Sophia Bush is an actress and activist.
After debuting on-screen in the 2002 comedy Van Wilder, Sophia went on to have major roles in the television series One Tree Hill as well as films including John Tucker Must Die, The Hitcher and The Narrows. From 2014 to 2017, she starred in the NBC police series Chicago P.D.
Alongside her acting roles, Sophia effectively leverages her Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and blog platforms to raise awareness of world events, causes and political campaigns – encouraging millions of people to participate in the ongoing activism opportunities all over the world.
To this end, Sophia has been part of fundraisers such as Fuck Cancer, Run For the Gulf and I Am that Girl whilst also being a founding member of the female resistance movement TIME’s UP. In 2016, Sophia’s selfless activism was named in Oprah’s SuperSoul 100 list of visionaries and influential leaders.
Our episode with Sophia is recorded during a self-confessed “huge stage of transition” at the end of what she describes as an incredibly toxic period in her career. Sophia shares the ins and outs of this recent journey of radical self-enquiry with us and generously unpacks her inner landscape in beautifully articulate ways. The challenges she’s recently undergone are themes many of us can identify with and Sophia gives meaning to, and tangible advice about, topics including:
Later on in this episode Sophia also talks to us about her galvanizing work as an political activist – advising us all to “own our wins” and play the long game for the greatest advocacy fulfillment.
Keep up-to-date with Sophia’s fantastic work by following her:
On Twitter: https://twitter.com/SophiaBush On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sophiabush On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sophiabush
And check out her website: http://www.sophiabush.com If you’d like to hear more from women advocating for social change then make sure you check out previous episodes of The Role Models Podcast: https://www.rolemodels.co/podcast/language:english-only/category:feminism
Thanks to Samsung NEXT for supporting this episode. Find out more about their mission to support entrepreneurs: http://samsungnext.com/berlin
A big thanks also to our Patreon patrons who support this podcast:
And please follow Role Models! On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_rolemodels/ On Twitter: https://twitter.com/rolemodels
Anna Winger is the creator and screenwriter of hit television dramas 'Deutschland 83’ and ‘Deutschland 86’.
For 15 years, Anna worked as a freelance photographer before switching to write her first novel, ‘This Must Be the Place’ as well as personal essays for The New York Times Magazine, Condé Nast Traveler, and the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. She then went on to create and write the screenplay for the hugely successful Deutschland ‘83 and ‘86 trilogy series which broke international barriers with their widespread international popularity in Germany, the US, and all over the world.
In this episode Anna shares her experience of creating a hit television drama from scratch with lots of advice for budding screenwriters including:
Alongside these tips, Anna is also a passionate advocate for following opportunities wherever they might take you and not sticking to a set career path. This episode is full of welcoming and practical advice for people following a creative career direction as well as anyone looking to diversify their professional endeavors.
Check out the Deutschland ‘83 & ‘86 series on Amazon Prime: https://www.amazon.de/Deutschland-83-Staffel-1/dp/B018J45ERC
And you can follow Anna on Twitter: https://twitter.com/annawinger
If you’d like to hear more from the women such as Anna who are behind some of the world’s most well known television shows then make sure you check out previous episodes of the Role Models Podcast: https://www.rolemodels.co/podcast/language:english-only/category:tv-music-fashion-film/
Thanks to Samsung NEXT for supporting this episode. Find out more about their mission to support entrepreneurs: http://samsungnext.com/berlin
A big thanks also to our Patreon patrons who support this podcast:
And please follow Role Models! On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_rolemodels/ On Twitter: https://twitter.com/rolemodels
Tamara Lunger is a high-altitude ski mountaineer. A big Thank You to The North Face for making it possible for us to record this episode with Tamara.
Tamara was born in Bolzano, northern Italy, as the daughter of ski mountaineer, Hansjörg Lunger, she started ski mountaineering in 2002. Since 2009, Tamara has been a high-altitude climber meaning she makes her ascents without oxygen.
On 23 May 2010, Lunger became the youngest ever female climber (aged 23 years, 11 months, and 17 days), to have reached the main summit of Lhotse. By the age of 30 she had climbed two of the world’s four highest mountains (K2 and Lhotse) this was despite injuries and afflictions that meant every step taken was in pain.
In this incredible episode Tamara tells us what it’s like to traverse some of the world’s most punishing summits, all whilst under considerable physical pain and mental stress. Within this, Tamara generously describes:
After some action-packed years of adventure, Tamara is currently in a period of reflection, meditation, and physical recovery which she also speaks about later on in the episode.
Find out more about Tamara’s achievements: http://www.tamaralunger.com/en/index.php And follow her story on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tamaralunger
If sports, adventure and their positive affects on the mind are all themes you want to explore then you’ll find more Role Models episodes on the topics here: https://www.rolemodels.co/podcast/language:english-only/category:sports-athletes/
Thanks to Samsung NEXT for supporting this episode. Find out more about their mission to support entrepreneurs: http://samsungnext.com/berlin
A big thanks also to our Patreon patrons who support this podcast:
And please follow Role Models! On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_rolemodels/ On Twitter: https://twitter.com/rolemodels
Ara Kratz is the founder of seed.com
Newly launched in June 2018, seed.com is a science-based company that supports health, wellness and wellbeing through the application of microbiome science in people’s everyday lives. Seed.com has succeeded not just in translating science into a beautiful product, but in translating science, period. seed.com is currently setting the gold standard in a future where microbes play an increasingly important role in our daily lives.
Talking to Ara so soon after seed.com’s launch provided the perfect springboard into conversations about the dynamism of the post-launch period. This includes:
Elsewhere, Ara also shares her valuable experience in:
Find out more about Seed’s products and mission at: http://www.seed.com
On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/seed/
If founding your own company is something you want to explore, you’ll find more Role Models episodes on the topic here: https://www.rolemodels.co/podcast/language:english-only/category:business/
Thanks to Samsung NEXT for supporting this episode. Find out more about their mission to support entrepreneurs: http://samsungnext.com/berlin
Thanks to our patrons for this episode:
Follow Role Models! On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_rolemodels/ On Twitter: https://twitter.com/rolemodels
Sophia Amoruso is the founder of Nasty Gal Vintage; author of #Girlboss; and founder of Girlboss Media.
About Sophia Sophia started Nasty Gal Vintage from her bedroom at the age of 22 and grew it into one of the world’s fastest growing companies. In 2016, she was named one of the richest self-made women in the world by Forbes, and Netflix created the show Girlboss based on her story.
When the company subsequently filed for bankruptcy, Sophia founded Girlboss Media bringing events, conferences, multiple podcasts, books and more to the millennial women and helping them to redefine success by providing the tools and connections they need to own their futures.
In this episode Sophia speaks openly and honestly about what she learned from bankruptcy before going on to found a globally recognised movement with over 10 million #Girlboss uses on Instagram. These conversations touch on areas including:
Growing and owning your personal brand - How to take risks, own failure and learn from it - How to lead a company and onboard people into your vision
Find out more about Girlboss at: https://www.girlboss.com/ Follow Sophie on Twitter: https://twitter.com/sophiaamoruso Or on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sophiaamoruso/
This episode was recorded in partnership with the OMR Podcast which is usually hosted by Philipp Westermeyer. Check out previous episodes of the OMR Podcast here: https://omr.com/de/podcast/
If founding your own company is soemthing you want to explore, you’ll find more Role Models episodes on the topic here: https://www.rolemodels.co/podcast/language:english-only/category:business/
Thanks to Samsung NEXT for supporting this episode. Find out more about their mission to support entrepreneurs: http://samsungnext.com/berlin
Thanks to our patrons for this episode:
Follow Role Models! On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_rolemodels/ On Twitter: https://twitter.com/rolemodels
Anna Soellner is Director of Communications at @Reddit.
With over 300 million active users spread across 138,000 different communities on the number 6 most trafficked website in the world, it’s fair to say Anna Soellner has a pretty daunting role as Reddit’s Director of Communications - a website which positions itself as “the front page of the internet”.
Recorded live at The European Communications Summit in Berlin, Anna shares her personal journey from working in governance alongside Dianne Feinstein and Sheryl Sandberg all the way up to her current position overseeing communications with, and on behalf of, Reddit’s many millions of international users.
Whether you work in communications yourself or want to learn how to better connect your business with those around you, today’s episode is full Anna’s personal learnings and insights as she tells how we can all become better and more effective communicators. Anna shares tips including:
As well as this, Anna also took the time to talk us through her thoughts on the future of communications, sharing insights on what she thinks we should be paying attention to in the next 2-3 years.
To hear more from Anna you can follow her on Twitter: https://twitter.com/axisanna88
And if technology and the internet are something you’re keen to hear more about, you’ll find lots more Role Model episodes on the subjects here: https://www.rolemodels.co/podcast/language:english-only/category:technology-internet/
Thanks to our patrons for this episode:
If you’d like to help us create The Role Models Podcast in the future (thank you!), become a patron and chip-in $1, $3, $5, or $10 per episode. Read more about the different tiers and rewards on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/rolemodels
Follow Role Models on Instagram: https://instagram.com/_rolemodels
Follow Role Models on Twitter: https://twitter.com/rolemodels
Carolyn Coughlin is an executive coach, facilitator, and leadership development specialist.
Carolyn’s journey began as a management consultant first at PriceWaterhouseCoopers and later at McKinsey & Co. She was introduced to the idea of adult development shortly after leaving the corporate world 15 years ago, and instantly felt passionate about helping people not only to grow into their biggest selves, but also to live as fully as they can.
Throughout all of her work, Carolyn acts as a coach for executives struggling to navigate new or different career situations and in particular, has a keen interest in encouraging more women to step into leadership positions. With her fellow Cultivating Leadership partner Jennifer, Carolyn co-designed and runs the Growth Edge Certification series – a developmentally-oriented coaching platform that helps people find the right coach alongside helping coaches expand their knowledge in the developmental coaching area.
Key to Carolyn’s work are two core philosophies of:
In this episode Carolyn expands on both of these principles and shows us how we can all create a “self-authored” leadership voice that moves us away from reinforcing feedback loops that could potentially be holding us back. We also touch on topics including:
If you’re inspired by today’s episode you can learn more from Carolyn at:
Leadership and change consultancy: https://www.cultivatingleadership.co.nz/
Developmentally-oriented coaching: https://www.growthedgecoaching.com/
And if leadership is something you’d like to learn more about you’ll find lots more Role Model episodes on the topic here: https://www.rolemodels.co/podcast/category:leadership/
Thanks to our patrons for this episode:
And if you want to help us create The Role Models Podcast in the future (thank you!), become a patron and chip-in $1, $3, $5, or $10 per episode. Read more about the different tiers and rewards on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/rolemodels
Laura Brown is the Editor in Chief of InStyle magazine.
Laura spent eleven years at Harper’s Bazaar, rising to the role of Executive Editor before moving in 2016 to head up one of the world’s most successful fashion media brands. At InStyle Laura is responsible for the print magazine (which reaches 1.8 million readers every month), 13 international editions and digital across all platforms as well as the voice, content, strategy and brand extensions that reach 30+ million women across the world. This multifaceted role leads Laura to liken her job description to more of a producer than an editor.
Since her appointment, Laura has championed “Badass women” leading to a refresh of InStyle’s print and digital franchises and giving a relatable voice to a new group of fashion, beauty and celebrity influencers and thought leaders.
In addition to all the above, Laura also leads the development of live events such as the annual InStyle Awards, Badass Women, and innovative video series including PeopleTV’s “Dirty Laundry”.
Laura’s determination, self assurance and openness are infectious and this podcast episode is bursting with her advice on how to get where you want to be, no matter your industry. This includes:
It’s also the perfect listen for anyone looking to break into fashion’s notoriously competitive industry, full of practical advice for people who are struggling to find an access point, including:
If today’s episode leaves you wanting more you’ll find Laura on Twitter and Instagram: https://instagram.com/laurabrown99 and https://twitter.com/laurabrown99
Thanks to our patrons for this episode:
If you want to help us create The Role Models Podcast in the future, become a patron and chip-in $1, $3, $5, or $10 per episode. Read more about the different tiers and rewards on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/rolemodels
Tina Roth Eisenberg (aka @swissmiss) is the founder of CreativeMornings - a global monthly lecture series; TeuxDeux - a to-do list app; Tattly - a design-led temporary tattoo shop; and Friends Work Here - a co-working space in New York City.
Swiss-born Tina started swissmiss in 2005 as her personal visual archive and watched it grow into one of the internet’s most popular design journals with over 1 million visitors a month.
After working in several prominent NYC design firms Tina decided to start her own design studio but found that many of her side projects were (unexpectedly!) growing into small companies. So, in February 2015, Tina took a one-year client sabbatical to follow her labors of love in their many and varied directions. This led her to found a global monthly lecture series called CreativeMornings; a to-do app called TeuxDeux; Tattly, a design-led temporary tattoo shop; and a co-working space called Friends Work Here.
Tina is dedicated to finding intersections between her personal and professional interests and believes we should all be taking our side projects seriously, and sees these passions as areas of opportunity through which we can create wholesome work environments for ourselves.
Today’s episode is full of advice on how you can turn your passion projects into long term businesses. This includes how to:
Tina credits much of her businesses’ success to the individual teams in charge and is infamous for assembling her teams through unusual interview techniques which isolate shared visions and outlooks. Later on in our episode, Tina shares these invaluable tips for finding talent that’s the right fit in your company.
Find out more about Tina: 5 personal rules: http://www.swiss-miss.com/2014/06/sharing-my-5-personal-rules.html Swissmiss blog: http://www.swiss-miss.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/swissmiss Tattly: http://tattly.com/ TeuxDeux: http://teuxdeux.com/ Creative Mornings: http://creativemornings.com/ Friends Work Here: http://www.friendsworkhere.com/
Thanks to our patrons for this episode: - Anna Caroline who coaches leaders in Berlin: http://truthcircles.com - Megan Quinn who supports Code2014: http://www.code2040.org - Alexandra Cosma: http://alexandracosma.com - Emma Harris
If you want to help us create The Role Models Podcast in the future, become a patron and chip-in $1, $3, $5, or $10 per episode. Read more about the different tiers and rewards on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/rolemodels
Ama Marston is the author of “Type R - Transformative resilience for thriving in a turbulent world” and a thought leader on the topic of “transformative resilience”.
In today’s world we’ve become ever-more focused on “bouncing back” and “recovering” from periods of stress, adversity and resilience. But Ama is reframing the ways we talk and understand these challenges, so that we can use them to our advantage.
“Adversity is a terrible thing to waste” she says, and by helping us to check our default settings, Ama gives us the tools and capacity to make challenging situations a point from which to grow and innovate through her book and extensive work.
In this episode of the Role Models podcast, Ama and I discuss, amongst other things: - How she defines resilience and what she means with transformative resilience - What she calls Type R and what the characteristics are of someone who demonstrates these Type R characteristics. - About the Type R mindset and how we can turn this mindset into action when faced with a crisis.
Ama also dives deep into the common themes shared by Type R identifiers including:
As well as all the ways we can learn to leverage support in periods of stress. If you’re keen to find out how we can live and work better as well as be more thoughtful in the world, this episode will be an invaluable learning curve for you.
Take the “Type R” assessment and find out more: http://type-r-resilience.com/ Follow Ama on Twitter: @amamarston
Thanks to our patrons for this episode: - Anna Caroline who coaches leaders in Berlin: http://truthcircles.com - Megan Quinn who supports Code2014: http://www.code2040.org - Caoimhe Keogan: http://twitter.com/caoimhekeogan - Alexandra Cosma: http://alexandracosma.com - Emma Harris
If you want to help us create The Role Models Podcast in the future, become a patron and chip-in $1, $3, $5, or $10 per episode. Read more about the different tiers and rewards on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/rolemodels
In our first ever live episode recorded at Hamburg’s OMR Festival, we speak to Amy Emmerich - Chief Content Officer at Refinery29.
As Chief Content Officer, Amy oversees all Refinery29 content with an audience footprint of over 500 million. During her time in leadership with the platform, Refinery29 has launched numerous successful franchises and content brands; as well as scoring exclusives with leading female voices including Cecile Richards.
This success is thanks in part to Amy’s 20 years of experience developing content and programming, and in producer roles for platforms including MTV, HBO, Travel Channel, and Vice Media. As an Emmy award-winning producer she has worked across a wide variety of platforms to create and sustain a lasting dialogue about what matters most to a new generation of powerful women.
Amy’s success is also thanks to her unique career path and she’s forged her way through traditional media to progressive media by what she calls “positive hustling”. In this conversation we explore her philosophy, touching on many different subjects including:
If you like this episode you can also catch up with Amy: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/Emmerschmidt On Instagram: https://instagram.com/amyemmerich Or by reading Refinery 29: http://www.refinery29.com
Thanks to our patrons for this episode:
Anna Caroline who coaches leaders in Berlin: http://truthcircles.com Megan Quinn who supports Code2014: http://www.code2040.org Caoimhe Keogan: http://twitter.com/caoimhekeogan Alexandra Cosma: http://alexandracosma.com Emma Harris
If you want to help us create The Role Models Podcast in the future, become a patron and chip-in $1, $3, $5, or $10 per episode. Read more about the different tiers and rewards on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/rolemodels
Rebecca Jarvis is the ABC News chief Business, Technology & Economics correspondent; the host and managing editor of the podcast No Limits with Rebecca Jarvis; and the host and managing editor of Real Biz with Rebecca Jarvis.
After studying economics in college, Rebecca began her journalism career writing for Crain’s Chicago Business and Business 2.0 alongside gruelling hours working in investment banking and foreign currency trading. This early experience on the trading floor proved invaluable in giving Rebecca the confidence and know-how needed to later launch her broadcast journalism career through which Rebecca has interviewed some of the world’s most successful people including Warren Buffett, Richard Branson, Sheryl Sandberg, Diane von Furstenberg and Arianna Huffington.
Rebecca was also the first person at ABC News to launch a podcast, something she had to convince her bosses was the right move and build from the ground up. Through No Limits, Rebecca works hard to demystify success by interviewing bold and influential women about the decisions, trade offs, and realities they’ve had to face up to in order to get where they are today.
In this jam-packed episode Rebecca talks candidly about the lessons she’s personally learned during her career so far, as well as those she’s picked up through her extensive interviews with other women.
Topics touched on include:
And if today’s episode leaves you curious you can catch up with Rebecca by following Rebecca:
On Twitter: https://twitter.com/rebeccajarvis
On Instagram: https://instagram.com/rebeccajarvis
And listen to the No Limits podcast: http://abcradio.com/podcasts/no-limits/
Thanks to our patrons for this episode:
If you want to help us create The Role Models Podcast in the future, become a patron and chip-in $1, $3, $5, or $10 per episode. Read more about the different tiers and rewards on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/rolemodels
Ali is co-founder and COO of Reboot.io.
Reboot is first and foremost a coaching platform - a place where Ali and her team take on the mental models that CEOs and founders use to make decisions so that they can reaffirm their business relationships, enhance their leadership and greater practise resilience.
As a coach Ali is skilled in getting her clients to tap into their innermost sense of self to find the original source of their creativity, often helping them to tune into motivations they’d forgotten. To do this she draws on her 11 years experience working operationally managing projects, teams, and human resources at startups. During this time Ali met and worked with Jerry Colonna, and together they developed the first incarnations of the life-changing CEO Bootcamps that then went on to become the foundations of Reboot.
Nowadays the company offers coaching, mentoring and team experiences alongside its celebrated Bootcamps, and it has also launched a podcast to make its 360 degree coaching insights accessible to everyone.
In today’s episode Ali shares the unique foundations of Reboot’s Bootcamps and what we can all do to further ourselves professionally and creatively in the workplace. This is includes:
Ali has also had a long-lasting love of horses since her childhood and references this rider-horse relationship as an essential lesson in practicing connection and presence in “fight or flight” moments of stress. This understanding is something we touch on in the latter part of the episode, as well as how facilitated coaching takes these interpretations and places them in a human context to encourage trust and partnership.
To find out more about Ali’s great work head to: The Reboot website: https://www.reboot.io/ The Reboot blog (and its infamous newsletters): http://www.reboot.io/blog Twitter: @manifestcookies
Thanks to our patrons for this episode: - Anna Caroline who coaches leaders in Berlin: truthcircles.com - Megan Quinn who supports Code2014: www.code2040.org - Caoimhe Keogan: twitter.com/caoimhekeogan - Alexandra Cosma: alexandracosma.com - Emma Harris
If you want to help us create The Role Models Podcast in the future, become a patron and chip-in $1, $3, $5, or $10 per episode. Read more about the different tiers and rewards on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/rolemodels
Gretchen Rubin is a New York Times bestselling author, podcaster and happiness expert.
Gretchen started writing about happiness almost ten years ago, at a time when it wasn’t as much a part of our everyday dialogue as it is now. Over the years Gretchen has worked incredibly hard to identify not just her own core beliefs about happiness and habit forming, but also those which apply to a wider understanding of how different personality types respond to the inner and outer expectations which ultimately lead to feelings of contentedness.
Gretchen made the transition into writing by working (she says) “obsessively” on topics that interest her. This compulsion has led her to write nine different books including the blockbuster New York Times bestsellers: The Four Tendencies, Better Than Before, The Happiness Project, and Happier at Home which have sold three million copies worldwide in more than thirty languages.
Alongside this, Gretchen also produces two podcasts and on her award-winning podcast “Happier with Gretchen Rubin” she discusses happiness and good habits with her sister Elizabeth Craft. The podcast was named in iTunes’s lists of “Best Podcasts of 2015” and was named in the Academy of Podcasters “Best Podcasts of 2016.”
Out of her extensive research Gretchen has created a number of different strategies to help us live more fulfilling lives. Today’s episode touches on many of these wider learnings, including:
There’s also some great advice in the episode for wannabe writers who are struggling to get started with the creative process.
Read more about Gretchen: https://gretchenrubin.com/ Listen to the “Happier” podcast: https://gretchenrubin.com/podcasts/ Take the “Four Tendencies” quiz: https://gretchenrubin.com/2015/01/ta-da-the-launch-of-my-quiz-on-the-four-tendencies-learn-about-yourself/
Photo by Andy Ryan
Thanks to our patrons for this episode:
If you want to help us create The Role Models Podcast in the future, become a patron and chip in $1, $3, $5, or $10 per episode. Read more about the different tiers and rewards on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/rolemodels
Rianie Strydom is the General Manager and Winemaker at Haskell Vineyards and Dombeya Wines.
A graduate of the University of Stellenbosch, Rianie decided to become a winemaker at the age of 14 working in Burgundy, Bordeaux and travelling extensively throughout Europe, America and Australia before returning to South Africa to work within her native country’s terroir.
After ten years as winemaker at Morgenhof Estate, Rianie took up the dual role of General Manager and winemaker at Haskell Vineyards and Dombeya Wines in the Helderberg. And in 2009 her Haskell Pillars Syrah 2007 won three trophies (Best Shiraz, Best Red Wine and Best Wine of Show) at the prestigious Tri Nations Challenge – the first time in the competition’s history that a South African red wine had won these top spots.
Since then, Rianie’s passion and dedication to ‘improving the breed’ of South African wine has seen her career go from strength to strength – including an invitation to join South Africa’s prestigious Cape Winemakers Guild – one of only two females in the country to be a member.
This episode touches on many career cornerstones including:
On the subject of wine, Rianie also shares some great tips on:
You can read more about Rianie’s wines: https://www.haskellvineyards.com
And read more about Rianie’s accolades: http://www.capewinemakersguild.com/users/rianie-strydom
Please note: There’s a little bit of background noise in this episode. That’s because the episode was recorded, literally, in the middle of one of Rianie’s wine cellars and you will be able to hear some of the barrells being moved at some points!
Thanks to our patrons for this episode:
If you too want to support us in creating The Role Models Podcast in the future, become a patron and chip in $1, $3, $5, or $10 per episode. Read more about the different tiers and rewards on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/rolemodels
Ann Miura-Ko is co-founding partner at FLOODGATE, an early-stage venture capital firm.
As the child of a NASA rocket scientist Ann grew up, literally, surrounded by emerging technologies in California’s Silicon Valley. And as a young champion debater (she placed first in the National Tournament of Champions and second in the State of California whilst at high school), Ann forged a considerable skill set which has since helped her complete a PhD at Stanford (a place where she now a lecturer in entrepreneurship), serve on the Yale Corporation Investment Committee, as well as become a well-known and celebrated pioneer investor in the AI space.
In 2017 she made her Forbes Midas List debut at number 77 among the world’s top venture capitalists for investments which include: Lyft, Ayasdi, Xamarin, Refinery29, JoyRun, TaskRabbit (recently acquired by Ikea), and Modcloth. She was also named “the most powerful woman in startups” by Forbes.
This far-reaching discussion with Ann touches on a number of valuable career topics, including: - How to get over your fear in pursuit of a goal - Managing and maximising your luck - The power and potential of persuasion when debating effectively - How to welcome 360 degree criticism - How to ‘dial-up’ optimism and find new opportunities - How tapping into your childhood curiosity is the key to success
The key values of successful entrepreneurship including: - Hacking value as opposed to hacking growth - Truth seeking to achieve successful customer development - Seeking out the underdog/misfit
And don’t miss Ann’s three key career pointers – skills which which she says once mastered, will come back to support you time and time again: - Figuring out how to speak up - Focusing on your ability to learn - Effective storytelling
Follow Ann on Twitter: https://twitter.com/annimaniac Check out more about FLOODGATE: http://floodgate.com/
Thanks to our patrons for this episode: Anna Caroline who coaches leaders in Berlin: http://truthcircles.com/ Caoimhe Keogan http://twitter.com/caoimhekeogan Johannes Kleske http://johanneskleske.com Emma Rae Harris
If you want to help us create The Role Models Podcast in the future, become a patron and chip in $1, $3, $5, or $10 per episode. Read more about the different tiers and rewards on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/rolemodels
Margaret Stewart is the VP Product Design at Facebook. Margaret credits being the youngest child of 9, as well as having initially studied Theatre as incredibly useful tools in the collaborative nature of all her work today. She then did a graduate studies at New York University’s Interactive Telecommunication Program before starting her career at Tripod - one of the big homepage building sites in the first dot.com era - and rising up the ranks through the design teams at Google Search and Google News, to become the global Head of Design at YouTube. These days, Margaret leads the designers and researchers who help the tools for business all around the world, allowing them to connect with Facebook’s 1.7B users in meaningful ways. This episode touches on many different topics including: Honouring the creativity inside of you, and why it’s OK to experiment and play around if you don’t know what you want to do How to be a good listener and collaborate well How to create the conditions so that people can do amazing work Key tips for positive leadership How to work against career inertia - and why going into management isn’t necessarily the best idea. Margaret approaches her work with a total appreciation of great design as well as the end goal of improving people's lives. Her knowledge, passion and insight into how to create workplace environments which inspire and allow people to create amazing work will be an invaluable tool for everyone - whether just starting out in careers, or already in management positions.
Follow Margaret on Twitter: https://twitter.com/mags Follow Margaret on Medium: https://medium.com/@mags Check out Margaret’s personal blog: http://www.fountly.com/
Thanks to our patrons for this episode:
Anna Caroline who coaches leaders in Berlin: http://truthcircles.com/ Caoimhe Keogan https://twitter.com/caoimhekeogan Johannes Kleske https://johanneskleske.com
If you want to help us create The Role Models Podcast in the future, become a patron and chip in $1, $3, $5, or $10 per episode. Read more about the different tiers and rewards on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/rolemodels