The 20 Most Successful Businesswomen to Watch, 2020

Vol.03 | Issue.01 | 2020

T H E

Most

Business SUCCESSFUL

women

WATCH

to

2020

Imparting Wisdom Successful Personality Traits to Learn from Elon Musk

Leader’s Desk Building an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem for Women

Bagla CEO of Go Legal Yourself

Editor’s Desk

T

She paved ‘her’ own Way!

he world might have witnessed some impeccable women leaders who are exceptionally contributing in the current industrial revolution. Be it a healthcare, finance, IT or any other sector, these businesswomen have taken their organizations to the utmost stature, ever imagined before. If asked to one such proficient personality, the mantra behind such accomplishments, they would firmly come up with an answer of being passionate. This passion of creating a difference helped them to tackle all the difficulties paving a way of success eventually.

Attaining success in

Through quoting,“Life-fulfilling work is never about the money- when you feel true passion for something you instinctively find ways to nurture it,” Eileen Fisher, Clothing Designer and Founder of Eileen Fisher Inc., emphasizes that with true passion and persistence one can surely attain his or her life-fulfilling work. In this proactive growing business world, women are witnessed to break through the glass ceilings to make their way out to reach top notch executive positions in organizations.

Be it a Sheryl Sandberg—the COO of Facebook, Ginni Rometty—the Chairperson, President and CEO of IBM or Indra Nooyi—the Chairman and COO of PepsiCo, name them; they all have attained a successful stature in their respective organizations and field. Through their impeccable achievements they proved that ‘myth’ in the ‘myth of metriocracy’ no longer exists. They turned to be a great example for many upcoming women business leaders and entrepreneurs who are striving to attain the same.

business is mere the first step; it’s all about making a difference.

Inspiring people is quite a tough task to implicate.

Yet, the great leaders have exceptionally put forth examples of how one can be inspired and inspire others. They say that the inspiration comes from the smaller place, they are quite right. If we look around, we might find ourselves with some real-life stories that initiated with a struggle and ended with a massive success. The protagonist of these stories starts from the scratch and presents a beautiful journey for various to get admired from; many businesswomen are such protagonists.

People often tend to get inspire by those, who achieve success in their respective field. In this special edition, presented by Insights Success, we are trying to emphasize on those women leaders who are basically trying to make a dent in the universe. The magazine admires such women and appreciates their contribution in this ever-evolving business sector. And takes pride in featuring some exceptional women leaders in it’s Women’s Day special edition “The 20 Most Successful Businesswoman to Watch 2020”.

Bhushan Ghate

10 Leader's Desk Building an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem for Women

Kelly Bagla

MAKING LEGAL EASY FOR ENTREPRENEURS

64

Integrated Approach How to do your best work when you’re not Actually working!

Maintaining a personal and Professional life balance

74

Article

Imparting Wisdom Successful Personality Traits to Learn from Elon Musk

56

20 Anaida Deti An Inspirational Health Entrepreneur

Contents

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24 38

Armida Kaloti

Encouraging Work Environment

30

Barbara Ann Bernard A Successful Entrepreneur in a Competitive Industry

30

34

42

Carolyn Hogg

An Entrepreneurial Leader covering all the Tasks

38

Dr. Nadia Cheaib An Outstanding Leader in Health Industry Development

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42 46

Fiona Bruder Making Disruptive Changes through Experiential Marketing

46 Jennifer Ladouceur A Role Model Inspiring Passion & Innovation in Others

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50

66

Juggy Sihota

A Trailblazer with Exceptional Leadership Qualities

58

Kelly Hall

A Leader with Compassion, Determination, and Persistence

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58

70

60

76

Laura Brandao

An Inuencer and Powerful Mortgage Professional

66

Manuela Beil-Peter A Well Organized and Pro-active Individual

70 Nicola Whiting The Unsung Cyber Security Leader

76 Nicole Enders The Next Generation Superintendent

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80 Nicole Iseppi

Advocating Greater Industry Collaboration & Increase EfďŹ ciency in the Global Energy Sector

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Rachel Brownlow Lund Empowering Women to Step Up

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Sophie Slavin Leading with Experience and Skill

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Stacia Guzzo Making a Difference for Health-Conscious Women

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104

100 Tami Louis Striving for Perfection in Providing Unrivaled Experiences

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Tamma Carel Driving Sustainability through Passion and Professionalism

Editor-in-Chief Pooja M. Bansal Managing Editor Anish Miller

Executive Editor

Assistant Editors

Kaustav Roy

Jenny Fernandes Rohit Chaturvedi

Visualizer

Art & Design Director

Associate Designer

David King

Amol Kamble

Iresh Mathapati

Senior Sales Manager Co-designer

Co-designer Deepanjali Jena

Business Development Manager

Kshitij S

Peter Collins

Marketing Manager

Sales Executives

John Matthew

David, Kevin, Mark, Sagar

Technical Head

Business Development Executives

Jacob Smile

Steve, Joe, Alan, Sanket

Technical Specialist Aditya

Digital Marketing Manager Marry D'Souza

SME-SMO Executive Prashant Chevale

Research Analyst Frank Adams

Database Management Stella Andrew

Circulation Manager Robert Brown

Technology Consultant David Stokes

sales@insightssuccess.com March , 2020

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Reprint rights remain solely with Insights Success.

Kelly Bagla CEO

Go Legal Yourself

COVER STORY

MAKING LEGAL EASY FOR ENTREPRENEURS

Kelly Bagla

T H E

Business to WATCH 2020

S

tarting a business can be exciting and scary at the same time.

Exciting because you are finally pursuing your dream and turning it into reality. Scary because you don’t know what you don’t know, especially the legal side. Kelly Bagla, Esq., the CEO of Go Legal Yourself has made it easy for entrepreneurs to understand the legal requirements of starting a business and what legal documents they need to incorporate their business.

For Kelly, “Understanding the legal aspects of a business is essential for any business to succeed, no matter what phase they’re in. With a solid legal foundation for your business, there’s no limit to what you can achieve.” Considering these influential and inspirational aspects of her business persona Insights Success recognizes Kelly Bagla as one of the most successful businesswomen to watch.

Below are highlights from the interview conducted between Kelly and Insights Success: Give a brief overview of your background and your role in Go Legal Yourself.

I’m an attorney, entrepreneur, author, speaker, podcast host, inventor, TV personality and CEO of Go Legal Yourself, an online legal resource company that empowers people to incorporate their business the right way— without paying law firm fees.

Go Legal Yourself provides attorney drafted, client approved, turn-key business start-up documents, including vital agreements, which are designed to protect business owners. Go Legal Yourself helps business owners to start businesses, grow businesses and to protect the owner and the owner’s assets, which is imperative in our incredibly litigious society.

How do you diversify your cuttingedge solutions that appeal to your target audience?

Go Legal Yourself is revolutionizing

access to legal tools, offering entrepreneurs the same services provided by a law firm, for a fraction of the cost.

Our audience understands that there is more to starting a business than just buying some legal forms online. But they also don’t want to spend tens of thousands of dollars to have a law firm set up their business. Go Legal Yourself is designed with those people in mind, the cost conscious and time sensitive, where we offer different legal packages that will address the unique needs of savvy entrepreneurs.

For those just getting started, we offer a complete Start Up Essentials Package, which is a customizable package of legal contracts and documents that includes everything a startup company needs to incorporate and protect assets from the beginning, including Founder’s Stock Purchase Agreement, Bylaws, Articles of Incorporation, and much more.

We also offer Contracts Packages, for entrepreneurs who are recently incorporated, but who need essential documents and agreements to keep the business running smoothly and legally.

These packages include important documents and contracts that cover everything you could need, from Client Agreements, to Independent Contractor Agreements, Website Terms of Use text and more.

For those looking to grow their business, our Growth Essentials Package provides everything you’ll need as your business booms—from Employee Agreements, to Employee Handbooks, to Nondisclosure Agreements. All of our packages also include a one-hour legal strategy with me.

How necessary is it to align business with technology and what are its outcomes?

Most SUCCESSFUL

women

In a word, it is vital. The business world is operating at a near breakneck pace and any business geared towards entrepreneurs must deliver sophisticated services online.

Entrepreneurs are busy. They need accessible products, and they need them now. They don’t have time to set up an appointment and drive to a law firm for a meeting. They don’t have time to research what they don’t know—and there’s a lot— about protecting themselves as business owners. And they certainly don’t have money to burn, as every penny counts.

That’s why Go Legal Yourself is so unique. We don’t just supply legal forms. We are backed by a reputable law firm, our contracts are drafted by attorneys and all businesses are set up the same way they would be by a law firm, but at a fraction of the cost.

What was the past experiences, achievements or lessons that shaped your journey?

As an attorney, I’ve seen clients making the same mistakes over and over again and it is painful to see, especially if they could be easily avoided. It is always due to the fact that there is so much misleading information when it comes to setting up your business and people select the wrong entities and wrong contracts because they don’t know what they don’t know. After seeing so many people lose what they’d worked for because they weren’t properly armed with the protection they need, I had to do something about it. I knew there had to be a better way, so I created it.

I wrote a bestselling book ‘Go Legal Yourself’ and created the Go Legal Yourself tools just to support the dreamers and the visionaries. My passion for helping others had finally reached a point where I knew I had to do something to make a real difference.

I’m also an entrepreneur, so I know firsthand just how much work goes into starting a business, let alone make money in it and having the right legal

“

GRAB LIFE

BY THE PEARLS. IT’S YOURS FOR THE TAKING.

tools from the start can be the difference between being successful or learning how to become successful from being sued.

example Margaret Thatcher set. One of my favorite quotes from her, when it comes to the importance of strategizing and planning as a leader is:

major thinkers. The people that really create the things that change this industry are both the thinker and doer in one person.”

According to you, what is the important ability to develop comprehensive strategies in the role of a leader?

There are various types of leaders who have displayed great qualities, but the leader who has had the most impact on me, is Margaret Thatcher, Britain’s first female prime minister. I was born and grew up in England and have modeled my work ethic using the incredible

“Disciplining yourself to do what you know is right and important, although difficult, is the highroad to pride, selfesteem, and personal satisfaction.”

Likewise, I think that one of the best strategies a business owner can embrace, is to learn their own business from the ground up, by doing the work of the business, alongside any employees they may hire. Steve Jobs put it this way: “The doers are the

Describe some of the vital attributes that every businesswoman should possess.

Hands-down, you must have passion for what you are creating. If you’re creating something because you think it will make you money, but you’re not particularly passionate about it, your success is bound to be short lived.

Steve Jobs again said it best, when he said, “If you don’t love it, you’re going

to fail.” So, passion is the most important.

Hard work is neck and neck with passion, in terms of “must-have” attributes to succeed in business. If you’re not willing to work harder than you’ve ever worked, it’s unlikely that your business will succeed. There’s a reason why upwards of 80% of all businesses fail. The good news about hard work, is that if you’re passionate about what you’re doing, it’s not going to feel like work. Work hard and work smart.

The third attribute that I think is absolutely imperative in order to be a successful businesswoman is confidence. You must believe in yourself. You must be confident to brush aside negative feedback, or otherwise discouraging input from naysayers. Confidence will allow you to be selective in choosing whose opinion or feedback you will take into consideration. People like doing business with confident people.

THERE IS NO GLASS CEILING, ONLY YOUR ABILITY TO STOP YOURSELF.

What were some of the primal challenges and roadblocks that you faced during the initial phase of your journey?

Challenges and roadblocks for me were similar to what I see most entrepreneurs experience. There was uncertainty to overcome earlier in my career, when I chose to launch my own law firm, and leave behind the safety net of working for a large law firm.

With both my firm, and with Go Legal Yourself, there were challenges including budgeting, and funding. Of course, there was no shortage of unsolicited advice from people who would say things like “it’s already been done” “you won’t be able to do it” or, “it’s going to take you a long time.” In the end, it all worked out because I had faith and confidence in who I am. John S. Maxwell said it best, “You don’t overcome challenges by making them smaller but by making yourself bigger.”

Where does Go Legal Yourself see itself in the near future and how will you catalyze the change?

Within the next five years, I believe that Go Legal Yourself will be the goto website for people to use to start their businesses. It’s a complete A-Z business startup kit, that goes much further than an online legal document company and has the backing of a law firm. It’s making it completely accessible and affordable for entrepreneurs to properly defend and protect all that they have worked for, from day one.

What is your advice for emerging businesswomen?

Stay true to yourself and be discerning about whose advice you take. Be confident in yourself and be prepared to work for what you believe in. After all, if a woman who made it from nothing can become the first Prime Minister, there’s nothing you can’t accomplish. As Margaret Thatcher so eloquently put it: “I wasn’t lucky.

I deserved it.”

Please make sure to watch me on the Emmy and Telly Award winning inspirational reality TV series: Everyday Edisons premiering on Crackle in March 2020. Each episode will feature three inventors competing to have their idea selected by a panel of leading judges.

“

VOL 09 | ISSUE 10 | 2019

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Successful

Businesswomen to Watch 2019

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" C h o o s e E xc e l l e n t, C h o o s e I n s i g h t s �

T H E

Business

Most SUCCESSFUL

to WATCH 2020

women

Anaida

Deti

An Inspirational Health Entrepreneur right and white teeth are everyone’s asset. Not only do they give you confidence but also depicts overall good health. However, not everyone has a bright and healthy smile due to discolored and stained teeth and other bigger problems.

At DentalX, the company’s CEO Anaida Deti understands that life is busy, and it is easy to put scheduled teeth cleanings on hold. The company’s dental professionals add sparkle to stained teeth. The professionals first perform an oral exam in order to determine the best treatment for your teeth.

B

become a dentist, I would help all the people who were scared like me, to actually look forward to their dental appointments”.

Anaida experienced her first dental appointment, when she was 7 years old; she remembers the dentist, the nurse and her mom holding her down because she was so terrified. That scarred her for life! Her next dental appointment was when she was 19 years old and she only went because she was in extreme pain. Thankfully, dentistry has changed quite a bit since then. According to her, nowadays kids and adults both look forward for their dental appointments.

Dental Appointments

Passion for the Dental Field

Ever since Anaida Deti was a young girl, she wanted to be a dentist, an orthodontist to be specific. Dentistry was something that had always fascinated her. This does not mean that she wasn’t terrified to go to the dentist!

Sure, she was, but she also found it very interesting. She used to say that, “when I

After opening the doors to Anaida Deti’s very own dental office, the honeymoon feeling however was short-lived. If she thought the problems were now over, she was very wrong, they had not even started.

She waited for the phone to ring and the door to open, and waited…and waited…

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Anaida Deti Chief Executing OďŹƒcer DentalX

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husband and her kids. The hardest thing she finds is to find the perfect balance between business and family and prioritizing tasks. Being a mom of two, with a teenager and a toddler, life gets difficult. Her family encourages her to do better every day.

A Fighting Spirit And then there was the issue of finding the right staff. It was a huge risk especially when you know there is a dental office in every single corner and your competition is dentists who pay thousands of dollars in marketing and advertisements. Luckily, patients and staff believed in her vision and saw something that in other dental offices did not exist, a relationship between her and patients. Anaida’s passion for the dental field and taking care of patients was transferred in the best way possible that made them believe in DentalX. The organization specializes in seeing nervous patients who do not like going to the dentist. The company’s warm environment and techniques make patients more comfortable. It is an amazing feeling when patients come in and tell us they look forward to their appointments. Anaida thinks being successful is subjective to everyone. “I love what I do and every morning I cannot wait to go to the office and start my day. The best part is to do what you love and get recognized for it.”, says the leader.

Care of Daily Tasks Anaida’s day starts at 7:30am with getting herself and the kids ready for school. After dropping them off to school, she makes her way to the office where she takes care of daily tasks. She sees patients and performs all duties as a dental hygienist. She manages the office as well as takes care of the payroll, hiring staff, dealing with patients and different problems as they arise. She takes care of the marketing for the office. Anaida overlooks at all things that happen in the office. Her workdays are 12+ hours long, Monday to Saturday. After work, she still has things to do at home with the kids, and house-works. She never goes to sleep before midnight. She is very busy and does not have much time to do anything else; she has her plate full of her family and business.

Anaida thinks the most difficult thing as a female leader is to juggle family and business at the same time. During the time she opened her business in 2014, she also got pregnant with her daughter and had a complicated pregnancy. Her daughter was a twin, but she lost one of them which made her pregnancy high risk and the doctor told her she had to be in bed for the remaining 7 months. Anaida replied that was impossible. Doctor made her sign and told her that she was nuts for doing this. Unfortunately, she had no choice.

She tried to be very careful, scared, knowing she will never forgive herself if something happens to her daughter. But her daughter is a fighter just like her, both made it and this amazing little girl completed her family. Anaida worked till the last day of her pregnancy. The delivery went well, she was just perfect. Three days later however, she had to return to work, she really had to. When the people saw her at the door, they could not believe their eyes. For the first two months, she drove home for lunch to breastfeed her daughter and went back to work again. It was hard. When people say to her, they cannot do something because it is hard; she tells them “what I had to do when I was pregnant with my daughter and after I had her”.

Breaking Every Barrier Anaida Deti immigrated to Canada from Albania 17 years ago with her husband. They had only a few hundred dollars with them and a big dream of building something theirs but not much else. She spoke no English and her school meant nothing here, so she had to start everything from scratch.

Anaida worked seven days a week while going to school full time. After a few years of finishing school and getting her licence as a registered dental hygienist, she founded DentalX in 2013. DentalX started with only her, booking appointments in her car and seeing patients in the late afternoons or Sundays after she worked all day for other dental offices. Now she has an award-winning dental office with 12 staff members.

At this time, it is sad to say that she does not have a hobby.

She spends her very limited free time in going out with her insightssuccess.com

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March 2020

‘‘

I want to let them know that nothing comes easy, if you work hard and put your mind to it, everything is possible.

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March 2020

“

Be curious and hunger of knowledge.

Life is beautiful because it’s always full of challenges and is also unexpected. Do what you love and make sure to do it the best you can and, if there’s something that you don’t know, learn it.

Armida Kalo Senior Marke ng Specialists

Apparound insightssuccess.com

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March 2020

Armida Kaloti Encouraging Work Environment

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e can’t deny the fact that we are constantly surrounded by technology. The advancement in this particular area has proven to be so disruptive that it has an impact on every industry. One such industry is marketing. Long gone the days when traditional methods of marketing were only the way to increase sales productivity.

The introduction of digital marketing has transformed the entire landscape to improving sales productivity. Through digital marketing, the marketing specialist can analyze the aftermath of the strategies that they have elected. Digital marketing, also, gives the consumer control in terms of information accessibility. Therefore, it’s not surprising that the majority of the companies are modeling their focus on the digital market in line with immensely successful campaigns.

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March 2020

Armida Kaloti, the Senior Marketing Specialist at Apparound, plays a vital role in digital marketing. A genuine leader who throughout her career has worked hard to develop successful strategies to transform marketing hurdles into opportunities.

Journey of Discovering Herself Armida loves to remember where she comes from because of the imprinting she has got in her home country. Back in the day as a kid she used to aid people. For example, if she had finished with her homework, she would have gone and would have helped her friends who hadn’t yet so that they could all play together. At school, if someone had good marks, they would have to support those in need. It might sound too much for a child, but she didn’t think, therefore. That imprinting is something that she nevertheless maintains with her and she sticks to it. She has persistently tried getting the best that she can help others also. This is something that Armida endeavors at her job too.

She has learned a lot from her home country, never giving up and always aiming to be the best version of herself. This is something that she had tried to bring on her job. She had the opportunity to work on a start-up company on which, she perceived it from being born with its name until it grew. This introduced her to work in various fields as working on a start-up allowed her to perform on all areas of marketing and much more. It has been an enriching path for her, and which is continuing to grow.

Technological Impact in Digital Marketing When it comes to the impact of technology in the market, it has provided everyone involved, from the marketers to consumers. Earlier there was no specific way to identify what customers’ need.

That has changed promptly due to technology; people currently have ways to connect. Armida seeks the possibility to be closer to her customers which assists her company to fabricate according to the needs. Technology is empowering people’s

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needs and making life easier. She believes that at the end of everyone is customer one way or another and technology carries out a key role to establish the voices of consumers to reach the manufacturer. Listening to its customers and working on the feedback they provide is much important in today’s time.

Words for Fellow Leaders Armida asserts “Passion, Confidence, and Humility. Cherish what you do, be confident in your skills but remember you can always do better, there’s always room for improvement.

Always set new standards for yourself.”

Shaping the Journey Working on a start-up environment allowed Armida to experience all fields of marketing and more. This helped her to possess a more proper understanding of managing her time and numerous more things. The startup environment is magic from one side, but it’s also challenging as one has to really learn how to orchestrate everything. In her own words, “Never give up and trust your guts! If you get stuck on a crazy busy day and don’t know where to start from, sick for help. Our worst enemy it’s us many times, so also remember to be nice to yourself.”

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March 2020

Barbara Ann Bernard Founder & CIO Wincrest Capital

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anagement teams need to be able to foresee industry disruption coming. So, as the Chief Investment Officer and Founder, Barbara Ann Bernard, it is her job to have a clear plan to navigate the uncertain future at Wincrest Capital. At Wincrest, value investing is the core value. The company does not change its core value in response to market changes rather, it changes markets, if necessary, to remain true to its value investing principles. Clarity over the few things that matter most in the uncertain future is what is enabling Wincrest to capitalize upon anti-bubbles and fallen angels on the long side, and debt, disruption, denial, and profitless prosperity on the short side.

Wincrest Capital dedicates its time to uncovering undervalued stocks wherever in the world they may be. Then, in the words of Sir John Templeton, some other time – “when people are overly excited, bidding prices up to higher and higher levels in their anxiety to buy, we accommodate them and sell those stocks we bought years before.” The world can seem like a big place, but it's not if you know what you are looking for.

Industry a Meritocracy Barbara Ann Bernard is honored to be among the company of extraordinary women on this list and feels that there is a responsibility that comes with this accolade: The 20 Most Successful Businesswomen to Watch, 2020.

Barbara Ann Bernard A Successful Entrepreneur in a

Competitive Industry Five years ago, when she founded Wincrest Capital, she had no idea about the need to advance women in investing. She believed that the industry was a meritocracy. If Wincrest generated stellar returns, then capital would flow into the firm.

Two years into the journey, the FT called to ask what it was like to be a woman running a fund in a man's world. She told the reporter that she had never thought about this. Barbara Ann was busy doing what she loved to do. She asked her to give her the weekend to research the industry, and she'd talk with her on Monday.

The research shocked her. Barbara Ann learned women and diverse-owned hedge funds only comprise 3% of the firms. Furthermore, collectively, these firms manage 1.3% of the assets.

Barbara Ann was stunned, but not speechless! These stats helped her find her voice. Wincrest did not have a performance problem, so she began speaking at industry conferences to raise the profile and assets under management.

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For the second year in a row, she was invited to speak in Omaha during the Berkshire Hathaway AGM festivities.

She met Kim Shannon there, who told Barbara Ann how much she had enjoyed her speech. Kim’s company, Sionna Investment Managers, is Canada's largest female-owned asset management firm. She told Kim about her dream of starting her own conference - a women's investing conference. Kim then brought over her friend, Laura Rittenhouse, who invented a new investing discipline called Candor Analytics, which has been endorsed by Warren Buffett. Right then, all three vowed to launch the first female investing conference during the 2019 Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting in Omaha.

When passion and purpose are combined with teamwork, extraordinary things happen. Even Warren Buffet came to kick off the conference! When asked what he thought of an all-female investment conference, Warren said,"Way Overdue!". This first Variant Perspectives conference was such a success that the team is planning to host another one in NYC on April 21st, 2020.

Barbara Ann believes she has a responsibility to herself, and society, to speak up when experiencing ambivalence over matters that are impeding talent and investment returns.

Given many studies show that female investors often outperform their male colleagues, increasing assets under female management is not a charitable cause, it is an insightssuccess.com

opportunity to unlock alpha and value for investors.

Increasing assets under female management or - AUfM -her favorite 4 letter word -- is a goal she is committed to achieving.

Diversity in the Industry As a champion of active management and entrepreneurship, Barbara Ann Bernard foresees herself building an asset management platform to incubate diversity in the industry.

The purpose of the platform is to discover, vet, and provide acceleration capital along with world-class operational and distribution support to promising women investment managers. It will empower these women to build sustainable businesses while giving them visibility and institutional credibility their performance merits. Equally, the platform creates opportunities for institutional investors to better meet their targeted investment returns as they gain the benefits of cognitive diversity at scale in their investment portfolios. The platform is also a unique investment opportunity for its backers, who can invest in a democratizing, disruptive, and highly scalable concept that is both profitable and impactful.

Big Service Providers Post-2008, the big asset management firms, the big asset allocators and the big service providers have all become bigger. According to the Hedgefund Journal, just under 500 hedge funds manage $2.8tn, which means 10% of the firms

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women

Sustainable businesses have a soul that connects with all stakeholders.

They are proud of what they do, how they do it and who they do it for.

manage 90% of the assets. Increased regulations have increased the cost of running, allocating to or servicing a hedge fund. Sadly, scale, not performance, is the biggest determinant of a manager's success today. Small funds and entrepreneurs are falling through the cracks --not because they are not talented --but rather, because they are not able to get to scale before they run out of runway.

There’s no manual. Ÿ Excellence follows enthusiasm. If you’re passionate about what you do, you don’t have to be pulled, you’re pushed. Ÿ

If given the opportunity to bet on yourself, double down!

Ÿ

Entrepreneurs go through higher highs and lower lows. If you can be thankful for the strength and knowledge gained when overcoming adversity, that will help you to grow through — not just go through — inevitable entrepreneurial challenges.

Ÿ

Fear kills more dreams than failure ever has. There’s never a perfect time or product to start with. And there’s no manual. So just get going. Experiment, learn, experiment… and you’ll get a bit better every day.

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Carolyn Hogg An Entrepreneurial Leader covering all the Tasks

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o you know processing water and sewage is responsible for nearly 20% of carbon emissions!

Domestic grey-water reuse is essential to recoup the energy used in producing drinking water and sewage removal. In 2014 it was reported, as many as 50 American cities are expected to run out of water by 2050. As time passed, more information came to light. Australia continues to have serious water shortage issues. Between 2014 -17 Sau Paulo, Brazil, was days from running out of water.

Over summer 2017 – 18 Cape Town, nearly ran out of water. Cities in India have little water to supply the overall population. England’s water shortage problems are increasing compounded by growing populations. This led to Carolyn Hogg respecting water throughout her life.

Carolyn is the entrepreneurial leader, guiding and organizing the business, covering administrative tasks, finance, sourcing funding, and marketing.

Background and Role at Cascade As a child athlete, Carolyn wanted to run for Scotland and be in the Olympics (Ambition). In the 1970s, the Scottish National Coach introduced her relaxation and visualization at a school's athletics camp. She has consequently used such techniques, along with meditation, to help on her entrepreneurial journey. She had a very challenging time with a long-term relationship, but still managed to be selected to run for Scotland. (Resillence)Now Carolyn looks back and wonders how she was able to even step on a running track. Being a single parent with 4 young boys under 7 years old honed many transferable skills! (Faith and sense of purpose) There were three separate occasions when she could have died; giving birth to her twins in 1992 was the last occasion.

Carolyn is more than a P.E. Teacher! She is Carolyn Hogg, Managing Director, Cascade Water Products Ltd. Her life experiences as an athlete, single parent of four boys (all achieved a university education), social tennis player, and P.E. teacher have increased transferable skills, talents &

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personal qualities. She has competed in the Scottish Athletics Team for several years. Since starting in business, she has attended a variety of courses and workshops. People admire her passion, strength, resilience, grit, and determination. Friends and colleagues admire her perseverance, dedication, leadership, and ability to focus on a task and getting things done. She has been told that when she talks about the company, its objectives and how it can be a force for good in achieving a sustainable future, she lights up & passion radiates from her.

Passion to Help the World The affordable Aqua Gratis has the potential to make a significant impact on the world by giving 30% saving on domestic water consumption. Carolyn’s enthusiasm for Cascade Water Products and Aqua Gratis is irrepressible.

Her ambition is to help the world to be more water-efficient through the development of the company’s products and by informing people about the benefits of adopting microgreywater recycling systems in domestic and commercial settings. The seed for this passion was sown during the long hot summer of ‘75. Carolyn was 13, there were a drought and water restrictions. John Noakes and the Blue Peter team gave tips for saving water. This must have made an impression on her, and meeting Peter Holdsworth, inventor & engineer, in 2009 sealed her fate.

Fearless of Challenges Carolyn is not afraid of challenges. She has overcome many difficulties. She sees them as an obstacle to cross, being an international hurdler may have helped her leap over the barriers in her way! Ÿ Carolyn was a complete novice when started a business in 2013. She was not computer literate, mind you few were. Just look at how computers have developed in the past ten years! Ÿ The business support agencies did not understand what the team was doing so we’re unable to give the appropriate guidance.

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Carolyn Hogg

Founder & Managing Director

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I consider the product development and the development of the awareness of greywater reuse in partnership and have a holistic approach.

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Finding funds to keep the company going. She is grateful to her late mother for her support and to family and friends who want to see her succeed.

People out to take advantage of her naivety and inexperience.

“People saying they will help get us “Investor Ready” for a large fee. A potential investor told me to give 50% of the company to his friend who would make it investor-ready!”

Not getting support and investment because she is female.

Being told the company is not scalable. Within two months she has won European Union funding of €50,000 and then ten months later £200,000 from Innovate UK. Potential investors not wanting to work with a woman.

Men thinking she is difficult and do not know how to handle her!

Lack of funds – Cascade Water Products has developed an amazing system through bootstrapping. Some companies have spent millions to develop a microgreywater system and go to market with a proof of concept model or given up. Because Peter is an extraordinary engineer, the company has created its tried

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and tested prototype system with little money and now it is working with Thames Water, the biggest water company in the UK. Ÿ It is not easy developing a system which will work with the majority of properties and occupants’ lifestyle.

Holistic Approach to Business Carolyn considers product development and raising the awareness of greywater reuse in partnership, she uses a holistic approach to the business. She advises, “Problemsolving is not only what the business is about. Enjoy solving problems within the business! Your business must be built around something you are passionate about. It should not feel like work. Plan well; be disciplined, organized, forward-looking and be prepared to change the plans! Take little steps. Keep moving forward. If you get knocked down, get up again, and again! If something bad happens, learn from it. Out of bad comes good. Have faith, if you are in business for the right reasons you will succeed.”

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“

EINSTEIN "NOT EVERYTHING THAT COUNTS CAN BE COUNTED AND NOT EVERYTHING THAT CAN BE COUNTED, COUNTS…"

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DR. NADIA CHEAIB An Outstanding Leader in Health Industry Development

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eet an International Health Industry Developer, Scientist, Leader & Social Entrepreneur, Dr. Nadia Cheaib- Founder & Chairwoman of ClinGroup - the first NPO Health R&D Solutions Partner in the Middle East & Africa (MEA), who had made an impactful contribution in the health and social sectors. She is a Doctor in Pharmacy and medical research from France.

Focused on the healthcare research and innovative solutions development, she founded a group of companies, allowing progression and research development, and creating business opportunities throughout the Middle East & Africa, bridging sciences to business and social development, and widely contributing to sciences progress and community services.

For the Sake of Offering Better Dr. Nadia Cheaib was born in Lebanon during the civil war and migrated to France, where she

studied Pharmacy & medical sciences and had the chance to integrate several great international internships in growing Research & Development world of health industry at the exact time of major international regulations and very strict rules implementations. Dr. Cheaib hence created Clinserv, her first company from France, serving the European market and expanding to the emerging market of the MEA. Being very quality-focused on patient care and safety, especially in this emerging region, she persevered on all challenges and wanted to fill all gaps to make a research environment perfect for the patient's safety & well-being and contributing to finding better treatments.

When Dr. Nadia Cheaib’s father passed away, she decided to return to Lebanon to carry his legacy and create a foundation after his name.

He was a great social entrepreneur in the real estate dedicated to philanthropy. Hence, Dr. Cheaib

expanded further Clinserv activities to the Middle East and Africa. Health Research environment being so different between the two regions Europe and MEA, she started creating additional services & business units to fill all the gaps and maximize research accurate outcomes. At the start, it was for free just for the sake of giving good quality data and patient safety in Clinserv work, the CRO representing multinational biopharma/medtechs and CROs, then those business units became companies and growing independently, hence the group Clingroup started developing and expanding in services and coverage.

And, what makes it unique besides its quality commitments and amazing network in the EMEA region, is its deeply rooted values in philanthropy & social responsibility thanks to the close link to her father’s foundation.

Traveling very often and having always in mind the company and the foundation, the network created in

Dr. Nadia Cheaib Chairwoman

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“

ACHIEVE THAT I MAY LISTEN TO YOU

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each country was always serving both purposes and step by step they got to link to each other to serve exponentially both causes in a synergistic way.

Self-made Health Entrepreneur Challenges are numerous especially in this region of the world for self-made health female entrepreneurs, as despite the entrepreneurial blood in the family, thanks to Dr. Cheaib's father, her family is oriented on real estate, and she was the only one to go to health as to follow her uncle’s philanthropy legacy who was a pediatrician devoted to treating third world countries children and passed away in his thirties. So from aside, health challenges in a less regulated and structured region such as MEA versus over-regulated region such as Europe who taught her the business and practices to perfection.

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From another side political instability requiring continuous contingency plans and plans changes in the MEA. Mind you this developed tremendously sense of adaptability and confidence in solving major problems whatsoever surrounding conditions.

Dealing with them comes first with remembering always that priority target is achieving for the noble values and causes Clingroup is carrying and supporting and hence, perseverance and patience in a positive focused spirit were the major tools Dr. Cheaib carried all the way.

Carrying values and Focusing on their goal “Believe in your values, set a clear vision of what you want to do, set clear plans…and once you start to persevere passionately, but also detach from outcomes to

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prevent the anxiety that may ruin it all, focus on the goal and give all ethical legal professional means to achieve it. And don’t be afraid of errors, they are great lessons just face them and take all measures to correct them and stand again and learn from them for next time,” says Dr. Nadia Cheaib.

Scientific, Business & Social Achievements Scientifically In her journey so far, Dr. Cheaib has contributed to over 420 International Research Programs that led to over 35 new drug discovery in cancer, blood diseases, diabetes, cardiovascular, infectious at the highest international level, treating daily millions of people all over the world.

Business Group of 6 companies celebrating 18 years of expertise in international health development, and network with rank A EMEA region authorities, international organizations, health & life sciences professionals and academics. Ÿ Over 15 Intellectual properties of programs serving the health and social stakeholders Ÿ Over 4000 job opportunities created directly and indirectly Ÿ Alliances with over 300 private and public institutions in the MEA

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Social & Philanthropy Sustainable expanding development and contribution in the MEA region in programs serving children education, women scientific and economic empowerment, children and women cancer diagnosis & treatment research, Africa hepatitis and infectious diseases, small NGOs empowerment and capacity building to work better together sustainably, traditional & herbal medicine scientific validation, patient wellbeing and access to treatment, elderly wellbeing.

Legacy • Her father’s: “Have mercy on those on Earth and He in heaven Shall have mercy on you” • The right for a decent life to all, in a sustainable, rightly thought way • Cooperation with experts and teaming up for good values Hobby Ÿ Dr Cheaib sang her father love with a song called your eyes are my destiny which became the Father love hymn and her Father foundation hymn. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8r2XGN4lk1A

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Fiona Bruder Making Disruptive Changes through Experiential Marketing

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ver the last decade, the marketing industry has experienced drastic changes in its competitive landscape. Despite the prevailing industry paradigm, market-orientation and leveraging of trends emerge as the key differentiation between growth and failure in service industries. In that context, the role of trends is thought to be pivotal in the market orientation strategy and in the quest for corporate growth and profitability. This is where Experiential Marketing practices excel as a strategy that focuses on the consumer experiencing a brand.

Fiona Bruder, Executive Vice President of Client Success, represents one such successful businesswoman whose marketing strategies are geared toward immersing customers within the product by engaging them in as many ways as possible. She goes by her words “Work in the present and also the future and embrace change as it comes. It’s inevitable and an opportunity for new ideas.”

Below are highlights of the interview conducted between Insights Success and Fiona: Give a brief overview of your background and your role in George P Johnson Experience Marketing.

My experience and background are in broader marketing— I came to experiential marketing by happenstance, though connecting with people on a deeper level has always been an interest of mine. I started on the client-side of things at IBM. When GPJ became our AOR (agency of record), through collaborating with their team it became clear that based on my skills I would be a better fit on the agency side of the business. Though sometimes those can be predatory situations, it ended up being a joint decision with IBM on how I could best fit their needs. Since then I've spent 20 years at GPJ, helping to build out our operating model with our clients, as well as finessing our own. When I was promoted to EVP of Client Success, I took a hard look at

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establishing best practices and integrating learnings about how to invest in our employees thoughtfully to then deliver for our clients.

How do you diversify your solutions that appeal to your target audience?

Start by understanding. We’re so focused on client success that it’s more like client obsession. In experiential marketing, human engagement is paramount, and that applies to our clients as well as their customers – we want to know their fears, aspirations, measures of success, and pitfalls. Being a successful agency means knowing your client inside and out, and at GPJ we combine that mastery with the commitment to never thinking from a cookie-cutter perspective. Of course, our baseline offerings at GPJ are uniform to ensure success, but when it comes to applying them to our clients, everything is customized.

Describe some of the vital attributes that every businesswoman should possess.

What an enormous question. In my experience, these three traits have served me the most in business: relentlessness, confidence, and empathetic leadership. Women haven’t always been allowed to assume leadership roles, and often it takes quite a bit of tenacity to get there. Don’t be afraid of the pursuit and don’t back down. Once you have that seat at the table, assume your role and trust yourself – you’re there for a reason. Too often women get described as “emotional” as if it’s a detriment to their leadership and I call bull: it takes a great deal of strength and emotional intelligence to be empathetic. At the end of the day, you’re leading other people, and women need to remember that their emotional intelligence and intuition are gifts, not to be stifled because it may make some people uncomfortable. As a leader, you’ll often end up having the final say and being decisive without allowing emotions to get in the way has been key to my success.

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Fiona Bruder

Executive Vice President

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Work in the present and also the future and embrace change as it comes. It’s inevitable and an opportunity for new ideas.

What were the past experiences, achievements or lessons that shaped your journey?

One experience stands out as having taught me a lesson that sticks with me today. I was a conference manager during an event with hundreds of people in the audience. A speaker from Paramount Pictures was doing a presentation on the launch of DVDs (remember those things?) and had shown up with the wrong presentation. I started sweating and scrambling - I didn’t have a backup plan. At that very moment, looking on as hundreds of attendees started taking their seats, I made a promise to myself to always have a backup plan in the future. To this day, I am always the most prepared person in the room.

What were some of the primal challenges and roadblocks that you faced during the initial phase of your journey?

always used to ask my best friend, “What would a man do?” to make sure that I wasn’t watering myself down to make other people feel more comfortable. I applied that filter in my mind anytime I would make a move or questioned a tactic, and it’s helped immensely to give me conviction in my decisions.

What is your advice for emerging women entrepreneurs?

Don’t think of yourself as a “woman-leader”, you’re a leader. Leadership has no gender. Don’t apologize for being strong or opinionated—you have a seat at the table, get comfortable in it. And always pull other women up. The only way we’re going to break through oppressive systemic structures is to lift the rest of the community as you rise.

There’s room for everyone.

Believe it or not, I struggled when I was younger with finding my voice. People never believe me when I say it since I’ve become a much more vocal presence and have grown into my confidence, but truly, it took a lot for me to find my voice early in my career. Finding my tribe was important in that journey. You need to have people that you trust with your career, people that are reliable and can validate things for you. When I would run into issues, I insightssuccess.com

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Jennifer Ladouceur President & Co-Founder

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Jennifer Ladouceur

A Role Model Inspiring Passion & Innovation in Others

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usinesswomen today deserve access to leadership development support designed specifically to meet their needs. Women in the workplace have big dreams. Imagine a gender-balanced workplace, where women are properly supported and given opportunities to lead. Where organizations thrive and benefit from increased profitability, enhanced creativity & innovations, and collaborative corporate cultures; where they create an environment where everyone can thrive. Creating such Unified Workplaces that would attract, develop, engage, and retain, is a women leader -Jennifer Ladouceur, President & Co-Founder at Women Leadership Nation™ Inc. Specially for Professional Women In the beginning of WLN's journey, it had initially launched a company that was designed to offer retreats specifically for professional women, with a focus on helping them to escape the daily grind and take the necessary time to do some self-reflection on where they are today, where they want to be tomorrow and how to get there. It quickly realized that in many cases women working full time and also balancing a household along with other demands simply finds it too hard to make the much needed time for them.

Jennifer was faced with having to iterate her business model "pivot" and bring the solution to the women, directly to the workplace itself. Success derives from solving a realworld problem and when creating a new approach, a new solution engaging the community you will be working with insightssuccess.com

from the early stages, which helps you to ensure you are creating a service or developing a program that will eventually generate measurable results. After significant consultation, WLN was reborn with a new focus on helping the companies to create an environment (a corporate culture) that allows for everyone to thrive; while also helping the women in workplace to succeed and grow personally and professionally.

Personalized Training Programs WLN offers personalized authentic leadership training, development, assessments and certification solutions designed to leverage diversity & create an environment where everyone can thrive. Most companies simply offer Band-Aid solutions; whereas, at WLN, the company focuses on providing a more holistic solution.

All personalized training programs are designed to be highly experiential, and the company helps clients create a Unified Workplace™ Strategy that touches on all 12 Unity Building Blocks, components that are necessary to make measurable progress in closing the gap & better-supporting women leaders.

Support Women Leaders Jennifer's goal is to help companies, particularly those operating in male-dominated industries such as technology, science, film & television, among many others disrupt the status quo and find ways to better support women leaders at all levels throughout the organization. She will catalyze this

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change by continuing to develop holistic solutions that target the 12 Building Blocks to Unity™, a proprietary framework created by WLN.

For WLN to become North America's "go-to training and development firm" for those companies serious about gaining momentum in closing the Gender Gap and creating a Unified Workplace™; while helping women leaders create the career of their dreams.

Close the Gender-gap What makes WLN different from other training companies is the approach it takes to solve the gender gap. A trailblazing thought leader, Jennifer thrives at developing and launching new solutions, new business models, and innovative approaches to solve complex problems & create new market opportunities. Uniquely positioned, Jennifer's career spans a diverse range of high-profile leadership positions in both the private and public sectors, which has provided her with a wealth of knowledge and insight that makes it possible for her to think differently and create new ideas. She regularly delivers keynote speeches on women's leadership and the need to take a different approach to close the gender gap; she has also spoken at TEDx, where she shared a very personal story on the topic of Finding Your Authentic Self.

Jennifer is the recipient of 11 marketing awards, received the Women of Distinction Award in the Business, and was identified in 2019 as a Women of Influence. She holds a Master Business Administration (MBA), Masters Certificate in Municipal Leadership, Economic Development Certificate, professional Canadian Economic Development Ec.D. designation, Certification from the Schulich Business Incubator & Entrepreneurship Development Program, Graduate Diploma in Management, Marketing Management Certificate, Harvard Higher Educating Teaching Certificate, is a Reiki Master, and a Certified TotalSDI™ Facilitator.

Jennifer's education is diverse having studied business, marketing, economic development, public relations, journalism, and graphic design, which is another contributor to her ability to innovate and see problems/opportunities differently.

In her current role, Jennifer is the President and Co-Founder of Women Leadership Nation™ Inc. (WLN), a boutique leadership advisory and training & development company specializing in helping organizations to close the gender gap, increase resiliency and create a Unified Workplace™; while also helping women leaders successfully navigate the workplace and create the career of their dreams. Having experienced being the only woman at the table in many organizations, Jennifer has spent the past four years conducting research, interviewing leaders, and creating a new approach to helping organizations close the gender gap and help women leaders thrive.

Jennifer is a mom of seven, successful businesswomen and a cancer survivor.

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Ability to Collaborate Collaboration over competition. We live in a world of abundance, and yet most people choose to focus their thoughts around a scarcity mindset, which severely limits the ability to collaborate, innovate, and flourish. A vital attribute businesswoman should possess is the ability to see new opportunities that can arise by being radically generous and collaborative, leading with a mindset of abundance. At WLN-have formed strong partnerships with many women leadership organizations that provide win-win opportunities for everyone.

Building a Community "Surround yourself with people smarter than you & soak in as much new knowledge, insights, and different perspectives as you can. Diversity of thought will help you to hone your own skills and provide you with an ability to think differently from your competitors, hence providing you with a competitive advantage. As well as, remember starting a new business is a long road with many roadblocks & delays that can at times make you feel isolated and discouraged, but you can't lose faith, and you need to remember that resiliency and remaining driven and passionate about your vision is the key to staying the path and succeeding in the long term. Don't forget to build a community of support around you", says Jennifer.

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Juggy Sihota Vice president Consumer Health TELUS

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JUG GY SIHOTA A Trailblazer with Exceptional Leadership Qualities n executive with more than 20 years of leadership experience, and one of Vancouver Magazine’s Power 50 in 2019, Juggy Sihota has enjoyed a fulfilling and rewarding career leading many emerging technology businesses and operations at TELUS. Juggy is known for her unrelenting focus on quality and efficiency combined with a genuine concern and commitment for all who work with her.

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for Good Mobile Health Clinics – delivering healthcare on the streets to some of Canada’s most vulnerable citizens; TELUS Baby Health App – a Personal Health Records (PHRs) solution for new parents; and more. Juggy was also the executive producer for the critically-acclaimed documentary Painkiller: Inside the Opioid Crisis which takes a raw look at how the opioid epidemic is ravaging our country.

TELUS is empowering Canadians to take control of their health and the health of their loved ones with the right information, tools, and support they need to live healthier and happier lives. As a Vice President, Juggy not only leads the largest Canadian-owned personal emergency response service in Canada but also is responsible for the national strategy, execution and operation of TELUS’ entire Consumer Health business. Together with her team, her work helps to revolutionize access to healthcare in Canada through the launch of innovative technology solutions such as: Babylon by TELUS Health – the fastest growing, highest customer-rated virtual care app in Canada; TELUS LivingWell Companion - a wearable personal emergency response device with fall detection for aging Canadians; the TELUS Healthy Living Network – informative and educational content on TELUS’ Optik TV; TELUS Health

Prior to Juggy’s current role, she was the Vice President, Customer Experience Strategy and Operations, TELUS Health. Under her leadership, the national Customer Experience operations team drove business performance and engagement to increase client loyalty, profitability and satisfaction.

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Community leadership is a critical component of Juggy’s leadership story. She is currently a Board Director on the VGH & UBC Hospital Foundation Board as well as on the Canadian Men’s Health Foundation. She is also an advisor to the City of Vancouver on racial and ethno-cultural equity issues. She previously served as a director on the TELUS Vancouver Community Board from 2008 to 2011. She also served on the Justice Institute of British Columbia and the Vancouver Board of Trade’s Women’s Leadership Council.

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Most recently, Juggy received a Forty Under 40 award in 2012 for her business achievements, inspirational leadership and community contributions, and was also one of seven women in Canada to be awarded the 2013 Leadership Excellence Trailblazer Award by Canadian Women in Communications. In 2015, she was recognized with a TELUS Legend Award – the highest recognition a TELUS team member can achieve. Juggy received the Diversity Champion Award at TELUS in 2016. This award recognizes leaders who are champions of all diversity and celebrates those who leverage diversity of thought to help advance business strategy.

Juggy holds an MBA from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario and has completed Executive Development programs at Harvard and INSEAD. In an interview with Insights Success, Juggy unveils her inspiring entrepreneurial journey. Below are highlights of the interview: How do you diversify your solutions that appeal to your target audience?

Health is important to everyone, no matter who they are or where they live. At TELUS, we are putting patients at the centre of healthcare by leveraging the power of our innovative network technology and information to help

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deliver better health experiences for all Canadians so they may live happier, healthier lives. By revolutionizing access to healthcare through a diverse portfolio of digital health products and services; improving communication and efficiency by driving digital adoption; and creating healthier communities through a more sustainable healthcare system, we are bridging the socio-economic divide so all Canadians have access to the technology they need to access healthcare and information no matter where they live across the country. We work in collaboration with healthcare providers to ensure they’re well equipped to connect with their patients and other HCPs efficiently and effectively through digital health solutions.

Describe some of the vital attributes that you feel every businesswoman should possess.

Every effective business leader should have a good balance of intelligence quotient (IQ) and emotional quotient (EQ).

In addition to the requisites of the role they are in, I believe the differentiator between good and great leaders is how their EQ balances with IQ; and in the most remarkable leaders it’s almost equal. I think leading business is really about leading people and leading with empathy is key with any effective business strategy. People grow your business and they sustain it.

What were the past experiences, achievements or lessons

Ensure purpose underscores every business strategy and the team understands the value of their contribution to the greater goal.

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that shaped Juggy’s journey?

Early in my career I had to become comfortable with not fitting in - I was either the youngest (not so much anymore), the only woman, and/or the only minority. When I sat at leadership tables, I stood out because of these visible differences. I was forced to face the positive and negative perceptions people had of me before they even had a chance to get to know me or my credentials. This was a lesson that helped me tune into my own sense of self and have an awareness that ultimately enabled me to build my EQ and IQ which I believe has been key in shaping who I am today as both a person and as a leader.

What are your future aspirations and how will you catalyze the change?

I want to continue making a meaningful and sustainable difference in business and in society at a ever-growing

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scale. I’m fortunate to work for a company with values that align with my own where the belief is that in order to do well in business, we must improve the social health of our communities and seize the opportunity to drive positive human outcomes. In my role, this social purpose translates into revolutionizing access to healthcare for all Canadians through the adoption of digital health technology.

What is your advice for emerging women entrepreneurs?

I have three pieces of advice: Ÿ Be brave, be confident, and you will figure things out along the way. Ÿ Get comfortable with being uncomfortable and not knowing everything. Ÿ Be prepared for a life-long journey of continuous learning.

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Building an Entrepreneurial

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ust today I had a young and enthusiastic women call me up asking for advice and maybe some pointers on how to bring her vision to life. During the call I could almost see her deflating while I piled up the list of challenges that came with fundraising, developing tech products and gathering the right team. I know exactly what that feels like because I, myself, have experienced it many times before. The mountain of work that faces an entrepreneur is sheer unfathomable, and that’s probably a good thing: who knows how many companies would still be out there if the founders had known what awaited them!?

That feeling in mind, I did leave the call on an uplifting note (I hope), but what I also did was send her a list of female founder groups as well.

Having a female led and populated ecosystem that can absorb some of the pains any female entrepreneur has to face can be the difference between succeeding and giving up. I choose the words ’giving up’ on purpose, because we can all fail, but it should be for technicalities all start-ups face, and not because we are lonely, overwhelmed and unsupported women.

Ecosystem for

Women but the emphasis is on learning from and networking with the speakers. I have made the best out of them by targeting events with speakers that could be important for my business and that I would otherwise have difficulties accessing. To my greatest sorrow many events are early morning breakfast meetings at 7 or 8, where I pretend that it’s a normal hour to be about for me. My favourite one: SheWorx Ÿ

From experience I have recognized three sorts of female ecosystems that are important for different challenges within the journey, each adding their own individual value, and I am grateful for each and every one of them: Ÿ

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The Community: these groups are more motivational and empowering than having an actual impact on your business. Especially at the beginning of founding a company they are important. You get to meet other women, hear their stories, recognized that it’s not only you and make friends along the way. I think these groups are very important for your mental health, especially when your new company also means a change of lifestyle. You can meet other women and have a tea or a drink without feeling like you should be working because you ARE. Panels with talks, meetups and even workspaces distinguish these groups from strictly social events. My favourite one: Blooming Founders.

The Educators: these groups offer talks, workshops and one-on-one’s with highly successful men and women in the start-up world. Here you need to bring your pen or laptop and stay on top of what is being said because the lecturer/guest speaker will dump large amounts of wisdom on you. Sometimes there are drinks afterwards,

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The Platformers: These groups offer mostly awards and events. While on the surface you often don’t win anything tangible like prize money, the award itself ads huge value because it is highly respected in the field and opens doors. During the events you get to network from a privileged position which is invaluable for companies that are fundraising. It is also one of the few visible social markers that all your hard work, blood, sweat and tears has been acknowledged and rewarded - something you can show to your painfully neglected friends and family. My favourite one: TechWomen100

During the development, the fundraising and the pivot of my digital mental health company with our emotional fitness game, eQuoo, there have been multiple times that these groups were there at the right time and place, offering me support, information and a platform. Women are still vastly underrepresented in the tech world, and while the #MeToo movement has unearthed many of the people abusing their power against women, it can still be a hostile environment if you’re unlucky. And statistically speaking you will be unlucky a few times.

The VC world is slowly starting to understand that a mentally health founder is a productive one and having communities that support us is a vital ingredient to our wellbeing.

It takes a village to raise a child? Well, it takes a city to build a start-up.

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Leader’s Desk

About the Author Silja Litvin is the Psychologist, Founder and CEO of PsycApps Digital Mental Health, a company that uses AI, gamication and psychology to help people help themselves. She is a developer of the multi-award winning eQuoo – the Emotional Fitness Game.

Silja was born in Germany but moved to southern California early in her life. Exposed to many diverse cultures early in life, she developed an insatiable curiosity for the human condition leading to her pursuing a degree in psychology. During her 17 years of international modelling she began her Masters at the Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich, graduating in Clinical Psychology and Systemic Family Therapy in 2013. Alongside her education as a Systemic Family Therapist in 2015, she began her PhD in Clinical Psychology.

A child of the digital generation, Silja was looking for ways to use apps and social media to help people suffering from mental issues. She went on to create a psychological mobile app that helps users identify and self-manage depression. With this idea, she undertook her PhD thesis, thus ensuring it to be evidence based and ethically sound.

Now she is venturing into the world of AI, gamication and chatbots to nd a way to be able to help people help themselves, launching her emotional tness game eQuoo in the UK, USA, Canada and Australia. The game has been featured in major news outlets such as Forbes and TechCrunch and she won multiple prizes with PsycApps such as THE EUROPAS Pitch Awards and Pitch@Palace on Tour.

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Silja Litvin Founder & CEO PsycApps Digital Mental Health

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Kelly Hall A Leader with Compassion, Determination, and Persistence

Lead with passion; Passion for people, learning, and making a difference. —Kelly Hall CCO

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leader requires multiple qualities to lead others to success. Experience plays an important role in the journey of a leader, whether it comes from tough times or from the extraordinary feats they achieved. Kelly Hall, Chief Customer Officer at Vision Critical, shows how she leads in the technology and software industries.

For Kelly, “A successful businesswoman is compassionate, logical, emotionally intelligent, comfortable with ambiguity, willing to have tough conversations, and can both dig in and execute as well as sit back and see the bigger picture.

No one is born with all these attributes. They are skills that needs to be developed and honed with time and experience.”

Below are highlights of the interview conducted between Kelly and Insights Success: A brief overview of Kelly’s background and role at Vision Critical.

As Chief Customer Officer for Vision Critical, Hall is responsible for global customer experience including Professional Services, Customer Success, Technical Support, and Education. A proven leader in developing world-class customer experience programs for SaaS solutions, Hall invests in customers by approaching the customer experience as a shared service amongst the entire organization. Her expertise has empowered Vision Critical to practice customer centricity by engaging with customers, listening to them, and instituting company-wide mechanisms for creating optimal customer experiences. Her 17-year career in technology customer service is founded on one basic principle: we are nothing without our customers.

Hall joined Vision Critical in 2017 from BMC Software, where she led the worldwide cloud Customer Success organization. Prior to joining BMC, Kelly held leadership roles at CA Technologies and Protiviti. She has also completed the Harvard Business School Executive Education General Management Program.

How do you diversify your solutions to appeal to your target audience?

Being customer centric means we align the solution to customers’ needs. Vision Critical offers a SaaS platform, Sparq, that enables our customers to build relationships with their consumers that drive business decisions. We also offer a customized enablement program led by a Customer Success Manager (CSM), formalized education, and access to numerous subject matter experts. Annually, we develop a success plan for our customers that identifies their goals and what success looks like to them. It is then the responsibility of the CSM to recommend best practices on how to use the insightssuccess.com

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platform, as well as introduce our vast network of resources, including other customers with similar goals. The success plan becomes a living document to ensure we adjust to the changing needs of the customer.

When we do this, we can highly improve the likelihood of success for the customer. We believe in forming a partnership with our customers; if the customer is not successful, then we at Vision Critical are not successful.

What were the past experiences, achievements, or lessons that shaped your journey?

When I was in my early 20s, I moved to a new state. I had to find a job quickly and took an administrative position with a small computer reseller. Working with technology clicked for me. It was very logical, but I missed feeling like I was helping people. As my career progressed over the next five years, I found enjoyment being a process and implementation consultant for a large software manufacturer. Although I was not saving lives, I was making an impact on people and how they worked, which in turn affected their quality of life. As the tech industry evolved and with the advent of SaaS, I was naturally drawn to Customer Success. Although I have spent my entire career in the technology field, it’s not technology that interests me. It’s the people: customers, peers, and employees. Driving their growth and success is what gets me out of bed in the morning.

I have had a realization in these past two years as Chief Customer Officer. When I look in the mirror, I still see the 15-year-old girl working the drive-thru at McDonald’s. Or the administrative assistant pushing paper and shipping packages. My aha moment is that I am now a C-level executive, an executive committee member, and someone of influence within our organization.

What were some of the primary challenges and roadblocks faced during the initial phase of your journey?

I faced two challenges early in my career. First, I was a female in a male dominated industry. Second, I didn’t hold a college degree. Early in my professional career, it was clear that my male counterparts held more clout with our customers and superiors. Maybe it should have bothered me. Instead it motivated me to work harder and smarter. I knew I could deliver as good a service, if not better, than my peers. I’ve always approached every situation with a business outcome in mind and wrapped the approach with empathy and investment in people. It’s allowed me to create deep relationships built on honesty, trust, and the desire to do the right thing for the business and customer.

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LAURA BRANDAO An Influencer and Powerful Mortgage Professional

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magine being able to build a stronger book of business than ever before, simultaneously working more efficiently. Yes, it is possible, thanks to Laura Brandao- President and Partner at AFR Wholesale. For over 12 years, Laura has been the driving force catapulting AFR Wholesale to the top of Manufactured Home, OneTime Close, and Renovation lending. Growing AFR into a national leader in specialized programs, she stays connected to the clients and families she serves, allowing her to develop new products based on market demand, including VA renovation, USDA repair escrow, and a full suite of One-Time Close Construction-to-Permanent programs.

Under her leadership, AFR remains on the cutting edge of technology with mobile-friendly applications that cohesively integrate AFR with the borrower, Realtor, and broker.

The biggest thing that Laura has learned is that if you go into every situation with no preconceived notions or expectations, you can do ANYTHING! She feels that as humans, we often create our own fears or cause our own let downs, because things don’t turn out exactly the way we expected them to. But by realizing that you are doing it to experience something new, there is no possible way to be let down, because as long as she did something for the first time -SHE WON! Opportunity- Building Wholesale Business When Laura was a young mom, she needed to find a job she could do in the evening after her husband got home from work. At that time, that meant telemarketing. She was propelled into the industry because her first job was making calls for Champion Mortgage explaining to borrowers how to refinance. You remember, “when your bank says no, Champion says yes.” Turns out she had a knack for

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explaining the benefits of refinancing, and moved up quickly to management.

After a few years running the call center, her boys were out of diapers and Laura was ready to make the leap to working fulltime, during the day. Naturally, she went to work for a mortgage company. She quickly recognized that the company did not have a strong operations team, so Laura taught herself everything she could about how to process loans. She climbed to COO of People’s Mortgage, while still in her 20s.

Fast forward to the market crash of 2007.

Laura Brandao had worked for a few mortgage companies since her telemarketing days and was looking for a new opportunity. AFR Chairman Rich Dubnoff was looking to start a wholesale division. He provided Laura the opportunity to build the wholesale business from the ground up, and at that time, there were a lot of great mortgage professionals out of a job. So, she did exactly what was needed to be done. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Striking the Working Balance Laura Brandao is living proof of the adage, “if you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life.” She LOVE's what she does! She loves the people she works with, the company’s clients, and the

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Laura Brandao President

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“Don’t shy away from new opportunities, in business or your personal life. I encourage all of you to "Say YES every day!”

families they are helping to bring home. When the company opened an office in Arizona was when Laura recognized just how important it is to strike a working balance between your personal and professional life. She realized you do need to take time to recharge – everyone does. Her husband and herself now spend winters in Arizona to break habits and reset. Her motivation is renewed in the fresh air and sunshine, and she can work out of AFR’s regional office in Scottsdale.

Laura feels blessed by the life she has. She is grateful for what she has built, and that at this point in her career, she needs less time tied to a desk to be an effective leader.

Recent Accolades Among her many recent accolades, Laura was named a “Best 50 Women in Business” by NJBIZ in 2019, a HousingWire “Women of Influence” in 2018 and 2019, and one of “Mortgage Banking’s Most Powerful Women” by National Mortgage Professional in 2018 and 2019. Laura was also one of Mortgage Professional America’s “Hot 100 Mortgage Professionals” in 2017, and an “Elite Women of Mortgage” in 2014, 2016, and again in 2017.

She is also actively engaged with many industry organizations, including the Association of Independent Mortgage Experts (AIME), and is a sought-after speaker, moderator, and panelist.

Stay Learning and Listening “Emerging business leaders should remember that continuous education is key. Continually feed your brain to stay fresh in your skills and broaden your perspective. Get insightssuccess.com

out of the office and meet your customers and connect with your team. Stay learning and listening to make better decisions. Leadership should never become routine. You have to keep working at it. You are never finished, you are never done, and you should never stop putting people first,” says Laura.

Empowering Other Women Not only has the ‘glass ceiling’ been shattered at AFR, but women account for more than half of all AFR employees up to and including the vice president level. Women do not want to hide in the shadows anymore, and each year more organizations are recognizing that they need to support, and empower women, or be left behind.

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The AIME (Association of Independent Mortgage Experts) Women’s Mortgage Network, for example, is a community for women in the wholesale mortgage industry to influence conversations between industry leaders and wholesale mortgage professionals across all levels. The group offers a place to discuss industry topics, celebrate career accomplishments, share personal experiences, insights, and resources. Also, the upcoming Annual Regional Conference of MBAs (Mortgage Bankers Associations) will host its first-ever Women’s Event! Developed for and by women, this event promises to engage, empower, and provide value to all who attend.

Laura is actively trying to empower other women to pave the way; teaching them that by uniting, she says, “we can all succeed together. No one can limit you, except you. And, there is strength in numbers.”

It’s a new decade, a decade of doers. I want to leave a legacy that the mortgage industry is not just for men anymore. Boys club be gone!

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Successful Personality Traits to Learn

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Elon Musk L

egends never need an introduction. They tend to be victorious despite of their uneventful histories. They stick to captivating traits such as Discipline, determination and self-belief which help them accomplish wonders in the long run. One such example of an extraordinary person is Elon Musk, a South African Business Magnate, Investor and an engineer.

Musk is the founder, CEO, and chief architect of SpaceX; co-founder, CEO, and product designer of Tesla Inc.; and co-founder and CEO of Neuralink. As of February 2018, he is the 53rd-richest person in the world and has a net worth of $20.8 billion, which is far more than the net GDP of Greece taken into consideration.

While each entrepreneur possesses a unique set of traits that makes him/her successful, this Tech founder has a few traits much different from any other ordinary CEO, which has allowed him to build some of the world’s most respected and innovative organizations. Musk once quoted, “When something is important enough, you do it even if the odds are not in your favor.”

Let’s have a look on these personality attributes and characteristics that make him a contender for the most innovative intellectual entrepreneur of the century alive.

Hard-work and Characteristic Work Ethics Elon Musk is a hard-working innovator, working for about 100 hours a week, and has been productive since many years. He may even be considered as the hardest working

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employee of the company, setting standards for his colleagues to follow and implement. Since the field of work lies inside his radius of interests, he enjoys it to every moment and bit when it comes to learning and execution.

Strong Risk Tolerance Founding a start-up involves a great deal of uncertainty and risk. A study found that after 10 years of being in business, 96 percent of the start-ups fail. Going by the statistics, Musk must have faced the same odds against him, when he had decided to leave an otherwise comfortable life to start a risky and uncertain business venture.

For instance, Musk left his PhD program at Stanford University to find a company called Zip2 with his brother in the year 1995. Later, the company was sold to Compaq computers, profiting Musk a bit over $20 million.

Following this, Musk once again took a great risk by investing millions of dollars to found a company called X.com, one of the world’s first online banks.

‘Always Be Learning’ Attitude An astounding and less-known fact about Elon Musk is that he is self-taught in programming and in many advanced level subjects. He read and understood a variety of books, which helped him gain endless and persistent knowledge and understand diverse concepts.

The best piece of advice on learning and implementation is to constantly think about how things could be done in a better manner and question self to seek the answers.

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Feedback Loop It is of prime importance to recognize the present symbol or otherwise ‘status quo’ in the market as an organization and re-position accordingly. Musk solicits constant feedback of the companies and executes ‘self-analysis’. He induces efforts and divergent strategies to improve customer feedbacks and strives towards perfectionism.

For example, he seeks out his critics and tries to converse with them. This habit of self-reflection at regular and considerable periods is pivotal for any entrepreneur or organization to succeed in the long run.

Tendency for Vertical Integration Vertical integration is a strategy where an organization or a firm acquires business operations within the same product vertical. Both Tesla and SpaceX embrace this concept. For example, Tesla not only produces electric cars; they also generate public awareness about their cars via Tesla showrooms across various countries. And SpaceX does not only have the primary goal of rocket propulsions; they develop their own rocket architecture as well.

Faith in Self and the Founding Team Musk undoubtedly possesses a profound belief in his own capabilities as well as the potential-seeking factor of its founding team. He does not hesitate to gamble on large scale unless he is genuinely aware of the expected endresults.

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It is equally essential to maintain clarity of doubt in any large scale organization. Under his supervision, Musk encourages in creating a positive and comprehensive environment across his firms.

Preferring to Stand Out From the Crowd Musk elects to bring up innovation at every level of his understanding. He tends to impart theoretical knowledge at the base level, applying changes and executing the same on the practical level. He relies more on transitional aspects such as research and development, thereby increasing the probability of ground-breaking inventions.

Tesla Motors, a far headed firm headed by Elon Musk, is anti-ordinary. Its compelling marketplace has become a one-stop destination for potential buyers where they can interact about product specifications. They also have video testimonials that far outperform in the sales-dominated industry.

There is no ambiguity that Musk, by far, has been a pillar of inspiration for budding entrepreneurs and investors because of his prolific and optimistic approach towards life All these traits possessed by Musk, in some manner or the other, coincide with most of your habits. The only thing that stands as a potential barrier between these two is identifying your strengths and working on them on a continual basis. Go on, apply these traits into your daily life, and you may become the next big CEO the world is in need of today!

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owadays laboratories all over the world face high regulatory and financial pressures, while matrix complexity and the number of samples to be analyzed in a certain amount of time have increased steadily over the years.

To ensure stable measurement results for long term, and high sample throughput under such conditions, automation solutions for sample preparation - in chemical analysis as well as molecular biology - are indispensible. Analytik Jena provides analytical instrumentation, molecular biology solutions and automation solutions. In addition, the company assists customers with the qualification and validation process to ensure complete compliance with standards and regulations.

Manuela Beil-Peter the Director of the Business Sector Liquid handling & Automation is handling the solutions needed for the preparation of samples in any application and throughput demands of Analytik Jena’s customers, by giving the needed flexibility to value-oriented management.

A More Active Role Manuela is an entrepreneur with 18 years of global experience in lab automation and business development.

Since 2014, Manuela also joined SLAS, the Society for Lab Automation & Screening, in a more active role – first as a member of the Industry Advisory Committee and at the beginning of 2019 as part of the Global Membership Committee.

Understanding Different Business Cultures When Manuela Beil-Peter started, it was quite a challenge to understand all the different business cultures around the world. For example, to work with people from the US and with people from Japan is like day and night. “I am not saying either one is bad in any way. It is just that different cultures require different sensibilities”. That is something Manuela initially struggled with. Over time, however, her experience grew, and she learned to understand these

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Director

Manuela Beil-Peter A Well Organized and Pro-active Individual

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We support our customers to leverage the best technology to develop new medicine and cancer treatments.

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different cultures. Today, Manuela Beil-Peter treasures these experiences.

She learned a lot from her colleagues around the globe, to see things from a different angle, to approach certain topics in another – often more efficient – way. They all helped her become a better business leader and, she thinks, a better person in general.

Highly Customized Solutions Analytik Jena’s customer base is very diverse. Every customer application is different and has its own requirements.

The liquid handling and lab automation portfolio at Analytik Jena has to accommodate that. That is why the company offers a wide portfolio of liquid handling and automation products giving customers the flexibility they need – from semi-auto to fully automated and even highly customized solutions. This means the company offers solutions to laboratories that are just starting to automate as well as laboratories looking for large scale, fully automated research or quality control workflows.

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Future Aspirations Manuela Beil-Peter’s goal and of course, the goal of Analytik Jena is to become one of the premier liquid handling and automation providers on the market. To achieve that, the team needs to drive innovation to the next level and strengthen its service and support offerings. Together with customers and partners around the world, the company is working hard on making its products and solution offerings better. Clear customer focus is the key here. Developing solutions with customers will ultimately result in providing what customers want and also creates a constant feedback loop for further improvements. She is determined to achieve that.

Passion for the job Manuela Beil-Peter says, “A businesswoman should have a great amount of empathy. It is crucial to understand what drives others. What are their goals? What motivates them? To understand other people gives you always a different perspective on certain things, which is incredibly valuable. You can understand certain challenges better yourself or get a new idea on how to approach a business task. Other key attributes are drive and determination which are somehow intertwined. Set your goals and try to fulfill them with all the energy you have.”

Support for Entrepreneurs Stay true to yourself and your values but be open to new ideas. Do not be dogmatic. Also, value your employees. They are the key to the success of your business. Support them and their ideas and support them to develop themselves. Create an environment for them to be happy. This way, you will ultimately create an exceptionally wellperforming team that is motivated and creative.

Over the years the company’s business experienced a lot of changes – organizational and the market changed quite a bit. That left a mark but not in a bad way. The target audience is constantly changing, and requirements are constantly shifting. Analytical Jena always has adapted to stay on top.

“But that is a challenge that is quite welcome since it keeps us innovative and the company’s products top in the market”.

—by Manuela

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anaging network security can be complex and time-consuming, especially when dealing with the monumentally large systems that often face responsibility for the safety of critical infrastructure systems. When it comes to information security, financial institutions harbor possibly the greatest responsibility of any commercial industry because of the highly sensitive data that they process, transfer, and store. With the stakes so high, Titania’s customers within the telecommunication, energy & transport sectors use the company’s tools to understand the vulnerabilities on their network and prove assurance. Specialized in Enterprise Security Automation Software, business development, trust- based selling, and neuromarketing, Nicola Whiting is the Chief Strategy Officer at Titania. She has led Titania from an ambitious start-up to the multi-million pound, award-winning company it is today – in less than a decade. In 2017 Nicola was named by SC Magazine as one of the Top 20 most influential women working in cybersecurity, an honor she has held for 3 years.

Motivated by Challenges Nicola Whiting was in Infosec in the late 90’s early 2000s, focused on remote management, and database software but became jaded (although she was successful, she couldn't see a clear path into the boardroom). “Women in Tech” events were less common then, “group think” wasn’t a thing that people were aware of, and diversity wasn’t a major driver-there seemed to be a lot fewer opportunities (even in great companies). In the end, she started her own business, where she became an award-winning jewelry designer, published writer, and Chair of a National Design Guild.

Infosec is a veiled metaphor for business, we talk a lot about technology but everything eventually, is all about resilience, diversity and empowering people. insightssuccess.com

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Nicola Whiting CSO

NICOLA WHITING

The Unsung Cyber Security Leader

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Nicola didn’t set out, with the intent to get back into technology & security, it just happened. Some of her friends ran a business and they needed advice on how to grow it.

So, she sketched out some ideas on the back of a napkin and offered to help them find the right person to help them grow-they insisted that that person should be her (commercial skills were eminently transferable). She is, of course, skipping over the intense technical learning curve of suddenly working in the Pentesting industry, but after learning the intricacies of micro-metallurgy, it was an achievable and enjoyable study. (She also ended up marrying the founder, so she has been truly “romanced” by Infosec!)

Valuing Team Members Nicola Whiting has learned that “true leadership is never about you – it’s always about the other person and what's important to them”. One of her favorite books is "The GoGiver” by Bob Burg. The company gifts it to all its new team members, and its central tenant, is that members true worth, is in the value they deliver to others.

Making a Difference Like many women, Nicola Whiting struggled with imposter syndrome, even after winning numerous accolades and being recognized by her peers…

Her proudest achievement was probably winning the Sparky Baird award for her thoughtful piece on A.I. and Cyber Warfare. It’s a US Award given to writers by AFCEA International & SIGNAL Magazine, and it's very prestigious, she said "it felt like winning a Pulitzer" and it made more impact on her than becoming an Amazon bestselling author with her "Extraordinary Women" book. When the editor Bob Ackerman sat her down and told her that the judging panel had been unanimous in their final decision and that a Professor of Cyber Security had said it was probably "one of the best articles he'd ever read", Nicola had tears in her eyes.

She said “It made me feel very humble, previous winners include senior figures, like, US Generals, Senators, and Vice Presidential Candidates. I’m a UK national-from a working-class background. It shows that in this industry,

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you can make a difference – whoever you are and wherever you come from – you’ll be valued for your contribution.”

Work-life Balance As life partners and work partners with Titania’s CEO, Ian Whiting, it can be hard not to bring work home. On a positive note, when one of them has a brilliant idea in the shower, they can immediately share it! It’s also fantastic as both of them are continual learners, keeping them fresh and motivated as leaders and they both believe in giving back to the community. Ian created numerous free tools that help businesses secure their networks and Nicola writes for industry journals, speaks at conferences and mentors both individually and for Govt funded Cyber Accelerators.

A Willingness to Listen Titania has had a few “intrapreneurs” who have gained future skills in their roles, before starting their own business. “If launching into the unknown terrifies you, then you can still take smaller steps towards your end goal. The important thing is to clarify what that goal is, test it out with trusted advisors, see if there’s a market for what you want to do. I’d recommend reading “The Lean Startup” by Eric Reis and taking a look at “The Value Proposition Canvas” by Strategyzer – both will help your early journey into entrepreneurship,” says Nicola.

Honesty, integrity, communication, and a willingness to listen are also viewed as key skills. “With these, you can foster an environment of trust and growth, attracting high performing people, who aren’t afraid to make mistakes and learn from them,” says Nicola.

A Wide Range of Great Ideas One thing Nicola Whiting learned early on is to focus on hiring intelligent, motivated, continual learners – even from non-traditional routes. It’s brought the company some of our best team members. Titania has clear goals and guidelines in place, and the “Traction” series by Gino Wickman has helped the team understand how it runs things and how they'll be measured. The company also provides plenty of flexibility and feedback opportunities, so that it grows as a team and benefits from a wide range of great ideas.

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I Tessa Clarke Co-founder & CEO

OLIO

n my role as chief evangeliser for OLIO – the world’s only neighbour-to-neighbour food sharing app – I speak about our work and journey at a lot of events. And without fail I’m almost always asked something along the lines of “How do you juggle having a family with a start-up?” Whilst this is an extremely valid question – and it touches on a topic that’s very close to my heart, it really frustrates me because I never hear the same question levelled at male peers. As a result, this seemingly innocuous question is laden with an enormous amount of gender bias, generally to the exclusion of men. I would suggest that if we want to achieve a fulfilled balanced life for all – male and female – we have to ensure that we’re all participating in this debate about work/life balance, and that inclusivity needs to be the starting point.

Another challenge in this area is, funnily enough, the gender bias experienced by men who choose to be the “stay at home Dad”! Several years ago my husband and I decided that given our respective career paths and motivations in life, it made sense for me to be the “bread winner” and for him to look after our two kids and home, whilst developing property in his remaining time. This has given me the flexibility to pursue the opportunities for OLIO with full vigour, and has been absolutely invaluable in terms of helping me to achieve a balanced life. However, sadly, my husband experiences more than the occasional disparaging passing comment and has even been asked “When are you going to get a proper job?” Thankfully he has no self-

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Integrated Approach

esteem issues, and thinks he has the best job in the world!

But I highly doubt that in this day and age anyone would ever dare say this to a woman; and so why to a man? If women are to be truly equal in the workplace – and to achieve a balanced life, then we need to adjust our perceptions of what it means to be a male in a modern society, and accept that this will require men to taking on an increasingly prominent role in the delivery of childcare – which is to the benefit of all involved, not least the children!

Gender issues aside, I spend a considerable amount of mental energy working towards achieving a ‘balanced life’.

I prefer the terminology of a ‘balanced life’ rather than ‘work/life balance’, because when you’re an entrepreneur (and especially an entrepreneur working from home), the two can become very mixed! And to suggest that ‘work’ and ‘life’ are the antithesis of one another surely isn’t what we should aspire to. In the very early days of setting up OLIO, it was pretty much impossible to lead a balanced life because we had to achieve so much, in so little time, and with virtually no resources. As we’ve grown the business and the team however, both Saasha my Co-founder and I have achieved a much more balanced life – which is important, because the start-up journey is a series of marathons, not a sprint, and so it’s essential to avoid burnout. We find that working predominantly from home is extremely helpful in achieving balance (5-10 hours per week gained back through not having to commute!), and we both carve out time during our working days to exercise. In the early days we used to feel quite guilty about exercising when we ‘should’ be working, but now we recognise that if we’re to perform at our best then we need to be mentally and physically fit and exercise is absolutely critical for this.

Plus, I find that I have many of my best insights and inspirations for OLIO when working out, so it really is killing two birds with one stone!

employee’s induction, we talk about the importance of a balanced life, and in our line manager training, we stress that the line manager is responsible for working with their direct reports to ensure that they are achieving a balanced life. What this means is that on a day to day basis our team chat will often show someone walking the dog at mid-day, someone else with their kids at 3pm and others heading off to swim or yoga. Each team member is responsible for ensuring that their work is done, according to whatever schedule best suits them, and as a result, we have an incredibly motivated and productive team, the majority of who say that working for OLIO is the best job they’ve ever had! If you aren’t already talking about how you can achieve a balanced life as individuals and as a company, then I can highly recommend spending some time on it, as the rewards will be enormous!

As well as working towards a balanced life for ourselves, we’ve really baked this into the DNA of the company too.

And this has manifested itself in a couple of important company policies. The first is our holiday policy – we have no cap on the number of day’s holiday an employee can take; however we do have a minimum and insist that everybody has at least 20 days off. This is because we saw research from other companies who had adopted a limitless holidays policy, and it actually showed that the number of days worked by employees increased, not decreased! We also think it’s really important for the team to have a collective break over the Christmas holidays so everyone can really relax, confident in the knowledge that their email inbox isn’t rapidly filling up! We also ensure that in every

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Team Lead & Modern Workplace Expert

Nicole Enders The Next Generation Superintendent

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he digital transformation is changing the way we live and work. Working is becoming increasingly mobile – independent of location, time and media.

But everyday mobility does not arise at the push of a button – it arises from the right strategy, suitable processes, powerful infrastructures and mobile apps.

Better together – Look for the future business model together with your team.

Often employees demand more mobility because they have more flexible and modern IT solutions in private than in their business environments. Fortunately, the management is increasingly recognizing the benefits of enterprise mobility.

As a result, more and more end devices, integration requirements, applications and access routes are challenging the IT managers as well as every employee.

That does not have to be: The Modern Workplace Expert of CONET, Nicole Enders, offers support for mobile collaboration strategies and in all questions of enterprise mobility and cloud solutions. With her advisory support, the IT consulting provider CONET has tackled many challenges by developing unique strategies and solutions.

Started as a Software Developer Nicole started her career at CONET as a software developer with focus on Microsoft technologies. Over the course of time, she has been able to steadily expand her area of responsibility and has performed activities as a developer, consultant and project manager. She is an expert in modern workplace and collaboration with Microsoft 365, an international speaker, author and blogger, and she leads a multilingual team of nine people.

The Experience Worth Relying on Nicole has spent her entire career at CONET. In the first few years, she achieved a position as a technical SharePoint expert. In 2013, she shared her knowledge with a public audience by publishing her first book “SharePoint 2013 für Anwender”. At this time, she had a lot of training material from the previous six years working as a SharePoint consultant and developer, and she decided to share it with the SharePoint community.

Nicole even reports on her newest SharePoint experiences at conferences and different community events. It was a long way with many challenges to become an accepted member of the speaker community. She had to submit her sessions many times until she got her first confirmation.

“That was an important milestone for me,” adds Nicole.

In 2015 Office 365 became more and more important for CONET’s customers. Consulting how to move to the cloud and introducing new cloud technologies was then part of her daily business. With the enhanced experience, she wrote three more books presenting real-life use cases that show her readers how to use Microsoft products such as Office 365 to improve collaboration and teamwork.

Needless Roles And Behaviors “Don’t think that you need to fit in predefined roles and behaviors. People will know if you only pretend to be somebody else. Be authentic and find your own way and your individual solutions. And don’t forget to care about yourself. You can only be successful and look after other people if you are doing well yourself. For example, I take a break from time to time and travel to distant places such as Peru, Australia, and New Zealand,” says Nicole.

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Chance to Speak at Conferences 2019 was an important milestone in many ways. On the one hand, Nicole got her first management position, and she was nominated for the Women in IT Awards Europe. On the other hand, she got the chance to speak at conferences in the United States such as the Modern Teamwork and Collaboration Conference in Washington D.C. As an international speaker traveling became a timeconsuming part of her daily business. She had to learn to manage her team in a different manner and from different locations. And there were many situations in which she had to learn to protect her team while representing the interests of CONET and its customers.

Ensuring Every Team Member Feels Good Three years ago, Nicole talked to her manager to go one step further in her career. It was not a development of her technical skills she had in mind. Nicole has enjoyed helping other people during her community work and now she wanted to become a team lead who manages business operations and ensures that every team member feels good at work.

Her manager offered her the opportunity to convince her team of her skills. She worked hard on herself and gradually gained the trust of every single team member.

Half a year later, she was appointed as a team coordinator.

This role is a preliminary step before a real management position and serves to gain initial experience and to be able to decide whether you are suitable for a management position.

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Supporting Team Members in Their Development In recent years, Nicole gained a lot of experience and learned that it is very important to participate in team work, to support team members in their development and to assume responsibility.

CONET provides two different career paths. Nicole can choose between an expert and a management career. But she is convinced that future leaders can be so much more than a traditional management role. Currently, Nicole is planning the next step on her journey. She is thinking about a combination of a team lead and a technical expert role in form of a strategic business developer who is recognized by the international Microsoft community.

Work Together, Have Fun Together “Believe in yourself, and do not think that you are not good enough to achieve your goals. If you work hard, your dreams can come true and success will happen. Be brave and face every challenge on your way. You may fail sometimes, but every challenge and every failure is a chance to learn something new. You don’t need to achieve everything on your own. Build a team around you, give them a purpose and work together while having fun,” guides Nicole.

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Nicole Iseppi E

very successful person has his/her own success stories, which are often shaped by continuous chain of experiences. In an interview with Insights Success, the Managing Director of ENGIE, Nicole Iseppi, has shared her success story, experiences, challenges and the story about her early start in the energy/infrastructure sector. Thus, providing key ingredients of success for emerging entrepreneurs.

Below are highlights of the interview conducted between Nicole Iseppi and Insights Success: What initially drew you to studying and practicing law?

I always enjoyed public speaking, communicating with people and solving problems and therefore, law offered a way to develop initial skills and knowledge that can be used to pursue such core drivers (especially my constant intrigue for problem solving). As I am a strong believer there is a solution to everything…we just (at times) need to think a little deeper and out of the box to find the best solution for some specific challenging situations. Plus, I grew up in a household where my father was very entrepreneurial and self-employed (he ran his own company) and therefore having such exposure since an early age to being commercial, made me want to go into the commercial/business sector to be part of offering solutions to solve current problems and challenges we face.

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In what way has your experience helped you in your career since then and the work you do at present?

Having the privilege to begin my first decade of my career journey at a leading infrastructure law firm and then at a global leading financial institution (including, having the rare opportunity to also be appointed as lead adviser on the implementation of a new international green financial institution), in terms of both opportunities, training and also access to the minds and experience of such high caliber and leading professionals – allowed me the best opportunity to excel from the beginning and learn my core craft. I am a strong believer as we progress through this world we should always remember where we come from and be grateful for the opportunities and amazing people we meet and learn from – as they all steer us and develop us to be the person we are today and for tomorrow.

How would you describe the experience of living and working overseas?

Interesting, as a young student I always aspired and hoped to have the opportunity to travel and discover more of the world. However, had you told me at such younger years that I would end up travelling the world to work in the international arena and be kindly respected by my energy and finance peers as a global expert – I think I would have been a little surprised. However - It has been one of the best opportunities both professionally and personally and would

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Nicole Iseppi

Managing Director

It is the ability & wilingness to work hard and have the determination to achieve and make positive contributions, that will overcome any challenge that life may impose on you.

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highly recommend it to all. It has led to my success today and the person I am today. I am a strong believer that we should immense our self into new cultures, new opportunities and meet new people to share our thoughts & experiences, to constantly re-develop our thought process to strive for further improved solutions to any challenge.

Having the ability to travel for work – allows us to grow both intellectually and personally. Having that first overseas opportunity to work in Tokyo and since then having the opportunity to live and work in multiple cities around the globe (from Australia, Asia, Middle East to Europe) – has allowed me additional opportunities through my career, which I am very grateful of.

least within the global energy sector as a new “3D World”.

That is – a future of more “Decentralised” energy; a future focused on “Decarbonisation” and a more “Digitalised” future society. The speed of change is accelerating, and one needs to more than ever, constantly re-adapt and move with the times. Such challenge and opportunity I find ever more exciting – especially in my passion and pursuit for problem solving. We have many exciting opportunities ahead and the best way to address many of them, is to collaborate more within the industry in order to push the boundaries of what is possible and the ability to innovate more (at all levels of the value chain) – to achieve more efficiency and higher quality levels of output.

What are some of the changes and developments taking place in the industry that excite you the most? Do you feel hopeful about the future in terms of how the world can cope with some of the challenges it faces due to climate change?

What are the greatest challenges you’ve encountered in the course of your career, and how did you overcome them?

I am an optimistic person – so I do feel hopeful for the future. If we actively aim to address the core issues in a collobrative manner and are open to thinking out of the box and being constantly more innovative, we can find a solution to these challenges.

One of the biggest global challenges currently is how we all progress through this current global energy transition.

However, I am of the view that this transition (although it may of started specifically within the global energy sector) is no longer exclusively limited to the energy sector only.

In fact, when I speak at international conferences, including a proud opportunity to be asked in the past to speak at the G20 Infrastructure Meeting, as an industry expert – I express the view that we are now at the start of a new industrial revolution. A revolution that can be described at insightssuccess.com

I think the way the modern world functions, does not matter what industry or profession we work in, we constantly face change and disruption. Which raises the challenge of how do you best lead in times of disruption. My best advice in terms of any challenge – and it is something I have done since an early start of my career. Is that if a job is worth doing it is worth doing properly. And we just have to be persistent and constantly look for greater efficiency, improvements and ability to innovate & include more diversity at all levels of the organization and value chain. It is one’s ability to work hard and have the determination to achieve and make positive contributions, that will overcome any challenge that life may impose on us. My advice is, just gather all your courage and most of all, believe in yourself. Back yourself to achieve and make sure you have a good support network around you to collaborate and share thoughts, and most of all, make the best of every opportunity.

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Rachel

Brownlow Lund Empowering Women to Step Up

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tarting a business is like starting a family. It’s new and overwhelming, and there’s almost never a perfect time to start. You’ll have thoughts like, ‘I’m not old enough’ or ‘I’m not young enough’ or ‘if only I were better prepared or knew suchand-such first.’ And it’s so easy to doubt yourself, get trapped in feelings of fear, or to feel like an imposter. But if you can embrace the newness, the I-don’t-know-ness, and go for it anyway, then you’ll open yourself up to so much growth and opportunity.”

These encouraging words of Rachel Brownlow Lund smartly portray the essence of entrepreneurship, which is all about taking action.

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From Freelancer to Entrepreneur An avid entrepreneur, Rachel began her entrepreneurial career by starting a ghostwriting company during her last semester in college. She called it Rachel Brownlow Ghostwriting, and for the first couple years, she made a go of it as an independent freelancer, hustling to generate new clients and leads.

“I knew next to nothing about entrepreneurship, but I was dating someone at the time who was interested in entrepreneurship, and I had several friends who had started up small businesses and side-hustles,” says Rachel. Without those connections, she suspects she would have continued on to grad school or applied for a job, as many of her fellow college graduates were doing at the time. Fortunately, after some encouragement from her entrepreneurial friends, she took a leap and registered for her first DBA. Over the next few years, she grew from the solo Rachel Brownlow Ghostwriting into a boutique ghostwriting company called Your Written Word, where she and her team worked on nonfiction books, blogs and articles, helping small business owners position themselves as thought leaders.

Becoming a freelancer and then an entrepreneur has been a series of big challenges and growth opportunities for Rachel. To this she asserts, “No one is born knowing how to network or hire staff or write copy or be an effective saleswoman.

But you stretch, and you grow. You pivot, and then you grow some more. And all the while, you continue to impact more and more people.”

An Idea of Me2Lead Currently, Rachel runs her company Me2Lead, where she helps women grow their businesses through strategic power positioning and business leadership coaching. She mentions that if she had created a 10-year plan for herself when she started her first business in 2009, it probably wouldn’t have included Me2Lead. “At that point, I was still figuring out a lot of

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Focus on the lead indicators and the inner work, and success becomes inevitable. Most people focus on lag indictors, but this is a mistake.

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Rachel Brownlow Lund Business Growth Coach

Me2Lead

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fundamentals around business and leadership for myself,” she says. “I never dreamed I would be in a position where I could help other women grow their businesses.”

Yet that is precisely where her entrepreneurial journey led her. After years spent honing her business acumen through hard lessons, mentorship, coaching, business incubators, masterminds, hundreds of business books, workshops, online courses and more, she began helping friends fasttrack their own successes in entrepreneurship. Discovering that she had both talent and passion for helping women grow their businesses, confidence and visibility, she started the coaching company Me2Lead.

Initially, Me2Lead began as a side-hustle to prove out the concept. When Rachel discovered that she was helping clients achieve some really extraordinary results in their businesses and as leaders, she enrolled in a coaching certification program and then went full-time.

“If someone had told me back in 2009 that what I do today was an actual job, I would have been like, "wow! Can that person coach me?” she jokes.

Challenges Are Part of the Process For Rachel, impatience has always been one of her biggest challenges. “I want to do more than I have energy or hours in the day to do it all,” she says. Even with diligent planning and prioritizing, things almost always take longer than she would like.

With growth, also come challenges. In Rachel’s opinion, challenges aren’t so much eventual as they are a daily part of business. “New levels, new devils,” if you will. To overcome her own challenges in business and life, Rachel finds it helpful to work with her own business coaches and to stay plugged into an environment of entrepreneurs who are further along than she is. Often, they’ve already seen the challenges she is encountering in their own lives or through working with clients and can either offer advice or assure her that what she is going through is all part of the process.

Keep Track of Everything According to Rachel, work-life balance hardly exists.

Instead, she tends to feel that everything comes in cycles.

She has cycles where she feels supercharged, productive and on top of her game, and then there are times when she needs a day or two to zone out, watch Netflix and just not think. These days tend to come after a big speaking event or a conference, so she has started to build them in to her calendar. “Perhaps that’s its own form of balance,” says Rachel. “Because everything evens out in the end.”

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The two things Rachel has found that have worked wonders in keeping her playing at a high level are what she calls her “morning formula”, a document she has created around her goals and ideal self that she reads each morning, and her daily trackers. She tracks everything, from sleep, meditation and gratitude to her diet, output and how much she reads that day. She also has another tracker for business metrics.

“I realize that for some people all that tracking may sound excessive,” she says, “but it keeps me accountable.”

It’s All About a Desire to Help According to Rachel, a growth mindset, a grateful heart, a desire to help, and the belief that there’s a solution to every problem are vital attributes every leader should possess.

Secondly, when it comes to selling information, whether that’s through coaching, consulting, writing a book or creating an info product, one often hears the advice to “make your mess your message.” Rachel also finds it true, as she believes most people tend to teach what they have personally gone through themselves. “It’s because they went through those struggles and learned how to adapt that they now have valuable information to share with others” she says. Through her lens, this is what entrepreneurship, leadership, and guiding others is all about.

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Sophie Slavin Director

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Sophie Slavin

Leading with Experience and Skill

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ophie Slavin, the Director of SAS CONSULTANCY SERVICES is a proficient business leader who boosts brand awareness, promotes campaigns, assists/runs social media pages for both individuals and businesses through her excellent consultancy skills. In an interview with Insights Success Sophie shares her inspiring entrepreneur journey through her experiences and achievements.

Below are highlights of the interview conducted between Insights Success and Sophie SlavinGive a brief overview of your background and your role in SAS CONSULTANCY SERVICES. You could say I have a rather varied background! I started my first job at 17 in Estate Agency and had a multitude of roles over the following years, from being an entertainer on a holiday park to invigilating exams within a Young Offenders Institute! I always found enjoyment when I was able to use creativity within my jobs and finally felt settled when I became a PA which incorporated internal communications and social media aspects within the role. I was made redundant after 9 years and pretty much decided instantly that I would have a go at setting up my own business. I was a single Mum who luckily had a great boss that let me do the school runs and work from home once a week- I wasn’t sure I’d find another company who would let me still have that flexibility so that I could spend time with my daughter. I also enjoyed Social Media, not just the creativity of it

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but the ability it gave you to connect with people and I could see many businesses were not using it to their advantage. SAS Consultancy Services was then born.

Describe some of the vital attributes that every businesswoman should possess.

Some of the attributes I consider to be vital are positivity- no matter how bad a day it's been, how demanding a client may be or how it may feel like some things are taking a while to gain fruition, reminding yourself of the good things go a long way. Think about the wins, the gains and the progression you have already made. Be courageous- try out new ideas, ignore those who don't think you can do it- if you don't have the guts to keep pushing forward, no-one is going to do it for you!

What were the past experiences, achievements or lessons that shaped Sophie's journey?

In my first few months of being in business I gained a rather large client- at the time I thought I was equipped both technically and mentally to take them on. It was a lesson to learn that I shouldn't run before I could walk, however as in all types of business we learn a lot along the way and I took it as a valuable experience. I have also understood the importance of embracing your strengths but also acknowledging your weaknesses and taking action so that they don't become a hindrance. As I progressed and improved both myself and my business I was then really pleased to have been shortlisted for a number of awards before being announced as Best Social Media Management Company UK and Leading Female in Consultancy Services at the Influential Businesswoman Awards.

What were some of the primal challenges and roadblocks that Sophie Slavin faced during the initial phase of her journey?

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businesses so it was quite an adjustment. Nobody could prepare me for what it would be like being your own manager, accountant, administrator, sales person, marketer, researcher all in one! I was a bit too eager to make a go of it - (I hadn't even drafted a business plan in the beginning). In the early stages I suffered slightly from imposter syndrome however this could have stemmed from the initial lack of preparation. Thankfully, I learnt quickly and can safely say skill and experience is now firmly in the mix.

Where does SAS CONSULTANCY SERVICES sees itself in the near future and how will you catalyze the change?

We have already had a great year to date, highlights of which included winning Best Social Media Management Company UK and Leading Female in Consultancy Services 2019 and we are now looking forward to our next period of growth. Currently, work is taking place on expanding our training offering and liaising with associations to build our clientele as well as developing a multi media Anti Bullying initiative to educate children on how to stay safe on social and to not live their life by likes. Plus – you heard it here first – we are soon launching a section of our business, tailored specifically for high profile business people and individuals in the public eye. Needless to say, this is a really exciting time and we are also keen to welcome more people to our team to join us on the journey!

What is your advice for emerging women entrepreneurs?

Do your research, believe fully in both your idea and yourself and go for it! There are so many opportunities available out there- don't be the person who spends forever waiting for tomorrow or the "right time" because someone else will go out and grab those opportunities before you do.

It has been a huge and fast learning curve! I started my business having spent most of my working life in large insightssuccess.com

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I have a ‘professional with personality’ approach to business with an enjoyment of being proactive and acting as an ambassador for my clients.

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Build and nourish rela onships— from your customers to your vendors to your team members to your buyers. The rela onships you build will shape everything.

Stacia Guzzo Founder & CEO

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Sai Gzo

Making a Difference for Health-Conscious Women

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ave you ever heard a friend say “natural deodorant just doesn’t work for me,” or maybe even said it yourself? If this story sounds like your own, the good news is: there’s still hope. Often, figuring out why natural deodorant isn’t quite doing the job can be the key to unlocking how you can go aluminum-free for good. Stacia Guzzo, the Founder and CEO of SmartyPits has the solution for hundreds of thousands of customers: her company sells a natural deodorant that’s free of aluminum, parabens, phthalates, and propylene glycol…and most of all, it works. Her award-winning deodorant is mixed, poured, and labeled her team in Tehachapi, California—and it’s one of the top brands in one of the hottest trending markets in America.

SmartyPits Story The company’s origin is personal for Guzzo: she started the company as a result of her mother’s battle with breast cancer. The cancerous lump was discovered directly underneath her mother’s armpit, and her doctors had told Guzzo’s mother that the lump was most likely influenced by something in her environment; however, the couldn’t determine the exact cause.

Stacia began to research breast cancer extensively, and she discovered that aluminum in antiperspirants was considered a possible risk factor in the development of breast cancer.

While researchers still debate the dangers of aluminum, she knew that she didn’t want to take any chances—she wanted to go aluminum-free in her deodorant choice. This proved to be a challenge, however; when she tried to find an aluminum-free deodorant to replace her clinical strength antiperspirant, she couldn’t find anything that smelled good, felt good, and actually worked with her body chemistry. As a result, SmartyPits was born on her kitchen stovetop as a way to initially solve the problem of an effective aluminum-free deodorant for herself.

Today, the company is making seven figures of annual revenue, has 19 team members on staff, and SmartyPits deodorants are sold in almost 4000 locations all over the United States (from independent retailers to nationwide chains) as well as 15 countries.

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Guzzo also wanted to extend their giveback program beyond a monetary donation. As a result, SmartyPits also is committed to donating free deodorants to cancer warriors and survivors in hospitals all over the country. To date, the company has donated over 10,000 free deodorants to women and men undergoing chemotherapy and radiation for breast cancer, as well as to various survivor groups.

Accomplished Goals

Highly Qualified Team Members Stacia Guzzo doesn’t have any formal education in business, so one of the initial challenges was learning how to wear all of the hats required in the early years of a company. As the business grew, she learned how to slowly delegate each of those hats to highly qualified team members so she could do the deeper-dive work that a CEO needs to do. “There was definitely a learning curve to both processes,” says Stacia.

Her current team includes members of their California warehouse staff as well as team members in Alaska and Oregon. No matter where they are located, each member of the team is committed to doing his/her best work daily—and above all, are committed to why they do it.

City of Hope SmartyPits’ origin story has deeply influenced another part of their business model: giving back. Aligning deeply with their mission, SmartyPits is committed to donating $0.30 from every large stick sold directly to the breast cancer research program at City of Hope, a world leader in cancer research and the facility that saved the life of Guzzo’s mother. To date, SmartyPits has been able to raise over $53,000 through the sales of SmartyPits, and this number continues to grow every quarter.

Guzzo hopes SmartyPits will become a brand that helps as many people as possible make the transition to an aluminum-free deodorant option in their deodorant choice—and that means that she doesn’t anticipate growth stopping any time soon. The company is on a track to continue to build up market share as they enter 2020—from independent retailers to some more prominent retail experiences. The organization has recently hired on a new Director of Sales and Business Development who has helped them to land some key accounts—it is also currently in the middle of a round of fundraising to help to accomplish its aggressive goals for 2020. “I can’t wait to see what the next year holds for SmartyPits,” Stacia says.

“Connect with your ‘why’ from the beginning and don’t let it go,” she continues. “Let it light a fire deep in your belly for the moments when it feels too tiring, too frustrating, too impossible. Let your ‘why’ keep you hungry when you need to dig deep and keep you fulfilled when you have to get down into the boring or mundane aspects that all businesses require. A deep-rooted connection with ones why can make the difference between a successful entrepreneur and one that gives up too soon.”

The Importance of Listening One of the keys to success over the years, Guzzo says, is how the SmartyPits executive team sought to develop an authentic relationship with the customers. Listening proved

In addition, it’s important to Guzzo that her team has a personal connection to the program; each year they attend City of Hope’s annual Walk for Hope as a team. This gives the SmartyPits team members a chance to walk alongside the warriors, survivors, and family members of the women (and men) that are battling cancer—and it makes its giveback program all the more connected to the hearts of every single team member.

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to be one of the most important elements of those relationships. Through that listening, Guzzo learned that a group of her customers needed a sensitive skin formula because they couldn’t use a formula with baking soda—it was too irritating for some skin chemistry. As a result, they debuted a sensitive skin line that was baking soda free shortly after.

Another insight the company learned was about the desire for a mini version of their deodorant that customers could use while traveling, take to the gym, or just try out different scents without investing in a larger stick. Today, SmartyPits’ mini line is one of the top customer acquisition products, leading to a high number of new and return customers.

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customers to your vendors to your team members to your buyers,” she says. “The relationships you build will shape everything.”

Stacia also notes that tenacity in the face of one’s challenges is important: “Entrepreneurship requires the relentless pursuit of a dream even when things feel exhausting, scary, or even impossible. But if you approach challenges with courage and an openness to figure it out, it can make the difference between whether or not you see it through to the end.”

Finally, listening closely to her customer base taught Guzzo that her customers were looking for a product that was tailored for their tweens and teens—and through this, the idea for SmartyPits’ teen line was born. This has been a fantastic way for the company to introduce an aluminumfree option for younger customers from the their very first experiences with deodorant.

Decisions about diversifying the company’s product lines were easy when Guzzo made listening to them a priority.

Advice for Other Entrepreneurs When asked for any advice she would give to new entrepreneurs, Stacia emphasizes the importance of relationships. “Build and nourish relationships—from your insightssuccess.com

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ami Louis Striving for Perfection in Providing Unrivaled Experiences

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limate change is one of the defining issues of today’s time. How governments, organizations, and individuals choose to respond to it will have the lasting effects for not only our life, but for the future generations as well. Knowing this, Regent Seven Seas Cruises believes it is its obligation as leaders in the cruise industry to do its part and help mitigate actions that may influence changes to the climate on a large scale. The leadership team member - Tami Louis, is the Director of Sales, and Marketing - Southern & Central California at Regent Seven Seas Cruises. With headquarters in Miami, the company is owned by Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. and is committed to environmental conservation. Norwegian’s global environmental program, ‘Sail & Sustain’, reflects the Company’s mission of providing truly exceptional cruise vacation experiences, while minimizing its impact on the environment.

Opportunity to move into the Travel Industry Tami Louis has always wanted to explore the world and has felt drawn to the sea. After graduating from University, she joined the startup team at a new Hilton property, providing her first opportunity to work in the travel industry over 25 years ago. She has enjoyed working in the industry ever since. During that time, Tami was invited to sail on a 40 foot sail boat from Central America to French Polynesia with friends, and the spirit of that trip peaked her interest in working in the cruise industry. After she returned from that experience, a friend told her about a job opening at a cruise line.

Tami sent in her resume, and her adventurous nature caught the attention of a cruise line. He appreciated the insightssuccess.com

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My approach to business is to help each client customize marketing strategies by offering support to our travel agency partners through new ideas for individual marketing plans that reflect and incorporate their specific business goals.

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Tami Louis Director of Sales & Marketing

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risks and perseverance of sailing across the equator 23 days without a landfall and the company hired her on the spot. Her experience at that cruise line propelled her to spend nearly a decade as District Sales Manager for Holland America Line, where she honed her skills in the cruise industry. In 2003, Tami was hired as a Director of Sales & Marketing for Regent Seven Seas Cruises. She now counsels luxury travel advisors on how to grow their businesses. She inspires and trains others to create innovative new paths to reach luxury clients using traditional and digital marketing channels. At Regent, she dedicates most of her time working with travel agency partners leading training sessions and interfacing with valued guests at designated events that showcase Regent Seven Seas Cruises, unrivaled experience.

Career Cornerstones Throughout Louis’ career, she has had outstanding support from Senior Management, who have guided her towards success while also giving her creative freedom.

She always had specific goals and has reached for greater heights throughout her career. Tami has been recognized for her creativity and efforts on several occasions. In 2014, she was awarded “Favorite Cruise Line Representative” by the readers of TravelAge West Magazine. In 2016, she was recognized with the “Hero” award by the respected travel consortium, Signature Travel Network, and in 2017, she was awarded “Most Innovative Woman in Cruise Line Marketing in California” by Travel and Transport Magazine. As Tami continues to aspire for excellence, these achievements have become some of the cornerstones of her career and have motivated her to continue to improve.

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Impeccable Personal Service – The Guest Experience Regent Seven Seas Cruises makes an impact as a company by appealing to its luxury audience and providing unrivaled value which includes luxuries that other cruise lines charge for. For example, Regent includes Business Class Air on all intercontinental flights, Free Unlimited Shore Excursions, Specialty Dining, Premium Spirits, Gratuities and Unlimited WI-FI on all its itineraries. The Regent brand offers high quality, unique “one of a kind” transformative experiences with choices abounding. The cruise line caters to its guests, where every luxury is included. The company resonates with customers looking to be pampered as they explore more than 450 ports worldwide, enjoying their own private ocean-front suites that ranges from 300 to more than 4,000 square feet. All Regent accommodations are suites and the majority with private balconies. The Regent pillars are to deliver exquisite cuisine and impeccable personal service. The company’s experience allows its guests to engage with like-minded clients while immersing themselves in exploration.

Future Operations Tami Louis’ goal is to expand her existing Regent Seven Seas Cruises clientele, promoting the mission of having the highest quality vacation experiences. She seeks to find rising new travel professionals who can resonate with the company, tell its brand story, and attract firsttime guests to its luxury brand. As the world continues to change and evolve with new technology, she will be an advocate for utilizing professional travel advisors to secure vacation experiences on how to travel in style.

Best Work brings Best Results “My business philosophy is to create solutions, provide creative opportunities that help grow my clients businesses and to always be there for them. Over the course of your career, you have to continue to balance your responsibilities one day at a time. As long as you continue to do your best work daily, the results will come”, says Tami Louis. insightssuccess.com

Tami’s approach to business is to help each client customize marketing strategies by offering support to Regent’s travel agency partners through new ideas for individual marketing plans that reflect and incorporate their specific business goals.

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Tamma Carel

Director and Senior Environmental Consultant

Imvelo Ltd

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Driving Sustainability through Passion and Professionalism

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here are currently over 200 pieces of environmental law in place in the UK – and that number is growing. This is due to increased public and governmental awareness of the environmental impacts associated with business, and industry, through visible climate changes and extreme weather events. Therefore, there is a greater requirement for organizations to prevent the impacts associated with waste, energy, and pollution.

Imvelo Ltd is an experienced environmental consultancy company which understands environmental law and its application to business. Leading this company, a passionate and professional environmentalist and businesswoman, Tamma Carel - Director and Senior Environmental Consultant. In 2019, Tamma was shortlisted in the ’STEM category’ for the Best Businesswomen Awards and the ’Entrepreneurial Spirit Award’ at the Natwest Great British Entrepreneurial Awards.

Ability to Engage People At the age of seven, Tamma Carel’s first ’career ambition’ was to be a mermaid! All she knew was that she wanted to spend her life in, on or under a pristine ocean, and she would be forever happy!

Tamma was first able to explore a slightly more realistic career option with the sea during her 10 years work experience at the Hunstanton Sea Life Sanctuary- after which she returned voluntarily throughout her GCSE and A-Level summer vacations. It was here that she became aware of issues regarding conservation & the protection of the environment, and from that point, many of her academic decisions were geared to working within the environmental sector.

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Whilst at University (BSc Biology and Psychology), Tamma was lucky enough to use her summer vacations to gain work experience in South Africa. First, at the Umgeni River Bird Park where she worked with a variety of birds (including critically endangered Wattle Cranes, Vultures, Macaw Parrots and several species of Hornbills), researching their behavior in the wild and utilizing that knowledge to train natural behaviors for an educational show to raise money for the bird park and the rescue of endangered species.

Tamma also undertook a 2-month internship at the Natal Sharks Board, where she was responsible for analysing shark attack data in South Africa for over 12 years. Getting her hands ’dirty’ helping with shark dissections and educational presentations to school groups and members of the public to raise awareness of the need for shark conservation and the critical role played by apex predators.

During her MSc (Environmental Management), she spent a summer in Barbados with a multi-disciplinary EU Team looking at the sustainability of the Sugar Cane Industry on the island. Here, she saw the real impact and the environmental challenges for a small coral island, the effects of soil quality, freshwater supply, cultural history, economic viability, and food security. All of which served to further highlight the complexities and the desperate need to find sustainable solutions for the future.

Tamma received her Practitioner Qualification with the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment (IEMA). PIEMA is the professional benchmark for environmental and sustainability professionals who are driving change. This has enabled her to demonstrate her professionalism and competency within the environmental industry and ensures that she remains equipped, connected, fully up-to-date, and in touch with learning opportunities.

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Tamma has been known to foster baby hedgehogs (running a release sanctuary from her garden), firewalk, bungee jump, sing, and dance to raise money for causes that are close to her heart! She also volunteers via the STEM Ambassador National Programme, and she is an active campaigner for Women in STEM. She has had the privilege of mentoring two 9-year girls on a fortnightly basis since January 2019, and regularly delivers STEM Careers Talks to student groups from Year 6 through to University.

Imvelo’s beautiful colourful logo and name (the Zulu word for the environment) speaks to the power of mermaids and action for a sustainable future.

Environmental Training Schemes Sustainability and environmental impact are dominating the public consciousness, and businesses are realizing that they need to start looking at their environmental impact if they want to be successful in the future. The increase in public awareness has provided Imvelo with the opportunity and impetus to expand its capacity, build infrastructure & scaleup. With increasing demand throughout numerous industries, and a growing customer base, Imvelo is responding to the mounting global pressure for a greener world and is constantly helping clients adapt to the regulations and their social and environmental responsibilities.

Currently, Imvelo is working on a new product to help businesses maintain their awareness of environmental legislation. There are over 200 pieces of environmental legislation in the UK, and a lot of the time businesses unintentionally breach legislation and pollute the environment. Imvelo is developing software that will make this legislation more accessible, and therefore assist its Clients in being at the forefront of environmental management.

What’s more, when and if Brexit occurs, it will bring great change to environmental legislation as the UK updates and refines its laws. Although there is great uncertainty surrounding how Brexit will affect businesses, especially in manufacturing, Imvelo is doing its best to embrace the challenge, looking at the opportunities that will come from it and how they can adapt their services to better help the Clients.

Imvelo is also looking into further innovation, developing technology that can be introduced into environmental training schemes. By using Virtual Reality (VR) mechanisms, companies can upskill their workforce by giving situationally based learning, allowing staff to experience real-life environmental situations without health and safety risks.

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Most SUCCESSFUL

women

A Privileged Job Establishing Imvelo Ltd was the most positive decision Tamma has ever made. She truly believes that her job is a privilege and that environmental sustainability is the challenge facing the survival of the world. She feels very lucky that she gets to do what she loves every day and makes a difference for future generations!

Imvelo Ltd is an experienced Environmental Consultancy and Training provider, offering tailored services to meet the growing demands of sustainable business practices across a range of industries. The company provides dedicated business support with a bespoke approach & accredited environmental training, that enables businesses to integrate sustainability strategies aligned with commercial requirements.

Tamma’s passion is to support industry to meet the growing demands of stakeholder expectations and drive sustainability for the future. She does this by working with businesses in all sectors to ensure legal compliance, reduce business risk, prevent pollution, and increase resource efficiency.

With most of her clients being from the Process, Manufacturing, Construction and Waste Industries, She is on a mission to help the environment and use her position to demonstrate that women can be powerful agents of change!

Environmental Management Systems Providing bespoke and strategic support, Imvelo works closely with Senior Leadership Teams to proactively consider environmental and sustainability issues when making critical organizational decisions such as production planning, resource planning, developing new products/services, and acquisitions/mergers.

For its clients, strategic environmental objectives and targets are proven to increase staff engagement and result in financial and carbon savings! The company has a 100% success record of assisting clients in the implementation of Environmental Management Systems, working with large organizations and SME’s, within both the public and private sectors, and across almost every business & industry sector.

Imvelo also delivers training and over the last three years has trained over 1500 people in environmental management, sustainability, resource efficiency, and pollution prevention. The organization’s consultants and trainers build personal relationships with clients, using excellent knowledge and passion, alongside an energetic and motivated work ethic. It believes that it can make significant positive contributions towards the environment through the businesses it works with and therefore believes in a personal and collaborative approach to its customer relationships.

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FUNDAMENTALLY, everything we do at

IMVELO aims to work with BUSINESSES and establish STRATEGIES that have a POSITIVE impact on the PLANET.

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