Fiftyfaces Podcast and the Mindshare Podcast Collaboration

Keren Leshem is Chief Executive Officer at OCON Therapeutics, which develops innovative and safe intra-uterine medical solutions inspired by women’s bodies and anatomy, She is also a board director at Aspivix, and was recently awarded Best Women’s HealthTech CEO 2023 in the Global CEO Excellence Awards.  She holds a number of other Board Roles and in 2022 was a Tech Pioneer at the World Economic Forum and is a Mentor within the 8400 Health Network. Our conversation dives right in to the state of women's health research and the innovative methods of intra-uterine delivery that OCON is developing that can treat a range of conditions in a non-invasive and efficient way. We speak about the challenge of attracting funding, particularly at this juncture given OCON's location and the perseverance and advocacy that has to continue throughout this process. We describe the treatments and therapies in detail and ask what some of the barriers are to attracting more attention for women's health. There is more detail on OCON on the website: https://oconmed.com/ This episode is a collaboration between The Fiftyfaces Podcast at fiftyfaceshub.com and The Mindshare Podcast at www.monumentalme.com/podcast.

Dr. Diane Reidy-Lagunes is a top NYC Oncologist from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. She is the creator and host of the award-winning monthly podcast Cancer Straight Talk from MSKCC where she leans in and tackles the subject of cancer head on, in English and Spanish. A noted clinical investigator, Diane served previously as President of MSK’s Medical Staff.  She currently serves as Vice Chair in the Department of Medicine. During the COVID crisis in NYC, she served as Chief of Clinical Care as part of the Hospital Incident Command System. As a researcher, she focuses on developing treatments of gastrointestinal (GI) tumors.  She is a member of the National Cancer Institute Taskforce and a member of the National Cancer Care Network Guidelines.  She is the recipient of several honors, including the Paul Sherlock Teaching Award, Castle Connolly Top Doctors, and the American Cancer Society Mother of the Year Award.  In addition, Diane maintains a high-volume GI Oncology clinic. You can find her podcast Cancer Straight Talk at https://www.mskcc.org/cancerstraighttalk. This episode is a collaboration between The Fiftyfaces Podcast at fiftyfaceshub.com and The Mindshare Podcast at www.monumentalme.com/podcast.

Jessica Karr is the founder and managing director of Coyote Ventures, an investment firm that focuses on backing founders who are solving problems that disproportionately affect overlooked populations with a foundation in women’s health.  She is also a limited partner of Portfolia FemTech II Fund, designed for women who want to back entrepreneurial companies for returns and impact, among other advisory roles. Our discussion starts with her early career and what led her into venture and an interest in healthcare in particular.  We speak about the mentors that inspired her at this stage of her career and what led to her decision to launch Coyote Ventures. We turn then to the the fundraising experience and the level of attention given to women's health and the innovations in same.  Unfortunately these areas are often overlooked and underfunded.  She then describes the support that has come from across the industry and how innovative methods of drawing support - such as allocating a percentage of real estate deals to Coyote Ventures has been such an unique way to raise visibility for these issues and the Fund in particular. There is more information about Coyote Ventures on https://www.coyote.ventures/ This episode is a collaboration between The Fiftyfaces Podcast at fiftyfaceshub.com and The Mindshare Podcast at www.monumentalme.com/podcast.

Dr. Tara Bishop is passionate about improving health and healthcare. In her twenty-year careeras a physician executive, Tara has on-the-ground experience in delivery system improvement,health policy, payer operations, product development, value-based care, and start-ups.  She isthe founder and managing director of Black Opal Ventures, a venture capital firm that invests incompanies that are transforming healthcare through technology.  Tara served as the Chief Medical Officer at Bind, a health insurance start-up that is at the forefront of disruptinghealthcare. She was a leader in the early development of the Bind product and helped grow thecompany 10x in revenue in 3 years.  Prior to joining Bind, Tara was the Medical Director andSenior Expert at McKinsey & Co. She designed new payment models for numerous clients. Shewas an associate professor of Medicine and Healthcare Policy at Cornell Medical School whereshe did cutting-edge research on health policy, innovative technologies, and health services. She directed quality improvement at Cornell and cared for patients as a primary care doctor. Dr.Bishop has published almost 50 peer-reviewed research articles which have been cited by theNY Times, WSJ, and others.   Tara serves on the boards of Optellum and led investments inIntellihealth, Empatica, and Conceivable Life Sciences. Tara is also an Associate Professor ofPopulation Health Sciences (Courtesy) at Weill Cornell Medical School and was named aWoman of Influence in Venture Capital by Private Equity International in 2022. She holds a BSin Chemical Engineering from MIT and an MD degree from Weill Cornell Medical School. This episode is a collaboration between The Fiftyfaces Podcast at fiftyfaceshub.com and The Mindshare Podcast at www.monumentalme.com/podcast.

Inspiring people advancing women’s health This podcast series builds on our successful global Women-in-Tech healthcare series, as well as our capsule collections focused on maternal mortality and changemakers in medicine and science. With a focus on profiling inspiring healthcare professionals, investors, tech professionals, entrepreneurs, and capital providers, we examine the trends, the themes and opportunities within the healthcare segment. We drill down on the under invested area of women’s health, ask why this under-investment persists and examine innovations and community initiatives to raise awareness, build solidarity, and create impact.  The podcast series includes an initial four podcasts and is co-hosted by Liana Slater and Aoifinn Devitt. It relates to the missions of Fiftyfaces Productions and Monumental Me as follows: At Fiftyfaces Productions we believe that you can’t be what you can’t see and that you won’t see, what you don’t support and amplify. In 2024 we are committed to ensuring progress towards the following UN SDGs:SDG 3 Good Health and WellbeingSDG 4 Quality EducationSDG 5 Gender EqualitySDG 8 Decent Work and Economic GrowthSDG 9 Industry Innovation and InfrastructureSDG 10 Reduced InequalitiesSDG 13 Climate Action The Fiftyfaces Productions maternal mortality series is part of our mission to spread awareness of women’s health issues and to further SDGs 3, 4, 5 and 10. The 3 part series tackles first the problem, then suggests solutions and finally looks around the world for how other countries have tackled this problem and some of the innovations that we are seeing in technology and AI that can address some of the shortfalls. The Mindshare Podcast is an award-winning production from Monumental Me that supports the organization’s dedication to highlighting thought leaders’ insights for personal and professional wellness. We share industry and topic expertise and uncover personal experiences to identify real tools to help you thrive in life and in your career. Monumental Me's mission is to support you through your growth journey by providing you with the resources and tools you need to ensure you reach your full potential for both personal and professional wellness. We believe everyone has something monumental to offer.

Madeleine Dassule is Partner & Co-Head, Technology at Wellington Management.  She previously was a Vice President at Goldman Sachs in the area of equity trading technology.  She holds a number of Board roles including being a member of the Board of Finos and Boston City Singers. Our conversation starts with her upbringing in France, and her path to study math at Columbia College. We discuss the French approach to education - the concept of "peut mieux faire" - can do better/can try harder, and how this influenced her to push herself, but also hold out standards for the industry.  We move then to her career trajectory and the unexpected twists and turns that led to such a fulfilling position at Wellington.  We talk about what is on her mind as tech leader today - the importance of scale, of using technology as a way to enable people to flourish.  We talk about the importance of cybersecurity, of continuous improvement and of growing a tech stack that is fit for purpose. Madeleine has always placed a high priority on career development and mentorship, and we pose the fundamental question as to whether the wisdom that we internalized - as a certain generation - is necessarily the wisdom that we wish to pass to future generations.  She reveals the lessons that frank and honest feedback has taught her, and suggests how we should all give and receive feedback ourselves.

April Rinne is a “change navigator,” speaker, investor, and adventurer whose work and travels in more than 100 countries have given her a front-row seat to a world in flux. In this podcast episode, April brings us real tools to help any executive or individual manage constant change and uncertainty, and we ask April to apply her navigation tools and insights to each of the 4 previous guests in our Women in Tech series. In April’s words, from her best-selling book, Flux: 8 Superpowers for Thriving in Constant Change, “to thrive in this world in flux, we need to radically reshape our relationship to uncertainty and flip the script.” In this conversation, April helps us figure out how we can do just that.  April is ranked one of the 50 leading female futurists in the world by Forbes and is a Harvard Law School graduate, a Young Global Leader at the World Economic Forum, a Fulbright Scholar, a member of the Silicon Guild and Thinkers50 Radar, and the author of Flux: 8 Superpowers for Thriving in Constant Change. April is a trusted advisor to well-known startups, companies, financial institutions, nonprofits, think tanks, and governments worldwide, including Airbnb, Nike, Intuit, the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, AnyRoad, and Unsettled as well as governments ranging from Singapore to South Africa, Canada to Colombia, and Italy to India. Earlier in life she was a global development executive, an international microfinance lawyer, and a hiking guide. As a certified yoga teacher, she can often be found upside-down, doing handstands around the world.

Fiona McDonnell is a mother, wife and the author of the book “Two Mirrors and a Cheetah: Think Differently, Own Your Career & Succeed by Being Yourself.” Fiona is also a tech industry leader, currently an executive at Booking.com, and formerly at Amazon and many well known consumer good companies. Fiona has had an amazing business career spanning 30 years, and she shares the hard earned wisdom from this invaluable experience on the importance of having self-awareness and how to achieve this to really thrive in one’s career in the fast-paced, rapidly changing environment of tech and beyond. Fiona has a professional track record in driving change, delivering growth and profitability as well as developing people, in the Online Retail and Consumer Goods industries. Her experience in the consumer products industry, growing house hold names including Kellogg’s, Kraft Jacobs Suchard, Nike and  McCormick (Schwartz, Thai Kitchen, and Kamis) and as a Director at Amazon. She was the Executive Sponsor for Diversity within Amazon UK businesses, and chair of the  Women in Innovation Advisory Committee. Additionally she was Amazon's UK spokesperson from 2018. What  sets Fiona apart from other leaders is her clarity of thought, her  ability to share her energy and passion and the commitment to keep it 'fun' without compromising performance. Fiona  holds a masters degree in Manufacturing Engineering from Cambridge  University and she earned her MBA from INSEAD Business School in both  France and Singapore. Find out more at https://fionamcdonnell.com/

As Head of Diversity & Culture at Yahoo, Inc., Alicin leads Yahoo’s diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts globally, in addition to building upon Yahoo’s passionate and positive team culture. Alicin discusses how to enhance belonging within the corporate culture and shares her insights on the value of Feminine Leadership and the need for high EQ in corporate leaders, something already practiced by her CEO.   For over 25 years, Reidy Williamson has led Culture, Purpose and DEI for top companies. She previously served as Chief Inclusion Officer at Endeavor, leading inclusion strategies globally across multiple businesses. Prior to Endeavor, she was Managing Principal for The Raben Group, a national public policy and communications strategy firm, where she developed the DEI practice. Reidy Williamson also spent 13 years at Viacom and MTV Networks, launching the company’s efforts in corporate responsibility, diversity and inclusion, and public affairs, while managing their growth.  Reidy Williamson’s passion extends beyond the corporate environment and into her community. She is on the board of March on Washington Film Festival, the Diversity Advisory Council Chair for Operation Homefront, and sits on the board of She Should Run.

Katie is the Founder and General Partner of Moxxie Ventures. Katie brings us insights from her rich background of experience in and board seats at large media and tech firms, finance and government. She shares her insights and offers tools to thrive from her breadth of experience and current interactions with founders, investors and entrepreneurs.    Prior to Moxxie, Katie served in numerous executive operating roles at Twitter, Google, Yahoo, and Color. She has led teams in marketing, comms, recruiting, product and media. In addition to working in Silicon Valley, Katie served in the (Obama) White House and State Department and began her career as a banker at JP Morgan Chase.  Katie sits on the Board of Vivendi, a French multinational media company headquartered in Paris, Yahoo and previously served on the Board of Time Inc.  Katie started her venture career as a Founding Partner of #Angels and has invested in 50 early-stage companies including Airtable, Cameo, Carta, Coinbase, Literati, Modern Fertility, Shape Security and Threads.

Jessica is a principal in Deloitte Consulting LLP and lead for Consulting’s Ecosystems & Alliances practice, with a constant focus on the next big thing- which she shares with us today as our first guest on the Women in Tech Series. Jessica also shares her insights from attending the recent World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.  In her more than 25 years at Deloitte, Jessica has helped clients navigate large-scale, strategic transformations that enable market growth and build dynamic brands. Jessica oversees strategic collaborations with companies that innovate and shape the world, including top tech companies, academic institutions, and organizations dedicated to equity and inclusion. With a constant focus on the next big thing, Jessica specializes in strategic transformation, growth strategy, and global mergers & acquisitions. Jessica is also a member of the US Consulting Management Committee. Prior to her current role, Jessica led and oversaw major transformations in the Technology, Media and Telecommunications (TMT) industry as the national consulting leader for Deloitte’s TMT practice. Jessica is Recognized as one of the Top 25 Consultants by Consulting Magazine and as one of the Bay Area’s Most Influential Women in Business by San Francisco Business Times.  Jessica’s deep experience in relationship-building and a passion for connecting people is key to her success, and she explains how her pioneering attitude and always being curious has been her strength in growing her career.

Our global Women in Tech series is an exciting collaboration between Fiftyfaces Productions and Monumental Me, an organization committed to wellness including resilience, mental fitness and strength designed to help you thrive in life and your career. It also hosts The Mindshare Podcast. In this first series of the collaboration, host Liana Slater talks to four senior female tech executives about what drove their success, how the tech industry is changing and advice they wish they had learned sooner.   Our first podcast is with Jessica Kosmowski, a Managing Principal at Deloitte, where we start by discussing the most exciting tech trends surrounding us today and Jessica reflects on how she has treated not being well represented as a senior woman in tech.  We hear then from the venture capital investor Katie Jacobs Stanton. Katie is the founder and general partner of Moxxie Ventures, She talks about areas that excite her today- particularly climate tech and healthcare, and shares the tips she believes will get more women the skills they need to get funded by investors like her.  She talks about hiring talent, and the imposter syndrome that is felt universally. Our next guest, Alicin Reidy Williamson, also believes in networks.  She is the chief diversity and culture officer for Yahoo.  She describes the importance of having a personal board of directors, but also believes in the importance of strong leadership, of a very particular kind - feminist leadership. Alicin also believes in creating a culture of belonging, and she gave an example of what that means.  Our final guest in the series, Fiona McDonnell, a tech executive of Booking.com describes what it is to have full self awareness and how we can learn it. She discusses her recent book, and reflects on what it was that stopped her from bringing her whole self to work.  You can follow our series on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.  You can find all of our content on the Fiftyfaces Hub - fiftyfaceshub.com, and this series is featured on the Monumental Me website at www.monumentalme.com/podcast.

Maram Hussein at the time of recording was Investor Communication Lead at Vintage Investment Partners and a Board Member at Kav Mashvean. She started her career as a tax researcher, moving to an auditor role before assuming her current role. In recent months she established an initiative to integrate more Arabs in the Venture Capital, Investment Banks and Consulting firms. She now lives in California. Our conversation starts with Maram's university study in finance and accounting and the obstacles she encountered when applying for a first position in accounting and auditing roles.  She eventually was successful, and describes how challenging it was to find peers, mentors and role models in the industry who had a similar lived experience to herself, an Arab living in Israel.  Maram discusses the break that saw her find a fulfilling role in venture capital and the awakening she experienced when she realized that she could do something to contribute to the social capital of other Arabs seeking to break into the field.  She established an affinity and networking group designed to provide a network, leads and other coaching to young people seeking to enter the industry. Maram's motto -  is you don't hire for skills you hire for attitude, you can always teach the skills, and reflects on the resilience she learned from her mother, one of her original role models.

In 2023 we are taking our Inspiring Israeli Women in Tech Fiftyfaces Focus Series to the next level.  We are going global.  In this mini-series we give you a taste of the kind of stories and concepts that we will be bringing together - comparing and contrasting experiences around the world.  In this series we hear from Maram Hussein about what it was like to be one of the only Arab Women in her tech career, and how she had to look hard for mentors and to build a network.  This experience taught her to change the playing field for the next generation - to create an affinity group and networking opportunities to ensure that mentorship and best practice could do its usual work. We move then to the Bay Area, where we hear from Ashwini Asokan, founder of Mad Street Den about the transformative power of AI, and why it is more than "Brains, Bots and Bullshit" (the title of a successful video talk she provided). She talks about the importance of blending AI with an understanding of human behavior, through her study of anthropology, and stresses why humanizing AI will be the way of the future. Finally in this mini-series we hear from Ahryun Moon about her experience founding a scheduling company and what it is like to be one half of a Couple-Preneur.  She speaks openly and honestly about the "Female Founder Discount" and how affects everything from company valuations to the ultimate success of that company because of the negative economics that it can create. We will continue this series in 2023 with an exciting new collaboration.  Watch this space in 2023.

Ahryun Moon is Founder and Head of Company Strategy at GoodTime.io a company designed to boost employee productivity by making scheduling meetings easier. This is not her first time founding a company – she also founded Etch Keyboard and previously worked as a financial accountant and financial analyst. We start with her upbringing and the hackathons that awakened her interest in tech and problem solving.  When she noticed that recruiters were spending the bulk of their time on scheduling meetings, she went "under cover" at large companies in Silicon Valley in order to scope the extent of the problem.  This was the seed that generated GoodTime.io, and we turn then to her experience as a founder, raising capital, developing an all-remote team and being productive in a "Couple-preneur" arrangement (her husband is also a partner at GoodTime.io).  We dig deep into what Ahryun terms the "female founder discount", why this persists and the way that it erodes company value and prospects. This is a passionate discussion that uncovers the inequities that continuing and we pick apart how to address them.

Ashwini Asokan is the founder and CEO of Mad Street Den, an Artificial Intelligence company, powering Retail, Education, Healthcare, Media, Finance & more with its image recognition platforms, Vue.ai and Blox.ai. Headquartered in the Bay Area, California, the company has offices around the globe. She previously worked at Intel, where she led IXR’s Mobile Portfolio, which explored the future of mobile technology and designed compelling mobile experiences that people will love.While at Intel Ashwini spent time working on the Mobile Portfolio where she combined teams comprising designers, anthropologists and software engineers.  We talk about the importance of including anthropologists to understand the sometimes varied use case of technology, and we explore what insights this can provide. We move then to talk about a video in which Ashwini refers to AI as “Brains, Bots and Bullshit” and dissect what this in fact means, and what can be done to improve how AI is used and developed in the future. You can find this video here: Mind the product talkhttps://www.mindtheproduct.com/need-product-people-save-ai/And an video about Ashwini’s entrepreneurial journey here: NatGeo video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJlrH1sD7u0 As an entrepreneur who has worked through capital raising, Ashwini has a host of insights into the playing field for capital and some of its shortcomings. We look at the steps she took to shore up her own business venture and how her training in the arts taught her the choreography needed to stay the course. We examine the importance of the social sciences, of learning how to “fail up”, build muscle and stay the course, particularly as a woman in the competitive field of tech.  Finally, we look at the importance of eating protein, in more ways than one.

Charna Ambers is founder of CB Design NY, which specializes in corporate brand and marketing design for clients across a range of industries, including in particular healthcare, lifestyle, and real estate.  Our conversation starts with her upbringing in upstate New York, her first roles and how she came to the decision to launch her own firm. We talk about her vision for branding and design, and how she builds her network. We delve in particular into her LInkedIN strategy, and how she was an early adopter on the platform and has ultimately garnered more than 30,000 followers. We speak then about her use of a business coach and how that has been pivotal in growing her business and in offering the sounding board and advice needed to navigate through changing times.  This podcast is brought to you as a bonus episode featuring inspiring women in tech and beyond with ties to Israel.

Hilla Bakshi is the founder of Hameetupistiot and works as a marketing  and business development co-ordinator at Women on Stage. Women on Stage is a global platform which showcases, books, and trains women professional speakers for any tech event, conference, meetup, or webinar. In our interview, we discuss how Hilla came to champion women in hi-tech. Hilla describes how her growing awareness that she was usually the only female in the room inspired her to ask why. We talk about what she learnt when she asked that question and how it inspired her to launch a community for female professionals.  Hilla also discusses with me what she learnt through working with WomenonStage and the transformative effect it had on the participants’ confidence, their  storytelling and their ability to rebrand themselves. Finally, Hilla opens up about having stage fright, the agility of dreams, and her future goals. HaMeetupistiot has an active presence on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/meetupistiot/?originalSubdomain=il linkedIn. You can also check out Hilla’s work here https://www.womenonstage.net.

Efrat Fenigson was featured as one of StartIsrael’s 2021’s most promising marketing leaders in Israel who is focused on social impact.  Efrat is currently the  CMO at Mindspace and is the co-founder of the G-CMO forum.  She is also, among many other things, a feminist, activist, and Videocast host. In our interview we discuss how Efrat started out as a programmer in Australia and chucked it all in to take a risk and start her own business there.  She talks us through her  journey from running that business to becoming CMO at Mindspace.  Efrat discusses why marketing appeals to her and how she uses the skills learnt there to engage in social activism. Hear how marketing skills, and the ability to distill information into simple, digestible form and tell a story, can be useful in other walks of life.  We also explore  the importance of identifying  your values and knowing what your redlines are so that you choose the right job or purpose in life. Throughout the interview, Efrat returns to the themes of failure, fear and uncertainty,  and the importance of challenging those insecurities in order to grow. She also talks very openly about feeling her own fears and vulnerabilities, life's ups and downs, and how she relies on the people in her own life to help gain insight into herself. This concept of getting feedback from valued friendships is one that she believes is key to continue to grow and build self-awareness.  Hosted by Maeve McQuillan.

Avigail Bar-Timor Rosen  is currently a Business Operation Associate at Payoneer. Prior to this she was a community manager at  "Women in Hitech”, which has more than 14 thousand members.  Avigal continues to   promote and work for the  representation of women in the Israeli tech industry.  In this podcast we talk about how hard it can be to know what you want to do in life. Avigail describes how her  journey to discovering her career path was not a straightforward or easy one, and how she took many different turns in her quest to find a job that spoke to her. She touches on how difficult that period of searching was and how in the end she learnt that it’s not about a job title, but about  knowing your values and what you want. We also talk about the practical steps that she took in order to find her career  and the importance of networking, mentors ,and coaches.  We touch on the theme of money and how for women it’s hard to ask for their worth or even admit their goal is to make money as this can still be frowned upon by society.  Avigail’s own experiences have made her passionate  about promoting women in hi-tech.Through her involvement in various women’s organisations, she’s helping women see their worth, ask for their full value and  encourages them to promote themselves within their careers in order to continue forging ahead.  There are more details about Avigail's affinity groups here:   https://www.linkedin.com/company/meetupistiot/?originalSubdomain=il and here https://women-in-tech.org/il/.  Hosted by Maeve McQuillan.