Hype Women

Today, we are spending time with Jenny Nguyen.

Jenny is So. Damn. Cool.

I could spend hours talking with her and feel like only a few moments had passed.

Jenny is the founder and owner of The Sports Bra, the world’s first – and until a month ago, only – sports bar playing women’s sports, exclusively. 

I was so lucky to spend time in person with Jenny at the beginning of March in Austin at SXSW.

We were both there speaking on different panels. AND we were able to make time for each other.

• We danced to live music at the home of Dawn Laguens, Planned Parenthood’s Global Chief Strategy and Innovation Officer.
• We dined at Kristen Kish’s exceptional restaurant, Arlo Grey
• We dreamed together, as entrepreneurs always do.

On the Hype Women podcast, we are professional. But we are also very authentic, genuine and raw.

We don’t host these conversations in a fancy studio.

We don’t have teams of people choreographing every single move.

So, in this particular episode, you will hear the team at The Sports Bra working in the background. 

Because Jenny posted up from her favorite booth in her bar to share her story with us.

The fanciest of people may turn their noses up at the “unrefined” nature of our style.

But I love it so much. I feel like we are RIGHT THERE WITH HER.

Today, the Sports Bra celebrates its two-year anniversary.

And it’s so deeply poetic that they celebrate this powerful milestone in the midst of March Madness and the Women’s Elite Eight…and a time when women’s sports is FINALLY getting the attention it deserves. 

Jenny and I spend a lot of time during our conversation talking about dreaming. 

And it got me thinking. 

When you’re doing something for the very first time – in a way that’s NEVER been done before – how do you balance dreaming JUST enough to get started with dreaming BIG enough so that you don’t end up creating your own limitations?

Let’s find out.

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Women we love to hype in this episode:

Jenny Nguyen: LinkedIn; The Sports Bra: Website, Instagram
Sarah Hardy: LinkedIn, Instagram; Bobbie: Website, Instagram

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The Hype Women Podcast is produced by Erin Gallagher and Melanie Scroggins.

Original score by Alex Yewon.

**Please listen, subscribe, and rate our show wherever you listen to podcasts the most.**

Connect with us:

• Check out Hype Women HERE
• Buy Hype Women Swag in the Ella Shop HERE
• Follow Hype Women on Instagram HERE
• Follow Erin Gallagher on LinkedIn HERE
• Follow Erin Gallagher on Instagram HERE
• Join The Fairway HERE

Share your stories using #HypeWomen 

Today, we are spending time with Emily Tisch Sussman.

There is NO ONE like Emily.

No one.

She is brilliant in all the ways: street smart, book smart, style smart, whip smart.

Every time I’m in her presence, I learn more about the world and myself. I hope you experience the same.

Em and I talk a lot about her journey navigating her identity: as a woman, as a political commentator, as a lawyer, as a mother of three, as a podcast host, as a media mogul, as an owner of professional women’s soccer team – the New York / New Jersey GothamFC, as a member of a prominent New York family (have you heard of The New York Giants?).

Em has been underestimated at different points throughout her life.

And her response to this? 

She committed herself to being serious – and taken seriously.

But in shape-shifting to fit inside of a “serious” box that could not contain her light, she began to lose herself.

And it got me thinking: 

Are being serious and being *taken* seriously the same thing?

Let’s find out. 

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Emily Tisch Sussman: 

• LinkedIn
• Instagram

She Pivots the Podcast:

• Instagram: @shepivotsthepodcast
• TikTok: @shepivotsthepodcast
• Twitter: @shepivotsthepod
• LinkedIn: She Pivots
• Facebook: She Pivots the podcast

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The Hype Women Podcast is produced by Erin Gallagher and Melanie Scroggins.

Original score by Alex Yewon.

**Please listen, subscribe, and rate our show wherever you listen to podcasts the most.**

Connect with us:

• Check out Hype Women HERE
• Buy Hype Women Swag in the Ella Shop HERE
• Follow Hype Women on Instagram HERE
• Follow Erin Gallagher on LinkedIn HERE
• Follow Erin Gallagher on Instagram HERE
• Join The Fairway HERE

Share your stories using #HypeWomen 

Today, we are spending time with Kiki Freedman. 

Kiki is the CEO and co-founder of Hey Jane, the 5-year old telehealth startup providing patients with medication abortion via mail and the telehealth clinic offering safe, affordable, and convenient reproductive & sexual health care.

You may have seen Kiki’s story in Inc last year when she was named a 2023 Inc “Female Founder 200” winner.

What Kiki is doing with Hey Jane is saving lives. It’s creating access in all of the ways that the word is defined. 

Access is:

1. a means of approaching or entering a place — in layman's terms: a way in
2. the right or opportunity to use or benefit from something
3. an attack or outburst of an emotion; For example: “When I read about the anti-choice zealots stripping away women’s rights to control what happens to our own damn bodies every day I am suddenly overcome with an access of rage.”

Yeah…that shoe fits.

In this episode, I share my own abortion stories. Yes, I’ve had two. 

And I’m so excited to be with Kiki next week on stage at SXSW — an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas 

And we’ll be sharing the stage with Dawn Laguens, executive vice president and chief global strategy and innovation officer at Planned Parenthood and Dr. Roopan Gill — OBGyn and CEO and Co-Founder of Vitala Global Foundation

Kiki, Dawn, Roopan and I will be talking about why EVERYONE is an Abortion Beneficiary. 

Because whether you’re pro-choice or anti-choice, you — my friend — are an abortion beneficiary.

Kiki started Hey Jane because she saw a problem. And she wanted to fix it. 

I am so deeply drawn to people like Kiki. The doers. The fixers. The founders. 

The people who don’t wait for someone else to solve a problem. 

And it got me thinking…

When DO we decide that a problem isn’t going to be someone else’s to solve — and that, in fact, WE need to be the ones to fix it? 

Let’s find out. 

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Check out and support the women we love to HYPE!

• Cynthia Bentzen-Mercer and Kimberly Rath: Cynthia & Kimberly on LinkedIn, Zeal of the Heel
• Netta Jenkins: Netta on LinkedIn, Aerodei
• Hillary Hittner: Hillary on LinkedIn, hillaryhittner.com

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The Hype Women Podcast is produced by Erin Gallagher and Melanie Scroggins.

Original score by Alex Yewon.

**Please listen, subscribe, and rate our show wherever you listen to podcasts the most.**

Connect with us:

• Check out Hype Women HERE
• Buy Hype Women Swag in the Ella Shop HERE
• Follow Hype Women on Instagram HERE
• Follow Erin Gallagher on LinkedIn HERE
• Follow Erin Gallagher on Instagram HERE
• Join The Fairway HERE

Share your stories using #HypeWomen 

Today, we are spending time with Karine Jean-Pierre. 

Whew. This exceptional woman. I still can’t get over who she is – and what she does – in this world. 

Our conversation is a little shorter than most of our Hype Women Podcast episodes. Because here’s the deal. When your time gets cut short with your guest because the President of the United States needs to brief her in the Oval Office, you take what you can get. 

Karine’s role as the White House Press Secretary is considered the most important – and difficult – outside of the presidency.

She wakes up every day and steps up to the plate – or the podium, in her case – to represent the President (and his administration), in all of his policies, perspectives and points of view. 

Her job description IS the definition of Representation: the action of speaking or acting on behalf of someone or the state of being so represented.

AND Karine represents, intersectionality, some of the most diverse and historically excluded folks on the planet. She is the first Black woman, Black person, LGBTQAI person and Immigrant to hold the position of White House Press Secretary. 

And that definition of representation is more complex, more nuanced, more complicated.

It is the description or portrayal of someone or something in a particular way or as being of a certain nature.

That’s a lot of responsibility.

And it got me thinking: In a world where so many of us are the *only* in a room, representing a gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, nationality – how do we ensure that *we* don’t get lost as individuals?

Let’s find out.

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Check out and support the women we love to HYPE!

• Karine Jean-Pierre: Instagram, LinkedIn, The White House, KJP Website
• Kristin Thomas: LinkedIn, Marble Collective
• Nicci Morris: LinkedIn, TikTok, Instagram

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The Hype Women Podcast is produced by Erin Gallagher and Melanie Scroggins.

Original score by Alex Yewon.

**Please listen, subscribe, and rate our show wherever you listen to podcasts the most.**

Connect with us:

• Check out Hype Women HERE
• Buy Hype Women Swag in the Ella Shop HERE
• Follow Hype Women on Instagram HERE
• Follow Erin Gallagher on LinkedIn HERE
• Follow Erin Gallagher on Instagram HERE
• Join The Fairway HERE

Share your stories using #HypeWomen 

Today, we are spending time with Stephanie Nadi Olson. 

Steph is the founder, Executive Chair of the Board and former CEO of We Are Rosie.

Being a founder is NO JOKE.

It’s not for the faint of heart.

It takes a toll on you – your bank account, your peace of mind, your nervous system, your family, your friendships, your health.

Steph's body started to break down in response to the stress and pressure she was under as a founder and CEO scaling her bootstrapped start-up to a 110 Million Dollar valuation and acquisition in under five years.

During this episode, we talk about the loneliness of being a founder and CEO…

And about the unbelievable tension that exists between priorities when you’re trying to build a business inside of life that you are also creating. 

I have never felt more seen as a founder than in this conversion, listening to Steph’s story.

And in reflecting on the lessons I took from it, the word that kept coming up for me was Foundation. 

Foundation is defined “literally” as the lowest load-bearing part of a building, typically below ground level.

Metaphorically, it’s an underlying basis or principle.

Building We Are Rosie was possible because of the foundation Steph created inside of herself and her family. Scaling it broke Steph down to *her* foundation…her lowest load-bearing point. 

And it got me thinking: As Founders, how do we ensure that we don’t *personally* get taken down to our studs as we’re building a business from the ground up?

Let's find out.

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Check out and support the women we love to HYPE!

• Stephanie Nadi Olson: Steph on LinkedIn, We Are Rosie
• Elena Arecco Bridgmom: Elena on LinkedIn,  LUMO
• Misha Bleymaier-Farrish: Misha on LinkedIn, GSD Factor
• Dana Mahia: Dana on LinkedIn, Dana Mahina, LLC, Erin’s Work-Life Harmonized Podcast Episode, “B is for Burnout, not Bitch”

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The Hype Women Podcast is produced by Erin Gallagher and Melanie Scroggins.

Original score by Alex Yewon.

**Please listen, subscribe, and rate our show wherever you listen to podcasts the most.**

Connect with us:

• Check out Hype Women HERE
• Buy Hype Women Swag in the Ella Shop HERE
• Follow Hype Women on Instagram HERE
• Follow Erin Gallagher on LinkedIn HERE
• Follow Erin Gallagher on Instagram HERE
• Join The Fairway HERE

Share your stories using #HypeWomen 

Today, we are spending time with Alexis McGill Johnson.

There is no one I’d rather kick off of our new year with than the goddess that is Alexis.

As the CEO and President of Planned Parenthood, Alexis is on the front lines fighting for women, our rights to bodily autonomy and access to healthcare Every. Single. Day.

Her job is one of the most important on the planet because it stands for women’s agency. And in a time where the attempts to steal our agency are relentless, having Alexis at the helm of this mission gives me hope.

We spend a lot of time today talking about hope…and the need to view it very differently than many of us have been taught. 

It’s not an ethereal feeling. It’s a vital life force that tethers us to our greatest potential reality; one where we all treated, equitably, as whole humans.

We also talk about what it takes to get up every day and go to work at a mission-driven organization that spans the spectrum of the greatest human suffering, solidarity and serenity.

And it got me thinking. In a world where mission-driven work so often requires us to revisit the deepest reservoirs of the pain and suffering of others – and ourselves – how DO we take care of ourselves while taking care of others? HOW do we keep hope alive?

Let’s find out. 

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Check out and support the women we love to HYPE!

• Alexis McGill Johnson: LinkedIn, Instagram, Planned Parenthood
• Sarah Olin: LinkedIn, Instagram, LUMO
• Marissa Nelson: LinkedIn, Instagram, IntimacyMoons, Marissa’s TEDx Talk
• Cynthia Bentzen-Mercer and Kimberly Rath: Cynthia & Kimberly on LinkedIn, Zeal of the Heel

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The Hype Women Podcast is produced by Erin Gallagher and Melanie Scroggins.

Original score by Alex Yewon.

**Please listen, subscribe, and rate our show wherever you listen to podcasts the most.**

Connect with us:

• Check out Hype Women HERE
• Buy Hype Women Swag in the Ella Shop HERE
• Follow Hype Women on Instagram HERE
• Follow Erin Gallagher on LinkedIn HERE
• Follow Erin Gallagher on Instagram HERE
• Join The Fairway HERE

Share your stories using #HypeWomen 

Today, we are spending time with Robin McBride, Co-founder and Sister at McBride Sisters Wine Company.

This conversation got me thinking: If our lineage and identity are inextricably linked, can our sense of self ever truly be an individual experience? 

Let’s find out. 

“My whole life, I’ve been way too inquisitive and happy to be disruptive.” - Robin

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Check out and support the women we love to HYPE!

• Robin McBride: Robin on LinkedIn, McBride Sisters Wine Company
• Maja Hazell: Maja on LinkedIn, D.E. Shaw Group, LUMO
• Misha Bleymaier-Farrish: Misha on LinkedIn, GSD Factor
• Dr. Tana M. Session: Tana on LinkedIn, TanaMSession

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The Hype Women Podcast is produced by Erin Gallagher and Melanie Scroggins.

Original score by Alex Yewon.

**Please listen, subscribe, and rate our show wherever you listen to podcasts the most.**

Connect with us:

• Check out Hype Women HERE
• Buy Hype Women Swag in the Ella Shop HERE
• Follow Hype Women on Instagram HERE
• Follow Erin Gallagher on LinkedIn HERE
• Follow Erin Gallagher on Instagram HERE
• Join The Fairway HERE

Share your stories using #HypeWomen 

Today, we are spending time with Bliss Lau, Founder and Designer at Bliss Lau. 

This conversation got me thinking: when we really take in what it means to be attuned to ourselves – to understand, to be aware, to be in harmony – *is* there a greater gift?

Let’s find out. 

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Check out and support the women we love to HYPE!

• Bliss Lau: Bliss on LinkedIn, Bliss Lau
• Lauren Widrick: Lauren on LinkedIn, Grab Life By the Goals
• Cynthia Bentzen-Mercer and Kimberly Rath: Cynthia & Kimberly on LinkedIn, Zeal of the Heel
• Hype Women: hypewomen.com: Featuring our origin story, press coverage, brand partners, Hype Women gear, and yes, the very podcast you are listening to right now.  

***Buy THE official Hype Women Attune necklace here***

The Hype Women Attune necklace is: 

• Designed by Bliss Lau and her all-women design team
• Features a woman-mined Moyo Garnet from Tanzania
• Made by women at Thai Design, a woman-owned fabricator in Thailand

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The Hype Women Podcast is produced by Erin Gallagher and Melanie Scroggins.

Original score by Alex Yewon.

**Please listen, subscribe, and rate our show wherever you listen to podcasts the most.**

Connect with us:

• Check out Hype Women HERE
• Buy Hype Women Swag in the Ella Shop HERE
• Follow Hype Women on Instagram HERE
• Follow Erin Gallagher on LinkedIn HERE
• Follow Erin Gallagher on Instagram HERE
• Join The Fairway HERE

Share your stories using #HypeWomen 

Today, we are spending time with Allyson Felix. Yes, you heard me correctly. We are hanging out with THE most decorated American Track & Field Olympian of all time.

This conversation got me thinking: in a world where legacy companies, legacy systems, and legacies of oppression are intent on resisting change, how do ensure that the legacies *we* want to create and leave behind break through and thrive?

Let’s find out.

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Check out and support the women we love to HYPE!

• Allyson Felix: Allyson on LinkedIn, Saysh, My Own Nike Pregnancy Story 
• Sara Ahmed Holman: Sara on LinkedIn, Bobbie, LUMO, Mastering the Expecting Parent Experience
• Becky Reel: Becky on LinkedIn, Reel Home Care Consulting
• Amari Jackson: Amari on LinkedIn, Growing Boundlessly

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The Hype Women Podcast is produced by Erin Gallagher and Melanie Scroggins.

Original score by Alex Yewon.

**Please listen, subscribe, and rate our show wherever you listen to podcasts the most.**

Connect with us:

• Check out Hype Women HERE
• Buy Hype Women Swag in the Ella Shop HERE
• Follow Hype Women on Instagram HERE
• Follow Erin Gallagher on LinkedIn HERE
• Follow Erin Gallagher on Instagram HERE
• Join The Fairway HERE

Share your stories using #HypeWomen 

Today, we are spending time with Gretchen Carlson. You know, the woman known as one of America's most successful news anchors, one of Time Magazine's most influential people in the world, Miss America 1989... just those things. And SO MUCH MORE.

This conversation got me thinking: in a world where resilience is rewarded but requires struggle to be seen, why don't we spend more time focusing on that first step - building courage?

Let's find out.

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Check out and support the women we love to HYPE!

• Gretchen Carlson: Gretchen on LinkedIn, Lift Our Voices
• MBoone Umbima: MBoone on LinkedIn, LUMO
• Becky Reel: Becky on LinkedIn, Reel Home Care Consulting
• Elle Gail: Elle on LinkedIn, MotherBar (Use code HYPEWOMEN for 20% off your first order!)

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The Hype Women Podcast is produced by Erin Gallagher and Melanie Scroggins.

Original score by Alex Yewon.

**Please listen, subscribe, and rate our show wherever you listen to podcasts the most.**

Connect with us:

• Check out Hype Women HERE
• Buy Hype Women Swag in the Ella Shop HERE
• Follow Hype Women on Instagram HERE
• Follow Erin Gallagher on LinkedIn HERE
• Follow Erin Gallagher on Instagram HERE
• Join The Fairway HERE

Share your stories using #HypeWomen