The Innovators: Women Who Rock in Media, Entertainment, Technology, Non Profit and Beyond

Cynthia Nelson
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Each week, we’re serving up real talk with badass women who are dishing out the truth about building a career in today’s world. No fluff, no bs—just raw, honest stories and lessons to inspire and empower the next generation of trailblazing women. Keeping it real and paying it forward! 🚀✨

  1. 11/04/2025

    Gwen Hammes, CEO Cro Metrics

    🎧 New Episode Drop on The Innovators : Leading with Optimistic Realism — A Conversation with Gwen Hammes, CEO of Cro Metrics Few leaders embody global perspective and grounded optimism quite like Gwen Hammes. From #Argentina to #Mexico City to the U.S., Gwen’s journey to CEO is anything but linear — and that’s exactly what makes her leadership so powerful. From Bombas to Calendly, Mattel, Inc. and non-profit clients, they're growing their ROI and removing the barriers to success. In this episode, we dive into: 🌎 How living across continents shaped her resilience and leadership style 💡 Why “optimistic realism” isn’t a contradiction — it’s a blueprint for leading through chaos 📉 What Cro Metrics got right about breaking away from the bloated agency model and with 15 years of A/B testing and analytics they can predict measurable outcomes of ads before they run! 🤖 Balancing behavioral science, human creativity, and AI to drive measurable growth and how AI is used as an "Imaginationl Accelerator" for her business and the brands she serves. 💪 Lessons on owning your voice as a woman leader in a still-biased industry - by doing a complete job - no shortcuts and leveraging that as your superpower. If you’ve ever wondered how to lead with both heart and data — this one’s for you. 🎙️ Listen now to hear Gwen’s refreshing take on leadership, growth, and the courage to rebuild what’s broken.

    17 min

  2. 07/15/2025

    Oksana Kovalchuk, CEO of ANODA

    🚀 From coding at 5 to leading ANODA today, Oksana Kovalchuck has always been ahead of the curve. At 16, she launched her first business. By her twenties, her app was featured onstage by Mark Zuckerberg at F8 — a defining moment that proved bold ideas can scale globally if they’re built with clarity, speed, and intention. But success didn’t come easy. The pandemic nearly wiped everything out. Instead of folding, Oksana doubled down on resilience, radical transparency, and design-driven execution — values that now define ANODA’s culture and client work. Some of her best leadership advice? ✅ Don’t put all your eggs in one client’s basket ✅ Hire well — and expect results ✅ Salary = well done work ✅ Respect enterprise clients just like you do startups ✅ Use detailed Figma flows to keep scope clear and clients confident Whether she’s working with Airbnb or an early-stage founder, Oksana believes great UX starts with solving chaos before it starts — because clarity isn’t just a deliverable, it’s a competitive advantage. 👏 Give her a follow. Or better yet — work with her.

    25 min

  3. 06/24/2025

    Adrienne Garland, CEO She Leads Media

    🚨 Let’s talk about badass leadership. 🚨 For over a decade, Adrienne Garland has been quietly (and powerfully) building something extraordinary: She Leads Media — a dynamic platform that supports, educates, and amplifies women founders through podcasts, conferences, and community. What started 11 years ago as a response to the glaring absence of women on leadership stages has evolved into a full-fledged movement — one that empowers women to lead, not just participate. ✨ She Leads LIVE is now one of NYC’s premier events for women entrepreneurs. It’s not just another conference — it’s a masterclass in relevance, honesty, and community. Adrienne’s secret? She listens. The content stays fresh because it’s built around the real, evolving needs of women building businesses in today’s world. 👩‍🏫 With experience in leadership roles at major companies — and now teaching at NYU and Rice — Adrienne knows the mindset shift women need isn’t about gaining permission. It’s about owning power without apology. What makes She Leads unique? It’s built on three pillars: 🔹 Community 🔹 Education 🔹 Amplification And that impact is real. Ask the founders who found their first clients, co-founders, or confidence on Adrienne’s stage. She also walks the talk. As a fierce advocate for whole-person leadership, Adrienne is building a future where business growth and personal wellbeing are not at odds — they’re intertwined. Adrienne, thanks for leading with purpose, clarity, and heart. You’re changing the game — and we’re all better for it. #SheLeads #WomenEntrepreneurs #Founders #Leadership #Community #WholePersonLeadership #AdrienneGarland

    31 min

  4. 06/10/2025

    Arielle Lechner, CEO Newpo.io

    🎙️ Her ideas on inner‑game vs. outer‑game, identity shifts, triple‑loop learning, and levels‑of‑creation have landed her on podcasts like Startup Success and The Business Owner’s Journey – where Arielle drills into how reframing failure as feedback enables founders to move faster and lead with confidence  . 🔑 Why Arielle’s a total badass: Mastermind of experiments: reframes setbacks as launchpads 🚀 Neural rewiring strategist: aligns mindset with ambition Inner‑game maestro: elevates leadership from the inside out If you’re a CEO, founder, or exec ready to transform from exceptional to extraordinary, Arielle Lechner and NewPo are your secret weapon. 👉 Want to explore what’s possible? Check out NewPo.io or connect with Arielle directly — trust me, your next-level breakthroughs are waiting.

    25 min

  5. 06/04/2025

    Dani Dufresne, CEO The Aux Co.

    🎬 Behind the scenes, ahead of the curve. From film school in LA to the big agency world in NYC, Dani Dufresne quickly became known as the fixer—the one who could cut through the chaos and deliver under pressure. Now, as the #Emmy-winning founder of The Auxiliary Co., she’s leading the charge in modern creative production—scaling big ideas without the big-agency bloat. Dani’s secret? A lean, agile model built around fractional creatives who allow companies to build better ideas that actually fit their needs and their budget. She’s also ahead of the curve on using AI—leveraging it not as a shortcut, but as a tool to get closer to the big idea faster. We recently sat down to talk about: ✅ Why adding folks outside of your comfort zone is essential to great work ✅ How to “produce at the speed of culture” ✅ The rise of fractional teams and how they’re reshaping the industry ✅ And why mentoring the next wave of creatives is part of her mission Dani is proof that massive impact doesn’t require massive overhead—just vision, clarity, and the right people on speed dial. If you’re building a brand and want to make it iconic, on time and under budget—she’s the one to know.

    24 min

  6. 05/06/2025

    The Innovators Laurie McGinley

    🚀 What do you get when you combine an Amazon best-seller, a SXSW keynote speaker, a high-performance athlete, and a stroke survivor by age 31?Laurie McGinley. She burned out twice chasing peak performance the old way—before discovering how to work with the body, not against it. Now, she helps founders, execs, and creatives rewire their nervous systems to unlock creativity, clarity, and real momentum. ✅ This isn’t your typical MBA “sh*t sandwich” coaching. It’s about upgrading your internal data, generating new ideas, and having more "sheet cake moments"—the kind where you’re not just surviving, you’re thriving to your own national anthem. ✅ Laurie meets clients exactly where they are—and helps them go where they actually want to be. And that's just damn powerful.

    25 min

  7. 04/08/2025

    Chantae Vetrice, Music Artist and Activist

    🎸 Meet real life rockstar Chantae Vetrice a dynamic force in the music industry and a dedicated anti-defamation #activist. Proudly identifying as a #Black #Jewish woman, she stands firm in her beliefs, advocating for unity, peace and understanding. Her commitment to combating defamation and promoting positive dialogue has been recognized by the Anti-Defamation League, honoring her as one of their “Heroes Against Hate.”   Chantae’s journey is a testament to resilience and authenticity. From collaborating with industry giants to using her platform for meaningful change, she embodies the spirit of modern artistry intertwined with activism.

    8 min

  8. 04/01/2025

    Alison Bryan, COO Learning Economy Foundation

    ⭐ Meet the incredible force that is J. Alison Bryant, Ph.D., ⭐ the badass of building with purpose and a true force for innovation and impact. From leading the Nickelodeon Play Labs and then founding PlayScience to shape how companies understand kids’ learning and play, to serving as Chief Research & Impact Officer at Sesame Workshop, Alison has consistently pushed the boundaries of what it means to build with purpose. She’s also led consumer insights at AARP and now brings her ecosystem brilliance as COO at the Learning Economy Foundation—working at the intersection of education, data, and equity. 🚀 A great quote from this interview "With the advent of AI and media in general kids have more many more choices but algorithms have much more power." An academic, entrepreneur, nonprofit exec, media/tech veteran, and mom of two and stepmom of three, she’s an expert in the science of play and education, translating complexity into clarity, consumer behavior into action, and ideas into scale that truly benefit all. She doesn’t just ask “what’s next?”—she builds it.

    21 min
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About

Each week, we’re serving up real talk with badass women who are dishing out the truth about building a career in today’s world. No fluff, no bs—just raw, honest stories and lessons to inspire and empower the next generation of trailblazing women. Keeping it real and paying it forward! 🚀✨

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