WIN/WIN is an original podcast from Women In Innovation featuring conversations between Zoia Kozakov and women leaders who’ve carved careers in the historically male-dominated innovation space (innovation consultancies, innovation departments in Fortune 500 companies, and the startup ecosystem) — defining their own futures and creating a world where we all win. Each episode presents a one-on-one interview with a compelling innovator, delivering practical advice, strategies, and the stories of what drives them.
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In this episode, Cheryl Sew Hoy, founder and CEO of Tiny Health, shares her entrepreneurial journey and the challenges she faced in building her startups. She discusses her experience as a first-time founder and the lessons she learned from her first company and its acquisition process. In a conversation focused on both Cheryl's trajectory and her experience building Tiny Health, a microbiome testing the episode reveals the challenges and opportunities for female entrepreneurs and how they can approach growth and expansion for their ventures.
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In this episode, Amy Divaraniya, Founder & CEO of Oova, shares her unexpected journey to becoming a founder of a data-first, at-home hormone-tracking solution. She shares the ins and outs of building a multi-sided marketplace and how she turned her own struggles with fertility and the medical system into Oova. Throughout the conversation, Zoia and Amy touch on the challenges of the medical system that are specific to women and women's health and how data can be used to empower women to ensure that they are advocating for themselves.
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In this episode, Amruta Moktali, Chief Product Officer at Skyflow, shares her journey in product management and discusses the challenges and decisions she has faced throughout her career. Amruta also explains the role of a Chief Product Officer at a Series B company and the need for a strong partnership between product and engineering. Amruta encourages women to overcome imposter syndrome and seek feedback to grow their careers.
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In this episode, Nisreen Hasib, CEO and founder of Signoff, shares her journey from being the COO of Unbound to starting her own company that focuses on solving the housing crisis. Nisreen challenges the traditional definition of success in the startup world and shares insights on getting into Techstars.
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This episode explores Betsy Cohen and Amanda Abrams’ journey and experiences in the finance and investment industry. They discuss the skills and qualities they seek in founders, the vision for Cohen Circle and Radiate Capital, and their role in innovation in fintech. Through a discussion of their personal and professional experiences, Zoia, Amanda, and Betsy touch on what diversity means to them and conclude with a discussion on gender dynamics in the workplace and the industry.
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In this episode, host Zoia Kozakov shares her personal experience with elective egg freezing and interviews Dr. Fahimeh Sasan, Chief Innovation Officer and Founding Physician at KindBody. They discuss the importance of proactive fertility care, the challenges and barriers in the industry, and the need for accessibility and equity in women's health. They also provide an overview of the egg-freezing process, debunk misconceptions, and highlight the benefits of being proactive about fertility. The episode emphasizes the importance of empowering women to make choices about their bodies and the future of reproductive health.
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In this episode, join Zoia as she interviews Patrice Meagher, CEO and founder of Milkmate, a revolutionary breast-pumping solution for the workplace. Milkmate’s solution is comprised of modular furniture components, including a multi-user breast pump, and single-use parts that are all ready for immediate use. Patrice shares her journey, from her career in commercial real estate to developing and running her own company. They also discuss the importance of inclusive workplaces and the power of advocating for yourself.
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In this episode, join Zoia as she delves into the world of brand building and direct-to-consumer (D2C) innovation with Suze Dowling, Co-Founder and Chief Business Officer at Pattern Brands. Discover how Suze and her team are revolutionizing the D2C industry by combining acquisitions and in-house incubations to create a family of home brands. Gain valuable insights into their approach to building successful brands, overcoming challenges, and the importance of staying customer-centric in a rapidly evolving landscape.
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In this episode, Zoia and Emi Neitfeld, writer of “Acceptance: a Memoir,” have a captivating conversation as they delve into the gripping story of navigating workplace challenges, transitioning from engineering to writing, and challenging societal expectations. Explore the power of personal narratives, resilience beyond traditional narratives, and the future of innovation in journalism.
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In this episode, Zoia interviews Courtney Carlsson, the founder of Paradym, a mental health platform. They discuss Courtney's journey as a founder, how she approaches building her startup, and the unique features of Paradym that set it apart.
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•Zoia Kozakov (Host): http://www.linkedin.com/in/zoia
•Courtney Carlsson (Guest): https://www.linkedin.com/in/courtneycarlsson/?originalSubdomain=uk
•Women in Innovation: http://www.womenininnovation.co
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In this episode, Jameelah Calhoun, Eventbrite’s Vice President and Global Head of Product and Customer Marketing, sits down with Zoia. Together, they discuss Jameelah’s tremendous trajectory, ranging from financial services to working at Amazon’s Audible and Eventbrite. Jameelah’s visionary thinking and authentic speaking make for another meaningful conversation about innovation, leadership, and intersectionality on the podcast.
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In this week’s episode, Zoia sits down to talk with Shyvee Shi, Product Lead at LinkedIn. They discuss everything from navigating unconventional careers to mentorship, and the impacts of artificial intelligence on education.
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In this week’s episode, Zoia connects with Inna Lobel, Creative Director, Head of Industrial Design, North America at frog, a leading innovation consultancy. Inna discusses the craft, art, and science of innovation, along with her role in enabling Campfire to raise $8 million in funding.
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In this week’s episode, Zoia sits down with Evelyn Chou, Senior Product Manager at Coursera, one of the most prominent innovators in the edtech space. Evelyn breaks down the journey of finding her voice through her various career stops and how she embeds innovation into her products (hint: she weaves it into her planning!).
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In this episode, Zoia sits down with Sharifa Murdock, KITH's Chief Impact Officer and founder of ENVSN Festival. She shares her journey going from working in retail to now leading impact initiatives for one of the most established and fashion-forward brands. Sharifa also discusses how she approached building out ENVSN Festival, a culture-first experience to inspire the next generation to be innovative with their careers.
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In this episode, we are joined by Anomaly's Chief Innovation Officer, Natasha Jakubowski. Natasha is an "innovation veteran" with over 20+ years of experience in the industry, building out her own innovation practice, and growing it within Anomaly. Natasha has helped build new brands as well as put others, such as EOS (beauty brand) on the map.
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In this episode, Cynthia Plotch shares how running into her boyfriend’s mom while buying a pregnancy test factored into her journey to start a company focused on women’s healthcare. One of Inc.’s 100 Female Founders in 2021, and the co-founder of Stix, she aims to create better experiences and solutions with women’s healthcare products and talks about the challenge of raising funds from male VCs.
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In this episode, Zoia sits down with Jess Houlgrave, who heads up crypto and go-to-market strategy at Checkout.com, an international payments platform valued at over $40 billion. The conversation touches on how Jess navigates being a leader in an industry that often draws criticism and doubt, while leaning into being at the helm of innovation.
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In this episode, we celebrate the 100th episode of the WIN/WIN podcast by bringing back the incredible Enshalla Anderson, who is the Global Head of Brand & Creative at Google Cloud. Enshalla was the very first WIN/WIN podcast guest, and she comes back to discuss her trajectory since the podcast and what she’s learned about the world of innovation through her new role and experiences.
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In this episode, Whitnee Hawthorne, Chief Customer Officer of Navan (formerly TripActions) joins the podcast to discuss innovation in the world of travel, and how she’s thinking about it in her current role. Whether it is exploring the consolidation of expense management, travel bookings, and corporate cards or imagining the airport of the future, Whitnee is a multi-faceted leader with tangible and tactical advice on how to succeed in the field.
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In this episode, Zoia sits down with Sharon Gauci, Executive Director, of Design at Global Buick, GMC, and GMC Hummer at General Motors. They discuss Sharon’s career and rise in the world of automotive. They touch on big trends in the electric car industry and how Sharon thinks beyond innovating on a “feature level.”
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In this episode, Zoia live-podcasts from Las Vegas with May Zabaneh, Vice President of Blockchain, Crypto, and Digital Currencies at PayPal at Money 20/20, the world’s most prominent financial services and payments conferences in the world. May shares what it’s like to lead next-generation payment innovations at a major financial institution and how she thinks about leadership in the space.
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In this episode, Kat Wang, Head of Product at Jasco Games talks about what it’s like to develop a card game and player experience for one of the most loved anime series in the world, “My Hero Academia.” Kat breaks down how she is building out her team and thinking about innovation simultaneously, and balancing forging ahead.
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In this episode, April Koh discusses her journey to starting Spring Health, a precision mental healthcare platform. April is the youngest woman at the helm of a unicorn (Spring Health was valued at $2 billion dollars when April was just 29) and is tirelessly working to innovate mental health in the hopes of breaking all barriers to fixing problems around it.
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In this episode, we feature our first ever solo male guest, Chairman and Chief Purpose Officer at co:collective, Ty Montague. Ty sits down with WIN’s very own Global Development Lead, Lizzie Azzolino, to discuss purpose-driven innovation and business models, and opine on what it takes to successfully run and stand up such an organization.
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In this episode, Zoia Kozakov sits down with Jennifer Smith, Founder & CEO of Scribe, who raised over 30 million dollars to battle the innovation antithesis: over-indexing on processes. Jennifer shares her start-up founder journey and her trajectory to building and launching her product, which is used by thousands of companies and users around the world.
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In this episode, Zoia sits down with the two co-CEOs at Splendid Spoon, Nicole Centeno and Elise Densborn, to talk about what it means to share a leadership role while staying agile in a start-up environment. The two leaders discuss how their own lived experiences have inspired the trajectory of the company and their views on what it takes to make it as a blooming start-up. Listen for advice on:
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In this episode, Zoia sits down with Latoya Tucciarone, CEO & Founder of SustainAble Home Goods and Amazing Women in eCommerce 2022 honoree, and Ruthie Berber, Head of Community at Yotpo and Program Director at Amazing Women in eCommerce. The conversation discusses the current state of affairs in the start-up world, how retail is evolving and changing to keep up with the times, and how women are showing up and innovating in the world of eCommerce.Listen for advice on:
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In this episode, Zoia hosts Victoria Young and Ravi Mehta, co-founders of Scale Higher, a company reinventing how people learn and grow through its development courses and coaching platform. Victoria and Ravi are both entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs, who have launched and worked on world-class products including Uber Pool, Trip Advisor, Tinder, Facebook Live, and more.Listen for advice on:
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In this episode, Zoia sits down with Kirin Sinha, CEO & Founder of Illumix, a leading augmented reality (AR) technology, and media company, focused on developing immersive experiences. They discuss the value of the metaverse and AR and the opportunities for women to create and innovate in hard sciences, and STEM industries. Kirin shares her observations about how women speak to themselves versus men and why she focuses on delivering a quality product over her founder story.
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In this episode, Zoia sits down with Lizzie Azzolino, the founder of Until Now, a coaching & culture transformation design and consulting practice and WIN’s very own Global Development Lead to talk about all things innovation mindset, actionable takeaways for aspiring (and current!) innovation leaders, and, of course, how to advance and develop your leadership capabilities. Lizzie shares insights and lessons from WIN Relay, a first-of-its-kind program for innovation leaders with 12+ years of experience, and draws from her wealth of experience in the space to give WIN/WIN listeners the latest and greatest on innovation leadership.
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In this episode, Cassidy Fein, Director of Product, Enterprise at Vimeo, talks about the power of video and the challenges and opportunities it brings when it comes to balancing launching innovative products to market while maintaining focus on the user. The conversation also dives deeper into pivots, decision-making frameworks, and leadership in innovation.
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In this episode, Zoia is joined by Vrinda Gupta, CEO & Founder at Sequin a fintech behind the first debit card to build credit. Vrinda talks about how her mother’s fears around the financial system fueled her desire to build tools to empower women to better leverage and gain access to credit. She shares how she entered a rotational program at Visa, applied for and got rejected from the Chase Sapphire Reserve card — a product she helped build, and ultimately founded her own FinTech company.
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In this episode, Tui Allen talks about how adaptability and curiosity created opportunities for her career pivots, moving from consulting at EY and Disney to product management at Blackbaud and Shopify. She shares how growing up in Montreal with an entrepreneurial mother fed her desire to learn, and why she wants to use technology to solve problems in the social good space.
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In this episode, Lucie Buisson, Chief Product Officer of ContentSquare discusses her transition from being a Customer Success Manager to heading up Product and the lessons she’s learned along the way. Whether it is immersing herself in qualitative or quantitive research or restructuring company processes at every step of ContentSquare’s scaling, Lucie is quite the expert on consumer-centric innovation and product development.
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In this episode, Elyssa Byck shares her path from creating her own roles at Buzzfeed to founding her own company, focused on reimagining corporate leadership training and building values-based communities. She talks about how her entrepreneurial upbringing ignited her to be relentless and scrappy, enter situations with a learning mentality, and embrace vulnerability in professional settings.
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In this episode, Anne Olderog highlights the importance of having a different point of view when it comes to problem-solving — something that’s been essential during her 25-year consulting career, including time at McKinsey, BCG, and Goldman Sachs. She talks about how having a global outlook, leading with compassion, and reading a lot of novels has helped open opportunities for connecting with consumers and colleagues.
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In today's episode, Joy Phua, Chief Operating Officer at fintech start-up Heka Global, breaks down how she approaches solving multi-billion dollar problems in the financial ecosystem while applying her liberal arts background and hunger for entrepreneurship in the process. The conversation touches upon the importance of diversity at any scale of a company, why innovation careers are not linear, and how saying yes to challenges has skyrocketed Joy's trajectory and ability to operate in unknown territories.
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In today's episode, Sarah Lux-Lee, founder and CEO at Mindr Global, discusses her journey to building out a consultancy and technology platform to help the world's leading workplaces develop their workforces. Sarah's path has always encompassed social impact through her work at the UN's campaign to End Violence Against Women and at the World Health Organization, but she shares how she's built a company focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion at scale and the intricacies of her entrepreneurial journey.
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In this week's episode, the WIN/WIN podcast celebrates Black History Month through a conversation with Netflix's Head of Product Innovation, Animation, Laura Teclemariam. Bringing a plethora of innovation roles at companies like Electronic Arts, Tapjoy, Deloitte, and Microsoft as well as experience as an entrepreneur, Laura breaks down what we can all learn from the innovation and experimentation in the worlds of gaming and animation.
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In this week's episode, Zoia is joined by Brittany Driscoll, Co-founder & CEO of Squeeze, a completely fresh approach to a way better massage experience, brought to you by the founders of Drybar. The conversation covers the importance of creating delight in commoditized experiences in order to infuse hypergrowth in a business as well as Brittany's journey scaling Drybar from $30M to $100M business and then launching Squeeze as CEO.
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In this week's episode, we hear from Lisa Wang, a board member and contributor to Fast Company, Forbes 30 Under 30 recipient, and former Head of Brand and Communications at Republic. Lisa actively invests in the crypto space as well as advises blockchain companies on establishing their brands and marketing practices to help them to connect with consumers. In this conversation, Lisa uncovers the future of innovation, the importance of women in crypto and Web3 as well as the role that gender and race have played in her own trajectory:
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In this week’s episode, we hear from Cara Shortsleeve, who is CEO at The Leadership Consortium, a leadership development company that helps organizations create the conditions for all leaders to accelerate and thrive. Pulling from over ten years at Google, her tenure at Morgan Stanley, as well as experiences at New Balance and Saucony, Cara discusses the role of leadership development in innovation.
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In this episode, Neetu Rajpal shares how her passion for problem-solving led her to study computer science and her time navigating an 18+ year career at Microsoft — starting with Internet Explorer 3. She talks about finding her voice as a woman in STEM, employing her identity as an immigrant to adapt and solve problems, and entering the health care space —joining OscarHealth nine days before the pandemic began.
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In this episode, Anastasia Leng recounts her journey from working on an ad product team at Google to bootstrapping a business and finding her way to becoming a CEO. She talks about how a side-project turned into a company, navigating through receiving “nos” at over 100 investor meetings, and how listening and project management helped her build a tech company without a tech background.
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In this episode, Vanessa Liu talks about how working on building digital products at McKinsey spurred her to want to run businesses herself; thinking about her career as an opportunity for creating a diverse portfolio. She shares her approach to generating access for underrepresented founders through her time at SAP’s accelerator, and how her college behavioral neuroscience major is impacting her new work on a venture in the longevity and aging space.
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In this week’s episode, Renan Gutman talks about her trajectory to becoming a product leader and what she believes to be innovative product leadership, especially in her role as Executive Vice President, Product. She shares what it was like to move from a large-scale company such as Microsoft to a growth-stage start-up, Kaltura, and the role of video in our ecosystem, while constantly embracing changes as an innovator.
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In this episode, Jil Dasher, Managing Director at Corsica Partners, explains how she transitioned her skill set from leading in the events planning space for over a decade to tackling a new career opportunity in executive search. She talks about summoning her inner Nancy Drew and love of learning to problem-solve and how she approaches bringing diverse candidates to roles, conferences, and events.
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This week’s episode breaks down what innovation looks like at a fast-moving, fast-growing start-up such as Doordash, with Kelly Ling. Kelly’s innovation trajectory across healthcare, consumer good brand management and consulting has led her to now innovating across Customer Experience and Support area as well as launching a leadership development coaching practice.
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In this episode, Janna Gilbert, President of the innovation consultancy, Luminary Labs reflects on her background in business, innovation, and consulting and what it takes to work in innovation. She breaks down her experience of working with the Department of Education on rethinking vocational education in the midst of the pandemic and the role that gender has played in her come up.
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In today's episode, Eugenia Marshall and Wendy Rose Berry talk about their juggling and balancing act of co-founding a sexual wellness product, ConditionHER, as well as keeping up with their day jobs as executives at Warner Brothers and NKSFB. They share the ins and outs of being "employed entrepreneurs" and the importance of perseverance in launching a company despite adversity. Eugenia and Wendy also discuss the importance of tapping into your network and taking the leap of faith not to miss the opportunity for innovation.
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In this episode, Lindsey Metselaar shares how she navigated her way from getting fired from a job in 2016 to launching her own social media agency, and how a romantic break-up ultimately led her to create (and monetize) a successful dating podcast. She explains why going with her gut, knowing her strengths, and appropriately charging for her time and expertise helped her forge ahead.
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In this episode, Amy Vaterlaus shares her strategies for looking into the future of consumer goods. She explains how she applied her background in mechanical engineering and robotics to lead multiple teams at Adidas, often working on physical products with technological components. She talks about the importance of connecting with the people you’re creating for, and why disruptive things require iteration.
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In this episode, Jess Anselmi talks about leveraging her experience in PR with clients like General Mills and Jiffy Lube to step into the innovation space, working in various roles, including Chief of Staff to the Dunkin Donuts CMO. She explains how demonstrating functional expertise and understanding the different parts of an organization are key to working in innovation, and shares how the garden industry is being disrupted.
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In this episode, Lisa Edwards expounds on a wide-ranging career that’s taken her from an undergraduate degree in International Relations to roles at Bain, Visa, and Salesforce. She talks about the role networking has played in making adjacent career moves, the importance of sharing with peers, and the pros and cons of being a problem solver.
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In this episode, Lynn Povich reflects on her early career as a journalist at Newsweek and the opportunities that were denied to her fellow women reporters, which informed the subject of her 2012 book “Good Girls Revolt.” She talks about the importance of having Eleanor Holmes Norton as the lawyer in the sex discrimination case against Newsweek, the expansion of the feminist movement, and the current and future challenges for women working in journalism.
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In this episode, Linda Armbruster discusses her journey of building out Spark Works, a strategic human-centered innovation firm, pulling from her background in the academic discipline of innovation. Taking her passion of lifelong learning and an insatiable desire to connect interdisciplinary capacities, processes, and products, Linda discusses the insights and challenges she’s seen along the way.Listen for advice on:
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In this episode, Janelle James talks about the changing landscape of marketing, market research, and the role of both in innovation. Reflecting on her time as a Black woman in America throughout the various steps in her journey, from her MBA at Harvard to moving to Italy, Janelle sees intersectionality as a core tenet of creating something novel that resonates with larger-scale audiences and populations.
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In this episode, Laura Joss talks about how she brought her academic background in behavior and decision-making, including a PhD in cognitive neuroscience, to the product research team at Motorola. She explains how her job has changed during her 11 year tenure, how she built an all-female international team, and why starting with a solid question can open opportunities to improve and make meaningful innovations.
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In this episode, Alexandra Streid tells about how a cold LinkedIn message led her from the product team at Weight Watchers to a startup in the financial services sector. She talks about leveraging her expertise about women and behavior change to make an impact creating financial products to better serve women’s lives and goals, and how the pandemic has opened a space for digital innovation.
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In this episode, Peilin Corbanese talks about her career in marketing, founding her own company, and how she made the decision to take a role working in the life insurance space. She discusses the challenges around innovating in a regulated space and why she sees opportunities for tech giants to disrupt the industry.
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In this episode, Nina Foroutan talks about her passion for media and how she charted a path from working in a newsroom at an ABC-affiliate in Boston to a role in product development at Forbes. She highlights the importance of creating relationships within an industry — with your audience, competitors, and colleagues, and shares how she found role models to empower her career.
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For the last year, every Monday, we have had the privilege and the opportunity to share the stories of women from every area of the innovation industry -- start-ups, Fortune 500 companies, venture capital firms, incubators, you name it. Whether it is discussing the role of motherhood or emerging technologies in healthcare, our guests have shared the most meaningful and honest aspects of what has made them the leaders of the innovation industry. Today, we celebrate one year of the “WIN/WIN: Women in Innovation” podcast with a conversation between WIN/WIN host and founder, Zoia Kozakov and Gabrielle Andrade, WIN Global Marketing Strategist.
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Today’s episode features Talya Fisher, Fjord Design’s (Accenture Interactive) Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Lead’s story. Talya comes from a background in program and project management in the advertising and marketing industry and discusses the intricacies of innovation hiring, and the role of diversity in innovation.
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In this episode, Michelle Akhidenor reveals how she fell into the world of podcasting — quitting her corporate job and flying from Australia to NYC for the first time, to do 20 interviews in two weeks. She explains how she transformed her curiosity and passion into something tangible, running podcasts for large companies like Alibaba and becoming the only Black woman running a podcast agency in Australia.
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In this episode, Lizzie Azzolino explains how she found her way into the world of leadership development after a family illness and an early career driven by getting the next promotion. She also shares her motivation behind creating WIN Relay, a six-month-long program aimed at propelling senior career women toward executive roles and helping close the gender gap in innovation.
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In this episode, we tackle the intricacies of navigating a career in a startup. How do you negotiate competitive equity at a pre-IPO company? What are the most valuable skills for an innovation leader at a growth-stage company? Noa Torok Arlosoroff, Director of Product Operations, and Michelle Muller, Product Manager walk us through their journey at Yotpo, an e-commerce platform that went from a small operation in Israel to a multi-national company preparing for an IPO at a $2.5 Billion valuation.
This episode was produced in partnership with Yotpo.
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In WIN/WIN: Women in Innovation's 51st episode, Zoia sits down with Beatrice Dixon, the co-founder, and CEO of the Honey Pot Company, a plant-based feminine care company, which Beatrice started out of her kitchen. This honest conversation covers Bea's journey of launching and scaling her company and the way she perceives the notion of a "founder."
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In this episode, Rose Corvo talks about navigating a 30+ year career, with a variety of job descriptions, within financial services. She talks about the value of being a “utility player” at work, the importance of analyzing risk in innovation, and how growing up in an Irish family made her attune to looking at people’s character to see who they are.
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In this episode, Simone Oliver talks about her progression from writing print stories for the paper at Howard University to spending 13 years at the New York Times, leading the digital focus. She shares the decision-making behind starting the NYTimes’s fashion Instagram account, how working at Facebook felt like going to grad school, and why her current role as Global Editor in Chief of Refinery 29 is a culmination of her work experiences.
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WIN: Women in Innovation is proud to partner with Rokt, an e-commerce marketing technology company to feature Elizabeth Buchanan, Chief Commercial Officer. In today’s conversation Elizabeth shares how her advertising background played into re-imagining the digital experience of e-commerce. She discusses the way she’s been pivotal in scaling the company across multiple continents and throughout the market and the way gender has been embedded into each step.
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In today’s episode, Christine Barnekow, Global Director of Innovation at Vita Coco discusses her trajectory as a linguist and sociology major at Princeton to her time as a consultant at firms such as What If and now in-house innovator. As one of WIN’s first members and programming hosts, Christine embodies what it means to fearlessly innovate while staying true to her values of diversity and inclusion.
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In this episode, Lyndsey Harper expounds on her journey from physician to founder, as she expanded her passion for women’s health to become CEO of Rosy, a platform focused on resources, education, and telehealth for sexual health and wellness. She talks about the challenging lifestyle of an OBGYN, the barriers to larger conversations about women’s health, and how she learned to be a founder on the job.
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In this episode, Toni Vanwinkle, Sr. Director of Workplace Experience shares her exceptionally motivational trajectory as a pioneer in the tech industry. Through her tenure, she has been honored as an Amerian Leadership Forum Senior Fellow and named as Digital Workplace Grou’s 2019 Digital Workplace Leader of the Year. In today’s conversation, she touches upon the importance of reimagining the definition of innovation in order to allow continuous reinvention for large and small companies alike.
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In this episode, Grace Francis speaks about the importance of breaking out of boxes in order to innovate in one’s work and in their own identity. From early content-focused roles to leading innovation at Grey Advertising, Grace talks about navigating the human barriers to change, the shock of dealing with the prejudices of gender identity, and using influence to strip away hierarchy.
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In this episode, Nathalie Walton explains how she navigated a career crossroads that found her taking the helm of a startup while raising a toddler, after a series of roles at AirBnB, Google, and EBay. She talks about the logistical, mental, and societal challenges faced by pregnant women and working parents, and strategies for taking care of yourself.
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In this episode, Amy Brooks talks about how growing up watching the Kings in Sacramento inspired her love of basketball, and how the game shaped and re-shaped her career. From playing basketball at Stanford to taking roles in business consulting and technology startups, Amy explains how her personal connections helped ultimately align her passion and work.
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In this episode, Vanessa Colella revisits her career beginnings teaching science for Teach For America and explains how that experience led her to think about the micro and macro ways of driving change. Vanessa talks about how her variety of endeavors, including time at grad school, McKinsey, and Yahoo, shape her approach to developing new ideas as Chief Innovation Officer at Citi.
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In this episode, Barkha Saxena explores how her early passion for math led to a career in data and analytics. After growing up in India and working as a software engineer in the early dot-com era, Barkha relocated to the US, eventually reaching out to the founder of Poshmark and joining the team to build something from the ground up.
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In this episode, Fawn Qiu talks about having a “messy” career guided by the pursuit of personal growth to develop new skills. She recounts the unpredictability of conducting user testing with kids to develop games and apps for the Sesame Workshop, teaching workshops to make engineering feel more accessible, and how she uses AI in her role at LinkedIn.
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In this episode, Catherine Clark drills down on what it takes to be an effective innovation partner, from her early agency work partnering with Unilever to her current projects for Starbucks. She talks about feeling fearless as she co-founded her branding agency with a neighbor, and why their shared values — around family life and women in leadership — transcended their opposite thinking styles.
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In this episode, Haley Russell reveals what it’s like to build a company from the ground up. She reflects on her early entrepreneurship efforts, including starting a summer camp while in middle school, and how that later led her to business school, Uber, and founding a sustainable pet food brand. She shares how her dog’s preference for crickets gave her a needed spark.
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In this episode, Krupa Tailor walks through her journey as a first-generation American — from studying at the University of Michigan and earning an MBA at Columbia to landing roles at Unilever and American Express. She elaborates on the thrill and risk of starting her own business venture and why “think big, start small” is her guiding principle.
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In this episode of the “WIN/WIN” podcast, Kiely Sweatt discusses her non-traditional path to innovation, as exemplified by her background in poetry, education, and design thinking workshop facilitation. In her role as Head of Innovation at Oracle Consulting (NA), Kiely helps the business re-think its approach to what it means to innovate and implement complex technological solutions externally.
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In this episode, Jane Geraghty talks through her career trajectory — cutting her teeth in advertising in London, exploring a new culture in NYC on Madison Avenue, working in television in the UK, and becoming a global CEO. She reflects on finding her true voice in her 30s, and how a combination of passion and competition has driven her career strategy.
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In the last part of the WIN: Women in Innovation 5-year special, WIN’s only full-time employee & Global Executive Director, Aubrie Fennecken, discusses her journey from theatre management to non profit organizations and innovation. Aubrie discusses her wish list for WIN and explains the ways in which innovation has evolved and its effects on the future for the organization. Aubrie also provides insights into fundraising strategy and her own experiences with gender disparity.
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In this episode, Shelbi Jones reflects on the images she’s had of success — from her childhood in Ohio to jobs at Complex, Refinery 29, and Facebook. She shares how her visions of “success” have changed, how identity drives her work (and her podcast “Define Normal”), and answers the question “who is Shelbi Jones?”
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In this episode, Lisa Gralnek recounts how curiosity and opportunity took her from a career in the ‘90s fashion world to business school, BCG, and a variety of companies including Adidas and Chobani. At each turn, she created her own roles as a change agent, and ultimately started her own consultancy.
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In this episode, Maria Potoroczyn takes our listeners through her innovation journey, whether that was co-founding WIN with Alfia Ilicheva or going from innovation consulting to leading Citi’s conversational AI bot to now heading up product management at Trust & Will, an estate planning start-up. She explains the importance of scaling with intention and some of the principles of community that helped her write playbooks for WIN on anything from programming to hiring the board.
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In this episode, Sara Agrest explains how her relentless want to know “why?” has guided her decades-long career in architecture. She gives insight on her methods for keeping a job feeling fresh and shares how her mother’s career as a journalist informed her upbringing.
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For the first part of the WIN: Women in Innovation 5-year anniversary mini-series, Alfia Ilicheva joins Zoia to share all the founding story behind WIN. She shares the challenges and opportunities,, as well as how Alfia approached her own innovation trajectory while prioritizing her family and taking on other projects along the way.
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In this episode, Melanie Bell-Mayeda talks about the “aha” moment that re-routed her career into the world of design. She reflects on the toolkits she built working in financial services, licensing, and strategy, and how she took them with her to IDEO. She explains the challenges of working on “wicked problems” — areas that often require systems change — and the opportunities for innovation.
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In this episode, Sarah Judd Welch explains the drive she had at a young age to want to run her own company, and how she made the jump from freelancing in digital strategy to running an organizational design consultancy. She focuses on the idea of “belonging,” the existential questions it prompts, and why workplaces with inclusive cultures see an impact on their teams, their output, and their bottom line.
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In this episode, Amanda Ramos explores how the concepts of facilitating innovation adoption and building buy-in have shaped her success during a 14-year career at Gensler. She points to the power of co-leadership to bring more voices to the table and emphasizes the importance of knowing your purpose before taking a leap.
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In this special edition episode of the WIN/WIN podcast, Hailey Floyd joins us to celebrate Black History Month. Hailey’s impressive career trajectory includes being an Advance Associate on Michelle Obama’s team in the White House, as well as doing communications strategy at Apple. Hailey discusses the influences that enabled her success and the women she has looked up to along the way.
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In this episode, Yasmin Kothari examines a career that’s included a Harvard MBA, strategy consulting at McKinsey, conducting user research in India and Africa, and product roles at AirBnB, PayPal, and Asana — not too far off her childhood dream of flying to meetings and making deals. Through every role, she explains the connective tissue as being able to take complex problems and break them into approachable pieces.
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In this episode, Lee Eiseman expounds on the importance of color and the psychology and perceptions around it. Currently the Executive Director of the Pantone Color Institute, she’s spent over 35 years examining color, starting with designing a practicum while studying at UCLA, which she still uses in teaching about color today. She explains why Pantone looks to the zeitgeist for their annual color selections and what color means for purchasing decisions.
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This week’s episode is a WIN/WIN Special about “Ready.Steady.Money.,” guest hosted by Aru Agarwal, WIN: Women in Innovation’s Global Programming Lead, and Associate Director of Business Transformation at R/GA.Money coaches Amy Schultz and Claire Coleman reflect on their own money journeys and the role of money coaching in helping women (and everyone else!) unleash their potential. WIN is hosting a special 5-week learning cohort program with RSM. To learn more and grab a spot, click here.
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•RSM x WIN Learning Cohort Sign-Up: https://winxreadysteadymoney.splashthat.com/
•Zoia Kozakov (Host): https://www.linkedin.com/in/zoia-kozakov/
•About WIN: Women in Innovation: https://www.womenininnovation.co
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In this episode, Emily Heyward retraces her steps from working on TV advertising campaigns for huge brands to ultimately forming her own creative services company, Red Antler. She reflects on working with brands that have successfully made people take a leap of faith, and explains how the effects of sexism factored into her decision to launch a company.
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In this episode, Cheryl Grise shares how her second grade teacher helped propel her early sense of purpose, prompting her toward a career centered around creating transformative leaders. She explains how her passion for sailing influences how she thinks about leadership and delivers a few of her top guidelines for leading effectively.
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In this episode, Olivia Hawkins charts her career, from navigating the digital world during the first dot com boom (and bust) to currently leading business consulting and defining data ethics principles with one of the world’s largest advertising companies, WPP. She reflects on the excitement of the disruptive early web, the challenges around data privacy, and the contradictory messages she received in her early career in male-dominated spaces.
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In this episode, Charlotte Diaz explains her route from business school and management consulting to discovering the brand strategy world — at Vivaldi Partners, RGA, and now in her role at Critical Mass. She elaborates on the business imperative to focus on the customer, why she’s dedicated to creating meaningful experiences for employees, and the challenges for women rising into leadership.
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In this episode, Sarah Hodges talks about her personal mission to connect people and build community, through her work starting the leadership coaching platform Intelligently, and investing in founders with Pillar Venture Capital. She shares how coaching adjusted her self-awareness, and why innovation calls for learning as much as you can as quickly as possible.
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Stephanie Murdoch and Ryan Buesser join Zoia on today's episode, which is in partnership with Driftwell. Designed with evening relaxation in mind, Driftwell is a whole new way to cap off your day. Driftwell is a new enhanced water beverage with magnesium and L-theanine to help you relax and unwind. From founding Driftwell through PepsiCo’s “The Next Big Idea” initiative, to speaking with a nutrition scientist, to live testing the product design on digital platforms, Stephanie and Ryan will walk you through the challenges and opportunities they see in the beverages industry today.
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In this episode, Rebecca Robins reflects on how an early curiosity about languages and cultures led to her interest in brands and a nearly 20 year career at Interbrand. From working with her first client, LEGO, to overseeing Interbrand Academy, Rebecca explains the “polymathic business” of looking at the relationships between brands and culture.
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Developing your career by working in another country
Which three factors the fastest-rising brands have in common
Why #purpose for brands is so important
Adapting social learning to work from home
Thank you to Driftwell, our sponsor for this WIN/WIN episode.
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In this episode, Nisreen Hasib shares how her passion for advocacy shaped her career — beginning as a teenager doing interfaith work, then as a lawyer focused on labor and employment, and now as the COO of the sexual wellness company Unbound. She shares how advertising roadblocks and stigmas can curtail acceptance and innovation in the health education spaces.
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In this episode, Michele Markus talks about carving her own paths — from creating a major at Penn to defining her own job descriptions at Omnicom. She explains how walking into the wrong room led to a job at Deloitte, and how asking questions can generate opportunities. She also elaborates on the vital role of communications in the healthcare space and how it’s being shaped for the future.
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In this episode, Liz Eddy shares how losing her father at a young age made her aware of the financial, logistical, and emotional impacts of losing a loved one, and influenced her development of an end-of-life planning company. She elaborates on the valuable role that empathetic communication skills has played in her career — from starting her first company at age 15, to driving communications strategy at DoSomething.org, and now as CEO of Lantern.
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In this episode, Sherine Kazim shares what she’s learned through a career of charting new territories — from early days at Friendster to working on visual design at Walmart.com and crafting user experiences at EA. She emphasizes the importance of mentor and allyship in career-development, and expands on taking an ethical approach to design.
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In this episode, Krista Edmunds expounds on “accidentally” falling into finance and finding her way into the innovation and FinTech spaces as the Director of Business Innovation at Barclays Ventures. She highlights the value of mentorship, the importance of entrepreneurial thinking, and explains why conquering fears (and developing circus skills) in order to take more risks can be worth it.
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In this episode, Kim Patel delivers straight talk about building a career through working efficiently and seizing new opportunities, expounding on how she moved from working in investment banking to media, with jobs at the Huffington Post, AOL, and as director of global strategy at VICE, all before age 30. She also highlights the importance of asking for help and building a solid support system.
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In this episode, Gina Bianchini shares how growing up in Cupertino, California in the 1970s and 80s fueled her interest in social technologies and pushed her to become a startup founder. As the CEO and founder of Mighty Networks, she wants to empower small communities to come together.
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In this episode, Liat Karpel Gurwicz delivers some high-level strategies for making the most of product marketing, utilizing the knowledge she’s gained through 15 years in tech. As the head of ecommerce marketing for Wix, Gurwicz offers a specific look at an industry segment experiencing hypergrowth.
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In this episode, Danielle Lay shares how growing up in Hong Kong gave her early exposure to the business world, paving the way for her to start her own web design company, work at Goldman Sachs, and become a principal at the venture capital firm New Enterprise Associates. She also talks about the role of design in innovation, the importance of finding mentors, and why being yourself is the best thing you can be.
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In this episode, Eva Goicochea shares how an education in marketing and work as a legislative aide prepared her to become a leader in the sexual wellness space, as the CEO and founder of Maude. She explains how she saw a space to innovate in reframing how people could think about sex and intimacy, and how brands can better connect with customers.
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In this episode, Jessica Tillyer shares how thinking about innovating for one’s own life can open the door for new opportunities, and how Deepak Chopra introduced her to Megan Rapinoe. After a 10-year career at SYPartners and having had her second child, Tillyer explains why she felt called to her role at re—inc, the brand founded by members of the US Women’s Soccer team, and what it means to innovate a lifestyle brand.
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In this episode, Marysharon Owens details a career that hasn’t fit into a box, as she’s created her own job descriptions and charted new territories at Microsoft, Bank of America, Target, RGA, and Illumina. Owens talks about the value of building hybrid skill sets and how current times call for harnessing actionable vulnerability to create something new.
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In this episode, Gesche Haas relays how she founded a collective for women entrepreneurs “by accident,” turning connections in the finance and start-up worlds into the network of Dreamers & Doers. Gesche emphasizes the importance of seeking out authentic, values-driven relationships, and explains that “so much more is possible when we join forces on our journey.”
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In this episode, Jenny Danzi talks about embracing the idea that a career is a marathon, not a sprint, as she discusses taking on different jobs — in marketing, strategy, and general management — at PepsiCo. She highlights the gift of feedback from peers and senior leaders to push careers forward, and amplifies the need to create spaces where women can be human at work.
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In this episode Britta Mulderrig discusses her wide-ranging and industrious career — including using internships to land her first job with the Tampa Bay Lightning, navigating times of challenging growth at Uber, and the perils of being the only woman in the room. She also dispenses advice for building resilience, keeping a to-do list to bolster productivity, and making a positive impact — through your job and beyond.
In this episode, Enshalla Anderson shares the exploratory experiences that have shaped her trajectory — from early days as an analyst at JP Morgan to management consulting, Avon, Vivaldi Partners, and FutureBrand. Enshalla espouses that “a career is an aggregate of chapters” rather than a linear path, and encourages seeking environments that value you and opportunities that provide a runway for growth. She also talks about being the “quiet girl” and navigating work and parenthood.
This season, WIN/WIN will feature women leaders across multiple industries, companies, and backgrounds to bring their unique innovation and leadership experience and expertise to our listeners. Episodes will be released every other Monday, so make sure to subscribe to never miss a moment!
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