"This transition was about more than just a business model. It was about trust for the community."

When Deborah Visconi took the helm at Bergen New Bridge Medical Center, she wasn't just changing a hospital's tax status—she was rebuilding an institution's soul. Tasked with transforming a for-profit hospital into a true safety net for New Jersey's most vulnerable communities, Deborah brought something unique to the challenge: she'd lived it.

"Growing up in a Latinx household in an underserved community, I understood what it meant to navigate barriers and be overlooked," Deborah shares. That lived experience became her North Star as she rebuilt Bergen New Bridge from the ground up, ensuring no one would be turned away based on ability to pay, language, immigration status, or circumstance.

Seven and a half years later, the transformation is remarkable. Under Deborah's leadership, the hospital now accepts every type of insurance available in New Jersey. They've opened a Depression Center of Excellence, launched comprehensive addiction treatment programs, and created specialized care for eating disorders—all while operating as a non-profit in challenging economic times.

"We don't innovate here with glitzy towers and glass buildings. We innovate around people," Deborah explains. During COVID-19, while the world was falling apart and people were dying at their doorsteps, her team remained that "beacon of health, hope, and healing" their community desperately needed.

In this powerful episode of Inspiring Women with Laurie McGraw, Deborah also reveals:

"Equity isn't an initiative—it's embedded in everything we do," Deborah states firmly. Even as DEI becomes a polarizing term, she refuses to waver: "Being able to provide equitable care equals excellence and quality care delivery."

For women aspiring to leadership, her advice is direct: "It takes courage to take those steps and not be afraid to use your voice. If you're not given a seat at the table, bring your own seat—or better yet, build your own table."

From frontline phlebotomist to transformational CEO, Deborah's grassroots journey proves that the most powerful healthcare innovations come not from technology or buildings, but from leaders who understand their communities' struggles firsthand.

"I want future leaders to see they belong at the helm of major institutions, particularly women and Latinx women," she reflects. "I want my legacy to be one of inclusion, respect, and extraordinary relationships."

At a time when healthcare faces unprecedented challenges, Deborah Visconi is showing what's possible when hospitals truly serve as safety nets—catching everyone who falls, regardless of who they are or where they come from.

Chapters

01:40 - Leading a Hospital Transformation

03:52 - Personal Background Shaping Leadership

05:58 - Building Innovation Through Community Focus

08:24 - Trust Through Engagement and Action

12:33 - Transformational Programs and Patient-Centered Care

18:30 - Breaking Barriers for Women Leaders

24:33 - Legacy of Inclusion and Lifting Others

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"I believe when you put yourself in uncomfortable situations is when you grow the most. Living in a rural village, no running water, no electricity, and essentially being a doula in a middle Atlas Mountain Village for two and a half years, different language, different religion, you know, you just learn a lot about people."

From Peace Corps volunteer in Morocco to CEO of Oxeon—the executive search firm reimagining healthcare leadership—Sonia Millsom has spent 30 years proving that the most uncomfortable paths lead to the greatest transformations. Her journey through healthcare's biggest successes (including helping scale Maven to unicorn status and Iora Health to a billion-dollar exit) taught her one critical truth: companies don't fail because of bad CEOs—they fail because the wrong people are at the wrong tables.

Now at Oxeon, Sonia is fixing that problem by placing leaders at ALL the tables that matter: executive teams, boardrooms, and cap tables. Because after 13 years of data, she knows exactly what makes leaders successful—and it's not what most people think.

"High performing teams have high degrees of psychological safety," she explains. But in today's world of AI disruption, multi-generational workforces, and constant pivots, that safety is harder to build than ever. Her solution? Stop looking for the CEO with three unicorn exits. Start looking for leaders who can "think again" like scientists, not preachers or prosecutors.

In this episode of Inspiring Women with Laurie McGraw, Sonia also reveals:

"Nothing is up and to the right all the time," Sonia admits. "When those times of when things go down is actually where you learn the most."

From serving as a doula in rural Morocco to orchestrating billion-dollar healthcare transformations, Sonia Millsom proves that understanding people—whether patients in villages or executives in boardrooms—is the key to driving real change. At Oxeon, she's not just filling leadership positions; she's architecting the future of healthcare by ensuring the right leaders are at every table where decisions get made.

Her motto? "Life begins at the end of your comfort zone." Her mission? Making sure healthcare's next generation of leaders—including her own daughters—are ready to be uncomfortable, curious, and kind enough to transform an industry that touches us all.

Chapters

01:30 - Why Leadership Diversity Drives Healthcare Success

03:45 - Five Key Attributes of Successful Leaders

07:20 - Psychological Safety in Uncertain Times

10:15 - From Peace Corps to Healthcare CEO

13:00 - Pivoting in Healthcare: Lessons from Iora and Maven

16:30 - AI and the Multi-Generational Workforce

19:45 - Women's $34 Trillion Financial Future

23:00 - Life Begins at the End of Your Comfort Zone

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"I was reading this report and it was the same old women who are making steady progress in leadership, but we're not making it fast enough. After all these years of being a leader, of being a mentor, of being a coach, of helping other women. I was just frustrated. How can this be?"

After 30 years in healthcare technology leadership and reading yet another McKinsey report showing glacial progress for women, Laurie McGraw had enough. That frustration became fuel—launching the Inspiring Women podcast over four years ago to amplify the voices and stories of accomplished women leaders.

Now, after 200+ conversations with extraordinary women across healthcare, technology, and business, Laurie shares what she's learned about accelerating women's advancement into leadership. The patterns are clear: every successful woman has moments of doubt before breakthrough, no one is "done learning," and the most accomplished leaders are often the most driven to contribute more.

"The moments in these conversations that I love the most—every accomplished woman when you see them speaking so impactfully and powerfully, it seems easy," Laurie reveals. "But I like to draw out those moments in time when that same person wasn't all that they are. How did they make that leap?"

In Part 2 of this special Q&A episode, Laurie discusses:

"I get as many comments from men who listen to Inspiring Women as I do from women, because it helps them understand what people are dealing with and how they can be supportive," Laurie shares, highlighting how allies are crucial to systemic change.

With women's funding still at a paltry 2% and progress remaining frustratingly incremental, Laurie's message is clear: "Why is having women in leadership important? When we have more women in leadership, we have a more just and equitable society. Full stop. That is why I am doing this."

Four years, 200+ episodes, and countless transformed careers later, the Inspiring Women podcast continues its mission—one conversation, one story, one breakthrough moment at a time.

Chapters

00:30 - Why I Started the Inspiring Women Podcast

02:45 - The Simple Concept Behind the Show

03:50 - Patterns from 200+ Conversations

05:30 - Even Accomplished Women Keep Growing

06:15 - Vision for the Inspiring Women Community

07:45 - Dream Dinner Guest: Katie Couric

08:30 - Be a Voracious Learner

09:15 - How Can We Be Bolder?

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"I think my media roles have resulted in trust, but that's not why I got into it. I got into it because what an incredible platform to have... to educate the public. On average, about 80,000 people at a time."

When Dr. Archelle Georgiou was in clinical practice, she did the math: 15 patients a day for 30 years. The number didn't feel impactful enough. So this Johns Hopkins-trained physician made an unorthodox choice—leaving patient care to join the very managed care industry that frustrated her, determined to fix the system from within.

From associate medical director at Cigna to leadership at UnitedHealth Group, Dr. Georgiou discovered that sometimes the best way to heal healthcare is to understand how it's financed and delivered. But her most powerful platform came through an unexpected channel: television. For over 16 years and 2,000 segments, she's been translating complex medical information for millions, becoming a trusted voice in America's living rooms.

When COVID-19 struck and the world watched Johns Hopkins count cases and deaths, Dr. Georgiou saw what was missing: real-time hospital data. In one weekend, she and a colleague built what the entire healthcare system hadn't—a national hospital tracking dashboard that informed policymakers, appeared in major publications, and generated 12 peer-reviewed studies.

In this episode of Inspiring Women with Laurie McGraw, Dr. Georgiou reveals:

From humble beginnings with parents who didn't finish elementary school to becoming a national medical correspondent, board member, and strategic advisor, Dr. Georgiou proves that maximizing your impact sometimes means leaving the traditional path behind.

"Every single year I work with myself to create a strategic business plan," she shares. "A $10 million business has a business plan every single year. So why don't you?"

A calculated risk-taker who's never afraid to walk through doors that inch open, Dr. Archelle Georgiou continues to reinvent what it means to be a physician leader—one who measures success not in patients seen, but in lives transformed through education, advocacy, and evidence-based truth.

Chapters

2:15 - From Physician to Managed Care Leader

5:40 - Why Healthcare is So Hard to Navigate

9:30 - The Power of Media: Reaching 80,000 People at Once

13:45 - COVID Crisis Response: Building the Hospital Data Dashboard

18:20 - Leadership Across Five Tracks

20:50 - Annual Personal Strategic Planning

23:30 - Finding Your Core Talents Beyond Your Degree

26:00 - The Storyteller-Healthcare-Data Formula

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From four-time Olympian to Fortune 500 advisor to record-breaking masters athlete at 62, Joetta proves that reinvention has no expiration date. After hanging up her spikes in 2000 following 28 straight seasons of middle-distance running, Joetta built a thriving business helping corporations apply athletic principles to achieve excellence. Then, 25 years later, her daughter's simple request—"Mommy, I want to see you run"—sparked an extraordinary comeback.

"There's a difference between being healthy for someone in their sixties and competing at a level again," Joetta reflects. But compete she does, crushing records in the 100 and 200 meters, winning national championships, and showing the masters circuit what excellence looks like when you refuse to slow down.

The daughter of the late Dr. Joe Clark (immortalized in the film "Lean On Me"), Joetta learned early that "anything associated with the Clarks has to be excellent." This mantra has driven her from Olympic tracks to corporate boardrooms, where her signature "Joetta Effect" transforms organizations through what she calls the three S's: understanding skill sets, developing strategy, and building staying power.

"I'm a four-time Olympian, but I tried out six times," she shares. "I had to have staying power those other two times to get to the third time, which was my first time making the Olympic team."

Now, as CEO of JoTyme Fitness and a sought-after speaker, Joetta doesn't just preach wellness—she embodies it. Her mission extends beyond personal achievement to lifting entire communities, especially youth who need to understand that success in sports extends far beyond going pro.

In this powerhouse episode of Inspiring Women with Laurie McGraw, Joetta also reveals:

From urban to suburban to rural communities, Joetta's message resonates: "It's not about being an Olympic champion. I don't have a gold medal from the Olympics, but I got the Gold Medal of life." Her approach to continuous reinvention challenges conventional wisdom about aging, retirement, and what's possible when you know your purpose.

"When you wrap yourself around yourself, that's a small package," Joetta explains. "But when you wrap yourself around more people, that's a big package, and that's the gift I want to give."

Whether she's breaking masters records, advising Fortune 500 companies, or mentoring youth about the billion-dollar sports industry beyond playing professionally, Joetta Clark Diggs exemplifies what happens when you plant good seeds and refuse to stop growing. At an age when many are slowing down, she's just getting started—again.

Chapters

00:22 - Mission to Advance Women Leaders

02:14 - From Olympic Track to Breaking Records Again

06:41 - Reinventing Yourself at Any Age

08:46 - The Joetta Effect in Corporate Leadership

13:19 - Why Youth Development Matters

18:22 - Finding Your Why to Fuel Motivation

20:45 - Building and Protecting Your Personal Brand

23:32 - The Garden for Success

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"You have to show up and do the work. There is nothing more satisfying than getting good work done."

From helping scale Allscripts when less than 5% of physicians used technology to now serving as Chief Commercial Officer at Transcarent, Laurie McGraw has spent decades transforming healthcare through technology. Her journey spans from being the sole woman in countless boardrooms to becoming a fierce advocate for pulling other women up the leadership ladder.

"Early on it was so notable to me in a way that was just frustrating," Laurie recalls about being the only woman in the room. But that frustration transformed into fuel. Today, she's not just occupying C-suite positions—she's using her hard-won confidence to push other women to level-jump, not just climb.

The turning point? A mentor who challenged her to take an "undesirable" implementation and support role instead of staying comfortable in product development. "What are you gonna be? Is this your vision for yourself?" her mentor asked. That lateral move became the stepping stone to becoming president of the company.

Now at Transcarent, Laurie is focused on making healthcare accessible and affordable—but her mission extends beyond business metrics. With women still representing only 20% of top healthcare leadership positions, she's done being polite about the pace of change.

"I'm more aggressive now. It's less about coaching. I'm like, come on, we have to get going on this. Push for that C-suite position. You earned it, you deserve it, you're more than capable."

In this special episode of Inspiring Women, host Laurie McGraw turns the mic on herself and reveals:

"We are in a time where bold leadership is required of us. And as women, we are uniquely equipped—empathetic leadership, inclusivity, hearing all the voices in the room. Women are particularly good at this."

But Laurie doesn't sugarcoat the challenge. With DEI becoming "a trigger word" and supportive laws being repealed, she's clear about what's needed: "It's up to us. We have to do more to pull the next generations of extraordinarily capable women forward into leadership."

For women struggling with confidence, her advice is direct: "Develop your tribe of people who will help you. Not just friends who say 'great job,' but coaches and mentors who can reflect back the cold, hard truth."

From a development team leader to healthcare transformation executive, Laurie McGraw's journey proves that showing up and doing hard work isn't enough—women need to claim their space, demand their worth, and most importantly, bring others with them.

"We shouldn't be shooting for the next career move. We should be level jumping—two above."

Chapters

00:43 - Core Leadership Principles: Show Up and Do the Work

02:46 - Evolution of Leadership Style Through Experience

04:19 - Challenges as a Woman in Health Tech Leadership

06:20 - Accelerating Progress Toward C-Suite Representation

08:11 - Women Supporting Women vs. Competition

09:47 - The Mentor Who Changed My Career Path

11:52 - Why Women Need Bold Leadership Now

14:11 - Building Your Tribe for Confidence and Success

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"Women are 80% of the healthcare workforce in the US, up to 70% globally. So I always say if women aren't healthy, the entire world is at risk of not being healthy."

Mary Stutts has spent decades dismantling barriers for women in healthcare—first as a senior executive at Stanford Healthcare and multiple biopharma companies, now as CEO of the Healthcare Businesswomen's Association (HBA). But what she's seeing today has her more concerned than ever: for the first time in 20 years, the number of women in C-suite roles is declining.

"The challenge isn't just getting women into leadership," Mary explains. "It's helping them stay in leadership and thrive there." The culprit? A perfect storm of broken systems: the "broken rung" that blocks women's first promotion to manager, the "concrete ceiling" at director level, and a generation gap that's creating chaos in the workplace.

Mary reveals a startling insight about today's young professionals: "They're digitally native but corporately naive. We give them managerial responsibility for a head count, but we haven't trained them how to manage. They take a punitive approach—'You don't do it the way I do it, so you're doing it wrong.' Then everyone gets frustrated and leaves."

The stakes couldn't be higher. With a $1 trillion economic gap between women's and men's health, and young women increasingly choosing social media influencer careers over healthcare professions, the industry faces a crisis that threatens everyone's wellbeing.

In this essential episode of Inspiring Women with Laurie McGraw, Mary also shares:

Mary also reveals the innovative work of her nonprofit, The Center for Excellence in Life (T-CEL), which created virtual internships during COVID for students who never thought they'd attend college—many of whom are graduating now.

"Keep focusing on describing the very needed work we are doing," Mary urges. "We still need leadership acceleration. We still need talent development. We still need workforces that are representative of the patients and communities we serve. At the end of the day, people most trust people who look like them. That's not bias—that's human nature."

From writing "The Missing Mentor: Women Advising Women on Power, Progress and Priorities" to leading HBA's mission to achieve gender equity in healthcare leadership, Mary Stutts is the powerhouse executive rewriting the rules for women's advancement. Her message is clear: Don't lose focus. The work is more critical than ever.

"Your development plan is yours alone," Mary insists. "If you don't know where you're going, how will you know when you've arrived?"

Chapters

02:13 - From Engineering to Healthcare Leadership

05:31 - Digital Innovation to Genomic Revolution

09:05 - Transforming Lung Cancer Detection

13:39 - Women Leading in Biotech

16:54 - The Reality of Being CEO

20:05 - Advice for Aspiring Women Leaders

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"I come from a long line of medical doctors... but I myself was driven by things that move fast in terms of technology."

From a family of physicians, Susan Tousi chose a different path—one that would eventually revolutionize how we detect cancer. After decades building multi-hundred million dollar businesses at HP and Kodak, digitizing how the world captures and shares memories, she made a leap that surprised many: trading the consumer tech world for the promise of genomic medicine.

"Healthcare was moving fairly slowly in terms of technology adoption," Susan recalls. But when Illumina came calling, she saw her chance to change that. As Chief Product Development Officer and later Chief Commercial Officer, she helped drive the cost of human genome sequencing from over $100,000 down to just $100—making the technology accessible in 155 countries worldwide.

Now, as CEO of DELFI Diagnostics, Susan is tackling one of healthcare's deadliest challenges: lung cancer kills more people annually than breast, colorectal, and cervical cancers combined—yet 94% of those who should be screened never get tested. Her solution? A simple blood draw that can detect cancer at stage one, powered by AI and whole genome sequencing, at a cost of just a few hundred dollars.

"If you can get blood drawn, you can get our test," Susan explains. "These tests should be in the few hundreds of dollars, easily covered by the healthcare system, available to patients without copay. Everyone's cancer should be caught early. It should be an annual process."

In this powerful episode of Inspiring Women with Laurie McGraw, Susan also reveals:

From engineering at HP to revolutionizing digital photography at Kodak to detecting cancer at its earliest stages, Susan's journey proves that the fastest-moving technology innovations can transform the slowest-moving healthcare challenges—when you're willing to take the leap.

"There's no greater mission than advancing the improvement of people's healthy lifespan," Susan reflects. "We need women at the table. These are long-term investments. We need to make sure that the diverse population of patients and clinicians who are going to use our tests are represented in the people who develop the tests. That diversity makes us better."

A member of the National Academy of Engineering, Susan Tousi is reshaping how we think about cancer detection—making it accessible, affordable, and available anywhere you can have blood drawn. This is the future of healthcare, and it's happening now.

Chapters

00:02:13 - From Engineering to Healthcare Leadership

00:05:31 - Digital Innovation to Genomic Revolution

00:09:05 - Transforming Lung Cancer Detection

00:13:39 - Women Leading in Biotech

00:16:54 - The Reality of Being CEO

00:20:05 - Advice for Aspiring Women Leaders

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"You might not have been born for this, but you almost died for it."

When Gina Jacobson's husband spoke those words, he captured the profound transformation that turned a stage 4 colon cancer diagnosis into a mission. Given just one to two years to live, Gina didn't just survive—she discovered why work matters so deeply when everything else falls apart.

Now, as Program Director for Working with Cancer, she's tackling an uncomfortable truth: there's a massive gap between what well-meaning colleagues want to do and what actually helps. When people don't copy you on emails to "spare" you, when they assume you can't handle meetings, when they reduce you to your diagnosis—the isolation can be as devastating as the disease itself.

In this episode of Inspiring Women with Laurie McGraw, Gina also speaks about:

Chapters

02:14 - From Potato Cravings to Stage 4 Diagnosis 

03:43 - The Gap Between Intentions and Impact 

05:20 - What Organizations Really Need to Do 

07:39 - The Workforce Cancer Crisis 

08:59 - "You Almost Died for This" 

10:37 - Creating Confidence Before Crisis

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Standing at a hospital desk at 17, facing a Hodgkin's disease diagnosis, Rae McMahan heard words that would reshape her entire life: "We don't have your prior authorization on file."

That broken moment in a broken system launched a career dedicated to fixing what fails patients every day. Now, as Senior Vice President of Payer Solutions at Prescriptive, Rae is revolutionizing how 260 million Americans access medications—because no one should discover what their life-saving prescription costs only when they reach the pharmacy counter.

But her journey wasn't straightforward. Expected to "get married, have kids and stay home," Rae chose a different path—one that led from nearly becoming a physician to mastering the business of healthcare transformation.

In this episode of Inspiring Women with Laurie McGraw, Rae also speaks about:

Chapters

04:02 - A Teenager's Cancer Diagnosis Meets a Broken System 

06:33 - From Patient to Healthcare Revolutionary 

08:22 - The Reverse Technology Paradigm in Healthcare 

10:57 - The Magic Wand: Personalized Medicine Without the Guesswork 

13:35 - Choosing Your Journey Over Others' Expectations 

15:55 - Finding Your Village and Your Voice

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