In today's episode, Joy Phua, Chief Operating Officer at fintech start-up Heka Global, breaks down how she approaches solving multi-billion dollar problems in the financial ecosystem while applying her liberal arts background and hunger for entrepreneurship in the process. The conversation touches upon the importance of diversity at any scale of a company, why innovation careers are not linear, and how saying yes to challenges has skyrocketed Joy's trajectory and ability to operate in unknown territories.

Listen for advice on:

• Picking the right career challenges for growth
• Leaning into human-driven design to solve complex issues
• Ecosystem problems in the fintech industry and how they impact consumers
• How to kick-off innovation while executing on 0-to-1 projects

Learn more about:

• Joy Phua (Guest): https://www.linkedin.com/in/joyphua/
• Zoia Kozakov (Host): http://www.linkedin.com/in/zoia-kozakov
• Women in Innovation: http://www.womenininnovation.co

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In today's episode, Sarah Lux-Lee, founder and CEO at Mindr Global, discusses her journey to building out a consultancy and technology platform to help the world's leading workplaces develop their workforces. Sarah's path has always encompassed social impact through her work at the UN's campaign to End Violence Against Women and at the World Health Organization, but she shares how she's built a company focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion at scale and the intricacies of her entrepreneurial journey.

Listen for advice on:

• Developing an ecosystem approach to a problem
• Getting customer feedback and choosing when/how to implement it
• The critical infrastructure gap companies are missing within the DEI space
• Extending the ways in which we think about human capital and innovation

Learn more about:

• Sarah Lux-Lee (Guest): https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahluxlee/
• Zoia Kozakov (Host): http://www.linkedin.com/in/zoia-kozakov
• Women in Innovation: http://www.womenininnovation.co

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week's episode, the WIN/WIN podcast celebrates Black History Month through a conversation with Netflix's Head of Product Innovation, Animation, Laura Teclemariam. Bringing a plethora of innovation roles at companies like Electronic Arts, Tapjoy, Deloitte, and Microsoft as well as experience as an entrepreneur, Laura breaks down what we can all learn from the innovation and experimentation in the worlds of gaming and animation.

Listen for advice on:

• The importance of finding your people & advisory board within an organization
• Domain expertise within gaming, effects, and animation as a form of change management 
• Referencing the contextual historical information in order to gage actionable insights
• Guiding your team through the risk spectrum of innovating in an ecosystem

Learn more about:

• Laura Teclemariam (Guest): https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurateclemariam/
• Zoia Kozakov (Host): http://www.linkedin.com/in/zoia-kozakov
• Women in Innovation: http://www.womenininnovation.co

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week's episode, Zoia is joined by Brittany Driscoll, Co-founder & CEO of Squeeze, a completely fresh approach to a way better massage experience, brought to you by the founders of Drybar. The conversation covers the importance of creating delight in commoditized experiences in order to infuse hypergrowth in a business as well as Brittany's journey scaling Drybar from $30M to $100M business and then launching Squeeze as CEO.

Listen for advice on:

• Finding the right moments to infuse surprise and delight into a business
• Forging opportunities to fast-track your career through building relationships
• Creating plug & play solutions to enable scale and growth
• Being strategic about the use of technology in problem-solving

Learn more about:

• Brittany Driscoll (Guest): https://www.linkedin.com/in/brittany-driscoll-59157a5/
• Zoia Kozakov (Host): http://www.linkedin.com/in/zoia-kozakov
• Women in Innovation: http://www.womenininnovation.co

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week's episode, we hear from Lisa Wang, a board member and contributor to Fast Company, Forbes 30 Under 30 recipient, and former Head of Brand and Communications at Republic. Lisa actively invests in the crypto space as well as advises blockchain companies on establishing their brands and marketing practices to help them to connect with consumers. In this conversation, Lisa uncovers the future of innovation, the importance of women in crypto and Web3 as well as the role that gender and race have played in her own trajectory:

Listen for advice on:

• Uncovering your personal and professional 'why'
• The most coveted skills in innovation and Web3
• The role of NFTs in the start-up and investing ecosystem
• How women can use brand principles to elevate their careers

Learn more about:

• Lisa Wang (Guest): https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisacarmenwang/
• Zoia Kozakov (Host): http://www.linkedin.com/in/zoia-kozakov
• Women in Innovation: http://www.womenininnovation.co

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week’s episode, we hear from Cara Shortsleeve, who is CEO at The Leadership Consortium, a leadership development company that helps organizations create the conditions for all leaders to accelerate and thrive. Pulling from over ten years at Google, her tenure at Morgan Stanley, as well as experiences at New Balance and Saucony, Cara discusses the role of leadership development in innovation. 

Listen for advice on:

• How a culture of curiosity can spark innovation
• Why leadership development should happen continuously
• Factors to consider when evaluating growth opportunities
• Distinct qualities and skills of innovation leaders

Learn more about:

• Cara Shortsleeve (Guest): https://www.linkedin.com/in/carashortsleeve/ 
• Zoia Kozakov (Host): http://www.linkedin.com/in/zoia-kozakov
• Women in Innovation: http://www.womenininnovation.co

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, Neetu Rajpal shares how her passion for problem-solving led her to study computer science and her time navigating an 18+ year career at Microsoft — starting with Internet Explorer 3. She talks about finding her voice as a woman in STEM, employing her identity as an immigrant to adapt and solve problems, and entering the health care space —joining OscarHealth nine days before the pandemic began.

Listen for advice on:

• What questions to ask before a career transition
• How to combat being fearful of taking on a C-Suite title 
• Best practices for creating an environment where people can ask difficult questions
• How tech can solve some of healthcare’s biggest problems

Learn more about:

• Neetu Rajpal (Guest): https://www.linkedin.com/in/neeturajpal/
• Zoia Kozakov (Host): http://www.linkedin.com/in/zoia-kozakov
• Women in Innovation: http://www.womenininnovation.co
• Brand Copy by Nicole Beckley

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, Anastasia Leng recounts her journey from working on an ad product team at Google to bootstrapping a business and finding her way to becoming a CEO. She talks about how a side-project turned into a company, navigating through receiving “nos” at over 100 investor meetings, and how listening and project management helped her build a tech company without a tech background.  

Listen for advice on:

• Navigating difficult conversations as a team leader
• How the labels of “analytical” and “creative” can coexist
• Developing AI through trial and error
• Creating infrastructure around creativity

Learn more about:

• Anastasia Leng (Guest): https://www.linkedin.com/in/aleng/
• Zoia Kozakov (Host): http://www.linkedin.com/in/zoia-kozakov
• Women in Innovation: http://www.womenininnovation.co
• Brand Copy by Nicole Beckley

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, Vanessa Liu talks about how working on building digital products at McKinsey spurred her to want to run businesses herself; thinking about her career as an opportunity for creating a diverse portfolio. She shares her approach to generating access for underrepresented founders through her time at SAP’s accelerator, and how her college behavioral neuroscience major is impacting her new work on a venture in the longevity and aging space.  

Listen for advice on:

• Putting diversity at the core of leadership teams 
• Engaging customers to examine product-market fit 
• Evaluating employee happiness as a business metric 
• Hiring a team with the right values

Learn more about:

• Vanessa Liu (Guest): https://www.linkedin.com/in/vanessawliu/
• Zoia Kozakov (Host): http://www.linkedin.com/in/zoia-kozakov
• Women in Innovation: http://www.womenininnovation.co
• Brand Copy by Nicole Beckley

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week’s episode, Renan Gutman talks about her trajectory to becoming a product leader and what she believes to be innovative product leadership, especially in her role as Executive Vice President, Product. She shares what it was like to move from a large-scale company such as Microsoft to a growth-stage start-up, Kaltura, and the role of video in our ecosystem, while constantly embracing changes as an innovator. 

Listen for advice on:

• The ways that video can be used to enhance a product & user experience 
• What having product perspective means 
• The multitude of measurement tools that are being underutilized with video
• How to decide what sort of start-up is right for your career

Learn more about:

• Renan Gutman (Guest): https://www.linkedin.com/in/renangutman/
• Zoia Kozakov (Host): http://www.linkedin.com/in/zoia-kozakov
• Women in Innovation: http://www.womenininnovation.co

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.