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Wings of Inspired Business
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Wings of Inspired Business

Author: Melinda Wittstock

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Women entrepreneurs are changing the game of business, stepping into our authentic feminine power and growing consciousness to start and scale great companies. Listen to Wings to learn from women who've "been there, built that" with 7, 8 and 9-figure businesses, even billion dollar Unicorns. You'll learn how to manifest the mindset, mojo and money to create, grow and scale a business aligned with what makes your heart sing. Wings is hosted by Melinda Wittstock, a 4-time serial entrepreneur, tech visionary and award-winning journalist. Melinda focuses where personal and business growth meet, her insightful interviews with inspiring female founders and businesswomen providing actionable tips to help listeners to real and tangible results. These innovators, influencers, and investors all share their success secrets, epiphanies, and practical advice on how to get the confidence, connections and capital so you too manifest the success of your dreams in life and in business.
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Miren Oca is the founder and CEO of the Ocaquatics Swim School. Thirty years ago, Miren started teaching swimming lessons in backyard pools as a way to provide for her small but growing family. Over the last three decades she’s grown her B Corp business to five state-of-the-art environmentally sustainable locations, delivering 6,500 lessons a week, with 3 million children taught to swim by Miren and her team so far. Miren is also a pioneer in innovating employee ownership, with an Employee Ownership Trust that builds wealth for her community as the business grows. 🔑Key Takeaways🔑 🤝 📈 Employee Ownership Mindset: Learn how an Employee Ownership Trust (EOT) provides a sustainable, equitable business model that incentivizes success and creates wealth by providing team members, now co-owners, a share in the profits.  🌱 ✨Sustainable Practices: How Ocaquatics has become a beacon of environmental responsibility. From using pool covers to reduce evaporation to implementing UV sanitation and LED lighting, Miren shows how businesses can reduce their environmental footprint efficiently. 🚀 🌎 Certified B Corporation: How to leverage B Corp status for triple bottom line success to lift people, the planet, and profit. Learn how this certification not only improved their staff retention and customer satisfaction but also aligned with their mission of social and environmental responsibility. 🎙️Subscribe to Wings and get the full Show Notes at https://bit.ly/Wings897
Caroline Goodner is the co-founder and CEO of OrganiCare, a leader in transforming feminine healthcare by making highly effective, natural products that are science-backed and available over the counter through national retailers under the brand FemiClear. OrganiCare is the 4th company Caroline has led, 3 of which she founded. Her career has focused on making disruptive advances in science, health and wellness that are understandable and accessible to consumers. 👩‍🔬 🛠️ Overcoming Knowledge Gaps: Why women’s health products addressing common issues like vaginosis, UTIs and genital herpes struggle to land advertising up against Instagram, TikTok and Google algorithms that misclassify them as sexual content. 💰 📈 FemTech Fundraising Challenges: Despite addressing a massive market of more than half the world’s population, female health founders innovating solutions critical to women’s health still struggle to raise funding.  📝✨Educating Women about their Bodies: Why most women don’t know that heart attack symptoms are different for them than men, and lack access to science-backed data on women’s health, plus what can be done to fill knowledge gaps and provide effective solutions. 🤝 🌱Mentorship is Vital: Why women entrepreneurs need supportive networks to combat isolation, boost confidence and resilience, and gain valuable business insights. 🚀 🎉 Preparing for Exit: The emotional roller-coaster of selling your business and how to prepare with intention. 🎙️Subscribe to Wings and get the full Show Notes at https://bit.ly/Wings886 More about Caroline at OrganiCare https://www.organicare.com/  Get a discount on FemiClear and use discount code is PODCAST25https://femiclear.com/
Danielle Hayden is a reformed corporate CFO (chief financial officer) who is on a mission to help rule-breaking female entrepreneurs understand their numbers so they can gain the confidence needed to create sustainable profits. After spending 10+ years in the boardroom as a corporate finance officer, Danielle is now in her sweet spot as the CEO of Kickstart Accounting, Inc. where she helps business owners with bookkeeping, financial analysis, and education. She is the author of the Profit Planner book series. When Danielle isn't in her money mindset you can find her hiking or spending time with her family. 🔑Key Takeaways🔑 🌱 💰 Understand your Money Personality: Learn if you’re a free spender, keeper, perfectionist, or balance seeker, and why this is crucial for aligning with your business goals. 🛠️ 📈Know Your Numbers: Your P&L and Balance Sheet tell the story, so take responsibility for understanding and analyzing your financial statements, even if you have a professional team in place. 🤟 👩‍🔬 Face Fears Head-on: Growing a business involves making brave decisions, even in the face of fear, so learn how to change your money mindset and embrace an iterative learning process. ✨ 💡 Set Clear Intentions: Align your spending with specific, measurable goals to achieving business growth and personal satisfaction. Learn how to embrace a visionary founder mindset. 🚀 🔥Take Ownership Of Your Entrepreneurial Success: Ask for help, embrace failures as opportunities for growth and learning, and grow your financial fluency. 🎙️Subscribe to Wings and get the full Show Notes at https://bit.ly/Wings895   More about Danielle at Kickstart Accounting https://kickstartaccountinginc.com/danielle-hayden   Get your Money Personality Type https://kickstartaccountinginc.com/quiz   Get the 3 Numbers Every Business Owner Should Know  kickstartyournumbers.com   Download Podopolo from either app store to create and share your favorite clips of this episode on any social media or messaging platform, follow Wings there and keep the conversation going on Podopolo app in episode comments.
Susan Drumm a Leadership Coach and CEO of Meritage Leadership on a mission to help leaders and their teams to develop the capacity and mindsets to lead in today’s disruptive environment. She has personally coached billionaire CEOs, prominent Fortune 50 executive teams and incredible entrepreneurs that set out to disrupt the marketplace. Her firm, Meritage Leadership, uses a cadre of 15 seasoned coaches and consultants who work with senior leaders and executive teams. She is also the host of the podcast and YouTube channel The Enlightened Executive, where she interviews founders and CEOs on the most cutting-edge programs, assessments, apps and techniques in personal and leadership effectiveness. Meritage works with private equity firms and their emerging portfolio companies, as well as large corporations such as Oracle, Viacom, KPMG, A&E Networks, Genentech and others. Susan has graduate degrees from Harvard Law School, Carnegie Mellon University and the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. 🔑Key Takeaways🔑 🎶 💡 Music and Mindset: How to interrupt old patterns and create new neural pathways to transform your life with a playlist. Learn how identifying your triggers and selecting music that aligns with your desired emotional state, you can shift your mindset and energy to influence your growth. 🌱 🔄 Leveraging the Enneagram for Leadership: Learn how it focuses on motivation rather than behavior, helping you understand your blind spots, where to grow, and how to work with others who complement your strengths. 🚀 🤝 Building High-Performance Teams: Why success depends on forming and leading cognitively diverse teams, plus how the Enneagram can help create customized growth paths for each team member, fostering a strong and effective team dynamic. 🛣️ 🤟Exit the “8-Lane Highway to Hell”: How to build your personal music playlist with an anchor song tied to powerful and positive “I Am” statements for transforming your life and business. 🎙️Subscribe to Wings and get the full Show Notes at https://bit.ly/Wings894 More about Susan at Meritage Leadership https://meritageleadership.com/ Get 20% off Enneagram Applied using the coupon code DRUMM for four self-paced sessions, paired with a unique Enneagram Leadership Style Assessment and a comprehensive 20+ page report to deepen leadership insights.  https://susandrumm.kartra.com/page/Join-EnneagramApplied  
Dr. Gemma Galdon-Clavell is a pioneer and global force in AI safety and auditing, on a mission to ensure that AI large language models and unsupervised machine learning tools truly serve society. She is the founder and CEO of Eticas.ai, a venture-backed organization that identifies, measures and corrects algorithmic vulnerabilities, bias and inefficiencies in predictive and LLM tools. Eticas’ software, the ITACA platform, is the first solution to automate impact analysis and monitoring, ensuring that AI systems are high performing and safe, explainable, fair and trustworthy. Gemma was acknowledged by the BBC as one of the “people changing the world” and this year honored by Forbes Women as one of the “35 Leading Spanish Women in Technology” and praised as “a pioneer in algorithmic auditing software”. She also advises international and regional institutions such as the United Nations (UN), the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) and the European Commission, among others. 🔑Key Takeaways🔑 🚀What’s Sci Fi and What’s Real: Learn the limitations of AI innovation, as well as opportunities. 🔍 AI and Humans Must Work Hand-in-Hand: While AI excels in identifying patterns in medical imaging and policing dynamics, it’s crucial to remember that human expertise and decision-making are irreplaceable. AI should complement rather than replace human judgment.  💡 Bias and Innovation in Venture Capital: AI has the potential to both perpetuate and mitigate biases in venture capital funding. Learn the importance of creating a venture fund that prioritizes social impact and leverages diverse perspectives.  🛠️ The Importance of Tailored AI Models: One size doesn’t fit all when it comes to AI. Small, tailored models can be more effective for specific applications, ensuring better performance and minimizing biases and hallucinations. 🎙️Subscribe to Wings and get the full Show Notes at:  https://bit.ly/Wings893
Angela Duncan is a serial entrepreneur in real estate, insurance and finance who is on a mission to empower women by helping them with all things money. Growing up in poverty in Section 8 housing and welfare, Angela defied the odds to become a force in personal finance with 25+ years of experience, across banking, financial advising, real estate, and growing her own insurance company, We Insure Gold Coast, to a lucrative exit. She also owned a top 10 RE/MAX office with over $2BN in sales. Angela now hosts the top-rated Empower HER Money Podcast, helping to transform female entrepreneurs' lives through financial literacy and generational wealth, and proving it's never too late to rewrite your financial story. 🔑Key Takeaways🔑 🧠💰 Money Mindset Matters: How your childhood shapes your financial destiny, and how to break old patterns to grow income and wealth.  📚💡 Grow Confidence as an Investor: Why financial education is vital for women, plus how to start small, think big, stay curious, and grow streams of passive income. 🚀🏡 From Poverty to Prosperity: Never underestimate the power of curiosity and mentorship, and why women must learn to focus on building assets rather than fleeting luxuries like clothes and cosmetics. 💪📊 Financial Literacy is Vital: How to organize your finances, understand taxes, know your numbers in business, and seek new and diversified investing opportunities, whether real estate, insurance, tax lien investing, stocks or startups! Always seek expert advice and build confidence for a secure future one step at a time.  🔥🛠️Special Offer: Curious about your investor type? Take Angela’s special quiz on her TikTok and Instagram platforms @empowerHERmoney to help you understand your investment preferences and strengths.   🎙️Subscribe to Wings and get the full Show Notes at https://bit.ly/Wings891 Download Podopolo from either app store to create and share your favorite clips of this episode on any social media or messaging platform, follow Wings there and keep the conversation going on Podopolo app in episode comments.
Julia Kim is the CEO and Founder of Sanu, a postpartum retreat company dedicated to redefining care for new parents with comprehensive support and personalized experiences. She’s a seasoned leader with over 15 years of experience in lawmaking, policy, communications, and political campaigns. Serving as the national Co-Chair for Korean Americans for Biden in 2020, she mobilized volunteers and orchestrated efforts to engage hundreds of thousands of Korean American voters in key battleground states. Additionally, as the former Chairperson of the Virginia Asian Advisory Board (VAAB), Julia provided invaluable counsel to the governor on a range of issues, including education, civic engagement, and business and trade matters, championing the interests of the AAPI community. 🔑Key Takeaways🔑 👩‍🔬🤝Innovations in Postpartum Care: Why new parents need better postpartum guidance and how the challenges of new parenthood are being solved with Sanu retreat centers. 🚀 🤟 Personal Experience Sparks Entrepreneurial Innovation: Why opportunities always present when we solve challenges for ourselves. 💡🌱Politics and Entrepreneurship: From understanding customers, creating relevant messaging, and engaging them as your advocates, entrepreneurs can learn a lot from the secrets of political campaigning. ✨👩‍🔬Female Founders for Kamala: Why women entrepreneurs have much to gain (or lose) depending on the outcome of the US elections, with our rights, freedoms and opportunities on the ballot.   🔥🛠️📝✨💡 🚀 🤝 🌱 🔄 👩‍🔬 🤟 🎙️Subscribe to Wings and get the full Show Notes at https://bit.ly/Wings891  Get 10% off a stay at Sanu Postpartum. Use code 10PEROFF at checkout. https://sanupostpartum.com/ Download Podopolo from either app store to create and share your favorite clips of this episode on any social media or messaging platform, follow Wings there and keep the conversation going on Podopolo app in episode comments.
Monica Badiu is a conversion copywriter and copy coach with more than 25,000 hours of hands-on marketing experience whose agency specializes in helping course creators and companies increase revenue through customer-centric copywriting. Monica specializes in data-driven marketing to produce targeted and non-spammy emails and funnel pages that drive high conversions by prioritizing value over pressure to build long-lasting relationships with audiences. Monica also hosts the podcast, Master the Inbox. 🔑Key Takeaways🔑 💡 🔥The Marketing Power of AI: How AI can be used to better understand customer behavior so marketing messages resonate with specific segments, plus how to use AI for research and creating content. 🤝 🌱 Customer-Centric Copywriting: Why the best marketing is a conversation that puts your customer and their needs first.   🚀 🤟 Leverage Psychological Triggers: How to leverage data and behavioral insights to craft copy that not only engages but also converts. Plus, overcoming entrepreneurial imposter syndrome and balance business with 👩‍🔬 motherhood. 🎙️Subscribe to Wings and get the full Show Notes at https://bit.ly/Wings890 Download Podopolo from either app store to create and share your favorite clips of this episode on any social media or messaging platform, follow Wings there and keep the conversation going on Podopolo app in episode comments.
Brittney Fairweather is a co-founder and Chief Business Development Officer of TRX Capital, a real estate lending firm focused on Business Purpose Lending where she manages overall growth, strategy, and client-facing communications. With a mission to bridge the gap for first-time buyers and revolutionize real estate investing, TRX Capital provides flexible capital and expert support to small builders and investors. Previously she founded the mortgage lender Genesis Capital, which she sold to Goldman Sachs.
Mary McMonagle is an intuitive healer and feminine energy coach with a passion for guiding high-achieving women towards breaking free from their own limitations and fully embracing their true essence. Founder of spiritual lifestyle brand True Vibe, Mary is also the host of the Living Your True Vibe Podcast, where she inspires countless individuals to embrace their true essence and live authentically. Listen to learn how to move from overthinking to a place of heartfelt clarity, so you can attract secure relationships and achieve significant growth in both your business and personal life.
Vanessa McGovern is co-founder and Chief Sales and Marketing Officer of Gifted Travel Network, a fast-growing luxury travel business that empowers small travel vendors, supports independent advisors, and curates authentic and memorable travel experiences. An award-winning industry educator and a sought-after speaker, Vanessa innovated a unique approach to empowering other travel entrepreneurs and uniquely grew her travel business during the Covid lockdown, supporting some 200 independent contractors along the way.
Trixy Castro is a visionary entrepreneur in real estate and mortgage finance having founded, scaled and sold multiple businesses, including private lending company Genesis Capital, bought by Goldman Sachs in 2018. Passionate about empowering women to excel in business, Trixy has founded and invested in over 50 companies across diverse industries and is now the CEO and Founder of TRX Capital. Her journey is a testament to her determination, resilience, and unwavering belief in the power of mindset transformation. Today she shares the importance of empowering and supporting women in business, how it contributes to a thriving entrepreneurial ecosystem, and how women can overcome challenges and setbacks and grow their leadership skills.
Shari Aldrich is a successful entrepreneur and author whose life was forever changed when she woke up one morning to her “cosmic alarm clock”—the sudden, insistent inner feeling of needing to act—telling her to run a marathon. That decision led to a series of successes that she’d never dreamed possible, culminating in owning a flourishing business, connecting with entrepreneurial leaders around the world, and authoring her inspirational book, The Cosmic Alarm Clock: Wake Up To Your Extraordinary Life. From experiencing soul-changing family deaths and a harrowing finger amputation to running races and developing a thriving business as the CEO and Founder of Bodymechanics School of Myotherapy and Massage, training massage therapists and helping them launch their own schools.  In 2023, Shari was inducted into the prestigious Massage Hall of Fame. Today she shares time-tested lessons that have been condensed into easy-to-follow steps she calls the Five Pillars for Life.
Marley Majcher is the CEO of The Party Goddess!, a nationally acclaimed full-service event planning and catering company. From understated elegance to rock star fabulous, Majcher is known for creating the most talked about parties of the year for a client list ranging from top-tier businesses to A-list celebrities such as Snoop Dogg, Sofia Vergara and Britney Spears. Marley is also The Profit Goddess!, a business coach for small business owners and entrepreneurs and the author of But Are You Making Any Money?, a witty and lauded business guide praised by Forbes as "a great how-to book for any entrepreneur." Her popular savvy and business sense have earned her appearances on various outlets and shows including “Fox and Friends,” Fox Business, MSNBC, “Extra,” “Good Day LA,” Bravo, E!, MTV, HGTV, FOX, ABC, CBS, NBC and The Wedding Channel.      
Rebecca Contreras is the founder and CEO of AvantGarde, an Austin-based consulting firm federal agencies depend upon to help them transform their leadership and grow their organization through holistic and sustainable approaches. Born into poverty, Rebecca transformed herself through grit, resolve, and steadfast commitment from a high school dropout and welfare-dependent teenage mother to a successful business leader. Author of the bestselling Lost Girl, Rebecca has received a number of accolades for her exceptional leadership such as being named the 2023 Austin Businesswoman of the Year and having received a golden Stevie Award for Best Female Entrepreneur in 2022. Rebecca also founded Girls of Legacy, a groundbreaking effort to impact the next generation of inner-city girls in Austin by providing them with mentorship and scholarships.
Dr. Michelle Jorgensen, DDS, FAGD, TNC, CNAS, is a renowned holistic dentist, naturopath and nutritionist and entrepreneur with two businesses, Total Care Dentistry and Living Well with Dr. Michelle. A pioneer in functional integrative dentistry attracting patients from all over the world, Michelle’s transformative journey into holistic medicine and entrepreneurship began when mercury exposure from traditional dentistry made her seriously ill. A mother of four and an author of five books, Michelle also runs a charitable foundation, the Living Well Today Foundation supporting those in need.
Amanda Bernard is a proud member of the Madawaska Maliseet First Nation and the founder of Shawish Market, a virtual Indigenous marketplace where Indigenous artists and entrepreneurs can create and manage their own online shop. Unlike other marketplaces, Shawish does not charge vendors a monthly or transaction fee making it affordable for Indigenous communities. Amanda was honored on the Peak's 2024 Emerging Leaders List. She is also a 2023 MIT Solver Fellow.
Morgan Kline, Co-Founder and CEO of the Burn Boot Camp franchise, is on a mission to enable women to feel confident, empowered, motivated and stronger than ever. Growing up in Battle Creek, MI, Morgan started climbing the corporate ladder at the Kellogg Company right out of college before taking the entrepreneurial leap to grow one of the nation’s fastest growing fitness programs, now with 400 locations across 41 states.  She balances growing Burn Boot Camp and its community as a busy mom to three kids with her podcast, The Burn Boot Camp.
Miranda McKie is a visionary leader, founder, and CEO of McKie Consultants, with a mission to utilize data-driven techniques to identify and mitigate systemic institutional barriers that impact underrepresented groups. Her expertise in HR / people analytics, DEI, product management, design thinking, and training enables her to help her clients achieve their strategic organizational goals. She also works with clients to implement best-in-class SaaS (Software as a Service) platforms. Miranda received the 2020 Catalyst Canada Emerging Leader Award and was most recently featured as one of The Silicon Review's Top 50 Leading Companies in 2023. She also co-founded the non-profit Young Women in Business (YWiB) Toronto, which helped over a thousand women develop their professional networks.            
Dr. Romie Mushtaq is a board-certified physician who brings together more than two decades of leadership in neurology, integrative medicine, and mindfulness. Creator of the BrainSHIFT Protocol and author of The Busy Brain Cure, Dr. Romie is on a mission to improve mental wellbeing and create a culture of wellness in the workplace. An award-winning speaker working with Fortune 500 companies, professional athletes, and global associations, she currently serves as Chief Wellness Officer for Evolution Hospitality, where she scaled a mindfulness & wellness program to over 7,000 employees. Her expertise has been featured on NPR, NBC, TED talks, and Forbes.
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