Today's guest, Ilana Griffo is a surface designer and author from Upstate New York. Her work features playful patterns, handmade type, and tons of inspirational phrases. She LOVES encouraging others to pursue their creative passion and creates courses and books to help them on their way. She's also a mama to a fun-loving toddler and two XL dogs.

Ilana's work is centered around cheering on other women and seeing them pursue their passion, find their voice, and GET SHIT DONE.

TOPICS DISCUSSED IN THIS EPISODE:

• Taking a Leap Towards Working for Yourself
• Passive Income
• Passion Projects & Making Payroll
• How To Reposition Yourself
• Multiple Revenue Streams

RESOURCES DISCUSSED IN THIS EPISODE:

INSTAGRAM: @ilanagriffo
WEBSITE: ilanagriffo.com
BOOK: Mind Your Business
Ilana's 2019 Income Pie

Desirée is a wedding planner in Upstate New York who designs heirloom occasions that bring people together and allow them to revel in the time they have with one another.  After a decade of producing upscale events for international companies and organizations, from intimate dinners at ambassadors' residences to inaugural balls with 13, 000 guests, she founded Verve Event Co. in 2017.

Focusing on efficiency and modern design, Desirée helps couples enjoy planning their contemporary wedding so they still have time for #allthethings.  For her, life is too short to waste it on moments without meaning.

She has received awards from The Knot, Wedding Wire and the International Live Events Association. Her work has been published on Inspired by This, Bridal Musings, and Wedding Chicks. She's also appeared on multiple podcasts and, in 2019, she became one of the first members of the wedding industry to launch an Alexa Flash Briefing: Ask the Planner.

Desirée is a recovering grammar queen and loves staying fit. When not planning, you can find her leading dance parties with her interns (aka her kids), or buying macarons to share with her husband, whom she met while attending a high school leadership conference.

TOPICS DISCUSSED IN THIS EPISODE:

• Systems - What are they & how do you use them?
• Taking the Time to Develop your Business Systems
• Good Systems = Good Service
• System Hacks
• Desirée’s Best Systems Advice

RESOURCES DISCUSSED IN THIS EPISODE:
INSTAGRAM: @thedesireeadams
WEBSITE: verveeventco.com
PODCAST: Ask The Planner

What’s your story? This is a question Andrea Holland is always asking.

Founder of Holland Communications, Andrea is a communications coach whose focus is helping others “find their voice” so they can uplift, educate, and motivate audiences. With nearly 20 years of experience in communications and broadcast media at companies like i-Heart Radio & Entercom, American Red Cross, United Way of Greater Rochester and Skillsoft, Andrea now works with executives and small business owners in corporate, private and non-profit environments alike on public speaking, media training, leadership talk, and business brand language.

TOPICS DISCUSSED IN THIS EPISODE:

• BLM
• Communication
• Public Relations
• Personal Branding
• Mission statements

RESOURCES DISCUSSED IN THIS EPISODE:
FACEBOOK: The Mouthy Broad
INSTAGRAM: @andreayholland
                      @themouthybroad

Molly Larkin is a psychiatric RN and certified life coach in private practice working here in Rochester, NY, and online. She helps people around the world find freedom from disordered eating and body image struggles.

Along with her husband, Dr. Giampaolo Gallo, Molly runs Hummingbird Holistic Care, offering non-pathologizing psychiatric care, addiction recovery support, and practical mindfulness groups.

Molly works with women around food and body image but that's really just the beginning. Her mission is to empower women to take back their autonomy with food and to inhabit their bodies with joy. Food and body are the doors we walk through but once you start listening there, everything opens up. Witnessing and facilitating this transformation is the privilege of a lifetime!

Topics discussed in this episode:

• Removing the shame associated with body image
• Molly's real-life experience with food
• What we allow loses its power over us
• Being willing to be uncomfortable
• Your day job is financing your dream job
• What happens when you pursue weight loss head-on
• Health at every size 
• Molly's journey towards Intuitive eating

RESOURCES DISCUSSED IN THIS EPISODE:
INSTAGRAM: @larkin.molly
WEBSITE: mollyklarkin.com
Podcasts: 

• Food Psych
• Eat Confident 
• The Mindful Dietician 

Books:

• Intuitive Eating 
• The F*ck It Diet 
• The Body is Not an Apology 

Websites/Blogs: 

• Be Nourished
• Rachel W Cole
• Caroline Dooner

The Rebel Flower Bomb. She is an unparalleled poetic force. She hails from Rochester, NY where she holds the title for the 2018 Roc Awards Best Female Poet. Her words combine metaphoric magic with bold imagery. Her poems represent the collision of pain and beauty that she has courageously bled through her pen and shares with her audience.

The Rebel Flower Bomb has been featured on television, in print, and on stage and radio. Fall 2017 she released a collection of poems entitled “The Heartbreak Series” filled with short poems, flowers, broken hearts, healed spirits, and love. She is her words blooming!

Topics discussed in this episode:

• The inspiration behind the name
• Knowing your worth as an artist
• What is takes to be a poet
• Empowering others with your words

RESOURCES DISCUSSED IN THIS EPISODE:

Instagram: @rebel_flower_bomb
YouTube: The Rebel Flower Bomb
Facebook: The Rebel Flower Bomb

Erin is the founder of the Youth Method, has been a Physical Therapist for the last 20 years, and is also a Certified Health Coach and Pilates instructor.  Her true passion is to spread the word that no matter your age - you can naturally reset your body to burn fat, look youthful, and get your energy back.

Her unique approach to wellness can be attributed to her experiences helping her patients as well as her own personal struggles and transforming them into a positive philosophy.

Through healing foods, movement, and mindset, and with a huge heart for others. Her mission is to inspire and empower women to live their best life in a lean, healthy, and youthful body.

Topics discussed in this episode:

• Being reactive with your health
• Why Erin started the Youth Method
• Erin's top reasons for going online
• Hiring a business coach
• Paid Memberships
• Facebook Groups
• Sharing your goals and desires with other

RESOURCES DISCUSSED IN THIS EPISODE:

Website: theyouthmethod.com
Instagram: @theyouthmethod
Facebook: The Youth Method

Hélène Biandudi Hofer is a broadcast journalist, a documentary filmmaker, and a media entrepreneur. She is the founder & CEO of HBH Enterprises, a production company and media group she founded which creates and produces solutions based short films and multimedia content about issues that matter, stories that often go untold, and the people that are effectively addressing challenges impacting our society.

Hélène is also the manager of a new project being spearheaded by Solutions Journalism Network called Complicating the Narratives. Her work involves helping journalists better report on controversial and polarizing problems. The project draws on the experience of experts in conflict mediation. Complicating the Narratives intends to help news organizations produce stronger, more inclusive reporting on divisive issues. The hope is that it will also help lead to a healthier political debate and a healthier democracy.

For nearly a decade Hélène reported for public television and radio. She anchored and produced the PBS news show, Need to Know, on WXXI Television in Rochester, New York, and contributed to feature reports for NPR. In the commercial news realm, she worked for CBS News President, Susan Zirinsky, at the CBS Primetime show 48 Hours Mystery. She began her career at WBNS 10TV in Columbus, Ohio.

Topics discussed in this episode:

• Storytelling Connects us
• Being heard and understood
• When to share my opinion & when to not.
• Conflict Resolution in business
• Good things start with curiosity

RESOURCES DISCUSSED IN THIS EPISODE:

HBH Enterprises Media Group : helenebiandudihofer.com
Instagram: @helenebiandudihofer
Solutions Journalism Network: @solutionsjournalism

Olivia Marie is a Rochester native, a proud protégée of Natalie's, and is currently chasing her dream in the City of Angels as a makeup artist and content creator.

 Topics discussed in this episode:

• Managing insecurities when working in a saturated market *as a creative*
• Standing out in a big city - and keeping up!
• Allowing space to make mistakes as a young freelancer
• How to skip business school and learn for yourself?

RESOURCES DISCUSSED IN THIS EPISODE:

You can check out her YouTube channel Olivia Marie MUA 

Instagram @olivia_marie_makeup

Jessica Gasbarre is the Engagement Manager for the Memorial Art Gallery where she works on creating re-imagined art experiences for guests. With her focus on fun, she brings in new and different audiences, provides museum-goers with meaningful connections to the collection, shares scandalous and sordid facts about art history that aren’t printed on the museum labels, and makes art accessible through her Instagram stories. In her spare time, Jessica enjoys reading books, being outside, looking at otters, and photoshopping images of herself with fellow art lover and collector, Leonardo DiCaprio. 

Topics discussed in this episode:

• What does Jess Gasbarre do? Besides creating epic museum stories. 
• Boobs, Art & Leonardo DiCaprio 
• Removing the bore from art museums.
• The research behind her epic stories.
• Do you ever have censorship issues?

RESOURCES DISCUSSED IN THIS EPISODE:

Instagram: @artstagram5

The MAG Rochester: @magrochester

Ali Eagen is the owner of Buffalo Indie Weddings and Made by Anatomy. After receiving a degree from FIT in fashion design and working in corporate fashion, she moved back home to Buffalo, NY to start her own company.

Over the last 9 years, she has been working with brides to create one-of-a-kind custom and reconstructed wedding gowns. It was this work with brides that led her to realize the need for a better way to connect with the kinds of brides who wanted her service, so she and her then-partner created Buffalo Indie Weddings. BIW is a resource for engaged couples of WNY to inspire and connect them to the best, more unique and non-traditional wedding vendors in the area.

She has a young family and teaches part-time at Buffalo State College in the fashion department.

Topics discussed in this episode:

• How did it all start? 
• Learning to differentiate yourself.
• Why Indie?
• How connection will make you stand out.
• Bridging the gap between online and in-person connections.
• How to drive attendance to your events.
• A bridal show HAS to be fun! 
• How do you monetize the bridal show business?
• Staying connected to your members.
• Challenges running a multi-city business?

RESOURCES DISCUSSED IN THIS EPISODE:

Website: buffaloindieweddings.com

Instagram:
Buffalo Indie Weddings: @buffaloindieweddings
Rochester Indie Weddings: @rochesterindieweddings

Facebook:
Buffalo Indie Weddings: Buffalo Indie Weddings
Rochester Indie Weddings: Rochester Indie Weddings

Pinterest: Upstate Indie Weddings