Simon Says Inspire

We are so excited to have Kelli Schutrop on the podcast! Kelli has been a huge cheerleader and supporter of all things Simon Says over the past decade.

Kelli is the CEO & Founder of Thoughtful Resound – a thought leadership activation firm that unlocks new revenue streams for growing B2B companies through thought leadership, social selling, personal branding, and beyond. As an experienced sales and marketing leader, she has a passion for accelerating business growth, and has 15 years of expertise spanning digital marketing, brand marketing, consultative selling, on-camera hosting, and speaking. Kelli’s career highlights include scaling start-ups, growing marketing functions, establishing sales structures, and consulting business leaders globally on their growth strategies.

She regularly hosts fireside chats with industry leaders, conducts speaking engagements, sits on boards and committees, and partners with growth-minded B2B organizations. She studied Public Relations & Marketing at the University of Northwestern–St. Paul, and currently resides in Minneapolis, MN. Kelli has an unreasonable love for ice cream, is always looking for the best new foodie spots, and enjoys traveling the world with her family on new adventures.

Find Kelli on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kellischutrop/

Thoughtful Resound Website: https://www.thoughtfulresound.com/

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We are excited to have Tameka Jones on our podcast!

Saint Paul native Tameka Jones, Founder and CEO of Lip Esteem, a plant-based lipstick store in the heart of Rondo. Tameka is also a featured small business owner in Season 6 of the Emmy-nominated television series The Small Business Revolution. 

Tameka graduated from St. Paul Central High School in 1993, has her certification in Aesthetics (St. Paul College ’02), an Associates Degree (St. Paul College ’12), and her bachelor’s degree in Youth Development and Business Management (Metro State University ’14.)

After honing her skills for twenty years as a makeup artist, Saint Paul native Tameka took control of her destiny, launching Lip Esteem in July 2020, right in the midst of Covid and civil unrest in the Twin Cities.

Starting out as a vendor at a local farmer’s market along Lake Street, Tameka was amazed at the interest and support of the community, steadily growing her customer base. Since March 2020, Tameka also participated in and completed three startup cohorts - Neighborhood Development Center, Lunar Startup, and Fearless Commerce.

Tameka is the recipient of the City of Saint Paul’s “New Kid on the Block” Business Award (Jan.’22), National Association of Woman Business Owners- “New Emerging Woman Business Owner of the Year Award (June ’22), The Spirit of Rondo Award (June ’22) and the Black Business Enterprise- “Startup of the Year Award” (Oct.’22)

Website: https://lipesteem.com/

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We are so excited to feature Heide the week of her launch of Accountinuity!

Inspired by her love of small business and drive to serve, Heide has spent the last 19 years building an unrivaled method to take her clients from financial chaos to business clarity and beyond. Partnering with their clients to provide accounting leadership and layering in financial expertise, the Accountinuity (formerly known as All In One Accounting) team delivers expert financial oversight that helps drive growth and protect assets. More importantly, peace of mind lets every business owner focus on building, growing, and living in their genius. To fully support the unique needs of their nonprofit clients, the new brand, Veracity Pros, was launched in 2023, exclusively dedicated to serving nonprofit organizations nationwide. 

As founder and CEO of Accountinuity and Veracity Pros, Heide has mastered the art of financial connections. Her passionate pursuit of long-term relationships drives the customized, hands-on implementation planning she is known for, and clients rely on. Every mission partner gets the highest level of service from a trusted adviser who knows precisely what it takes to give any company or nonprofit the financial lift they need.  

Websites:

https://www.accountinuity.com/

https://www.veracitypros.com/

Heide's LinkedIn Page

https://www.linkedin.com/in/heide-olson/

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We are so excited for Debbie Seeger to join us on the podcast this week. Debbie and John met back in 1986 when Debbie was a client of John’s. Their years of working together grew into an amazing friendship over the years.

Debbie retired from Modine Manufacturing after 41 years of service. In the podcast, Debbie will share how she was the first female supervisor for Modine who paved the way for many women to follow.

She and her husband moved from Racine, WI to Sayner, WI to be close to their son, daughter-in-law, and two grandchildren.

Debbie volunteers and sits on many boards within her community. She also remains very active in the lives of her children and grandchildren.

Thank you Debbie for your years of friendship and for sharing your time with us on the podcast!

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We loved our conversation about preventing burnout with Lisa Bobyak!

Lisa Bobyak, founder of Living Fully Balanced™, has been challenging the current

hustle culture and preventing burnout in high-achieving women for over a decade.

Steeped in perfectionism and people-pleasing, Lisa once ran her well-organized life

at a clip. It all worked well until it didn’t. The reckoning came only after repeatedly

burning out when she lost her health and marriage.

Now, her mission as a Life Balance and Leadership Coach, is to heal burnout as

quickly as possible. She teaches go-getters a new way to live and lead… with an

approach that is more effective and powerful and, most importantly, highly

sustainable.

Through her Living Fully Balanced™ process, she shows ambitious women with full

lives, how to regain their energy and increase their capacity so that they can make their

mark on the world…without losing themselves in the process.

Lisa is the creator of the Beyond Burnout Kick Start, the Living Fully Balanced Life

Planner© and the semi-annual Pause Retreats.

During our conversation, she referred to The Owners Meeting.  This link provides a worksheet to walk people through this process: https://livingfullybalanced.com/om.

Lisa's website: https://www.livingfullybalanced.com/

Lisa's LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisabobyak/

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We are excited to have Jen join us this week!

Jen is a goal-oriented leader and seasoned communicator with a wealth of experience in communications, public relations, technology, and healthcare. She utilizes problem-solving and leadership skills to ensure stakeholder satisfaction and success. Throughout her career, she has managed and led business teams to meet and exceed goals and expectations – every time.

As a strategic thinker, she is able to grasp abstract ideas and concepts, achieving positive results. Jen’s entrepreneurial ideations allowed her to be the first to develop a program for online help software in the Cardiology IT division for GE.

As a media insider, she is well networked in media strategy and has developed creative messaging and story ideas resulting in client coverage in top-tier media - Forbes, Fortune, WSJ, MSNBC, Fox, New York Times, Chief Executive, Mashable, TechCrunch and Digiday - to name a few. Jennifer has leveraged brand awareness and lead generation for global and national clients like Google, DocuSign, TubeMogul, Liberty Tax Service, Mitel, SMART Technologies and many others.

Jen's LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenniferlegacy/

We referenced a book about facing your fears in the podcast - Hello, Fears: Crush Your Comfort Zone and Become Who You're Meant to Be by Michelle Poler 

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This week's guest on our podcast is Tamara Prato! We are excited for you to get to know her. Tamara Prato -Business Growth Advisor | CEPA® | EOS® Implementer. Tamara prides herself on giving the leaders she works with the relief and freedom, to grow in the right direction. She is a celebrated Growth Advisor, EOS® Implementer and a Certified Exit Planner (CEPA®) who loves helping entrepreneurial business leaders “connects the dots” and drive value. Her unique insight and diverse set of business acumen help her understand the challenges and obstacles business leader’s encounter day to day.  

Tamara has a 25-year track record of driving growth. Her diverse background driving revenue upwards to 13 million, leading the charge on 14 national magazine publications, and serving as the executive director and chief of staff of a multi-million dollar nonprofit, have given her the perspective, drive and solutions to solve any of today’s business challenges. 

Tamara drives outcomes, builds relationships, creates community and makes an impact not only on the bottom line, but also on the culture of an organization. She helps business owners see their business in a whole new light and execute on a simple set of tools and principles to identify root causes before they become problems, place the right people in the right seats, and align every employee toward the same goals. She instills accountability and discipline, provides tools to measure progress against meaningful metrics, and builds trust through thoughtful and direct feedback.

Here is how you can get in touch with her!

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

Company Website: https://tamaraprato.com/

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We are so excited to have Mick White join us on the podcast. He is an inspiration and a force for good! We can't wait for you to get to know him better and the mission he is on with the 100-Year Manifesto.

About Mick

Mick White is the Founder of the 100-Year Manifesto, a framework to help people get life right. For +25 years, Mick has been on stage facilitating conversations for companies, speaking at churches, and leading CEOs and Founders in getting life right. Mick’s tools and strategies to get life right, go beyond “life hacks” to very deep and personal conversations around the Ideal Living Week, Measuring What Matters, and most importantly, Creating Your Own 100-Year Manifesto.

Mick believes having a framework for living a life greater than yourself will help you make decisions big and small. To know what to say “yes” to in life. And, possibly more importantly, to know what to say “no” to in life.

The 100-Year Manifesto helps companies become destination employers by equipping teams and people with a framework for their lives. To fit business into their lives and not their lives into their business. To live a healthier, more fulfilled, and meaningful life of significance.

Mick’s story is in the 12 Week Yearbook, he and his client Brian Ingram of Purpose Driven Restaurants were featured on CBS World News in 2020 while serving 200,000 free restaurant quality meals and 2,000,000 pounds of free food at the beginning of the pandemic, and he’s been featured on podcasts in Australia, international virtual presentations in Vietnam, the Philippines, and throughout Southeast Asia, and in-person throughout the United States and the Bahamas. Of course, his childhood hometown newspaper featured him as well.

Here is how you can find Mick:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/100yearmanifesto/

Website: https://www.100yearmanifesto.com/

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We are excited to have John come to town and attend the MN State Fair. He and Rich met some new friends and shared stories about what they love most during the Great Minnesota Get-Together!

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We are so excited to have Cathy Paper join us on the podcast! She's a great friend of Dina's and also the publisher of her book.

Cathy specializes in coaching, training, and empowering sales professionals, business owners, and leaders to elevate their processes and performance. Cathy has provided invaluable coaching to top executives and managers at renowned companies like Xcel Energy, Zappos, Best Buy, Paramount Pictures, John Deere, and Apple, as well as numerous privately held firms.

Cathy’s infectious energy and enthusiasm are evident in her approach as she shares her networking expertise, helping leaders define and achieve their goals. Her natural competitive spirit, honed through her experiences as a runner, basketball and rugby player, and Minnesota State Tennis Doubles Champion, serves as a source of inspiration for those she works with.

Cathy earned her BA from Williams College and holds a Master’s Degree in Organization Development from the University of St. Thomas. She was honored with the prestigious “Real Power 50” award by Minnesota Business Magazine and received the distinguished “Woman on the Way” award from the National Association of Women Business Owners. This award recognizes women business owners who have demonstrated exceptional achievement for themselves and their companies.

Website for RockPaperStar: https://www.rockpaperstar.com/

Cathy's LI Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cathypaper/

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