The Global League of Women
By Lisa Carmen Wang
The Global League of WomenJun 29, 2020
Reframe Your Reality with Morgan Mercer, CEO, Vantage Point
You can’t always control what happens to you, but you can always control how you react to it. This is the power of mental reframing. If you want to change something, be it how you feel, how you do things, or what you believe, begin by intentionally changing your thoughts and choosing to reframe how you see your reality. Your thoughts about any situation that happens to you are always more powerful than the situation itself.
Morgan Mercer has been able to reframe her reality in order to stay grounded in the face of sexism, ageism, and racism as a young minority female CEO. After spending years caring too much about external validation and other people’s opinions, Morgan discusses how she built up the confidence within herself by acknowledging her own power, and surrounding herself with other powerful female allies and mentors. Today, she is using her power to help others understand diverse perspectives. She is the Founder and CEO of Vantage Point, an innovative Virtual Reality training platform designed to build empathy and help companies prevent harassment and bullying.
We also discuss:
- How to have productive and open conversations around hard topics like #BlackLivesMatter
- How to own your mistakes without giving up your power
- The importance of building powerful female communities
Join a tribe of powerful female leaders. Apply to The Global League of Women at TheGLOW.org
Creating a Connected World with Navroop Sahdev, CEO of The Digital Economist
She grew up in India surrounded by poverty wondering how she could help. After studying liberal arts, she transitioned into studying economics because she realized that money makes the world go round, and wanted the tools to affect change. Today, she is a renowned economist and technology futurist. She co-authored “Blockchain Economics” and Hyperledger’s "Blockchain for Business" online course which has trained over 160,000 entrepreneurs globally, and counting.
You will learn why constraints are important for innovation, Navroop’s take on COVID-19s impact on our economy, and why it’s more important than ever to focus on building an equitable and sustainable world.
Getting Comfortable with Failure with Sapna Shah
Today’s guest Sapna Shah co-founded a startup that ultimately failed in 2013 causing her deep insecurity about her next career steps. After a serendipitous conversation advising a friend about a potential investment, she soon found herself becoming more interested in investing in startups. Today, she is a professional angel investor and founder of Retail X, an event series and community supporting retail founders.
Sapna’s journey is a reminder that our failures can result in many unexpected benefits. She now has even more empathy for founders, and knows what it takes to support a successful company.
Finding Your Perfect Career Fit with Frida Polli, CEO of pymetrics
Frida Polli, CEO of pymetrics, is on a mission to help you find your perfect career fit in today’s job market. While getting her MBA at Harvard University, Frida had a front row seat to her peers’ career struggles and her own experiences of hiring bias as a 38-year-old single mother. However, instead of becoming a victim to the system, she decided to do something about it. Using her decades of experience in academic neuroscience, she founded Pymetrics, an artificial-intelligence driven tech platform to match job candidates with their perfect job fit, while removing hiring and career development biases. They currently work with over 100 enterprise clients and job-seekers globally.
Overcoming The Fear of Aging with Michelle Aspinwall
Menopause is one such topic that we rarely discuss. The lack of knowledge around the natural evolution of our cycles means that many women are unprepared, both mentally and physically, for the physical change and the ensuing difficulty of adjusting to their body’s new normal.
Michelle Aspinwall is a coach who works with women to help them embrace a mindset of “aging timelessly.” She encourages listening to our bodies and using monthly menstrual cycles as an “internal GPS system” to live more authentically.
If you are interested in discovering how to truly love your body, this episode is for you. To dive deeper, join The GLOW Self-Love Challenge this month at theglow.org/selflove with code HERLOVE
Investing in Overlooked Minority Communities with Monique Woodard
Our guest today is Monique Woodard, an angel investor based in San Francisco, focused on investing at the intersection of technology and newly powerful consumer groups as a result of demographic shifts - Women, people of color, and the elderly. She recently published a 65-page report called Gray New World detailing this demographic sea change and the types of opportunities she sees as an investor.
Personally, she has started two companies and is currently raising her first fund, so she has experienced the difficulties in raising outside capital of all forms, especially as a minority woman. You will hear how she has learned to deal with this by having great long-standing friends to support her throughout her journey.
Cutting Off Toxic Partners with Alyssa Hall
Alyssa Hall was in a hot and cold relationship for ten years. When she learned that her partner was cheating on her, it was the straw that broke the camel’s back. This decision led to additional hardships for her -- less resources, forced debt, single motherhood all while trying to set up her new business.
She reads from a journal entry about her daily emotional and psychological struggles during all of this. If you have experienced toxic relationships, are a single mother, or struggle with guilt and prioritizing yourself, this episode will be a source of strength for you
Unlock Your Creativity & Power with Dheerja Kaur
Dheerja Kaur has worked at two high-profile companies, ESPN and theSkimm. She was able to land a job at ESPN, despite not being qualified “on paper.” She shares her early experiences dealing with imposter syndrome, and ultimately overcoming it by finding the right mentors and embracing her creative side to step into her full power as a leader.
She recently left her role as Chief Product Officer at theSkimm to embark on new professional challenges. She publicly shares talks about this transition for the first time and how she is reprioritizing her professional and personal life going forward.
Desperate for Love: Abuse in The Church with Kristen Harness
In this episode, Kristen Harness opens up about her own experience of abuse within The Church at a time in her life when she was most vulnerable and desperate for love. She had turned to religion to find a safe space, but what she found instead was the exact opposite.
You will hear her read a journal entry from October 2018 about an abusive experience in the church that nearly destroyed her, and then how she ultimately turned it into a source of strength.
The Power Of Saying “Yes” with Tricia Brouk
In October 2018, she had a transformational revelation about needing to move physically to a new city to support her new, bigger ambitions. She had been living in New York City for three decades with tremendous success, even having worked with the late James Gandolfini, Susan Sarandon, Kate Winslet, Christopher Walken, to name a few. However, she felt an unexplained urge to go after much more. We start the episode with Tricia reading a never before shared story and experience.
Overcoming Imposter Syndrome with Beth Comstock
The Pros and Cons of Venture Capital with Eliza Blank
Eliza Blank, Founder and CEO of The Sill, a direct-to-consumer plant delivery startup, bootstrapped her company for 5 years before deciding to raise outside venture capital money. In this episode, she shares how she successfully raised money as a solo founder, how the fundraising process is different (and harder) for women than for men, and provides specific tactics to improve your fundraising process.
The Secret of Mentally Strong People with Amy Morin
Amy’s TEDx talk has been seen over 11 million times and her international best-selling book, 13 Things Mentally Strong Women Don't Do has been translated into 33 languages.
The Rise Of The Female-Driven Economy with Danielle Kayembe
In her whitepaper “The Silent Rise Of The Female-Driven Economy,” Danielle Kayembe discusses why women are the single largest opportunity in the market today, becuase they’ve been overlooked, and underfunded. Indeed, when a population influences 85% of consumer spending, but only receives 2% of venture funding, there is a fundamental disconnect at the leadership level that will inevitably be corrected.
In addition to her work on inclusive product design, Danielle shares how she has mastered the design of her internal world through cultivating her authentic voice, positive self-talk, and mediation. She provides tactical exercises on how to take up more space and create boundaries so you can step into your full Power.
Danielle is founder of GreyFire Impact, an advisory firm that provides capital and resources to female business owners particularly in Africa.
Healing From Tragedy with Beth Nydick
Despite a flourishing career as a recognized holistic health coach making national appearances on the likes of The Dr. Oz Show and Oprah Magazine, Beth Nydick found her personal life completely upended by a string of unexpected tragedies.
The sickness of a child, the death of a parent, the feeling of complete and utter lack of control - these are some of the things Beth has had to grapple with, and vulnerability is the first step towards healing. This is the first time that Beth publicly shares her story. If you have a story that you would like to share, please go to www.theglow.org/share.
Quitting To Win: Getting Off The Corporate Hamster Wheel with Julia Steele
Julia Steele found herself working in a corporate consulting role and wanted to leave, but stayed anyway for three and a half years. This episode is about her quitting her job even without a clear back-up plan in sight. This is a story about how she got off the corporate hamster wheel to finally align with purpose and impact.
She is now the Director of Marketing and Communications at iFundWomen, empowering female founders with funding programs and resources.
Overcoming Financial Anxiety with Shannon McLay
Today, we are joined by Shannon McLay, Founder and CEO of The Financial Gym, a startup with a mission to improve the financial health of millions of Americans by putting the “personal” back in personal finance. Today, we hear about her arduous fundraising journey and how it almost left her in personal financial ruin.
The Power of Self-Love & Orgasms with Lora Haddock
Bonus: The Price of Frozen Eggs & Freedom with Lisa Carmen Wang
I Spent My Whole Life Feeling Like I Wasn't Enough with Lisa Carmen Wang
Cutting Toxic Relationships: Never Ignore The Red Flags with Courtney Daniels
Despite Courtney "CoCo" Daniels' outward success, she found herself in an all-consuming romantic relationship with a man who was not who he purported to be. This toxic, abusive relationship full of lies and gaslighting almost cost her entire life. This is the first time that Courtney shares this story publicly.
Overcoming Body Shame Through Self-Love with Olive Persimmon
In this open and raw episode, we dive into experiences around unhealthy relationships to food, the desire to be liked, settling for less in dating, and how it all somehow circles back to the same thing: self-esteem and cultivating good habits around self-love.
From Victim to Victor: The Aftermath of Sexual Abuse with Kaitlyn Barclay
17 years ago, Kaitlyn Barclay was molested by her stepdad. In this episode, she reads a journal entry, reliving this traumatic experience in hopes that her story will give the courage that other women need to step into #HERPOWER.
Mixing Love & Business: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly with Lisa Skye Hain
Lisa Skye Hain is the Co-founder and CEO of Primary, a co-working business in New York City. In a highly revealing episode, Lisa reads from her diary and shares the real strains of a female CEO trying to stay optimistic in the face of running out of funding, marriage therapy, raising two young children, and the tough decisions that inevitably surface when mixing romance and business.
The Never Ending Desire to Belong with Laura Chau
The Power of Compassion and Motherhood with Shannon Snow
Shannon Snow recently lost her mother suddenly. Her Mother was her biggest supporter and helped shape her personal values and professional rise to leading teams as a Director at Google, Facebook, and Instagram.
The Invisible Forces Silencing Women with Laura Walker Lee
The Realities of Burnout: How to Respect Your Boundaries with Jenn Halweil
Jenn Halweil is the founder of #GoBeyond, an educational media and creative agency dedicated to fostering diversity and inclusion in STEM fields.
Intro: The Dominant Narrative
We believe change begins with women who have the courage to speak up and challenge the status quo.
Through The GLOW Podcast, women just like you share deeply personal, authentic stories that have never been shared before because they’ve been repressed, overvalued, and diminished by The Dominant Narrative. These stories will make you sad, they’ll make you hopeful, they’ll make you angry; ultimately, they’ll make you realize how strong women already are, and how much stronger we can be if and when we use our voices.
Are you a woman who’s changing the narrative? Join us.