LEAVE YOUR MARK: Freshly Brewed Career Advice with Aliza Licht

Why is hierarchy how we recognize talent? Why is there a rigid idea of who is a "have" and who is a "have not"? Why do people need to look and talk a certain way to be a leader? How do the media and the narratives around us shape our biases and how we think and act? These are just some of the questions that Christina Blacken, founder of The New Quo and host of the Sway Them in Color podcast, challenged herself to answer.

Christina started in the non-profit world and then moved on to media. Once, her boss told her she should smile more. "How does that help me do my job better?" she asked. She then took an inventory of her values. Leveraging the help of a business coach, she took pen to paper to understand what problem she was passionate about solving and what solutions she could provide. When her FU fund reached her goal amount, she took the leap to make her side hustle her full-time job.

Today The New Quo is a leadership development and inclusion consultancy helping leaders create inclusive cultural and organizational change through narrative intelligence. So far, Christina has trained over 10,000 leaders across nine industries to self-reflect, examine their own biases, and transform their narratives, creating a ripple effect across the organization.

In this episode, Christina shares the mental framework she applied to every aspect of her journey and the narrative techniques she uses to disrupt bias today and build deeper connections and understanding between people who are different from each other. She shares how she counteracts the values gap and how you can work to take ideas evangelized on paper and turn them into action.

We have all heard the term 'quiet quitting' circulating online. Before it was trendy, Jenny Blake referred to it as 'quietly unsubscribing from burnout.' From a young age, Jenny found herself promoted or exceeding expectations professionally, which always led to burnout. So the decision to work sustainably, setting aside the fears of being fired if she didn't give 200% at all times, led her to pivot again and again until she figured out her secret recipe for success.

In her new book Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business, Jenny teaches that it's not about working as little as possible. Nor is it about creating a lifestyle business purely for one's own gain. It is about creating a life-giving business that energizes everyone who is a part of it, from the owner to team members, clients, and the community. Free Time is about making small investments now to create greater optionality in the future. It's a playbook to free your mind, time, and team for your best work. This book will teach you and your team to operate efficiently and intuitively while earning abundantly, so you can make your greatest contribution as a business owner. You'll learn much from Jenny's philosophy, even if you're not a business owner.

In this episode, Jenny shares how to go from friction to flow in all areas of your life, how micro guilt and focusing on what you should have done is not benefiting you, and so much more!

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Lauren, aka “Lo” Harris, began her career in journalism. Early on, she was crushing whatever came her way and quickly became “too good.” Supervisors would suggest she slow down while she saw men around her moving up. Feeling like she was suffering from the “pet to threat” syndrome that many Black women experience, she felt stifled by the ceiling above her and decided that she had reached the limit of people-pleasing and trying to prove herself. As someone who had studied art in high school and loved art as a personal passion, Lo decided to explore her creativity. It wasn’t until 2020 that her work became more than just a hobby.

After creating her personal illustration, Justice, reacting to COVID, the election, George Floyd, and the ongoing cause for BLM, the partnership inquiries started coming in. Suddenly, Lo was an in-demand artist. For someone who had never considered starting her own company, she faced the reality that one was beginning around her. Today, Lo is an NYC-based artist, educator, and children’s book illustrator, who uses bright colors, strong figures, and relational compositions to create celebratory work that promotes visions of a better world. The important themes incorporated into Lo’s work deal with social justice, female empowerment, and mental wellness. With an impressive client list including Amazon, Old Navy, Hulu, Warby Parker, Bombay Sapphire, and the United Nations, Lo Harris will inspire you to find a way to use your voice. She’s even been on The Ellen Show.

As someone who sincerely wants to abolish gatekeeping, Lo dedicates time to educating other artists on the business. She has created her business with intention, clarifying her own brand pillars and vision for a Lo Harris Universe, which will evolve into a future lifestyle brand.

In this episode, Lo takes us along her journey from the days when she had to fake it til she made it to today and how she structures her business and time. She shares why she is building a team around her instead of waiting to be chosen by an agency and why she’s not waiting for brands to call her. This episode will leave you motivated and inspired!

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Melissa Ben-Ishay is not afraid to say it like it is, a characteristic that didn't go over well at her first job when she asked her boss why he didn't write the email himself if he had so many corrections. She knew she wasn't passionate about doing well in that role, and it showed. After she was fired, she was faced with what to do next. Melissa decided to turn toward her passion, baking. In 2008, together with her brother, they embarked on the journey to create Baked by Melissa.

Love, passion, and dedication are part of the recipe Melissa has followed both in business and life. Today the company operates 14 stores and has sold over 150 million cupcakes. Every cupcake is made by hand using only the most delicious ingredients. Bite-sized flavors, gift boxes for every occasion, and custom nationwide shipping packaging ensure their treats arrive safe and fresh. Baked by Melissa has become an endlessly popular gift-giving brand across the U.S., and Melissa has one goal: to be happy and make people happy, one bite at a time.

In this episode, Melissa transparently shares how she gathered the courage to take on the CEO role after eight years in the business. As the face and keeper of the brand, Melissa knows firsthand what it takes to create and maintain a strong brand and why she won't compromise on those principles. Melissa's strong work ethic and belief that your team is everything contribute to her success. She also believes in the importance of surrounding yourself with people who have the skills you don't. This episode is a refreshing breath of fresh air because Melissa is as real as they come. We also learn how she came up with her now famous Green Goddess salad with her 21 million views on TikTok and made by Lizzo!

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Tiffany James is never going back to the financial life she led before. As a Haitian-Jamaican American from Brooklyn, New York, Tiffany had student debt after college, like most students. At 25, while working as an event manager at an NYC hotel, a co-worker persuaded her to invest in Tesla, and the rest is history. Two years later, she’s turned her initial investment of $10,000 into $2 million. In November 2020, she founded Modern BLK Girl, the largest digital platform designed for women of color to build wealth through investing in the stock market. As a self-taught stock enthusiast, Tiffany has helped over 225,000 (mostly) women break into the boys club and banish the taboos of investment. This first-of-its-kind platform has helped thousands of women of color earn over $3.5 million in the stock market, with a continued mission to get 500,000 black women in the market while growing into one of the largest online platforms for women of color to build wealth. Tiffany has been featured in Bloomberg, Fox News, Business insider, and Afrotech and has touted collaborations with Forbes, Motley Fool, and more. In this episode, Tiffany shares her motivation to learn the language of investing and so much more. If you don’t have the money to invest, think again. This is an eye-opening episode on the possibilities of changing your financial trajectory.

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After a two-decade successful career in finance, Cate Luzio decided to bet on herself and become an entrepreneur. As the Founder and CEO of Luminary, she self-funded a collaboration hub for women who are passionate about professional development and expanding their networks. In this episode, you'll hear how Cate mastered the "boys club" of finance, created her own "whisper networks" and wrote the business plan for Luminary in a week. You'll also learn the importance of socializing your ideas, how to develop a thick skin, and why you shouldn't apologize for being the boss.

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No one likes managing their money, but money expert and New York Times best-selling author of Boss Bitch, Rich Bitch, Becoming Super Woman, and now Miss Independent, Nicole Lapin, makes it easy. Have you ever wondered how millionaires make their money? Spoiler alert: it's not from saving money. My favorite money expert, Nicole Lapin, is back on LEAVE YOUR MARK with her new Wall Street Journal #2 bestselling book, Miss Independent. "Millionaires don't make their money just from their salaries, no matter how big their paychecks get. They have an average of seven additional streams of income, many of which are passive, meaning their money is making money for them while they sleep." 

Nicole had no choice but to learn the language of money, and empowering people to embrace and understand it has been her goal ever since. Nicole started out making $20K a year and getting into almost as much credit card debt. She never worked at a bank and didn't have an MBA. "I wasn't born into wealth or privilege. There were days when I didn't have food to put in my mouth, much less a silver spoon. For much of my early career, I either lived paycheck to paycheck, was in debt, and/or subsisted on a brown-rice-and-beans diet (it felt fancier than ramen). I tell you this because if I could become Miss Independent—totally financially set up and secure on my own—then anyone can, including you. I promise." 

Miss Independent is your best friend who knows and shares all the ins and out of saving money and investing it meaningfully. You don't have to understand finance to heed Nicole's advice. With in-depth tutorials and humor to boot, Nicole can transform your mindset to begin to think differently. In this episode, Nicole shares that she may not have been a financial expert, but she was an expert in being broke, and writing her four bestselling books was her way of teaching everything necessary to learn the language of finance. Nicole calls on a lot of BS cliches, and one of them, which she shared, was "knowledge is power," instead, Nicole says that 'action is power.' Nicole also points out that women can have it all, only if you define what 'it all' means for you and then stick to it rather than changing the goal post.

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Do you know how to ask for more? Well, meet Alexandra Carter, best-selling Author of ASK FOR MORE: Ten Questions to Negotiate Anything. Alexandra is the Director of the Mediation Clinic at Columbia Law School and a world-renowned negotiation trainer for the United Nations. Her book hit #3 on WSJ's Best-Seller list. In this episode, you will learn the art of negotiation, the difference between mirror and window questions, and how learning to negotiate effectively will unlock all your future opportunities. This episode is essential learning no matter what stage of your career you are in!

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Bevy Smith was my first guest on LEAVE YOUR MARK, and she's back with even more humor and incredible insights. In her inspiring book, Bevelations: Lessons from a Mutha, Auntie, Bestie, she captures her experience transitioning from a fashion advertising executive into a media personality, all while living a big, authentic, and unapologetic life. But what happens when everything you've wished for comes true and yet doesn't make you happy? In this episode, Bevy discusses the lessons of her memoir, Bevelations. The book is no holds barred- just like Bevy. This episode is full of inspiring and worthwhile lessons on living an authentic life at any age. In her fifth decade, Bevy is living her best life yet. Her TED Talk, "How to discover your authentic self -- at any age" is packed with wry wisdom where this pop culture queen shares hard-earned lessons about authenticity, confidence, mature success and why, if you put in the work, "life gets greater later."

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JoAnna Hartzmark has worked in Finance, Fashion, and Tech. Instead of judging her meandering path negatively, her embrace of the unknown has made her a Swiss Army knife. As the Founder and CEO of Revelle, an e-commerce brand sitting at the cutting edge of fashion and technology, she's redefining what it means to have clothes fit for women. Her passion is solving issues at the intersection of tech and humanity. After all, the definition of clothing fit is personal. Ever since she was a young girl, her family lovingly nicknamed her a "change maven" because of her innate ability to adapt and connect with others in new situations. It was no surprise that she pursued a degree in Decision Science so she could further understand the way consumers behave and pivot in an increasingly digital world.

JoAnna began her career in financial services before transitioning into luxury retail, where she supported teams at Gucci and Ralph Lauren as an e-commerce analyst. JoAnna realized that female-focused brands were not doing their part to solve female-focused problems as her career shifted through various industries. Then, Revelle was born out of her desire to address this glaring disconnect. Charged by her passion for change, Revelle is rejecting the norms of building a traditional "fashion" company and transforming the way women shop online.

In this episode, JoAnna shares that pivoting doesn't necessarily mean that you have failed or your time has been wasted. She explains why you should aim to fail at least once a day. We dive into her non-linear path and learn the fun fact that JoAnna has a plethora of CVs, each telling a different story about her experience. As a new founder, JoAnna shares what it's like to build something from scratch, including the stark reality of loneliness in the beginning.

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