Freeman Means Business' Wonder Women in Business Podcast

Sarah Tetlow is an experienced productivity consultant, trainer, and speaker for attorneys and other legal professionals.  She uses her past experiences, organizational and strategic thought process, education, and training to help law firms increase their bottom line and operate more efficiently.  More importantly, attorneys see a reduction in stress and anxiety and an increase in focus and new business.  Through one-on-one consulting, strategic planning, workshops, and group trainings, Sarah works with attorneys and law firms to find personalized ways in which to manage one’s day with a proactive and focused approach

Charmaine Caccioppi serves as the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of the United Way of Southeast Louisiana and oversees United Way’s Governmental Relations and Community Impact departments. She is responsible for the development and implementation of the government relations strategies related to United Way’s three goal areas, including education, income and health, through the development of relationships with key internal and external constituents.

Alexis Vigier Miranne works every day to change the way we build interior spaces! In her business development role at AOS Interior Environments, she acts as a go-to Manufactured Interior Construction educator and serves as a project liaison to the internal team of designers. Her primary goals are cultivating relationships across the Gulf Coast region; raising the company’s and the manufactured construction division’s profile with both end users and key influencers—designers, architects, general contractors, and developers.

With an English literature and history background, Alexis has built her career in professional services around strategic communication, managing and advocating for leaders, as well as enhancing company-wide business development efforts.

Alexis currently serves as the chapter president for Society for Marketing Professional Services (SMPS) - Southeast Louisiana chapter and believes in empowering leaders in any volunteer capacity to advance the organization’s overall mission and the member-first chapter values.

Kristy Wallace is the CEO of Ellevate Network, and is responsible for executing Ellevate Network’s mission of changing the culture of business from the inside out by providing professional women with a supportive community to lean on and learn from. She directs the Network’s staff, is responsible for business growth and strategy, and works closely with Ellevate's Chapter Leaders, Business Partners, and Champions to further Ellevate's impact.

Kristy is host of the Ellevate Podcast: Conversations with Women Changing the Face of Business and is also a regular speaker and thought leader on Leadership, Diversity, Social Entrepreneurship, Networking, and Entrepreneurialism.  Most recently, Kristy was recognized as a Woman of Influence by the New York Business Journal.

Meet Kathryn Fantauzzi, Chief Executive Officer, Co-Founder

Kathryn Fantauzzi is the chief executive officer and co-founder at Apollo Neuroscience, Inc. where she leads all Apollo strategy and development. Kathryn is experienced in leading cross-functional teams to bring products and services to market. As CEO, she recruited a seasoned team of business leaders, engineers, designers, and physicians with multiple prior exits to launch Apollo. Prior to Apollo, Kathryn managed a $20M fund to evaluate and advance commercialization of emerging technologies for NYSERDA. Kathryn formed Apollo Neuroscience in 2017 to accelerate the development and translation of novel neuroscience discoveries to address public health needs and improve outcomes.

Deirdre Breakenridge in her own words...

I’ve been a career-long storyteller and Chief Relationship Agent (CRA), helping professionals to get unstuck in their communication and creating opportunities that result in business impact. As a communications consultant and CEO of Pure Performance Communications, my focus is marketing strategy and planning. I’ve launched marketing and PR programs (from Fortune 500 to startups) delivering creative, passionate and bold stories that help brands and their thought leaders to be seen and heard and to build genuine relationships with their stakeholder groups.

Today, my communications consulting and training programs take a proprietary approach with a new model called FEEL First, which was developed as a part of a year-long research journey. After the tragic loss of a family member, I wanted to learn more about how millennials showed up to their conversations, what they valued and what they expected from others in their interactions. What I uncovered was a disconnect in intergenerational communication. I’m working with professionals and their organizations to FEEL, which stand for face your Fears, engage with Empathy, use Ethics and good judgment and unleash the Love of your mission, across communication channels for authentic connections and to foster stronger bonds between groups.

The FEEL model took shape after conducting weekly one-one-one telephone interviews with millennials and business leaders, as well as diving into social media intelligence and text analytics. The model, with an accompanying online FEEL First Test (www.FEELFirstTest.com), helps leaders and managers to gauge if they FEEL First in order to connect authentically at different touchpoints. When you add FEEL to your communication planning and strategy you not only connect with people on a deeper level and but you also move from transactional to meaningful relationships that are based on trust, advocacy and greater loyalty.

As the author of several business books, it’s through my love of writing that I share stories about my communications journey. My most recent book, “Answers for Modern Communicators” was published by Routledge in October 2017 is a response to the most pressing PR and communications questions asked by students and professionals. A couple of other well-known industry titles include “Social Media and Public Relations: Eight New Practices for the PR Professional” and “Putting the Public Back in Public Relations.”

I’ve spent almost 15 years teaching on the university level, developing curriculum for PR and social media courses, both online and in the classroom at NYU, UMASS at Amherst, Rutgers University, and FDU. I speak nationally and internationally on PR, marketing, branding and social media communications, always through a FEEL First lens. I’ve also spent the last five years as a LinkedIn Learning Instructor with eight video courses on Public Relations Foundations, Media Training, Handling an Unruly Audience, Marketing Communications, Go-To-Market Planning, Competitive Analysis, Creating a Marketing Culture and Marketing Ethics.

Svetlana Kamyshanskaya is an accomplished attorney with 20 years of successful experience in legal practice and business.

Svetlana has an extensive experience of providing full legal support to privately-held businesses in connection with various corporate matters including entity formation, corporate governance, advising clients on a wide range of commercial and financial issues including capitalization, debt and equity financing, director and officer liability, corporate governance compliance, and contracts.

Prior to starting her firm, Primum Law Group, Svetlana worked at a business consulting company assisting  seasoned businesses as well as start-ups in a process of US market entry through development and implementation of their market entry strategy conducting risk assessment of commercial transactions, identifying a potential area of compliance vulnerability and risk, developing and implementing corrective action plans for resolution of problematic issues as well as negotiating and drafting commercial contracts. Svetlana assists her clients in conducting international business transactions by identifying the risks related to transactions as well as potential corporate governance and compliance problems while helping to address them.

Michelle R. Wheeler is a Junior Partner, Marketing Strategist, and Website Developer at PSM Marketing. She is a staunch believer that “everyone deserves kickass marketing,” which is why Michelle absolutely loves helping clients (large and small) achieve marketing success. She helps drive opportunity and growth for all her clients, regardless of their industry. In joining PSM’s leadership as a Junior Partner in 2019, Michelle is excited to bring her expertise helping Minnesota contractors, non-profits, and small businesses to PSM’s existing legal and financial services clients.

Allison Nussbaum's career has been spent at the intersection of law, technology, and client growth. I have a proven track record of building, maintaining and expanding networks and client relationships and delivering superior business results.

Christie J. Lawler – Founder & Owner of CJL CONSULTiNG and Founder, The WITI Group

Christie founded CJL CONSULTiNG in 2009 while completing her MBA as a way to stay engaged in her career while completing her studies. As Founder & Owner of CJL CONSULTiNG, Christie supports clients by creating beverage marketing and training programs for the likes of Alamo Drafthouse, American Social, Arcis Golf and Flagship Restaurant Group.

Prior to the rebrand of CJL CONSULTiNG in 2017, Christie was consulting with AREAS, Smokey Bones and Shula’s after spending seven years serving as the National Accounts Manager for both Sidney Frank Importing Company and Lavazza. After managing more than 200 accounts across the U.S., she was excited to bring her knowledge of the sales side full circle to help her company’s clients drive their beverage strategy forward.

Before entering the world of sales, Christie worked as a newspaper reporter and went on to create the marketing office for MWR Europe covering Southern Germany while stationed overseas with her active-duty husband. Upon moving back to the U.S. in 2004, Christie got her first taste of national accounts beverage marketing while creating training and beverage programs for HMSHost, Consolidated Restaurant Operations, Outback Steakhouse and House of Blues.

In 2018, Christie developed the charitable side of her career founding The WITI Group, a 501(c)(3) foundation focused on empowering and supporting the women of the hospitality industry. She is also proud to serve as a CORE Ambassador as well as an advisory board member for “The Bar” with Datassential. CJL CONSULTiNG is WBENC Certified as a Woman-Owned Small Business. Christie also travels the U.S. for her speaking engagements covering marketing, branding, sales strategy and cultural development topics.