This week's guest is Denise Cagan, a graduate of James Madison University, where she received a Bachelor of Science degree in Quality Systems Development. Denise never thought she would be a business owner, but as time went on, she found that her skillset coincided with her ideas and so she started her first business in 2001, followed with another in 2011. Her newest business is DCA Virtual Business Support, a company that supports small businesses with marketing and administrative tasks. Denise credits her hard work for getting her to where she is today. She views work ethic as monumental for getting any job done and advancing your career. This hard work philosophy has been the foundation for how Denise has built her company into what it is today. Thank you for listening; we hope Denise's story helps inspire the next generation of women entrepreneurs. If you would like to learn more about Denise and her company, visit her site: https://dcavirtual.com/ Find Denise on LinkedIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/denisecagan/

Our next guest on MENtors that Make a Difference is Michael Ashford, the Director of Marketing at The Receptionist. Started in 2013, The Receptionist paved the way as the first-ever visitor management company. They are now in over 4k+ locations and 36 countries worldwide. You can learn more about The Receptionist here: https://thereceptionist.com/ Today we talk about Michael's career journey and how his different experiences working in a wide variety of roles helped shape his business skillset. We also talk about the positive shifts that are taking place for women in tech and how gender stereotypes are being broken to create change. Thank you for listening; we hope Michael's story helps inspire others to seek or grow their tech career. https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaeldashford/

This week's guest is Vickie Helm, the CEO of Smart Group Firm - a consulting firm focused on business strategy, leadership, training, and management consulting. Vickie is also the Co-CEO of Metadigm Digital - an online media network to help visionary action takers shape the future and create thrive-ability through world-class books, shows, and programs. She is also a best-selling author and keynote speaker that focuses on economic, political, and business patterns across the globe to create success for her clients and to prepare, pivot and profit from the changes ahead. In today's episode, we talk about Vickie's career journey and how she developed a passion for entrepreneurship at a young age. We also talk about how young entrepreneurs can maximize their potential and build a successful business. We also discuss giving back and the importance of helping others while helping yourself. You can learn more about Smart Group Firm here: https://www.smartgroupfirm.com/ We hope Vickie's story helps inspire others to grow their career. Instagram: @Vickie_Helm Facebook: SheEO.vickiehelm

This week's guest is Paula Tutman, a multi-Emmy-winning journalist, Novelist, Screenplay Writer, Communication Coach, and Inventor. Paula has spent over 30 years in broadcast journalism as a field reporter and is also the proud creator and inventor of Bra-Less Bra, the Instant Cleavage Sculpting Solution. Paula is a woman of the world who spent several of her younger years in Africa but now calls Detroit her adoptive home. In today's episode, we talk about Paula's career journey and how she took advantage of the opportunity to become a reporter in broadcast journalism. We also talk about the struggles women face regarding beauty standards and how this inspired Paula to develop the Bra-Less Bra. We also discuss how women can work together to advance their careers and business endeavors. You can learn more about Bra-Less Bra here: https://bralessbra.com/ We hope Paula's story helps inspire others to grow their career.

This week's guest is Sandee Kastrul, the President of i.c.stars - a technology-based workforce development and leadership training program for underserved adults that connects them with career opportunities through their social enterprise and partner organizations. Sandee is also a board member of both Goodcity Chicago and HICC (Hispanic Innovation Center of Chicago). She is currently working on a new book, "Change and Equity" By Sandee Kastrul. Sandee knows that education opens doors and allows people to reach their potential, and she has dedicated her life to this cause. i.c.stars is the culmination of her ideas around education and training and has grown into a fantastic organization. The program allows individuals to showcase their skills and develop new skills to help grow their careers. Thank you for listening; we hope Sandee's story helps inspire others to grow their tech career. To learn more about Sandee and her business, visit their website below. i.c.stars: https://www.icstars.org/

Join the conversation as Jennifer Didier and Kristie Grinnell talk about how important the words are you use for yourself and in speaking to those around.  These words can open or close doors of opportunity. Kristie Grinnell Bio: Kristie was recently named a top CIO to watch in 2022 by WashingtonExec, is a member of the CIO Executive Council, and she serves as chair of the Capital CIO Advisory Board and is a member of STEMforHER Advisory Board. A strong supporter of academic STEM programs for young women, she is a recipient of the 2018 Women in Technology STEM Leadership award, Washington Business Journal’s 2020 Women Who Mean Business Award, a 2020 Capital CIO of the Year ORBIE Award Winner and a 2021 National CIO of the Year ORBIE Award Winner. • Kristie earned her BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh and holds an MBA from Cornell University Johnson Graduate School of Management. Reach Kristie on LinkedIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristiegrinnell/

Dan Draper is the CEO and Founder of CipherStash, a data storage platform for sensitive data. Their platform uses searchable encryption technology to protect against attacks that leak a snapshot of the entire running system, thereby enabling development teams to search data with high levels of protection without compromising on usability. Connect with Dan: Debugging DiversityCipherStashTwitter Thank you for listening to Dan's expertise on Data Security and Cryptography. We hope you enjoyed this replay.

Listen to Jennifer Didier and Lorraine Hamilton discuss how all employees should not be treated the same.  It is not healthy for the employee or the Employer. This coaching dynamo has a great track record and wants to help you to succeed. A little information about Lorraine Hamilton: Lorraine Hamilton PCC is a former engineer, voracious tea drinker and wannabe race car driver. She is also the creator of the SWITCH Coaching System®️. The SWITCH system is a refreshing take on coaching from a transformational embodiment lens. Lorraine has been a Professional Coach since 2006 and has spent the past 17 years coaching ambitious high-achieving women, writing books and mentoring hundreds of other coaches to greater freedom and success. This led to her being hand-picked by the Emmy award winning media entrepreneur Natalie MacNeil to become Program Director at the cutting edge and global ICF accredited coach training provider Coaching Evolved. She believes that feminine leadership is what the world needs right now, and having previously led a team of engineers to creating an award-winning culture, she knows a thing or two about it. "Before becoming an executive coach and trainer, I was a radio frequency engineer, first in Scotland where I was raised, and then in New Zealand where I’ve lived for over a decade now. At the peak of that engineering career I was leading my team so effectively that the whole office culture was modelled on us. " Lorraine's final word... "I love working with women in business and leadership, and of course, coaches. But it drives me crazy to see so many unscrupulous coaches taking advantage of a booming online industry. So I created my business to support them in finding trustworthy resources and training to further their career." Find her on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/lorrainehamilton/

Enjoy this replay: This week's guest is Chaitra Vedullapalli, an influential business leader with a passion for enabling business equity throughout our communities. Chaitra is also the Co-Founder and CMO of Meylah, a cloud solution provider that helps businesses grow their digital presence through a wide range of solutions. She is also a Board Member, Forbes & YourStory Contributor, Entrepreneur, TEDx & Public Speaker, Strategic Partnerships, Top100 Global Change Leaders Seeking opportunities to contribute to public or private boards.   Chaitra began her technological career in college, where she was exposed to COBOL Programming, Oracle Databases, and Windows. This experience opened her eyes up to the opportunities technology can create to change the world for the better. She also saw the glass ceilings for women and saw a chance to make meaningful change. Seeing these glass ceilings led her to become a Co-Founder of Women in Cloud, 'a community-led developmental organization for women that celebrates the female entrepreneurs in the tech world; creates opportunities and access for entrepreneurial acceleration.'   Thank you for listening; we hope Chaitra's story helps inspire others to grow their tech career. To learn more about Chaitra and to get in touch with her, visit her LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chaitrav/

Enjoy the replay:  Our next guest on our MENtors that Make a Difference segment is the co-founder of Kitcaster, Ryan Estes. He has owned a media and marketing agency for the last 10 years. For eight of those years he hosted the founders podcast Talklaunch. Consistently ranked in the iTunes "Top 100" podcasts. He has recorded 300+ interviews with more than a quarter million downloads, and attributes $1M+ in revenue as a direct result from podcasts. He loves podcasting, believes the medium possesses a giant opportunity for entrepreneurs, and is more than happy to discuss your prospects! Find out more about Ryan and Kitcaster at https://kitcaster.com/ Thank you for listening and we hope Ryan's story helps inspire others to grow their tech career.

Jennifer Didier interviews a veteran in the Technology space, Rupal Parikh. Get to know Rupal Parikh as we hear how she got started on her tech journey and how she is helping companies understand how to retain their sales teams and build their presales programs. Bio: Rupal Parikh is a veteran in the technology space, from tech startups to Fortune 500 companies. As the head of a global Presales team at SAP, Rupal and her team help customers achieve efficiency gains and process improvements across their critical enterprise incentive management systems through SAP's Sales Performance Management portfolio. Rupal is also an advocate of the Presales function. She advises technology startups on best practices in building Presales teams and creating value-added Presales technology to master the craft. Rupal is also passionate about helping elevate and connect women in their professional journeys. She is New York City chapter director for WNORTH, a membership network that brings together women at a high level to share their networks, knowledge, and experience. Connect with Rupal Parikh rparikh26@yahoo.com or on LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/rupal-parikh-b99a5b/overlay/contact-info/

This week's guest is Beth Bridges, a networking motivator who has run over 2,500 networking events over a ten-year span. She is the author of "Networking on Purpose," which focuses on networking strategy and how it helps grow businesses. Beth is now focusing on taking networking to the virtual world with her nine-minute network training courses. Beth is also the Chief Networking Officer for Blitzr.com, a networking platform that combines traditional one-on-one networking with the digital realm. Beth has an extensive background in marketing and networking. Early on in her career, her niche was traditional marketing, but the digital world was right around the corner and Beth knew she had to develop her skills. She worked on these skills independently by writing HTML and then developed into a full-on digital marketing guru. This growth set Beth up for success in digital marketing and helped her grow her network within the business world. Beth credits networking with helping grow her career and knows that she couldn't have made it to where she is today without a little help from her networking friends. Thank you for listening; we hope Beth's story helps inspire others to grow their network and see the benefits of leaning on other professionals. If you would like to learn more about Beth and her company, Visit their site: https://blitzr.com/ Learn more about her book here: https://thenetworkingmotivator.com/

This week's guest is Lori McColl, the CEO and Founder of Whim-Detroit, a technology startup and digital transformation group that focuses on implementing agile solutions. She is passionate about sharing her experience in the tech industry and growing a new business. Lori has been a guest speaker at several events, including the future of retail and social movements at the Women's Convention, Social Media Week, Planet M IoT Connect, and Detroit Start-up Week. Lori has taken a customer-focused approach to growing her business. This focus on client needs has allowed her to build trust, which gives her the ability to innovate and develop projects quickly. This approach has been central to the culture of Whim-Detroit and has allowed them to grow into the successful business they are today. To learn more about Lori and Whim-Detroit, visit their site here: https://www.whim-detroit.com/ Thank you for listening; we hope Lori's story helps inspire others to seek or grow their tech career.

This week's guest is Jane Wiseman, CEO of the Institute for Excellence in Government. This consulting services organization helps state and local government clients with strategy development, policy analysis, program implementation, and performance management. Jane is a seasoned government innovation and data analytics thought leader, strategy consultant, and experienced board member for social enterprises and non-profits. Today we talk about Jane's move into the tech industry and how she became an executive-level leader within her organization. We also talk about how women can drive change in male-dominated industries by overcoming their self-doubt and knocking down obstacles. Thank you for listening; we hope Jane's story helps inspire others to seek or grow their tech career.

This week's guest is Jennifer Buchholz, the Founder of Excel and Flourish - a corporate technical training company. Jennifer helps organizations, teams, and individuals leverage their technology to save time, increase productivity, and reduce frustrations. Today we talk about Jennifer's early experiences with technology and how her childhood helped shape her career path in tech training. We also talk about the importance of taking ownership as a woman in technology to accomplish the tasks at hand. You can learn more about Excel & Flourish here: https://www.excelandflourish.com/ Thank you for listening; we hope Jennifer's story helps inspire others to seek or grow their tech career.

This week's guest is Ayumi Moore Aoki, the Founder and CEO of WOMEN IN TECH - a leading global organization whose mission is to empower and grow women and girls’ presence in STEM. The organization focuses on four primary areas that are a call for action: Education, Entrepreneurialism, Social Inclusion, Science & Research. The aim is to educate, equip and empower women and girls with the necessary skills and confidence to succeed in STEM careers. She is also the Founder and CEO of the award-winning agency Social Brain® and the Co-Founder of HER Digital Academy. Today we talk about Ayumi's early years in business and how she eventually transitioned from a career in marketing to finding her purpose with a career in technology. Ayumi was fully immersed in technology - learning to code, build websites, and create apps. During this time, Ayumi learned about the ever-widening gap between women and men within the tech industry. To help close this gap, Ayumi founded Social Brain, WOMEN IN TECH, and HER Digital Academy with the focus of empowering and lifting women up. Learn more about Ayumi and WOMEN IN TECH here: https://women-in-tech.org/ Thank you for listening; we hope Ayumi's story helps inspire others to grow their tech career.

This week on our MENtors that Make a Difference segment is Vince Menzione, an award-winning business leader who has delivered and advanced four successful business transformations by embracing disruptive technology and building successful partnerships to transform organizations.  Today we talk about Vince's career journey and how it can be summed up into four business transformations that have culminated into the start of his very own podcast. We also talk about the changes happening in tech with regard to women's influence in the industry and how male allies can help support their female counterparts. Vince also hosts the successful Ultimate Guide to Partnering Podcast, where he spotlights leadership and partnership principles to help technology organizations thrive and survive during this age of rapid transformation.  You can listen to and learn more about the Ultimate Guide to Partnering Podcast here: https://ultimateguidetopartnering.com/ Thank you for listening; we hope Vince's story helps inspire others to seek or grow their tech career.

Jennifer Didier Interviews Alexandra West of Nerd/Noir.  Alexandra shares her journey from the world of Art to technology, back to Art and making her final career in the world of Technology. Listen to her story of how her art background had allowed her to experience and share a unique technology experience and focus. About Nerd/Noir: Founded in 2015, Nerd/Noir is a consulting firm specializing in transforming large-scale product engineering organizations. ​​The company is dedicated to fostering a culture of continuous improvement and helping businesses rethink digital transformation. Nerd/Noir helps clients build self-sustaining coaching capabilities, ensuring long-term success in today's rapidly evolving tech landscape; focusing on outcome-driven strategies and impacts, versus process-centric approaches. The Nerd/Noir team has more than 25 years of experience in modernizing processes and increasing the success of engineering and product teams, from startups to Fortune 500 firms. For more information, please visit https://nerdnoir.com/.   Alexandra West, Cofounder & Creative Director Alexandra West is an award-winning designer, international speaker, and corporate trainer. She is passionate about culture, creativity, and collaboration. Her focus is on bringing both a visual thinking mindset and a strong sense of psychological safety to the world of collaborative work. Alex has a long history as a creative. After earning her degree in Art History from Emory University, Alex spent her early career in commercial and nonprofit art galleries. She then spent a decade managing large-scale software implementations for Fortune 500 HR teams before leaving corporate America to return to her creative roots. Alex worked as a production designer and art director on feature films, television shows, and commercials for over ten years. Alex works with organizations on product discovery and development projects, as well as corporate culture and diversity & inclusion initiatives. When not busy curating and coaching, Alex can be found eating cheese. All kinds of cheese. You can find Alexandra West on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexandra-west-nerdnoir/

Join Jennifer Didier as she talks technology and fashion with entrepreneurs Kotryna Jukneviciute and Cassie Huang from Arete.  Here about their journey to build Arete and their story of how they got there.  A little more about Kotryna Jukneviciute: Kotryna immigrated to the US from Lithuania as a kid. Thanks to her artistic mother, she grew up loving fashion. She started her first venture in third grade and has been an entrepreneur ever since. Kotryna received her BA and MA from Georgetown University and was in the School of Foreign Service. She spent a few years working at the RAND Corporation, where she spearheaded international business partnerships and became known for her research on Russia.  You can reach Kotryna on LinkedIn or email her at kotryna@areteforyou.com More information on Cassie Huang: Cassie Huang grew up in Shanghai and came to the US when she was 16. A Georgetown University graduate, she started her career at Morgan Stanley as an investment banker, then joined The Cranemere Group as a private equity investor. Driven by her passion for building and entrepreneurship, she deferred her Wharton MBA to join Forum Brands, gaining experience in startup operations, e-commerce, and team building. Alongside Kotryna, she's now focused on growing Arete, leveraging her business acumen and a shared vision for impactful change. You can reach Cassie on LinkedIn or email her at cassie@areteforyou.com

Jennifer and Robin talk about the need for employers and employees to be honest about what they can and are willing to do.  The need to have strong empowering boundaries for all parties is extremely important for business and personal success.  Robin Corralez is a hands-on, diversified, human resources leader focused on creating sustained value in fast-paced, dynamic environments by building strong teams and identifying, assessing, and executing organizational initiatives that drive business success aligned with the overall strategy. In her role at PandaDoc, she focuses on building a talented organization that will help scale their business from $20M to $100M while maintaining the best workplace culture possible. Her specialties include executive coaching and developing new leaders; sourcing, hiring and aligning "A" players in critical positions; creating and maintaining talent pipelines; leading change and enhancing employee relations; improving performance and organizational development; employment law; and achieving cost efficiencies through better utilization of resources. Robin is eager to share her tips for your audience and is the author of multiple articles on the topic of managing a remote-first, globally distributed workforce. Under Robin's direction, PandaDoc was honored with multiple awards such as Inc. Magazine's 2021-2020 Best Workplaces, 2021 Forbes 500 Best Start Up Employer, and Quartz Best Companies for Remote Workers. Robin Corralez, Global Sr. Vice President of Human Resources