TrailBlazers Impact

Building dynamic teams and helping individuals reach their maximum potential is a life calling for Laura Piening. Her expertise and vision in transforming organizations was honed through a 30-year career in the business and nonprofit world, where she broke through several barriers, including becoming one of the first women to work in international banking on Wall Street.

She served as one of the few female pages in the New York Senate and earned an MBA. Wanting to challenge herself to do more than just make money, her next journey was in to the world of nonprofits, where she sharpened her skills at unlocking teams' passions and building a culture of collaboration. With her current project, Creating Clarity Now, she uses her experience in helping clients build an agile organization and embrace a common vision.

SHOP on www.trailblazersimpact.com for her book "Your Afterlife Review: How Will You Report Out?"

Today’s college students are entering an economy that demands an entrepreneurial mindset. Briana Weisinger, the startup advocate for the University of California, San Diego, wants students to be prepared for a future where independent work is the norm.

University research indicates more than half of students now in college will be independently employed in the next 15 years. Along with preparing students for this future, she helps foster the over 60 companies UCSD generates each year.

Her drive to succeed and help others stems from childhood challenges — she built a strong bond with her father and stepmother, who adopted her, after her parents’ divorce. Weisinger built resilience and a passion for large causes, with projects varied as helping renovate a women’s shelter and working at refugee camps in Greece.

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Rated #27 in Pretty Progressive: https://prettyprogressive.com/inspiring-podcasts-for-women-in-their-20s/

Rated #2 in Feedspot: https://blog.feedspot.com/trailblazers_podcasts/

Kimble Bosworth approaches life with a sense of fun-loving curiosity. When she was 15, she had a near death experience after almost succumbing to toxic shock syndrome. She remembers being at the doorway of what she believed was heaven, tempted to enter but instead willing herself back to life after hearing her mother’s voice in the hospital room.

Since that experience, there’s nothing to fear. Whether it’s her marketing business or volunteer work mentoring teens, she embraces all parts of life. Her free spirit was also fostered in her youth by international travels with her interior designer father, who took her around the globe when visiting clients. That sense of wonder carries her through each day.

Betsy Muller is a self-described science person, with a degree in chemistry and an MBA. It makes her an unlikely advocate for the Emotional Freedom Technique, a form of alternative therapy. Yet as a master trainer, she’s a passionate advocate about using it to help others recover from traumatic experiences and achieve wellbeing.

Muller credits the technique with helping her husband in his recovery from a traumatic brain injury and for being keeping her own balance while supporting him. This therapeutic technique is a critical pillar to her holistic business, where she helps people from all walks of life gain greater insight into themselves, their goals, and seek to heal from difficult life experiences.

If you liked what you heard, please hit the SHARE button above and share this episode with your network!

Please visit our website for more inspiring stories: www.TrailBlazersImpact.com and FOLLOW US!

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Did this episode get you thinking? Please share your thoughts with us at [email protected]

Keep in touch with Trailblazers Impact here:

Twitter: @TrailblzrsImpct

Facebook: @TrailBlazersImpact

Instagram: @trailblazersimpact

LinkedIn: TrailBlazers Impact Podcast

Rated #27 in Pretty Progressive: https://prettyprogressive.com/inspiring-podcasts-for-women-in-their-20s/

Rated #2 in Feedspot: https://blog.feedspot.com/trailblazers_podcasts/

In this fast-paced interview, Retired Lieutenant Colonel Valarie R. Austin shares her life lessons on achieving four college degrees and serving in a combat zone while living in a Middle Eastern country with different cultural expectations for "women."

In her interview, Valarie discusses her career as a military officer as well as life-after her military service, in particular, pursuing her passion for writing and publishing; speaking to throngs of high school students (and parents) about making smart and informed decisions regarding college, college costs and student loan debt; the difference between an industry, a career and an occupation; and so much more! There is something for everyone in this highly informative and entertaining interview.  Valarie is the author of The Student’s Comprehensive Guide For College & Other Life Lessons, a career and college readiness book, which is available on TrailBlazersImpact.com SHOP page.

Valentina Vitols has had a varied career, moving between politics, photography, app development, and the world of startups. Now an angel investor in Seattle, she mentors women founders to equip them for the journey of entrepreneurship.

In helping others, she draws on the many ups and downs she has experienced. Her first company failed, though from the experience she learned that it’s critical to sometimes seek outside help to solve complex business problems. She’s also run for political office in her native Venezuela before coming to the U.S. and launching a photography business.

Vitols stresses to her clients the critical role of relationships when growing one’s business. It’s necessary to maintain them even if investment partnerships don’t work out, as everyone you meet may be a resource one day.

If you liked what you heard, please hit the SHARE button above and share this episode with your network!

Please visit our website for more inspiring stories: www.TrailBlazersImpact.com and FOLLOW US!

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Did this episode get you thinking? Please share your thoughts with us at [email protected]

Keep in touch with Trailblazers Impact here:

Twitter: @TrailblzrsImpct

Facebook: @TrailBlazersImpact

Instagram: @trailblazersimpact

LinkedIn: TrailBlazers Impact Podcast

Rated #27 in Pretty Progressive: https://prettyprogressive.com/inspiring-podcasts-for-women-in-their-20s/

Rated #2 in Feedspot: https://blog.feedspot.com/trailblazers_podcasts/

Gina Goree Hitchens wants women to create a life of their calling. A major component is a firm financial foundation, and it’s what she helps clients develop through her practice GHG Financial Consulting.

Hitchens empowers women with financial skills and knowledge to prepare for the uncertainties of life. Hitchens believes in getting to know her clients and helping them develop a vision for the future, such as retirement and how to provide a financial legacy.

She especially relishes assisting women with their entrepreneurial goals, as that’s when smart planning and tough decisions are required to be in position for success. Hence the need to keep your “tribal sisters with you” — a close network of fellow women who strengthen one another on the journey.

If you liked what you heard, please hit the SHARE button above and share this episode with your network!

Please visit our website for more inspiring stories: www.TrailBlazersImpact.com and FOLLOW US!

Subscribe to our email list to get all our latest podcasts directly to your inbox: http://bit.ly/2ZBeoW9

Did this episode get you thinking? Please share your thoughts with us at [email protected]

Keep in touch with Trailblazers Impact here:

Twitter: @TrailblzrsImpct

Facebook: @TrailBlazersImpact

Instagram: @trailblazersimpact

LinkedIn: TrailBlazers Impact Podcast

Rated #27 in Pretty Progressive: https://prettyprogressive.com/inspiring-podcasts-for-women-in-their-20s/

Rated #2 in Feedspot: https://blog.feedspot.com/trailblazers_podcasts/

Lisa N. Alexander details the personal and professional journey to becoming The Marketing Stylist™. The owner of PrettyWork Creative LLC and PrettyWork Studios, Alexander is an award-winning documentary filmmaker and marketing expert. Through her consultancy work, she helps small business owners grow their operation with strategic marketing and branding strategies.

Alexander shares the challenges she faces in a male-dominated industry, and how she has built her business through intense dedication and a lifelong love of the creative arts. Family is central to her story — her husband is director of photography with the business, and together they have modeled their personal and professional partnership for their children.

Alexander has endured tragedy along the way, with the loss of her parents and unexpected death of a sister. Her strong faith and supportive family have helped her emerge stronger, all part of an empowering and inspiring story from a true trailblazer.

If you liked what you heard, please hit the SHARE button above and share this episode with your network!

Please visit our website for more inspiring stories: www.TrailBlazersImpact.com and FOLLOW US!

Subscribe to our email list to get all our latest podcasts directly to your inbox: http://bit.ly/2ZBeoW9

Did this episode get you thinking? Please share your thoughts with us at [email protected]

Keep in touch with Trailblazers Impact here:

Twitter: @TrailblzrsImpct

Facebook: @TrailBlazersImpact

Instagram: @trailblazersimpact

LinkedIn: TrailBlazers Impact Podcast

Rated #27 in Pretty Progressive: https://prettyprogressive.com/inspiring-podcasts-for-women-in-their-20s/

Rated #2 in Feedspot: https://blog.feedspot.com/trailblazers_podcasts/

Linda Vines Bright has devoted her career to children. She’s passionate about supporting learners with special needs, using her methods to address and support many different learning styles.

As a child she was very active, quickly finishing her work and wanting to help other students — but this behavior at the time was considered disruptive. When building out her career she wanted to support children through holistic education practices and helping children feel loved and listened to, which makes a major difference in their education.

Her work has also gone overseas, helping women in Ghana to build sustainable energy systems and develop better food preservation strategies. It comes back to children — all are magnificent, and deserve an education that works for them.

If you liked what you heard, please hit the SHARE button above and share this episode with your network!

Please visit our website for more inspiring stories: www.TrailBlazersImpact.com and FOLLOW US!

Subscribe to our email list to get all our latest podcasts directly to your inbox: http://bit.ly/2ZBeoW9

Did this episode get you thinking? Please share your thoughts with us at [email protected]

Keep in touch with Trailblazers Impact here:

Twitter: @TrailblzrsImpct

Facebook: @TrailBlazersImpact

Instagram: @trailblazersimpact

LinkedIn: TrailBlazers Impact Podcast

Rated #27 in Pretty Progressive: https://prettyprogressive.com/inspiring-podcasts-for-women-in-their-20s/

Rated #2 in Feedspot: https://blog.feedspot.com/trailblazers_podcasts/

As Founder of the Cleveland Women's Journal, a digital and print magazine,  Barbara knows what it takes to start a new business after being in another field for many years. Barbara and Nan talk about entrepreneurship, women's health and well-being, spousal abuse, sex trafficking, and dealing with breast cancer and death of a spouse.  As a woman who knows who she is and where she's going, Barbara's thoughts are enlightening, inspiring, and helpful.