Extraordinary Women Radio

Today – I’m so excited to bring this very special Extraordinary Woman Radio interview with Astronaut Susan J. Helms – the first U.S. military woman in space! Susan is a retired Air Force lieutenant general and astronaut who was a crewmember on four space shuttle missions. She holds the world record for the longest space walk (8 hours and 56 minutes), and was the first woman to serve on the International Space Station. Susan is part of my series featuring the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame 2018 Inductees. This is an interview full of stories of space travel and the lessons that accompanied it. Apparently, you can learn a lot about life when you spend nearly 5 months aboard a space station with only 3 others aboard the international space station. There’s lots of time to ponder the wonders of the world and the wonders of the Universe. We talk about humanity, life, following your dreams, working hard, training hard and being ready. Here are a few of the golden nuggets from Susan: “Humankind is really all one family as opposed to different countries.” “Confidence and competency goes such a long way, as a currency, especially for women struggling with biases.” “Payoff comes from the journey, not the destination.” Susan was a member of the first class at the Air Force Academy to include women. Lieutenant General Helms was commissioned from the US Air Force Academy in 1980, the first class to admit women into the ranks of the cadet corps. Upon graduation, she served as an F-15 and F-16 weapons separation engineer and a flight test engineer. Following completion of her Masters of Aeronautics and Astronautics at Stanford University, she served on the Faculty of the US Air Force Academy in the Department of Aeronautics. She was subsequently selected to attend the USAF Test Pilot School, Flight Test Engineer Course, Edwards AFB, CA, completing the year long school as a Distinguished Graduate. After graduation, she served as project officer on the CF-18 aircraft as a U.S. Air Force Exchange Officer to the Canadian Aerospace Engineering Test Establishment, at Cold Lake AFB, Alberta, Canada. As a flight test engineer, Lt Gen (R) Helms has flown in 30 types of U.S. and Canadian military aircraft. Selected by NASA in January 1990, Lieutenant General Helms became an astronaut in July 1991. On Jan. 13, 1993, then an Air Force major and a member of the space shuttle Endeavour crew, she became the first U.S. military woman in space. She flew on STS-54 (1993), STS-64 (1994), STS-78 (1996) and STS-101 (2000), and served aboard the International Space Station (ISS) as a member of the Expedition-2 crew (2001). After 12 years at NASA, Lieutenant General Helms transferred to Air Force Space Command in 2002. Over the next 12 years, she served in numerous staff positions and commanded the 45th Space Wing at Cape Canaveral AFS, FL. Her staff assignments include tours at Headquarters Air Force Space Command, Air Education and Training Command, and U.S. Strategic Command, where she was the Director of Plans and Policy (J5). Upon promotion to Lieutenant General, she commanded the 14th Air Force (AF Space Command) and the Joint Functional Component Command for Space (US Strategic Command), in a dualhat position at Vandenberg AFB, CA. As the U.S. Air Force’s operational space component to USSTRATCOM, Lt Gen Helms led more than 20,500 personnel responsible for providing missile warning, space superiority, space situational awareness, satellite operations, space launch and range operations. As Commander, JFCC SPACE, she directed all assigned and attached space forces providing tailored, responsive, local and global space effects in support of national and combatant commander objectives. Lieutenant General Helms retired from military service in 2014. Since retirement, General Helms has spent her time on Board work, consulting and speeches. General Helms is currently on the Board of Trustees for the Aerospace Corporation, and on the Board of Directors for Concho Resources, Inc. (CXO). She currently serves as a member of the NASA Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel, and in 2014, was appointed by President Obama to a two year term as a Trustee, Board of Trustees, Woodrow Wilson International Center, a bipartisan think tank in Washington DC. She is also a Board Member of the Association of Space Explorers, and has established her own consulting company, Orbital Visions, LLC, in Colorado Springs, CO. *** The Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame mission is to inspire by celebrating and sharing the enduring contributions of Colorado’s distinctive women. To achieve this, the Hall educates the people of Colorado about the stories of the women who shaped our state and the nation’s history with courage, leadership, intelligence, compassion, and creativity. Their talents, skills, struggles, and contributions form a legacy that the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame is dedicated to protecting. I invite you to join us at

I was so honored to have the opportunity to interview best selling author and highly sought-after speaker, Agapi Stassinopoulos on Extraordinary Women Radio this week. Agapi’s most recent book is Wake Up to the Joy of You: 52 Meditations and Practices for a Calmer, Happier Life. This book is a treasure trove of how to live a life full of joy. We talk about mindfulness, meditation and intimacy with your SELF. We talk about the importance of knowing yourself from that deep inside place, and how the Universe can get all in behind you – and open all kinds of doors when you have that knowing of who you are. Agapi has a wise approach to life and we’re so aligned in our own inner truths and perhaps, even how we are both meant to making a difference on this earth! Agapi is a best-selling author and speaker who has inspired audiences around the world. In her previous book, Unbinding the Heart: A Dose of Greek Wisdom, Generosity, and Unconditional Love, she shares the wisdom from her life’s adventures and experiences. I love this book – there are so many beautiful, funny and memorable stories that teaches us so much about life! Agapi was born and raised in Athens, Greece. At age 18, she entered the prestigious Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London and later moved to the United States to do film and television. In her books and in our interview, Agapi shares that acting didn’t quite work out the way she wanted it to – and in hindsight now, it’s pretty easy to see that the Universe had other plans for her. The Universe kept dropping in the clues and pathways that led her to a different journey. I love stories like this. While her sister, Arianna Huffington, was doing research for her book about Greek mythology, Agapi’s love for the gods and goddesses was ignited and led to Agapi’s own first two books—Conversations with the Goddesses and Gods and Goddesses in Love. In addition her journey led her to creating a one-woman show and a PBS special – Conversations with the Goddesses. “Joy is an inner stream that is bubbling all the time” ~Agapi Stassinopoulos Agapi has been featured on Oprah.com, HuffPost Live, CBS’s The Talk, and The Martha Stewart Show, among many others. She has spoken at conferences for the American Heart Association, The Spirit of Women, the Whole Foods Leadership Academy, Time Inc., the Girl Scouts of America, TEDx, Wisdom 2.0 Conference, Nike, Starbucks, Kaiser Permanente, and many more. “Inhabit your heart.” ~Agapi Stassinopoulos To learn more about Agapi and to follow her work, visit her web site at unbindingtheheart.com or follow her on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram. If you’d like her 68 Tips of Agapi for Joyful Living and her free guided meditation, email Agapi her at [email protected]. In addition, Agapi mentions a video in our interview of her speaking at the World Domination Summit and you can watch it here. And if you’re in New York City on February 1st, join Agapi at Love Who You Are, Create What You Want: an interactive workshop with Agapi to awaken your joy and set your intentions for 2018. Wish I was there!

Today’s Extraordinary Women Radio interview is with Fay Matsukage, a 2018 Inductee to the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame and Activist for Women and Asians in the Legal Profession. Fay wakes up every day and looks at a sticky note in her mirror that she’s written to herself: “You have to be the change you want to see in the world.” And in fact, she often tells herself, “If not me – then who!?” Such an important question for each of us to ask ourselves when we declare that something needs to change in our world. Fay lives by this concept: Be the change we desire in the world! From the beginning of her career, Fay worked in a male‐dominated field as a woman of Asian descent and faced the daily challenge of proving herself as a professional and as an equal. She was inspired by these challenges to start charitable foundations that are so well funded to this day they provide annual scholarships and other charitable contributions to women and individuals of Asian descent. Fay is an accomplished attorney with a reputation for professionalism and integrity who has dedicated her life and career to furthering the interests of women and those of Asian Pacific descent. She is a founding member of the Colorado Asian Pacific American Bar Association, founder of the Colorado Asian Pacific Bar Foundation, and was instrumental in forming the Colorado Women’s Bar Association Foundation – all with a focus to promote gender and race equality through mentoring, granting scholarships, fighting discrimination, training and education. Today, Fay practices law at the Doida Law Group. She is one of the few female subject matter experts in securities law with her level of seniority and experience. Her civic engagement, humility, courage under adversity, work ethic, and her contributions to the Colorado community exemplify the values of the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame – and I’m honored to get to interview Fay today on Extraordinary Women Radio. Some key words of wisdom that Fay shares in this interview: “Sometimes we are led to difficult situations, because that is the only way we grow.” “Don’t compare yourself to anyone else.” Lets meet Fay Matsukage! *** The Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame mission is to inspire by celebrating and sharing the enduring contributions of Colorado’s distinctive women. To achieve this, the Hall educates the people of Colorado about the stories of the women who shaped our state and the nation’s history with courage, leadership, intelligence, compassion, and creativity. Their talents, skills, struggles, and contributions form a legacy that the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame is dedicated to protecting. I invite you to join us at the March 28, 2018 Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame 2018 Inductee Gala by purchasing your ticket here. Check out some of the other 2018 Inductee Hall of Famers: Gerie Grimes – Early Childhood Education activist/Non Profit leader The Hope Center – Listen Dorothy Horrell – Chancellor of the University of Colorado at Denver – Listen Leslie Foster – Non Profit Leader and Activist, President of The Gathering Place – Coming Soon Susan Helms – Military, Astronaut – Coming Soon Gail Schoettler – Banking, Government and Women’s Activist – Coming Soon Listen to other Colorado Women Hall of Fame inductee interviews from prior years.

This week’s Extraordinary Women Radio interview is with a Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame 2018 Inductee, Dr. Dorothy A. Horrell. Dorothy is the Chancellor of the University of Colorado at Denver, my alma mater! I love this interview – we talk about success and courage and leadership and transformation. Dorothy tells her story of growing up on the plains of Colorado and finding her way to live in China for 8 months as a young woman. She shares the story of why she chose to come out of retirement to lead University of Colorado at Denver, and why she said yes. And in one of my favorite questions toward the end of the interview we talk about holding principles that we learned in 4H programs as young girls – around head, hand, heart and health – and how they shape our lives today. Dorothy and I shared a number of intersecting threads in our lives – and I think we both loved these connections. So much fun to discover! Dorothy leads Colorado’s public urban research university: CU Denver which educates over 15,000 undergraduate and graduate students annually in over 100 bachelor’s, master’s, doctoral and professional degree programs. Dr. Horrell brings an extensive background in higher education, having served as president of the Colorado Community College System , president of Red Rocks Community College , and as a governor appointee to the Colorado State University Board of Governors. From 2001-2013, she was president and CEO of the Bonfils-Stanton Foundation, Colorado’s leading foundation supporting the arts and nonprofit leadership. “Do what you can, with what you have, from where you are.” ~Dorothy A. Horrell Her past community involvement includes service of the boards of Arrupe Jesuit High School, Clyfford Still Museum, Colorado Association of Funders, Governor’s P-20 Education Council, Denver Commission to End Homelessness, Commission on the Reform of Denver’s High Schools, Exempla Healthcare System, First National Bank of Colorado, West Chamber of Commerce Serving Jefferson County, Young Americans Bank and Jefferson Economic Council. In addition to being inducted into the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame, Dorothy has been honored by the Colorado Women’s Chamber of Commerce: Top 25 Most Powerful Women and 2016 ATHENA leadership award; Colorado 4-H Hall of Fame; Public Education and Business Coalition– Investing in Education Award; Progressive 15 Alumni of the Plains; Colorado State University College of Applied Human Sciences Honor Alumna; and Mile High Council of Girl Scouts Woman of Distinction. Let’s dig in and meet Dr. Dorothy A. Horrell – a 2018 Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame Inductee! *** The Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame mission is to inspire by celebrating and sharing the enduring contributions of Colorado’s distinctive women. To achieve this, the Hall educates the people of Colorado about the stories of the women who shaped our state and the nation’s history with courage, leadership, intelligence, compassion, and creativity. Their talents, skills, struggles, and contributions form a legacy that the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame is dedicated to protecting. I invite you to join us at the March 28, 2018 Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame 2018 Inductee Gala by purchasing your ticket here. Check out some of the other 2018 Inductee Hall of Famers: Gerie Grimes – Early Childhood Education activist/Non Profit leader The Hope Center – Listen Fay Matsukage – Law/Asian Activist – Coming Soon Leslie Foster – Non Profit Leader and Activist, President of The Gathering Place – Coming Soon Susan Helms – Military, Astronaut – Coming Soon Dorothy Horrell – Education Professional and Administrator, Chancellor of the University of Colorado Denver – Coming Soon Gail Schoettler – Banking, Government and Women’s Activist – Coming Soon Listen to other Colorado Women Hall of Fame inductee interviews from prior years.

I’m really excited about today’s Extraordinary Women Radio interview with Gerie Grimes – the first of the 2018 Inductees to the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame. Passion, commitment, spirit, grit and grace. These are some of the characteristics shared by the women that will be enshrined into the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame in March 2018. These characteristics: Passion, commitment, spirit, grit and grace – are so aligned with what I want to share here at Extraordinary Women Radio. So you can see why I couldn’t be more thrilled to partner with the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame to be able to tell these stories! In March 2018, Colorado will induct 10 new women into their Hall of Fame – something that is done every other year… six contemporary honorees and four historical, into an exclusive class that has now grown to 152. My friend Beth Barela, who is the chair of the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame says, “These women are unsung heroes who have endured with superlative strength, beauty and love. They deserve to have their stories told and to be honored as shining examples of the potential of all women.” Over the next few months, I’ll be bringing you the stories of the 6 contemporary women who will be honored at the March 28, 2018 Induction Gala. Today’s guest, Gerie Grimes is the first inductee that I’m featuring. Gerie is an early childhood education activist and leader of Colorado’s nonprofit the Hope Center. She has dedicated 36 years of her life to Hope Center and to creating the opportunity for all children to have a better early childhood education experience. She has led Hope Center for the past 12 years as President and CEO. Her leadership, intelligence and expertise has made Denver’s Hope Center a model for how all children deserve the best education – no matter race or level of capability that society has labeled them. We talk about how important it is to be a voice at the table – even when the conversations are hard… leading change when we want to make a difference, the importance of reaching out and helping others, and of course we end with three pearls of wisdom from Gerie, which are particularly rich. I’m excited to be learning from these trailblazing women! “If its not me, then who?” ~Gerie Grimes Gerie is very active in the Denver Metro community serving presently and in the past on many boards and committees, such as, Center for African American Health, Denver Early Childhood Council, Colorado Association for the Education of Young Children, National Black Child Development, Denver Affiliate, Transforming the ECE Workforce (National efforts), Denver Preschool Program advisory board, Holly Area Redevelopment Project (HARP), East5ide Unified Leadership Team, North Park Hill Collaborative Impact, Mayor’s Head Start Policy Council, Mayor’s Early Childhood Education Commission, Metro State Board of Trustees, Metro State Alumni Board, Colorado Black Women for Political Action, Colorado Black Roundtable, Falcons Youth Organization (Founder and President for 27 years has volunteer with the Falcons for 42 years) and the Police Activities League. Mrs. Grimes has received numerous awards for community service over the years, some awards are: MLK Peace Award, 2013, Minoru Yasui Community Service award, 2011, Mary McLeod Bethune Award of Achievement, 2013, Juanita R. Gray Community Service Award, 2012; Kathy Hill Young Community Spirit Award, 2010; The 2011 Children’s Champion Award; 2014 William Funk Award for Building Stronger Communities; Mile High United Way – Anna Jo Haynes Caring about Kids Award 2013. To learn more about the Hope Center, visit their web site. *** The Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame mission is to inspire by celebrating and sharing the enduring contributions of Colorado’s distinctive women. To achieve this, the Hall educates the people of Colorado about the stories of the women who shaped our state and the nation’s history with courage, leadership, intelligence, compassion, and creativity. Their talents, skills, struggles, and contributions form a legacy that the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame is dedicated to protecting. I invite you to join us at the March 28, 2018 Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame 2018 Inductee Gala by purchasing your ticket here.

Today’s Extraordinary Women Radio is with Carol Fishman Cohen is the CEO and Co-founder of iRelaunch – a company focused on helping people launch into their next chapter after they’ve taken a break in their career. As a leading expert in the field of career reentry space, Carol wrote the Harvard Business Review article “The 40-Year-Old Intern” about mid-career internships and is a regular HBR contributor. Her TED talk on relaunching careers has been viewed nearly 1.6 million times and is translated into 29 languages. Carol is the co-author, along with Vivian Steir Rabin, of the career reentry strategy book Back on the Career Track, long referred to as the “Bible of workplace reentry.” Carol shares her story on how she returned to at Bain Capital after 11 years out of the full-time workforce is documented in a Harvard Business School case study, as well as provides several tips on how to approach career reentry after you’ve taken a break. Carol was named to the 2017 Thinkers50 Radar list of 30 leading management thinkers and was shortlisted for the 2017 Thinkers50 Distinguished Achievement Awards in the “Talent” category. She received the 2017 “Enterprising Woman Award” from the Women’s Enterprise Development Center and recently received the Society of Women Engineers President’s Award for co-founding the STEM Re-entry Task Force. And her company, iRelaunch was a finalist for the 2017 MassTLC Building a Better Workforce Award. To learn more about Carol, visit the iRelaunch web site or their Facebook page. You can also follow Carol on Twitter.

Cindy Powers Prosor believes that there is an important transition happening in the world right now. Amidst all the noise and discourse, there is also a rising up that is timely and needed in our global societies. A rising of more conscious beings. A rising of a more gentle, softer side of humanity. A rising of more awareness in how we show up and connect in the world. And yes, if you’ve been listening to me for any length of time, a bit of Yin Rising. I’m super excited to host Cindy Powers Prosor – a dear friend of mine from New Zealand – who is a wise woman making huge ripples of impact around the world. Cindy’s work is revolutionary. In fact, she is often referred to as a “Soul Midwife,”… Cindy is here to help usher out our “dying world” while educating and celebrating the awakening of a “new world.” Cindy is a speaker, an author and intuitive. As a mentor and founder of Opening Doors Within, she helps clients around the world drop out of their heads and into their hearts -transforming fear, doubt and struggle into confidence, trust and love. We talk about this and so much more in today’s Extraordinary Women Radio interview! Cindy and I are so aligned in our work, our passions and our beliefs. Cindy shares how we can nurture our intuitive wisdom, and why it’s so important right now. She talks about the our changing world, and how there is a new paradigm being born: one where masculine and feminine energies find new equilibrium of balance. We’ve been a paradigm of domination – of hard straight lines and driving ways of doing things, but we’re moving into a new paradigm of more collaboration, synergy, exposing the best of ourselves, and thus, creating a better world. That excites me! You’re going to love Cindy’s youthful energy and positive enthusiasm. Let’s meet my dear friend, Cindy Powers Prosor of Opening Doors Within. To learn more about Cindy, visit her website or follow her on Facebook or Twitter.

Danielle Fitzpatrick Clark, is the best selling author of the book Fake Free: 7 Easy Steps to Become More Authentic with Your Marketing. She runs a masterclass series called Light at the End of the Funnel, where she featured 20 marketing experts on creating authentic marketing, including yours truly. Danielle and I share this belief that the pathway to entrepreneurial success is an inside-out job – that there aren’t magic formulas or 10-step processes, but rather it starts from doing our deep inner work first, listening to our inner wisdom and guidance – and then stepping out with big bold steps. Success comes when you are aligned to who you are and the purpose you’re meant to deliver into the world. When my audio production editor sent me this episode of Extraordinary Women Radio back to me today, she made the statement, “You and Danielle go together like wama lama lama!” I had to laugh and share this, because I agree – we have the same passion for creating real marketing… not more noise. We have fun together – and I think you’ll have fun listening! This is an important episode for anyone creating content and marketing. You’ll gain real world tips on how to listen within to create the external impact on the world that you desire! On this episode, we talk about: How Danielle’s had to let go of her own people pleasing mindset to step into the expansiveness of her own marketing, aligned to who she is – which lit up the growth of her business Her story of taking the leap from being a digital marketing implementer to becoming a leading coach in the world of dream client attraction, enabling her to help more people and create a bigger ripple effect in the world, and what drove her to make a change. How to overcome the internal chatter that prevents you from stepping out and showing up bigger in the world. Authentic marketing can provide a sense of simplicity in a very complex world. Danielle is a dream client attraction specialist and digital marketer. With 8 years of entrepreneurial experience, and having worked with hundreds of entrepreneurs and small businesses, she is helping people to show up and blow up online. Strives to simplify the online marketing world and sprinkles in fun and creativity. Driven by a purpose to make a difference and to create a ripple effect in the world, she helps people show up authentically and on purpose in their business. “Even when I think I’m going big, I can still go bigger.” – Danielle Fitzpatrick Clark Bonus timing on this episode! Danielle’s running a complimentary rerun of her Light at the End of the Funnel Masterclass next week – December 5-7! This series is specifically designed to support you in working through your blocks, develop a winning mindset, clarifying or re-clarifying your unique vision of your online business, learn tactics to take action in your business, and ways to build your business using new tactics and strategies. Sign up here. To learn more about Danielle, visit her website or follow her on Facebook or Twitter.  

Lauren Y. Casteel, President and CEO of the Women’s Foundation of Colorado I’ve been looking forward to this interview with Lauren Casteel, the President and CEO of the Women’s Foundation of Colorado since the day I started Extraordinary Women Radio. For Lauren is the epitome of an extraordinary woman. In those early days of planning my podcast, when I was thinking about the women whose stories I would like to tell, Lauren certainly was at the top of the list. I can easily name Lauren as the best leader I’ve ever had an opportunity to work with in my life. She’s a changemaker, a trailblazer and a woman who can move mountains. Lauren is the first person in Colorado to lead three foundations and possesses more than 20 years of philanthropic leadership as well as a dedication to inclusiveness across gender, racial, economic, ethnic, military, abilities, and sexual orientation perspectives in Denver and throughout Colorado. I’ve had the pleasure of serving on the Board of Trustees of the Women’s Foundation for the past 2 years under Lauren’s leadership. The Women’s Foundation of Colorado is a unique community foundation that creates more pathways to economic security for Colorado women. We use the power of community, philanthropy, and impact to help women thrive, which builds a more prosperous state for all of us. I passionate about this cause, and I think our tagline says it all! Women Thriving. Colorado Rising. In our interview, we talk about what it means to lead now, in whatever role we each have. This is a very important time for all of us. Lauren shares her philosophies on leading change and what it means to lead with substance and not just symbols. She shares her perspectives around how creating more pathways for economic security for women, builds a more prosperous state for us all. Lauren tells her own personal stories of growing up in a household with her civil rights leader father, Whitney Young and how that has shaped her life. Her wisdom is rich and deep. Throughout her career, Lauren has gained numerous accolades. In 2014, Lauren was inducted into the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame. She has been named as one of the 25 most powerful women in 2015 by the Colorado Women’s Chamber; one of the Denver Business Journal’s 2015 Nonprofit/Foundation Newsmakers; a “Timeless Legend” by Denver’s Urban Spectrum Newspaper; received the “Trailblazer Award” from the American Association of University Women, Denver Branch; received the Girl Scout’s “Woman of Distinction” award; and in 2016 she was honored with the Monte Pascoe Civic Leadership Award, to name a few. So let’s talk about how the Women’s Foundation has thrived under Lauren’s leadership, for it’s been an incredible year for us! Here’s an overview of this year’s journey! We launched our five-year strategic plan focused on creating a livable wage for women and their families. What does a livable wage mean, you might ask? When a woman earns a livable wage, she escapes the fear that one car repair will mean she can’t pay the electric bill. She can invest – financially and with her energy – in her family’s future. She has the freedom to make choices for her family that are less about surviving and more about thriving. As a former single mom, raising a young son – I am so committed to creating this type of future for the women of our state. In July, we hosted former First Lady Michelle Obama for her first publicly ticketed appearance since leaving the White House. More than 8,300 community members gathered with us at Pepsi Center, drawing inspiration from Mrs. Obama’s vision for “a world that values its women,” and helping us net over $1 million for WFCO’s work. The words of award-winning actress Octavia Spencer moved and motivated attendees at our sold-out Annual Luncheon in late September. We hosted 2,400 at the Colorado Convention Center and a record number of sponsors joined us in 2017. We relaunched Dads for Daughters, a giving vehicle for fathers, brothers, uncles, grandfathers, and more, to honor the women in their lives and build opportunities for all women throughout Colorado. Our regional committees hosted dynamic community events in Boulder, Colorado Springs, Fort Collins, Pueblo, and Vail to share our five-year strategic plan, raise funds for WFCO’s vital work, and lead discussions on advancing gender equity in STEM industries. We fiercely focused our research, policy advocacy, and direct service grantmaking, granting nearly $1 million to non-profits supporting women’s causes this year. We are proud of the progress we’ve made in the last six months and since creating a movement 30 years ago to fight the feminization of poverty by empowering women to combine their philanthropic dollars. Driven by our founders’ knowledge that economically secure women build stronger families, communities, and economies, WFCO chose to also transform our brand in 2017 to reflect this core bel

Today, I’m thrilled to bring Heather Aardema of Root of Well Being to this episode of Extraordinary Women Radio. Heather is a dear friend and client, and I’ve been blessed and honored to have been a part of her journey. Heather shares her personal story about how she TOOK her life back, after having been prescribed a concoction of pharmaceutical drugs for over 18 years for 3 different autoimmune diseases. In a single day, she decided she was going to do life differently – that she was going to take ownership of her health and how she nourished her body. And THAT decision was life changing. Forever. Heather shares her healing journey and also how this planted the seed to follow her passion and her purpose, which subsequently started the her next big adventure of leaving behind the corporate job to launch Root of Well Being – a functional health and wellness organization that helps people rediscover the magic of feeling well. Today, Heather teaches her clients to create a sustainable whole-life approach to lifelong health with nutrition, movement, stress reduction and more – which she reveals in our interview. The interview is full of great tips for feeling better in your life. Heather has such a huge passion for helping people feel better and live a different story. It’s all about living a vibrant new health reality. And who doesn’t want that! Heather’s energy is contagious, and I can tell you – after I wrapped up this interview, I promptly went upstairs and made myself a delicious green smoothie for lunch! Let’s jump in and meet Heather Aardema of Root of Well Being. You can follow Heather and her healthy wisdom on Facebook or Instagram.

This week’s Extraordinary Women Radio interview with Dr. Anita Sanchez is really special. Anita is the best selling international author of The Four Sacred Gifts: Indigenous Wisdom for Modern Times. This book is beautiful – inside and out – and today, we’re going to get into some of the wisdom she shares in this extraordinary book. Anita’s message for the world, and our fortunate listeners is so relevant right now. She just returned from spending a week in Kauai with thirteen indigenous Elders from around the world, where they engaged in deep discussion about the changes our world is going through at this time. In our interview, she shares insights into the wisdom discussions that took place. We talk about why women have an important role to play in the changes that our world is going through – and what that role is. Anita is committed to bridging indigenous wisdom with modern life, to support our individual wholeness and collective conscious evolution in partnership with People, Spirit and the Earth. With her loving spirit, presence and skill, Anita inspires people around the world to discover and trust their gifts, to become life-giving connections to all, in service and joy. Anita is an international leadership consultant. With four decades of providing training and coaching to tens of thousands of global leaders and their teams in diversity and inclusion, leadership, culture and positive change, Anita is a member of the Transformational Leadership Council with such luminaries as Jack Canfield, Marianne Williamson, John Gray, Lisa Nichols, and Lynne Twist. To learn more about Anita and her work follower her on Twitter at @DrAnitaSanchez, on Facebook at @AnitaSanchezPhD and @DrAnitaSanchez, or visit her website at www.SanchezTennis.com.

Today’s Extraordinary Women Radio interview is with Claudia Cividino, the CEO of Americas for the luxury fashion brand Bally, where she oversees all of Bally’s business functions in U.S., Canada, and South America from her Manhattan office. She has held senior executive roles at PRADA SpA, Coach, and Yves Saint Laurent. Claudia has led a long successful career in the world of big fashion brands. I love this interview. We talk about women CEOs and leadership, and what it takes to break the glass ceiling. What Claudia shares is brilliant. And while she attributes her success to perseverance as many male CEOs might – she puts even more emphasis on something that may surprise you: mastery of self… to leading with a great awareness, to stillness, to the openness of exploration. For her, it’s never been about power over others. Instead it’s about doing her own deep inner work, and letting it flow from a deep grounded space within. This is the kind of leadership that I love to write about, talk about and am passionate about – the kind of leadership that I believe is going to change the world and the companies in which we work. I believe that this is an evolving style of leadership – that women leaders are being called to step up and lead with all of their beautiful, feminine essence of internal knowing – all their female essence – making space for that softer, knowing, intuitive side of us to rise up. And let me be clear: there is nothing weak about this softer, knowing, intuitive side of us – it is the inner strength that has always been there, and just needed to be set free. It’s Yin Rising! And an important part of this story is that Claudia’s results speak for themselves – she outperforms every market around the world – and she’ll share more about this in our interview. Claudia’s rich wisdom will have you on the edge of your seat. Let’s meet Claudia Cividino, CEO of Bally Americas.

Today on Extraordinary Women Radio, I’m really honored to host another Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame Inductee – Elinor Miller Greenberg. Elinor is an educational innovator, theorist, and writer who impacts education, civil rights, and women’s rights locally, nationally, and internationally. A visionary, Elinor believes that education is the key to social change and social justice. At 85 years young, Elinor shares lessons she’s learned over her change-impacting life. She shares the story of how she became an activist as a momma with a baby on her hip, and how she lived by the mantra, “Go where no one else will go. Do what no one else will do.” She loves being her current age and offers third-life wisdom. She’s got grit, she’s got grace, and she’s certainly made an impact on our world. I especially enjoy our conversation about how she has built friendships across political lines, with people she has been friends with for over 50 years. An important lesson for all of us in today’s modern age. Elinor has an impressive list of accomplishment in her lifetime. Here are some of the highlights! As a national leader in adult education and adult development, Elinor has worked with the major colleges and universities in Colorado and was also a guest faculty member of the Harvard University School of Education Institute for the Management of Lifelong Education. She has authored, co-authored, and edited nine books and more than 200 papers. Greenberg was one of the first to create learner-centered educational programs in Colorado, heading University Without Walls, an individualized bachelor’s degree program for adults utilizing resources from the community. She served as the national coordinator for the program and later was the regional coordinator for the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning and founding director of Project Leadership. She created the first BSN weekend college for rural nurses in Colorado, established a bachelor’s degree program in Colorado prisons, developed degree programs for Native American mental health workers, and founded a prepaid tuition program for US WEST employees in 14 states. At the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, she established the Mountain and Plains Partnership to provide access to online master’s degree programs for nurse practitioners, nurse midwives, and physician assistants in underserved areas of Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico, and Arizona. Greenberg came to Colorado in 1954 to work as a speech therapist and quickly became a community activist, finding ways to provide access to opportunity for women and minorities. She has been in the forefront of the fair housing effort for more than 40 years and served on numerous commissions and boards, including the Colorado Women’s Economic Development Council, the Colorado Women’s Leadership Coalition, Women’s Forum, State Board for Community Colleges and Occupational Education, the Anti-Defamation League, the Colorado Board of Continuing Legal and Judicial Education, the Colorado Judicial Institute, and MESA. As a nationally known public speaker, writer, and consultant, she founded Colorado-based EMG and Associates, a consulting and publishing firm specializing in adult education and distance learning. You will love this interview with Elinor’s deep wisdom. Let’s meet Elinor Miller Greenberg! *** The Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame mission is to inspire by celebrating and sharing the enduring contributions of Colorado’s distinctive women. To achieve this, the Hall educates the people of Colorado about the stories of the women who shaped our state and the nation’s history with courage, leadership, intelligence, compassion, and creativity. Their talents, skills, struggles, and contributions form a legacy that the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame is dedicated to protecting.

Today’s Extraordinary Women Radio episode is with Rita Devassy, the CEO of Deva Seed, a mindfulness-based leadership training company. Rita teaches business leaders to create space for awareness that sharpens their leadership of both people and organizations. In her own words, she claims, “I am an Indian born, Catholic raised, plant-eating, non-child bearing, 20 year corporate manager, woman in tech turned mindfulness coach.” This interview is a delight – and I thoroughly enjoyed making space to hear Rita’s wisdom on how to bring more mindfulness in our day-to-day lives, and why it’s so important to our world right now. She shares her personal journey of growing up in India, the challenges of arriving in the US as a young woman, and how the ancient ways and wisdom of meditation helped her rise in up in ranks as a female leader in tech, and eventually to starting her own company Deva Seed. The threads of her life have led her on a journey to doing the work that I believe, she was destined to do in this life. Mindfulness—both the formal practice of meditation and the moment-to-moment life application–teaches us to be resilient. It reframes our thoughts toward positivity and productivity, and helps us build a deeper sense of empathy, curiosity and compassion. I couldn’t be more pleased to introduce you to Rita Devassy of Deva Seed. Visit her website at devaseed.com, or follow Rita on Facebook on the Deva Seed page or on Twitter at @deva_seed.

Today’s Extraordinary Women Radio episode with Lori Bachman is the author of MentorShift. Lori invested over 25 years in the aerospace industry before she took the leap to becoming a respected thought leader on the topic of mentoring. In our interview, she tells the story of making the big transition in her life and how a lifetime of mentors has shaped her perspective on mentoring. She shares how to be a great mentor and a great mentee. Lori is on a mission to help businesses improve their organizational results and bottom line ROI of their mentoring programs. As Founder and CEO of The MentorShift Group, Lori consults and speaks widely about her four-step mentoring system. Her MentorShift® process guides both businesses and individuals toward a lasting way to transfer skills, protect their leadership investment dollars and keep key talent from walking out the door. Lori’s book, MentorShift, and its companion volume, MentorShift at Work is available at www.amazon.com.

Following the calling in your heart… That’s what today’s Extraordinary Women Radio guest, Alyse Nelson, the CEO and President of Vital Voices did. And it all started for her when she was 21 years old. Alyse heard a calling that she needed to be at the United Nations Annual Conference on Women, in Beijing China… and she made it happen. And that decision changed her life forever. She left that conference with a deep knowing that she wanted to make a difference in the world! This conference led Alyse on a pathway that would have her co-founding Vital Voices with Hilary Rodham Clinton. I can’t wait to share her story with you and the incredible work that Vital Voices does around the world. Vital Voices, is the leading NGO that identifies, trains and invests in emerging women leaders, enabling them to create a better world for us all! Alyse has worked with women leaders since 1996 to develop mentoring and training programs in over 140 countries and has interviewed more than 200 international leaders. I had the wonderful opportunity to get to sit next to Alyse last month at a small breakfast at a beautiful home in Vail. I’m so blown away by the amazing women who cross my path – and it was such an honor to get to know Alyse. I couldn’t have been more thrilled that she said yes to an Extraordinary Women Radio interview. So let’s dig in and meet Alyse Nelson of Vital Voices. Vital Voices on Twitter. Alyse on Twitter.

Today’s Extraordinary Women Radio features a delightful interview with M.L. Hanson, who is the founder of the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame – among so much more that she’s done in her impressive career! M.L. is a pioneering, ground breaking woman who set out to leave a legacy – and wow – did she ever. In the late 1970’s and early 80’s, M.L. Hanson observed that the professional lives of contemporary women were changing. Women wanted to and expected to be treated equally to men in their professional lives. Ah – what a concept – right?! As Assistant Vice President at the United Bank of Denver, M.L. found herself in the role of a trailblazer. She was impressed by the vitality of the women she met and inspired by the pioneering accomplishments of women in Colorado’s history. She began to dream of a platform where great women could be recognized. M.L. shares more about how the story unfolded in the interview – so I won’t spoil it here. But suffice it to say – that M.L. went on to found the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame in 1985. And since 1985, the Hall has inducted 152 visionary and trailblazing women from the past and present who have a connection to Colorado. The Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame inductees includes: teachers, doctors, scientists, politicians, social activists, bankers, newspaper publishers, philanthropists, aviation pioneers, humanitarians and authors. So many women in the Hall are unsung heroes, “hidden figures” who have endured with superlative strength, beauty and love. They deserve our respect and acknowledgment as shining examples of the potential of all women. Their accomplishments are a strong legacy, as tall as the Rocky Mountains they stand beside… and as broad as the plains they look out upon, and have shaped history and transformed lives. M.L. certainly fits in this group of extraordinary women! Today she shares her journey through her incredible career. We talk about following your dreams, leaving legacies and the importance of bringing women’s stories into our history books! Let’s meet the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame founder, M. L. Hansen. You can learn more about M.L. on her company web site at www.mlhanson.com. In addition, M.L. is President of Idyll Cravings, LLC a small batch specialty food producer she started with her entrepreneur husband. www.idyllcravings.com. *** The Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame mission is to inspire by celebrating and sharing the enduring contributions of Colorado’s distinctive women. To achieve this, the Hall educates the people of Colorado about the stories of the women who shaped our state and the nation’s history with courage, leadership, intelligence, compassion, and creativity. Their talents, skills, struggles, and contributions form a legacy that the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame is dedicated to protecting.

I have kept Sara Avant Stover’s book, The Way of the Happy Woman on my bedstand year-round for many years. It is a constant reference to help me tune into the rhythm of living seasonally. I love that the timing of this week’s episode of Extraordinary Women Radio with Sara aligns with the coming of Fall! Such beautiful Universal timing! Fall is the perfect time to harvest the hard work in your life and to shed anything not serving you. Sara shares how you can move into Fall in a heart-aligned way. She will share how to courageously follow your inner truth and listen to your heart, even if you don’t know how you are going to get there! Her authenticity and vulnerability brings great wisdom to how we keep stepping up, even when life gets messy – as it bound to for each of us at some point in our lives. We chat about life purpose, fierce love, healing, empowerment and trusting the Universe. Sara is a teacher of feminine spirituality and empowerment, bestselling author, and founder of The Way of the Happy Woman and recently launched her newest book The Book of She. In her early 20s, Sara had a cancer scare – and moved to Thailand shortly thereafter – which embarked her on a decade-long healing and spiritual odyssey throughout Asia. This journey led Sara on a quest to uplift tens of thousands of women worldwide. Sara has been featured in Yoga Journal, the Huffington Post, Newsweek, Natural Health, and on ABC, NBC, and CBS. For more about Sara, visit her website at thewayofthehappywoman.com. Let’s meet Sara Avant Stover!

I’m humbled and honored today to bring you this Extraordinary Women Radio interview with Dottie Lamm, the former First Lady of Colorado, a legendary women’s movement leader and activist! Dottie is a Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame Inductee, an organization that I’m pleased to partner with – helping tell the stories of women who have really made a difference in Colorado! I love this interview – Dottie’s delightful storytelling is filled with humor and wisdom! She gives great advice on lighting up our courage (hint: it starts with jumping in and just getting active!). We chat about surviving success and surviving failure, philanthropy, feminism and the biggest challenges women are facing today. Dottie shares how important it is to engage in the courageous conversations we need to be having now and give voice to what we care about. Dottie has taken a stand and stood up for so many causes in her lifetime. I’m so inspired. Her writings, her teachings, her stories – have made a difference and helped shape opportunities, guide policy and open doors for women and others for many years. She marched with Betty Ford and other first ladies on the national Equal Rights Amendment; and worked to help pass Colorado’s Equal Rights Amendment. She marched in Selma for voting rights for African-Americans. In the mid-nineties, she was appointed by President Clinton to the U.N. Conference on Population and Development in Cairo, and to the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing. Dottie helped found the Women’s Foundation of Colorado and became its first President. The “Dottie Lamm Award” given each year to a high school sophomore girl (or girls) in Dottie’s name has developed into the Girls’ Leadership Council. This Council consists of a number of outstanding girls from around the state who become a granting organization in their own right for that year She has a long, long list of awards that have been granted to her over the years for civil rights, women’s empowerment, leadership and more, including: The Big Sisters’ Contributions to Women Award. The Women’s Foundation Scholarship award given, in her name, to two high school students each year who “share Dottie Lamm’s compassionate values.” The Colorado Black Women for Political Action Award. The Anti-Defamation League Civil Rights Award. The Occidental College Gold Seal Alumni Award for Community Service. The Monte Pascoe Civic Leadership Award The Volunteers of America Empathy Award The Colorado League of Women Voters Leadership in Democracy Award Dottie is a legend in her own right and let’s just say, I’m a bit-awe-inspired to share this interview with you! I hope you enjoy it as much as did getting to interview Dottie! *** The Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame mission is to inspire by celebrating and sharing the enduring contributions of Colorado’s distinctive women. To achieve this, the Hall educates the people of Colorado about the stories of the women who shaped our state and the nation’s history with courage, leadership, intelligence, compassion, and creativity. Their talents, skills, struggles, and contributions form a legacy that the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame is dedicated to protecting.  

Today’s Extraordinary Women Radio guest, Katica Roy turned her passion for women’s causes into a business that is making a difference. Her company Pipeline is a SaaS company that leverages artificial intelligence to identify and drive economic gains through gender equity. Katica shares her stories of how she fought to be paid equitably and how that sparked her passion to start Pipeline. Pipeline helps companies bring systematic changes with real data to help fix the leaky pipeline – a term she coined around the large numbers of women exiting the workplace. She shares the surprising REAL reason for the leaky pipeline syndrome and why it’s so important that we fix this as a society – siting significant impending workforce shortages and economic losses. She says “Women are not broken. We need to fix the system.” While Katica’s work is grounded in deep data and logic, she is passionate that it also integrates the human experience, and is connecting emotion and logic in Pipeline’s innovative approach to shifting how companies address gender equity to achieve stronger companies. Katica is driven by a courageous passion to eradicate economic inequality and champions the rights of refugees, women, and children. Katica Roy is an award-winning business leader with more than two decades of experience in technology, healthcare and financial service. Be sure to listen all the way through, as her stories of being the daughter of an refugee immigrant will give you goose bumps and have you pondering how you help those who need a hand up. It matters. Over the course of this interview we jam about courage and mindset and grit and resilience – and the importance of really being yourself and doing your best. Katica has a rare combination of expertise in and passion for gender equity, people analytics, and sales operations. Katica was recently named a Luminary by the Colorado Technology Association and is a 2018 Colorado Governors’ Fellow. She pours her knowledge and unique lens into several community and global initiatives that she cares deeply for. To learn more about Pipeline, visit their web site and follow them on Twitter. Connect with Katica on Twitter.  

I had the opportunity to see Brittni Darras speak at TedX MileHigh this summer, and after a room of 2500 people gave her a standing ovation, I knew I really wanted to have her and her inspiring story on Extraordinary Women Radio! Brittni is a high school English teacher who hand-wrote personalized cards to her 130 students following a student’s suicide attempt. Her story – which went viral – is heartfelt and inspiring and has spread kindness and positivity around the world. She tells us how kind words can make a difference in the lives of many. Brittni speaks my own love-language, as she talks about the importance of getting to know someone for who they truly are at a deep level – and then taking the time to really acknowledge all that is wonderful about that person back to that person. Brittni has created such a huge ripple effect student-by-student, but has also inspired others to create their own unique ways of spreading love. It’s about lifting our whole society at a time when our world needs uplifting! She tells us why small gestures make a big impact! Her story has received worldwide attention and earned her the Aspen Pointe Hero of Mental Health Award and the Mayor’s Young Leader Award in the category of Innovation in Education. Brittni is an advocate for suicide prevention and mental health awareness. To learn more about Brittni’s work visit her Facebook page.

This week’s Extraordinary Women Radio interview is with Karolyn Hart, a Canadian exec who has broke through multiple glass ceilings. I love Karolyn’s spicy energy and her rich life insights. And you will too. She’s a dynamo woman who shares her journey and shares how approaching life with curiosity and being open to the magic of asking a questions – will build relationships that open doors. We dig into her stories of: Being the only woman in the room and acknowledging that the glass ceiling is real – and what choices she had to make for her own career Her all important mentor who taught her that extraordinary leadership means modeling our own lives well – taking time in life for what is important and treating others with respect The importance of seeking criticism on your work and understanding that criticism is not about YOU Having the courage to say yes to the new, even if you don’t know much about it Bias – ageism, gender or any number of other biases that exist in our journeys – and how she managed it by believing that people are good and being open to the heartfelt conversations that can unfold if you give people the opportunity to dialog. One of the things I really love about this interview is Karolyn’s passion around the importance of questions. Did you know that young children ask 300 questions a day – that moms field 100,000 questions in a year… but by the time the child reaches middle school, the question asking is almost extinct? Karolyn shares why she instills the importance of question asking into her company’s culture. She takes us through a quick exercise on this episode to help you open your question asking powers! Karolyn is the COO at inspireHub Technologies, where Karolyn oversees marketing, communications, sales, licensing and operations and the development of the inspireHub technology platform. I love Karolyn’s stories, the lessons she’s learned along the way, and how it impacts the way she leads today! You will be inspired!

Today’s Extraordinary Women Radio episode features Cheryl Ilov, the author of Forever Fit and Flexible: Feeling Fabulous at Fifty and Beyond! Her story is familiar to so many of us! In this interview, Cheryl shares her inspiring personal story of reclaiming her fitness, but more importantly her zest in life. And she shares what she learned in this journey, so you too can start your day with a spring in your step and engage in life with strength, grace and confidence. To learn more about Cheryl, her book and her work, visit her at www.IlovIntegratedArts.com or follow her on Twitter at @cherylilov.

Today, I’m thrilled to get to interview my favorite artist, Carrie Fell on Extraordinary Women Radio! I love, love, love her and and her work! You’ll love her great wisdom that she shares on engaging your creativity, on following your dreams, on stepping into your cowgirl courage! We talk about the importance of getting into the flow in our life – both going up stream and down stream – and where we can often find the magic in the contrast! As Carrie says, “This is where the essence is – in the work!” Carrie shares her secrets about playing with our inner critic and how to tame her! Carrie’s artwork depicts the traditional icons of the Western landscape with a thoroughly modern twist using vibrant colors and fluid forms. Her work is free spirited – her paintings and designs offer a sophisticated, yet fresh, style that appeals to the maverick within each of us – and certainly within me! Her work is the New West – her work is the west as a “state of mind” – a place of change with an attitude of boldness. So you can see why she belongs here on Extraordinary Women Radio… Her work has been acquired to be part of the permanent collection at the Booth Western Art Museum in Cartersville, Georgia and the Desert Caballeros Western Museum in Wickenburg In 2015, Carrie was selected as the Official Artist for the FIS Downhill Alpine World Ski Championships held in Colorado – where she created a collection of colorful, bold skier images which were displayed and utilized to market the entire event and resulted in a monumental installation at the base of Beaver Creek, CO. Her work has been shared around the world, and graces several walls of my own house. Let’s meet Carrie Fell! For more about Carrie visit her website at http://carriefellgallery.com/.

Today’s Extraordinary Women Radio interview with Roni Wing-Lambrecht will touch your heart and have you hugging those you love! I’m deeply moved by Roni’s story – she lost her son Dalton in a tragic ATV accident. Dalton, lived his short life creating smiles, laughter, and happiness by sharing his kind spirit and helping others through tough times. Roni and her husband, John, now continue his legacy by practicing random acts of kindness in Dalton’s memory each day. Roni knows first hand, how important it is to cherish every moment we get with our loved ones, and has written 3 books to help parents live in-the-moment with their own children by sharing their truths about regret and finding beauty in the everyday chaos of family life. She published 3 books since Dalton’s passing, Parenting at Your Best; Powerful Reflections and Straightforward Tips for Becoming a Mindful Parent; A Parent’s Guide for Journaling to Their Child; Simple Strategies for Writing Heartfelt Love Letters to Your Child; and A Parent’s Journal to Their Child; With Simple Strategies for Writing Heartfelt Love Letters to Your Child. Roni’s story will touch your heart and have you hugging those you love. And for me – that’s what life is about. Let’s meet Roni Wing Lambrecht.

Today’s Extraordinary Women Radio episode is with Leisa Holland-Nelson. Leisa was honored and named one of Houston’s most Influential Women, she is a senior fellow in the American Leadership Forum, one of Mass Mutual’s Most Powerful Women, a celebrated Entrepreneur by Houston Technology Center, an ABC/Channel 13 Woman of Distinction and a 2017 Greater Houston Women’s Chamber of Commerce Breakthrough Woman. Wow! Leisa shares her journey from her 25 year career in the NYC Fashion industry to launching into tech space in Houston, where she’s spent the past 13 years – as a leader and an influencer. She loves tech and will tell you why in today’s episode! As Leisa declares – “Tech is the new Black!” We talk about riding the wave of life changes, resiliency, creating community and loving on your customer! Leisa is the author and voice of Women Mean Business – a weekly segment focusing on extraordinary women, which is seen on-line on The Businessmakers Show and heard on 20 radio stations across the US. Amongst all of her significant philanthropic work that she does in the Houston area, Leisa was the co-founder of ContentActive, an award winning web, content development and mobile app company – which she recently merged with Astoundz – where she now serves as Chief Marketing Officer and is responsible for Marketing, Business Development, Client Relationship Management and HR. Leisa has great stories and shares great wisdom. Enjoy! www.astoundz.com, Twitter: @lhnelson  

This episode of Extraordinary Women Radio is with Polly Letofsky the first woman to ever walk around the world! On August 1, 1999, Polly left her home in Vail, Colorado, and headed west. She traveled across 4 continents, 22 countries, and over 14,000 miles – by foot! She is the author of 3MPH: The Adventure of One Woman’s Walk Around the World. Polly’s humorous and insight stories about this incredible journey is filled with so much rich life wisdom! She talks about saying YES to the dreams you’re carrying in your heart, to how to apply lessons of her walk to building your business, to the secrets that kept her walking when the goings got tough, and what she learned about fear walking solo through all those countries! Polly is filled with grit and guts and I hope you enjoy! She will inspire you to say “Yes, let’s do this!”

Today’s Extraordinary Women Radio Interview is with a Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame Inductee – Jill Tietjen! Jill and I share a huge love for telling women’s stories. In fact, Jill has written a whole book about it! Her book, Her Story: A Timeline of Women Who Changed America is a one-of-a-kind illustrated timeline highlighting the awesome, varied, and often unrecognized contributions of American women throughout U.S. history, beginning in the 1500s and spanning all the way through 2011. I’m guessing most of us have seen Hidden Figures… Such a great movie! What I’ve often wondered after seeing this movie – is how many other untold stories are there out there, that we don’t know. Well, Jill has made a lifetime of uncovering stories like this – making sure women’s stories are told and shared – long before Hidden Figures launched. You’re going to love Jill and her story! Jill is not only a best selling, award winning author, she is a national speaker for women advocacy and an electrical engineer. After 40 years in the electric utility industry, she took the leap to focus on women’s advocacy – all around the world. She blogs for Huffington Post and has more Her Story books underway. To learn more about Jill visit her website at www.herstoryatimeline.com About the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame: Today’s episode with Jill Tietjen is the first many interviews, with a Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame Inductees. I’m super excited and honored to share that I’ve partnered with the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame to tell the stories of many of the women who have been inducted into the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame on Extraordinary Women Radio! I will intersperse these interviews amongst the many interviews with wildly successful women from around the world – to help get their stories heard! The Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame celebrates COLORADO’S EXTRAORDINARY WOMEN – so you can see why its such a great fit for extraordinary Women Radio! The organization recognizes, honors and preserves the contributions of trail-blazing Colorado women. To learn more about the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame – http://www.cogreatwomen.org. *** The Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame mission is to inspire by celebrating and sharing the enduring contributions of Colorado’s distinctive women. To achieve this, the Hall educates the people of Colorado about the stories of the women who shaped our state and the nation’s history with courage, leadership, intelligence, compassion, and creativity. Their talents, skills, struggles, and contributions form a legacy that the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame is dedicated to protecting. Kami is honored to partner with the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame, sharing the stories of their Inductees. You can listen to other Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame interviews here!

This week’s Extraordinary Women Radio interview is with Tracy Revell, founder of Embodied Confidence. Tracy shares her belief that when women embrace their feminine, centered, creative emotional intelligence and combine it with masculine focus and action, they excel everywhere in their lives. Today we talk about growing a business, learning to trust your inner wisdom. Tracy’s mantra is “Love your Body. Rock your Life,” and it helps women to become & BE more confident in themselves and in their own skin. Tracy teaches her clients how to balance their intuition & action, body & soul, emotional & intellectual, and Masculine & Feminine essence to create a Captivating Presence & the Embodied Confidence for a life that rocks! Be sure you play along in the Embodied Confidence exercise she does with me during our interview! I love Tracy. And I know you’re going to love her also! Let’s meet her!

I am so excited about this week’s episode of Extraordinary Women Radio interview with Tamara McCleary. Tamara is the Founder and CEO of Thulium, a brand amplification company, specializing in B2B social media based marketing in the tech world. For me personally, and as someone who has helped others build thought leadership brands for nearly two decades, I feel like Tamara offers some of the most relevant and grounded brand advice for our times… especially in the world of social media where there is so much noise these days. If you are one my clients or listeners in the midst of taking the leap into your what’s next… if you have gotten clear about your purpose – how you’re meant to matter and are ready to be seen, be heard and put your voice out into the world in a bigger way – you don’t want to miss this episode! Tamara is an internationally recognized expert on branding, influence & social business in the world of technology. She has deep expertise in both B2B and B2C marketing, social influence and technology. Let me give you just a taste of how Tamara has been recognized as a social influencer. She is ranked in the Top 1% of global Social Media Influencers. She is listed as one of the Top 50 Social Influencers of 2015 and one of the Top 50 Big Data Influencers of 2016. She is an IBM Futurist and was ranked as the third most mentioned person on Twitter by Chief Marketing Officers in 2015. In addition, in 2016, Tamara was named the #1 Most Influential Woman in Martech by B2B Marketing. So impressive, and during our interview today, Tamara shares so much rich wisdom about developing your social brand in a way that is true to who you are – and for those of you who know me – you know that’s something I get really excited about. She gives great tips on how to build your online brand strategy – and shares a litmus test for deciding what’s worthy of posting on social media – for your brand. Tamara talks about the difference between a popularity-focused strategy and a trust-focused strategy – and how important it is to check our egos at the social media door. On top of all of this, she brings some real world life wisdom by sharing deeply personal and vulnerable stories about her life and the lessons she learned.

I love this episode of Extraordinary Women Radio! Beate Chelette certainly fits the category of a wildly successful woman on today’s episode of – in fact, she was recently named “One of 50 Must-Follow Women Entrepreneures in 2017” by Huffington Post! Beate Chelette is the Growth Architect and a results-oriented businesswoman with an entrepreneurial spirit and a proven track record in growing, building and scaling women’s businesses. In our interview, Beate shares the story of courageously reaching out to the President of the United States – breaking out of 135,000 in debt as a single mother – and then eventually selling her business to a global entertainment media company owned by Bill Gates in a multi-million dollar deal. Her wisdom and business savvy will inspire and uplift! We talk about how to how to “know when to change things, stay put or move on…” and go deep into the importance of “happy in our lives!” Beate has a deep commitment to supporting women. She is the creator of The Women’s Code, the fourth step of Growth Architecture and her revolutionary system designed to Support Balanced Leadership in organizations such as Merck and the Association for Corporate Growth, and for women who want tools on coping, collaborating and leading in their careers. She is a respected speaker and mentor and is the author of the book Happy Woman Happy World: How to Go From Overwhelmed to Awesome, a book that corporate trainer and best-selling author Brian Tracy calls “a handbook for every woman who wants health, success and a fulfilling career.” For more information on Beate and her work, visit her at: www. beatechelette.com

Chandy Ghosh is a trail blazing executive woman in the world of tech, and her interview on Extraordinary Women Radio is so inspiring. Chandy shares her story of growing up in Calcutta, and how her father guided her into the world of STEM – science, technology, engineering and math – and learning at a very young age – at a time when many of her female classmates were being guided toward arranged marriages and humanity classes like cooking, stitching and knitting. I love the great wisdom that Chandy shares on her journey to becoming a well respected visionary C-Suite executive who broke the barriers and created her own rules on her way to the top. She is passionate about mentoring women and minorities. She is currently an Executive Partner at ThoughtWorks, a software-engineering company that seeks to revolutionize business by delivering disruptive technology to address their client’s toughest challenges. Thoughtworks recently was recognized as the 2016 best place to work for women in tech… ahead of companies like Google and Facebook! Thoughtworks team is 60% women – including at the executive ranks – compared to the nearest competitor at 23%! In our interview, Chandy shares insights into why this really matters to the companies who get serious about gender equity – from a perspective of culture, financial growth and our world.  

This is a really fun episode of Extraordinary Women Radio, where Denise Soler Cox, an indie filmmaker, national speaker, and award-winning entrepreneur shares her own story about following the seeds of an idea – a documentary film – that was birthed over drinks with friends one night. We talk about authenticity and vulnerability, following your passion, the importance of making a difference, being enough and listening to your heart! It’s chock-full of extraordinary wisdom! In 2012, as described by Denise: talent intersected with passion and Denise co-created Project ñ with Oscar-nominated documentary veteran Henry Ansbacher. Through this partnership, Denise gave her experiences of growing up first-generation Latina in America an international stage that has manifested into a modern-day cultural movement rooted in Radical Self-Cultural Awareness. Project ñ is a multi-media project focused on creating new conversations that reinvent the way we view culture and interpret diversity in our lives – and includes film, podcasts, blogs, cultural discussion guides and live public engagements. She has a TedX Talk called Radical Cultural Self-Awareness. Be sure to listen all the way through for your free gift! For more on Project ñ visit www.projectenye.com.

I’m so excited to share this episode of Extraordinary Women Radio featuring Renelle Everett Darr – an innovative and cutting-edge thought leader who believes that emotionally intelligent workplaces and leaders can change the world. And of course that jazzes me! Renelle has worked around the world with individual leaders, teams and consults within organizations to help them reshape their organizational cultures. She took the leap from a corporate job to start her own company, Insight Consulting & Coaching around the same time that I launched Syzygy, and she shares her stories of making the big transition in our interview. More importantly she talks about the important work she’s doing in our world today! This is an interview about leadership! It’s about changing cultures! Renelle and I share a passion to change the world by helping people develop into the best version of themselves – and in Renelle’s case, she starts in the work place. As Renelle shares, “Many people spend half their waking life at work, yet work is a place where a large number of people don’t want to be. What if more people could bring their whole self to work and what if that led to not only greater personal fulfillment… but to more organizational success?” Our world is in transition. Many people can feel it, but not all can truly understand the shift in consciousness that is happening. Renelle shares how she’s helping people evolve themselves, and how organizations benefit! It’s an inside-out approach to leadership and cultural transformation that I love. If we start from the inside-out, what might that do for us collectively? As a family? Within our organizations? Within society? This is Renelle’s work and I’m thrilled to share it with you! I invite you to tune in to Renelle’s great wisdom around the pioneering leadership work she’s taking into your clients around the world. To learn more about Renelle and her work visit http://www.insight-cc.com/ or follow her on Twitter at https://twitter.com/renelle_InSight.  

This Extraordinary Women Radio interview with Dr. Jacqueline (Jackie) R. Henningsen is full of deep wisdom and lessons in life. Jackie is a REAL powerhouse trail blazing woman who built a pathway to the top executive offices of the Pentagon! Talk about a trailblazing woman doing epic things in her life. In this fabulous interview, Jackie shares her stories of grabbing the threads of opportunity as they show up in our life… we talk about friends of the heart and friends of the road, following your passion, red suits and believing in people, believing in yourself and believing in the power of love. As a civilian equivalent to a 3-Star General in the US Airforce, Jackie has an extraordinary career path to share with us that has taken her from a teacher at public schools to top ranking positions in the US government. She advocates and mentors women to choose STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) pathways. She is a retired member of the Senior Executive Service, and currently is an independent consultant and advisor in the areas of professional and educational development, applied analytics, risk management and STEM opportunities. She retired from the US Air Force 2014, where she was responsible to the Secretary and Chief of Staff. Over the course of her career, she served six USAF Chiefs of Staff as the principal advisor and leader of Air Force Decision Support Analysis. Jackie focused on helping senior leadership “fireproof” their decisions with a solid analytic body of work, grounded in scientific fundamentals. Her expertise and knowledge lent quality to a span of areas ranging from Nuclear Deterrence, Joint Warfighting Assessment, to Risk Management. Over the course of her career, she received two Department of Defense Distinguished Civilian Service Awards in 2001 and 2009. She also received the Meritorious Executive Rank Award in 2005, and was recognized with the Presidential Distinguished Executive Rank Award in 2012. Enjoy!  

In this episode of Extraordinary Women Radio, I have the opportunity to interview Karen Hertz, the founder and chief brewista of Holidaily Brewing. We chat about being brave at least “once a day,” moving through some of life’s biggest scary moments (including beating cancer) and the journey to get “all in” around your passions and to follow your heart! Her story of how she started Holidaily will inspire and uplift! I personally love stories of start-up and Karen has a great one! She is a beer lover who has been gluten-free for over 5 years and in 2016 opened Colorado’s first 100% dedicated gluten-free brewery. Karen recently won Denver Business Journal’s 40 Under 40 Award for contributions in business and community. Karen will be one of our Circle of Inspiration Facilitators at the upcoming Extraordinary Women Connect Gala in Denver, CO on April 25th. Join us!! For more information visit, https://www.kamiguildner.com//extraordinary-women-connect/art-gala/.

In this episode of Extraordinary Women Radio Jen Mazer, the Queen of Manifestation, shares how she has manifested outrageous adventures in her life. Jen shares her best manifestation secrets – and we go deep into the importance of making meaningful connections in our lives and how important it is to go for the “No,” because these will get us to our biggest yeses! This interview will allow to you imagine your own possibilities, and to open up to the magical energy of manifesting what you want in your life! Jen is a sought-after transformational speaker and coach. She teaches people how to manifest their biggest dreams while making an impact on the world. She is known for her signature Manifestation Masters Program and Private Success Coaching. She is the co-founder of the new board game for women, Sparked. She has interviewed some of the world’s biggest thought leaders through her series Manifesting with the Masters. She is also the author of the newly published book, Manifesting Made Easy.

Barbara Bauer has traveled the world and has spent the last several years in Myanmar as the Executive Director, Myanmar, for Partnership for Change, a Norwegian impact investment and international development organization. While in Myanmar, Barbara worked closely with community, state and national Myanmar leaders to identify, plan and implement programs and development models to improve economic opportunities, focused especially for women. She now is heading up the Women Investor Network for the Rockies Venture Club, focused on bringing more women into venture capital and angel investing! We had a blast talking about why empowering women is so important today – the time is now!

Welcome to the first episode of Extraordinary Women Radio where we will be talking with wildly successful women living out loud… in voice, vitality and vigor! In this first episode, I will share my big WHY that had me saying YES to Extraordinary Women Radio!