Heroine

Have you ever been knocked down, and had to dust yourself off to start again? Today’s guest, Jaclyn Johnson, talks about the career blows early on in her journey and the blessings that came from them.

More about this episode: majomolfino.com/blog/2018/6/14/reclaim-work-with-jaclyn-johnson

I couldn’t be more thrilled to bring you this CEO and powerhouse behind beloved conference and site for millennial working women, Create & Cultivate. She is also author of a new book, WorkParty, which is available for pre-order now. Jaclyn’s a real boss lady who has been named Forbes 30 Under 30, a “Self-Made Woman” by LA Times, and A Woman of Note by The Wall Street Journal. What’s most inspiring to me about Jaclyn is how much she truly believes in the power of creative, millennial women to change the world.

In this episode, Jaclyn and I cover her journey of starting over again, what she means when she says it’s important to be “nice” at work, and whether we modern women can indeed have it all.

Alright, heroine, this is the last episode of the season, and we’ll pick back up in a few months in September. Enjoy the summer, I hope you get outside and play, and don’t forget that you can follow me on instagram in the meanwhile to stay updated @majo.heroine –!

Show notes:
- Jaclyn shares about her childhood; very independent and ambitious, always wanting to explore, making her a little bit of a troublemaker. [02:11]
- On her teenage years and her three jobs in high school [03:12]
- How she interned her way to getting a job right after college because she graduated early. The massive disconnect she noticed between education and real life business skills. [04:35]
- Jaclyn started blogging at a very early age, in 2007. She shares how she learned analytics from a friend and how she found out her blog had gained traffic. [06:12]
- On moving to California after the recession hit, getting laid off three months after the move, and recovering from depression so that she could start her own freelance work as a social media marketing specialist. On partnering up with a girl who shared her co-working office space and their eventual business break-up [07:31]
- How she got back on track, doing almost everything herself. What she learned from the past. [10:16]
- On her book and what she meant by “be nice.” Insights about women having it all. [29:19]
- How she reclaimed working for herself, by herself, and became successful after a crappy situation. [37:10]

References:
Majo's website – majomolfino.com
Jaclyn's website – jaclynrjohnson.com
Jaclyn's book – workparty.com

Music by Carolyn Pennypacker Riggs – carolynpennypackerriggs.com

Want to support women's voices? Go to patreon.com/heroinefm & become a bigger part of the Heroine community. Check out our rewards for supporters.

Luvvie is an award-winning writer and 15-year blogging veteran known for her razor-sharp wit, and her take on all things pop culture, race, media, and technology.

More about this episode: majomolfino.com/blog/2018/5/31/speak-up-with-luvvie-ajayi

Her debut book I’M JUDGING YOU: The Do-Better Manual was a New York Times Bestseller and is a series of humorous essays that dissects our cultural obsessions and calls out bad behavior in our increasingly digital, connected lives.

It passes on lessons and side-eyes on life, social media, culture and fame, addressing those terrible friends we all have to serious discussions of race and media representation to what to do about your fool cousin sharing casket pictures from Grandma’s wake on Facebook.

Show Notes:
-On Luvvie’s childhood in Nigeria, their move to the U.S. when she was nine years old, and how she adjusted to American culture. Her name was different; her accent was different. [2:55]
-Her choice of psychology as a major in college, why she dropped her lifelong dream of becoming a doctor, but why she also didn’t think she would make a good therapist. [7:29]
-On her experience after college, going into marketing internships while figuring out what she really wanted to do, including starting her now-famous blog back in college. [8:36]
-Luvvie’s journey in becoming the marketing coordinator of a non-profit while developing her blog as a hobby; winning an award for “Best Humor Blog” in 2009. [13:20]
-On writing recaps for the show, Scandal, by Shonda Rhimes which eventually garnered her attention online and grew her fanbase. [15:49]
-How she came up with the idea for her New York Times Bestseller “I’m Judging You: The Do-Better Manual.” [19:48]
-On feminism: why a lot of people – especially women of color – have a hard time calling themselves feminists. [25:58]
-Reclaiming what it looks like to be a creative: writing, speaking, running a business, and hosting the Rants and Randomness podcast, and why you should let your work evolve with you. [41:45]

References:
- Majo's website: majomolfino.com
- Learn more about I'm Judging You: The Do-Better Manual – luvvie.org/im-judging-you-book/

Music by Carolyn Pennypacker Riggs – carolynpennypackerriggs.com

Want to support women's voices? Go to patreon.com/heroinefm & become a bigger part of the Heroine community. Check out our rewards for supporters.

Don't forget to follow Majo on Instagram for book giveaways – instagram.com/majo.heroine/

Do you get anxious? Let’s get real. We all do. And we need tools to deal with the worrisome thoughts and the uncomfortable feelings that naturally come up from living life. We need tools to help us put worry aside and step into a more positive state, the state of childlike, exuberant wonder. Enter today’s guest, Amber Rae, who is a total badass and who Mind Body Green called her "The Brene Brown of Wonder."

More about this episode: majomolfino.com/blog/2018/5/17/wonder-over-worry-with-amber-rae

She is an author of a book that was just released this week, Choose Wonder Over Worry: Move Beyond Fear and Doubt to Unlock Your Full Potential (Hello, who doesn’t want to do that? You can find out more about how to order the book in the show notes because honestly every woman needs to read this Now, ASAP). In addition to being an author, Amber is an artist and speaker who has been featured in The New York Times, TIME, Fast Company, BBC, ABC World News, Tim Ferriss's blog, and more. Previously, she helped launch six best-selling books with Seth Godin.

Show Notes:
-Amber shares about her childhood; how her mother has influenced her in so many ways and how she’s lost her father in a car accident at a very young age. [2:56]
-Her very early interest in psychology and reading books related to the discovery of how the psyche works; her pre-puberty story and starting her own magazine. [8:01]
-On dealing with the development of her physical body and her emotions; her high school life and the start of her wanting to be liked and approved by people. [10:53]
-A brief description of her college experience and chosen course; her great dating relationships and her ending up with someone who broke her. [18:07]
-Life after college; getting into tech; moving from San Francisco to New York upon the advice of her friend Ahmed Gupta. [24:19]
-The high and low of her life; lowest was when she self-sabotaged her successful career/work; highest was when she met her soon-to-be-husband, Farhad. [36:56]
-About her book, “Choose Wonder Over Worry.” [41:26]
-About her reclaiming her truth and essence without denying any part of herself. [53:42]

References:
Majo's website – majomolfino.com
Learn more about Choose Wonder Over Worry – choosewonder.com
- LIVE Event w/ Majo & Amber: Book Passage Sunday, May, 20th @ 4pm in Corte Madera, CA --> bookpassage.com/event/amber-rae-majo-molfino-choose-wonder-over-worry-corte-madera-store
- LIVE event w/ Amber: Women Catalysts Sunday, May 20th @ 7pm in San Francisco, CA --> wonderoverworrywithamberrae.splashthat.com/


Music by Carolyn Pennypacker Riggs – carolynpennypackerriggs.com

Want to support women's voices? Go to patreon.com/heroinefm & become a bigger part of the Heroine community. Check out our rewards for supporters.

When we’re kids and teens, being called weird is an insult. But as we grow older, we realize so much of our superpowers come from allowing ourselves to be weirdos. Being weird is about following your quirks, strange esoteric interests, and inexplicable curiosities. Let’s face it: the best art and ideas come from the land of weird.

More about this episode: majomolfino.com/blog/2018/5/2/be-weird-with-laurie-segall

This is the focus of today’s show with Laurie Segall, a Senior Tech Correspondent for CNN and Editor at large for CNN Tech. She’s also the host of CNN’s first CNN Originals – Mostly Human – an amazing six-part docu-series that explores sex, love, and death through the lens of tech. As an award-winning journalist, she specializes in understanding the impact of tech on our daily lives.

Show Notes:
-Laurie as a little girl: Weird and funny, a Southerner and of a Jewish background who felt she never fit in, loved talking to people who didn’t fit in. [4:35]
-On her journey as a young journalist, her undercover mission with her father at a purity ball that led to her public declaration of her virginity. [15:20]
-Laurie’s fundamental mind shift: “I want to work at CNN!” The steps she took to get to where she is now, starting out and doing anything she was told to do. [22:30]
-On interviewing Ariel Castro’s daughter, realizing the power of technology to investigate, and doing a docu-series on “Sex, Drugs, and Silicon Valley”. [39:00]
-Pitching “Mostly Human” to CNN President, Jeff Zucker: How Laurie used her experiences going into dark places to make the “Mostly Human” show possible and how people that surrounded her have contributed to her success through their suggestions and advice. [43:54]
-Laurie’s realization about how people live their lives on social media, choosing how they portray life while masking the reality of pain and sadness. [49:45]
-Her interest in AI and the creation of the Laurie bot shows the possibilities of the future through technology. Laurie shares how she has reclaimed her confidence and weirdness to be who she wants to be without trying to fit in. [56:12]

References:
Majo's website – majomolfino.com
Learn more about Mostly Human – money.cnn.com/mostly-human/
Music by Carolyn Pennypacker Riggs – carolynpennypackerriggs.com

Want to support women's voices? Go to patreon.com/heroinefm & become a bigger part of the Heroine community. Check out our rewards for supporters.

Gabrielle Guthrie is the founder of Moxxly, a company that is redesigning the breast pumping experience for the modern mama. In this episode, Gabrielle shares her personal and professional journey into becoming a designer-founder who has thrown her life’s mission into building a product that re-humanizes the experience of breastfeeding for women. Gabrielle and her two female co-founders use the best of product design, business, and engineering to give mothers their dignity back.

More about this episode: majomolfino.com/blog/2018/4/18/design-for-women-with-gabrielle-guthrie

Show Notes:
-Gabrielle shares her life as a creative little girl who loves to make things, growing up with two older brothers and her father who raised them. [2:50]
-The challenges she faced in high school, her rebelliousness, and her relationship with her father. [6:28]
-On her experience of freedom in college but how she hadn’t been thinking about the next step. [10:36]
-While working on a thesis, she and her project partner talked about starting a company that will help change the lives of women and the challenges women faced throughout their lifetime. [14:47]
-On her journey into failure, eventually selling the company and what she learned from the experience. [25:50]
-Her travel to China after the acquisition of her company and her rise again after realizing the root cause of the product’s failure, leading to a comeback and a better product. [31:50]
-Some tips for those who feel passionate about something or are planning on becoming founders. [40:37]

References:
Majo's website – majomolfino.com
Learn more about Moxxly – moxxly.com/

Music by Carolyn Pennypacker Riggs – carolynpennypackerriggs.com

Want to support women's voices? Go to patreon.com/heroinefm & become a bigger part of the Heroine community. Check out our rewards for supporters.

Today’s episode features writer, women’s advocate, and tech entrepreneur Kathryn Finney. Named one of the most influential women in tech by Inc Magazine, she’s the Founder and Managing Director of digitalundivided, which fosters economic growth by empowering black and latina women entrepreneurs.

More about this episode: majomolfino.com/blog/2018/4/4/something-more-with-kathryn-finney

Kathryn talks about the courage required to find your tribe and take a leap when you feel there’s more out there for you. From her travels to Ghana during the height of the AIDS epidemic and deciding to become an epidemiologist, to starting one of the first fashion blogs and changing up all of her plans, Kathryn shares how she’s dealt with fear and challenges on her path to figuring out what she wants most out of life.

Show Notes:
-Kathryn as a little girl: Business savvy from a young age, she learned the value and power of making her own money. Plus, the examples of entrepreneurship that had an impact on her growing up. [1:58]
-Challenges during her formative years, and Kathryn’s inspiring message on finding your own tribe and having the courage to take a leap. [7:42]
-Her first trip to Ghana on a college fellowship, the humbling experience of contracting malaria, and how it all inspired her work. [13:35]
-Her thesis on how the HIV AIDS virus impacted violence against women in South Africa, deciding to become an epidemiologist, and the events that changed her trajectory. [19:20]
-Reaching a crossroads: Kathryn’s insights on sacrifice vs decision, and figuring out what you really want out of life. [24:20]
-How Kathryn found herself running a non-profit organization and starting an influential blog. [30:35]
-On teaching herself how to make money from her blog before there was a clear path to doing it, landing a book deal, and how Kathryn compartmentalizes fear. [35:50]
-The TV deal she almost went through with: Realizing it wasn’t what she wanted, what she learned, and how she handled the backlash. [39:51]
-The movement that emerged for Kathryn as a result of attending conferences and realizing there were so few women who looked like her. [49:53]
-What Kathryn has reclaimed on her heroine’s journey. [55:58]

References:
Majo's website – majomolfino.com
Kathryn's website – kathrynfinney.com
Check out digitalundivided – digitalundivided.com

Music by Carolyn Pennypacker Riggs – carolynpennypackerriggs.com

Want to support women's voices? Go to patreon.com/heroinefm & become a bigger part of the Heroine community. Check out our rewards for supporters.

Jasmine Aarons is the founder of VOZ – an ethical fashion company with a mission to protect and promote the stories, livelihoods, and cultural values of rural indigenous women around the world. Jasmine has spent years working with artisans in South America, creating a collaborative design model with an inspiring ethical and sustainable vision.

More about this episode: http://majomolfino.com/blog/2018/3/21/passion-ethics-with-jasmine-aarons

In this episode, Jasmine shares her journey to becoming a founder, taking us through the moments in her life where she wanted to give up, but didn’t. She talks about the “blessing” of being a novice, and shares key insights and moments of growth as a founder.

Show Notes:
-A precocious, creative little girl with an old soul: Jasmine’s childhood, plus the challenges she faced in her teens. [2:20]
-How theater and performance saved her in high school, and how that training has aided her throughout her life. [7:26]
-“It has never felt easy, but I’m willing to show up”: On Jasmine’s college years, being shameless about having a weakness, and the moments where she wanted to give up but didn’t. [9:20]
-On the thesis that was the seed for her work today – Jasmine’s passion for culture and concern for ethical systems, and the inspiring mission behind VOZ. [12:45]
-The journey to Chile that changed her life, and Jasmine’s insights on what it takes to be a founder. [19:10]
-On dealing with the peaks and valleys of founder life, how the vision behind VOZ has grown, and Jasmine’s passion for celebrating feminine leadership and women’s stories. [26:35]
-How VOZ champions sustainability, connection, and authenticity, and what feminine leadership means to Jasmine. Bonus: An inspiring story about one of VOZ’s artisans. [30:48]


References:
Majo's website – majomolfino.com
Learn more about VOZ and their vision – madebyvoz.com/

Music by Carolyn Pennypacker Riggs – carolynpennypackerriggs.com

Want to support women's voices? Go to patreon.com/heroinefm & become a bigger part of the Heroine community. Check out our rewards for supporters.

We’re kicking off the new season with two returning guests. Elle Luna is a SF based artist and author, and Susie Herrick is a licensed therapist with over twenty years of experience. Together, they have co-authored a new and timely book: Your Story is Your Power, Free Your Feminine Voice.

More about this episode: majomolfino.com/blog/2018/3/7/your-story-is-your-power-with-elle-luna-susie-herrick

In this episode, they dive into the idea of taking back our stories as women. Elle and Susie explain what this means, why it matters, and how to get started. They share beautiful insights on bringing into awareness the conditioning and cultural messages hidden in our subconscious that affect us, and also teach us about the Enneagram, a powerful personality typology that will help you see your ego defenses more clearly.

Show Notes:
-What Elle and Susie were like as little girls. [3:02]
-The stories and fairytales that capture us when we’re young, and how these apply when starting to look at our own stories. [5:19]
-Our journeys as a labyrinth – spiraling into the center of our own stories, and bringing into awareness the hidden cultural messages that affect us. [9:22]
-Bringing things into consciousness: “When a person has a coherent narrative, they have more capacity for relating to others.” [13:50]
-On enneagrams, personality typologies, and what can be discovered about our growth and aspects of the self. [17:35]
-Elle shares how she found and approached the center of her story. [28:39]
-On feminine leadership and power, tending and befriending, and overcoming the fears that underlie our innate tendencies. [33:53]
-Susie shares a beautiful, personal passage from their book. [43:16]

References:
Majo's website – majomolfino.com
Elle's website – elleluna.com
Susie's website – susieherrick.com

Find their book, Your Story is Your Power - workman.com/products/your-story-is-your-power

Music by Carolyn Pennypacker Riggs – carolynpennypackerriggs.com

Want to support women's voices? Go to patreon.com/heroinefm & become a bigger part of the Heroine community. Check out our rewards for supporters.

Welcome to HEROINE, so glad you’re here with us. I’m your host Majo Molfino. What is this show all about? HEROINE features leading female experts and authors in creativity, leadership, business, feminism, and personal growth about their own journeys and what they’ve learned along the way. I’ve had the pleasure to interview Award-Winning Artists, New York Times Best-Sellers, CEOs and Execs – you name it. These women are legends, Badasses, Rule-Breakers, Risk-Takers. Women from all backgrounds and walks of life who are changing the world with their ideas and stories.

Show notes:
- Interview snippets with Isabel Allende, Eileen Fisher, and Luvvie Ajayii
- Website: majomolfino.com/podcast

Claudia Chan is a leadership expert, social entrepreneur, and founder of S.H.E. Summit, an annual conference that celebrates women’s leadership and gender equality. She’s also the author of the newly released book, This Is How We Rise.

More about this episode: majomolfino.com/blog/2018/1/28/clarity-service-with-claudia-chan

Claudia hit a breaking point in her thirties that led her down the path of “waking up” to what she truly felt passionate about. In this episode, she offers a framing of leadership where both men and women work together toward gender equality, and gets honest about the obstacles she’s still working on today. You’ll also learn her unique toolkit for reacting effectively when meltdowns arise.

Show Notes:
-Claudia as a little girl: Strong-minded and confident, the daughter of Chinese immigrants, and eager to become an adult. [2:20]
-On her early desires to achieve success and prestige, the strides she made after graduating college, and internalizing her surrounding culture that seemed focused on material wealth. [8:02]
-Claudia’s breaking point: “Waking up” to a life of purpose, and the steps she took to grow spiritually and as a leader. [12:39]
-A new trajectory focused on caring about women’s issues and gender equality, and the crazy momentum women have right now in this “4th wave” of feminism. [19:23]
-Inviting men into the conversation: How Claudia and her husband divide and conquer as co-CEOs of their family and life. [26:09]
-Getting honest about how she takes care of herself while “doing it all” – Claudia dives into her book, sharing her strategies and tools. [33:10]
-The internal obstacles Claudia’s still working on today, and her final words of wisdom. [37:51]

References:
Majo's website – majomolfino.com
Claudia's website – shesummit.com/founder
S.H.E. Summit – shesummit.com
This Is How We Rise – shesummit.com/book

Music by Carolyn Pennypacker Riggs – carolynpennypackerriggs.com

Want to support women's voices? Go to patreon.com/heroinefm & become a bigger part of the Heroine community. Check out our rewards for supporters.