Positively Gotham Gal

Carole Wacey is the President of the long-standing Women’s City Club — recently rebranded as Women Creating Change— a nonprofit, non-partisan, activist organization dedicated to advancing the rights of women to shape the future of New York City. Carole’s career has spanned several sectors and created many opportunities for her to reinvent the wheel. If you’d like to learn more about Women Creating Change and the work they do in New York City, head on over to wccny.org

LinYee Yuan is a design journalist as well as the editor and founder of MOLD magazine. Inspired by the distressing news out of the UN about the world’s ability to feed it self in the future, LinYee created MOLD to inspire designers to improve food systems through creative, human-centric solutions. LinYee and I had tons to talk about from design to motherhood. ThisIsMold.com

Ashley M. Hunter is the president of HM Risk Group, an international insurance, reinsurance and risk management brokerage that specializes in reproductive health coverage. Ashley has had an inspiring career of going from studying violin to becoming a major player in reinventing the landscape of medical insurance coverage.

Mary Leigh Cherry is the Director of the newly opened Tonya Bonakdar Gallery in Los Angeles. Her long career as a gallerist, curator, and collector has made her a prolific figure in the art world on both coasts, and our conversation made for an episode that will be highly valuable to anyone involved or interested in the art world. Thank you to Mary Leigh for joining me on the podcast this week. If you’re in Los Angeles, you should definitely check out the work she’s doing at Tonya Bonakdar Gallery on Highland Avenue in Hollywood. For more information visit www.tanyabonakdargallery.com

Kate Miller and Anna Duckworth are the Co-Founders behind Miss Grass, a content-driven cannabis marketplace that gearing up to make a big leap into becoming a nation-wide brand focused on conscious consumerism around cannabis products and companies. Kate and Anna had a great story to share about how they met, tucked their heads down for six months, and then launched into success.

Sara Hicks is the Co-Founder and CEO of Reaction Commerce - an online platform that takes care of the backend of e-commerce businesses big and small with customizable, open source code. Sara talks with me about her ‘aha’ moment of inspiration and the major moves that her company is taking today.

Our 100th episode is one that the Positively Gotham Gal team is majorly proud of -- thank you to all you listeners for getting us here! This episode features Robin Steinberg, an American lawyer, social justice advocate, and leader in the field of holistic public defense. Steinberg is the CEO of The Bail Project, a national organization modeled after The Bronx Freedom Fund, which she co-founded with her husband David Feige in 2007. Robin sat down with me to talk about the incredible work she’s doing to reform the social justice system in America, and what’s inspired her to do this kind of work for the last thirty years plus. I cannot encourage you enough to check out the amazing work that Robin is doing. You can find out more about The Bail Project at bailproject.org

Anna Barber is the Managing Director of TechStars LA, where she acts as an investor, advisor, connector and coach for founders. Anna has had a long and successful career that spans several sectors, and her perspective of what she’s accomplished and how she feels about her work now is an interesting listen for anyone at any stage of their career.

Tina Hay is the Founder and CEO of Napkin Finance, a multi-media company focused on creating content around learning and understanding finance. Tina and I chatted about her goals of creating palatable content, and the exciting directions her company is about to take.

Jesse Genet is the Co-Founder and CEO of Lumi, a company that creates packaging solutions for modern supply chain teams. Jesse has a killer story of taking leap-of-faith after leap-of-faith from an early age, straight on into her latest venture, without a single break for self-doubt in between.

Kristina Budelis and Lisbeth Kaufman are the Co-Founders, as well as President and CEO, of Kitsplit -- an online rental house that lets content creators further cash in on the gig economy by renting out their gear to peers in their community. Lisbeth and Kristina share their story of meeting at NYU's ITP to starting their company in the middle of graduate school. Major inspiration for anyone out there with an idea they’re eager to launch.

Minnie Ingersoll is the newest Investor at TenOneTen Ventures, a Venture Capital firm actively involved in investing in early stage tech startups. Minnie previously co-founded a startup, and now finds herself thriving on the other side of the venture table. She is proof positive that starting over with your career at age 40 can be majorly rewarding.

Lindsey Johnson is the Co-Founder and CEO of Weezie Towels. This week Lindsey and I sat down to talk about her transition from hedge funds to becoming a startup founder herself -- and the big plans she has in mind for her company.

Catherine and Chloe Zadeh are the mother and daughter team behind ZADEH, a brand created from Catherine's modern jewelry designs for men and women. Catherine got her start making jewelry at the 92nd street Y of all places, and today she's one of New York's hottest designers. With daughter Chloe now at the helm of the family business, the team has set their sights on creating an empire.

Alison Cayne is the Founder of Haven's Kitchen, a cooking school and event space in New York City. Alison's journey is so inspiring -- in this episode she gave me the story behind her return to grad school after having five children, and how she rose above her own lack of self-confidence to become a powerhouse entrepreneur. Alison's story is proof that like the best cooking, you don't need a recipe for success.