Finding Fearless
38 episodes - English - Latest episode: almost 4 years ago - ★★★★★ - 3 ratingsFinding Fearless is about exploring and sharing the stories of women as they journey towards living successful and authentic lives. Bi-weekly episodes feature women from all walks of life as they talk about what it takes to navigate and build their careers in a way that is truly their own. These stories celebrate women that are on their way as entrepreneurs, innovators, creators, and so much more. With each interview, guests share the lessons they have learned, and their wisdom as to how to build a successful life and career on your own terms.
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Episodes
Episode 38 - Sherrell Martin
October 05, 2020 18:15 - 73.5 MBEveryone seems to have advice and opinions to offer new entrepreneurs and there are countless myths out there about what entrepreneurship should look like. I personally credit pop culture phenomena like Shark Tank for glamorizing entrepreneurship and creating one of the biggest entrepreneurial myths out there--that you have to “make it” totally on your own in order for your success to mean something. In this episode, rock-star entrepreneur and founder and CEO of Nitram Financial Solutions, ...
Episode 37 - Cathrine Anderson
September 28, 2020 16:23 - 75.1 MBThe fear of making mistakes can be paralyzing, especially when taking on something as monumental and high-stakes as starting your own company. Many potential entrepreneurs get so caught up in creating an absolutely flawless business plan, that they never actually make the leap and start the project they’ve been dreaming of for years. For entrepreneurs, the simple act of starting is more than half the battle. Cathrine Andersen, co-founder and CEO of Roger AI, is an incredible example of how ...
Episode 36 - Meryl Johnston
September 19, 2020 03:13 - 77.5 MBIt takes a truly fearless person to act on a leap of faith, but the most ambitious entrepreneurs know that taking risks can be essential to progress. You can’t go anywhere without stepping outside your comfort zone, but knowing that doesn’t necessarily make it any less daunting of a prospect. Meryl Johnston is a serial entrepreneur who knows how to make shit happen.Her company Bean Ninja, and even Meryl herself, would not be where they are today if she didn’t fully embrace taking on calcula...
Episode 35 - Nikole Mackenzie
September 12, 2020 21:13 - 74.1 MBThere are so many things to think about when scaling a business, but building real meaningful human connections might just be the most important. Taking the time to really listen to and get to know your clients can create not only happier customers, but also opportunities for you and your clients alike to focus on the work you’re most passionate about. Making sure that you stay connected to your loved ones, even when work gets overwhelming is a vital part of staying sane while running a busi...
Episode 34 - Twyla Verhelst
September 04, 2020 21:48 - 95.6 MBSo much goes into founding and running a company. You have to consider everything from picking the right co-founder (if you go that route), to how to scale your team, all while trying to grow and maintain confidence in yourself and your business. While entrepreneurship can be a rewarding road, that doesn’t necessarily mean it is an easy one. Twyla Verhelst is no stranger to any of this. As the co-founder of Helm and an original co-founder of an accounting firm called Twenty Eighty, and more...
Episode 33 - Sarah Elliott
August 29, 2020 00:13 - 80.6 MBAll too often womxn are barred from leadership roles on the basis of being too emotional. But business, and really every aspect of life, is all about human to human connection, so wouldn’t a leader leading empathetically with their heart be exactly the right person for the job? Sarah Elliott believes that having leaders with more feminine leadership styles, regardless of their gender identity, is exactly what the world needs to get back into balance. Sarah herself is living proof that you c...
Episode 32 - Tam Nguyen
August 22, 2020 00:05 - 76 MBSome of the most successful people I know, share one thing in common. They believe that learning is a continual and life-long process. Even if learning doesn’t look like sitting in a classroom anymore, the lessons we learn when we edge outside of our comfort zones or listen to the wisdom of other people in our support systems and communities are invaluable and shape who we are and what we grow to do. Tam Nguyen is one of those successful people who has a deep passion for learning through li...
Episode 31 - Karen Okonkwo
August 13, 2020 20:34 - 78.3 MBIt is one thing to look around you and see the need for change in the world, but it is another thing entirely to step up and decide to be the person who makes that change happen. Especially if taking action means making some major life changes. Karen Okonkwo, the co-founder of TONL, is one of those rare visionary leaders who was brave enough to take the leap and start enacting change by launching her own company to enhance access to inclusive imagery. Today, she and her co-founder, Joshua K...
Episode 30 - Ivy Slater
August 07, 2020 17:17 - 74.4 MBWe often have an image in our head of this idealized superwoman working mom who “does it all,” always knows what she’s doing, and always has a smile on her face. With social media it is easy to think this is an attainable and fulfilling lifestyle that we womxn should all strive for. Ivy Slater carries herself with an incredible amount of confidence and has taken on, and kicked ass in, an number of roles. She’s a parent, an author, a podcast host, the CEO of Slater Success Coaching, and she ...
Episode 29 - Kelly Gonsalvez
August 01, 2020 19:48 - 60.2 MBEveryone’s entrepreneurial journey is different, but many ambitious entrepreneurs face the same core challenges along the way. One of the biggest barriers to success is a lack of confidence. Female entrepreneurs in particular often undervalue their services and their own expertise and when you’re first starting out, it is all too easy to fall into the trap of taking on any clients you can get, regardless of whether or not they are good clients for you and your company. As the founder of Tot...
Episode 28 - Geni Whitehouse
July 27, 2020 01:16 - 80.3 MBIn today’s society, there is a lot of pressure to pick a path and stick to it, especially given the cost of going to college. It is all too easy to get into a career that isn’t all you’d hoped it would be, and many people stay in jobs that don’t make them happy. With the current global pandemic, it has never been more essential for our work to really matter to us. While Geni Whitehouse has built a career she loves, speaking, writing, and sharing her knowledge with others, she didn’t always ...
Episode 27 - Alanna Imbach
July 18, 2020 19:05 - 111 MBFor how much of our lives we spend working, we don’t think nearly enough about the spaces we work in and how they affect us. With COVID increasing the number of people working from home, most people have at least thought about the kinds of distractions they face when working from home (cue the screaming kids, barking dogs, and frequent Amazon prime deliveries). But have you ever really thought about the kind of work you do best in different spaces? As cofounder of Kitsap’s premier coworking...
Episode 26 - Amy Duffy
July 12, 2020 00:26 - 65.5 MBFemale entrepreneurs and womxn in business are often praised for their ability to “do it all,” there are countless guides on how to strike the perfect work life balance, and scrolling through all the perfect snapshots on Instagram and other social media platforms just seems to confirm that everyone else has it all figured out. But how real is all of that? As a mother, an adventurer, and the owner of Amy Galbraith Photography, Amy Duffy knows the struggle of trying to balance your time all t...
Episode 25 - Sabrina Parsons
July 04, 2020 15:46 - 76.2 MBThis podcast episode is especially unique in that the featured guest, Sabrina Parsons, is one of the few womxn to appear on the podcast that holds the title of CEO. Womxn CEOs are few and far between, especially in the tech industry, so I was excited to speak with Sabrina, listen to her story, and hear what advice she had for other womxn who are pursuing leadership roles. As a CEO for a tech company, Palo Alto Software, Sabrina is familiar with both the challenges of being a womxn working i...
Episode 24 - Claire Van Holland
June 22, 2020 10:23 - 87.6 MBOftentimes when we talk about creativity and practicality or the “left” and “right” sides of our brain, we pit the two against each other. You are creative or you are practical, artistic or scientific, predominantly left or right brained. But is the expectation that we can only be one thing realistic? During our conversation, Claire Van Holland, the owner and founder of CV Ledger, explained to me the power and value she’s found in embracing both her left and right brained tendencies and br...
Episode 23 - Nayo Carter-Gray
May 15, 2020 21:30 - 53 minutes - 73.2 MBThe accounting industry and even just the broader world of business hasn’t always been the most diverse. We’ve made a lot of progress, but as the Founder and Lead accountant of First Step Accounting, Nayo Carter-Gray, points out in this episode, it's still too easy to look around the accounting space and assume that everyone in the industry is going to be “some 60 year old white dude.” The world needs more diversity and we need to cultivate environments women can feel confident stepping int...
Episode 22 - Jennifer Neundorfer
November 05, 2019 23:26 - 53 minutesOut of all the things that I and the Fearless In Training team get fired up about, the topic of women and money definitely takes the cake. Did you know that women received less than 3% of venture capital last year? The numbers are even more abysmal for women of color. We make up half the population, we are starting companies at an unparalleled base, we’re statistically a great bet from an investment standpoint, and yet we’re still struggling to get funding. How do we change that? This was ...
Episode 21 - Gail Perry
April 23, 2019 00:03 - 1 hourThe path to equality is hardly linear, at least that’s what we’ve been told by those who have been paving the way since long before we began walking down it. Sometimes it feels like we’re hardly making progress, at least that is until our own lived experiences are held up to the wider historical context. It’s easy to look at today’s political & social climate and ask “Why aren’t we further along?”. Yet it wasn’t until I sat down with Gail Perry, author, advocate, and accounting industry lege...
Episode 20 - Sasha Graham
April 02, 2019 05:01 - 1 hourThere’s no dancing around the subject. The stats speak for themselves. The state of equality (or lack thereof) within the executive level workforce is dismal and in dire need of disruption. It’s a problem that to some might seem insurmountable, or at the very least, pretty daunting. However, to the folks at the Equality Group, this is the exact problem they are determined to tackle head-on. The Equality Group is an executive search firm that focuses on placing diverse leaders in the roles i...
Episode 19 - Lizzy Cook
March 20, 2019 17:15 - 1 hourIf there is one thing I love most, it’s a woman that isn’t afraid to speak her mind. A rule breaker, a no shit taker, a woman that has found her voice and encourages other women to do the same. Looking back now, it's not surprising that I instantly felt an kindred connection to Lizzy Cook. She was simply my kind of gal. Lizzy and I first met in the world of tech and would connect at conferences where we were representing for our respective companies, both of us figuring out how to navigate ...
Episode 18 - Special Episode: IWD Panel Discussion
March 10, 2019 18:39 - 1 hourIf you are connected to the online accounting community, you probably have noticed that there has been a plethora of noteworthy industry-related conversation emerging recently within the Twittersphere. From the future of bookkeeping to debunking whether certain apps are truly powered by AI, these conversations have sparked lively back and forths, and a variety of subsequent content pieces. As each hot button topic has unfolded, so have a number of carefully crafted responses of so from pract...
Episode 17 - Alexandra Sirocky
February 25, 2019 23:28 - 1 hourOne of the most common misconceptions I see in the world of entrepreneurship is the idea that the path of a founder is linear. We often times hear these tales, particularly about male founders, where they get an idea, go out and get a bunch of funding, and BOOM! They make it. Instant success. As a female entrepreneur myself, I know there are other equally important stories out there worth sharing. Tales of long term ideas turned side hustle where you bust your ass for YEARS before it can be...
Episode 16 - Chloe Mason
February 12, 2019 05:23 - 54 minutesWhen you’re young, chances are, you’re figuring life out. You are trying to make sense of who you are as a person, what you believe in, who you are attracted to, and what you want to make of your life. Teenagers typically do not of these elements fully fleshed out, and yet, every so often one of them does, and it makes them a force to be reckoned with. I first met Chloe Mason when we were both 15, and we formed a mutual connection over fashion and boys. I liked the fact that she didn’t take...
Episode 15 - Jessica Blasingame
January 29, 2019 16:11 - 1 hourStarting at a very young age we begin to cultivate ideas of who we want to become when we “grow up”. We want to be an astronaut. A doctor. A painter. A scientist. A rockstar. As we get older, adults and other influences often push us to further refine these ideas of who we want to be. Typically well-intentioned, they want us to have something we are working towards, a single path to stay on. As I reflected upon this recently, I was struck by one thing in particular: we’re conditioned to thi...
Episode 14 - Stacy Kildal
January 09, 2019 00:42 - 1 hourWhat does “balance” even mean these days? Does it actually exist for business owners or is it a myth that we need to debunk entirely? As women dive into business ownership we are told to aim for “balance”, but many of us don’t know what that looks like. Especially if you’re someone who is scaling a side gig while working full time, the concept of “balance” likely doesn’t fit into your reality. In the latest episode of the Finding Fearless podcast, I reconnected with my dear friend, Stacy Ki...
Episode 13 - Sami Sweeney
December 27, 2018 22:43 - 56 minutesThere is nothing that inspires me more than a woman that knows her own strength. When I met Sami Sweeney for the first time, it was obvious that that was the type of woman I was dealing with. A former gymnast and cheerleader, Sami has become Seattle’s very own Pure Barre powerhouse, owning 6 locations in the area. In the past year Sami has expanded her domain even further, launching herself headfirst into both motherhood and the next level of entrepreneurship with a new venture she helped co...
Episode 12 - Adrienne Rabena
November 16, 2018 22:44 - 1 hourSometimes life hands you lemons, or so the saying goes. If there’s anything I’ve learned over time, it’s that it is what you do with those lemons that really matters in the end. So when I discovered my hard drive was corrupted and all 3 of the original episodes of this podcast were lost, I picked myself up (after shedding a few tears), and decided it was the perfect opportunity to re-record something more beautiful & meaningful than had existed before. Luckily for me, Adrienne Rabena was to...
Episode 11 - Reyna Marrufo
October 07, 2018 22:23 - 58 minutesI think it’s high time we dispel the perception that women need to be of a certain age to be on their way or “making it” in the world. I, for one, have been lying about my age for years so that people would stop using it as a means to discredit my abilities. That’s right, I’ve been lying about being older, not younger. I am sure I’ll find this ironic when I get to be in my sixties. It’s become increasingly apparent to me that we need to be highlighting the stories of the next generation. Yo...
Episode 10 - Lindsay Behringer
August 28, 2018 13:45 - 56 minutesSocial media is a fascinating thing. I think that's why journalists and the rest of us can't stop talking about it. It's so dichotomous. It has sparked us questioning the impact of things like device dependency, online bullying, and what happens to our social fabric when a big segment of the population is living just for the 'gram. But it also has brought us a whole other level of cross cultural connection over areas of passion. It's sparked movements like #BlackLivesMatter, #MeToo, and #Bod...
Episode 9 - Edi Osborne
July 31, 2018 00:19 - 1 hourThere is this incredible super power that many of the women in my life have where they identify another woman I need to know and then they make sure we get connected. Maybe it’s a because they see a similarity in our stories, or a common way of being, or some sensed shared history. Every time I’ve been introduced to another woman in this way through a friend, I always end up saying “Where has she been all my life?” That is exactly how I felt when I first was introduced to Edi Osborne. Althou...
Episode 8 - Evandra Tager
June 26, 2018 22:16 - 1 hourWhenever we see another woman #CrushingIt in the working world, it’s easy to assume that she got to that point by possessing a skill or quality that’s out of our reach. She had more education, better networking abilities, some element of privilege, or a leg up in the world that others lacked. But more often than not I’ve found in my conversations with successful women that there is one underlying factor that separates them from the pack, and that is their consistent ability to show up and wo...
Episode 7 - Jeny Rae
May 09, 2018 04:03 - 1 hourAs women, so much of the way we see ourselves is tied to the way we perceive our bodies. Our self worth and self image is seemingly defined by our sex appeal, and our surrounding culture often exists to further amplify our doubts and imperfections. In our teens and early twenties, we often search for answers about who we are far outside ourselves, and sometimes the things we discover prove to do more harm than good. In a culture all too concerned with appearances, how do we help women tune i...
Episode 6 - Jaye Hill
April 06, 2018 04:42 - 48 minutesConfidence is hard to come by, and for many women, it’s something cultivated over time rather than something that just happens naturally. Any woman in business knows that it is one thing to have confidence in yourself, and it’s another thing entirely to have confidence in your work and to feel secure in sharing it widely with the world. With the rise of social media and people promoting the perfect image, it’s all too easy to compare yourself to others and unknowingly let it impact the way y...
Episode 5 - Jenna McDonald
March 05, 2018 22:01 - 1 hourWhat does it take to navigate on the road less traveled? How do you sustain when support isn’t always there? Where do you look to to find guidance along the way? At the core, these are some of the questions that were driving my recent conversation with Jenna McDonald, founder and owner of Passion For Practice, a global yoga business based off of Bainbridge Island, WA. My inquiries stemmed from some of my underlying knowledge of Jenna’s deep yoga lineage, and also my own curiosity as to the ...
Episode 4 - Allegra Lowe
February 19, 2018 01:19 - 1 hourOne of the most difficult and valuable skills to develop in life is the ability to listen to your inner voice. For some of us this voice is so quiet we may hardly know it exists at all. But we all have one. This is the voice inside us that speaks to our greatest ambitions and our deepest desires. In many ways, I believe that if we were able to truly listen to this voice and were able to act on it fully, we would be able to live fully as our truest, most authentic selves. The challenge of li...
Episode 3 - Jax Cassady
January 29, 2018 05:08 - 56 minutesWhat exactly does misogyny feel like? Is it omnipresent and in your face, or is it something more subtle? Chances are it’s a bit of both. It’s the comments made by male coworkers about your outfits. It’s realizing that you were only invited to a work event to be eye candy for male clients. It’s knowing that regardless of your skills and know how, you were actually hired to fill a female headcount quota. It’s being just as experienced and hardworking as the guys to your left and right, and k...
Episode 2 - Martina Chavez
January 15, 2018 15:52 - 1 hourWhat does it take to find your path? How do you navigate when the road ahead isn’t entirely clear? What does it mean to ‘protect your energy’? How do you operate in a corporate culture where misogyny is part of of the mainstream? These are just a few of the questions I unravel with my dear friend and former colleague, Martina Chavez, on Episode 4 of the Finding Fearless podcast. Martina and I both started our journey as “women in tech” at the same company, and it was an eye opening experie...
Episode 1 - Why the podcast?
December 03, 2017 17:09 - 3 minutesI realized nearly a year into this podcast that it was pretty crucial to set the stage for why this kind of work came into being. Truth be told, we’re living in the era of podcasts. The medium is definitely all the rage these days. But the medium is a means to a much more important end: telling stories. I use to think of myself as a writer. Growing up, academically speaking, I was always known as one. As I got older, I wanted to be a blogger. I poured my heart into one after the birth of my...