that needed disruption, and what it really means to show up for women at one of the most vulnerable moments of their lives.

Before Cofertility, Lauren was an early Uber employee who founded Uber Health — a business that leveraged Uber's driver network to help millions of patients access the care they needed. She's been named to Inc.'s 2025 Female Founder 500, Fast Company's Most Creative People in Business, and has been featured everywhere from Vogue to Forbes to Entrepreneur. But behind all of that is a deeply personal story — a rare disease diagnosis, a fertility journey that brought her to her knees, and a sister whose experience with egg donation showed her exactly what was broken about the system and what was possible if someone was brave enough to build something better.

She didn't pitch a trend. She didn't chase a market. She took the hardest chapter of her life and built something that didn't exist — because she knew firsthand what it cost women when it didn't.

💬 Topics we cover:

• How she turned her most painful personal experience into a company built for millions of women
• The model behind Cofertility — and why something this simple took this long for someone to build
• What it actually took to build Uber Health inside one of the fastest growing companies in the world
• Why the biggest barrier to egg freezing isn't awareness — it's access — and how Cofertility is changing that
• What it felt like to sign her Series A term sheet with both of her kids on her lap
• How she leads a fully remote team of 32 people with high vibes, high trust, and a Slack channel called the Hype Room
• What she tells herself on the days imposter syndrome shows up — and it still does

If you've ever wondered whether the thing you've been through could be the thing you were meant to build — this is the episode for you.

New episodes drop every Monday. Ready to Cultivate? Hit Subscribe.

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Alex is back solo, and this time she's tackling the topic every woman in this community asks her about: networking. Not the awkward, business-card-collecting kind. The intentional kind, the kind that actually turns conversations into community.

This episode is the best of a recent Collective call, expanded and made even more tactical. Alex breaks down why most networking advice leaves people feeling like they're just going through the motions, and what to do instead if you actually want your relationships to go somewhere.

She gets specific: how to set real, measurable networking goals instead of vague intentions. How to build a personal rolodex so you stop relying on memory and luck. How to introduce yourself in a way that sparks curiosity instead of ending the conversation. How to walk into a room and insert yourself with ease, even when every instinct says to hang back. And how to follow up in a way that feels generous, not awkward.

She also gets honest about what nobody tells you: that quality beats quantity every time, that some of your best networking moves are sitting in relationships you already have, and that you don't need to do more, you need to do it better.

In this episode:

• Why transactional networking doesn't work, and what intentional networking looks like instead
• How to set quantitative networking goals and actually stick to them
• Building your own networking rolodex (and why a spreadsheet is more powerful than it sounds)
• The three things every strong networker does: intro, approach, follow-up
• The follow-up formula that removes all the guesswork
• Why nurturing the relationships you already have is still networking
• How community, done right, becomes the most sustainable networking strategy there is

If you've ever left an event with a stack of cards and zero real connections, this episode is your reset.

New episodes drop every Monday. Ready to Cultivate? Hit subscribe.

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In this episode, host Alex sits down with Sarah Pellegrini — Syracuse native, real estate veteran, entrepreneur, and co-founder of Noble Cellar — for a conversation about what it really means to bet on yourself, bet on your community, and build something that didn't exist before you showed up.

Sarah has spent over 20 years executing across real estate, sales, business development, and hospitality. She guided more than 600 families to achieve their real estate goals. She spent five years as Vice President of a national real estate coaching organization, mentoring hundreds of agents and business owners across the country. And then — in the middle of all of it — she co-founded Noble Cellar, a fine-dining restaurant inside a historic downtown Syracuse church that went on to earn Wine Spectator Awards, DiRōNA recognition, and Best Restaurant honors in its first two years.

She didn't wait for the perfect moment. She didn't wait for the perfect space, the perfect plan, or the perfect time to come back home. She found a building that made her feel something — and she built the rest from there.

Because timing is never going to be perfect. And Sarah Pellegrini is proof of that.

💬 Topics we cover:

• What it takes to lead across industries — from real estate to fine dining — and the thread that ties it all together
• Why she came back to Syracuse and what community investment really looks like in practice
• What she learned coaching hundreds of business owners that most people never figure out
• How she and her co-founder built Noble Cellar without investors — just vision, grit, and each other
• What it felt like to be told fine dining would never work in Syracuse — and then prove them wrong
• What she wants builders and leaders who are in the thick of it right now to hear

If you've ever talked yourself out of something because the timing wasn't right — this is the episode you needed to hear.

New episodes drop every Monday. Ready to Cultivate? Hit Subscribe.

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In this episode, host Alex sits down with Barbara Stone — entrepreneur, author, TEDx speaker, leadership development coach, and founder of Build Your Path LLC — for a conversation about what it really costs to spend 25 years chasing someone else's version of success. And what it takes to finally walk away from it.

Barb did everything right. She earned her MBA, climbed the ladder in manufacturing — one of the most male-dominated industries out there — and reached the top. Executive Vice President. CFO. Impressive by every measure. And then one day, she stopped and asked herself a question that changed everything: Whose definition of success am I actually living?

What followed wasn't a clean, Instagram-worthy pivot. It was a reckoning. With identity. With worthiness. With the version of herself she had been performing for decades. Through the loss of her first husband, a kidney cancer scare, and living with alopecia — a condition that took her nearly eight years to stop hiding — Barb kept doing the inner work. Studying resiliency. Getting certified as a coach. And eventually, building a life that actually looks like her.

In April 2025, she released her first book — So Much to Drool About: Lessons for Living Large — inspired by the Great Danes who taught her more about presence, courage, and showing up fully than any boardroom ever did.

💬 Topics we cover:

• What it was like being a woman in manufacturing and learning to lead without losing herself
• The moment she realized looking good and getting it right was killing her soul
• What resilience actually means — and why it's about building forward, not bouncing back
• How her Great Danes became the unexpected teachers behind her first book
• The daily practices that keep her grounded, intentional, and moving forward
• What she wants every quietly unfulfilled high-achiever to hear right now
• Why the antidote to being stuck is simpler than you think

If you've ever built a life that looks great on paper but doesn't feel like yours — this is the episode you needed to hear.

New episodes drop every Monday. Ready to Cultivate? Hit Subscribe.

Learn more about Barb Stone

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Connect with Alex Canavan, the host of Cultivate on her ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠website⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ & ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

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In this episode, host Alex sits down with Kennedy Myers — former corporate professional, founder of The Graze Catering and The Graze Management, and one of the most honest voices on the internet right now — for a conversation that is raw, courageous, and impossible to forget.

Kennedy was doing what so many of us do: working a nine to five, building two businesses on the side, and grinding through every warning sign her body threw at her. When she was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia — a blood cancer with a 0.0006% chance of occurring in someone her age — everything stopped overnight. The businesses she poured herself into. The clients she showed up for. The identity she had built around doing it all.

What came next was a fight for her life. And a lesson that no hustle culture guru will ever teach you.

Kennedy turned to TikTok to document her journey through diagnosis, aggressive chemotherapy, a stem cell transplant, and everything in between — unfiltered, and without a safety net. Nearly 130,000 people found her there. Because she was saying the thing nobody else was saying out loud.

💬 Topics we cover:

• What life looked like before the diagnosis and the signs she kept explaining away as burnout
• The moment her heart rate hit 285 BPM and everything changed
• What it actually felt like to close her businesses from a hospital bed and the guilt that followed
• Why chemo made her feel closer to dying than the cancer ever did
• Her stem cell transplant, graft-versus-host disease, and where her recovery stands today
• Why she started posting on TikTok and what it means to find community in the most isolating experience of your life
• Her message to every entrepreneur who thinks they can't afford to stop

This one will shake something loose in you. If you've been ignoring the signs, running on empty, or putting your body last on a very long list — this is the episode you needed to hear.

New episodes drop every Monday. Ready to Cultivate? Hit Subscribe.

Learn more about Kennedy and her journey

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Connect with Alex Canavan, the host of Cultivate on her ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠website⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ & ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

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In this week’s solo episode of Cultivate, Alex reflects on a transformative dinner with her advisory board and the powerful realizations that came from being in a room full of women who lead, build, and understand the weight of ambition.

This episode explores:

• Imposter syndrome and self-doubt in entrepreneurship

• Why successful women still question themselves

• The importance of relationships that reflect your potential back to you

• Building a business that supports you, too

• The reminder that you don’t need more evidence — you need more alignment

If you’ve been feeling called toward something bigger but questioning whether you have what it takes, this episode is for you.

Follow the podcast:Instagram & TikTok — @alexcanavanpodcast

Connect with Alex:@alexcanavan.co

Learn more about CNY Women’s Network:Instagram, Facebook, TikTok & LinkedIn — @cnywomensnetwork

www.cnywomensnetwork.com