Here is a toast to all the fascinating conversations we had in 2023 on the Meant For It podcast. Conversations covered a wide range of stories from an organization devoted to telling stories of people in prison to career advice from the Career Contessa’s founder, the top career advice site for millennials. We spoke with Femtech start-ups Brilliantly and My UTI about efficiently treating UTI’s and helping women with breast implants stay warm. We shared entrepreneur stories, chatted with the Mayor of Sausalito, learned how to escape corporate misery and how career entitlement can harm your career path. Each conversation has nuggets of advice you can apply to your own life if you pay attention and keep an open mind.
1. My UTI Co-Founder
Lindsey Williams was meant for a career in healthcare and urology. You might think this is an odd choice but when you listen to this episode, you will understand why as a co-founder of FemTech start-up MyUTI, Lindsey is perfectly in her zone. Lindsey’s sense of humor, (that of a 14 year old boy), intellect, work ethic and southern charm led her to a successful career working in start-ups focused on urology and cancer.
MyUTI is an online service that allows people to quickly and easily test at home if they have a urinary tract infection and within 24 hours know the best antibiotic to take. Antibiotic resistance is a common problem that results in recurrent, often painful, and sometimes very serious urinary tract infections. When you have a UTI, you want immediate relief. If you have had one, then you are probably nodding your head or taking a deep breath as you recall the unpleasant memory.
According to UCSF, around 40 percent of women will have a UTI at some time in their lives. UTI’s are the second most conmon infection in the US. A UTI occurs when bacteria enter the bladder, usually through the urethra (urine tube), and begin to multiply.
In our conversation, Lindsey shares how she met her co-founder and launched MyUTI. If you are interested in the healthcare sector, FemTech and early stage start-ups, you will love this story about how Lindsey found the path she was meant to live. And, if you or someone close to you gets a recurring UTI, give MyUTI a try!
2. Tips on Finding Your Brave From Kathy Caprino, a Leading Women’s Career and Leadership Coach, Author and Speaker
We are certain that Kathy Caprino’s authenticity about finding a career that feels right will resonate with your personal story and we guarantee you will be soothed by her advice and caring voice. Kathy is an internationally-recognized career, executive and leadership coach, trainer, writer, and speaker dedicated to supporting the advancement and success of women in business. In her role as a Senior Forbes contributor and host of the Finding Brave podcast, Kathy helps listeners explore ways to be brave. Most importantly, Kathy is deeply committed to heaping women find their calling.
In our conversation, Kathy shares why her previous experience as a corporate executive left her feeling empty and how she pivoted first to becoming a marriage and family therapist and then how she found her calling in career coaching and writing. We discuss Kathy’s path in detail and the ways Kathy has found meaning in helping women thrive.
If you enjoy this episode, then you have to check out Kathy’s book, The Most Powerful You: 7 Bravery-Boosting Paths To Career Bliss, where Kathy explores the 7 damaging power gaps that negatively affect 98% of professional women and 90% of men today. Kathy’s book teaches you how to overcome these gaps to reach your highest potential.
3. Brilliantly Warm Founder Kristen Carbone Shares Her Start-Up Story
Kristien Carbone’s idea for Brilliantly Warm came from a deeply personal experience of having a preventative mastectomy. After the surgery, Kristen was surprised that she was always cold due to the implants. When Kristen realized she wasn’t alone, and 75% of women face the coldness issue, she looked for a solution. Hand warmers didn’t solve the problem, and there was nothing on the market that came close. As a true entrepreneur, Kristen became determined to solve the problem. Kristen shares how she found the courage and community that allowed her to build the product for Brilliantly Warm, a small heating device that could be placed into a bra. We discuss how Kristen found investors to grow her business, the challenges along the way and how Kristen is building Brilliantly step by step. The market size for Brilliantly Warm has expanded since Kristen realized it could be used by breastfeeding moms and for menstrual cramps or simply to stay warm.
We discuss how Kristen’s art history background and work experience helped her as a start-up founder and how Kristen’s upbringing gave her the risk tolerance to boldly pursue her business idea despite the risks. Kristen has just enough crazy in her to follow her dream. Kristen has an art history background without technical experience and is a busy divorced mom with two teenage children. This conversation may inspire you to go after the business dream that is on your mind. If you see Brilliantly Warm at your local Target one day, we hope you will remember this conversation with a smile.
4. Andy Hunter’s Bookshop.org is Saving Independent Bookstores and You Can Also!
As a lifelong book lover, author and book publisher, Andy Hunter knew he wanted to keep independent bookstores alive and thriving. Using his experience in the publishing industry, Andy had the audacity to come up with a successful idea for taking on Amazon. Andy’s idea was Bookshop.org, an online platform that gives independent bookstores an easy to use, full service platform for selling books online. Bookshop handles the distribution marketing, and shipping of online book sales, and doesn’t take a cut so bookstores keep all the profits. Since the majority of book stores cannot afford an online storefront, they can partner with Bookshop for online sales to add profits to their stores.
Since independent bookstores already have small margins, being able to sell online can be the difference between staying open or shutting down. Independent bookstores add so much value to communities. Research shows bookstores attract more business to other commerce and the property values rise since bookstore are a community gathering spots that bring people together. In our conversation, Andy shares how the challenges and adversities of his childhood fostered his love for books, and how his career in publishing led him to the path he was meant to pursue. We hope you will be inspired to shop from Bookshop and to encourage your local bookstore to sign up for Bookshop.org. We wish for every community to have their own beloved local bookstore!
5. Sausalito, California Mayor Janelle Kellman Shares Her Story
Janelle Kellman, Esq. is the Mayor of Sausalito, CA. In our conversation, we discuss Janelle’s path from private practice as an environmental attorney in San Francisco to launching a successful e-commerce company and launching the Center for Sea Rise Solutions in 2021 to support the localization of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. Janelle’s passion for teamwork was ignited and nurtured by a lifetime of sports including playing two Division I sports at Yale. Janelle says, “Sports taught me hard work, collaboration and team work”.
Janelle grew up in a small coal mining town in Pennsylvania. When Janelle’s mom developed asthma, Janelle became passionate about the environment and about working to find the balance between how we live in the natural environment. Janelle credits her father’s volunteering and involvement with community organizations as an early inspiration. The Jewish philosophy of Tikkum Olam (Repair of the world) has also guided Janelle’s motivation for environmental work and public service.
Listen in to hear why Janelle recommends people have a yes mindset, why removing expectations is the key to happiness and why the Japanese concept of ikigai is the recipe for success.
6. Career Contessa Founder Lauren McGoodwin on Entitlement, The Illusion of The Perfect Job and Managing Her Business
Lauren generously shares the story of how she started her business, her motivation and how she built Career Contessa from an idea to the leading career site for millennials offering career tips, career advice, job listings and career coaching.
Lauren shares her story of how she struggled to find her place after graduating from college, and how a role in recruiting gave her the idea for Career Contessa. From day one, Lauren has been driven to help people find the opportunities she could not find and to have the career advice so many of us are missing. For those of us who lack connections or career mentorship, Career Contessa wants to be your trusted advisor.
In our conversation we discuss topics ranging from Lauren’s book Power Moves, to common career mistakes, “watering your own grass”, entitlement, and how a false narrative of the perfect job can hurt your future. This is the advice we wish we had when we started our careers.
7. Tough Titties Author Laura Belgray Is Your Copywriting BFF
Honestly, do you wish you could write copy for a website or email that people actually wanted to read? Imagine a future where you triple your earnings by learning how to write non sucky copy. In this future you, Laura Belgray is someone you want to know.
Laura’s new book, Tough Titties, is a hilarious memoir where Laura shares her story, from her awkward teenage years to every major milestone in her life. Luckily for the reader, Laura believes in TMI. We guarantee you will laugh out loud and maybe feel better about the embarrassing moments in your life. In our conversation, Laura shares how she teaches people to write better through her online courses. Yes, it is possible to learn the skill of writing! And, if you think you have nothing to write about, Laura has a course for that also. Laura says, “your everyday, boring, mundane life is full of stories.”
8. Diane Kahn from Humans of San Quentin
Diane Kahn is a teacher and co-founder of Humans of San Quentin, an organization seeking to break down the walls and stereotypes of prison life and to humanize the lives behind bars. Diane was teaching inside San Quentin to help prisoners receive their high school diplomas when the idea for Humans of San Quentin was born. In our conversation, Diane shares the story of starting the organization and why she is so passionate about sharing the stories of people in prison. When you visit the Humans of San Quentin site, you will find moving stories, art and poetry from prisoners around across the US and other countries. Listen to our conversation to hear how the people Diane has met in San Quentin and around the world have transformed her, and they ways they can transform you.
9. Sally Wolf’s Path From Corporate Star to Stage IV Cancer Thriver and Spreader of Gratitude
Sally Wolf is one of the most inspiring people we have talked to. If you don’t believe us you can ask her classmates from her Stanford MBA program who voted her the “most inspiring” member of their class or her nephew who said she was the most positive person he knows. Sally spent two decades rising in the corporate sector in the media industry working at NBCUniversal and Time Warner before a series of cancer diagnoses changed her life and career focus. Today, Sally is the Founder and CEO of LightWorks, and a stage IV cancer thriver providing wellbeing consulting to corporate clients. After listening to this conversation, we think you will agree that Sally excels at positive psychology and making people feel like they can overcome all their challenges. We are in awe of Sally’s ability to live with tremendous gratitude, to make meaning of her cancer struggle and to live with an abundance of joy and determination to help others. In addition to everything above, Sally is also an expert pole dancer. Bet you didn’t expect that to be Sally’s hobby.
10. How Scheduling Adventure Can Change Everything With Shelby Stanger
Shelby Stanger’s formula is living life with adventure. When Shelby realized that adventure gave her energy, joy and confidence, she intentionally scheduled and prioritized adventure into her life. By choosing adventure, Shelby found love, a career she loved and a way to bring other people the same gifts. Shelby’s book, Will to Wild, Adventures Great and Small to Change Your Life, shares what she has learned in her years covering adventurers. Shelby reveals the stories of adventure seekers such as hikers, surfers, runners, on how they faced their fears, got unstuck and found meaning and life guidance through their adventures. What we love about Shelby’s story is how her life transformed and her life path emerged with each leap and decision Shelby made to choose authenticity and happiness. Shelby’s advice for those who want to have their own adventure is to put down the deposit, and get ready for your world to expand. Shelby reminded us why outdoor adventures often solve our problems or help us find our best ideas
