In conversation with Valerie Smaldone and host Helen Jonsen.

Valerie Smaldone is an unforgettable voice behind the micand in front of the camera. She is a 5-time Billboard Magazine Award winner and is well known for her unprecedented success holding the #1 on-air position in the New York radio market. She has hosted, produced and createdseveral nationally syndicated programs featuring in-depth interviews with top recording artists such as Paul McCartney, Celine Dion, Rod Stewart, Elton John and Mariah Carey, among others.

She co-founded Just Do Good Entertainment, producingcommunity-minded shows like “Divine Renovation” with Erik Estrada and “Finding Kindness,” plus a family book, while reflecting on caregiving, kindness after 9/11, and staying adaptable amid AI.

Valerie’s earlier credits include hosting and producing a nationally syndicated radio program, “America Weekend with Valerie Smaldone…and Friends,” distributed through the Envision Radio Network. 

As an actress on stage and screen, Valerie had a featuredrole in “Blue Bloods” on CBS, has been a recurring character in the Fox Television series, “The Following.” Other notable roles include Kara Angelo, a character she created in the play she co-wrote, entitled “Spit it Out!”  She has performed in several acclaimed Off-Broadway plays: “Spalding Gray: Stories Left to Tell” at the Minetta Lane Theatre, “Naked in a Fishbowl” at the Soho Playhouse, “Broadway’s Next Hit Musical” at The Triad, and “Girl Talk: The Musical,” among others.

This Episode:

00:00 Whiteboard Career Hack

00:31 Show Intro andMission

01:27 Meet ValerieSmaldone

02:27 Light FMBreakthrough

04:59 Acting AlongsideRadio

05:46 Leaving Radio in2008

06:54 Coaching andTransferable Skills

09:23 COVID Pivot to Producing

10:59 Thrown Into Directing

13:20 Divine Renovation Explained

16:12 More Projects and Distribution

20:03 Elder Care and Life Balance

22:13 Future Plans and AI

23:47 Why Kindness Drives It All

26:07 Fun Life andBroadway Loves

29:03 FinalReflections and Wrap

RESOURCES

https://valeriesmaldone.com/

https://www.justdogoodent.com/

Producer/Host, TELLY AWARD WINNING NEW SERIES-Finding Kindness

Producer/Director, Air Angels: Flight Helene

Just Do GOOD Entertainment Presents, Officer Erik and the Very Special Dad-InternationalImpact Book Award winner

Executive Producer, TELLY AND DAVEY AWARD WINNING Divine Renovation-The Series,hosted by Erik Estrada

Director/ExecutiveProducer, NY FILM AWARD, LA FILM AWARD, ROME PRISMA AWARD WINNING FILM,TheThursday Night Club, featuring Gloria Gaynor

www.justdogoodent.com

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Support for This Kaleidoscope Career comes from Divine AssetManagement, a woman-owned firm advising individuals, families, and businessowners on long-term strategies that align wealth with values. Explore more at ⁠WorkWithDivine.com⁠

About Helen & This Kaleidoscope Career

I’m Helen Jonsen, the founder of helen jonsen media and ThisKaleidoscope Career

Check out my new book This Kaleidoscope Career:Empowering Women to Build Unconventional Careers and Redefine Success(De Gruyter Brill) wherever you purchase books or click here.

Work with me! I am booking exclusive keynotes,bookstore and book club appearances now. Email [email protected] or set a discovery call here at your convenience.

“This Kaleidoscope Career Podcast” is a production of helenjonsen media. Learn more at helenjonsen.com or email [email protected] 

TKC pod is edited onDescript. Learn more here https://descript.cello.so/u00D6MnPTT0

TKC pod is edited onDescript. Learn more here

Join Helen as an Innovation Women member. Do you want tospeak for a living? Join a community of speakers supported by a platform. Learnmore here.

Affiliate Disclosure: Thiscontent contains affiliate links. helen jonsen media will receive a smallcommission at no cost to you.

Welcome! This episode feels like sitting down with the smartest, funniest friend at the dinner table — the one who somehow makes you feel calmer and more ambitious at the same time.

In this wide-ranging conversation, Christine Koh shares the winding path behind her kaleidoscope career — from music cognition researcher and academic to pioneering blogger, creative director, strategist, podcaster, and trustedadvisor to mission-driven leaders.

She reflects on growing up in a Korean immigrant family, navigating a toxic workplace, becoming a mother, and ultimately choosing work that felt creative,meaningful, and deeply human. Along the way, Christine talks about launching Boston Mamas during the early blogging era, helping shape the future of influencer marketing through Women Online, and discovering her unique abilityto guide organizations through difficult conversations and moments of friction.

The episode is also filled with joyful sidebars — from baking elaborate cakes and learning tennis in midlife to gardening, activism, parenting teens, and why curiosity may be the greatest career skill of all.

00:00 Curiosity To Campaigns

00:50 Show Introduction

01:46 Meet Christine Koh

02:41 Life Today AndWork

04:07 From Scarcity ToPhD

06:31 Leaving Academia

07:13 Boston MamasBegins

10:08 Making the Leap

12:18 Design BusinessTwist

13:52 Books PodcastsConsulting

16:32 Women OnlineImpact

20:07 Next steps: DiplomatPractice

23:10 Motherhood andMeaning

28:42 Speed Round Fun

34:09 Activism andGiving Back

37:14 Advice for Others

Resources:

Where to find Christine https://www.christinekoh.com/

Podcast & Substack: Edit Your Life

Substack: There’s Always a Story

Recommended reading:

BOOK Cleo Dang Would Rather Be Dead: A Novel by Mai Nguyen

------------About Your Host

Helen Jonsen lives a kaleidoscope career built on decades of experience as a strategic adviser to corporate, nonprofit and public leadership, and a multi-platform journalist and speaker.

As a speaker: Helen is available for keynote workshops and firesides on This Kaleidoscope Career, including women’s leadership and empowerment, and on topics to help you strengthen your spoken message and deliver it with confidence. Learn more at helenjonsen.com or email [email protected].

Helen’s new book: This Kaleidoscope Career: Empowering Women to Build Unconventional Careers and Redefine Success will be published by De Gruyter-Brill in September 2026.

Listen: In This Kaleidoscope Career podcast Helen helps leading women reframe their nonlinear careers across various industries, nonprofits and government, and helps others who aspire to unlock a successful kaleidoscope career. “This Kaleidoscope Career Podcast” is a production of helen jonsen media. https://www.helenjonsen.com/#this-kaleidoscope-career

----------

Online Course: Command the Room: Develop Your Signature Remarks Toolkit for Leaders Hosted and written by Helen Jonsen in production with GenConnectU and LinkedIn Learning: A practical communication course for leaders who want to speak with clarity, confidence, and impact. Register here and use discount code: COMMAND15 for 15% off enrollment

TKC pod is edited on Descript. Learn more here https://descript.cello.so/u00D6MnPTT0

Join Innovation Women. Do you want to speak for a living? Join a community of speakers supported by a platform. Learn more here: https://www.awin1.com/cread.php?awinmid=96435&awinaffid=2281255&ued=https%3A%2F%2Finnovationwomen.com%2Fjoin%2F

Affiliate Disclosure: This content contains affiliate links. helen jonsen media will receive a small commission at no cost to you.

On this episode, Helen Jonsen sits down with writer, public relations expert, and self-described California Girl, Lisa Woolery, to talk about her “kaleidoscope career.” From teaching middle school English in SoCal to shaping messages in politics, public service, and corporate PR, Lisa built a life around words—until life rewrote the script.

After relocating her family to Kansas for a quieter life, Lisa’s husband, Eric, died suddenly just months later. What followed was a season of grief, survival, and, eventually, a return to the creative work that had always been calling her. Lisa shares howloss led her back to writing—through her memoir The Widow’s Comeback, a daily grief calendar, and a growing community for widows—while opening the door to a new chapter as a literary consultant and novelist.

It’s a conversation about resilience and reframing, and what it means to find your voice again when everything changes.

00:00 Writing Through Grief

02:03 Early Dreams and Teaching

03:12 Politics and Public Service

05:20 City PR to Corporate Offices

09:39 Family Pressures and Leaving Work

12:27 Moving to Kansas and Finding Voice

15:00 Dream Interrupted

16:46 Adoption and Building a Family

20:09 The Day Eric Died

23:07 Memoir Spark and Purpose

25:33 Sponsor Break

25:56 Publishing TheWidows Comeback

28:05 Workbooks andWidow Community

32:38 Literary Coachingand New Fiction

37:21 Kids Update andResilience

40:49 Life Now and Closing Reflections

Thanks to our sponsor:

Support for This Kaleidoscope Career comes from Divine Asset Management, a woman-ownedfirm advising individuals, families, and business owners on long-term strategies that align wealth with values.Explore more at WorkWithDivine.com

About Helen Jonsen & This Kaleidoscope Career

Helen Jonsen lives a kaleidoscope career built on decades of experience as a strategic adviser to corporate, nonprofit and public leadership, and a multi-platform journalist in front of the camera and behind the scenes.

Helen is available as a keynote or workshop leader on This Kaleidoscope Career, and on topics to help you strengthen your spoken message to deliver it with confidence. Learn moreat helenjonsen.com or email [email protected].

Helen’s new book: This Kaleidoscope Career: Empowering Women to Build Unconventional Careers and Redefine Success will be published byDeGruyter-Brill in September 2026.

Listen:In This Kaleidoscope Career podcast Helen helps leading women reframe their nonlinear careers across various industries, nonprofits and government,and helps others who aspire to unlock a successful kaleidoscope career. “This Kaleidoscope Career Podcast” is a production of helen jonsen media. https://www.helenjonsen.com/#this-kaleidoscope-career

----------

Online Course: Command the Room: Develop Your Signature Remarks Toolkit for LeadersHosted and written by Helen Jonsen in production with GenConnectU andLinkedIn Learning: A practical communication course for leaders who want tospeak with clarity, confidence, and impact. Register here and usediscount code: COMMAND15 for 15% off enrollment

TKCpod is edited on Descript. Learn more here https://descript.cello.so/u00D6MnPTT0

JoinInnovation Women. Do you want to speak for a living? Join a community ofspeakers supported by a platform. Learn more here: https://www.awin1.com/cread.php?awinmid=96435&awinaffid=2281255&ued=https%3A%2F%2Finnovationwomen.com%2Fjoin%2F

AffiliateDisclosure: This content contains affiliate links.helen jonsen media will receive a small commission at no cost to you.

Host Helen Jonsen welcomes marketing executive and radio/podcasting pioneer Liz Dolan, known for co-creating Satellite Sisters and for CMO roles at Nike, the Oprah Winfrey Network, and National Geographic. Liz describes her current multi-project life in Santa Monica, including work with Oregon Sports Angels, an investment group, a nonprofit program training young people for sports journalism, and her podcast The Lizness School. As a working woman throughout her career, she has made her home in New York, Oregon and Los Angeles.

01:56 Liz Today

06:11 Brown to NYC

08:30 Nike Leap

11:28 Satellite Sisters Origin Story

20:44 Community Legacy

24:09 From Oprah to Nat Geo

27:43 Sexism and Workplace Dynamics

29:50 Early Podcast Sponsorship Lessons

31:49 Stanford 3rd/Third Reset

34:36 Cohort Community Reflections

35:57 Launching Lizness School podcast

39:10 Health Habits and Speed Round

44:16 Olympics Gigs and Career Advice

Resources & Stuff We talked about:

Liz on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/liz-dolan-1b90584/

Satellite Sisters https://satellitesisters.com/

LIZNESS SCHOOL podcast https://open.spotify.com/show/17EfCHxnfXRLVEQ97tGLQv

The Magic Boost (nonprofit) https://www.themagicboost.com/

Oregon Sports Angels (Investing) https://oregonsportsangels.org/

Co-Author:  You’re the Best 

https://bookshop.org/shop/liandolan

Satellite Sisters' Uncommon Senses

What’s Liz reading: Flesh by David Szalay

-----

About This Kaleidoscope Career

Hosted by Helen Jonsen, journalist, strategic advisor, author, and speaker.

The Kaleidoscope Career is a production of helen jonsen media. Learn more at thiskaleidoscopecareer.com

https://linktr.ee/kaleidoscope.career.podcast?utm_source=linktree_

Support for This Kaleidoscope Career comes from Divine Asset Management, a woman-owned firm advising individuals, families, and business owners on long-term strategies that align wealth with values.

Explore more at WorkWithDivine.com

---

This Kaleidoscope Career celebrates women who twist and turn their skills, talents, passions, and experiences to create new and brilliant iterations of their careers. We meet women across sectors and industries, including some in C-suites, on stage, in medicine, consulting, advocacy, nonprofits, and entrepreneurship. Each of their stories is unique, and each one is inspirational.

Helen’s book, This Kaleidoscope Career: Empowering Women to Build Unconventional Careers and Redefine Success, published September 2026 by global publisher De Gruyter-Brill. -- Invite Helen to be a guest speaker at your next event, conference , bookstore, library or book club! [email protected]

https://www.helenjonsen.com/#this-kaleidoscope-career

If you'd like to be a guest, apply here  https://forms.gle/KK7rrX5WaNTwJ3Qf7

MORE TO LEARN!

Command the Room: Develop Your Signature Remarks Toolkit for Leaders

Check this out: An online course from Helen Jonsen in production with GenConnectU and LinkedIn Learning:

A practical communication course for leaders who want to speak with clarity, confidence, and impact. Register here and use discount code: COMMAND15 for 15% off enrollment

-----

TKC pod is edited on Descript. Learn more here https://descript.cello.so/u00D6MnPTT0

-----

Join Innovation Women. Do you want to speak for a living? Join a community of speakers supported by a platform. Learn more here: https://www.awin1.com/cread.php?awinmid=96435&awinaffid=2281255&ued=https%3A%2F%2Finnovationwomen.com%2Fjoin%2F

 -----------

Affiliate Disclosure: This content contains affiliate links. helen jonsen media will receive a small commission at no cost to you.

#thiskaleidoscopecareer

#StrongWomenLead

#leadership

#careers

About This Episode

Nicole R. Ferrera has spent more than two decades at the intersection of media, advertising, and technology — and she has seen this industry from nearly every angle. She started as a media buyer at the major holding companies (WPP, IPG,Omnicom), moved to the publisher side at Viacom, helping offset linear television decline through digital revenue, and then worked in ad tech building solutions that work for both buyers and sellers.

But Nicole's story doesn't live only inside the professional world. In this conversation, she opens up about a life-altering accident in college, a burnout that brought her to a breaking point during the pandemic, a late ADHD diagnosis that reframed decades of her life, a cross-country move from New York City toColorado — and the businesses she has built since, on her own terms and her own values.

In this episode:Nicole's Early path

The accident that changed her life

The grad school of media

Buyer-seller-builder

Ethics in the start-up world

Burnout big time

Move from NYC to Colorado

Her ADHD diagnosis

The Superwoman Society and ADHD Aligned

On being a mom first

What's next?

Resources & Links Mentioned

• ADHDAligned.com — Nicole's new research-backed platform for women navigating ADHD at work and at home (launching soon)
• Superwoman Society — Nicole's global mentorship network for women with ADHD; join as a mentor or mentee
• NRFMedia.com — Nicole's media and advertising consultancy
• CureSearch for Children's Cancer — curesearch.org — funding the bridge between early-stage and late-stage pediatric cancer research
• Innovation Women — Speaker network https://www.awin1.com/cread.php?awinmid=96435&awinaffid=2281255&ued=https%3A%2F%2Finnovationwomen.com%2Fjoin%2F

• ADDCA — The ADD Coach Academy, where Nicole completed her ADHD coaching training

About This Kaleidoscope Career

Hosted by Helen Jonsen, journalist, strategic advisor,author, and speaker.

The Kaleidoscope Career is a production of helen jonsenmedia. Learn more at thiskaleidoscopecareer.com

---

This Kaleidoscope Career celebrates women who twist and turntheir skills, talents, passions, and experiences to create new and brilliant iterations of their careers. We meet women across sectors and industries, including somein C-suites, on stage, in medicine, consulting, advocacy, nonprofits, and entrepreneurship. Each of their stories is unique, and each one is inspirational.

Helen’s book, This Kaleidoscope Career: Empowering Women to Build Unconventional Careers and Redefine Success, will be published in September 2026 by global publisher De Gruyter-Brill. -- Invite Helen to be a guest speaker at your next event, conference , book store, library or book club! [email protected]

https://www.helenjonsen.com/#this-kaleidoscope-career

MORE TO LEARN!

Command the Room: Develop Your Signature Remarks Toolkit forLeaders

Check this out: An online course from Helen Jonsen inproduction with GenConnectU and LinkedIn Learning:

A practical communication course for leaders who want tospeak with clarity, confidence, and impact. Learn to craft your SignatureRegister here and usediscount code: COMMAND15 for 15% off enrollment

TKC pod is edited on Descript. Learn more here https://descript.cello.so/u00D6MnPTT0

Join Innovation Women. Do you want to speak for a living?Join a community of speakers supported by a platform. Learn more here https://www.awin1.com/cread.php?awinmid=96435&awinaffid=2281255&ued=https%3A%2F%2Finnovationwomen.com%2Fjoin%2F

Affiliate Disclosure: This content contains affiliate links. helen jonsenmedia will receive a small commission at no cost to you.

Meet Laura Pensiero, RDN

Registered Dietitian, Chef, Author, Consultant and Speaker

Owner of Gigi's Trattoria in Rhinebeck, NY

From studying nutrition, working at NY’s premier hospitalsto sharing a kitchen with world-renowned French chefs to becoming an accidental restaurateur. Meet the tenacious Laura Pensiero, the owner and driving forcebehind GiGi’s Trattoria in Rhinebeck, New York, and author of Hudson Valley Mediterranean.

From Laura, we learn how to succeed in the restaurantbusiness, build adjacencies to our expertise, and what she has learned as an entrepreneur through the crash following 9/11 and the pandemic. Creativity, good management, and community have become her hallmarks in the 25 years she has been building a robust community in the Hudson Valley.

Find out what the inimitable Julia Child told her aboutnutritionists and about the books she worked on with the likes of Le Cirque's founding chef, Alain Sailhac, and  Jacques Pépin, Jacques, Torres, and the late André Soltner.

Meet Laura at  https://www.laurapensiero.com/

Gigi’s Hudson Valley https://www.gigihudsonvalley.com/

Books & Media:

Laura has worked on The French Culinary Institute's Salute to Healthy Cooking, From America's Foremost French Chefs (1998); The Strang Cookbook for Cancer Prevention: AComplete Nutrition and Lifestyle Plan to Dramatically Lower Your Cancer Risk (1998). by LauraPensiero, Michael Osborne, Susan Oliviera with foreword by Jacques Pepin; and her Hudson Valley Mediterranean, The Gigi Good Food Cookbook (2009).

Column: Sanctuary Magazine - Laura’s CornerTable https://www.sanctuary-magazine.com/lauras-corner-table.html

---------

About This Kaleidoscope Career

Hosted by Helen Jonsen, journalist, strategic advisor, author, and speaker.

Like the colored glass in a kaleidoscope that tumble to create new and brilliant images, This Kaleidoscope Career celebrates women who twist and turn their skills, talents, passions, and experiences to create new and brilliant iterations of their careers. We meet women across sectors and industries, including some in C-suites, on stage, in medicine, consulting, advocacy, nonprofits, and entrepreneurship. Each of their stories is unique, and each one is inspirational.

Helen’s book, This Kaleidoscope Career: Empowering Women to Build Unconventional Careers and Redefine Success, will be published in September 2026 by global publisher De Gruyter-Brill.

The Kaleidoscope Career is a production of helen jonsen media https://www.helenjonsen.com/

Learn more at thiskaleidoscopecareer.com

https://www.helenjonsen.com/#this-kaleidoscope-career

--------

Support for This Kaleidoscope Career comes from Divine Asset Management, a woman-owned firm advising individuals, families, and business owners on long-term strategies that align wealth with values. Explore more at WorkWithDivine.com. https://www.divineassetmgt.com/

---------------

MORE TO LEARN!

Command the Room: Develop Your Signature Remarks Toolkit for Leaders

• Check this out: An online course from Helen Jonsen in production with GenConnectU and LinkedIn Learning: A practical communication course for leaders who want to speak with clarity, confidence, and impact. Learn to craft your Signature Remarks, including your passion statement, talking points, personal stories, and your go-to talk that help you show up, stand out, and lead. Register here and use discount code: COMMAND15 for 15% off enrollment
• TKC pod is edited on Descript. Learn more here https://descript.cello.so/u00D6MnPTT0
• Join Innovation Women. Do you want to speak for a living? Join a community of speakers supported by a platform. Learn more here  https://www.awin1.com/cread.php?awinmid=96435&awinaffid=2281255&ued=https%3A%2F%2Finnovationwomen.com%2Fjoin%2F

Affiliate Disclosure: This content contains affiliate links. helen jonsen media will receive a small commission at no cost to you.

In this episode of This Kaleidoscope Career:

Naeemah Elias went from a Harvard scholarship to life on stage to State Street and beyond.

Host Helen Jonsen introduces Naeemah Elias, a former actor and Harvard graduate who became the second Black woman managing director at State Street before founding Elias Presence Ventures.

Naeemah is the first puppeteer to be a guest on This Kaleidoscope Career. It was one more piece of colored glass in the brilliant images she would create along the way.

In describing herself as a chameleon, she gives us an honest look at career and life including three children, interstate moves, bankruptcy, divorce, life as an actor, and a dozen years climbing the ranks at State Street in Boston.

There she advanced from executive assistant to leadership in business continuity, information security, governance, compliance, risk, acquisitions, and built a 2020 internal talent marketplace. She recounts the madness of the pandemic as asingle parent and workaholic, and how that led to burnout.

It also led to her stepping off the ladder and into her own. Naeemah makes her home in Boston and is a member of Innovation Women speakers.

00:00Transferable Skills Mindset

00:28Show Premise and Host Intro

01:20Meet Naeemah Elias

03:00Childhood & Theater Life

06:58Post 9/11 Reset

08:53Pregnancy Sparks Corporate Shift

13:24Boston & State Street years

20:33Leaving to Start Her Business

21:35Burnout in the Pandemic Years

28:45The Gap: a Summer Reset

32:07Building the Business

34:47Pricing Your Expertise

38:38Landing a TEDx Talk

43:59Advice for others

45:57Giving Back and Where to Find Her

Find Naeemah's TEDx talk here https://lnkd.in/d7SEkz3U

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

Elias Presence Ventures. https://www.linkedin.com/company/elias-presence/

Recommended Reading:

Talk Like Ted by Carmine Gallo https://www.carminegallo.com/talk-like-ted/

PassionProject: South Shore Children’s Chorus (Boston)

https://www.sscchorus.org/

About This Kaleidoscope Career

Hosted by Helen Jonsen, journalist, strategic advisor, author, and speaker. Learn more at https://www.helenjonsen.com/

 Like the colored glass in a kaleidoscope that tumble to create new and brilliant images,

TKC celebrates the remarkable women who twist and turn their skills, talents, passions, and experiences to create new and brilliant iterations of their careers.

The Kaleidoscope Career is a production of helen jonsen media llc.

#thiskaleidoscopecareer

#StrongWomenLead

#leadership

#careers

——

TKCpod is edited on Descript. Learn more here https://descript.cello.so/u00D6MnPTT0

AffiliateDisclosure: This contentcontains affiliate links. helen jonsen media, llc will receive a smallcommission at no cost to you.

Host Helen Jonsen welcomes you to Season 4 of This Kaleidoscope Career, and previews upcoming guests and new content across platforms!

Welcome to This Kaleidoscope Career with thoughts about how women are doing it differently. As the colors of a kaleidoscope shift and tumble to create amazing and unique images, our skills, talents, experience and passions can create unique careers that are anything but linear. After four decades as a journalist, writer, strategic comms pro and professional speaker, I have learned a lot about how we communicate who we are and what we do. These are our stories and the tools to celebrate them.

Web page  https://helenjonsen.com/new-podcast

Partial support for This Kaleidoscope Career comes from Divine Asset Management, a woman-owned firm advising individuals, families, and business owners on long-term strategies that align wealth with values.

Explore more at WorkWithDivine.com

Check out my new online Course: Command the Room: Develop Your Signature Remarks Toolkit for Leaders in production with GenConnectU and LinkedIn Learning

My practical communication course for leaders who want to speak with clarity, confidence, and impact. Learn to craft your Signature Remarks, including your passion statement, talking points, personal stories, and your go-to talk to help you show up, stand out, and lead.

⁠https://genconnect-courses.thinkific.com/courses/Command-the-Room-The-Signature-Remarks-Toolkit-for-Leaders?ref=6311fe⁠

Affiliate Disclosure: This content may contain affiliate links. helen jonsen media may earn a commission from purchases at no extra cost to you.

Meet Lauree Ostrofsky

Support for This Kaleidoscope Career comes from Divine Asset Management, a woman-owned firm advising individuals, families, and business owners on long-term strategies that align wealth with values. Explore more at WorkWithDivine.com

In this episode of Kaleidoscope Career, host Helen Jonsen sitsdown with Lauree Ostrofsky, an empathetic coach and business consultant with a compelling story of resilience and transformation.

Lauree shares her personal battle with a brain tumor at 28, which led her to shift her focus from public relations to becoming a speaker, author, and entrepreneur.

Find Lauree at https://www.simplyleap.com/

Lauree is the accidental founder of the Hudson Valley Women in Business membership community, which has now become a non-profit continuing to serve thousands of women members.

With her optimistic approach, Lauree emphasizesthe importance of authenticity, community building, and continuous personalgrowth.

The episode also features a fun lightning round where Lauree reveals her favorite books, dream destinations, and more.

00:00 A Life-Changing Diagnosis

00:47 Introduction to Kaleidoscope Career

01:42 Meet Lauree Ostrovsky

02:23 Lauree 's Career Journey

06:11 Balancing Work and a new family unit

10:07 The Power of Authenticity in Business

11:29 Early Career and Education

14:38 A Major Life Twist

21:26 Founding Hudson Valley Women in Business

28:54 The Power of Community

30:46 Turning a Hobby into a Business

32:44 Transitioning Leadership

33:46 Personal Reflections and Changes

37:36 Speed round: Fun and Personal Questions

45:21 Passion Projects and Final Thoughts

***This Kaleidoscope Career Podcast is a production of helen jonsen media, llc.

Online Course:

Command the Room: Develop Your Signature Remarks Toolkit for Leaders  (link here)

A practical communication course for leaders who want to speak with clarity, confidence, and impact. Learn to craft your Signature Remarks, including your passion statement, talking points, personal stories, and your go-to talk that help you show up, stand out, and lead.

Code: COMMAND15

Discount: 15% off enrollment

https://genconnect-courses.thinkific.com/courses/Command-the-Room-The-Signature-Remarks-Toolkit-for-Leaders?ref=6311fe

Speakers: Learn more about Innovation Women

 https://www.awin1.com/cread.php?awinmid=96435&awinaffid=2281255&ued=https%3A%2F%2Finnovationwomen.com%2Fjoin%2F

Affiliate Disclosure

The show notes contain affiliate links. helen jonsen media may earn a commission from purchases at no extra cost to you.

https://www.divineassetmgt.com/workwithdivine

In this episode of This Kaleidoscope Career, host Helen Jonsen interviews former Forbes Executive Editor, Technology Betsy Corcoran, an innovator at the intersection of education and technology.

Support for This Kaleidoscope Career comes from Divine Asset Management, a woman-owned firm advising individuals, families, and business owners on long-term strategies that align wealth with values.

Explore more at WorkWithDivine.com

ABOUT THIS EPISODE & BETSY CORCORAN

A former Silicon Valley Bureau Chief for Forbes and a seasoned tech journalist, Betsy's career has evolved to focus on the impact of AI and technology in education. She explains how being a mother, involved in her children’s lives, played a role in her decision to enter the unknown.

BETSY discusses her journey from journalism to cofounding EdSurge, and her current role with PlayLab AI, a nonprofit building AI infrastructure for teachers and students. Her passion for storytelling, Helping others in education, and deep collaboration in tech innovation are central themes.

The episode features a speed round where Betsyshares her love for open water swimming, her musical aspirations, and the desire to make a meaningful difference in the world.

00:00 Introduction to Kaleidoscope Careers

01:21 Meet Betsy Corcoran: Innovator inEducation and Technology

02:04 A Day in the Life of Betsy Corcoran

04:19 Betsy's Journey from Journalism toEducation Technology

14:16 The Birth of EdSurge & Family Considerations

23:13 Betsy's Current Endeavors and Future Plans

23:35 Speed Round: Getting to Know Betsy

28:41 Betsy's Board Positions and Contributions

33:15 Final Thoughts and Reflections

35:22 Conclusion

Additional Notes:

Future Fluent futurefluent.net

Playlab.ai

Consulting firm: http://www.ledelabs.com

New Harmony Line https://newharmonyline.org/

DesignTech High School https://www.linkedin.com/school/design-tech-high-oracle/

Project Ollie https://www.linkedin.com/company/project-ollie/

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Command the Room: Develop Your Signature Remarks Toolkit for Leaders, presented by Helen Jonsen

A practical communication course for leaders who want to speak with clarity, confidence, and impact. Learn to craft your Signature Remarks, including your passion statement, talking points, personal stories, and your go-to talk that help you show up, stand out, and lead.

Code: COMMAND15

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https://genconnect-courses.thinkific.com/courses/Command-the-Room-The-Signature-Remarks-Toolkit-for-Leaders?ref=6311fe

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