In this episode of Founders Future, with host Zach Young, we sit down with Lucas Popiel, a fitness performance coach for high-ticket closers and remote sales professionals. Lucas shares his journey from insurance sales to high-ticket remote sales, and how that experience led him to identify a major performance gap in the industry—physical health. Seeing talented reps burn out despite strong scripts and leads, Lucas built a coaching program centered on stamina, energy, and discipline as the foundation for consistent sales performance.

Lucas breaks down how his four-month fitness coaching program is designed to integrate training and nutrition into a salesperson’s lifestyle rather than chasing short-term transformations. He explains why he focuses on LinkedIn over more saturated social platforms, how relationship-first outreach drives client acquisition, and his long-term vision to move from one-on-one coaching into B2B sales team performance training. This episode offers a practical look at how physical standards directly impact mental clarity, confidence, and results in high-pressure sales environments.

In this episode of Founders Future, with host Zach Young, we’re joined by Rebecca Schmidt, a nurse-turned business systems and growth strategist and the founder of Called to Elevate. Rebecca shares her unconventional journey from working in hospital settings and clinical research at the Mayo Clinic Health System to co-founding and scaling a fast-growing product-based business during the pandemic. Through firsthand experience in operations, leadership, and rapid growth, she discovered her natural strength in systems, strategy, and helping businesses scale efficiently without sacrificing personal values.

Now through Called to Elevate, Rebecca helps entrepreneurs—particularly product-based and service-based business owners—build streamlined systems that support sustainable growth and time freedom. In this conversation, she breaks down the importance of early delegation, value-based decision-making, and using tools like AI as support rather than replacement. Rebecca also opens up about burnout, motherhood, and designing a business that aligns with real life, offering a grounded perspective on growth, integrity, and building a business that truly elevates both impact and lifestyle.

In this episode of Founders Future, with host Milan Kohut, we’re joined by Stefanie Julia, a client-attraction coach and former Homeland Security special agent who made a bold pivot from federal law enforcement into entrepreneurship. Stefanie shares her powerful journey—from spending 13 years as a criminal investigator to building a multi–seven-figure online coaching business—driven by burnout, a desire for autonomy, and a deep commitment to helping others win. She opens up about navigating identity, motherhood, and major life transitions while creating a business that could thrive beyond her direct involvement.

Today, Stefanie helps fitness coaches scale profitable online businesses through automated client-acquisition systems, paid ads, and streamlined funnels under brands like Grow Your Online Fitbiz and her Client Magnet Formula. In this conversation, she breaks down how attraction marketing, community funnels, and VSL systems work together to create predictable growth, why systems are essential before life gets complicated, and how stepping fully into the CEO role is the key to her next level of impact. This episode is a must-listen for coaches and founders looking to scale smarter—without sacrificing alignment, freedom, or results.

In this episode of Founders Future with host Olivia Sammons, we sit down with Alyssa Bailey, founder of Rise Up Career Coaching. Alyssa shares her journey from spending 15+ years climbing the corporate ladder in retail and marketing technology to launching a coaching practice for ambitious professionals who feel overlooked, underpaid, or stuck—despite doing everything “right.”

Drawing from her corporate experience, Alyssa breaks down her CLEAR framework, designed to help mid-career professionals gain clarity, build confidence, and advocate for themselves without playing office politics. She also discusses overcoming imposter syndrome, growing a coaching business organically through LinkedIn, and balancing entrepreneurship with motherhood—making this an encouraging conversation for anyone ready to stop waiting to be chosen and start choosing themselves.

In this episode of Founders Future, with host Olivia Sammons, we’re joined by Katy Margison, founder of Athena Nutrition. Katy opens up about her deeply personal journey through alcoholism and cocaine addiction, and the turning point that led her to sobriety in January 2024. With over a decade in CrossFit and competitive Olympic weightlifting, she shares the surprising reality of navigating fitness while battling addiction—and how getting sober forced her to rebuild her health, identity, and relationship with food from the ground up.

The conversation explores Katy’s work supporting women—particularly those in midlife—through sobriety, nutrition, fitness, and mindset change. She breaks down her four core pillars: nutrition, movement, sleep, and stress management, and explains why long-term habit building beats quick fixes pushed by “big wellness” marketing. Katy also reflects on growing Athena Nutrition from a side project into a full-time business, overcoming imposter syndrome, building authentic connections through social media, and her vision for scaling impact through team growth, sober retreats, and community-led transformation.

In this episode of Founders Future, with host Zach Young, we’re joined by Mikhala Fisher, founder of Thrive with Mick. Mikhala shares her journey from being a part-time teacher in Australia to building a purpose-driven coaching practice shaped by her own lived experience of divorce. After realizing how powerful it was to speak with someone who had truly walked the same path, she felt called to support women navigating separation, identity loss, and emotional upheaval—especially during one of the most destabilizing periods of their lives.

The conversation explores Mikhala’s trauma-informed approach to divorce coaching, centered on nervous system regulation, identity rebuilding, and emotional resilience. She explains how she works one-on-one with clients and through group-based Divorce Healing Circles to help women regulate stress, navigate mediation and co-parenting, and reconnect with who they are beyond marriage and motherhood. Mikhala also discusses the role of personal storytelling in building trust, the importance of boundaries and compassion in co-parenting, and her mission to expand her impact by helping more women move from survival mode into clarity, empowerment, and lasting emotional stability.

In this episode of Founders Future, with host Olivia Sammons, we sit down with Hannah Wachtell, a mindset coach for weight loss who helps women break free from restrictive dieting and self-sabotaging habits. Hannah shares her journey from growing up in the U.S. and relocating to Israel to studying psychology, working in high-tech, and ultimately embracing the unknown to build a purpose-driven coaching business. Her story highlights how trusting uncertainty and taking imperfect action led her to a career centered on meaningful impact and personal transformation.

The conversation explores Hannah’s own 70-pound weight loss journey and how it shaped her coaching philosophy, which focuses on mindset, habit change, and identity rather than rigid food rules. She explains how she supports women who “know what to do” but struggle with emotional eating, self-belief, and consistency, helping them rewire thought patterns for sustainable, lifelong results. Hannah also reflects on growing her business organically through social media, the importance of celebrating small wins, and her vision for expanding through group programs, community, and speaking—while staying grounded in balance and self-care.

In this episode of Founders Future, with host Zach Young, we’re joined by Luciënne Bregman, a feminine business and mindset coach helping women break free from limiting conditioning and build freedom-based businesses and lives. Luciënne shares her journey from working nearly a decade as an architect in high-pressure environments to experiencing burnout—and ultimately choosing a path rooted in purpose, creativity, and personal transformation.

Drawing from her background in architecture, yoga, and subconscious healing, Luciënne explains how she helps women entrepreneurs rewire limiting beliefs, break through invisible ceilings, and create sustainable success that feels aligned from the inside out. This conversation explores mindset reprogramming, fear-based conditioning, self-worth, and how deep inner work becomes the foundation for confident leadership, abundance, and long-term business growth.

In this episode of Founders Future, with host Olivia Sammons, we’re joined by Isabel Gerardino, founder of Beam Productions, a creative production studio focused on helping women-led and consumer-facing brands communicate with clarity, authenticity, and purpose. Isabel shares her journey from working as a sales development representative in the tech industry to launching her own company, driven by a desire for values alignment, autonomy, and meaningful relationship-building. Growing up in an entrepreneurial family and shaped by experiences in international development and economic studies, she explains how her worldview deeply informs the way she approaches business, storytelling, and community.

Throughout the conversation, Isabel breaks down how Beam Productions goes beyond aesthetics to deliver strategic, research-driven content that supports long-term brand growth. She discusses her focus on women-led businesses, the importance of customer experience, and why marketing and sales must work together to build trust. Isabel also opens up about the realities of early-stage entrepreneurship, imposter syndrome, pricing confidence, and scaling thoughtfully—while sharing her vision for the future, including guided networking initiatives designed to empower individuals and teams to build stronger personal brands and professional relationships in a post-remote world

In this episode of Founders Future, with host Olivia Sammons, we’re joined by Pamela Caravas, founder of Coaching Evolution International. Pamela shares her extraordinary journey from becoming a teacher at just 17 years old to launching her first business at 22, navigating entrepreneurship, bankruptcy, and reinvention along the way. With decades of experience in education, leadership development, and coaching, she reflects on how coaching entered her life almost serendipitously—and how it became the foundation for a purpose-driven career focused on human potential and conscious leadership.

Throughout the conversation, Pamela unpacks her philosophy of high standards, integrity, and long-term credibility in an unregulated coaching industry. She discusses why she built Coaching Evolution International as an umbrella brand—often described as the “Tiffany’s of coaching”—to serve leaders, coaches, and individuals committed to deep personal and professional development. From building authority through research and global conferences to mentoring future coaches through her academy, Pamela offers candid insights on leadership, resilience, ethical entrepreneurship, and why choosing the hardest road has been central to her lasting impact.