LEAVE YOUR MARK: Freshly Brewed Career Advice with Aliza Licht

Stacey Stevenson dropped out of a rural high school in the South when they were pulled out of the closet. They worked at fast food restaurants to save enough money to move to Dallas to "do something with their life" because they were intent on making it in the corporate world. Stacey achieved just that with a long history of senior defense, technology, and finance roles. But in 2021, they turned their business acumen, lived experience, and passion to work for LGBTQ+ families and those who wish to form them. As the first Black Chief Executive Officer at Family Equality, Stacey is a trailblazing leader, selected as one of Out Magazine's Out100 list — a compilation of the year's most impactful and influential LGBTQ+ people — in the fall of 2022.Stacey has already ushered Family Equality through a tremendous chapter of growth. From expanding the organization's work to protect LGBTQ+ youth and families in schools to deepening the focus on lowering barriers to parenthood in our community, they have prioritized not only advancing lived and legal equality for LGBTQ+ families but also advancing racial and social justice for BIPOC communities, those living in rural areas, and those living at or below the poverty line. And they are just getting started. A powerful speaker and motivator, Stacey regularly shares their experiences growing up LGBTQ+ in the rural South, being pulled out of the closet, and navigating life as a Black queer parent.Stacey's advocacy has helped propel Family Equality further into the national spotlight with multiple appearances on The Sunday Show with Jonathan Capehart, a bipartisan panel discussion hosted at the U.S. Capitol, collaborations with movement partners, countless speaking engagements, and media appearances including an op-ed in USA TODAY. In the op-ed, Stacey shared their family's story of moving from their home state of Texas in search of a more welcoming community. Stacey, wife Cheralyn, and 8-year-old twin boys, Duke and London, enjoy the life they are building in Washington, D.C.In this episode, Stacey shares their journey, which is, at times, heartbreaking but equally inspiring. We discuss their work and mission at Family Equality, the importance of being an ally, and why people cancel themselves when they don't speak up for their beliefs. We dive into work-life balance, mindful Mondays, ruthless prioritization, how they leveraged transferable skills to crush an interview for a job they had no experience in, and so much more.

Dubbed by the New York Times as the Queen of Hoops, Jennifer Fisher's accessories brand is coveted by top celebrities and the fashion set. But Jennifer Fisher's creativity doesn't fit neatly into a box. As a former wardrobe stylist for commercials, this jewelry founder's exceptional eye has graced other categories like home and interior design, and her expert kitchen skills have made her custom salts the new must-have accessory to meals across the country with @jenniferfisherkitchen. How does a jewelry designer branch out into salts? Jennifer is laser-focused on creating what she feels deep in her gut and not caring what others think. In this episode, Jennifer shares her personal story of motherhood and serious health struggles and how her son's unexpected and miraculous birth quite literally gave birth to her jewelry collection. The baby gifts being sent to her just weren't cutting it. Her famous personalized stamped dog tag was the talk of the photo shoots she was on, and all it took was making one necklace for Uma Thurman (who wore hers on the cover of Glamour), and the rest is history. Founded 18 years ago, her brand is now omnichannel and just getting started. Jennifer shares her mentality around brand-building as an individual, being super direct, and why you can't attract everyone. Note: That's ok with her. Her energy and style are contagious; you'll leave this one inspired to be yourself. Jennifer is a member of the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA), a nominee for the 2019 Accessory Designer of the Year at the annual CFDA Awards, a recipient of the 2018 Town & Country Jewelry Award for Retail Innovation, the 2016 Influencer of the Year at the annual Accessories Council Excellence (ACE) Awards and was a nominee for the CFDA Swarovski Accessories award in 2014. She speaks frequently about strategic leadership, brand building, and empowering the next generation of fashion entrepreneurs, most recently at Harvard Business School, MIT Sloan, Columbia, Savannah College of Art & Design, and Northeastern University.

What does it take to get on television and succeed in media today? Jaclyn Levin knows. As an accomplished media executive, executive producer, showrunner, advisor, and consultant, she has led network news broadcasts, content development, show creation, and the building and developing of modern, multimedia, and digital-first businesses. Jaclyn earned four Emmy Awards, four Gracie Awards, an Edward R. Murrow award, two Daytime Emmy Nominations, and was named to Variety's 2020 Power of Women Impact Report. Throughout her career in network news, Jaclyn has produced and overseen award-winning, quality content with the highest level of journalistic and production value. With a front-row seat to history in the making, she has led top-tier teams of journalists delivering millions of people their news daily. Her versatility is key to pivoting from breaking news coverage to features, entertainment, lifestyle, and short-form storytelling. As one of the first female Executive Producers at TODAY, Jaclyn ran the business behind the multi-million dollar hour of television she oversaw, managing relationships with not only high-profile news anchors and entertainment talent but also partnering with all internal teams. Jaclyn spent 15 years at TODAY, and 26 total at NBC News, leaving in the fall of 2020.Today she is the president of Shriver Media, working alongside her former colleague Maria Shriver, running The Sunday Paper and all aspects of Shriver's media organization in addition to consulting with other media clients. In this episode, Jaclyn takes us behind the scenes of broadcast journalism, what it takes to break through, what it means to be a discerning executive, and how she thinks about media today.

Success is a tricky thing. For starters, what does success even mean? Everyone has their own definition of success, yet we are often held to society's standards. In this unique live event, three notable authors, Aliza Licht, Laura Gassner Otting, and Christina Wallace, discussed this topic from their experienced perspectives and respective new books, ON BRAND, Wonderhell, and The Portfolio Life. Each author brings decades of experience and fascinating stories to the table:Aliza Licht is an award-winning marketer, 2x author, host of the Leave Your Mark podcast, and personal branding expert with over twenty-five years of experience in the image-making fashion industry. Her new book, ⁠ON BRAND: Shape Your Narrative. Share Your Vision. Shift Their Perception.⁠ is part career book, part personal growth guide, and a comprehensive roadmap to building your personal brand so your name is dropped in rooms you're not in and that you're recommended for opportunities other people haven't even heard of yet. In the WSJ bestseller, Wonderhell: Why Success Doesn't Feel Like It Should . . . and What to Do About It, Laura Gassner Otting leverages her 30-year-plus resume, defined by her entrepreneurial edge, to introduce the idea that success is often both a wonder and a hell. She answers the question: Why doesn't success feel like it should? What do we do with this confusing feeling, and how do we learn to live with this newfound potential that's both exciting and exhausting?In The Portfolio Life: How to Future-Proof Your Career, Avoid Burnout, and Build a Life Bigger than Your Business Card, What Color Is Your Parachute? meets Out of Office in this inspiring, practical playbook. Christina Wallace, serial entrepreneur, podcaster, and Senior Lecturer of Entrepreneurial Management at Harvard Business School, shares her solution for anti-hustle culture and how having a "portfolio life" (rather than pouring yourself into one single full-time job) will help you future-proof your career and achieve a sustainable work-life balance while optimizing your happiness, personal growth, and bank accounts. 

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger could not be more true for Natasha Miller. As the multi-hyphenate CEO of Entire Productions, Inc. and Poignant Press, Natasha is also a celebrated jazz artist with seven records released on her label, Poignant Records. Her success is in spite of an upbringing so unreal and tragic that it's in the process of becoming a feature film.As the WSJ best-selling author of Relentless, Natasha has gone from living as an Iowa homeless teen to achieving the entrepreneur dream. But unlike a typical homeless teen story, Natasha was not living in squalor. She was a classically trained violinist studying with a professor at Drake University. Her whole young life, however, was defined by living with a mother with mental illness and a father who did not do his part to protect her. At age 16, Natasha's father and, sadly, her younger brother dropped her off at a homeless shelter after her mother attempted to kill her. That was the culmination of years and years of verbal abuse. After that, she was unofficially emancipated.In this extremely moving and inspiring LEAVE YOUR MARK episode, Natasha shares her story with unbelievable understanding and perseverance. She shows how her positive outlook and always seeing the best in people directed her path. While Natasha will always have to carry the heartache of her childhood with her, she has not let it stop her from achieving her dreams.Today, Entire Productions is a go-to event and entertainment production company headquartered in San Francisco. With the support of her staff, Entire Productions' trusted expertise is relied upon to execute a slate of corporate special events for an enviable roster of clients, including Salesforce, Apple, Google, LinkedIn, Facebook, and the like. They have been on the Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing companies in America for three years in a row. Her publishing company Poignant Press works with leaders to create impactful books that build on their authority while inspiring and motivating others.Natasha's passion and commitment to giving back drive her invariable contributions and participation with numerous charitable organizations. Her current focus is raising awareness and funds for the Covenant House.While Natasha maintains an active full plate, she always makes time for professional and personal enrichment. She is a proud Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses (Babson College) graduate who studied entrepreneurship at the Harvard Business School and MIT. Her other prestigious industry memberships include The Recording Academy (Grammys), ASCAP, and various event industry organizations. She resides in Oakland, CA, and is a member and the communications "expert" for The Entrepreneurs' Organization.

Jenny Hutt, a self-proclaimed anxious optimist, shares her outlook on life, parenting, and managing day-to-day anxiety. She discusses starting fresh each day and maintaining optimism, strategies to deal with morning anxiety, and the importance of self-acceptance and embracing imperfections. Jenny also talks about her background in entertainment, her co-hosted show, and her podcast Just Jenny, where she addresses various subjects inviting honest and humorous dialogue.

Tina Greenbaum knows that the ability to think clearly under pressure and manage in high-pressure situations separates great leaders from everyone else. Tina Greenbaum, M.Ed., LCSW, is the Founder and CEO of Mastery Under Pressure, a management coaching program for high-performing executives who must refine and master their interpersonal and inter-departmental skills. She incorporates sports psychology and neuroscience into her work, emphasizing mental skills and mindset.Mastery Under Pressure gives CEOs and senior-level managers the additional professional and personal tools to excel and empower their teams and associates.As a licensed psychotherapist and sports psychology consultant with over 40 years of experience, she has long understood that being good at your profession doesn't make you good at your job. Her ability to give high-performing executives the skills they need to work within any corporate culture has made Tina California's #1 Optimal Performance Specialist.In this episode, Tina takes us through her process of creating a high-performance mindset, unlocking your inner athlete, and thriving in a highly competitive world. She shares her techniques for understanding clients' reasons for seeking help, exploring body sensations and patterns, and uncovering how past experiences shape present responses. She explains how mental toughness and resilience can be developed and taught and how limiting beliefs can be changed through examination and questioning, keeping a journal, recognizing and addressing unconscious biases, and aligning with personal values and truths.

Dee Poku Spalding creates spaces where women can be transactional and ask and receive without the pretense of five coffee chats. As the founder and CEO of The WIE Suite (Women, Inspiration, and Enterprise), a private membership club and peer learning platform for women in leadership, which I am a proud member of, Dee's mission is to redefine the way women and leaders achieve success for themselves and their companies by providing the community and tools for them to succeed at the highest levels.  She is also the founder of the initiative Black Women Raise, which works to accelerate the ability of leading black female founders to raise growth capital, scale up and create pathways for the women behind them.  Growing up between the UK and Ghana has influenced her humble and reserved leadership style, of which she has many lessons to share. Before founding The WIE Suite (and previously WIE Network), Dee worked in entertainment marketing at companies like Paramount and Focus Features.  In this episode, we learn about Dee's meticulous planning skills, emphasizing the importance of self-awareness and considering one's emotional responses to external stimuli like social media when adjusting plans. Dee created The WIE Suite because she was missing a community to lean on, to challenge the scarcity mindset, and to help empower women to rise. We also discuss the wisdom gained from rejection and the learnings from being a quiet leader.  Dee is one of Marie Claire's 50 Women Changing the World, a Crain’s Notable Black Leader, won a Gold Anthem Award from the Webbys, is a CUP Catalyst Changemaker, a Harlem Fashion Week Cultural Icon and one of TRUE Africa’s 100 Top Innovators. Dee serves on the Board of Directors of The Gotham Institute of Film and the Brooklyn Bridge Conservancy as well as the British Academy of Film & Television (BAFTA)’s DEI steering committee.

Respectfully challenging the status quo and advocating for change in a large corporate organization can seem impossible. In this LEAVE YOUR MARK "snack segment," Andrea Wasserman, a visionary, outcome-driven executive with over 20 years of experience across consumer and B2B2C sectors, shares her secrets to intrapreneurship. Intrapreneurship is when you have an entrepreneurial mindset within a company that is self-motivated and proactive. In this episode, we discuss how to be a change agent in a corporate role, how to bring people on board, work cross-functionally, and motivate people who don't report to you to help execute a strategy. Andrea shares tips on being a project leader with vision, making each team feel essential to the outcome, and customizing the communication approach based on each audience's specific needs and preferences. We also discuss how mid-level employees can manage up by understanding their manager's goals better and ways they can be supportive.

Dr. Marcus Collins is an award-winning marketer and cultural translator with one foot in the world of practice—serving as the Chief Strategy Officer at Wieden+Kennedy New York—and one foot in the world of academia—as a marketing professor at the Ross School of Business, University of Michigan. His book For The Culture: The Power Behind What We Buy, What We Do, and Who We Want to Be examines the influence of culture on consumption and unpacks how everyone, from marketers to activists, can leverage culture to get people to take action.  Marcus's understanding of brand strategy and consumer behavior has helped him bridge the academic-practitioner gap for blue-chip brands and startups. He is a recipient of Advertising Age's 40 Under 40 award and Crain's Business' 40 Under 40 award and an inductee into the American Advertising Federation's Advertising Hall of Achievement. Most recently, he was recognized by Thinkers50 and Deloitte among their class of 2023 Radar List of 30 thinkers with the ideas most likely to shape the future. Before joining Wieden+Kennedy, he served as the Chief Consumer Connections Officer at Doner Advertising and led Social Engagement at Steve Stoute's advertising agency, Translation. Before his advertising tenure, Marcus began his career in music and tech with a startup he co-founded before working on iTunes + Nike sport music initiatives at Apple and running digital strategy for Beyoncé.  In this episode, we dive deep into marketing and where brands go wrong. We discuss why balancing short-term activation with long-term brand growth is essential and the danger of doing things to be seen rather than heard. Marcus shares his expertise on culture, why we need a language to define it, and the importance of perspective in shaping your worldview.