Freeman Means Business' Wonder Women in Business Podcast

Michelle Calcote King is the Principal & President of Reputation Ink, a public relations and content marketing agency focused on professional services firms, including law, architecture, engineering and construction firms. With more than two decades of marketing and PR experience, Michelle has worked around the world, including stints in London and Australia. Her firm celebrated its 10th anniversary this year.

Claudia Miller has dedicated the last 15 years of her career to supporting SF Bay Area nonprofit organizations focused on social justice and racial equity build stronger communities and advance their missions through effective fundraising.  As Senior Director of Advancement with Venture Leadership Consulting, she creates results-based development plans, leads high-performing teams as an interim fundraising executive, and guides nonprofits in telling their stories. Since joining Venture Leadership in February 2020 (hello COVID!), she has worked with organizations focused on ending the prison pipeline for Bay Area youth, helping foster youth overcome challenges as they transition to adulthood, community organizing and safety net services, and finding permanent solutions to homelessness in SF.

Prior to joining Venture Leadership, Claudia was the Vice President of Advancement at First Place for Youth, a nationally-recognized leader in providing foster youth the education and employment skills they need to become independent, successful adults. During her tenure, the organization grew rapidly and she was responsible for increasing private revenue from $1 million to more than $7 million annually. Her strategic vision for growing private fundraising led to increased engagement with donors, stronger relationships with funders and corporate partners, and targeted communications and branding. First Place grew from a Bay Area-based nonprofit to a statewide organization, and now a national organization in four states. She successfully completed the organization’s first-ever Growth Campaign which raised more than $16 million from individual donors.

Prior to her work at First Place, Claudia was a reporter and freelance writer covering topics as wide-ranging as education, early childcare, sports features, home + garden, and real estate for the San Francisco Chronicle, the Hayward Daily Review, and various magazines. Like all good newspaper reporters, she got her start writing obituaries and the weather.

She has a BA in Latin American Studies and Political Science from Duke University. Outside of work, an ideal day is an early morning hike with friends and pups in the Oakland hills, an afternoon bike ride along the Bay, and a good meal shared outside with family. She loves nothing more than a day spent at the beach, be it Northern California or her Jersey Shore roots.

Rebecca Baumgartner is the Vice President of Human Resources for the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce. As a champion for personal and professional wellbeing, Rebecca brings her extensive background in human resources, organizational development, and diversity, equity, and inclusion to help others strengthen their personal awareness and build new skills to more powerfully navigate their journey. She draws from skill sets such as emotional intelligence, positive psychology, resilience, and courageous leadership to support others in their goals to become more inclusive and more impactful leaders to themselves and others.

Rebecca is skilled in professional and leadership development, coaching, and the strategic planning and implementation of diversity and inclusion programs, initiatives, and efforts. She has been a featured speaker for organizations such as National Association for Legal Professionals, Association of Law Firm Diversity Professionals, Tulane School of Law, Central Exchange, Anheuser-Busch, Hallmark, and the Professional Development Consortium. Additionally, she has contributed to and written for publications such as Forbes, The American Lawyer, Working Mother Media, and The Good Men Project. Rebecca was featured by InsightsSuccess as one of the “10 Most Inspiring Business Women in 2021.”

Rebecca sits on the board of the Northland Symphony and Orchestra, dedicated to providing music and arts education to youth in the community, as well as the Racial Equity and Inclusion Kansas City organization.  She serves on the Patron Committee for UnitedWe, is an Advisory Board Member for the Conscious Inclusion Company – a national diversity, equity and inclusion consulting organization – and is a faculty member for the Executive Leadership Institute.  Rebecca has also dedicated her time to national committees including the Law Firm Anti-Racism Alliance Voting Rights Committee and the National Diversity Council.

Amber Lee Forrester is a coach, facilitator, positive psychology practitioner, motivational speaker, content creator, event producer and serial entrepreneur. She is the founder of Quartz Wellness Collective, a personal growth and development organization that provides life-enhancing resources and tools for women who seek to live healthier, happier, and more purposeful lifestyles. The Quartz Wellness Collective hosts and produces uplifting events, transformational workshops, retreats, and online content designed to promote mental, physical, emotional, financial and social well-being.

Amber’s robust background has contributed a highly transferrable skill set that gives her the confidence and know-how to continue her purpose-driven career path. Her high school and college modeling, hosting and on-camera interviewing experience formed her comfort and self-assured presence on stage and in front of the camera, and built up her ability to engage people in meaningful conversation.  Her fifteen years of event experience supports her ability to create, coordinate, design and execute entertaining and impactful events. With ten years of apparel design, manufacturing, sales and marketing for her designer dog apparel company, Kane & Couture, she is masterful at product development, branding and online retail.

Amber is a visionary. Her top strengths are her creativity, love of learning, resourcefulness, resilience, and her ability to execute down to the minor details of her vision to bring her ideas to life. Her personal motto is “always do your best.” Her list of accomplishments reflect the hard work and dedication she applies when she decides to commit to a goal.  A few notable accomplishments include: graduating from each level of schooling with honors; being chosen from a national multi-city search as the Seagrams Gin Live Veejay in 2003; acceptance into the highly competitive inaugural Macy’s Workshop vendor development initiative that resulted in Amber selling Kane & Couture into Macy’s and becoming one of the faces of the program; being selected from tens of thousands of entrepreneurs to appear on ABC’s hit show, Shark Tank, where she struck a deal with Daymond John and Lori Greiner; creating, producing and executing a wellness retreat to Grenada where 50 women of color joined together for four days of transformational mind and body activities. Amber has spoken at schools, churches, entrepreneur conferences, and her own wellness events and retreats motivating people to find purpose, let go of limiting beliefs and have the confidence to show up and accomplish what one’s heart desires.

Amber is happily married and the mother of two young children. Her husband, Garvin Forrester is aerospace engineer by trade, but also a serial entrepreneur with ownership in multiple companies. The Forresters are currently working together to bring positive entertainment and wellness to metropolitan areas through a series of concerts and festivals.

Mrs. Kimberly Marcus is the Director of Supplier Diversity for AARP. Mrs. Marcus is responsible for redefining diversity, equity and inclusion within the supply chain at AARP. The AARP supplier diversity program resides at the intersection of who we are, what we do, and how we do it. AARP’s supplier diversity program is directly linked to our mission and why we exist. AARP not only seeks to work with diverse suppliers, we also serve them by helping them grow their businesses and promoting them in the marketplace.

Mrs. Marcus comes to AARP with over 20 years of combined experience in both the corporate and non-profit worlds. Prior to AARP, Mrs. Marcus was a presidential appointee for the Department of Commerce. Mrs. Kimberly Marcus was appointed in July 2012 to serve as Associate Director for the Office of Legislative, Education & Intergovernmental Affairs (OLEIA) at the Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA). In this capacity, she led all Agency efforts in the areas of communications, public affairs, external relationships, outreach, research, and policy development. She also oversaw the Agency’s relationships with elected officials, as well as its advocacy and outreach strategies. Mrs. Marcus focused primarily on stakeholder outreach, with an emphasis on global business development. Fortune 500 stakeholders, both domestic and international, were key to her outreach methodology.

Toni Cortese is passionate about developing leaders and teams to achieve their professional goals and guide organizations to greater success by increasing employee engagement, improving processes and culture, and impacting the bottom line. Prior to coaching, Toni led global technology teams during her 25-year tenure in investment banking.

While at Barclays, Toni co-founded and led a highly successful employee engagement program delivered a novel approach to driving tangible firm-wide cultural change. She also ran a training company whose clients included a number of Fortune 500 companies. She leverages a degree in International Relations and 20 years of self-taught forays into behavioral and social sciences to help her coaching clients see things from different angles and create new opportunities with new tools.

Toni is an avid supporter of diversity, which propelled her to be a founding member of three separate diversity networks at a major investment bank. She received a number of awards including Woman of the Year Award and the honor of ringing the opening and closing bells at the NYSE and NASDAQ. Toni has also partnered with the YWCA for over 17 years and was inducted into the YWCA’s Academy of Women Leaders for coaching, training, and mentoring battered women of all ages.

The combination of her life experiences, approachable nature, and ability to see the broader context is what has led many colleagues to seek Toni’s counsel over the years.

Kaitlyn Zhang is an undergraduate student at UC Berkeley studying Data Science and Economics with a certificate in technology and entrepreneurship. Originally from China, Kaitlyn left her family at 16 to pursue higher education in the United States. With a mindset for growth and a heart for adventure, she is constantly looking for challenges and opportunities to grow both professionally and personally. Studying at Berkeley led Kaitlyn to realize the inequities between California and her home province. Entrepreneurship here is a stark contrast to the lack of creativity and innovation in China’s rural cities. Kaitlyn’s goal is to present the underserved community with the same resources and opportunities. Kaitlyn has co-founded and joined organizations that aim to create real-world impacts and promote diversity and inclusion in both United States and China. With professional experience as a data analyst at tech startups, Kaitlyn will be joining a venture capital firm as an analyst intern this winter.

Freeland, WA

Experienced with individuals at the Board of Directors, “C” Chair, Executive and Senior Management levels, Janet assists executives in adopting effective habits of perception and behavior to lead and accelerate corporate strategies. Typical engagements address executive development in the following areas: articulate and inspire through clarity of vision, enable respectful challenge, debate and catalyze synergy for strategic business choices, risk/reward critical thinking about investments and shareholder value, plan leader succession and architect sustainable cultural/strategic change.

Laurie Forster is one of America’s leading wine experts and author of the award-winning book The Sipping Point: A Crash Course in Wine. Laurie is a Certified Sommelier, National Speaker and TV personality who is not afraid to tell you her first wine came from a box. Her edgy approach to demystifying wine caught the eye of major networks and led her to guest appearances on The Dr Oz Show, FOX Morning News, Martha Stewart Living Today and ABC News at Noon.

Laurie regularly speaks across the country where she edutains a client list that includes MetLife, Discovery Channel, Microsoft, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, LG Electronics, National Association of Catering Executives, American Cancer Society and McCormick & Company to name a few. Laurie has performed her comedic wine tasting at locations nationwide including Carolines on Broadway, DC IMPROV, Caesars Atlantic City and recently as a headliner for the 2018 HBO Women in Comedy Festival.

Forster is also the host of The Sipping Point  and her mobile application “The Wine Coach” was listed as one of the Top 8 Wine Apps in Wine Enthusiast. A former software sales executive, Laurie’s wine career began in Manhattan where she studied with the American Sommelier Association to obtain her certificate in Viticulture and Vinification.  Laurie has since earned an Advanced Certificate with Merit from the Wine & Spirits Education Trust (WSET). She has also trained with the Court of Master Sommeliers and the Culinary Institute of America in Napa Valley.

As a nonprofit leader, mentor, and volunteer, Kate Krug has dedicated her career to the advancement of women, specifically women in underserved communities in New York. Kate’s advocacy for women is reflected best in her impact within Nontraditional Employment for Women (NEW). Kate joined the leadership team of NEW in September 2019 and is responsible for creating and executing a communication and fundraising strategy to increase and sustain revenue contributing to an annual budget of $3.8 million.

Prior to joining NEW, for more than 17 years Kate has raised critically needed funds that have increased career path opportunities for women, aided survivors of domestic violence in finding safety and shelter, empowered veterans with employment opportunities, and assisted those experiencing homelessness. Additionally, Kate sits on the Board of Directors as Treasurer for the New York State Coalition Against Domestic Violence.

Kate holds a B.A. in Communications from  Seton Hall University and an M.S. in Fundraising Management from Columbia University.