Liftoff Journeys with Jeanniey Walden

Jeanniey Walden
  • 5.0 (31)
  • Marketing

Liftoff Journeys isn’t about polished success stories. It’s about the moments before success makes sense.It was inspired by my three-year-old who told me, “I want to be a bubble bather when I grow up."   I realized that what she saw was that a bubble bath created joy, helped people, and made others feel good.Her instinct to do this in every roles she has had never disappeared. This moment revealed something powerful to me: it’s the moments before success that shape who we become.Hosted by Jeanniey Walden, Liftoff Journeys features honest conversations with leaders, founders, and executives about how they actually built their lives and careers, through real decisions, detours, doubts, and defining moments.No bios. No highlight reels. Just authentic choices, inspired action, and relatable human experience.At its core, the show reflects the mission of Liftoff Enterprises: helping leaders grow with confidence, clarity, and trust — in themselves and with others. These conversations echo the ideas behind The Trust Threshold: the point where self-doubt turns into momentum and leadership shifts from performance to presence.There’s no single path to growth, but there are patterns.If you’ve ever wondered what happens before it all clicks, this podcast is for you.This is Liftoff Journeys.

  1. The Luminaries Lens On What's Actually Changing

    1d ago

    The Luminaries Lens On What's Actually Changing

    In a world drowning in synthetic content, algorithmic noise, and shiny new tech tools, what actually still matters? This episode digs into the tension between where business is racing toward and what it can't afford to leave behind: real human connection. I sit down with three powerhouse leaders Lou Paskalis, CEO, AJL Advisory, Kirk McDonald, CEO, Sundial Media and Lana McGilvray, CEO, Purpose Worldwide, who are each navigating that tension from very different angles. You'll hear why one executive believes we're entering an era where trusted curation will separate the winners from the noise, why another thinks everything marketers have learned might actually be working against them in the age of AI, and how a longtime entrepreneur is channeling her career into a humanitarian mission that's about to take her inside the Vatican with 40 teenagers from war-torn countries. This episode goes places you won't expect. From the death of the traditional marketing funnel to the economics threatening global journalism, from the power of revealing your authentic self in business to why chasing curiosity across three career chapters might be the best professional advice you've never heard. There's a thread running through all of it: trust is the new currency, authenticity isn't optional anymore, and the people who understand that are building what comes next. Whether you're a seasoned executive rethinking your playbook or someone early in your career trying to figure out which signals to follow, this one's going to hit different. Tune in, and then tell us which guest you'd grab coffee with.

    39 min
  2. Where Retail Media, Payments, and Consumer Dollars Actually Go

    May 22

    Where Retail Media, Payments, and Consumer Dollars Actually Go

    Commerce is shapeshifting right in front of us, and if you blink, you might miss the moment everything clicks into place. This special edition of Liftoff Journeys is all about what's really happening at the intersection of retail, media, and AI, and why the smartest leaders in the room are rethinking everything from how customers discover brands to how retailers build entirely new revenue streams. This week I sat down with some seriously plugged-in voices who break down why the traditional marketing funnel is dead (think pinball machines and tornadoes instead), how commerce media is becoming a flywheel for growth rather than just a margin play, and what it actually means to be "AI native" as a brand in 2025.  You'll hear from Mark Grether, GM/SVP PayPal Ads, PayPal, Ashley Miles, CEO Co-founder, Franklyn West and Christine Russo, CEO Co-founder, What Just Happened, talk about why some retailers are thriving while others are falling behind, what PayPal's transaction data has to do with the future of advertising, and why customer obsession isn't just a buzzword but the actual engine behind every winning strategy discussed in this episode. Whether you're a CMO trying to future-proof your brand, a retail leader exploring your first media network, or an entrepreneur looking for the signals that separate hype from real opportunity, this one's packed with perspective you can actually use. Tune in, take notes, and get ready to rethink what commerce looks like from here.

    26 min
  3. The AI-Native Builders Rewriting Marketing's Playbook

    May 15

    The AI-Native Builders Rewriting Marketing's Playbook

    Here's the thing about AI that nobody wants to admit: everyone's talking about it, but most people still can't tell you exactly how it's changing the game right now, today, in real and tangible ways. This episode fixes that. In this special edition of Liftoff Journeys, I'm bringing together four conversations with leaders who aren't just theorizing about AI. Mike Finnerty, CEO Co-founder, Mutinex,  Matthew Wilson, Global head of Revenue, Social Scale AI, Aubriana Alvarex Lopez, Co-founder, Agnitio and Vince Walden, CEO, KonaAI. They're building with it, selling with it, and using it to solve problems that have frustrated marketers, compliance officers, and brand leaders for years. Recorded live from the Colossal Bowl event, these chats cover everything from AI-powered content creation that actually protects your brand, to a startup founder's raw advice on getting comfortable with hearing "no," to the future of marketing mix modeling, to why your compliance team might be the most exciting department in your company right now (seriously). If you're a CMO trying to justify your next investment, a founder wondering when to take the leap, or a business leader trying to figure out where AI fits into your world without the hype and the fluff, this is the episode to turn up. You'll walk away with real frameworks, bold predictions, and the kind of practical wisdom that only comes from people who are deep in the work.

    36 min
  4. Taming AI in Advertising and Healthcare: Outcome Based Insights Moving the Market

    May 8

    Taming AI in Advertising and Healthcare: Outcome Based Insights Moving the Market

    What if the way we've been thinking about media, audiences, and even healthcare marketing is fundamentally broken... and the fix is already here? In this special edition of Liftoff Journeys, I'm taking you aboard a mansion yacht in Miami (yes, you read that right) for three back-to-back conversations with some of the sharpest minds in media, healthcare, and advertising. And fair warning: this one's going to challenge a few things you thought you knew. You'll hear from Sean Black, General Manager/SVP, Audience Path US, who believes the traditional approach to audience targeting is outdated and is building real-time, signal-based technology that watches what people are doing right now instead of relying on stale data from weeks ago. You'll sit in on a conversation with Cliff Covey, SVP, Group Director, Digital Activation at CMI Media Group, a healthcare media veteran who's been in pharma for two decades and is genuinely fired up about how AI could transform the way patients and doctors connect at the moments that matter most. And you'll meet Lorenzo Zefferino, Executive Media Leader at Evergreen Trading, a media buying innovator who breaks down why the human element still matters in an AI-driven world, why "win-win-win" is more than just a catchphrase, and why common sense is still the most underrated skill in advertising. This isn't your typical "here's what AI can do" episode. These are real people sharing what they're actually building, what's working, what's broken, and the advice they'd give to anyone trying to keep up in a landscape that changes every six months. Whether you're in media, healthcare, advertising, or just trying to understand where things are headed, this conversation will give you something to think about. Oh, and there may or may not be a story about blue-painted toenails. You'll have to listen to find out.

    26 min
  5. Ashley Miles Had Everything the Corporate World Promises and Left to Build the Kind of Company Corporate America Can't Figure Out

    May 1

    Ashley Miles Had Everything the Corporate World Promises and Left to Build the Kind of Company Corporate America Can't Figure Out

    Ashley Miles is the kind of person who makes you want to go rethink your entire business strategy and then actually do something about it before the day is over. She walked away from the corporate world with all its resources, the big teams, the trade events, the ability to snap your fingers and mobilize, and built Franklin West from scratch. Self-funded. No VCs. No safety net. Just a bold vision and the relationships to back it up. This conversation gets into the stuff that every leader is feeling right now but not always saying out loud. Budgets are shrinking, expectations are skyrocketing, and the old playbooks aren't cutting it anymore. Ashley breaks down exactly how she's helping companies navigate that tension and she drops a stat that honestly stopped me in my tracks about where the workforce is headed by 2027. If you're a founder trying to scale, a corporate leader being asked to do more with less, or a young professional trying to figure out how to actually stand out, this one is going to hit in all the right places.

    14 min
  6. Francis Tesmer Built What Should Have Existed Decades Ago and Nobody Can Look Away

    Apr 24

    Francis Tesmer Built What Should Have Existed Decades Ago and Nobody Can Look Away

    There's an entire workforce out there, millions of women, who have been told for decades that their career has a ceiling. Francis Tesmer decided that was done. She didn't just talk about it, she built the first ever college degree pathway for beauty professionals in partnership with L'Oréal and then put over $1 million in scholarships behind it so that money would never be the reason someone couldn't walk through that door. Francis is back on Liftoff because every time we talk to her, the impact has grown. Graduates are building bigger businesses, earning more, leading differently, and their daughters are watching. When a woman's child looks at her and says "I believe women deserve jobs at the highest level" because of what she saw her mother do? That's not a career program. That's generational change. Whether you're in the beauty industry or not, this conversation will make you rethink what it really looks like to turn passion into power and who gets left behind when we don't.

    34 min
  7. James Mazzuto Was Six Months Away From Law School Until Working At A Restaurant Made Him Completely Pivot

    Apr 17

    James Mazzuto Was Six Months Away From Law School Until Working At A Restaurant Made Him Completely Pivot

    This conversation made me hungry AND inspired, which honestly is the best combination. James Mazzuto spent 20 years in the corporate world, earned an MBA from Tulane, lectured at universities, ran a nonprofit, launched a solar startup, and was literally about to go to LAW SCHOOL on a chancellor's scholarship at Seton Hall when something completely unexpected happened. He walked into a restaurant to kill time for six months and got hooked. Like hook, line, and sinker hooked. Now he's overseeing three restaurants across New Jersey, Allendale Social, Charlie's Place, and Saku. Alongside partner Daniel Gray and Michelin-star chef Joey Sergentakis. And the way he talks about hospitality, about the trust that goes into something as intimate as sharing a meal, about why you can train someone to make a cocktail but you can't train them to CARE, that hit different. He also calls himself a "recovered MBA" which might be the best self-description I've ever heard on this show. If you've ever wondered whether it's too late to completely pivot your career or whether that thing scratching an itch you didn't know you had might actually be your calling, this one's for you.

    17 min
  8. A Country Boy From Ohio Who Became an Award-Winning Architect: Paul Kozlowski's Journey

    Apr 10

    A Country Boy From Ohio Who Became an Award-Winning Architect: Paul Kozlowski's Journey

    I have been looking for someone who lives at the intersection of creativity and business strategy and Paul Kozlowski is exactly that person. He's an award-winning architect and co-founder of Dunn Kozlowski, a firm that's spent nearly 24 years creating spaces that don't just look beautiful, they make people FEEL something. We're talking restaurants where you don't even realize you've been drawn up to the second floor, residences that are a pure expression of someone's personal brand, and hospitality spaces designed to work just as well for a post-yoga lunch as they do for the biggest celebration of your life. But what really got me in this conversation is how Paul thinks about brand in a way most marketers and business leaders never consider. He dropped this 80-20 rule that honestly every business owner needs to hear, and the way he breaks down why most companies get design completely wrong might make you rethink that Pinterest folder you've been building. If you've ever wondered why some spaces just hit different, or why your dream vision might actually be working against you, this is the episode to listen to.

    27 min
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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
31 Ratings

About

Liftoff Journeys isn’t about polished success stories. It’s about the moments before success makes sense.It was inspired by my three-year-old who told me, “I want to be a bubble bather when I grow up."   I realized that what she saw was that a bubble bath created joy, helped people, and made others feel good.Her instinct to do this in every roles she has had never disappeared. This moment revealed something powerful to me: it’s the moments before success that shape who we become.Hosted by Jeanniey Walden, Liftoff Journeys features honest conversations with leaders, founders, and executives about how they actually built their lives and careers, through real decisions, detours, doubts, and defining moments.No bios. No highlight reels. Just authentic choices, inspired action, and relatable human experience.At its core, the show reflects the mission of Liftoff Enterprises: helping leaders grow with confidence, clarity, and trust — in themselves and with others. These conversations echo the ideas behind The Trust Threshold: the point where self-doubt turns into momentum and leadership shifts from performance to presence.There’s no single path to growth, but there are patterns.If you’ve ever wondered what happens before it all clicks, this podcast is for you.This is Liftoff Journeys.

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