Wings of Inspired Business

Melinda Wittstock
  • 4.9 (148)
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Updated Biweekly

Women entrepreneurs are changing the game of business, stepping into our authentic feminine power and growing consciousness to start and scale great companies. Listen to Wings to learn from women who've "been there, built that" with 7, 8 and 9-figure businesses, even billion dollar Unicorns. You'll learn how to manifest the mindset, mojo and money to create, grow and scale a business aligned with what makes your heart sing. Wings is hosted by Melinda Wittstock, a 4-time serial entrepreneur, tech visionary and award-winning journalist. Melinda focuses where personal and business growth meet, her insightful interviews with inspiring female founders and businesswomen providing actionable tips to help listeners to real and tangible results. These innovators, influencers, and investors all share their success secrets, epiphanies, and practical advice on how to get the confidence, connections and capital so you too manifest the success of your dreams in life and in business.

  1. 1d ago

    Dare to Rise: Navy Captain Jenn Donahue on Leadership Insights from the Battlefield to the Boardroom

    Jenn Donahue PhD is an entrepreneur, civil engineer, author, and retired US Navy Captain whose company JL Donahue Engineering works on large scale, high profile geotechnical projects for clients ranging from PG&E and Duke Energy to the Tennessee Valley Authority and Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART). Over her military career, Jenn has built a bridge across the Euphrates River in the midst of the Iraq war, commanded an 800-personnel Battalion in Afghanistan, and constructed combat outposts in the middle of deserts filled with insurgents. Jenn has designed the seismic plans for a bridge over the Panama Canal and built roads by drilling and blasting in Ketchikan. She's the author of The Warrior Framework and the founder of Dare to Rise. 🔑Key Takeaways🔑 🎖📈 From Battalions to Boardrooms: What military leadership can teach us about entrepreneurship, and why entrepreneurship is a lonelier, more uncertain journey. Plus, how Jenn uses her experience as a commanding officer to shape multiple contingency plans in her successful business: "You need plans B through L", she says. 💡🤝 Finding Your Mentor: Why mentorship is vital to success, and how to muster the courage to simply ask for help from those at the top of their game makes all the difference. Hint: The most successful are often the most generous.   🚀💪 From Combat Zones to Fault Zones: How to handle uncertainty and make decisions when the data is unclear or contradictory, and what the military and assessing seismic engineering risk taught Jenn about the necessity to gather all perspectives, rely on your own experience and never let fear paralyze you.   🎙️Subscribe to Wings and get the full Show Notes at https://bit.ly/Wings985 More about Jenn at Jenn Donahue www.jenndonahue.com Read her new book, The Warrior Framework

    34 min

  2. Jun 2

    Human Potential in the AI Age: Entrepreneur & Mom of Six Aimee Rickabus on Leadership and Feminism 2.0

    Aimee Rickabus is an entrepreneur, author, and podcast host dedicated to redefining women's leadership. Author of The Manage Her and host of the podcast by the same name, Aimee highlights how the invisible labor women perform every day translates into systems thinking, problem solving, and leadership skills that transform business and community. Aimee is also CEO of Tomahawk Information Solutions, a woman- and minority-owned technology company and value-added reseller of hardware, software and services for Fortune 500s and co-founded Mohawk Network Solutions with her husband. A mother of six and lifelong advocate for women, she inspires audiences to see their potential not just as professionals, but as whole, powerful individuals. 🔑Key Takeaways🔑 ✨💡 Redefining Human Potential: Why success isn't a ladder but a garden, cultivated through relationships, purpose-driven work, and fulfillment—not just wealth or status. 🛠️🧠 Mastering Boundaries and Focus: How to compartmentalize life's competing demands, set non-negotiable boundaries, and be fully present—and how AI can maximize productivity, streamline business processes, and free up time for human creativity and better relationships. 👩‍🔬🔥 Why Motherhood is a Leadership Masterclass:  How the invisible labor of motherhood translates directly into advanced executive skills like systems thinking, project management, negotiating, and organizational leadership—and why moms make better entrepreneurs. 👩‍💻📈 Women, Venture Capital, & Building Our Own Tables:  Why it's time for women in tech to create their own opportunities, beyond patriarchal norms, and why conversations around investing, scaling, and tax strategy are essential in changing the entrepreneurial landscape for women. 🎙️Subscribe to Wings and get the full Show Notes at https://bit.ly/Wings984 More about Aimee at The Manage Her themanageher.com

    41 min

  3. May 26

    Being 'Smart' is Stupid: 3X Entrepreneur Tricia Brouk on Mastering Influential Communication and Purpose-Driven Leadership

    Tricia Brouk is a three-time entrepreneur and strategic advisor who helps high-performing professionals transform into industry thought leaders through the power of authentic storytelling. With her experience as a seasoned and award-winning director, producer, and mentor to countless speakers, Tricia has put thousands of speakers onto big stages around the globe. Tricia founded The Big Talk Academy where she certifies speakers in the art of public speaking. She was the executive producer of Speakers Who Dare and TEDx Lincoln Square and is the producer and host of The Big Talk, an award-winning podcast and YouTube Channel. She's the author of two books, The Influential Voice: Saying What You Mean for Lasting Legacy and Being Smart is Stupid. Her work is featured on the award-winning documentary Big Stages on Amazon Prime. 🔑Key Takeaways🔑 🧠✨Being 'Smart' Is Stupid: Learn why it pays to be the "dumbest in the room", why traditional "smart" leadership often misses the mark, and how wise leaders tap into empathy, intuition, and self-awareness to create positive ripple effects in their organizations. 💡🎯 Redefining Success & Leadership: Forget the grind and the ego-driven norms of the corporate world. Every entrepreneur has power to make their own rules, especially women, so why not model new forms of leadership that prioritize people and mission gives others the permission to do the same. 💬🤝 Culture, Team, and Tough Choices: From embodying real gratitude (hear the story of Indra Nooyi's thank-you letters!) to navigating tough decisions like letting go of team members—even those you care about—learn how wise leaders build trust, foster a sense of abundance, and protect the health of their company culture. 🎤✨ The Art of Big Talks & Lasting Impact: Why embracing "Buddha nature" (think: grateful, grounded, people-first) is the true secret to great leadership, practical steps for creating a culture aligned with your values, and strategies for gracefully handling transitions and impermanence in your team. 🎙️Subscribe to Wings and get the full Show Notes at https://bit.ly/Wings983 More about Tricia at Tricia Brouk triciabrouk.com

    39 min

  4. May 19

    Industry 5.0: Serial Tech 'Intrapreneur' Teesee Murray on Energy, Data Centers, and Sustainable Innovation Led by Women

    Teesee Murray, a visionary technology executive, is the group president of Turtle & Hughes, and the CEO of Turtle x, a fourth-generation, independent, certified woman-owned enterprise—recognized as one of the nation's top women-led businesses. Teesee drives innovation at the intersection of energy, data centers, and emerging technologies. Known for transforming complex concepts like quantum computing and atmospheric water generation into practical, real-world solutions, Murray combines deep technical expertise with a passion for sustainability and accessibility. With a career defined by breaking barriers for women in tech, she is widely recognized for her ability to unite cutting-edge technology with business strategy, helping organizations reimagine what's possible in a rapidly evolving digital and environmental landscape. 🔑Key Takeaways🔑 🔥 Industry 5.0: Not just a buzzword—it's the next revolution, harnessing AI, advanced technology, and cutting-edge solutions to go beyond automation and create new ways for humans and technology to collaborate.  💡 Innovating for Impact: How a female-owned company is tackling today's challenges, from sustainable energy and data centers to secure networking and carbon accounting. Learn how Turtle connects the dots between environmental impact and real business results—think capping oil wells, carbon credits, and helping organizations like the LA Rams shrink their footprint. 👩‍💼 Women Leading Change: The unique strengths women bring to leadership—building ecosystems, fostering deep relationships, and making inclusion a core part of growth.  🤖 Embracing AI Together: How to turn fear into curiosity, keep humans at the center, and use technology as a tool to help teams and individuals thrive.  🎙️Subscribe to Wings and get the full Show Notes at https://bit.ly/Wings982 More about Teesee at Turtle www.turtle.com

    38 min

  5. May 12

    Female Power and Dignity: Entrepreneur Stephanie Georges on Creating Community and Agency for Women with AI

    Stephanie Georges is the co-founder of The Meraki Dignity Project, a women's movement dedicated to restoring dignity, with an immersive AI-enabled platform for women over 50 navigating key life transitions with intention. A Harvard Advanced Leadership Initiative Senior Fellow, Stephanie is a seasoned executive and strategist with four decades of experience guiding organizations through disruption, reinvention and large-scale transformation. She began her career as a top-ranked Wall Street analyst during the telecom deregulation era before moving into C-suite roles in telecommunications and technology. 🔑Key Takeaways🔑 🌟 🤖 Shaping AI with Women at the Center: Why women's voices are vital in shaping an AI future that enables diversity, equity and inclusion in a way that honors women's experience, and how the Meraki Dignity Project is curating a women-focused AI platform by training it specifically to understand, serve, and protect women's unique needs.  ❤️✨The Heart of Dignity: Why true dignity is "generative"—when we honor each other's dignity, we all rise. Women's progress does not come at anyone else's expense. Learn how to reframe the conversation away from scarcity, where one group's success supposedly comes at another's expense, into a celebration of abundance, collective progress, and mutual respect. 👩‍🔬 🤟 An AI Platform by Women, for Women: The Meraki Dignity Project isn't just another online resource—it's a community hub powered by an AI ally named Sophie. Women can safely and anonymously answer thoughtfully designed questions and, in return, receive evidence-based, women-centered resources tailored for transitions in career, finance, health, and relationships. Plus, the AI helps connect women with others on similar journeys, so no one feels alone in their evolution. 🎙️Subscribe to Wings and get the full Show Notes at https://bit.ly/Wings981 More about Stephanie at Meraki Dignity https://www.merakidignity.com/

    44 min

  6. May 5

    Overcome Roadblocks: Executive Coach Annie Yatch on Transforming Trauma into Entrepreneurial Success

    Annie Yatch is a serial entrepreneur and a transformational executive coach who works with founders, CEOs, and high-performing leaders who have mastered strategy and execution but still feel capped, exhausted, or disconnected. Building on her unique background as a counterterrorism analyst, Annie developed the ability to identify invisible threats before they cause visible damage—a skill she now applies to leadership, helping executives uncover subconscious patterns, nervous system overload, and relational instability that silently impact decision-making, authority, and revenue growth. After building multiple businesses herself while navigating extreme personal stress, Annie discovered that leadership breakdowns aren't caused by lack of strategy—but by instability in the operator. Founder of ReinventionXO, Annie helps leaders regulate their nervous systems, remove internal bottlenecks, and lead with clarity, authority, and sustainable energy—so success works not just in business, but in life. 🔑Key Takeaways🔑 🧠💡 Our Subconscious Runs the Show: Did you know that the very challenges and trauma you experienced as a child may be running the show in your adult business decisions? Learn why our so-called "superpowers" as founders often have roots in childhood moments where we learned to cope, control, or keep the peace. These patterns can propel us—but they can also keep us stuck. 🔥🤝 From Counterterrorism to Coaching: Hear how Annie's experience uncovering threats with the Defense Intelligence Agency now helps entrepreneurs identify—and eliminate—self-sabotaging patterns. 💰 📈 The TRUTH About Revenue Ceilings: Your current business "set point" (no matter if that's $300k or $20 million) is often an unconscious limit that ties directly back to deeply held beliefs about worth, value, or even "not surpassing" a parent's success. Rapid Rewiring with Huna: Annie introduces us to the Hawaiian tradition of Huna, an efficient neuro-emotional process that helps you break old patterns, release limiting beliefs, and operate from your authentic self. Take note: Your trauma patterns are not just yours—they show up in your team, your company culture, and the way you lead. 👩‍🔬🚀 Women Entrepreneurs & Survivor Leadership: Why many female founders get stuck in "over-masculinized" leadership, why people pleasing and imposter syndrome are so common, and how to break free by investing in your authentic self. 🎙️Subscribe to Wings and get the full Show Notes at https://bit.ly/Wings980 More about Annie at ReinventionXO  https://reinventionxo.com/

    48 min

  7. Apr 28

    Hope & Humanity in the AI Age: Entrepreneur and Investor Tallulah Le Merle on Conscious Capital and Aligned AI

    Tallulah Le Merle, a global thought leader in AI, leads AI investment strategy for Fifth Era & Blockchain Coinvestors, the asset management company focused on exponential technologies with a portfolio spanning 1,500+ startups (including 80+ unicorns like Chainalysis, Coinbase, Kraken, Opensea and Tether). On a mission to ensure business leaders drive AI innovation that is deeply human, conscious, and connected, Tallulah "Case for Hope in the Age of AI" keynote in San Francisco and the UK Parliament in London will soon debut as a book. A fractional COO with experience leading large-scale transformation for FTSE-100 firms, she helps companies scale with rigorous strategy and operational expertise to ensure they don't lose sight of culture, integrity and wellbeing. 🔑Key Takeaways🔑 🌟🤖 The Case for Hope (Not Hype!): Why "hope" isn't just wishful thinking—it's an imperative in the face of rapid AI innovation. Learn why conscious intention is vital, because if we only focus on dystopian outcomes, we risk building them.  🛠️🤝 Navigating Risks and Regulation: Why global cooperation is needed to create AI guardrails that enable and incentivize transparency, ethical use and development, and the inclusion of diverse voices, and how women can and must make their voices heard. ❤️💰 Conscious Capital and Building with Soul: Learn how venture capital is capable of driving positive change, and why founders should be able to convincingly answer, "how does what you're building create a flourishing human future?" Ethics, values and humanity must be at the core. ✨🌱 AI as a Democratizer and Human Flourishing: Despite the challenges, AI can help democratize access and empower communities—whether it's connecting people around dogs, improving mental health tools, or assisting entrepreneurs to scale ethically. The best ideas come from those who truly understand human needs, not just tech insiders. 💡🧠 The Uniquely Human Advantage: AI will never have a soul or true embodiment. Now more than ever, our collective, somatic, and ecological intelligences are assets. This tech should allow us to spend more time in real-life community, creativity, and connection. 🎙️Subscribe to Wings and get the full Show Notes at https://bit.ly/Wings979 🔗 More about Tallulah at tallulahlamerle.com

    47 min

  8. Apr 21

    Revolutionizing Online Fitness: How Amanda Tress Scaled a Digital Franchise Model

    Amanda Tress is the founder and CEO of FASTer Way to Fat Loss, one of the fastest-growing digital fitness and nutrition companies in the U.S. Founded in 2016, FASTer Way delivers a science-backed, sustainable approach combining intermittent fasting, whole-food nutrition, carb cycling, and strategic workouts. Under Amanda's leadership, the brand has grown into a multimillion-dollar company with thousands of certified coaches and over 564,000 clients worldwide. 🔑Key Takeaways🔑 💡🤖 Human + Tech = Real Results: How Amanda's unique "digital franchise" model gives certified coaches top-tier education certification, robust marketing, a proven tech platform, and community support. This combo empowers trainers to focus on what they do best—coaching—while earning meaningful income. 🌍❤️ Community & Personalization are Game-Changers: Why real human connection—masterminds, community events, and pop-up workouts—plus AI-powered personalization is the unbeatable combo to custom-craft effective nutrition and workouts. ⚡️🚀 Disrupting with Generosity and Innovation: Learn how Faster Way pays out a 75% commission to coaches (far above industry standards), and why generosity pays multi-million-dollar dividends. 🔥🛠️The Ozempic Effect—and Why Muscle STILL Matters: How the rise of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic, Zepbound, and Wegovy are reshaping the wellness landscape, why it's vital to maintain muscle mass with extra protein and weight training. 🎙️Subscribe to Wings and get the full Show Notes at https://bit.ly/Wings978 More about Amanda at Faster Way to Fat Loss Learn about Certifications: Join the Next Cohort Waitlist

    43 min
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4.9
out of 5
148 Ratings

About

Women entrepreneurs are changing the game of business, stepping into our authentic feminine power and growing consciousness to start and scale great companies. Listen to Wings to learn from women who've "been there, built that" with 7, 8 and 9-figure businesses, even billion dollar Unicorns. You'll learn how to manifest the mindset, mojo and money to create, grow and scale a business aligned with what makes your heart sing. Wings is hosted by Melinda Wittstock, a 4-time serial entrepreneur, tech visionary and award-winning journalist. Melinda focuses where personal and business growth meet, her insightful interviews with inspiring female founders and businesswomen providing actionable tips to help listeners to real and tangible results. These innovators, influencers, and investors all share their success secrets, epiphanies, and practical advice on how to get the confidence, connections and capital so you too manifest the success of your dreams in life and in business.

Information

  • Creator
    Melinda Wittstock
  • Years Active
    2017 - 2026
  • Episodes
    989
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Wings Media LLC 2019
  • Show Website
    Wings of Inspired Business