The Curious Middle

If you love thoughtful conversation and inspiring other women, then today's podcast is for you.

Anne Devereux Mills is the founder of the Parlay House, a salon-style gathering of more than 500 women in the San Francisco Bay Area. Members of the group meet once a month to connect, learn and inspire. Each meeting features a discussion on an interesting topic. The goal of Parlay, Anne says, is to change the framework of reciprocity by putting women in a place to pull fellow women forward, rather than creating a setting where women have a more transaction-like "you help me, I help you" interaction.

Another goal of Anne's is to create a level playing field for all ages and professions saying, "If you talk [to another person] about what you do, you miss the commonalities." At a recent event, she shares that many women opened up about their eating disorders, depression and other big topics.

Anne also serves as chair of the board of a public company and serves as chief strategy officer of Lantern, a San Francisco-based startup that uses technology to create mental wellness programs that reduce stigma and improve access to lower cost for mental health treatment. She also is the executive producer of The Return, an Emmy-nominated film that focuses on our criminal justice system and the impact of the "Three Strikes" law. And as part of her passion for social justice issues, Anne worked as a key member of the team that helped pass California's Proposition 36, which was a part of California's "Three Strikes" reform.

While she was working toward these accomplishments, Anne built her career while raising two daughters as a single mom in the New York area. Before her current roles, Anne served in C-level positions at various advertising agencies, including BBDO, TBWA\Chiat Day and LLNS, focusing on health care. In episode 53 of I Want Her Job: The Podcast, Editor and Host Polina Selyutin talks to Anne about she of the practices that have led to her success, personal sacrifice, the life-changing events that led her from New York to San Francisco and the inspiration for Parlay House.

If you love design and user experience, this is a podcast for you. Today we speak with Wendy McKennon, head of user experience at Color Genomics -- a digital health startup with a mission to help people make the most of their health information.

In a world where technology helps us be anywhere and do (almost) anything, Katie Linendoll is leading the way. A true multi-hyphenate in trade, Katie is an Emmy-winner, journalist, TV personality and tech insider. You can see her regularly on the TODAY Show, where she’s served as a tech contributor, wow-ing everyone from Matt Lauer to Willie Geist to, of course, the viewers, for the past six years. She’s also a regular on The Weather Channel, Fox News, HLN, CNN and CBS Sports Radio.

Katie also creates and hosts her own podcast Katie Show where she uncovers and breaks down the latest in technology trends in plain, “Oh, now I get this” speak for us non-techies. In her podcast – which BTW, has climbed to No. 4 on the iTunes tech charts – she’s covered virtual reality, the Hyperloop, gadgets known to boost your mood and much more. Katie’s also a “friend with connections” for her listeners. On her show she’s interviewed GM’s CEO and Chair Mary Barra, Nintendo legend Shigeru Miyamoto (who happens to be the creator of Super Mario!) and music icon Dave Navarro. And that’s just scratching the surface.

She’s also written for some killer outlets, including Oprah.com, Popular Science and Shape magazine. And, as the founder of Katie Linendoll Productions, she and her team regularly produce content for big-name brands, like Amazon, Capital One and RetailMeNot. Phew!

We first interviewed Katie on I Want Her Job in 2011. She was an early supporter of the women supporting women movement, and she’s a big believer in giving back. Period. She serves on the board of the Batcole Foundation, which supports research and awareness of pediatric cancer.

In episode 52 of I Want Her Job: The Podcast, Founder Brianne Perleberg speaks with Katie about underwater reporting, the growing power of virtual reality and how she spends 250 days a year traveling for her job. The grind may be work, but the work, she will enthusiastically tell you, is so worth it.

Jean-Marie Shields is a brand builder and a brand lover. She’s led a powerhouse career taking her from Nike to Starbucks and then Lululemon, but most importantly, she’s also a mom. And, as a single mom, she believes kids are smart and they want to be a part of their parent’s job, too.

“When I helped reposition the Starbucks brand and we updated the identity and we enrolled 5,000-6,000 people across the company into the new brand and experience as it had evolved, I actually had a conversation with my son. I said, “Hey, during the next 7 weeks Mom is going to be really busy. That means we’re not going to see each other as much as we were before, but right around the corner is going to be really different. Here’s what Mom is working on.”

But, before she was a mom, Jean-Marie was born and raised in Sweden. She came to the United States as an exchange student, and then she married and had a family. Early on in her career she worked mostly in creative roles -- starting her path at Nike in a creative position. After a few years, she moved to oversight of product, before eventually moving into more brand-centered roles. She spent 13 years at Nike, including 8 years in the company’s European office and 5 in its global headquarters. After her tenure there, she spent 8 years at Starbucks helping to reposition its brand. She then went on to help Lululemon after the brand’s unfortunate see-through yoga pants incident.

Now, Jean-Marie is Seattle-based and is applying her 20+ years in building lifestyle brands to launch dusk, her company where she does mindful branding for companies and homes. Homes, you ask? Yes. Her approach to the energy of a space helps individuals focus more on the present. And with presence comes a life more fully lived, and that outcome is a more joyous life, she says.

In episode 51 of I Want Her Job: The Podcast, Host Polina Selyutin and Founder Brianne Perleberg talk to Jean-Marie about the important role curiosity plays in creativity, calming a creative mind and what it was like to work with some of the most influential business minds of our time at Nike and Starbucks.

Rachael Norman is the founder of a Better, a technology company that helps people get their out of network medical bills paid. If you send Better your claim, they will do the work that can require hours of back and forth phone calls, codes, procedure conversations and requests for documentation. if your bill is paid, Better takes a 10% fee, and you get your money back. For those of you have tried the process of getting a claim paid, this business model is likely to make you smile. Rachael and her team have structured their business to be centered and financially aligned around the needs of the patient. In this show, Rachael shares her thoughts on problems in our healthcare industry, and her hopes for how to build businesses and healthcare systems that put patients first. getbetter.co

Sabrina Mutukisna, is co-founder of Town Kitchen,  an Oakland based, chef-crafted subscription food delivery service that employs low income youth between 15-25. Sabrina shares her story of growing up in her parents drycleaners in California and then working to support herself through UC Berkeley.  Along the way, Sabrina became very motivated by what she saw and experienced, and spent 13 years doing jobs in workforce development. Sabrina worked to help foster children, formerly incarcerated youth and other young people figure out how to start a career, complete  degrees and certificates, often helping with basic needs such as housing or childcare. While working for California Teacher Pathway, a program that helped lower income young adults complete a program of community college and then a 4 year degree, Sabrina learned the difficulty of using grant funding to employ youth for more than a year. Sabrina came up with a solution that would offer training and jobs that lasted several years. At Town Kitchen, most employees stay longer than 2 years, get training in the food industry and almost all are enrolled in college. Town kitchen also partners with other community organizations to help its employees with issues of  housing and transportation. With one business, Sabrina is helping to create community and so many ripples of change - jobs with living wages, job training, passion for food, and education on our food systems.