Sarah Walsh has been a working artist since 2001 — Hallmark Cards, over 20 picture books, a fully illustrated Matilda — and she still says the hardest part isn't the client work. It's protecting the work that's actually yours. "Not working on projects that mean the world to you, over time it's sort of a betrayal of yourself. Every yes is time taken away from what you should be doing."

In this episode, Sarah shares:

✨ Why every "yes" to the wrong project is a betrayal of yourself

✨ "If you don't take a break, you're gonna break"

✨ The banana theory of over-researching your next move

✨ Why it's more risky to be safe than to leap

✨ Leaving a 13-year job at Hallmark after signing with agent Lilla Rogers

✨ How a horse meme and a bad night on the floor became a graphic novel

✨ Building your own external deadlines to finish personal work

✨ Why she skipped the pitch and just printed the zine herself

✨ Landing a literary agent from a self-published zine

✨ Zines, gatekeeping, and why a pen and a photocopy is enough

✨ Running Tigersheep Friends with her partner Colin

✨ Buying a Riso printer, naming her Aunt Ruby, and going all-in

✨ Wholesale, Patreon, and building a business that forces you to make

✨ Where the name Tigersheep Friends actually came from

✨ Why what you loved as a kid is the best part of you

If you've ever taken on too much, waited for permission, or shelved the project you actually care about, this one's for you.

About Sarah Walsh: Sarah Walsh is a maker of books and illustrated goods based in Kansas City. She has illustrated over 20 picture books and worked with Simon & Schuster, PBS, Penguin Random House, Chronicle, Blue Q, The Guardian and Crate & Barrel, including a fully illustrated edition of Roald Dahl's Matilda. She runs the small-batch illustration shop Tigersheep Friends with her partner and fellow illustrator Colin Walsh, and a monthly Riso print club and SLOMO drawing club through Patreon.

🎨 See her work at https://www.sarahwalshmakesthings.com/

🐯 Shop at https://www.etsy.com/shop/Tigersheepfriends

The growth engine for women who mean business.

http://www.f5collective.com

0:00 Cold Open: Every Yes Is Time Taken Away

1:11 Working Artist Since 2001

3:23 Thirteen Years at Hallmark Cards

4:26 Lilla Rogers and Quitting the Cushy Job

5:24 How Storytelling Became the Thread

9:04 Getting Into Books

9:58 Love the Bricks You're Building With

11:15 Cracking the Author-Illustrator Voice

12:01 Zines, No Rules, and No Gatekeeping

16:21 "I Don't Balance" — The Honest Answer

17:25 Burnout and the Rusted Old Jalopy

21:09 If You Don't Take a Break, You're Gonna Break

22:25 Leaving Corporate and Facing Clients

23:21 We're Trained Not to Trust Our Intuition

23:51 The Banana Theory of Over-Researching

25:41 It's More Risky to Be Safe

27:35 Burned Out and Lost in the Sauce

28:26 The Horse Meme That Became a Book

30:45 Skipping the Pitch: "I Just Want to Make It"

31:35 Building Your Own Deadlines — and Getting an Agent

34:44 What You Loved as a Kid Is the Best Part of You

37:44 Where "Tigersheep Friends" Came From

42:10 Running the Shop and the Risograph Leap

44:06 Meet Aunt Ruby, the Riso Printer

45:26 Faire, Wholesale, Patreon and the Mail Club

49:31 Business Minute: Five Things You Need to Know

52:25 Rapid Five

56:39 Wrap-Up

Wani Iris Manly, Esq. is an award-winning keynote speaker, internationally recognized change expert, and corporate trainer — and the founder of House of Inspirational Business in Paris. A corporate and IP attorney for over two decades and a serial entrepreneur, Wani famously moved to Paris in 2012 with no contacts, not one word of French, and less than $500 to her name — a leap that led to a TEDx stage, a bestselling book, and a global speaking career. In this episode she gets refreshingly honest about money, burnout, resilience, and why real change starts on the inside.

Wani shares:

✨ Why it's not the money — it's your nervous system

✨ The truth nobody admits: business is hard at every stage

✨ Why "rest is productive and highly profitable"

✨ Selling everything to move to Paris with no plan and no French

✨ How to stop telling yourself change is "hard" and "scary"

✨ Why we don't resist change — we fear loss

✨ Registering your IP before you make a dime (and why "you're not too small")

✨ Protecting your brain first, then licensing your work to monetize it

✨ Bootstrapping three companies and building every one to sell

✨ Her 24-hour rule for handling money differently

✨ Why stillness is your competitive edge in the age of AI

✨ "Not working is not an option" — resilience with no trust fund to fall back on

Whether you're a founder fighting burnout, a creative sitting on unprotected IP, or someone who feels stuck in survival mode, Wani's story is proof that the life you really want starts with changing how you see change.

About Wani Iris Manly: Wani Iris Manly, Esq. is a keynote speaker, change expert, corporate trainer, IP attorney, and bestselling author of Get Out of Survival Mode and Live the Life You Really Want. Based between Houston and Paris, she helps individuals and organizations thrive through change.

🌍 Learn more at https://wanimanly.com/

The growth engine for women who mean business.

http://www.f5collective.com

0:00 It's Not the Money, It's Your Nervous System

0:27 Welcome & Meet Wani Iris Manly

1:11 Five Countries & West African Roots

2:00 "I Just Want to Be Happy"

2:43 Groomed for Law: A Childhood in Liberia

4:29 Why IP Law: The Coca-Cola Professor

7:08 "You're in Business Because of Your Brain"

8:14 Where Inspiration Meets Law

11:02 Leaving the "Shark" & Going Solo

12:23 The Spiritual Turning Point

14:12 Survival Mode & the New Year's Eve Ritual

15:45 Following the Signs to Paris

16:20 Writing Her First Book in 30 Days

18:33 From Lawyer to Speaker in Paris

21:51 Resilience: "Not Working Is Not an Option"

23:08 The Ralph Lauren "Download"

25:09 Six Years Later: An Offer to Buy the Business

27:53 Helping People Through the Fear of Change

32:19 Four More Books & a Paris Photo Project

34:43 Founder Deep Dive: The $500K Question

36:59 The Financial Reality Nobody Talks About

38:21 Bootstrapping & Building to Sell

41:22 Business Minute: Register Your IP Early

42:57 Slow Down to Go Faster

43:39 Rapid Five

47:15 Wrap-Up & Wani's Gift for Listeners

Wanata Parker has spent over 30 years in the beauty industry — and became the first stylist to bring Japanese Straightening (thermal reconditioning) to African American hair, at a time when everyone said it couldn't be done. From New York to Washington, D.C. to Beverly Hills, she built a nationally recognized reputation entirely on word of mouth, with clients who've stayed in her chair for 20+ years. Today she runs Hair by Wanata Studio inside Salon Republic in Beverly Hills — and in recent years has taken her gift on mission trips to Tanzania and South Africa, helping women and girls reconnect with their own beauty and worth.

In this episode, Wanata shares:

✨ Why "I don't like the word can't" became the foundation of her career

✨ Pioneering Japanese Straightening on African American hair

✨ Being told she'd "never be anything in this business" — and outlasting it

✨ Her one-word prayer the year she went out on her own: "jump"

✨ Why she built a 30-year brand with zero advertising

✨ Vulnerability, trust, and "the vault" — why clients tell her everything

✨ Her superpower: customizing by intuition, not formula

✨ "My gift is to be given away" — an abundance approach to business

✨ Bringing beauty and confidence to women on mission trips in Africa

✨ Why she'll never retire — and how she refills her own tank

Whether you're a solo founder, a service-based business owner, or a woman who's been told "no," Wanata's story is proof that knowing who you are — and doing one thing exceptionally well — is a brand that lasts.

🔗 Learn more at https://www.hairbywanata.com/

The growth engine for women who mean business.

http://www.f5collective.com

0:00 Retire? Never (Cold Open)

0:41 Meet Wanata Parker

1:41 From New York to Losing Her Job

3:36 "Do You Know Your Purpose?" Restaurant or Hair

4:34 The Phone Book That Kept Opening to One School

5:48 Starting Over as an Assistant in L.A.

8:36 "I Don't Like the Word Can't"

9:41 First to Bring Japanese Straightening to African American Hair

10:48 "You'll Never Be Anything in This Business"

11:53 Losing Her Mentor & Leaving a Toxic Salon

13:07 "I'm Not Chasing Fame or Money"

15:28 Why Vulnerability Builds Trust

20:13 Integrity & the Sacred Space of the Chair

22:55 "Getting to Know You Through Your Hair"

24:46 Becoming a Brand & the Leap to Her Own Space

31:34 Taking Her Gift to Africa

33:27 South Africa: Making Women Feel Heard

38:30 A Safe Space: "It Goes Into the Vault"

45:08 Her Superpower: Customizing by Intuition

47:06 "My Gift Is to Be Given Away" & Word of Mouth

49:47 "I Can Rest When I'm Dead"

55:25 The Golden Angel: A Sign She Was Home

57:27 Business Minute

59:30 Rapid Five

1:07:02 Closing

What does it take to leave a stable corporate career and bet everything on your own creative business? Editor Heather Romanowski spent ten years in technical editing before burnout — and profound loss — pushed her to take the leap. Today she's the founder behind Book Realm Revisions, helping authors, publishers, and game creators turn rough drafts into stories they're proud of.

In this episode, Heather shares:

✨ Why losing two cousins to cancer became the catalyst to finally bet on herself

✨ "Adapt or die" — her honest, principled stance on AI in creative work

✨ Why she refuses to feed a single client's manuscript to generative AI

✨ The feast-and-famine cycle no one warns freelancers about

✨ Developmental vs. line vs. copy editing — explained simply

✨ How self-publishing is getting more stories told that need telling

✨ Leading with kindness as a business strategy

✨ Setting (and sometimes bending) boundaries as a solo founder

✨ Using AI ethically — and how to shrink its footprint

✨ Keeping your childlike wonder alive while you build

Whether you're an author, a freelancer, or any woman building something of her own, Heather's story is a grounded, honest look at what it actually takes to go all in.

About Heather Romanowski: Heather is an editor and the founder behind Book Realm Revisions, specializing in developmental, line, and copy editing for fiction, nonfiction, and gaming. A lifelong reader, gamer, and self-described second-generation nerd based in Michigan, she helps writers and worldbuilders craft compelling, polished stories.

📚 Learn more at https://www.bookrealmrevisions.com/

RELATED READING — More on the AI conversation in this episode:

Heather talks about finding the middle ground on AI and why choosing not to use it can be a valid, principled call. Two pieces from Right Touch Editing pick up exactly those threads:

📖 "AI Isn't All or Nothing—Let's Talk About It" by Erin Brenner — a practical look at how editors can move past both fear and blind trust:

https://www.righttouchediting.com/2026/04/23/ai-isnt-all-or-nothing-lets-talk-about-it/

📖 "AI Isn't for Everyone—And That's Okay" by Sean Brenner & Erin Brenner — why opting out isn't the career-ending choice it's sometimes made out to be:

https://www.righttouchediting.com/2026/05/14/ai-isnt-for-everyone-and-thats-okay/

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http://www.f5collective.com

3:19 The Book That Started It All

4:43 From Reading to Editing

9:04 The First Fiction Edit That Hooked Her

12:35 Building the Business & Why First Clients Matter

13:45 Copy, Line & Developmental Editing, Explained

17:53 Taking the Leap After Loss

28:34 Editing What You Love: Sci-Fi & Fantasy

32:44 World-Building 101

36:14 Standalone Books vs. Series

38:09 Collaborating With Authors

48:46 Editing Games, War Games & Cookbooks

53:06 The AI Conversation: Adapt or Die

55:41 Why She Won't Feed Client Work to AI

56:50 Using AI Ethically — and Its Real Cost

1:03:56 Publishing: Independent, Hybrid & Traditional

1:07:37 When Self-Published Authors Get Picked Up

1:09:28 On the Horizon: Elder Glade & Story Stream

Joanna Wiesinger spent years as a PhD inorganic chemist — until life forced a different question. After the loss of her first son and years at home with her three children, she came back to the workplace to find her resume no longer fit who she had become. "Chemistry no longer held my heart. People did."

Today she's the founder of Thrive With Strengths and a Gallup-Certified Clifton Strengths Coach who helps executive leaders build high-performing teams in 3–6 months. Her philosophy is built on one quietly radical idea: "At the heart of science is fixing the problem. At the heart of leading people is not fixing them."

In this episode, Joanna shares:

✨ The "audible exhale" moment when she discovered her strengths

✨ Why "be more empathetic" is useless feedback — and what actually works

✨ The three leadership myths she fell for (and so do most founders)

✨ The $7 Amazon timer that saved her business from perfectionism

✨ Driver vs. passenger: the difference between leaders and managers

✨ Why "well-rounded leader" is a myth that's costing you

✨ How to recognize people in a way that's actually a lever for results

✨ The five rules to thrive (not just survive) when scaling

✨ Why if your business only works when you show up, you don't have a business — you have a job

✨ Move faster than you feel ready: perfection is expensive

Whether you're leading a team, building a business, or staring at a resume that doesn't fit anymore, Joanna's story is a roadmap for what happens when you stop fixing yourself and start leading from what's already strong.

About Joanna Wiesinger: Joanna is the founder of Thrive With Strengths, a Gallup-Certified Clifton Strengths Coach, speaker, and leadership development expert. She holds a PhD in inorganic chemistry and has spent the last decade helping leaders and teams at companies like Thomson Reuters and Farmer Brothers build strengths-based cultures that reduce friction and improve results.

🌟 Learn more at https://www.thrivewithstrengths.com/

The growth engine for women who mean business.

http://www.f5collective.com

0:00 "At the Heart of Leading People Is Not Fixing Them"

0:12 Welcome + Meet Joanna Wiesinger

1:40 From Poland to the U.S. at 16: Chemistry as a Universal Language

3:24 From Chemist to Coach: What Sparked the Pivot

4:44 When Your Resume No Longer Fits: The Clifton Strengths Exhale

6:00 Getting Certified & Launching Thrive With Strengths

7:42 The Hardest Part of Entrepreneurship: Nowhere to Hide

8:50 Falling for the "Well-Rounded Leader" Myth

10:19 Science Fixes Problems; Leading People Doesn't

14:20 Why "Be More Empathetic" Is Useless Feedback

16:26 Going With the Grain: What Strengths-Based Leadership Really Is

17:58 Strengths as a Business Strategy (75% vs. 9% Engagement)

19:11 Her Process: Lead Yourself, Lead Others, Lead the Business

21:43 Leadership vs. Management

24:59 10 Years In — and Why She's No One-Woman Team

26:59 The Three Leadership Myths She Fell For

29:30 When Strengths Backfire: The Maximizer Trap

37:34 The Real Challenge: Resistance to Being Assessed

40:57 Making Your Leadership Style Explicit

44:05 What's Next for Thrive With Strengths

48:01 Recognition as a Lever for Results

52:22 The Overlooked Reality: Know Your Numbers

53:51 Taking the Leap With Almost No Capital

55:48 Fear of Failure & Why the Best Leaders Fail Fast

1:02:34 Playfulness, Twix Bars & Final Favorites

Nancy Gale will tell you she's never had one mentor—she's had thousands. "I get into an Uber and start a conversation… it's not one person that's mentored me, it's many people, and it's conversations." In this episode, the founder and designer behind JAMAH—an American-made, ultra-luxury bespoke handbag brand crafted entirely in the USA—shares how staying open to everyone shaped a career built over "23 years of ramen," why she calls the "love what you do" myth total bullshit, and how the success of JAMAH fuels her nonprofit, AMBITION.

✨ Nancy shares: why she believes "everybody mentors me"—and how to stay open to it

✨ "23 years of ramen" and the myth of overnight success

✨ Why "if you love what you do" is a lie—and what's actually true

✨ How your challenges don't dictate your constitution

✨ Why people project their own limits onto your dreams

✨ "Power, not pity" — the philosophy behind AMBITION

✨ Why opportunity is about access and exposure, not money

✨ Building luxury that's personal, not logo-driven

✨ The STOPS reset she's used since childhood

✨ Why she'd rather do it well than chase "scale"

✨ Cause and commerce: separate, but intrinsically connected

About Nancy Gale: Nancy Gale is the founder and designer of JAMAH, an American luxury handbag house known for bespoke, made-to-order leather goods handcrafted in the USA, with press in Vogue, InStyle, People, and Robb Report and a clientele spanning celebrities and collectors. She is also the founder of AMBITION (est. 2010), a nonprofit that mentors under-resourced young people by giving them the access, exposure, and resilience tools to reach their goals—anchored in its "power, not pity" philosophy. Raised in Detroit, Nancy built both ventures on a single idea: cause and commerce should be so integrated that one can't function without the other.

🖤 Learn more at ambition.org and shop the collection at https://www.jamah.com/

The growth engine for women who mean business.

http://www.f5collective.com

0:00 Everybody Mentors Me

0:33 Welcome: Nancy Gale of JAMAH

1:57 Why It Had to Be Made in the USA

4:53 Her Definition of Luxury

5:23 Where the Name JAMAH Came From

6:25 Becoming a Technical Writer

7:12 Leaping Into JAMAH

7:59 Our Challenges Don't Dictate Our Constitution

9:24 The 25-Year Vision & the Overnight Myth

10:26 23 Years of Ramen

12:28 Luxury Equaled Logo—I Did Something Different

16:10 Filming the Making of Your Bag

18:35 The Motorcar Collection Begins

22:47 AMBITION Started at My Dinner Table

24:11 Inside the Program: You Don't Know About Me

25:44 Power, Not Pity

26:31 Cause & Commerce, Intrinsically Connected

27:55 The Richard Branson Challenge

30:04 On Being Mentored by Everyone

31:10 How Luxury in America Has Shifted

34:13 Working With My Lead Sewer

38:10 Your Why & Tuning Out the Naysayers

43:34 The STOPS Reset

46:21 Out-Anger, Out-Angst, Out-Fear

46:49 What's Next for JAMAH

47:40 Growing AMBITION & Power Not Pity Day

49:37 The National Dance Challenge

51:01 The Story Behind Each Bag

52:46 Put Reason to Everything That Happens

54:40 Targeting Clients & the Press Game

56:55 Editorial Over Advertising

59:56 USA-Made: Added to the Collection

61:57 How to Scale Bespoke Luxury

65:46 The Financial Reality Nobody Talks About

66:28 Bootstrapping With Friends & Family

68:21 What I Almost Did Instead

Anna Cheniuntai is the Co-Founder and CEO of Apis Cor, the deep-tech company building robots that 3D print full-scale houses on site. By 23, she'd already run a multi-million-dollar Olympic infrastructure contract in Sochi. Then she and her husband Nick sold the house, sold the luxury cars, and put everything into building a robot that didn't exist yet.

"You are the main resource. Every startup needs a budget for a coach for the founders. 'Ride or die' is not a wise approach if you really want to build a big business."

In this episode, Anna shares:

✨ Growing up in Siberia in a family of physicists — and her first business at age 7

✨ Running the Sochi Olympics navigation contract at 23 (and the surgery that almost stopped it)

✨ "99% of your problems can be solved with a phone call. Except one."

✨ Selling the house and the luxury cars to fund the prototype

✨ Winning NASA's competition to 3D print on Mars — and bringing that tech back to Earth

✨ Why their robots have names: Frank, Gary, and Mary

✨ The housing crisis math: 5 million homes needed, 400,000 trades workers

✨ Origin Homes — their new spec house program in California and Florida

✨ The first $10,000 check that kept the company alive

✨ Why founder mental health is a fiduciary responsibility, not a luxury

✨ The TV show she watches when she can't crack a problem

✨ Why "impossible" is the signal, not the deterrent

Whether you're building deep tech, raising your first round, or just tired of being told to grind harder, Anna's story is a masterclass in conviction without delusion.

About Anna Cheniuntai: Anna is the Co-Founder and CEO of Apis Cor, headquartered in Melbourne, FL. Apis Cor's mobile concrete printers — Frank, Gary, and Mary — print structural walls of buildings up to two stories tall, including the current Guinness World Record holder for largest 3D printed building. The company is now launching Origin Homes and ADUs in California and Florida.

🏠 Learn more at https://apis-cor.com/

The growth engine for women who mean business.

http://www.f5collective.com

0:00 Opening: You Are the Main Resource

0:46 Welcome to F5 Collective

2:14 Family of Physicists in Siberia

2:25 Growing Up in a Siberian City (Not the Wild)

7:48 The Sochi Olympics Contract

11:37 "They Thought They'd Be Fired" — Showing Up as Kids

12:37 Her First Business at Age 7

17:11 The Tumor Found Mid-Olympics

18:54 "99% of Problems = One Phone Call"

20:48 From Olympics to Houses with Robots

24:21 Nick's 3D Printer Idea

24:49 Selling the House and the Luxury Cars

26:38 Why "Impossible" Drags Her In

27:52 Addressing the Housing Crisis

28:08 What Apis Cor Actually Does

31:41 The Challenges of Building Deep Tech

37:09 Meet Frank, Gary, and Mary

43:00 The NASA Competition to Print on Mars

50:24 Origin Homes & ADUs in California and Florida

52:38 The Guinness World Record House

1:02:41 The Skilled Labor Shortage Math

1:08:16 Why "Apis Cor" — The Bees Were First

1:09:26 If Someone Gave You $500,000

1:10:18 LinkedIn vs. Reality: Founder Mental Health

1:12:55 The First $10,000 Check That Changed Everything

1:14:06 No Fears, No Plan B

1:16:24 Take an Hour for a Silly TV Show

1:17:04 Tribe Over Networking Events

1:17:37 Walk With the Dog

1:18:35 Side Projects: Charity in Africa & Ukraine

1:19:01 Rapid Five Q&A

1:22:00 Closing

After a 2013 car accident left her with a traumatic brain injury that ended her decades-long career, Debbie Slavkin found her way back through beads, color, and creativity. In this episode of F5 Collective Presents: Women in Business, Debbie shares how jewelry making became her medicine — and how she built Made by Mimi Designs on her own terms.

In this episode, Debbie shares:

✨ The spark: the beads she couldn't put down — and 1,000 pieces later

✨ Building a craft around a brain injury — finding a way that worked for her

✨ Why it's "Made by Mimi" — the grandson who couldn't say "Grand Debbie"

✨ Creativity as healing after traumatic brain injury

✨ Self-advocacy and being believed when "you look fine"

✨ Bootstrapping as a solo founder — investor, funder, and maker all in one

✨ The honest reality of selling handmade in a tough economy

✨ Giving back through The Miracle Project and music education nonprofits

✨ Protecting the passion so the business never becomes "just a job"

✨ Refusing to settle for "stable" on her mental health journey

✨ Her Rapid Five: trust your gut, grandkids, and the travel bug

Whether you're a maker, a solo founder, or someone rebuilding after a hard season, Debbie's story is proof that the thing that heals you can also be the thing you build.

About Debbie Slavkin: Debbie Slavkin is the founder and designer behind Made by Mimi Designs, a handmade jewelry brand born out of healing. Known as "Mimi" to her five grandchildren, she designs one-of-a-kind necklaces, bracelets, earrings, glasses chains, and cell phone straps from her closet workshop in Playa Vista, California — and gives back to nonprofits that support kids through the arts.

🔗 Shop Made by Mimi Designs: https://madebymimidesigns.com/

The growth engine for women who mean business.

http://www.f5collective.com

0:00 The Beads That Hooked Her

0:38 Welcome to F5 Collective Presents

1:29 Growing Up & Heading to USC

1:59 A Career in TV & Journalism

2:34 Selling Television Around the World

3:01 Producing the College Emmys

3:16 The Accident That Changed Everything

4:58 Discovering Jewelry Making

6:51 1,000 Pieces & Counting

7:10 What She Makes

9:14 Cathartic by Design: Mimi's Workshop

10:15 Turning a Passion Into a Business

10:40 Building the Website With Family

11:44 When the Numbers Stop Making Sense

14:21 Music Education & Global Classrooms

18:20 Why Small Donations Matter

18:48 Scaling a Creative Business

19:15 Word of Mouth & Custom Work

20:11 The Grandkids' Holiday Boutique

21:14 A $25 Necklace Isn't Discretionary

22:28 Revamping the Website & SEO

23:41 Bootstrapping: Investor, Funder, Maker

24:25 The Story Behind "Mimi"

25:50 Collections & Custom Designs

28:03 Learning to Sell Herself

28:29 Creativity & Emotional Well-Being

29:54 "I Was a Lousy Student"

32:16 Why Arts Education Matters

32:55 What's Next for Made by Mimi

34:43 Inside the Handmade Maker World

37:48 Passion vs. Job

38:49 Mental Health Support

39:46 Self-Advocacy: "Because I Look Fine"

41:05 "Stable Isn't Enough"

41:33 Healing Isn't One-and-Done

42:07 Helping Others to Heal Herself

42:53 Final Thoughts

43:33 Create for the Passion, Not the Business

44:19 Business Minute

45:06 Rapid Five: Dreams, Grandkids & Joy

46:21 Trust Your Gut

47:03 Travel & Final Favorites

49:15 Where to Find Made by Mimi Designs

Jade Diep didn't plan to become an entrepreneur — at 22, starting her own company was the only legal way to stay in Beijing. Today she's the co-founder and CEO of Dr Glitter, the makers of a world-first, patent-protected technology that turns supplements into beautiful, tasteless crystals you sprinkle straight onto your food.

In this episode, Jade shares the unexpected path from the Chinese film industry to health tech, why she refuses to let people-pleasing run her business, and how she and co-founder Augusta Xu-Holland spent five years in R&D — building their own machines when no manufacturer in the world could make their product.

In this episode, Jade shares:

✨ Why "opinions are cheap" — and nobody knows your business like the founder does

✨ Becoming an entrepreneur by accident at 22 in Beijing

✨ From Chinese film & product placement to inventing ActivCrystal™ technology

✨ The iron deficiency crisis affecting 2+ billion people — mostly women and kids

✨ Five years of R&D and two years of weekly manufacturing trials

✨ The "Slate" theory: why early-stage founders should build a portfolio, not bet on one idea

✨ Why your network is currency — and perception is everything

✨ How one Instagram video brought in six US retailers

✨ What to actually look for in a mentor

✨ Pill fatigue and making health & wellness genuinely fun

✨ Out-innovating multi-billion-dollar companies by accident

✨ Why entrepreneurship is a decades-long journey — so have fun and choose your people well

Whether you're building a brand, navigating health tech, or learning to trust your own judgment over everyone else's opinions, Jade's story is a masterclass in conviction, creativity, and play.

About Jade Diep: Jade Diep is the co-founder and CEO of Dr Glitter. Australian-born with a background in finance, marketing, and the Chinese film industry — where she ran a product placement company — Jade co-founded Dr Glitter with Augusta Xu-Holland. Together they invented and patented ActivCrystal™ technology, a world-first oral delivery format designed to be sprinkled on meals, after five years of research and development.

✨ Learn more at https://drglitter.com/

The growth engine for women who mean business.

http://www.f5collective.com

0:00 Opening: Have Fun and Choose Your People Well

0:38 Welcome to F5 Collective Presents Women in Business

1:11 Meet Jade Diep, Co-Founder of Dr Glitter

1:25 From Australia to Beijing: Breaking Into Film

3:42 Her First Venture: A Product Placement Company

5:23 The Accidental Origin of Edible Glitter

6:16 Building ActivCrystal™ Technology in the Kitchen

6:57 Scaling Up: CSIRO and Building Their Own Machines

8:56 Patenting a World-First Product

12:46 "Opinions Are Cheap": Beating People-Pleasing

14:58 How ActivCrystal™ Actually Works

15:53 Pill Fatigue and Making Health Fun

18:11 The Product Line: Iron, Probiotics and Beyond

20:38 The Iron Deficiency Crisis: 2 Billion People

23:14 Who's Really Buying It: Adult Women

24:59 Why It's Built for Product Placement

26:57 Going Viral: One Instagram Video, Six Retailers

27:44 The Plan to Scale in the US

29:13 The Vision: Whole Foods for Everyone

30:37 Navigating Health Tech and Your Network as Currency

33:32 Science, Art and Play: What's Next

34:55 The Texture Breakthrough

36:33 Out-Innovating Billion-Dollar Companies by Accident

39:14 The "Slate" Theory for Early-Stage Founders

41:32 Rapid Five Q&A

In 1990, Nan Young was told her two-and-a-half-year-old daughter — who has cerebral palsy — couldn't attend the same elementary school as her brother. The school wasn't accessible. There was no ADA. So Nan made a deal: an arts program in exchange for a ramp and a rail. The principal agreed. Her daughter became the first physically disabled child to attend a public school in the Conejo Valley Unified School District.

That handshake deal is the seed of Art Trek, the nonprofit Nan now runs as Executive Director — a 115+ person organization working in over 100 schools from Long Beach to Santa Barbara, reaching roughly 100,000 people a year. In 2024, Nan was named Woman of the Year.

In this episode of F5 Collective Presents: Women in Business, Nan shares:

✨ The ramp-and-rail story that started everything

✨ Going from "we made money this year!" to "...but how much did it cost us?"

✨ Growing a dining-room project into a community-anchor nonprofit

✨ The "inner spark" she hires for — and why skills come second

✨ Manage daily. Look long term. Both. Always.

✨ "Be frugal, but never cheap" — especially with your staff

✨ From sapling to mighty oak: how deep roots survive droughts

✨ Why every art class teaches life skills, not just drawing

✨ Why Art Trek says yes to (almost) everything

✨ Partnership over competition: how she works with other nonprofits

✨ "Keep yourself humble, keep yourself hungry, keep yourself smart"

Whether you're a nonprofit founder, a creative entrepreneur, or anyone who has ever had to ask for what you need with nothing but a good idea to trade, Nan's story is a masterclass in patient, principled growth.

About Nan Young: Nan Young is the Executive Director of Art Trek Inc., an independent, hands-on, not-for-profit arts organization bringing visual, literary, and performing arts to communities across Southern California. Named Woman of the Year in 2024, Nan has spent over three decades building Art Trek from a PTA program in her dining room into a regional powerhouse serving over 100 schools and 100,000 people annually.

🎨 Learn more at https://www.arttrek.org/

The growth engine for women who mean business.

http://www.f5collective.com

0:00 Opening: Art Is More Than What's on the Surface

0:37 Welcome & Introduction

0:53 What Makes a Nonprofit

4:13 The Origin: Art Trek Started in My Dining Room

5:36 A Ramp and a Rail: The 1990 Handshake Deal

6:26 Her Daughter, a Pioneer in Public School

8:22 Becoming a 501(c)(3) in 2006

9:36 "How Much Did It Cost Us?" Learning the Business

10:35 Camp Counselor, Theater Director, Teacher

15:44 Why Art Is More Than the Activity

16:35 Building the Team: Staff and Volunteers

17:02 100+ Schools, 115+ People

20:23 Why the Arts Matter for Everyone

22:01 Creative Moments: A Necessity, Not a Luxury

23:54 Working With Engineers, Scientists & Youth in Detention

26:51 Reaching 100,000 People a Year

28:43 Saying Yes to Everything

31:53 $5 Fridays and Community Events

34:33 The Power of Partnerships

36:30 Youth, Government & Nonprofit Collaboration

37:40 Does She Still Make Her Own Art?

40:17 Every Art Project Starts With a Blank Page

41:45 What's Next: Theater, Writing, Performance

43:47 From Sapling to Mighty Oak

45:17 On AI: Useful Tool, But Not in the Classroom

50:02 Business Advice: Communication, Long View, Daily Management

50:49 Be Frugal, But Never Cheap

52:07 Rapid Five Q&A

54:21 Closing Thanks