Positively Gotham Gal

Lauren Bille & Ashley Spivak are the Co-Founders of Cycles + Sex, a women's health initiative that started out as an event, and is steadily growing to become the go-to platform for women's reproductive health and sexual wellness.

Linda Derschang is the founder and CEO of The Derschang Group; a mix of restaurants, cafes and bars in Seattle, Washington. Linda joined me to talk about the journey from opening a punk clothing store in Denver to the massive group of bars and restaurants in Seattle today.

Carolyn Witte is the Co-Founder and CEO of Tia -- an integrated healthcare center, resource, and community for women. Carolyn left her dream job to start Tia after realizing that women's health was a huge, complicated problem that she had to solve.

Patti Russo is the Executive Director of the Women's Campaign School at Yale -- an intensive program designed to train women to run for office and manage political campaigns. Patti's story is incredibly inspiring, something we might need in the midst of this week, and she has a lot of insights to share that go beyond just politics.

Abigail Stone is the founder and CEO of Otherland, a new candle company focused on self-care, great scents, and art-inspired style. Abigail sat down with me to talk about her journey from a career as an art buyer for Ralph Lauren, to starting over in business school, and the success she's found since.

Susannah Vila is the Co-Founder and CEO of Flip -- an online service that helps renters get out of their leases, and helps subletters find new apartments. Susannah cut her teeth in the world of political NGO’s before realizing that her real passion was entrepreneurship, and her first order of business was tackling a problem she’d been dealing with for years.

Mackenzie Barth and Sarah Adler are the Co-Founders of Spoon University -- an online food magazine that they started in their college dorm rooms, and then went on to get acquired by a major media outlet. Kenzie and Sarah sat down with me this week to share the story of their unprecedented success.

Melanie Elturk is Co-founder, CEO, and Chief Designer at Haute Hijab -- an online retail brand that 'makes the world's best hijabs for the world's most powerful women.' Melanie went from a stable career in a law firm to diving headfirst into her growing e-commerce empire, and she doesn't hold back about what a daunting move that was to make.

Sarah Carter and Ally Varady are the founders of CV Partners, a project management firm that specializes in taking construction projects from concept to completion, and all the endless details in between.

Connie Wong and Susan Zheng are the founding partners of Planted: a match-making service for job-seekers, and companies in search of entry-level talent. Connie and Susan both know all about the difficulties in making the decision to switch career paths and potentially break out on your own -- this team took an interesting path of calculated learning through employment, before really digging into their own business venture.

Shari Bayer is the founder and president of Bayer Public Relations, a full-service public relations, consulting and marketing agency in NYC that specializes in restaurants and other food-based companies. Shari had a long path to starting her own PR firm, but all the dots connected perfectly to get Shari where she is today.

Robyn Beavers is the Co-Founder and CEO of Blueprint Power--is a real estate and energy tech company that turns buildings into urban power plants. Robyn had a real ‘aha’ moment when she came up for the idea for blueprint, and her journey towards entrepreneurship is one not to miss.

Eliza Blank is the founder and CEO of The Sill -- a retail brick-and-mortar & e-commerce platform designed to bring home gardening back into the mainstream. Eliza and I sat down and talked about how she took The Sill from idea, to business with a mission.

Deborah Koenigsberger is the owner and stylist of brick-and-mortar boutique Noir et Blanc, and Founder of the non-profit organization Hearts of Gold. Deborah is a powerhouse and a real advocate for women and children in need. We sat down this week to talk about the work she does through Hearts of Gold, and how her venture got started.

Shannon McLay is the Founder & President of Financial Gym, a company that provides personal training for your finances, regardless of what’s in your bank account. Shannon told me all about her start as a floor trader for big banks where she was often referred to as “the decoration,” and how she powered through that glass ceiling, built strong networks, and transitioned into fundraising and starting her own business.