Fuel for Female Founders® by Andrea L. Johnston

Andrea L. Johnston
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There are extraordinary women building companies every day, founders, operators, executives and investors whose actual stories rarely match the public version of a woman leader.Fuel for Female Founders® by Andrea L. Johnston are real conversations, thirty minutes and in person, about what it took to build, and the tradeoffs, risks and burnout behind the win.Candid, insightful and inspiring, this podcast fuels the next generation of female founders and proves that women's leadership is structural and durable, not a moment worth celebrating one founder at a time.

  1. 5d ago ·  Video

    Know Your Yes with Kate Groat | Ep 22

    What if the most generous thing a funder can do is stop giving a little to everyone? In this episode of Fuel for Female Founders, Andrea interviews Kate Groat, Director of Corporate Philanthropy at Live Oak Bank, the Wilmington, North Carolina lender ranked first in the country for SBA 7(a) lending by dollar volume. Kate is a teacher by trade who spent a few years as what she calls a “pretend banker” before being handed the bank's giving with no playbook. She built it by listening to everyone who would talk to her and found that nonprofits wanted two things: money and data. She went on to help found Cape Fear Collective, a nonprofit that puts data behind the region's hardest problems. Kate and Andrea trace the thinking behind her work. Kate wants to cure the problem, not just stop the bleeding, even though root causes take longer and cost more. She makes the case for funding nonprofits like the businesses they are, with follow-up and real outcomes, and explains why philanthropy and government money will never be enough on their own. That idea led to The Forward Fund, which she and Meaghan Dennison dreamed up: zero percent loans for short, high-demand training tracks like electrical line work, repaid by graduates so the money moves to the next learner. She also explains why Live Oak supports a shared substitute pool for early childhood centers, because no one can take a better job if their children are not safe and learning. This conversation goes well beyond grant making. Kate talks about how Live Oak builds giving into its culture, about being the on-call parent in a full-time job, and about the question working mothers still get asked. Her closing advice is to know your yes. Live Oak went from small checks for nearly a hundred organizations to larger grants for fewer than 30, and Kate says the no's got easier once the bank knew what it was for. This episode is for the woman who wants her time and money to change something that lasts, who is tired of sitting on the sidelines and is ready to act on the cause that is hers. In This Episode, Listeners Will Hear What separates stopping the bleeding from fixing the root causeWhy nonprofits deserve to be funded like the businesses they areHow The Forward Fund uses zero percent loans to move people into better jobsWhy workforce development starts with safe, reliable child careWhy knowing your yes makes every no easier Timestamps (0:00) Intro (0:38) Meet Kate Groat of Live Oak Bank (2:30) Treating root causes, not just symptoms (3:42) Funding nonprofits like the businesses they are (6:21) Why this is the moment to give (8:52) How The Forward Fund was born (13:10) Early childhood care and a shared sub pool (17:31) Inside Live Oak Bank's mission (19:24) Working motherhood and the full-time question (22:23) Know your yes Resources and Connections Kate Groat on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kate-groat-0766b31aGuest Website / Resource: https://www.liveoak.bank/Live Oak Bank on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/live-oak-bankThe Forward Fund: https://theforward.fund/Cape Fear Collective: https://capefearcollective.org/Fuel for Female Founders: https://www.fuelforfemalefounders.com/Andrea L. Johnston on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrealjohnstonFuel for Female Founders on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fuel-for-female-foundersKate Groat, Women I Want You to Know feature: https://www.fuelforfemalefounders.com/featured-women/kate-groat/Produced by: UNFLTR

    Know Your Yes with Kate Groat | Ep 22

  2. Oct 27 ·  Video

    Campaigns and Courage with Mary Wills Bode | Ep 21

    What does it take to win the most competitive seat in your state, and then decide the bigger job is filling the seats around you? In this episode of Fuel for Female Founders, Andrea interviews Mary Wills Bode, former North Carolina State Senator for District 18 and co-founder of Electing Women North Carolina. Mary was practicing law on Wall Street when the 2016 election pulled her into fundraising and phone banking, then home to North Carolina to run a bipartisan nonprofit working on extreme partisan gerrymandering. Her parents met on a political campaign, and her mother's rule has stayed the same: do not sit on the sidelines and watch other people do it, get in the game. Mary and Andrea trace the run itself. A redrawn district opened in Granville County, a third Republican, a third Democrat and a third unaffiliated, and the most competitive seat of that cycle. She was told a Democrat probably could not win it, ran anyway and won. Inside, she found a superminority with no real check on power, a salary of a little over $13,000 a year that favors retired and independently wealthy members, and a legislature majoring in minor things while healthcare, education and infrastructure waited. This conversation goes well beyond one term in office. Mary explains why she chose to leave public service to help first-time candidates get their feet under them, why she says women in North Carolina give only about 30% of political donations, and why one woman at the table cannot move policy on her own. She talks about lived experience you cannot fill in with assumptions, about what pregnancy has sharpened for her, and about the county commissions that run the budgets people feel most. Her closing ask is simple: vote, get educated on what you can, and do it for the women who could not. This episode is for the woman who is done watching policy get written without her, who is tired of staying passive and is ready to give, run or back someone who will. In This Episode, Listeners Will Hear Why the 2016 election moved Mary from watching politics to organizing.Why she ran for a seat she was told a Democrat could not win.How a $13,000 legislative salary decides who can afford to serve.Why she stepped away from the legislature to build a bench of first-time candidates.Why one woman at the table cannot move policy on her own. Timestamps (0:00) Intro (1:21) From Wall Street law to political organizing (2:43) Taking on extreme partisan gerrymandering (6:32) Winning the seat, then choosing not to run again (8:03) A $13,000 salary and who can serve (11:28) Electing Women NC and the giving gap (13:25) Why one woman at the table is not enough (15:38) Fighting for breast cancer screening coverage (17:01) How to show up for this ballot (21:26) Races to watch and what county commissions do Resources and Connections Guest Website / Resource: https://electingwomenalliance.org/Electing Women Alliance, Get Involved: https://electingwomenalliance.org/get-involved/ Fuel for Female Founders: https://www.fuelforfemalefounders.com/Andrea L. Johnston on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrealjohnstonFuel for Female Founders on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fuel-for-female-foundersWomen I Want You to Know, the former LinkedIn feature series: https://www.fuelforfemalefounders.com/linkedin/

    Campaigns and Courage with Mary Wills Bode | Ep 21

  3. Oct 20 ·  Video

    More Ready Than You Think with Andrea L. Johnston

    What happens when the women you interview start holding up a mirror? In this episode of Fuel for Female Founders, Andrea goes solo for a mid-season check-in. She looks back at the first guests of Season 2. Laura Meyer built Envision Horizons with clear roles alongside her husband. Allyse Cirillo walked away from a brand she had scaled for someone else to build SAINT Jo around what is good for her. Heather Turner and Katherine Stueland, two CEOs, both told her the same thing: you are more ready than you think. Andrea then names where those conversations meet. Building takes daily, unglamorous work and a willingness to be wrong. Community is load bearing. And the leap comes before the readiness. Then she makes it personal. Andrea goes back to founding Pure Communications, to the moment her husband joined the business, and to the work of being clear about who owns what when you build with a spouse. She talks about co-parenting as support that runs both ways, and she admits that some of the discipline she built early on slipped over time. Her conclusion is that habits are muscles, and that conviction and confidence need maintenance at every stage. She closes with why the show exists: the gap between what these women have built and how visible they are. Then she previews the movement arc and the exit arc still to come. This episode is for the woman who is building something real, who is tired of sitting on the sidelines and is ready to move before she feels ready. In This Episode, Listeners Will Hear What Laura Meyer's clarity of roles shows about building with a spouseWhy Allyse Cirillo walked away from a brand that looked successful on paperWhat Heather Turner and Katherine Stueland mean by "more ready than you think"Why the willingness to be wrong separates builders from dreamersWhy community is load bearing and not a nice-to-haveHow the leap comes before the readinessWhat co-parenting looks like when support runs both waysWhy habits are muscles that need maintenance at every stageWhat is ahead in the movement arc and the exit arc Timestamps (0:00) Intro (1:16) The first guests of Season 2 (3:27) Three lessons these conversations share (5:05) Building with a spouse and co-parenting (7:07) Habits are muscles that need maintenance (8:16) Why these builders deserve to be seen (9:49) The movement arc and exit arc ahead Resources and Connections Connect with Laura Meyer on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauracatherinemeyerConnect with Allyse Cirillo on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/allyse-cirilloHeather Turner on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heather-turner-759146bKatherine Stueland on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katherine-stueland-4830512 Fuel for Female Founders: https://www.fuelforfemalefounders.com/Andrea L. Johnston on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrealjohnstonFuel for Female Founders on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fuel-for-female-foundersWomen I Want You to Know, the former LinkedIn feature series: https://www.fuelforfemalefounders.com/linkedin/

    More Ready Than You Think with Andrea L. Johnston

  4. Oct 13 ·  Video

    Patients, Purpose and Profits with Katherine Stueland | Ep 19

    Katherine Stueland spent years encouraging other women to go for the opportunity. When she was asked to consider the CEO role herself, she had to take her own advice. The President and CEO of GeneDx tells Andrea L. Johnston what changed when she went from trusted number two to the person making the final call. An English major with a background in communications and leading patient-centric businesses, Katherine said yes to the conversation before she felt ready for the job. She had spent years supporting other CEOs. Becoming one required a different kind of trust in herself. Her commitment to patient advocacy began at 11, when two cousins were diagnosed with cystic fibrosis and she organized a fundraiser for research. That purpose followed her through a career in healthcare and into GeneDx, a genomics company that emerged from the National Institutes of Health. On her first visit to its offices, handwritten thank-you letters from parents made the work personal. Each letter represented a family that had finally found an answer. Leading that work meant building a business that could sustain it. Katherine describes the decisions that come with rapid growth: when to invest in infrastructure, how to recognize that a process no longer serves the team, and why each year may require a different approach to leadership. She stresses the importance of financial acumen in business, noting that achieving profitability allows the company to reinvest in technology and ultimately serve more patients. That matters to families still searching for a rare disease diagnosis. Katherine explains what earlier testing and newborn genomic screening could change, and why a diagnosis can give a family direction even when an approved therapy does not yet exist. For women considering a bigger role or guiding a business through change, her advice comes from experience: take the step forward, speak up and believe in yourself. You do not have to feel completely ready to begin. In This Episode, Listeners Will Hear How an English major and communications executive transitioned from roles as a "number two" to becoming a CEO .Why the parent letters at GeneDx made the patient mission tangible.How leadership, teams and infrastructure must change through different seasons of growth.Why Katherine connects profitability with the ability to reach more patients.What earlier diagnosis, newborn screening and answers without an approved therapy can mean for families. Timestamps (0:00) Intro (2:08) Two cousins, cystic fibrosis and advocacy (3:24) Walking into an NIH spinout (6:24) Turning scientific rigor into a business (7:42) Saying yes despite imposter syndrome (10:40) Scaling GeneDx through rapid growth (11:06) Why families still wait for a diagnosis (12:49) Why profitability means helping more patients (14:30) Hyper-growth versus building infrastructure (17:54) Newborn screening in New York and Florida (18:20) The cost of delayed diagnosis (23:02) Three takeaways for women leading Episode Resources Katherine Stueland on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katherine-stueland-4830512 Guest Website / Resource: https://www.genedx.com/ Katherine Stueland’s official bio: https://www.genedx.com/leadership/katherine-stueland Fuel for Female Founders: https://www.fuelforfemalefounders.com/ Andrea Johnston on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrealjohnston Fuel for Female Founders on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fuel-for-female-founders Women I Want You to Know, the former LinkedIn feature series: https://www.fuelforfemalefounders.com/linkedin/ Produced by UNFLTR

    Patients, Purpose and Profits with Katherine Stueland | Ep 19

  5. Oct 6 ·  Video

    The Road To CEO with Heather Turner | Ep 18

    What does it take to walk into a CEO seat you never pictured yourself in, and take a company public in a market when nobody else was going public? In this episode of Fuel for Female Founders, Andrea sits down with Heather Turner, Chief Executive Officer and Director of LB Pharmaceuticals, a clinical-stage company working on neuropsychiatric disease. Heather started as a corporate securities attorney at a firm that specialized in startups, found she could follow the science, and moved in-house expecting a more manageable schedule. What she got instead was a front-row seat to every function in the business. She kept asking people to explain their work to her, and that curiosity turned a legal career into a strategic one, then into the CEO role at Carmot Therapeutics, a 3.1 billion dollar deal with Roche, and an IPO at LB a few months after she arrived. Heather and Andrea trace what actually transfers from general counsel to chief executive. Big transactions are project management with fifty people on the call, and Heather had already learned to drive those. The harder part is capital. She is direct about raising money in a hostile room, and about the one thing that carries a founder through it: conviction, which she separates cleanly from passion. Plenty of people will tell you it is the wrong idea at the wrong time. The leader and the team both have to believe otherwise, or the wall in front of them does not get climbed. This conversation goes well beyond biotech. Heather talks about building a personal board of advisors by naming her own gaps first, why she asks her whole executive team to do the same, and how an executive coach of five years keeps her honest about whether her leadership style still fits the company. She is candid about the loneliness of the top job and what the Biotech CEO Sisterhood gave her, and about being the sole breadwinner while her husband stayed home with their twin boys. Her advice to working mothers is the jet lag rule: accept that you will never feel like you are doing enough, and the anxiety loosens its grip. This episode is for the woman who is carrying the weight of a company and a family at the same time, who is tired of sitting on the sidelines waiting to feel ready, and who is ready to act on conviction before the room agrees with her. In this episode, you’ll hear: How a corporate securities attorney became the CEO of a public biotech companyWhy understanding the whole business makes someone a better lawyer, not a distracted oneWhat a general counsel already knows that transfers directly to running a companyWhy conviction, not passion, is what carries a founder through challenges Why humility about what you do not know is the trait Heather hires forHow to build a personal board of advisors by naming your gaps before your contactsWhat five years with an executive coach changed about her leadershipWhy the top job stays lonely even with a strong team around youHow the jet lag rule applies to being a full-time working motherWhy work life balance is always imbalanced, and why that is a strengthWhat it takes to protect culture through commercialization instead of posting values on a wall Resources and Connections LB Pharmaceuticals: https://lbpharma.us/Heather Turner at LB Pharmaceuticals: https://lbpharma.us/heather-turner/Heather Turner on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heather-turner-759146bBiotech CEO Sisterhood: https://www.biotechceosisterhood.org/ Fuel for Female Founders: https://www.fuelforfemalefounders.com/Andrea L. Johnston on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrealjohnstonFuel for Female Founders on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fuel-for-female-foundersWomen I Want You to Know, the former LinkedIn feature series: https://www.fuelforfemalefounders.com/linkedin/

    The Road To CEO with Heather Turner | Ep 18

  6. Sep 29 ·  Video

    You Can’t Build Alone: Rituals, Talent & Growth with Allyse Cirillo | Ep 17

    What does it cost to build the company you want while you are still rebuilding yourself? In this episode of Fuel for Female Founders, Andrea sits down with Allyse Cirillo, Founder and CEO of SAINT Jō, the clean beauty brand she launched after fifteen years developing product for fashion and intimates brands. Allyse spent most of her career treating what she calls a woman’s outer layer, bras and shapewear, and in one stretch took a shapewear company from 25 million to 400 million in three years. It was not her company. When COVID had her building someone else’s business from her couch, she started asking what she was actually serving. Allyse and Andrea trace what she did next, and the sequence matters for anyone still holding a paycheck. She stayed in the job another year and a half, learned the beauty category from a naturopathic doctor, chemists and trade shows, and only left when a manufacturer offered to produce for her and take payment once she started selling. She built SAINT Jō from the ground up while losing 80 pounds. The product decisions came out of that: numbered bottles so nobody has to guess the order, three minutes morning and night, a routine a woman will actually keep. This conversation goes well beyond skincare. Allyse is direct about the part she did not arrive knowing, which is marketing, and about hiring a fractional CMO who was better at it than she was. She hires for soft skills because the customer can feel whether the team is aligned. She talks about knowing your funding options six months before you need them, about walking up to strangers at a major industry event and making connections instead of leaving with nothing but a hotel lobby story, and about why corporate is not a lesser path. Her closing ask is small and doable: meet one new person every month, and if you have a question, raise your hand and ask it. This episode is for the woman who is building something while still holding a job, who is tired of sitting on the sidelines and is ready to act on her own product idea without waiting for permission from a title. In this episode, you’ll hear: Why she left a brand she scaled from $25 million to $400 millionHow she learned an entire new category before quitting her jobWhat a manufacturer’s offer to get paid later unlocked for her launchWhy she built the company and lost 80 pounds in the same eighteen monthsHow rituals beat perfection, and what to do on the day you skip themWhy numbering the bottles removed decision fatigue and became her top feedbackWhy she hired a fractional CMO who was better than her at the jobHow hiring for soft skills protects the culture a customer can feelWhat one year looked like: 5,000 units sold, four returns, a 37% repurchase rateWhy knowing your funding options six months early beats raising in a scrambleHow to work a big industry event with intention instead of standing on the periphery of the roomWhy corporate is a real path, not a consolation prize Timestamps (0:00) Intro (1:16) Fifteen years developing product in corporate (2:32) The COVID moment she stopped serving everyone (5:28) Building the brand while still employed (6:18) The manufacturer who offered to back her (10:04) Why rituals beat being perfect (15:57) Hiring people smarter than you (17:38) Hiring for soft skills and culture (21:00) Why community changed her first year (25:11) Deciding to spend on the big rooms (28:32) Networking with intention, and the ROI (31:28) Know your funding options six months out (35:16) Corporate is not a lesser path Episode Resources SAINT Jō: https://shopsaintjo.com/SAINT Jō on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shop.saintjo/Allyse Cirillo on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/allyse-cirillo Fuel for Female Founders: https://www.fuelforfemalefounders.com/Andrea L. Johnston on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrealjohnstonFuel for Female Founders on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fuel-for-female-foundersWomen I Want You to Know, the former LinkedIn feature series: https://www.fuelforfemalefounders.com/linkedin/ Produced by UNFLTR

    You Can’t Build Alone: Rituals, Talent & Growth with Allyse Cirillo | Ep 17

  7. Sep 22 ·  Video

    Growing, Pausing and Always Having Agency with Laura Meyer | Ep 16

    What if the flat year in your business is not a failure but a chapter you were always going to have? In this episode of Fuel for Female Founders, Andrea interviews Laura Meyer, founder and CEO of tech-enabled Amazon and TikTok agency Envision Horizons. Laura started her career at Amazon Media Group via LinkedIn cold messaging before leaving corporate sales when her commission plan was cut right after a major deal. Today, she leads a ten-year-old agency with a proprietary platform, a predominantly female leadership team, and her husband as a business partner. Laura candidly discusses navigating business growth alongside motherhood, including two flat revenue years following the births of her daughters. Now in "chapter three," her agency achieved 53% growth last year and projects another 50% this year. She advises founders to allow 18 months for postpartum recovery and to cultivate a strong peer support network. The conversation covers home division of labor, balanced advisory teams, and AI's operational impact; such as cutting dev backlogs from months to weeks and speeding up reporting. Laura emphasizes adaptability and proactive problem-solving. This episode is for the woman who is scaling a business and raising small children at the same time, who is tired of sitting on the sidelines during a slow year and is ready to act on the chapter she is in now. In This Episode, Listeners Will Hear Why a flat year after a baby is a chapter and not a verdictHow Laura got into Amazon by messaging strangers on LinkedInWhat happened the day after she closed the biggest deal of the yearWhy she gives herself 18 months before expecting full speed againHow a spreadsheet fixed the division of labor at home and at workWhat Envision Horizons does across Amazon, TikTok Shop and WalmartWhy peer advisors, male and female, make entrepreneurship less lonelyHow AI turned a four-month product backlog into a two-week buildWhy the hourly agency model was already dead before AIWhat the Jevons paradox predicts about demand for creativeWhy the smartest people in business have the best questionsHow she teaches her daughters to be comfortable being uncomfortable Timestamps (0:00) Intro (0:51) Meet Laura Meyer and Envision Horizons  (2:07) Hitting a wall postpartum in 2020  (2:58) The roles and responsibilities spreadsheet  (5:04) From Amazon Media Group to entrepreneurship  (6:45) Getting the interview by messaging strangers  (7:36) Quitting after the commission plan changed  (8:52) Building brick by brick, not overnight  (9:43) Why peer advisors make founding less lonely  (12:41) What Envision Horizons actually does  (16:04) Running an agency in the age of AI  (19:02) Chapter three and 53% growth  (21:09) The Jevons paradox and agency value  (22:25) The best questions beat the best answers  (26:13) Motherhood, daughters and role modeling  (28:20) Community, giving first, Cinnabons for neighbors  (32:09) The hard switch from work to bedtime  (33:26) Closing on agency and resilience Resources and Connections Connect with Laura Meyer on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauracatherinemeyerEnvision Horizons: https://www.envisionhorizons.com/Envision Horizons on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/envision-horizons Connect with Andrea L . Johnston on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrealjohnstonFuel for Female Founders: https://www.fuelforfemalefounders.comFuel for Female Founders on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fuel-for-female-founders Produced by UNFLTR

    Growing, Pausing and Always Having Agency with Laura Meyer | Ep 16

  8. Sep 15 ·  Video

    Success Is Not a Highlight Reel with Andrea L. Johnston | Ep 15

    Andrea L. Johnston scaled a company past 150 million in revenue, exited to private equity twice, and then burned out in the way a vacation does not fix. Season 2 of Fuel for Female Founders opens with her own record and with the reason she started the show: almost none of the women she worked beside had a story that matched the public version of a woman leader. This season she recorded in person, one on one, 30 minutes at a time, with women running Nasdaq listed companies, women writing the next check after an exit, and women changing systems from inside institutions. Her case is that women's leadership is structural and durable, not a one-off success story. In This Episode, Listeners Will Hear What burning out cost after two exitsWhat the girl boss snapshot leaves outWhy the operators who never founded belong in the conversationWhy the show is no longer Women I Want You to Know Timestamps (0:00) Intro (0:25) Scaled to 150M, then burnout (1:51) DuPont Merck to a 10 figure sale (2:52) What the snapshot skips (3:30) Beyond the podcast (3:54) Why the name changed (5:07) Upcoming Guests on Season 2 Episode Resources Fuel for Female Founders: https://www.fuelforfemalefounders.com/ Andrea Johnston on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrealjohnston Fuel for Female Founders on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fuel-for-female-founders Women I Want You to Know, the former LinkedIn feature series: https://www.fuelforfemalefounders.com/linkedin/ Produced by UNFLTR

    Success Is Not a Highlight Reel with Andrea L. Johnston | Ep 15
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There are extraordinary women building companies every day, founders, operators, executives and investors whose actual stories rarely match the public version of a woman leader.Fuel for Female Founders® by Andrea L. Johnston are real conversations, thirty minutes and in person, about what it took to build, and the tradeoffs, risks and burnout behind the win.Candid, insightful and inspiring, this podcast fuels the next generation of female founders and proves that women's leadership is structural and durable, not a moment worth celebrating one founder at a time.

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