How Women Inspire: Invest, Lead, Give

Authenticity and empathy are two essential qualities for successful leadership. No one exhibits those qualities more than Ebony Beckwith, who also ensures that those she mentors take those principles to heart. This week’s episode 59 of How Women Inspire Podcast is about authenticity and empathy in leadership.

In this episode of How Women Inspire Podcast, Julie Castro Abrams and Ebony Beckwith are sharing the importance of making time for mentoring and actionable steps you can take right now to bring authenticity to your leadership position. 

Ebony Beckwith is the Salesforce Chief Business Officer & Chief of Staff to Marc Benioff. She is also the CEO of the Salesforce Foundation, overseeing the company’s global philanthropic strategy. Additionally, she is the CEO of the Salesforce Foundation, overseeing the company's global philanthropic strategy.

Some of the talking points Julie and Ebony go over in this episode include:

• How important it is for working women to let their daughters see into their professional life.
• Having a clear goal does not mean your path will be linear.
• Taking inspiration from the fact that people have not lost hope.
• Tips for searching for your first board opportunity.

Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, take a screenshot of the episode to post in your stories and tag me!  And don’t forget to follow, rate, and review the podcast and tell me your key takeaways!

Learn more about How Women Inspire at https://www.howwomenlead.com/podcast 

CONNECT WITH EBONY BECKWITH:

LinkedIn

Twitter

CONNECT WITH JULIE CASTRO ABRAMS:

LinkedIn - Julie

How Women Lead

How Women Invest

How Women Give

Instagram - HWL

LinkedIn - HWL

Facebook - HWL

Success comes in all shapes and sizes. But one of the biggest marks of success is being an approachable leader who connects with empathy and humility while still getting the important work done. This week’s episode 58 of How Women Inspire Podcast is about being more human in leadership! 

In this episode of How Women Inspire Podcast, Julie Castro Abrams and JeanAnn Nichols share the importance of empathy in leadership and actionable steps you can take right now to network in ways that make sense for YOU and fit into your everyday life! 

JeanAnn Nichols is an executive coach and keynote speaker with a recognized ability to enable leaders to seek their full potential through coaching, mentoring, and accountability toward desired goals. Through her executive coaching, she partners with C-suite executives who want to deliver superior business results in rapidly changing environments. JeanAnn is also a leadership professor at Stanford University. 

Some of the talking points JeanAnn and Julie go over in this episode include:

• In the midst of the Great Resignation, why did only 8% of women in leadership leave their roles?
• The HEARTI Leadership Quotient and the importance of “soft skills” in leadership.
• Networking isn’t always going to big conferences. You can network YOUR way.
• Expanding your perspective and learning global perspectives from books of all sorts.

Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, take a screenshot of the episode to post in your stories and tag me!  And don’t forget to follow, rate, and review the podcast and tell me your key takeaways!

Learn more about How Women Inspire at https://www.howwomenlead.com/podcast 

CONNECT WITH JEANANN NICHOLS:

LinkedIn

Website

Stanford Continuing Studies

CONNECT WITH JULIE CASTRO ABRAMS:

LinkedIn - Julie

How Women Lead

How Women Invest

How Women Give

Instagram - HWL

LinkedIn - HWL

Facebook - HWL

Between apologizing too much, not knowing how to actually achieve their goals, and the odds of success in an unfair world rarely being in our favor, women have to work hard and take risks to achieve their goals. Shellye Archambeau is here today to talk about what you can do to help yourself reach your goals. This week’s episode 57 of How Women Inspire Podcast is about how to be unapologetically ambitious! 

In this episode of How Women Inspire Podcast, Julie Castro Abrams and Shellye Archambeau are sharing the importance of goal setting and actionable steps you can take right now to plan out your future successes.

Shellye Archambeau is an experienced CEO and board director with a track record of building brands, high-performance teams, and organizations. She currently serves on the boards of Verizon, Roper technologies, and Okta. She's also a strategic adviser to Forbes Ignite and the president of Arizona State University and serves on the board of two national nonprofits Catalyst and Braven. Shellye is also the author of Unapologetically Ambitious: Take Risks, Break Barriers, and Create Success on Your Own Terms.

Some of the talking points Julie and Shellye go over in this episode include:

• How hard things that happen in our childhood and how our parents address them shape our adulthoods.
• Why knowing how to achieve your goals - not just setting them - is the key to success.
• Why women are supposed to ‘have it all’, and why men aren’t spoken about that way.
• Finding the type of self-care that’s right for you, so you can keep yourself healthy.

Check out Shellye’s book Unapologetically Ambitious: Take Risks, Break Barriers, and Create Success on Your Own Terms.

Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, take a screenshot of the episode to post in your stories and tag me!  And don’t forget to follow, rate, and review the podcast and tell me your key takeaways!

Learn more about How Women Inspire at https://www.howwomenlead.com/podcast 

CONNECT WITH SHELLYE:

Website

LinkedIn

Instagram

Twitter

CONNECT WITH JULIE CASTRO ABRAMS:

LinkedIn - Julie

How Women Lead

How Women Invest

How Women Give

Instagram - HWL

LinkedIn - HWL

Facebook - HWL

Investing is a great way to achieve financial security and independence, but it can be difficult to get started if you don't know where to begin. All too often, women are left out of conversations about investments that would help reduce the wealth gap. This week’s episode 56 of How Women Inspire Podcast is about how to achieve gender equity in investing! 

In this episode of How Women Inspire Podcast, Julie Castro Abrams and Kristin Hull are sharing the importance of expanding access to information on investing and actionable steps you can take right now to invest in the causes and beliefs that align with your values. 

Kristin Hull is the Founder and CEO of Nia Impact Capital, a woman-led registered investment advisor leading the charge to change the face of finance. She has been an impact investor since 2007. Prior to devoting her career to transforming our financial system, Kristin was a full-time educator.

Some of the talking points Julie and Kristin go over in this episode include:

• How much we can do together when we put respect first.
• All of the opportunities that exist for women investors, and how more opportunities open us as more conversations are had.
• The importance of a woman-founded mutual fund and how it democratizes investing.
• What it means to invest with an ESG lens.

Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, take a screenshot of the episode to post in your stories and tag me!  And don’t forget to follow, rate, and review the podcast and tell me your key takeaways!

Learn more about How Women Inspire at https://www.howwomenlead.com/podcast 

Links mentioned in today’s episode:

Invest for Better

CONNECT WITH KRISTIN:

LinkedIn

The Money Doula blog

Nia Impact Capital 

CONNECT WITH JULIE CASTRO ABRAMS:

LinkedIn - Julie

How Women Lead

How Women Invest

How Women Give

Instagram - HWL

LinkedIn - HWL

Facebook - HWL

Creating a clear cultural framework that invites us to kick the cultural behaviors that hurt women has been important to us as How Women Lead from the start. This week’s episode 55 of How Women Inspire Podcast is about the first tenet of the How Women Lead credo: be fierce advocates for each other! 

In this episode of How Women Inspire Podcast, Julie Castro Abrams shares the importance of advocating for other women and actionable steps you can take right now to advocate for the women in leadership roles in your life. 

Some of the talking points Julie goes over in this episode include:

• The physical toll of microaggressions in the workplace.
• What leadership is like for women in a world designed for men.
• The oxymoron of ‘women’s leadership” in America and the lack of models for women leaders.
• How being fierce advocates for one another will help women step into their confidence and power as leaders.

It's time we change the culture of how we are together so that all women can feel like they have a path forward and do it with fewer battle scars.

Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, take a screenshot of the episode to post in your stories and tag me!  And don’t forget to follow, rate, and review the podcast and tell me your key takeaways!

Learn more about How Women Inspire at https://www.howwomenlead.com/podcast 

CONNECT WITH JULIE CASTRO ABRAMS:

LinkedIn - Julie

How Women Lead

How Women Invest

How Women Give

Instagram - HWL

LinkedIn - HWL

Facebook - HWL

Women’s Health is still seen as a niche market by most venture capitalists. But when talking about the health of half of the world’s population, that couldn’t be further from the truth. This week’s episode 54 of How Women Inspire Podcast is about funding and equity for women’s health! 

In this episode of How Women Inspire Podcast, Julie Castro Abrams and Erika Seth Davies share the importance of using venture capital to improve women’s health equity and actionable steps you can take right now to advocate for justice in women’s health. 

Erika Seth Davies is the Chief Executive Officer at Rhia Ventures and Founder of The Racial Equity Asset Lab (The REAL), a venture that centers racial equity in impact investing and works to shift capital to address the persistent racial wealth gap. She previously served as Vice President of External Affairs at ABFE (Association of Black Foundation Executives) where she designed the SMART Investing Initiative, a field-wide effort to encourage foundations to incorporate a racial equity lens in endowment management practices through increased access for racially diverse- and women-owned investment management firms.

Erika is a Social Entrepreneur in Residence with Common Future and a former Fellow, Equitable Access to Capital Markets in the Fair Finance portfolio of the Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation at Georgetown University. She was a member of the inaugural class of the ABFE Connecting Leaders Fellowship program, a recipient of the NYU Wagner School of Public Service IGNITE Fellowship for Women of Color in the Social Sector, and a member of the class of 2017 for Executive Leadership Institute of CFLeads.

Some of the talking points Julie and Erika go over in this episode include:

• Leadership skills that have proven themselves in the last three years.
• Leveraging capital to advance reproductive and maternal health equity.
• Innovations coming in the women’s reproductive and health space.
• The importance of believing in your capabilities, even when times are tough.

Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, take a screenshot of the episode to post in your stories and tag me!  And don’t forget to follow, rate, and review the podcast and tell me your key takeaways!

CONNECT WITH ERIKA:

LinkedIn

CONNECT WITH JULIE CASTRO ABRAMS:

LinkedIn - Julie

How Women Lead

How Women Invest

How Women Give

Instagram - HWL

LinkedIn - HWL

Facebook - HWL

Women who step up to mentor other women in their careers have a direct and lasting impact on diversity and representation in their industry. This week’s episode 52 of How Women Inspire Podcast is about the importance of networking and mentoring women of color in leadership roles! 

In this episode of How Women Inspire Podcast, Julie Castro Abrams and Shannon Nash share the importance of dreaming big and networking in the tech industry and actionable steps you can take to help other women pursue new career opportunities. 

Shannon Nash is the CFO of Wing, a subsidiary of Alphabet. She sits on the boards of several companies, including Netscout, Lazy Dog restaurants, and SoFi bank.

Shannon is also an executive board member of How Women Lead, a board advisor for Black Women on Boards, and mentors others on their board journey.

Some of the talking points Julie and Shannon go over in this episode include:

• The importance of getting women, especially black women, on boards.
• Why diversity on the boards of tech companies looks different in different parts of the country.
• Advice for young women working in tech who want to pursue C suite and board opportunities.
• How storytelling through film and digital media will help move the diversity needle forward. 

Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, take a screenshot of the episode to post in your stories and tag me!  And don’t forget to follow, rate, and review the podcast and tell me your key takeaways!

CONNECT WITH SHANNON:

LinkedIn

Twitter

CONNECT WITH JULIE CASTRO ABRAMS:

LinkedIn - Julie

How Women Lead

How Women Invest

How Women Give

Instagram - HWL

LinkedIn - HWL

Facebook - HWL

Diversity and representation in the venture capital and technology spaces are as important as ever. This week’s episode 51 of How Women Inspire Podcast is about creating inclusive and diverse representation in venture capital! 

In this episode of How Women Inspire Podcast, Julie Castro Abrams and Asmau Ahmed are sharing the importance of supporting diverse groups with capital and tips to better understand the changing technological landscape in terms of AI and machine learning.

Asmau Ahmed is a senior leader at X (formerly Google X), Alphabet’s innovation factory. She sits on the boards of CAA (Creative Artists Agency) and Quinstreet. She serves as an advisor to the Yale Entrepreneurship Society and is a member of the Opportunity Leadership Council. 

Asmau has a foundation in Engineering and Finance and over 20 years of experience as a venture-funded CEO, operating executive, and management consultant. She has led over $10B in digitally enabled innovations and operations spanning multiple industries including technology, consumer retail, manufacturing, and financial services. She is skilled at balancing disruptive innovation with operational, fiscal, risk management and regulatory compliance rigor. 

Some of the talking points Julie and Asmau Ahmed go over in this episode include:

• How race and gender factor into venture capital.
• The importance of diversifying investment portfolios and funding those often underfunded.
• How machine learning technology has changed over the past few decades, especially in regards to bias in data.
• How maching learning and AI could affect higher education in the future.

Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, take a screenshot of the episode to post in your stories and tag me!  And don’t forget to follow, rate, and review the podcast and tell me your key takeaways!

CONNECT WITH ASMAU AHMED:

LinkedIn

Twitter

Website

CONNECT WITH JULIE CASTRO ABRAMS:

LinkedIn - Julie

How Women Lead

How Women Invest

How Women Give

Instagram - HWL

LinkedIn - HWL

Facebook - HWL

One of the threads of leadership is to be connected with those who are in our organizations who are at various points in their careers and who may need somebody to help them get to where they want to go. This week’s episode 50 of How Women Inspire Podcast is about the value of the general counsel perspective on a corporate board!

In this episode of How Women Inspire Podcast, Julie Castro Abrams and Shawnte Mitchell share the importance of diversity in a company's leadership (especially the C suite) and actionable steps you can take right now to be the best possible board member. 

Today’s guest, Shawnte Mitchell, is the Chief Legal Officer and General Counsel at Genomatica. An accomplished attorney, she has nearly 20 years of experience of advising both publicly traded and privately held companies in the healthcare and life sciences industries. She joins Geno from Zogenix Inc., where she was most recently executive vice president, general counsel, and corporate secretary, contributing to the development and execution of the company’s strategic and operational plans and overseeing compliance, governance, SEC, intellectual property, data privacy, and contractual matters.

Her background starts with a Biology degree from Stanford and a JD from George Washington University Law School. In her spare time, Shawnte likes to volunteer with a number of organizations, such as How Women Invest, and spend quality time with her two daughters.

Some of the talking points Julie and Shawnte go over in this episode include:

• The importance of representation and diversity in leadership.
• The role of general counsel and the assets they bring to a board.
• Elements that make a board director stand out.
• Giving yourself grace while working towards your goals.

Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, take a screenshot of the episode to post in your stories and tag me!  And don’t forget to follow, rate, and review the podcast and tell me your key takeaways!

CONNECT WITH SHAWNTE MITCHELL:

LinkedIn

CONNECT WITH JULIE CASTRO ABRAMS:

LinkedIn - Julie

How Women Lead

How Women Invest

How Women Give

Instagram - HWL

LinkedIn - HWL

Facebook - HWL

Content Warning: This episode includes mention of child and animal neglect and abuse. 

There’s a developmental stage between ages 45-65 where having an impact is one of the most important parts of this stage in our lives and it is so important to take a moment to reflect on the impact we want to have on the world. In this week’s episode 49 of How Women Inspire Podcast, Julie shares her journey of philanthropy and impact!

In this episode of How Women Inspire Podcast, Julie Castro Abrams shares how her childhood experiences were the foundation for her decision early in life to spend the rest of her life trying to make the world a better place and reflecting on her continued efforts to open her heart and door to others by caring for them and loving and accepting them as they are. 

Some of the talking points Julie goes over in this episode include:

• Being cognizant of the power dynamics in nonprofit organizations and setting realistic expectations of gratitude. 
• Sharing Maimonides ‘Ladder of Philanthropy’ and the high value placed on philanthropy through partnership.
• The 3 levels of impact Julie focuses on and examples of how this has played out in her life. 
• Encouraging you to have a north star of your own values to drive the impact and influence you have on the world.  

Julie shares her story to show that being a life-long philanthropist and living a life of service is not easy but the gifts that come for both you and the people you help are immeasurable.  

Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, take a screenshot of the episode to post in your stories and tag me!  And don’t forget to follow, rate, and review the podcast and tell me your key takeaways!

CONNECT WITH JULIE CASTRO ABRAMS:

LinkedIn - Julie

How Women Lead

How Women Invest

How Women Give

Instagram - HWL

LinkedIn - HWL

Facebook - HWL