Lead Like a Woman

Cole Banks is the Founder of Sisters Traveling Solo where she helps drive the travel culture for sisters with unmatched global travel experiences. Her passion for traveling, solo experiences, and wanting to help other sisters led to the creation of Sisters Traveling Solo. The idea was sparked after Cole read an online post discouraging black women from traveling solo. As a woman of color, the post disturbed Cole who frequently travels the world solo–and she knew she was not alone. The Sisters Traveling Solo Facebook page is a community of over 70,000 women from all over the world, and there, they get to share experiences, travelling tips, and enjoy diverse thoughts and engagements. In 2018, Cole left her corporate job at the Coca-Cola company to focus on Sisters Travelling Solo full time. Now her office can be anywhere she wants as she continues connecting, empowering, inspiring, and supporting sisters. In this episode… In many life situations, it is common practice to seek advice from others before taking up any activity, whether personal or professional. There are people with more skills, expertise, or experience than you and their advice can help propel you forward and guarantee the success of whatever it is that you want to engage in. But there are certain instances in life where it’s totally okay to go out on your own without seeking other people's opinions. Cole Banks advises fellow women not to wait too long to take the necessary steps when it comes to doing something that they’re truly passionate about. The perfect timing to travel or start a business is never later–it’s right now. Tune in to this week's episode of the Lead Like a Woman Show as Andrea Heuston talks with Sisters Traveling Solo Founder and CEO, Cole Banks, about why women should travel solo and the value of having a support community. Cole explains why she founded Sisters Traveling Solo, what it’s been like to see her company and community grow, how the travel industry has evolved to accommodate women and solo travelers, and how she encourages women to put themselves out there through her brand.

Fran Biderman-Gross is the Founder and CEO of Advantages, an award-winning New York-based end-to-end communications agency. She is also the co-author of the book, How to Lead a Values-Based Professional Services Firm: 3 Keys to Unlock Purpose and Profit, which she wrote with Don Scales. She is also the creator of the groundbreaking 3 Keys Workshops. Fran leads her clients on an invaluable journey of brand discovery that reveals their personal and organization’s 3 keys: Purpose, Values, and Story. Since its inception, she has used her proprietary '3 Keys' approach to help propel the enduring success of hundreds of companies–including her own. Her workshops, lectures, and keynotes draw on more than two decades of marketing and branding expertise to inspire audiences and provide leaders actionable lessons that any organization can implement to bring any vision closer to becoming reality. In this episode… At 33 year old, Fran Biderman-Gross found herself a widow with 2 young kids after losing her husband to cancer. And to top that all off, the 9/11 tragedy struck two months later, making her lose about 60% of their business. She fell into depression but realized early on that she had to be strong and fight her way through the biggest storm of her life. She decided to downsize her team and work with what she had and start rebuilding her brand. These tragedies and other life events forced Fran to be resilient and find strength within herself. She turned inwards and held on to her belief in herself and in what she can do, and she learned to make bold decisions that left a positive impact on whoever she touches. She also built on her belief on what others can do and decided to take risks in the process of building things back up from the ground. In this week's episode of the Lead Like a Woman Show, Andrea Heuston interviews Fran Biderman-Gross, Founder and CEO of Advantages, about her entrepreneurial journey and rising through the biggest and hardest challenges that she faced in life. Fran also talks about meeting and working with Simon Sinek, writing a book with Don Scales, and her 3 keys to living a purposeful and profitable life.

Cherry Lao is the Co-founder and Creative Director of Citizen Best, an international brand marketing agency with offices in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Bangkok. She draws design inspiration from different cultures, traditions and everyday beauty. Since moving from Bangkok to California, she sees imagery, colors, storytelling, graphics, and symbols as a way to understand cultural differences and bring nuance and clarity to communication. Cherry is a collaborator first and foremost. She creates inspiring solutions and guides clients through every step of the creative process, providing the necessary rationale for all design elements and strategies. Whether she is directing a photo shoot, developing a fresh concept or offering art direction to existing designs, she believes her role as a creative leader is about elevating the team, not the individual. Outside of work, Cherry can be found with a local dance community, immersing herself in another form of self-expression. She is also involved in entrepreneurial organizations and encouraging diversity in business leadership. In this episode… In business, many women tend to fear doing things outside their comfort zones because of their innate fear of making mistakes. They stress over the decisions they need to make and this often limits their opportunities and chances for great success. They fail to see mistakes as a way of learning from them. Challenges are inevitable and leaders have to find the right solutions to tackle them. It would be helpful for them to surround themselves with people who will offer them support, inspire them, and share their expertise; people who will help them uncover great ideas and possibilities for their business. But more importantly, women need to learn to explore their curiosity and find comfort in discomfort because this will lead them to new discoveries about themselves and will open doors that they probably never even thought to consider before. In this episode of the Lead Like a Woman Show, Andrea Heuston is joined by Cherry Lao, Co-founder and Creative Director of Citizen Best, to talk about the importance of women being curious and believing in themselves. Cherry shares her background in design, explains what she learned from her parents’ business and determination to succeed, the questions she often asks herself and her team, and the role curiosity and diversity has played in her life.

Andrea Herrera is the Founder and President of Amazing Edibles Catering, an award-winning catering company that fosters relationship building at ground breaking events. She has served over a million meals in Chicago in the past 25 years and her personal mission is to foster connection to create community. Andrea is also the founder and president of Boxperience, a business that delivers an amazing invitation to a shared experience over food and drink in a customized gift box. Andrea is a proud global leader in the Entrepreneurs' Organization, a global organization with 15,000 members. She has also served on the boards of Cornell College, Global Citizenship Experience Lab High School, A Children’s Place, and she is currently Chair of the Board of Rivendell Theatre Ensemble, a theater dedicated to advancing the lives of women through theatre. Andrea has been profiled in Hispanic Living Magazine, CNN Money, MSNBC, Chicago Tribune, Today's Chicago Woman, and in the book From Risk to Reward, profiling her entrepreneurial journey. In this episode… In the current health crisis the world is going through, many entrepreneurs and company executives have seen their leadership put to the test. A lot of them have found creative ways to pivot their services and product offerings as the pandemic continues to progress. And while this is a testament of grit and determination to succeed against the odds, it also comes with a new set of challenges. According to Andrea Herrera, one of the best decisions people looking to start new businesses or to pivot existing ones should do is to act fast. The world is moving quickly and no one cannot afford to sit back for months before taking action and committing to a decision. She also says that asking for help from trusted advisors can make the decision making process a lot easier.  In this week's episode of the Lead Like a Woman Show, Andrea Heuston talks with Andrea Herrera, Founder and President of Amazing Edibles Catering, about how she pivoted her business and why it was one of the best decisions she has made. Andrea Herrera also shares the benefits of being a member of the Entrepreneurs' Organization (EO) and Women of EO, what she learned from catering for Oprah Winfrey, and her advice to fellow entrepreneurs who want to start a business or pivot an existing one. Stay tuned.

Alexi Cashen is the CEO–or as she prefers to be known, the Chief Executive Optimist–for Elenteny Imports, a fast growing wine business. The company is dedicated to helping its partners grow in the wine, beer, and spirits industry. Alexi is a self proclaimed type A, detail-oriented entrepreneur, and loves dominating in alcohol logistics. She is a board member of the San Francisco chapter of Entrepreneurs' Organization, and she is also a business coach, host of The Alexi Cashen Podcast, and a mom. In this episode… When Alexi Cashen and her business partner started their wine logistics business, she didn't take an active role in handling the company's finances. Over time, she realized that she needed to improve her relationship with money and the financial aspect of her business. Now, she thinks of money as a form of self care and that taking an active participation in her company’s finances is the best thing she can do. Alexi also advocates for herself and her work as opposed to waiting for others to advocate for her. Why? Because she believes that no one can evangelize her business better than she can. In this episode of the Lead Like a Woman Show, Andrea Heuston is joined by Alexi Cashen, CEO of Elenteny Imports, to talk about the world of wine and how to push past the unexpected and move towards the greatness that lies ahead. They also discuss the importance of women taking an active role in their finances, the benefits of having a podcast, and what it’s like to have a leadership role in a male dominated industry. Stay tuned.

Therese Jardine is the Principal and Founder of Strategic Event Procurement. She takes the pain out of procurement and provides thought leadership to the event industry. She has over 30 years of business experience and 15 years experience in managing the procurement strategy for Microsoft's event portfolio. She has deep expertise in event procurement strategy with a keen focus on strategic meetings management, contract negotiations, payment solutions, and supplier engagement. Therese helps event organizers develop sound procurement strategies and helps leading event agencies navigate their clients’ procurement process. She cares about helping her clients succeed and understands that solutions must fit within the cultural framework of each organization. In this episode… Many people desire to go out and start their own businesses, but a common challenge that they face is having to run and manage everything on their own. From accounting to marketing, procurement, demand generation, and hiring, business owners need to juggle the different responsibilities that come with turning a start-up into an empire. Therese Jardine faced this challenge when she started her own procurement business. She is an expert procurement specialist but when it came time for her to run her own business, she realized that there was more to it than she expected. But instead of bowing down to the pressure, she held her ground, showed resilience, and learned every aspect of running her business. Tune in to this episode of the Lead Like a Woman Show as Andrea Heuston interviews Therese Jardine, Principal and Founder of Strategic Event Procurement, about her work in procurement and how she grew her own business after leaving Microsoft. Therese also shares details about the challenges she faced along the way, her insights on the future of live events, her top tips for engaging with procurement before an event, and the lessons she learned that helped bring her to where she is today.

Sharelle Klaus is the Founder and CEO of DRY Soda Company. When she was searching for a sophisticated non-alcoholic beverage that wasn't cloyingly sweet or made with artificial flavors, she realized that the ultra-competitive beverage market lacked one. She decided to make one and in 2005, she launched DRY Soda Company. Her brand has quickly become a disruptor in the sparkling beverage sector with its high end brand and deliciously surprising flavors like lavender, ginger and cucumber. DRY Soda is now sold in retail outlets across the country, including Safeway and Kroger, and can be found on the menu of many top restaurants and bars. In her spare time, Sharelle likes to travel and find adventure. Road trips and international trips are her passion. She is also a doting grandmother, mother and a vocal supporter of entrepreneurship and women. She holds a Bachelor's degree from Seattle Pacific University. In this episode… For any woman starting out in entrepreneurship, it’s very important for her to have a vision. She must believe in it and be relentless as she moves towards it, and she needs to keep going in spite of all the obstacles and tears along the way. Most women face different challenges in their journey of entrepreneurship and sometimes, it can get overwhelming. Sharelle believes that the best solution to overcome this is to not make quitting an option. She also highly advocates networking and being part of support or accountable groups, because from her own experience, these have been a tremendous source of help for her and her business. Join Andrea Heuston in this episode of the Lead Like a Woman Show as she talks with Sharelle Klaus, Founder and CEO of DRY Soda Company, about her success story as a woman in the beverage industry. They also discuss the benefits of building your network, the challenges Sharelle faced in growing her company, the sexist men she encountered along the way, and her love for adventure. Stay tuned.

Dana Manciagli is an author and the President of Job Search Masterclass, the leading job search workshop with instruction, templates, and tools that job seekers need to apply and interview with confidence, that will make them irresistible to employers and land a great job in record time. She has been a corporate executive for more than 30 years and has leveraged her employee hiring and management experience into that of an author, trainer, private career coach, and online curriculum expert. She has had a remarkable career in global sales and marketing roles in Fortune 500 corporations. Retired from over a decade’s tenure at Microsoft as worldwide sales general manager, Dana has also previously worked for Kodak as VP of worldwide marketing and climbed the corporate career ladder through Sea-Land, Avery Dennison, and IBM. Named a top “Women of Influence” in Seattle, she lives and works in Puget Sound where she serves on the Worldwide Board of Junior Achievement. She is also a breast cancer conqueror and received her MBA at the Thunderbird School of Global Management in Arizona. In this episode… Most people understand resilience as bouncing back to who you were before, but for Dana Manciagli, it means learning and not settling with being a mere victim. This means being sensitive to other people, making the right choices, and being courageous enough to say “no”. However, women often inhibit their own success and allow their stories to get in their way. They fear being ambitious, asking for an increase, and aiming higher. All of these limiting thoughts hinder women's progress and prevent them from having a remarkable career. In this week's episode of Lead Like A Woman, Andrea Heuston is joined by Dana Manciagli, President of Job Search Masterclass, to talk about being resilient, aiming higher, and how she helps job candidates score the best jobs through her masterclass. Dana also shares how she battled breast cancer alongside her twin sister and how she came up with her masterclass curriculum. Stay tuned.

Suzette Patterson is the Founder of STAR-Performance Group, an authorized Sandler Training Center in Frisco, Texas. Suzette spent over 20 years in software sales and implementation before starting her Sandler business. She sold directly to physician practices and also built and managed teams for the largest GE Healthcare value-added reseller in the country. What she learned from all of those years of selling is that most companies do a great job of product and service training but they underestimate the value of having a sales process and developing their leadership teams. Suzette blends her own experience with the internationally proven training and evaluation tools from Sandler Training to teach a unique brand of sales and leadership training as well as personal development. She has been instrumental in helping successful companies develop management sales and prospecting strategies. When she isn't working with clients, she enjoys spending time with friends and family, riding motorcycles with her husband, and reading nonfiction books at the rate of one per month. In this episode… Every business starts with the goal of driving sales and making a profit. These are considered as one of the pillars of a budding new enterprise because without them, no business can continue to operate. However, business owners often struggle with how they can make their people push boundaries and amp up their game. This is something that the team at Sandler Training’s STAR-Performance Group helps companies with. They help reinforce sales knowledge to business people, their sales teams and individual sales professionals. They do this by training them in sales management, leadership, and proven strategies that will help scale their business operations. Suzette Patterson, Founder of STAR-Performance Group, joins Andrea Heuston in this week's episode of Lead Like A Woman to talk about effective sales strategies to grow a business. They also discuss the history of Sandler Training, the types of clients Suzette works with, and the importance of setting SMART goals. Stay tuned.

Georgia Green is the Founder and CEO of BEU Revolution which she created with the hopes of sparking a revolution – a movement where people and companies are empowered to thrive. Georgia is the author of leadership curriculum, The Broken Business Model, and she is also a speaker, trusted organizational development advisor, and executive consultant. She is passionate about creating collaborative, strengths-based cultures, and mobilizing teams from inspiration to action. After solo hiking from Mexico to Canada on a quest to help people overcome fears, Georgia has inspired thousands of people to live their best lives. While walking over 2,000 miles and living in the wilderness for over five months, she wrote the curriculum used to found BEU with the vision to inspire, empower, and ignite others. BEU provides a number of proprietary tools to support organizational development and employee engagement, including MotivIQ, a software platform used to help uncover individual motivators for high achievement and support an organization’s ability to engage and retain top talent. In this episode… When it comes to leadership, some leaders avoid making major changes in their organizations. Oftentimes it’s because they allow their fears to hold them back from doing something that could potentially take their business to the next level. And one of these is being afraid of having their ideas or proposals rejected by their employees or fellow leaders in the organization. However, great leadership requires a person who is willing to go above and beyond, and act even when there is uncertainty. Being a leader requires courage and facing one's fears. And there is no way that you can't become an awesome leader if you are set on staying average and doing what everyone else is doing. On this episode of Lead Like A Woman Show, Andrea Heuston talks with Georgia Green, Founder and CEO of BEU Revolution, about what it takes to become a great and awesome leader. Georgia also talks about going on a 2,000 mile hike from Mexico to Canada alone, what inspired her to start the BEU Revolution, and she also shares her advice to fellow women leaders. Stay tuned.