Women INVESTING in Women and GIRLS

In this episode, we featured Hazami Barmada, whose involvements in social activism and Arab empowerment have brought many global issues to the public’s attention. Hazami shares with us her experiences in witnessing the situation of conflict in the Middle East as well as the large number of people, especially children, who have been displaced from their homes because of the amount of violence. She tells us about the incredible impact that young children caught in the conflict have on her and the message of humanity and hope that they were able to convey through art, which later became the “Peace and Hope” art display in front of the National Mall in Washington D.C. Hazami explains the ways that anyone can help children caught in the Middle Eastern conflict in supplying them with various necessities and finishes off the conversation by providing inspirational tips to girls around the world.

In this episode, we featured consultant and social activist Hazami Barmada. Hazami is the founder of The Barmada Group, LLC, a consulting firm, as well as Al-Mubadarah, an Arab empowerment initiative. She shared with us her passion for helping Arabs feel empowered through her initiative platform, Al-Mubadarah, both in America and abroad. Hazami also explains the role of media in America and tells us how the “truth” of what is conveyed through media can often neglect to acknowledge the big picture of a situation. Lastly, Hazami addresses the lack of “humanization” of the conflicts abroad and explains why it is important to think of one country’s issues as a global issue, needing a global solution in response.

In this episode, we interviewed Ramona Kasavan of Happy Days, whose goals are to keep more girls in school and increase the amount of female confidence and positivity. Ramona shares with us her experiences in attending Red Bull’s Amaphiko entrepreneur academy and how the exposure to innovation helped her ideas with Happy Days thrive. Happy Days is a company that provides girls living in low socioeconomic areas in South Africa with sanitary pads to use during their time of menstruation. These products enable the girls who receive them to remain in school for approximately 384 days more than they would without them. Ramona tells us how Happy Days, and her other project teaching girls financial independence, is changing South Africa and the world as we know it.

In this episode, we featured Melissa Jane Kronfeld of Party For a Purpose, who shared with us her experiences in studying international relations and global affairs. Melissa stresses the importance of education in order to combat the War on Terrorism. With her brand, Party For a Purpose, Melissa also demonstrates a “hands on” approach to philanthropy, inviting many profound world changers to her home to provide speeches with tremendous insight to the attendees of the party. Through her work with the Nexus Working Group on Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery, Melissa talks with us about the persistent, and often hidden, reality of modern slavery. However, Melissa also offers ways that anyone can help become part of the solution. Lastly, Melissa explains the importance of being a global citizen and how everyone around the world – no matter the person’s origin, is united.

In this episode, we featured Christy Jones, founder of Extend Fertility. Christy demonstrated a passion for innovation from a young age, catching the “entrepreneur bug” at the age of 19 when she started her own tech company. Later in life, she realized that many women around her in their 30s and 40s were unmarried and without children because they were either too busy in their careers or were yet to find “Mr. Right”. The knowledge that infertility increases every year that a woman postpones having children made it apparent that there was an urgency to create a new technology to ease the stress women have to conceive a child early in life. To provide a solution to this problem, Christy came up with Extend Fertility, which gives women the option to stop their biological clock by freezing their eggs until the they are ready to conceive a child. She shares her excitement with the progress and success rates of this new technology and compares the freedom felt with the option to freeze one’s eggs to that of the introduction of birth control. Christy also shares with us the challenges she faces with her company that tackles the controversial topic of egg-freezing, as well as how the combination of the societal movement towards technological innovation and women’s rights and her passion for her work helps to overcome it all.

In todays episode we interviewed Sofia Falk of Wiminvest. We discussed how her background in the armed forces contributed to her pursuit of diversification of the workplace. She informed us of the mission of Wiminvest to help women “grow and bloom” in the workplace by placing them in managerial positions. Sofia also

shared Wiminvest’s role in helping major wedish corporations like H&M, Ikea, and Volvo modernize their management by emphasizing a greater gender distribution within. To address the issue of many corporations only having approximately 30% women in management positions, Wiminvest utilizes their Business Transformer Workshop system, in which 50-100 selected women are given the guidance and resources needed to attain high management positions. Sofia gives women advice on how to give themselves a voice in the workplace and encourages women to reach for change, break norms, and stand up for themselves! Finally we wrap up our conversation by discussing her involvement in Battle of the Numbers and the media’s role in diversification in Sweden.

In this episode, we featured Patrice Strong-Register, the founder of PLR Services - a company dedicated to helping small businesses succeed. She shares with us her top tips both for small business start-ups and their founders. It is evident that Patrice is passionate about helping others to succeed. She recently started “STRIVING TO THRIVING” business seminars that enable her to travel the country providing guidance to entrepreneurs and businesspeople. Patrice also talks with us about her involvements in Jatro Biofuels, and Women INVESTING in Women. She hopes to inspire women to be successful and feel empowered in whatever they wish to achieve.

Today we interviewed Urska Srsen, Co-Founder of Bella Beat, an app that

helps mothers with their pre-natal care. BellaBeat offers a wide array of apps that focus on both the mother, and the father. These Apps include Bella Shell, Bella Leaf, and Bella Balance. Their revolutionary technology has given expectant mothers the ability to calculate the weight of their baby before birth, record the babies heart beat, as well as keep the mother happy and stress free. Because of her involvement in the tech industry, we discussed what it is like to be a woman entrepreneur in this fast growing male dominated industry. We also discussed how her European background has affected the growth of her company.

In this episode, we featured Lisé Markham of EmicMedia who shared with us her journey working in the male-dominated broadcast industry. Lisé not only inspires with her tenacity to work in an environment in which she was ridiculed for her gender, but also with her accomplishments in leadership and founding positions. With EmicMedia, Lisé shares her experience in broadcast operations to help others reach their full potential through partnerships and expert guidance. Lisé, among other profound developments in the broadcast industry, also started the television station, KSWB TV, from the ground up to be one of the most state-of-the-art stations in San Diego. An angel investor, broadcaster, entrepreneur, innovator, and proud mother to two girls, Lisé exemplifies what it means to be fearless and focused to achieve success.

In this episode, we featured Teal Brown Zimring of Galvanize Partners, a company that aims to create professional partnerships to promote positive social change. Teal was also an integral part of the fight for female empowerment, focusing on combating the global crises of hunger, illiteracy, and lack of economic opportunities among girls and women. She also describes one of the items on the United Nation’s post 2015 agenda that seeks to have governments all over the world devise social policies to encourage self-sustainability for females. She helped to create and promote The Girl Effect, a movement supported by the UN Foundation, Nike Foundation, Nobel Foundation, Coalition for Adolescent Girls, and other major entities. Teal encourages everyone to contribute to humanitarian efforts to address these global issues and inspires our listeners with the advice that “If you’re going to fail, fail fast” and “If you have an idea, say it out loud”.