Lead Like a Woman

Jean Thompson is the Owner and CEO of Seattle Chocolate Company, makers of the Seattle chocolate and jcoco fine chocolate brands. She has been running Seattle Chocolate for almost 18 years and has grown it from the ruins it was in after the Nisqually Earthquake in 2001 to the successful company that it is today.  A native New Englander, Jean graduated from Bates College before embarking on a career in high tech. Prior to taking over the mantle in Seattle Chocolate Company, she was actively raising her two children in Bellevue, Washington and devoting her free time to nonprofit work. She had previously worked at Microsoft as a Corporate Communications Manager. In this episode… With no experience in the chocolate industry, Jean Thompson found herself taking leadership of a small chocolate company in Seattle. She was the majority shareholder with a 95% stake after the Nisqually Earthquake of 2001, and it was her love for chocolate, her determination, and her willingness to learn and adapt which drove her desire to turn the company fortunes around.  18 years later, Jean has learned a lot from running the chocolate company and she has evolved her company to have a social branding that impacts and touches many lives. Andrea Heuston’s featured guest in this episode of the Lead Like a Woman Show is Jean Thompson, the woman behind Seattle Chocolate. Tune in as they talk about Jean's transition from the tech industry to the chocolate industry, her shift from being a stay-at-home mum to becoming the owner of a chocolate company, the struggles and challenges women face in creating and leading companies, and why her decisiveness is her undeniable business superpower.

Manon Buettner is the CEO of Nuvalo, a company known for helping their customers with their IT modernization journey. She is an accomplished CEO, a mother, a former gymnast, and the co-founder of Cloud Girls, a not for profit community of female technology advocates and leaders.  Manon is an expert voice on cloud enablement and IT business management, and she is also an infrastructure architect, data center and cloud analyst, strategist, and speaker with over 20 years of experience in the industry. She is a tireless advocate for women in technology and a leader amongst leaders. She is also a good friend. In this episode... In today's rapidly changing world, people and companies are moving to a more application-centric economy. Businesses are migrating from hardware to a more subscription-based service which means more people are becoming more inclined to connect through cloud storage. Manon Buettner saw this opportunity as an opening for women to engage in a predominantly male-led industry. In today's episode of Lead Like a Woman Show, Manon Buettner, an expert in IT modernization, gets interviewed by Andrea Heuston about what IT modernization truly means and how she is able to provide cutting edge digital services in a male-dominated field. Tune in as she discusses her entrepreneurial journey, the reason behind Cloud Girls, and find out why she holds on to the best advice she has ever received: be fearless.

Dr. Kristin Kahle, aka Dr. K, is the CEO and Founder of NavigateHCR, a full-service Affordable Care Act (ACA) and compliance technology company. In 2014 and 2015, she was awarded the “Most Influential Woman in Benefits” by Employee Benefit Advisor. More recently, Dr. K was nominated for the San Diego Business Journal Top Tech Award 2019, for the technology developed by NHCR.  Highlighting her experience as a serial entrepreneur, speaker, coach, and mentor, Dr. K has published 'NOtivation: Use the Power of NO to Make Your First Million Dollars', a transparent and honest guide to how she used the power of no to make her first and second and third million.  Dr. K holds a Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) from Argosy University, an MBA from the University of Phoenix, and a Bachelor of Business Administration from Pine Manor College. In this episode… At the tender of 5, Dr. Kristin Kahle was a strong willed little girl who wanted to save her brother’s life by donating her bone marrow. Jason had been diagnosed with leukemia and tests showed that Kristin was the perfect match.  However, her family was not too keen on her being a donor, but she persisted despite repeatedly being told “No”, and her persistence paid off. This experience led her to become more determined and her strong will enabled her to be a great basketball player in college and eventually, she went on to become a successful entrepreneur. She set up and sold 3 successful businesses and now, she coaches and mentors other women business owners on how to create their own success story. In this episode of the Lead Like a Woman Show, Andrea Heuston gets to interview Dr. Kristin Kahle about the power of ‘NO. Listen in as they discuss Dr. Kahle’s reasons for writing a book, how being able to say “NO” can motivate you to succeed, how she has thrived in a male-dominated field, and why Dr. Kahle believes it is important for women to put a stopper on negative thoughts. Stay tuned.

Debbie Oberbillig is the CEO of SuccessView Coaching and Consulting, and she is highly skilled in the business aspects of talent management including coaching, leadership development, facilitation, and organizational program management. Her passion and expertise are to consult with and coach CEOs and corporate leaders, as well as to create and facilitate programs to develop courageous emerging leaders.  Before starting her consulting firm, Debbie was on the executive team of an emerging tech services firm where she assisted in growing the business from startup to a global public company. She is a graduate of the ICS accredited Newfield Network Ontological and Somatic Coaching Program, and she's an Enhanced Narrative Coach Practitioner and Certified Dare to Lead FacilitatorTM. In this episode… During a recession or pandemic, it is common knowledge that a number of small businesses struggle to survive and many of them end up going out of business. These are usually very challenging times for businesses and it affects everyone in every aspect: financially, emotionally, and psychologically.  But according to Debbie Oberbillig, new businesses actually thrive during recessions and while things are not really going as wonderfully as you would have hoped, changing your mindset and adjusting the story you tell yourself can not only help you cope, it can help you see the opportunities that are out there if only you look with more scrutinizing lenses. Debbie Oberbillig is a highly skilled coach and consultant whose companies have survived two recessions. She joins Andrea Heuston, as this week’s guest on the Lead Like a Woman Show where they talk about her early start in the entrepreneurial game, why she believes starting a business during a recession is actually a good thing, the importance of controlling your thoughts and feelings, and why she says that it’s totally okay to make and embrace failures and mistakes. Stay tuned.

Andrea Heuston is the CEO & Creative Principal of Artitudes Design, an award-winning creative agency. She has over 20 years of experience in the design industry and has won several awards including Puget Sound Business Journal’s 40 under 40, the Annual Enterprising Women of the Year Awards for Enterprising Women Magazine, Cambridge Who’s Who, Key4Women Achieve Award, among others.  Andrea holds a degree in Communications & Design from the University of Washington. She is also the host of the Lead Like a Woman Show, a speaker, author, and a volunteer who helps plan, purchase, prepare, and serve meals for the members of The Matt Talbot Center.  In this episode… Every August, Andrea Heuston & her family had made it a tradition to go on vacation at the family's beach house. Five years ago, the trip had been planned as usual, only that this particular one was going to be different. It would remain ingrained in their memory forever.  Andrea and her two sons found themselves in a burning house on a cold night & had to save themselves from the fire. What seemed like a small flame ended up consuming the entire house & throwing them out into the cold! In this episode, Andrea Heuston, host of the Lead Like a Woman Show is interviewed by Dr. Jeremy Weisz about one of four life-altering events that happened to her. She talks about her beach house burning down while on vacation with her two sons, how her family was helped by family, friends, & the insurance company, as well as what she learned from the tragedy. Stay tuned.