Lead Like a Woman

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.

Sarah Nichols is an attorney who has more than 20 years of experience in HR employment law. She is the founder of Nichols Law P.C. where she represents individuals who experience discrimination and retaliation at work and helps them with wage and hour claims. She assists employees in negotiating their exits from their employers and she is a tough and conscientious advocate for her clients. Sarah believes that having experience on both sides makes her a better attorney. Sarah is passionate about different cultures in the workplace and in closing the pay gap. She is also involved in the community through her work with Youth Speaks, an educational non-profit empowering youth through the spoken word. A percentage of her firm’s profits is donated to Equal Rights Advocates every year as she believes the work that organization does is essential to closing the wage gap. Sarah is also the host of The Women’s Advocate podcast where she discusses how women can negotiate and support each other to close the wage gap. In this episode… When someone is looking to go into business or is considering taking up a new leadership position, most people tend to wait too long because they want to feel that they’re ready before taking the plunge. The thing is, there is never a “perfect time” to take that leap because all you really need is to have courage. In every situation or circumstance, there is always a decision to be made. And if that decision can be made quicker, it can help propel people forward to where they want and need to go. Staying focused on your story and your path are also crucial in making your success into a reality. It is also important to be focused and own your story and path. Sarah Nichols, Founder of Nichols Law P.C., is Andrea Heuston's guest in this week's episode of Lead Like a Woman, where she talks about the importance of women taking the leap in their careers and not waiting for the perfect time. Sarah shares details about her career history and why she decided to move to the US from Australia and start her own law firm, what drives her success, and she also shares her advice for women leaders and entrepreneurs. Stay tuned.

Wendy Pease is the President of Rapport International, a translation, interpretation, and language services company that eliminates spoken and written language barriers in 200+ languages. Prior to this, she served in corporate senior management positions in international marketing and business development. She has an MBA from Dartmouth College and a BA in Foreign Service from Penn State. Wendy is a frequent speaker and writer on language, culture, marketing, HR, entrepreneurship, and exporting. She has lived in Mexico, Taiwan, and the Philippines, and is enthusiastic about languages, culture and communications. Her lifetime passion is to connect people, especially when it leads to friendship and productive business relationships. In this episode… For a number of women, the decision to take a major risk in business or leadership can be scary. It is similar to climbing a mountain before taking a big jumpoff of a cliff. It is for this very reason that leaders need to come prepared for anything. They need to set goals, create a strategic plan, and build a support community around them that can help them achieve success. Once all the necessary preparations have been put in place, getting to the goal will be a piece of cake. Tune in to this episode of Lead Like a Woman Show as Andrea Heuston talks to Wendy Pease, President of Rapport International, about the benefits of having a strong culture and connection when running an organization. They also discuss the services provided by Wendy's company, how she built her company's culture, and the steps to take before taking a big jump in leadership.

Stephanie Dalfonzo is an integrative hypnotist, coach, and speaker. She has spent over 20 years researching simple ways to calm stress, anxiety and fear. She has authored a very timely book called Goodbye Anxiety, Hello Freedom: How to Build Resilience and Overcome Anxiety. Stephanie helps women heal and find freedom from the past, reclaim their lives, and create the life they deserve with ease and joy. Her journey has taken her through several career transitions from being a celebrity radio DJ to the proprietor of a successful hypnosis practice for 10 years, and ultimately, becoming an anxiety expert. In this episode… No one ever goes through life unscathed. People are bound to make mistakes and failures at some point in their lives but what separates successful people from the not--so-successful ones is their determination to rise up, learn from their mistakes, and try again. People who find success have learned that the only way to live life is to move forward. And more often than not, women have a tendency to beat themselves up after experiencing failure. They are often inclined to judge themselves harshly and this leads to unhappiness and unproductivity and this is something that Stephanie hopes to remedy and turn around so that instead of becoming miserable, they end up as the best version of themselves. Andrea Heuston is joined by Stephanie Dalfonzo, a hypnotist and coach, on this episode of Lead Like a Woman Show to talk about the power of hypnosis and being kind to oneself. Stephanie also discusses her book and how she’s preparing for her webinar, how she shifted her career from being a celebrity radio DJ to a coach, why it’s important to be kind to yourself, and the value of asking “What’s right right now?” Stay tuned.