She's On Top Podcast

Can you create a successful business while leading from the heart? What does leading with kindness look like and how do we implement it?  In this interview we chat with Robin Kovitz, the CEO and Founder of Baskits Inc, about how having a more feminine approach to business is not only doable but profitable too.

Baskits Inc, is one of Canada’s fastest growing companies. Baskits designs, manufactures and delivers beautiful gift baskets across Canada and the US. It has over 40,000 customers from around the world and in 2020 was recognized as one of the Top Growing Companies in Canada by the Globe and Mail’s Report on Business Magazine.

Before acquiring Baskets Robin worked in private equity on the buyouts of mid-sized companies. She has an MBA degree from the Harvard Business School and a B. Comm. degree from Queen's University. And in 2017, she was recognized as a Canada’s Most Powerful Women: Top 100 award winner. She is a sought after speaker and frequently serves as a guest lecturer at both Yale School of Management and Harvard Business School.

Needless to say, Robin’s background is impressive. Her intentional approach to leading with kindness is inspiring. This interview will challenge you to see kindness as a legitimate business tool. We loved what Robin had to say because it is so in line with She’s on Top’s core beliefs. We hope you enjoy this conversation as much as we did.

Some of the topics we cover:

1. Why Robin bought Baskits Inc and what it’s about.
2. Why she bought a company rather than starting from scratch.
3. How has she changed the work ethic there.
4. How effective can you be by leading with kindness.
5. How are you perceived by others if you lead this way.
6. What does leading with the feminine look like.
7. How do you strike a balance between empathy and being firm so you get the job done.
8. What does success look like to Robin.
9. What women have inspired her.

If you enjoyed this podcast and would like to learn more about us please subscribe and leave a review. It helps us get found.

And if you’d like to learn more about our community check out our website and sign up for our newsletter.

https://www.shesontop.com

You can also find us on:

Facebook   https://www.facebook.com/shesontop/

Instagram  https://www.instagram.com/shes.on.top/

LinkedIn    https://www.linkedin.com/company/shes-on-top/

Learn more about Robin Kovitz:

Website  www.baskits.com

Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/baskitsinc/

LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/380219/admin/

Robin Kovitz https://www.linkedin.com/in/robin-kovitz-0a825b3/

Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/robinkovitz/

Do you have your own social legacy? Would you like to unlock the power to lead a more intentional life? Today we are talking about purpose. Whether it’s personally or professionally we are all looking for it. Why are we here? How can we make an impact? How can my business make an impact? If these are questions you are struggling with you are going to want to listen to our conversation with the incredible Emily Chang, Global CEO, Ted X speaker and author of the bestselling book, The Spare Room.

Emily is a seasoned executive who has worked with some of the world’s most renowned companies like Procter & Gamble, Apple and Starbucks. Over the last twenty-two years, her job has brought her and her family to eight different homes across the U.S. and China. Everywhere she has lived, life has served up young people who have been abused, neglected or marginalized, to find sanctuary in her spare room. In The Spare Room she shares her deeply personal accounts and heart-wrenching stories of an emotionally abused child bride, a dying baby boy born with hydrocephalus, and the abused daughter of a local prostitute. 

With the sixteen young people she and her family have cared for, Emily has found that living her Social Legacy has not only deeply enriched her home life, it has also enabled her to become a more authentic and relatable leader in the workplace. Each time she opened the door to her spare room, Emily found herself in a front row seat, witnessing on of life’s incredible stories unfold before her. Integrating work and life, she introduces her spare room kids to colleagues and encourages her team members to invest in their own Social Legacies. 

Every once in a while you have a conversation that changes you. That’s what this was for us. We were left excited, energized and inspired and we know you will be too. 

Some of the topics we cover:

1. What is socially purposed leadership?
2. How to define your values?
3. The evolution of writing The Spare Room
4. The steps for discovering your purpose and how to act on it.
5. Why is social impacted leadership so important?
6. How does leading a more intentional life make you an effective leader?
7. Can your purpose evolve or are you born with one’s purpose?

If you enjoyed this podcast and would like to learn more about us please subscribe and leave a review. It helps us get found.

And if you’d like to learn more about our community check out our website and sign up for our newsletter.

https://www.shesontop.com

You can also find us on:

Facebook   https://www.facebook.com/shesontop/

Instagram  https://www.instagram.com/shes.on.top/

LinkedIn    https://www.linkedin.com/company/shes-on-top/

Learn more about Emily Chang:

Website: https://social-legacy.com/

TEDx talk: https://social-legacy.com/the-past/

The Spare Room: https://amzn.to/3fN4NSj

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thespareroombook/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thespareroombook

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emilychang8621/

How do you create a thriving community? Is there a secret or is it just luck? 

In this podcast we chat with She’s On Top ambassadors, Erica Campbell and Jaime Dobbs, owners and operators of the very successful Society of Beer Drinking Ladies (SOBDL). The SOBDL began in late 2013 and is now North America’s largest organization for womxn and the beer community. As one of the leading organizations in the Ontario craft beer scene, the SOBDL is proud to offer womxn and those that identify, safe and inclusive event experiences. Their events boast music, entertainment, alcohol vendors, food vendors, an artisan marketplace and more! The SOBDL regularly partners with Ontario breweries to create small batch beers for charity, has a year-round rotating beer at the LCBO brewed at Henderson Brewing and a year-round rotating cider made at Shiny Ciders.

Erica and Jaime share their journey on building this amazing community. We also take a deep dive into their background: how they met, what they did before launching the Society of Beer Drinking Ladies, their struggles and growing pains as their brand and community has evolved. They share their personal definition of success and offer some great advice for other entrepreneurs wanting to launch a new community.

If you enjoyed this podcast and would like to learn more about us please  share it, and remember to subscribe and leave a review. It helps us get found.

To learn more about our community check out our website and sign up for our newsletter.

We also have a fantastic membership program where you can connect with a highly engaged group of dynamic women entrepreneurs and change makers. Here you will be supported, have the ability to access free expert workshops as well as our private Facebook group, attend fun events and much more. Check out all the details here.

You can also find us on:

She’s on Top on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

Learn more about the SOBDL:

The SOBDL  https://ladiesdrinkbeer.com

Follow the SOBDL on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter

In this podcast we chat with the amazing Ann Shin. Ann is an award-winning filmmaker whose compelling films and series have aired on multiple networks. Her film My Enemy, My Brother, premiered at Tribeca Film Festival and was shortlisted for a 2016 Academy Award, and nominated for an Emmy.

Ann is also an award-winning poet and author as well as a  principal at Fathom Film Group, a female-led production company.

Her first novel, The Last Exiles, was published this April and was inspired by her experience going undercover to make her film about defectors from North Korea. Her latest documentary, Artificial Immortality, was selected to be the Opening Night film for the Toronto Hot Docs Festival.

In this interview we chat with Ann about her incredible career, and the business side of being a writer and filmmaker. 

We also discuss the challenges that are unique to being a woman in the film industry and why you need to be passionate about your projects. Ann also shares some great advice for women wanting to embark on a career in film as well as her thoughts around what success is. 

If you enjoyed this podcast and would like to learn more about us please  share it, and remember to subscribe and leave a review. It helps us get found.

To learn more about our community check out our website and sign up for our newsletter.

We also have a fantastic membership program where you can connect with a highly engaged group of dynamic women entrepreneurs and change makers. Here you will be supported, have the ability to access free expert workshops as well as our private Facebook group, attend fun events and much more. Check out all the details here.

You can also find us on:

She’s on Top on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

Learn more about Ann Shin:

Ann Shin

Fathom Film Group

The Last Exiles

Follow Ann on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter

Why are only 2% of music producers women?  How do we break down gender stereotypes when it comes to women in music? How do we give a platform to minorities in the audio industry? And how do we  inspire more girls and women to go into technical industries?

In this episode we chat with the incredible Liina, who passionately answers these questions and more. Liina is a music producer, mixing engineer, musician, songwriter and educator. Basically she’s brilliant!!!  Originally from Finland she now lives in England. She has a successful YouTube channel, LNA Does Audio Stuff and is the co-founder of Equalize Music Production.

If you enjoyed this podcast and would like to learn more about us please subscribe and leave a review. It helps us get found.

And if you’d like to learn more about our community check out our website and sign up for our newsletter.

We also have a fantastic membership program where you can connect with a highly-engaged group of dynamic women entrepreneurs and change makers. Feel supported, attend free expert workshops, have access to our private Facebook group, attend fun events and much more. Check out all the details here.

You can also find us on:

She’s on Top on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

Learn more about Liina

LNA Does Audio Stuff

Follow Liina on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter

Equalize Music Production

Our guest today is a guest we’ve had before on our YouTube channel. We were so impressed with her that we had to have her back.

Dr. Ebony Butler is a registered psychologist and food relationship strategist. She focusses on helping women heal from trauma and deal with diet and eating disorders. Recognizing that many women could not afford counselling or might be intimidated by it, lead to her newest career as an entrepreneur.  

Last year at the beginning of Covid she launched, “My Therapy Cards,”  a deck of cards designed to help women of colour grow and elevate in the areas of emotional and mental health.

They were so successful that she has now launched a second deck for teens and is also planning on launching a deck for men.

Talking with her was enlightening. We talked about why women of colour have been overlooked in the health field and why having a black therapist is so important. 

Dr. Butler also shares her own struggles as an entrepreneur and passes on some great advice.

It’s an important conversation you won’t want to miss. 

If you enjoyed this podcast and would like to learn more about us please subscribe and leave a review. It helps us get found.

And if you’d like to learn more about our community check out our website and sign up for our newsletter.

We also have a fantastic membership program where you can connect with a highly-engaged group of dynamic women entrepreneurs and change makers. Feel supported, attend free expert workshops, have access to our private Facebook group, attend fun events and much more. Check out all the details here.

You can also find us on:

She’s on Top on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

Learn more about Dr Ebony Butler

Dr Ebony Butler

Follow Dr Ebony on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter

Do you have a newsletter or are thinking about creating one? Are you curious about what a good newsletter looks like and how effective it can be for promoting your brand? Then you’ll want to listen to this weeks podcast with our friend and email marketing guru Joanna Track. As the Executive Publisher of The Bullet and Co-Founder and Chief Strategist of Newsworthy, Joanna knows firsthand how to create content that entertains, informs, and cuts through the noise. She gives us a step-by-step guide of how to create the perfect newsletter, how much you should pay to get subscribers, and best practices to keep your audience engaged and subscribed. She also lets us know how much she enjoys our newsletter which we took as a HUGE compliment. So if you haven’t done so already please subscribe to our newsletter here.

Key Takeaways:

[3:05] Email is literally the only channel where a person has full control over what comes in it.

[4:40] The very first thing to determine when putting together a newsletter is your business objective.

[6:00] Three things a newsletter should do: educate, entertain, and enlighten.

[8:44] Branding doesn’t have to mean fancy or full of graphics — it means being on your brand!

[9:42] Keep your newsletter clean and simple. Almost all of us are inundated with messages, and your audience needs to get the message quickly and succinctly.

[12:09] If you have a lot of content, you can give people the option to read on for more.

[13:25] How do you grow your newsletter? Gaining subscribers has become more and more competitive and expensive, but it still is possible. After determining your business objective, it’s important in thinking about how much money and time you want to spend growing the audience.

[15:44] The good thing about paid search and ads is that they are quantifiable, and you can clearly see the results.

[19:33] Joanna talks about how The Bullet has changed and adapted through the pandemic.

[21:02] Joanna talks about the number of subscribers you need for advertisers, and why a great open rate can often mean more than a big subscriber count.

[23:44] Authenticity plus consistent action is important for subscribers to trust you.

[25:10] Document your objective and always go back to it.

[28:18] Joanna discusses the recent acquisition of her business from mogul Arlene Dickinson. She couldn’t be happier!

If you enjoyed this podcast and would like to learn more about us please subscribe and leave a review. It helps us get found.

And if you’d like to learn more about our community check out our website and sign up for our newsletter.

You can also find us on:

She’s on Top on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

Learn more about Joanna Track 

Newsworthy 

The Bullet 

Follow Joanna Track on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram 

Quotes:

“What are you giving to people to make it interesting? Make it interesting to somebody else. Don’t just make it for yourself.”  - Joanna

“Authenticity leads to trust.” - Joanna

Can we achieve anything we want? Are some people just lucky? How much of your success is determined by your attitude?

According to today’s guest, the “Unstoppable Tracy Schmitt,” we are all born limitless. Tracy is a decorated athlete in skiing, world cup sailing, and mountain climbing. She is a motivational speaker, an international humanitarian, and a global consultant to companies like Air Canada and Uber. Those would be incredible achievements for any woman but Tracy was born a four-way amputee. Faced with the challenges that come with this from birth, Tracy has had to try harder and persevere longer to get the opportunities that many of us take for granted. It has forced her to tap into an energy and resilience that she feels we all have.

She is living proof that the key to being unstoppable is perseverance, which means you fail, you start again, you adapt, and eventually, you will figure it out. This is a conversation you are going to want to hear because it might serve as the motivation you needed today to take that next step in your life.

Key Takeaways:

[2:34] Where does Tracy’s unstoppable attitude come from?

[3:10] Tracy shares what it was like growing up without arms and legs.

[3:53] How did Tracy’s mom manage raising her?

[5:00] Tracy shares the memorable experience of her first days at school.

[9:24] Tracy shares how she became a world-class sailor.

[12:22] How do you keep persisting through challenges?

[14:16] Everything is empty and meaningless, there lies the opportunity for you to take action.

[14:53] How does Tracy turn around a tough day?

[18:26] Tracy talks about those “why me?” days.

[22:35] The power of a mother’s courage.

[23:11] Tracy shares about an inspiring woman in her life.

[24:33] What brings Tracy joy?

[25:23] Tracy gives one piece of advice that keeps her going on tough days.

If you enjoyed this podcast and would like to learn more about us please subscribe and leave a review. It helps us get found.

And if you’d like to learn more about our community check out our website and sign up for our newsletter.

You can also find us on:

She’s on Top on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

Learn more about Tracy Schmitt

Unstoppable Tracy

Follow Tracy Schmitt on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube

Quotes:

“You were born limitless.”

“Sometimes success is just trying”

“We are all valuable contributors.”

“Everything is empty and meaningless, therefore you can make it into what you want it to be for you.”

“Sometimes we get defeated mostly by our self-talk.”

“When you live a life with no excuses, you get to live a life with no limits.”

 Is self-love something you can cultivate or are you born with it? What is self-talk and how does that affect the people around you? In today’s episode, we chat with Raia ‘Coach’ Carey. Raia is a certified life coach and motivational speaker who is having an incredible impact. Her goal is to equip people with tangible tools they can use to steer themselves towards self-awareness, resilience, and sustainable success. In this enlightening interview, Raia talks with us about self-love, body shaming, confidence, and the importance of authenticity.  Most importantly, she helps us tap into the self-confidence we didn’t know we had.

Key Takeaways:

[2:09] Raia shares her weight loss journey.

[4:03] Top tips from Raia about body shaming.

[5:42] How shifting your language can help you build your confidence.

[6:44] Where did Raia get her confidence from?

[8:14] Raia talks about teaching her parents how to treat her as a hybrid child.

[9:48] How can you build your self-confidence and self-trust?

[11:12] Build your own self-love toolbox.

[12:46] How is Raia approaching the increasing amount of depression in the general population?

[13:30] How to manage your negative and dark thoughts.

[16:15] Raia talks about gender fluidity.

[21:37] How does Raia stay true to herself in her role as an influencer?

[24:57] Raia shares her thoughts about energy.

[27:40] You are having an energetic conversation whether you are running it or not.

[28:13] How is Raia a gift to herself?

If you enjoyed this podcast and would like to learn more about us please subscribe and leave a review. It helps us get found.

And if you’d like to learn more about our community check out our website and sign up for our newsletter. 

You can also find us here:

She’s on Top on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn

Learn more about Raia ‘Coach’ Carey

Raia's Website

Follow Raia on Instagram and Facebook

Find Raia ‘Coach’ Carey on Linkedin

Article on Gender Fluidity:

Gender and Pronouns: How You to Support Someone on an Identity Journey

Quotes:

“Be mindful of how you talk to yourself.”

“When one person is courageous enough to show vulnerability, others feel permission to be vulnerable too.”

“All bodies are different, all bodies are beautiful.”

“If you ever overcome something, it means you have tools.”

“Mindset means not being scared to shine a light on your own darkness.”

“Mindset often comes down to the language you are using to talk to yourself.”

“Masculinity and femininity do not belong to anyone gender, they are just traits and attributes that any gender can have.”

“Authenticity is priceless.”

Are you convinced you are not a natural salesperson? Do you struggle to connect with possible prospects and clients? Can anyone sell?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, then you’ll want to listen to this podcast. 

Nikki Rausch is the CEO and founder of “Sales Maven”, an organization dedicated to “authentic selling.” With 25+ years of experience selling to prestigious organizations like The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and NASA, Nikki shattered sales records and received “top producer” awards along the way. Today, entrepreneurs and small business owners hire Nikki to show them how to sell successfully and authentically.

In this conversation, we unpack the reasons why many of us struggle with sales. And good news, they are all solvable. Listen to get some invaluable tips and tricks from an expert.

Key Takeaways:

[4:28] Can anybody sell?

[6:01] How do you get over worthiness issues when it comes to selling?

[8:03] Selling as “issuing an invitation.”

[9:31] How to get over unconscious bias.

[10:18] How to match “the style” of the person you are selling to.

[12:16] Nikki shares an example of how you can add flexibility to your behavior for successful selling.

[15:06] How to tailor your emails to the person you are selling to.

[19:05] How do you sell to a corporation vs an individual?  Is it different selling a service vs a product?

[22:25] How do you deal with rejection?

[26:32] Nikki talks about her mentors.

If you enjoyed this podcast and would like to learn more about us please subscribe and leave a review. It helps us get found.

And if you’d like to learn more about our community check out our website and sign up for our newsletter. 

You can also find us on:

She’s on Top on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn

Learn more about Nikki Rausch

Nikki also has a podcast called Sales Maven which you can find on your favorite podcast platform. Sales Maven Podcast

You can also find her here:

Sales Maven on Facebook  

Sales Maven on Instagram 

Sales Maven on Linkedin   

Sales Maven Website

Nikki has generously provided our viewers with this free e-book. Closing The Sale e-book

Nikki’s Books:

The Selling Staircase: Mastering the Art of Relationship Selling, Nikki Rausch

Buying Signals: Turn Casual Conversations into Sales, Nikki Rausch

Quotes

“When you are selling it isn´t so much about you, but about the other person.”

“When you are selling you are issuing an invitation.”

“We buy from people we know we can trust.”

“Sales is about conversation, you need to talk with people, not at them.”