Wings of Inspired Business

Donna Letier is the CEO and founder of Gardenuity, a fast-growing company merging gardening with the wellness sector through personalized container gardens and AI-powered gardening experiences. Donna has raised $8 million for her company so far, innovating Gardenuity Match, which uses AI and weather tech to custom-craft gardens around lifestyles, climate and environment. With over 20 years of retail experience, spanning public and private companies, Donna has worked in the areas of operations, brand marketing, and product development, and takes a data-driven approach with a consumer point of view. Previously, she was CMO for a home furnishings brand with over $500M in annual revenue. She has also been part of the marketing team at Neiman Marcus, MGM, Barneys New York, and United Artists. Donna has been featured in Story of a Brand, Cheddar News, Forbes, Tech FW, WFAA #UpWithHer, Growing Spaces, and The Grow Network. 🔑Key Takeaways🔑 🌿🌐 Gardening for All: Learn how gardening is being democratizing so that anyone can experience its nutritional and mental health benefits—whether you're in a high-rise, have a backyard, or live in an urban apartment. 🌍🤖 Grounding in a Digital World: Discover how gardening can improve your mental health by grounding you in the present, away from the hustle and bustle of technology and constant connectivity. Learn the holistic wellness benefits that come with getting your hands in the soil. 🌱💡 AI and Gardening: How AI is being used to personalize gardening experiences, from weather tech and predictive alerts to understanding what plants most align to climate, lifestyle and circumstance—to ensure your success, no matter where you live. 🔥🛠️Entrepreneurial Insights: What gardening can teach us about the entrepreneurial process – resilience, innovation and adaptability – from sprouting to pruning and seasons of growth. 🎙️Subscribe to Wings and get the full Show Notes at https://bit.ly/Wings920 More about Donna at Gardenuity

Melissa Broughton is a tax and accounting specialist and the founder of Busy Bee Advisors, helping business owners and entrepreneurs get savvy about complex, even frustrating, tax and bookkeeping situations. Her background in corporate accounting and auditing complements her desire to serve as a financial translator, of sorts, to sole proprietors and small business owners so that they feel confident in their financial decisions. With her husband Eric, a tax professional, Melissa co-hosts a popular podcast, The Real Buzz: Taking the Sting Out of Taxes. She is a member of Business Network International, Rotary, FU Nights, Women in Consulting, and previously served as finance chair on the Sacramento Children's Receiving Home Board of Directors. 🔑Key Takeaways🔑 🚀 🌱Why Tax Time Is An Opportunity: Learn to be proactive about your taxes and get early advice from tax professionals. 🤔💭Understanding Uncertainty: With the shifting political landscape, tsunami of Presidential executive orders, and DOGE cuts, make sure you verify facts before making any business decisions based on news or social media. 📈 💡Proactivity over Reactivity: Understanding potential deductions and credits, like R&D tax credits or ADA compliance credits, can result in significant tax savings. 💼🔥Choosing the Right Business Structure: Whether it’s a sole proprietorship, LLC, S Corp, or C Corp, each business entity has different tax implications, and these can change depending on the state. 🛠️✨Tools in Your Arsenal: Why it’s vital to develop a robust toolkit of trusted advisors – including a tax professional, a business attorney, and a financial advisor. 🎙️Subscribe to Wings and get the full Show Notes at https://bit.ly/Wings919 Get a complimentary copy of Melissa's new book, The 4-Hour Bookkeeper Listen to Melissa’s podcast The Real Buzz: Taking the Sting Out of Taxes

Rebecca Fitzsimmons is the founder of Tactical Harmony, an online business dedicated to mentoring ambitious professionals and businesses on holistic leadership and mindset strategies. She is also the host of the Tactical Harmony podcast, in which she shares game-changing tactics supporting her community to gracefully navigate their career and homelife, while enjoying freedom, abundance and bliss. Over the last two decades, Rebecca served as an NCIS Special Agent and as a senior leader at a technology company. Throughout her global experience living and working around the world, Rebecca saw first-hand why holistic leadership answers every challenge. Rebecca is also author of the new book, Unleashed: Holistic Leadership Insights from Our Canine Companions. 🔑Key Takeaways🔑 ✨ 🌱 Holistic Leadership: Discover the core pillars of Tactical Harmony—planning, alignment, execution, and receiving—designed to balance professional and personal life so you can achieve wholeness, peace, and freedom, aiming for genuine fulfillment. 🐾 🦋What Dogs Can Teach Us: How our furry friends can teach us mindfulness, gratitude, discipline, love, and resilience. 🌟💡Tactical Harmony's Dual Approach: Learn the two-track approach for mastering mindset to overcome limiting beliefs, enhance leadership skills master conflict resolution. 🧘‍♀️🔄 Mastering Self-Leadership: Why it’s vital to envision success to achieve it, plus the secrets of mental preparation, and following your intuition no matter how illogical it may seem to others. 🚀 💪Entrepreneurial Challenges: How to transition from the hands-on “doing it all” start-up founder roles to building and aligning a team for growth, and why strategic focus always beats multitasking. 🎙️Subscribe to Wings and get the full Show Notes here: https://bit.ly/wings918 More about Rebecca at Tactical Harmony Get 50% off Tactical Harmony’s Essential Guide For Busy Pro's: How to Lower Stress, Boost Productivity and Operate At Peak Performance. Use code WINGS50 Subscribe to Rebecca’s podcast Tactical Harmony

Lauren Bayne is a personal brand creative director, advising entrepreneurs and executive leaders in building personal brands filled with personality and creating intellectual property that makes her clients money. Coming from the advertising industry, Lauren brings creative expression and pizazz to personal branding that gives her clients confidence to stand out from the crowd with bold and entertaining presence. She specializes in helping entrepreneurs, speakers, coaches, authors, consultants, and professionals express their unique personal brands through distinctive, brag-worthy marketing assets. 🔑Key Takeaways🔑 🌍🌙Power of Polarization: Not everyone is going to love your brand, and that's okay. Learn why repelling as well as attracting can be an asset in attracting your ideal audience and customers. Hint: Embrace self-love and stop caring about being liked. 🌐🔄Conformity is Your Enemy: Authenticity is the key to branding success in a world where trust is at a premium, and if you try to conform to something you’re not, you’ll never succeed at building a trusted brand. 👩‍🔬 🤟 Start With Your Who (Not Why or What): Learn why self-knowledge is vital to building a successful brand. When you know yourself and your values, you’re more likely to attract customers who resonate with you and developing offerings and messaging that attracts your ideal buyers. 🚀 🎙️ Aligning Visual with Voice: Make sure your visual identity rhymes with your brand voice so you can stand out in the noisy “attention economy”. 🔥 💼 Balancing Personal and Business Branding: For those concerned about tying their brand too closely to their personal identity, learn how to create a legacy that can live on even if you step away. 🎙️Subscribe to Wings and get the full Show Notes at https://bit.ly/wings917 More about Lauren at Lauren Bayne where you can get a free 30-minute Dreamcatcher Call

Kari Poppleton is the CEO and founder of Kari Poppleton Consulting, specializing in digital marketing metrics, data, and custom interactive dashboards. A Certified Director of Operations and Certified Dashboard Designer, Kari helps online entrepreneurs, course creators, coaches, and anyone with memberships and subscriptions, leverage actionable data analytics to make informed real time and strategic decisions.  Kari also founded the handmade kids accessory e-commerce business, Snugglywunkins. 🔑Key Takeaways🔑 📈 🚀 Know Your Numbers: How your data tells the story of your business, and why it’s vital to have systems in place that monitor your KPIs in real time to help you make the right decisions to grow your company. 🖥️ 💰Dashboards to Dollars: Learn how Kari’s custom dashboards provide easy-to-understand visualization for accessible and integrated analytics that consolidate information from multiple platforms so you can optimize marketing and sales. 🧠✨Overcome Data Overwhelm: Start small, with specific questions, and track the impact with foundational tools like Google Analytics and UTM parameters so you can get comfortable tracking your numbers as you test, measure and learn what works best for your business. 🤖 💡 AI in Data Visualization: AI hasn't revolutionized data visualization just yet, learn some practical AI uses for writing complex formulas and analyzing data to identify growth opportunities.  🎙️Subscribe to Wings and get the full Show Notes at https://bit.ly/Wings916 More about Kari at Kari Poppleton Get Kari’s free guide "5 Questions Your Data Can Answer for You"

Somia Sadiq is an award-winning entrepreneur and peacebuilder who has developed a pioneering practice in impact assessment and conflict transformation rooted in storytelling. Somia is the founder and CEO of Narratives, a planning firm that emphasizes human-centric, trauma-informed dialogue, lived experience, and celebrating ancestral identity. She’s also the founder of Kahanee, a non-profit organization that works nationally and internationally interweaving stories to support peacebuilding efforts. Somia is a published author and a keynote speaker, offering insights on trauma-informed leadership, and fostering resilience in a rapidly changing environment. Recognized for her contributions to the Planning practice in Canada and globally, Somia was recently inducted into the Canadian Institute of Planners' esteemed College of Fellows, the highest honor for a planner in Canada. Her new book Garajah will be published in August 2025. 🔑Key Takeaways🔑 🛑 💪Failure is Not a Taboo: Learn why failing is a vital prerequisite for success as an entrepreneur. (Hint: If you’re not failing you’re not taking enough risks and playing too small a game).   🚀 💡Overcoming Risk Adversity: Playing it safe often kills entrepreneurial dreams, so learn how to effectively balance risk and reward and operate from a spirit of abundance rather than scarcity.   👩‍🔬 🤟Own Your Journey:  No one can walk your path for you, you have to do it. If you want something, dream it, chase it, ask for feedback, ask to be on that exciting project, show that you are keen, make it happen. If you fail, figure out why, reconfigure and keep wading. Expecting the world to do it for you won't work.   🤝 🤎Fostering Dialogue and Inclusivity: With inspiration from Rumi and an emphasis on positive storytelling, Somia shares how her company, Narratives, and her nonprofit, Kahani empower people through Indigenous stories, community planning, and peace-building efforts.   🌍❤️ Building Communities: Learn how to create effective allies who inspire, challenge and teach you, plus how to apply Somia's experience uniting diaspora communities in Canada through storytelling events that address conflicts, racism, and a sense of belonging. Learn how to create effective allies who inspire, challenge and teach you   📚 Somia’s Upcoming Novel: Dive into the themes explored in Somia’s forthcoming novel, "Gujarat," a journey through justice, forgiveness, and trauma narrated by a young girl and interwoven with poetry and prose. and spiritual growth.   🎙️Subscribe to Wings and get the full Show Notes at https://bit.ly/Wings915   More about Somia at Narratives Inc www.narrativesinc.com and Somia Sadiq    Get 20% off for a virtual or in-person Trauma Informed Practices workshop. Email info@narrativesinc.com and provide the reference code *WINGS20*

Susan Sly is an award-winning AI entrepreneur, author, keynote speaker, and the Founder and CEO of thePause.ai, an AI-driven platform revolutionizing menopause management with personalized, gamified solutions. In November, thePause.ai won first place in the HITLAB x Versalie™ Innovation Challenge. Susan also co-founded RadiusAI, a visual intelligence company specializing in the retail and healthcare sectors. RadiusAI earned the prestigious AI Innovator at The Edge award from VentureBeat in 2022 for its cutting-edge computer vision technology. Susan also hosts two podcasts, Raw and Real Entrepreneurship and The Menopause Health Podcast. 🔑Key Takeaways🔑 🔥 🤖 Transformative Power of Agentic AI: How autonomous “AI agents” are revolutionizing business operations and decision-making processes, enabling smaller teams to achieve more by process immense volumes of data and interact with each other to assist humans in decision-making, and what it means for the future of work. 🏥 🌱 AI in Health and Wellness: How thePause.ai is personalizing solutions for menopause management, from tracking symptoms to offering lifestyle recommendations. 💡 🌈 AI Ethics and Transparency: Who trains the AI? What biases lurk in the data? Why transparent, unbiased, inclusive and validated data is vital for the responsible deployment of AI solutions, so AI models are fair, equitable, and representative of the diverse populations they serve.  💡 🧑‍💻 Company Policies: It’s time to move beyond just the Company Employee Handbook. Learn why all companies need clear AI Mission Statements to align their AI initiatives with ethical standards, the advantages of having an AI steering committee comprising diverse perspectives. 👩‍🔬 💪Empowering Women in AI: Why women’s leadership in AI is vital, both in the architecture of the underlying data models and their application. 🎙️Subscribe to Wings and get the full Show Notes at https://bit.ly/Wings914 More about Susan at ThePause.ai

Karine Nassim is the co-founder of DayNew, a new technology platform designed to help people through trauma associated with grief and loss. After experiencing the sudden loss of her spouse, she joined forces with fellow serial entrepreneur Eloise Bune to build an AI-powered community platform that helps users navigate through the challenges that come with unexpected changes. Karine also co-founded with her late husband DogVacay, the “Airbnb for dogs” that raised $47 million and fast expanded before being acquired by Rover. She also founded SHMASK, a Covid-era business producing stylish shirts with masks attached featured on NBC’s Today Show. 🔑Key Takeaways🔑 👥 ✨The Power of Shared Healing: How trauma can be healed in a social community-centered app that helps users navigate their grief and trauma in an organized and emotional manner. 🧠🤖 AI Personalization: How artificial intelligence can be deployed to offer organizational, emotional, and social assistance tailored to different personality types and healing stages, whether checking in on your mood to offer suggestions or helping you manage your daily tasks. 🚀 🤟Bootstrapping Tech: Why DayNew decided to self-fund and focus on sustainable growth, proving key metrics before seeking growth capital. 🔥🛠️Why Entrepreneurs Must Be Expert Marketers: Get valuable tips on tailoring social media strategies for different platforms and the importance of outsourcing tasks to specialized experts, particularly in the fast-evolving landscape of marketing and consumer behavior. 🎙️Subscribe to Wings and get the full Show Notes at https://bit.ly/Wings913 More about Karine at DayNew Special Offer: Use code "KAREEN3FREE" to get DayNew for three free months and engage with Karine directly on Instagram @KarineDreams.

Rebecca Fitzsimmons is the founder of Tactical Harmony, an online business dedicated to mentoring ambitious professionals and businesses on holistic leadership and mindset strategies. She is also the host of the Tactical Harmony podcast, in which she shares game-changing tactics supporting her community to gracefully navigate their career and homelife, while enjoying freedom, abundance and bliss. Over the last two decades, Rebecca served as an NCIS Special Agent and as a senior leader at a technology company. Throughout her global experience living and working around the world, Rebecca saw first-hand why holistic leadership answers every challenge. Rebecca is also author of the new book, Unleashed: Holistic Leadership Insights from Our Canine Companions. 🔑Key Takeaways🔑 ✨ 🌱 Holistic Leadership: Discover the core pillars of Tactical Harmony—planning, alignment, execution, and receiving—designed to balance professional and personal life so you can achieve wholeness, peace, and freedom, aiming for genuine fulfillment. 🐾 🦋What Dogs Can Teach Us: How our furry friends can teach us mindfulness, gratitude, discipline, love, and resilience. 🌟💡Tactical Harmony's Dual Approach: Learn the two-track approach for mastering mindset to overcome limiting beliefs, enhance leadership skills master conflict resolution. 🧘‍♀️🔄 Mastering Self-Leadership: Why it’s vital to envision success to achieve it, plus the secrets of mental preparation, and following your intuition no matter how illogical it may seem to others. 🚀 💪Entrepreneurial Challenges: How to transition from the hands-on “doing it all” start-up founder roles to building and aligning a team for growth, and why strategic focus always beats multitasking.   🎙️Subscribe to Wings and get the full Show Notes here: https://bit.ly/Wings912 More about Rebecca at Tactical Harmony Get 50% off Tactical Harmony’s Essential Guide For Busy Pro's: How to Lower Stress, Boost Productivity and Operate At Peak Performance. Use code WINGS50 Subscribe to Rebecca’s podcast Tactical Harmony

Julia Krieger is an experienced venture investor and startup founder who recently co-founded PariPassu, a private investor app that gives fellow founders, operators, and accredited investors access to angel invest in the most highly competitive deals in the venture ecosystem and be a part of the village that helps these founders succeed. As Managing Partner at Pari Passu Venture Partners (PPVP), a founder-led, founder-backed early-stage venture firm investing in the future of commerce, SaaS, and consumer tech, Julia has backed 19 companies to date. Previously Julia founded and ran VillageLuxe, a venture-backed peer-to-peer luxury rental marketplace, for which she was awarded the Forbes 30 Under 30 accolade. She was also an investor at Insight Partners, investing over $100M in SaaS and marketplace companies globally. Julia serves on the board of YPO Metro New York and is active in the Harvard alumni communities. 🔑Key Takeaways🔑 👥 🌱 It Takes a Village: Learn how Pari Passu reinvents venture capital with a community-centric investment platform that allows investors to choose deals they want to back, with no membership fees or fixed commitments, fostering a collaborative and supportive environment for both investors and founders. ❤️💭Why Humility Wins in Entrepreneurship: Learn how to balance perseverance with the openness to feedback, and why admitting what you don't know and seeking help is your secret weapon for growth and investment. 🚀🔥Why Founders Make the Best Investors: Why investment is more than just the money. Learn why the best VCs are those with startup and executive experience able to help founders address challenges and build relationships. 👩‍🔬 💰Women Investing in Women: Learn how Pari Passu enables investment in strong startups with minimum investments as low as $10,000 and the chance to pick the companies of the future.  ✨ 🛠️ Flow Vs Force: The power of creating and innovating from a place of humility and flow for balance, efficiency and community support, plus how to integrate motherhood into entrepreneurship. 🎙️Subscribe to Wings and get the full Show Notes: https://bit.ly/Wings911 More about Julia at Pari Passu Venture Partners (PPVP)  Get the Pari Passu app to invest