THE IDEALISTS.

Welcome back to break*through! break*through is a raw, handcrafted kind of show in which you will experience transformations and insights from a whole  world of visionary women all seeking to change, clarify, and embolden their personal narratives through the work of coaching. 

In today’s break*through  session, you’ll get to hear Ganna’s breakthrough. Ganna is the CEO and founder of a deep-tech AI startup called Sayso. Their mission is to help English speakers around the world understand each other with ease, work productively, and grow human connection through reduced bias. Sayso is a real-time accent-modulating software, built by a team of phenomenally curious scientists and engineers pushing boundaries in audio science, AI, and online collaboration. They are in the middle of yet another financing round. On top of all this, Ganna is the mother of a very busy toddler, and she has also recently brought her 77-year-old father over from Ukraine due to the war and is helping him to adjust to life here in the US. Needless to say, their lives are exhausting. 

Janis Machala is a veteran coach, corporate executive, and one of the top go-to resources for women founders looking to accelerate their growth. She brings strategic insight, collaborative leadership, and people-connectedness—not to mention a large network of trusted resources for executive connections, funding, partnerships, job candidates, and specialty services from her many years working with organizations such as Microsoft Corporation and Sun Microsystems.

In this episode, Janis and Ganna work through some of Ganna’s hyper-achiever, perfect-daughter, perfect-mother, perfect-mate tendencies to create and hold more space for her own self-care and for her relationship with her partner—something that can often fall to last place in the chaos of their daily lives.

Join the conversation about THE IDEALISTS. and break*through. 

At our website: https://www.theidealistspodcast.co/
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On Twitter: @theidealistspod
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This week, THE IDEALISTS. podcast host and entrepreneur Melissa Kiguwa speaks with world-renowned poet Nikki Giovanni—one of the foremost authors of the Black Arts Movement. Giovanni’s notable collections of poetry are Black Judgment (1968) and Those Who Ride the Night Winds (1983), which were influenced by her participation in the Black Arts and Black Power movements of the 1960s. She has published numerous books of poetry—from her first volume, Black Feeling Black Talk (1968), to New York Times bestseller Bicycles: Love Poems (2009). She has written several works of nonfiction and children’s literature and made multiple recordings, including the Emmy-award nominated The Nikki Giovanni Poetry Collection (2004). Her most recent publications include Make Me Rain: Poems & Prose (2020); Chasing Utopia: A Hybrid (2013); and, as editor, The 100 Best African American Poems (2010). With more than two dozen volumes of poetry, essays, and anthologies, she has also published 11 illustrated children’s books, including Rosa, an award-winning biography of Rosa Parks. 

 Among her numerous awards, are the 2022 Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize, the inaugural Rosa L. Parks Woman of Courage Award, the American Book Award, the Langston Hughes Award, the Virginia Governor’s Award for the Arts, and the Emily Couric Leadership Award. She is a seven-time recipient of the NAACP Image Award. Her autobiography, Gemini, was a finalist for the 1973 National Book Award. Her album, The Nikki Giovanni Poetry Collection, also netted her a Grammy nomination for Best Spoken Word Album.

 In this frank, yet revelatory episode, Nikki is unabashedly herself. When she says she wants to produce a history series where “librarians sit around and drink champagne... other people may say it should be coffee, but it's my show and they'll drink champagne… not bitchin’ and moanin’, just talking,” it’s clear she knows what she wants. Listening to her speak in an Afro tradition of loosely aligned parables feels not unlike listening to jazz—the music of surprise—with tangential, non-linear explorations that loop back to something greater.

About the episode:

- Nikki leads off the episode by explaining that poetry was probably something you learned in the womb from your mother—that it was and is something created by women and passed down in the oral folk culture and traditions of something as simple as cooking and recipes.

 - Next, she admits that while she wants African Americans to be seen and recognized for playing major roles in literature, poetry, architecture, and athletics, she feels hope in witnessing the staunch progress of younger generations—as evidenced by the Serenas, the Venuses, and the Beyonces.

 - Building on that, she recounts moments from a lifetime of illustrious friendships with the likes of Nina Simone, Muhammad Ali, Lena Horne, Toni Morrison, Maya Angelou, James Baldwin, and Javon Jackson from Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers—with whom she is currently recording an album of spirituals.

 - Lastly, in summarizing a legacy of self-sovereignty, self-governance, and deep self-understanding, she hopes her poetry still stands 100 years from now—that people will still be reading her and grokking her across time and space and feel her personal imprint that “life is a good idea.”

Join the conversation about THE IDEALISTS. and break*through. 

At our website: https://www.theidealistspodcast.co/
On Instagram: @theidealistspodcast_
On Twitter: @theidealistspod
Help us grow! Leave a review of the show on Apple or Spotify
Order a copy of the*journal

Welcome back to break*through! We're beyond excited to bring you another session from our new series under THE IDEALISTS. roster.

In today’s session, you’ll get to hear Marilyn’s breakthrough. Marilyn is a seasoned character actress and writer for stage and screen known for her rich, grounded portrayals of Latin women. A graduate of NYU’s prestigious acting program, Marilyn is transitioning from a number of successful supporting roles working alongside iconic performers Morgan Freeman, Jane Lynch, and Parker Posey to a larger role on the Tyler Perry show All the Queen’s Men. It’s a huge shift in how she presents herself in meetings, on set, and even in her own self-talk—one that’s leaving her feeling anxious and intimidated as she now tries to navigate stepping into more complex leading roles.

Marilyn is working with one of our phenomenally energetic coaches Alicia Dara. Alicia is a nationally recognized speech and presentation coach who has helped thousands of people including CEOs, Global VPs, Executive Directors, and Presidential candidates find their Power Voice, and put it to work. Her clients include Microsoft, Amazon, Kimpton Hotels, Planned Parenthood, The National Women's Political Caucus, Facebook, Merrill Lynch, and Twitter. Her most popular course helps women strengthen their voices and clarify their personal messaging—exactly what Marilyn needs right now on her journey to becoming a leading actress.

In this episode:

- Alicia leads off by working with Marilyn on her “Personal Power Pitch”—a living document for that defines her superpower and provides a north star for how Marilyn wants to be perceived when walking into a room.

- Next, Alicia dives deeper into the four pillars of public speaking: pacing, volume, enunciation, and clarity, and together she and Marilyn rehearse and refine Marilyn’s personal power pitch and set a practice schedule.

- Alicia then relates a piece of critical wisdom about how Marilyn can redirect unwanted attention or flirtation when it comes to people’s reception of her appearance and how to kindly refocus the conversation back on the project without creating undue conflict.

- Lastly, Alicia advises Marilyn on how to discern and read the room and modulate how much of her story she shares. There are some projects where her heritage and journey will be valuable and other times where she’s going to feel the need to protect that story and redirect the conversation. She has full permission to set her boundaries as she sees fit.

To listen to the full episode, become a break*through member at: www.breakthroughpodcast.co

Join the conversation about THE IDEALISTS. and break*through. 

At our website: https://www.theidealistspodcast.co/
On Instagram: @theidealistspodcast_
On Twitter: @theidealistspod
Help us grow! Leave a review of the show on Apple or Spotify
Order a copy of the*journal

This week, THE IDEALISTS. podcast host and entrepreneur Melissa Kiguwa speaks with globally-recognized Queer women’s wealth coach and high-net-worth money muse, Merel Kriegsman—known for empowering clients to grow their business bottom lines by over $25 million last year. A one-of-kind, neurodivergent mother of three, former opera singer, and regenerative farmer, Merel has been featured in Forbes, Fast Company, Business Insider, ABC News, CBS News, and Good Housekeeping.

In this freeform and thought-provoking episode, Merel shares her thoughts on how the constraints engendered by the huge trend of “ethical marketing” can lead to a kind of “purity” culture that can prove so detrimental to a founder’s creativity. At its core, fear of “cancel culture” can hijack necessary bold decision-making and conversations women need access to in order to thrive. She also reflects on her journey to coaching through brand and web copywriting and what it means to be the first woman in your lineage to break through and make an authentic transition to sustained wealth.

In this episode:

- Merel leads off the episode by describing the controversy surrounding a recent article she’d written about ethical marketing being disguised as purity culture, and how important it is to not be hamstrung by all the so-called rules—or if you are going to play by them, do so, consciously—with intent.

- Next, Merel dives deeper into issues of “cancel culture” and asks what happens when women are “canceled” for pursuing money or ambition or power? How does that detract from overall social justice work so necessary for women’s equity?

- She then relates a piece of key wisdom: we tend to undervalue what comes to us most easily to us. Yet what comes to us most easily is usually our most valuable work and most often, we do not charge for that work. We don’t even consider creating packages around those specific skill sets. We so often feel discomfort at taking money for something that feels too easy or fun. It takes a recasting of the spell.

- Lastly, Merel shares her audacious wish to make more magic in the world and help women everywhere become the wealthiest in their lineage, to fund the kind of change they want to see—online, locally, or globally. For Merel, this has meant contributing to her own local indigenous community as it continues to cope with poverty, hunger, and addiction.

Join the conversation about THE IDEALISTS. and break*through. 

At our website: https://www.theidealistspodcast.co/
On Instagram: @theidealistspodcast_
On Twitter: @theidealistspod
Help us grow! Leave a review of the show on Apple or Spotify
Order a copy of the*journal

In this debut episode of break*through, host and entrepreneur Melissa Kiguwa brings an entirely new show to life under THE IDEALISTS. roster. 

If you’re a fan of THE IDEALISTS in general, you know our guests are always talking about doing the work. Do the work, do the work, you’ve got to do the work. But what is the work and why is it so important? Well, now you get to see it in action as you listen in on visionary women journeying through an intimately personal session with their coach. break*through is a more intimate kind of show. You will hear transformations and insights from a whole group of visionary women seeking to change, clarify, and embolden their personal narratives through the work of coaching.

On today’s episode, you’ll get to experience Luz’s breakthrough. Luz is a new CEO transitioning from being a successful traveling midwife to running a luxury yoga resort in Guatemala. It’s a big adjustment—one leaving her with a tremendous lack of joy as she steps into the role of boss. She now has 30+ employees to manage, as well as a resort that in large part fuels the business ecosystem in that part of the region.

Luz is being coached by one of our phenomenal partners and coaches, Scharrell Jackson, who comes with over 35 years of experience as COO to some of the top accounting firms in the nation. A highly sought-after keynote speaker, known as the go-to “Corporate Fixer” for the Fortune 500, Scharrell’s style is authentic, intimate, and above all powerful--exactly what Luz needs on her journey to becoming a CEO.

Join the conversation about THE IDEALISTS. and break*through. 

At our website: https://www.theidealistspodcast.co/
On Instagram: @theidealistspodcast_
On Twitter: @theidealistspod
Help us grow! Leave a review of the show on Apple or Spotify
Order a copy of the*journal

In this episode of THE IDEALISTS. podcast, host and entrepreneur Melissa Kiguwa interviews Anisha Singh, entrepreneur, former CEO of Mydala.com, and Founding Partner of She Capital, India’s leading early-stage venture fund devoted to nurturing and growing the next generation of female-focused businesses.

Anisha’s own journey as an entrepreneur has been full of breaking stereotypes, glass ceilings, and shifting traditional perceptions. Now as she dons a new role of investor, she is on a mission to cultivate female unicorns and role models that resonate with younger women aspirants.

A role model herself, Anisha was ranked amongst the Top 7 Global Women CEOs by Crunchbase in 2018. Prior to Mydala.com, she founded and ran a digital content company called Kinis Software Solutions. Anisha began her career working with the Clinton Administration on an initiative that’s still close to her heart—Springboard helped women entrepreneurs raise funds to start new businesses and lives. Inspired by these women, Anisha knew she wanted to be an entrepreneur back in India. Now recognized as one of The Top 100 Global Diversity Leaders in 2019 and ranked among the 50 Most Influential 2018 in Asia, Anisha is also the President of the jury of the Cartier Women’s Initiative for South Asia.

In this remarkable episode, Anisha shares what it means to bristle at being labeled a “female” founder, and how that notion shifted with the birth of her daughters when she realized there simply weren’t enough women’s voices in the mix, and that real representation needed to start with her—even if it was only one voice. She reflects on what it means to take a big leap, how to persist to get to the breakthrough, and how the startup journey is never quite what you think it’s going to be. She also discusses her journey from founder to investor and potentially back again. More than anything, Anisha’s audacious wish to create an international community of role models that women everywhere can access will leave you asking who your role models are and how can you be a better one?

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- Anisha starts off the episode by talking about how she has always believed in taking the leap—that jumping in the proverbial deep end and having to figure it all out has always served her best because, in the end, there’s never any sure path. She also reflects on how women are so often trained to overthinking things, which can leave you on the sidelines and missing the key moments of your life.

- She shares her journey of growing up in Delhi, being raised by a conservative father who was a struggling entrepreneur, then going to graduate school in the US, and on to work in the Clinton Administration to help women entrepreneurs raise funds to ultimately return to India to become an entrepreneur—as founder and CEO of Mydala.com.

- Anisha then recounts how her discomfort (or annoyance) being thought of as a “female” founder shifted with the advent of her daughters. She also recounts the hardships of raising funding only to lose it in the 11th hour, and also relates her humbling self-reinvention in bringing She Capital to life.

- At the end of the episode, Anisha shares her audacious wish for creating a world of brilliant founders and generations of role models who finally make real equality possible for women.

Join the conversation about THE IDEALISTS. and break*through. 

At our website: https://www.theidealistspodcast.co/
On Instagram: @theidealistspodcast_
On Twitter: @theidealistspod
Help us grow! Leave a review of the show on Apple or Spotify
Order a copy of the*journal

In this episode of THE IDEALISTS. (formerly Grit & Grace), host and entrepreneur Melissa Kiguwa interviews Tai Beauchamp, co-founder and Chief Brand Officer of Brown Girl Jane, a disruptive, plant-based wellness and beauty collection named by Refinery 29 as Beauty Innovator of the Year and winner of Best in Beauty Awards by Instyle, Allure, and Popsugar. Formerly a top editor for Harper’s Bazaar, O, The Oprah Magazine, and Seventeen magazines, Tai uses her vast platform to empower, educate, and entertain women of all ages.

In this episode, Tai shares what it means to grow up with the gifts of strength and self-reliance as well as what it means to unlearn old habits to forge the kind of partnerships that make a company Brown Girl Jane possible. Most of all, her audacious goal to impact ten million women will leave you inspired and enlightened.

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In the episode:

- Tai starts off the episode by describing why self-reliance is so historically ingrained in women’s ideals and belief systems and why she believes it's so important women realize they don’t have to go it alone—not in business and not in their personal lives.

- She shares her journey of being raised by a single mother and grandmother, going to an all-girls high school, and then on to Spelman College to become the youngest magazine editor at Seventeen—all under the messaging of: “You’re going to achieve this all on your own. And keep going!”

- Tai then recounts the story of how she reconnected with her Spelman sisters to co-found their groundbreaking beauty innovator startup Brown Girl Jane and how that partnership led to some of the crucial unlearning that’s set her on her path now.

- At the end of the episode, Tai shares her audacious vision for impacting the lives of 10 million women and how much the ripple effect matters even with our smallest actions.

Join the conversation about THE IDEALISTS. and break*through. 

At our website: https://www.theidealistspodcast.co/
On Instagram: @theidealistspodcast_
On Twitter: @theidealistspod
Help us grow! Leave a review of the show on Apple or Spotify
Order a copy of the*journal

In this episode of The Idealists. (formerly Grit & Grace), host and entrepreneur Melissa Kiguwa interviews Rebecca Clyde, the co-founder and CEO of Botco.ai, a conversational marketing startup that enables businesses to engage customers with AI-enabled chatbots. She has raised over $4 million in venture capital for Botco.ai, but even before running her current startup, she has more than 20 years in digital marketing and the technology industry.

In this episode, Rebecca shares some of the really hard things she went through when raising capital for her business. Her advice on how to build resilience is a game-changer and will leave you galvanized and inspired.

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In the episode:

- Rebecca begins the episode by describing why the mental shortcuts most investors use to assess talent does not help with finding exceptional founders.

- She then shares her own journey of coming to the United States from Central America, and the real grit and resilience she developed from dealing with adversity.

- Rebecca shares her fundraising story and how she pitched over 300 investors to fill her seed round.

- At the end of the episode, Rebecca shares her audacious vision for the world.

Join the conversation about THE IDEALISTS. and break*through. 

At our website: https://www.theidealistspodcast.co/
On Instagram: @theidealistspodcast_
On Twitter: @theidealistspod
Help us grow! Leave a review of the show on Apple or Spotify
Order a copy of the*journal

In this episode of The Idealists. (formerly Grit & Grace), host and entrepreneur Melissa Kiguwa interviews Kaisa Keranen, a personal trainer, fitness entrepreneur, and social media influencer with over 1 million followers on Instagram and Facebook. Kaisa has been featured in Vogue, Shape, SELF, Harpers Bazaar, Oxygen and ESPNW to name a few. She was featured on the Greatist as one of the most influential people in health and fitness and most notably was asked by Michelle Obama to be one of the go to trainers for her “Let’s Move” digital campaign. In this episode, Kaisa shares why health is a feeling not a look and how she is redefining fitness.

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In the episode:

- Kaisa begins the episode by describing why it is not sustainable to practice fitness with the sole intention to lose weight.

- She then shares her own journey of overcoming hardship and depression through movement.

- Kaisa outlines how she built her 1M following on Instagram and how she leverages her content to build her business.

- At the end of the episode, Kaisa shares her audacious vision for the world.

Join the conversation about THE IDEALISTS. and break*through. 

At our website: https://www.theidealistspodcast.co/
On Instagram: @theidealistspodcast_
On Twitter: @theidealistspod
Help us grow! Leave a review of the show on Apple or Spotify
Order a copy of the*journal

In this episode of The Idealists. (formerly Grit & Grace), host and entrepreneur Melissa Kiguwa interviews Michaela Boehm, a gifted speaker and counselor whose unique body of work centers around the intersection of intimacy and embodiment. Michaela travels and teaches internationally as an expert in intimacy, relationship and sexuality, and in her private practice, she coaches high-performing individuals and couples, including Oscar-winning actors, producers, writers, multiple Grammy-winning musicians, CEO’s, and multi-billion dollar fund managers. You can also see her on Netflix’s Unwell, as well as, Sex, Love, and Goop, and Jada Pinkett Smith’s Red Table Talk. In this episode, Michaela tackles how high achievers can love and connect more intentionally.

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In the episode:

- Michaela begins the episode by describing why high-achievers feel they must sacrifice the relational in order to become successful.

- She then explains how she teaches using the body to reconnect with others and self.

- Michaela outlines how people self-sabotage and how to create a new baseline for wellness regardless of one’s patterns.

- At the end of the episode, Michaela shares her audacious vision for the world.

Join the conversation about THE IDEALISTS. and break*through. 

At our website: https://www.theidealistspodcast.co/
On Instagram: @theidealistspodcast_
On Twitter: @theidealistspod
Help us grow! Leave a review of the show on Apple or Spotify
Order a copy of the*journal