Journey Untold

Jennifer Payne, sales manager turned individual contributor at Udemy, believes that career paths don't have to be linear, they can be layered. In this episode, she shares what prompted her decision and the importance of separating ego from alignment.

We discuss the value in:

• Owning your narrative, so others don't write it for you
• Stacking career experiences vs. stepping linearlly
• Remembering there's not one right path - you're allowed to change your mind

Nicole Weitlauf, Global Director at AlphaSense, reflects on her experience of pivoting industries and her advice for starting over with confidence.

We discuss:

• Her mantra for work life longevity
• How delusional confidence contributes to her success
• Practical advice for navigating a career transition and ramping quickly

Thanks for listening to our WISE NYC event hosted by AlphaSense on The Art of Negotiation. AlphaSense is hiring - check out their open roles and be sure to list WISE as the referral. Takeaways:

• Focus on the long-term goal, not just "quick wins"
• Take the emotion out of negotiation and stay calm
• Always dig to understand what's behind pushback. Once you understand what's under the surface, you can adjust your negotiation accordingly
• For negotiation your own compensation or progression, know your why

Sydney Sloan is a 4x Chief Marketing Officer, and is currently the CMO at G2.

In this episode, Sydney shares her journey of:

• Being powerful but not imposing
• Sense something, say something
• What you think vs. what you say

Highlights

(03:15) Early career in events

(06:40) Where her drive and motivation come from

(8:39) Learning from burnout

(10:24) The hard truth - manager feedback

(13:12) What you think vs. what you say

(13:48) Executive presence

(17:09) Sense something, say something

(21:13) Feedback - the clearning model

(27:02) The boom of sales tech

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Guest Bio

Sydney is a seasoned marketing leader with decades of experience in driving transformative growth and innovation for high-tech companies. She's currently the CMO at G2, the world's largest and most trusted software marketplace. She's also an Advisor for Scale Venture Partners and a Limited Partner at Stage 2 Capital.

Some career highlights include scaling Salesloft from $16M to $135M+ in 3.5 years as CMO, disrupting the Risk & Compliance market at Drata, transitioning Alfresco Software from an open-source technology to a modern platform for CIOs, and integrating more than 12 M&A transactions at Drata, Salesloft, Jive Software, and Adobe.

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Thanks to our WISE partners for supporting the next generation of female leaders. Learn more about UserTesting and other partners here.

Esther Ayorinde is a former NFL/NBA dancer turned Founder & CEO of GrowthQ, an AI-powered Career Navigation Platform.

In this episode, Esther shares her journey of:

• Leading with curiosity instead of judgement
• Learnings about self and career as a pro-athlete
• Prioritizing through intentional congruence

Highlights

(01:55) Life mantra and identity

(06:18) What it's like to be a professional dancer in the NFL/NBA

(8:54) How to priortize your life

(12:08) Breaking into Tech at Cisco

(16:23) Camaradrie and women supporting women

(18:17) Transition to leadership

(22:09) ENFP personality type

(27:02) Founding story of GrowthQ

(33:43) Advice to early career self

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Guest Bio

Esther Ayorinde has over 17 years of Technology Go-to-Market Leadership Experience. She's the Founder & CEO of GrowthQ, an AI Career Navigation Platform.

Esther is also a former professional dancer in the NFL and NBA for 7 seasons, 5 of which while working in tech. She's the recipient of multiple awards and honors for her achievements and impact, from The Network Journal's 40 under Forty Awards, Diversity Women's Magazine Power 100 Executives List, and the first Black Dance Captain in New York Jets franchise history.

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Thanks to our WISE partners for supporting the next generation of female leaders. Learn more about AlphaSense and other partners here.

Julian Guthrie was a journalist at the San Francisco Chronicle for 20+ years and is now the founder and CEO of Alphy, an AI communications company.

In this episode, Julian shares her journey of:

• Amplifying the underdog stories
• Giving and receiving feedback
• Communicating with efficiency and inclusivity

Highlights

(02:13) Amplifying the underdog story

(05:44) What it's like to be a journalist

(9:23) A life changing experience as a journalist

(14:14) The art of giving and receiving feedback

(16:58) Founding story of Alphy

(26:28) Idea for book, Alpha Girls

(32:00) Advice to earlier career-self

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Guest Bio

Julian Guthrie is the founder and CEO of Alphy, an AI communications company. Prior to this, she spent 20+ years as a journalist at the San Francisco Chronicle., where her stories were nominated multiple times for the Pulitzer Prize. She is the author of 5 books, including two New York Times Best Sellers, including Alpha Girls.

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Thanks to our WISE partners for supporting the next generation of female leaders. Learn more about 360Learning and other partners here.

Michelle Kim is the Co-Founder and Vice President of Marketing at Refersion/Pantastic.

In this episode, Michelle shares her journey of:

• Building strong communication between sales and marketing teams
• Experiencing three exits
• Giving exposure to small businesses through technology

Highlights

(02:28) How political science shaped her into a marketer

(04:08) Learnings about B2B marketing from the field

(6:58) Strengething communication between sales and marketing teams

(13:11) Experience of going through three exits

(18:48) Founding story of Pantastic

(21:59) Day in the life of an executive

(24:17) Organization strategies

(28:03) Career advice & lateral moves

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Guest Bio

Michelle Kim has 20+ years in GTM and marketing functions. She thrives on creating strategies that drive transformational growth and brand awareness, ensuring that every effort contributes more than the sum of its parts. She's the Co-founder and VP of Marketing at Refersion/Pantastic, where they empower independent retailers with best-in-class marketing apps designed to scale their businesses efficiently. Previously, Michelle held leadership roles at Amplitude and Okta.

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Thanks to our WISE partners for supporting the next generation of female leaders. Learn more about Contentful and other partners here.

Olivia Goldstein is a General Partner at StartFast Ventures. She previously founded RepHike and led it through to acquisition.

In this episode, Olivia shares the value in:

• Embracing career pivots
• Taking on challenges and putting yourself out there
• Doing good and giving back

Highlights

(06:22) Embracing an unexpected career pivot from the CIA

(08:57) Moving from the US to India to join a startup

(12:28) Founding RepHike

(16:16) Learnings as a first time founder

(17:15) The decision to be acquired

(18:41) The importance of relationship building

(21:29) Transition from founder to investor

(24:15) Overview of investing

(27:05) Proudest personal and professional accomplisments

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Guest Bio

Olivia Goldstein an operator turned VC who is passionate about supporting entrepreneurs.

She started working in tech first as a "connector" then moved into product growth & driving adoption through strategic partnerships. She founded RepHike, a software company in the brand ambassador / influencer marketing space. After a few years, she led the company through to its acquisition. Now, she supports high growth founders in Upstate NY through a non-profit (UVC) and investing in world-changing B2B SaaS companies through StartFast Ventures.

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Thanks to our WISE partners for supporting the next generation of female leaders. Learn more about Monte Carlo and other partners here.

Kimberly Kelleher is the Chief Commercial Officer of AMC Networks. You know the one, home of shows like: The Walking Dead, Breaking Bad, Mad Men and more. Prior to this, she held leadership roles at Condé Nast, TIME and Sports Illustrated.

In this episode, Kimberly shares:

• The drastic changes in advertising across media & entertainment
• How she got hired for what she didn't know
• "Your Book" and how it can shift over time

Highlights

(05:33) How Kim doesn't think about the past and focuses on the future

(05:58) The first job that launched a career in publishing

(09:59) Big changes in advertising, publishing, and entertainment

(15:37) Show recommendations from an expert

(19:44) Learnings from an early startup experience

(23:14) Takeaways: startup vs. large company

(24:23) Cross atheletes and why they're invaluable

(27:30) A mentor's advice that has stuck with her

(28:15) Leadership learnings as the first female executive of Sports Illustrated

(31:33) Leaving publishing for entertainment at AMC Networks

(35:16) The one thing she's never done

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Guest Bio

Kim Kelleher is an accomplished executive with over 20 years of domestic and international experience. Kelleher's proven track record of success with some of the world's most influential brands (WIRED, GQ, Sports Illustrated, TIME...) has been transformative. In addition to general management, revenue and operational oversight, Kelleher prioritizes business transformation, thought-leadership, corporate strategy and a winning culture. Her entrepreneurial approach to businesses—both corporate and start-up—fosters a culture of urgency, focus and performance throughout her teams. Kelleher is also an active board member with industry and philanthropic organizations. Currently serving on the boards of the American Advertising Federation (immediate past-Chair), CEW, New York Women in Communications (Past-President) and Cancer & Careers.

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Thanks to our WISE partners for supporting the next generation of female leaders. Learn more about Pitchbook Data and other partners here.

Maya Mikhailov, Founder & CEO of SAVVI AI, shares her experience of:

• Fundraising for her company while pregnant
• An accidental appearance on Good Morning America that almost ended her company
• Things are never as good or as bad as they seem

Highlights:

(02:09) How math played a pivotal role in Maya's childhood & future career

(03:40) Crediting Kanye West for machine learning

(05:15) Founding first company

(07:27) Imposter syndrome + women supporting women

(11:07) Being pregnant while fundraising for second company

(14:12) Post-aquisiton + startups vs. large orgs

(19:11) Building a team that is more than a resume

(23:07) Founding SAVVI AI

(23:57) Proudest personal accomplishment

(24:56) Advice for entrepreneurs

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Guest Bio:

As a founder of SAVVI AI, Maya is on a mission to empower all enterprises to be more efficient leveraging the power of AI and machine learning - easily and cost-effectively. She has 15+ years of experience as a serial entrepreneur and leader in the AI, FinTech, and developing intelligent solutions space.

She's worked with top brands including: Citi, Walmart, Adidas, Footlocker, Best Buy and Estee Lauder; and has been featured in multiple media outlets such as Bloomberg, New York Times, CNBC, NBC Nightly News, Forbes, Business Insider, and WWD.

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Thanks to our WISE partners for supporting the next generation of female leaders. Learn more about Fisher Investments and other partners here.