Stairway to CEO Lee Greene

Today, Hudson Davis-Ross joins the show to share about Co-Founding a mission-driven company that truly helps people with their health needs. From being diagnosed with ADHD in middle school to undergoing spinal surgery, Hudson has faced his fair share of health challenges. Tune in to learn all about his captivating entrepreneurial journey, from growing up in Brooklyn, New York, to founding his first company, RISE, to ultimately becoming the co-founder of Plant People – whose plant-based products offer natural alternatives to pharmaceuticals. Along the way, we explore how he navigated major setbacks caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and gain insights into his refreshing perspective on building purpose-driven businesses!

Joining the show today is Allegra Moet Brantley, the Founder and CEO of Factora. This women-led personal finances company is on a mission to lead one million women to $1 million in wealth. Today she shares her journey from building her first company to becoming a salary negotiation coach to leading partnerships and marketing at Financial Gym, where she ultimately came up with the idea to build Factora. Tuning in, you’ll gain insight into the importance of financial transparency, the challenges that can come with fundraising, building a sustainable business while growing a family, and much more. Allegra also has some valuable, go-getting advice for aspiring entrepreneurs, so if you have a business idea that has been nagging at you, you won’t want to miss this episode!

Mary van Praag joins us today to talk about how she became Global CEO of Milani Cosmetics, a 20-year-old company built on the belief that everyone should have the opportunity to own and enjoy luxury beauty. From her entrepreneurial pursuits in high school to her first CEO role at Perricone MD, Mary tells us about her remarkable career journey and how she became the Global CEO of Milani cosmetics. Tune in today to learn about Mary’s passion for transforming companies, the lessons she’s learned about being vulnerable as a leader, and much more!

Today’s guest fell into entrepreneurship when she started to create experiences with her own needs in mind. Julie Rice is the Co-Founder and CEO of Peoplehood, where she facilitates deep conversation and connection to develop ‘relationship fitness’. During this episode, she shares her childhood passion for theatre, talks about the start of her career in talent management in New York, and tells the story of how she built and exited her first startup, SoulCycle. Tune in to hear all this and more!

Nathan Kondamuri didn’t know that he wanted to start a business until the pieces fell together, and he co-founded the highly customizable Pair Eyewear, where he now acts as CEO. He joins us today to share the story of how his little brother inspired him to start Pair, how he scaled his customer experience team to over 100 members, and the challenges he faced in building on-demand production. Tune in to hear all this and more!

Joining us today to share her entrepreneurial story is Courtney Toll, co-founder and CEO of Nori, an innovative company in the ironing and steaming market. Tuning in, you’ll hear about her remarkable journey, from coming up with the idea for Nori (which is iron spelled backward!) in her cramped New York apartment to raising money in the depths of COVID to bringing a successful product to market. Courtney also shares details about how learning to do cold outreach at her job bolstered her entrepreneurial journey, the challenges of innovating with hardware, how they put together their distribution and branding strategy, and much more. You won’t want to miss this fascinating deep dive into the many intricacies of hardware innovation and what goes into making your vision happen!