Torch Podcast

Rachel Tipograph quit her lucrative job at Gap as Global Director of Digital and Social Media and traveled the world for 100 days. Soon after she went to work building an eComm platform, MikMak, in 2015.

She's made impressive lists, like Forbes 30 under 30, The Most Creative People of The Year by Fast Company and Ad Age, The Most Influential Women In America by Marie Claire, and so many more. Plus, MikMak was included in Inc.'s Best Workplaces List.

Gary Vaynerchuk, AKA Gary Vee, is one of her investors! Rachel shares her fast and furious investor pitch and the number one lesson she learned from him.

Aside from understanding the digital space, Rachel's the master at building company culture and hiring the right people for her growing team. She shares views on the importance of a boss in an employee's life and how the interview process is a two-way street.

Things we cover

• Biggest lesson she learned from Gary Vaynerchuk
• How to finds opportunities
• Best country from her 100-day trip around the world
• Hardships building a company and where she failed
• Great questions to ask candidates
• How to treat a reference call when vetting candidates - love this one!
• Corporate culture and benefits employees actually love that increase happiness and foster team moral
• Best ways to build employee loyalty
• Characteristics a great leader needs to have

Full show notes and links: https://torchpodcast.com/ep-7-how-to-build-company-culture-rachel-tipograph-investor-gary-vaynerchuk/

Let's connect! Subscribe to Torch and follow @torchpodcast on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and TikTok.

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This is an emotional interview with a powerful woman who is a human trafficking survivor.

Rebecca Bender is not just a survivor. She is a leader in supporting other human trafficking survivors, the go-to authority for law enforcement in related cases, an author, speaker, entrepreneur and community leader. She is such an inspiration!

Full show notes and links: https://torchpodcast.com/ep6-human-trafficking-survivor-turned-author-podcast/

Things we cover

• Misconceptions of human trafficking
• What traffickers look for – who's most at risk
• Mental state of when she tried to escape and effects of trauma to this day
• Building healthy relationships after trauma, and rebuilding trust
• Full decimalization of the sex trade: brothel owners, procuring, pimping
• Anxiety, depression, suicidal thoughts from living in a prolonged state of fear
• False sense of independence – that feeling some of us women take on since a young age as a sense of protection
• Challenge of asking for help
• Scariest part of starting something new – Rebecca started many for profits and non-profits
• How to help survivors in your community

Full show notes and links: https://torchpodcast.com/ep6-human-trafficking-survivor-turned-author-podcast/

Let's connect! Subscribe to Torch and follow @torchpodcast on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and TikTok.

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After leaving a secure corporate job, Susan Jit embarked on a new journey with her two sisters Shelina and Rovina. Sulina Shop was initially their side hustle that was born during the wee hours of many weekdays and most weekends.

Sulina Shop is an all-natural, organic, Ayurvedic skincare company that makes clean products like face oils, masks, body butters, scrubs, deodorants and more. It was founded in 2015 when the three sisters wanted to create a business that used natural ingredients they were raised with back in Fiji.

She did a lot of the leg work herself along with her sisters rather than pay for outside help for each task that needed to get done. Because of this, Susan took all the photos you'll see on sulinashop.com using just an iPhone. And it looks great! Plus, with help from YouTube tutorials she figured out Photoshop and other tools to create graphics and videos for the site and marketing collateral. It's impressive what a trip to Home Goods and an iPhone can do!

She tells it like it is: the crying, the questioning, the self-doubt.

Topics we cover in this episode:

• How she built an Instagram audience
• What made her quit a well-paid, comfortable corporate position and take a risk embarking on her own company
• Mistakes leaders tend to make
• How Sulina Shop started
• How to work with family, one sister being a stay-at-home mom and the other sister having a full-time job
• How to deal when times get tough, from crying and picking yourself back up
• How years of meditating bring answers and solace
• How to not be "careful" with your own brand
• Start-up challenges when working with large distributers
• Applying good leadership skills from lessons from bad leaders
• Why you don't need a fancy camera to build a website or marketing collateral

Full show notes with links: https://torchpodcast.com/ep-5-turning-your-side-hustle-into-a-business-with-susan-jit

Let's connect! Subscribe to Torch and follow @torchpodcast on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and TikTok.

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Sarah Weise, CEO of Bixa Marketing Research and author of InstaBrain: The New Rules for Marketing to Generation Z, shares an incredible amount of knowledge in this episode. Listen in on why it's so important to understand, not only what Gen Z like, but why. We go into depth as to the many reasons behind the Gen Z mindset, some key terms they use, what types of influencers they are obsessed with, and why they prefer tutorial videos over a night watching Netflix.

Topics we cover in this episode:

• Goat Yoga – ya it's a thing!
• Gen Z upbringing in post-911 world, one with more diversity and family dynamics than ever before
• How Technology Parenting played a major role in how they see the world and interact with it
• Gen Z attention span and how many screens they can master at once
• Their love for apps VS search engines, and how this affects your content and marketing dollars
• Their inclination to share pre-purchasing decisions VS post-purchase experience and how as a company you can tailor to their social media sharing habits
• How to best resonate with Gen Z when marketing to them and leading them
• The importance of standing out in a social media feed as they continue to scroll through content
• The type of influencers they resonate with most
• Some brands and influencers we call out: Mejuri, Grace Atwood, and James Charles
• Why leaders need to help them work on their soft skills
• Rapid fire Gen Z terms – LMK if you know any of these high-key terms yourself!

For full show notes, visit https://torchpodcast.com/ep4-how-to-mentor-market-to-generation-z-with-sarah-weise

Let's connect! Subscribe to Torch and follow @torchpodcast on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and TikTok.

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Madeline Abel-Kerns is a professional opera singer and a voice coach who teaches students how to find their voice. She uses somatic methods and vocal techniques that allow students to better connect to their bodies. This creates a deeper connection to their voice, an instrument which Madeline believes we don't access enough.

I was her student for some time with the goal of connecting to my breath and not speaking from my throat, which is called "vocal fry". She's currently a voice teacher at Southern Oregon University, but also teaches via Skype and Zoom.

Topics we cover in this episode:

• Benefits of breathing correctly, and how it has helped me in my personal and professional life
• Why do women tend to hold our breaths more?
• How managing your breath affects your presentation skills
• How breathing correctly can assist with physical ailments
• Margaret Thatcher's voice transformation with the help of her voice coach
• Body and breath aerobic training
• Bartenieff Fundamentals and other somatic techniques
• What is vocal fry

For full show notes, visit https://torchpodcast.com/ep-3-harness-the-power-of-your-voice-with-madeline-abel-kerns

Let's connect! Subscribe to Torch and follow @torchpodcast on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and TikTok.

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In this episode, I interview Lila Harding. She owns a consulting company that helps CEOs master their lives and take that needed next step in their career. She has years of experience helping others through their inflection points with clarity and support. She advises people based on their desired life shift - on what they want to work towards or accomplish and strives to not just balance life, but actually live in intention towards a more thoughtful path.

Topics we cover in this episode:

• How to build a support system based on your real needs
• Why gossip in the workplace is more dangerous than you think
• Stop being used by others in the workplace
• What being "busy" really says about ourselves
• The best way to approach a difficult boss
• How we all live our own "story lies"
• Questions leaders need to ask themselves
• Professional boundaries with your team
• What is "inspired followership"
• How to mastermind the team you need for where you plan to take your life and career
• How to pinpoint success in your life and career
• How to deal with self-employment woes

For full show notes, visit https://torchpodcast.com/2

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Welcome to Torch! In this first episode, I share my vision for Torch and what leadership means to me in a broad sense. Leadership does not only represent a specific corporate role or someone who owns their own business. A leader is so much more than that. It's the way you lead your own life that determines what type of leader you are for yourself and for those around you. How you lead affects not just co-workers or those you may manage, but your friends and family.

Things I cover in this episode:

• The concept of leadership and the different forms it takes
• Types of interview guests that will be on Torch
• Why I left a great corporate position… and moved to LA!
• Lessons from past jobs that I was able to translate into future opportunities
• My professional background and experience as a poor and strong leader

Don't forget to download Torch's FREE list of the 3 Top Leadership Characteristics by visiting https://torchpodcast.com/1. Click that link for full show notes too.

Let's connect! Subscribe to Torch and follow @torchpodcast on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and TikTok.

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