Women Killing It!

Congressional candidate Lillian Salerno shares how she has spent her career as a small business owner and an advocate for working families, nurses and patients. Lillian wants to have a seat at the table in Congress to demand more transparency in healthcare, fight corporate consolidation, and get the corporate money out of politics. Lillian created life-saving technology during the AIDS epidemic and worked to help alleviate poverty and grow opportunities in rural America as part of the Obama administration. Lillian decided to run for the 32nd Congressional District seat to speak up on behalf of those people and populations in her home state of Texas who don't have a voice in Washington. Listen and get inspired to bring your Power to the Polls!

Mallory Kasdan is creator and host of MILK Podcast: Moms I'd Like to Know. "Like MILFs, but not," Mallory explains. Mallory is the author of ELLA, a book about the grooviest six year old since Eloise ruled The Plaza in the 1950's. Mallory is also a professional voice actor for television and radio, and she writes essays about parenting and has produced arts & culture pieces for public radio. Mallory shares the zig zags of her career path, how connections made when she was at the bottom of the publishing industry hierarchy gave her opportunities later in her career, and the challenges of juggling motherhood and a creative career. Listen and get inspired to fake it until you make it!

Hear how Natali Morris, former NBC news anchor and co-founder of Morris Invest, used creative money management to create financial freedom for her family. Natali's mission is to empower women to take control of their money and start building real long-term wealth. Natali shares her money ah-ha moment and talks about how you can use the same tools she did to hit your "freedom number," the amount of money you need to bring in passively each month to be free to give up your day job. As of October 2017, Natali's family of five has achieved complete financial freedom. Listen to this episode to discover her tips for creative wealth building and taking control of your own life.

Jillian Wright is co-founder of the Indie Beauty Expo, an event, media, and educational platform that gives independent beauty entrepreneurs the opportunity to launch and grow their businesses. Jillian is a serial entrepreneur who started as a facialist in a small room next to a doctor's office, grew that business into her own spa, launched her own skin care line, and co-founded a high-growth platform that helps other female entrepreneurs get their start. Like many women who juggle work and family, Jillian lacked time for networking and had to figure out how to build a platform for her business. Jillian tells how she overcame lack of confidence and how she learned that what she has to say matters.

Jill Malek has grown her handprinted nature-inspired wallpaper business to paper the walls of YouTube's flagship corporate office, Bloomingdales, Saks Fifth Avenue, Ritz Carlton Boston, and more. Jill offers advice for women who are scared to take the plunge into entrepreneurship, shares lessons learned in over ten years of having her own business, and her proudest career moments including having her patterns become part of the permanent collection at the Brooklyn Museum.

Kim Z. Dale is a playwright with a master's degree in Information Security. She's also "a writer of eclectic blog posts, practical business documentation, structured congressional testimony, quirky short fiction, and award-winning plays." Kim works as an information security specialist with a focus on data privacy for the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. And she's a mom. On this episode we talk about pursuing our multiple sides rather than just being one thing, why becoming non-essential is a good career move, working in male-dominated fields, and the training that women in tech really need (hint.. women are't the ones who need to be trained).

Kristina Saffran, the co-founder and CEO of Project HEAL, shares how starting her non-profit at age 15 helped her complete her own recovery from Anorexia Nervosa. In the last ten years, Kristina and her co-founder Liana Rosenman have grown Project HEAL to be the leading non-profit organization in the United States delivering prevention, treatment financing, and recovery support for people suffering from eating disorders. Project HEAL has over 40 chapters in the US, Canada, and Australia and continues to grow. Kristina talks about the complexities of eating disorders, which are mental health illnesses. Kristina also talks about the "thin ideal" and how it does a disservice to all women.

Last week women who ran for office were victorious across the country, so we decided to replay our interview with law professor and anti-corruption activist Zephyr Teachout. She shares her experiences running for office, first for New York Governor in the Democratic Primary and then for Congress in New York's 19th District. Although Super PACs funded by billionaires spent millions to target Zephyr, she describes running for office as the most human thing a person can do. Zephyr explains that politics is about meeting, connecting, and listening to people -- all things that play to women's strengths. Listen and get inspired to enter politics or to fearlessly take any bold action!

Hear how Christyl Johnson is leading the charge of shaping and designing NASA's missions of the future. Christyl talks about forging ahead in the male-dominated world of science and how to move past fear and the impostor syndrome to succeed. The former Executive Director of the White House's National Science and Technology Council and current Deputy Director for Technology and Research Investments at Goddard Space Center, Christyl Johnson has had a fascinating trail-blazing journey to becoming the first African-American Deputy Director at NASA. She started her career as an engineer at NASA and worked her way up, always questioning the notion of impossibility.

In this episode, hear the story of how Suzanne Todd crafted a long lasting career as an award-winning producer whose movies have grossed more than three billion dollars worldwide. Suzanne talks about forging ahead in the male-dominated world of Hollywood, producing blockbusters like Alice in Wonderland and the Austin Powers trilogy, critics' favorites like Memento and The Boiler Room, and her latest project, A Bad Moms Christmas -- out in theaters today!