The Curious Middle

Diana Klochkova is VP of Digital Strategy for Rebel Ventures, a leading sports digital strategy and tech venture firm, with a client list including Real Madrid, Golden State Warriors, Boston Red Sox, Chicago Bulls and San Francisco 49ers. We discuss Diana’s path to digital marketing strategy, her previous role as Global Social Marketing Lead for Levi Strauss, projects in Shanghai, Panama and what it is like to work in Sports digital strategy. In her free time, Diana also created a product called the The Bang Wrangler, a sport accessory line for women who love water sports.

Kimberly Cassady is VP of Talent for Cornerstone OnDemand, a company that provides businesses with software to recruit, train and manage their employees. Cortnerstone has made it on to many best places to work lists including Forbes and Glassdoor.

If you only remember one thing from this show,  Kimberly suggests all of us just make the ask. If you hear about upcoming projects at your company, just ask for the opportunity. 

Kimberly’s role leading a manufacturing floor scared her and forced her to adopt a fake it till you make it approach. Today, Kimberly’s operations experience has given her the confidence she uses every day in her role as VP of Talent.  Looking back on her career, Kimberly says “If you were to look at the aggregate of my career I probably have more failures than I do successes, but I am willing to take the chance and I am ok with the failure. I am ok if it's a learning experience as a result of it.” 

Kimberly attributes some of her success in her willingness to test ideas and take action, "I would rather take the incorrect action as opposed to no action", says Kimberly, as she shares the trial and error approach that has resulted in more chances to learn and succeed.

If you love writing, blogging, photography, creating content — and having control of your future while developing your own business — we think you will enjoy hearing how Lauryn Evarts created her blog and brand, The Skinny Confidential. When Lauryn started blogging 6 years ago, she was broke and miserable working in a bartending job. Today, With six employees, Lauryn is running her own business.

In today's episode of I Want Her Job: the Podcast, we talk to Lauryn about how she engages with her audience, her mindset for setting goals and dealing with criticism. She also shares how she chipped away every day at the goals she made for her blog. "Every day when I laid my head on the pillow I had built The Skinny Confidential in some small way," she says.

Now as a professional blogger, Lauryn shares some practical advice for what it takes. "If you can't deal with criticism probably being an influencer is not the way to go," she says. But if you can? Well, we think the upside could be that it's your dream job.

Ida Tin is founder of Clue, the world's fastest growing period tracking and fertility app. Ida shares why she is so committed to using technology to empower women with more knowledge and control of their bodies and for family planning. Ida is on a mission to help women become more aware and "friendlier with their bodies". Hear how Ida founded Clue and and about Femtech, an emerging area of technology addressing women's health. As Ida says "Within Femtech alone there is so much unmet potential. Everywhere we look we see needs that women have that are not being addressed where technology can play a role." Prior to founding Clue, Ida had a business leading motorcycle tours around the world. Listen to hear how Ida's background and early interests in women's health evolved into her role as founder of Clue.

We strive to inspire women leading the future of business here at I Want Her Job. This is why we were so excited to speak with Cecilia Foxworthy, co-founder of Torus Teens, an online tool for connecting teens with afterschool and summer programs with the leaders of our future – teens – in mind.

The idea for Torus Teens came about after Cecilia had the realization that the majority of the free afterschool programs for teenagers were available, and sometimes just around the block, but many of the teens she knew were not even aware of them. So, she made a move to fill the need. Now the idea has blossomed into an organization that is supported by Inc., ImpactLab, Urban Assembly, and A Better Chance, among other organizations.

And it’s this drive to help others that we admire so much. “I just don’t accept that all teenagers don’t get the chance to make themselves who they want to be … and explore those interests,” she says. We already have the resources today to change lives and open the doors for teenagers, but we just need to connect them with the opportunities, people and organizations that will make this happen.

“We have the real potential to move the needle on the achievement gap, which has been widening over the last 30 years,” she says. “We can close that by harnessing programs and methods that are already in existence … We don’t really need more resources, we just need to use them better.”

Learn more about what else drives Cecilia, why she really likes to wonder ‘why’ and more on episode 34 of I Want Her Job: The Podcast.

At I Want Her Job we love a good startup story, and we like one that involves two friends destined to meet and create a business even more. One day in early 2016, Annie Dean called her friends – asking them to direct her to the smartest women they knew. As fate would have it, a few friends directed Annie to Anna Auerbach, a woman described by mutual friends as a “force of intelligence” and full of energy. Over a phone conversation, Anna shared her thoughts on a business that would help create a marketplace for women seeking flexible job opportunities. Annie was instantly hooked on the idea, and this first phone call ignited a passion and partnership between the two dynamic women.

The idea became Werk, a business dedicated to helping women thrive in the workforce and find flexible job opportunities. Since launching earlier this year, Werk has received funding, created a marketplace for flexible jobs with over 60 companies – including Facebook, Uber and Samsung – and has hired a staff of four and developed a new product.

Anna’s Harvard MBA and McKinsey background, combined with Anna’s experience in practicing law, they say, has given them a distinct advantage during their research, analysis and business planning phases for Werk. As self-professed data geeks, Annie and Anna knew that data was showing them a business opportunity for a site like Werk was there. And as ambitious young mothers to toddlers with demanding professional careers, Anna and Annie understand firsthand the challenges women face when they don’t want – or cannot take a break – from working. In fact, research shows more than 30% of women end up leaving the workforce after having children. And, of those that left, 70% say they would have stayed in their jobs if they had been given more flexibility. Furthermore, a Bain research study has shown that women value flexibility more than titles, location and pay. The data, as well as common sense, shows the supply is there, and from a business perspective, flexibility lowers costs and helps companies recruit and retain top talent.

We’re thrilled to share episode 33 of I Want Her Job: The Podcast with you. We hope the story of Annie and Annie inspire you to shift your own thoughts on the work/life culture.

In episode 32 of I Want Her Job: The Podcast, we speak with Lauren Collins, staff writer at The New Yorker, and author of When In French: Love In A Second Language. The book, which is a memoir of falling in love, learning a new language and adjusting to a new culture, was recently selected as a "Notable Book of 2016" by The New York Times. And it's easy to see why.

With plenty of humor and fascinating details on linguistics and French culture, in the book Lauren recounts her journey of learning and adjusting to a life in France. In her interview, she shares the story of the one decision that changed her life. Weeks before her 30th birthday, Lauren decided to shake things up, requesting to work for The New Yorker from London. It was during this fateful trip that, in a decidedly American way, Lauren walked over and introduced herself … to her future husband!

Eventually moving with him to Paris, When In French chronicles the cultural adjustments and clashes of living in a new country. Listen in to hear more about Lauren's journey, details on her sought-after job at The New Yorker and more.

Felena Hanson was just another woman working from home when she came up with a brilliant idea. While working at home for eight years, she missed having a sense of community and often time struggled to focus. The options in the market at the time, while uber-hip and high tech, were lacking an environment that felt beautiful and clean to her. She realized she was craving a coworking space designed by women, for women, so Felena embarked on creating what she couldn't find.

And now, five years later, Hera Hub is the first international coworking and shared office space for women (though open to men as well) from Washington, D.C. to Stockholm, Sweden. And although the company specializes in providing inspired spaces for women to work from, the company also hosts training sessions on planning, accounting and other business services – providing continuous support and advice for its members. They also offer an endless supply of coffee and wine! After all, Felena says, in Hera Hub spaces women are truly trying to help one another.

"I wanted to create something that was bigger than myself, and bigger than the city that I'm in," Felena says. " … It's an ecosystem of support, collaboration and community."

In episode 31 of I Want Her Job: The Podcast, Editor and Host Polina Selyutin speaks with Felena about launching a business, making mistakes and building a community.

Judy Robinett's story begins in Franklin, Idaho. As a young girl who was bullied during junior high, Judy felt uncomfortable at social events, which she would often arrive late to and leave early from. Until her 40s, she felt shy, awkward, not good enough, not cute enough and not educated enough.

Today, however, Judy's life paints a different picture. As a well-known and highly respected investor and advisor, she is known as the woman with a titanium Rolodex. If you're curious about how she made the leap from insecure young woman to confident businesswoman, then you will want to hear episode 30 of I Want Her Job: The Podcast.

In today's show, Judy shares how an attitude of, "Keep your head down; work hard; and wait your turn," turned into advice worth tossing. She read Dale Carnegie's How To Win Friends And Influence People and immediately realized that it was actually those leaving early on Friday to socialize at the golf club were the ones getting ahead at work. After reading this book, she began to make intentional choices in how she interacted with others.

This fresh outlook aids Judy to this day. When she meets someone new, Judy immediately begins looking for ways she can help, which she explains further in her step-by-step approach in her book on networking – How To Be A Power Connector. In today's episode, Editor and Host Polina Selyutin discusses the art of connection with Judy and tips that can help you develop your own titanium Rolodex.

According to Shopify’s Director of Talent Acquisition Anna Lambert, the recruiting industry is broken. And, we happen to agree. While most companies utilize a traditional process for filtering out candidates based on a list of experience and requirements, Shopify does things very differently. In fact, Shopify actually encourages candidates to apply if they don’t meet all the traditional requirements listed on a position.

“We don’t want to exclude people who can be incredible in a role because they don’t think they’re qualified,” Anna says. Shopify’s website goes further, saying, “Experience comes in many forms, many skills are transferable and passion goes a long way.” Don’t you wish more companies thought like that?

In episode 29 of I Want Her Job: The Podcast, Editor and Host Polina Selyutin speaks with Anna about how Shopify actively seeks to understand a job candidate historically and how the company factors in passion projects and career goals. If you’ve ever been discouraged by the traditional job application process, you won’t want to miss today’s show.