F5 Collective Presents Women in Business

Linda Morris
  • 5.0 (1)
  • Entrepreneurship

F5 Collective Presents Women in Business features stories of and insights from female founders, their allies, and other underserved/overlooked founder communities to inspire and encourage up-and-coming likeminded entrepreneurs. The content we create is meant to empower by sharing information gained through hands-on (and hard won) personal experience, to support by seeing "You are not alone," and to serve as a trusted "go-to" resource for all those overlooked business risk-takers just starting out, in the midst of, and seeking rejuvenation on their entrepreneurial journey.

  1. 6d ago

    Why "Rest So You Can Be More Productive" Is a Trap | Lily Dong Li Rosengard, ILGA World

    Lily Dong Li Rosengard (who also goes by Ly Rosengard in their writing) has heard the advice a hundred times: look after yourself. Then comes the pile of work. "Make sure that you rest so that you can be more productive, because we have an important meeting tomorrow." Lily's response cuts straight through it — why do you have to rest to be more productive? Rest is resistance. Care is communal. And the movement will keep going while you catch your breath. Lily is ILGA World's Advocacy Senior Specialist on gender identity, gender expression, and sex characteristics, and the co-founder of Community Care Collective — a global grassroots network that puts radical love, radical joy, and mental health at the center of social justice work. They're also a writer and poet. This conversation goes somewhere most business interviews don't. In this episode, Lily shares: ✨ Why "rest so you can be more productive" is the wrong frame entirely ✨ The choir metaphor that changes how you think about stepping back ✨ How normalized burnout pushes people out of the work forever ✨ Founding Community Care Collective with friends across three continents ✨ Radical love, by way of bell hooks — and letting your feelings move you ✨ Why care isn't the same thing as buying yourself something ✨ Policy doesn't move until you touch people at the heart ✨ Everyone has a role: the car, the cooking, the sewing, the note-taking ✨ The 150 dumplings that fed a UN negotiation ✨ Bringing their mom to a protest — and losing her to the flyer table ✨ How trust with partner organizations is built over years, not weeks ✨ The friendships that make a decade of advocacy possible ✨ Why the life you're living now was once someone else's impossible ✨ It is never too late to start Whether you're building a company, a nonprofit, or a movement, Lily's case for community care is a practical argument about staying in the work long enough to finish it. About Lily Dong Li Rosengard: Lily (they/them) is ILGA World's Advocacy Senior Specialist on gender identity, gender expression, and sex characteristics, with over a decade of experience in gender justice, human rights, and intersectional feminist movements. Previously at Plan International, Lily led global education policy and youth advocacy at the UN. Lily holds a BA in Philosophy and Religious Studies from the University of Cambridge and an MA in Political Science: Human Rights from University College London. Lily is the co-founder of Community Care Collective and a writer and poet working on queerness, mixed-race identity, and mental health. 🌍 Learn more at https://ilga.org/ The growth engine for women who mean business. http://www.f5collective.com 0:00 Rest Is Resistance (Cold Open) 0:41 Welcome: Meet Lily Dong Li Rosengard 1:36 Growing Up Between Two Binaries 2:27 Student Activist at Cambridge 3:59 Why Activists Start With Poetry 6:47 Philosophy and Justice Were Never Separate 13:22 Inside ILGA World 14:40 Policy Doesn't Move Until You Touch the Heart 16:02 Everything Is Speculative Fiction 18:22 How Do You Keep People From Burning Out? 20:24 Founding Community Care Collective 23:31 "Rest So You Can Be More Productive" 25:29 Radical Love, by Way of bell hooks 27:49 On Not Being a Hypocrite 33:33 The Pandemic and What Got Defunded 36:21 Katrina, Gaza, and the News Cycle 39:00 Activism Isn't Presented as an Option 40:42 150 Dumplings at the UN 42:52 Taking Mom to Her First Protest 44:24 What's Next for Community Care Collective 50:02 "People Like Me Don't Get Invited to These Spaces" 52:21 It Is Never Too Late

  2. Oct 21

    Investors Passed — Her Community Funded It | Zarah Garbrah, Embrace Your Frizzique

    Zarah Garbrah walked into a pitch night in Melbourne convinced she was walking out with funding. She got three nos. One judge told her there weren't enough people who needed the product — that she should go cold-call salons instead. She already had a community that had been asking her for it for years. "If I'm going to get nos, I'm going to create a yes in my own way." So she ran a crowdfunding campaign, and Embrace Your Frizzique's first product was backed by the exact customers that investor said didn't exist. Zarah shares: ✨ Deciding at 14 to stop relaxing her hair — and having no idea a whole world existed on the other side ✨ Building a community for ten years before she ever had a product to sell ✨ Making DIY formulas in her mum's kitchen out of coconut oil and whatever was in the pantry ✨ Why "young and delusional" was her biggest business asset at 17 ✨ Leaving her Sydney salon job during lockdown to go all in ✨ The pitch night where three judges said no — and what she did next ✨ How crowdfunding forced her to stop treating money as an afterthought ✨ "Is this a passion project, or a business you're trying to scale?" ✨ Selling a product that didn't exist yet, and building the trust to pull it off ✨ Why growing up without financial conversations at home becomes a business problem later ✨ Formulating with Australian and African botanicals, and knowing when to pivot ✨ Why haircare gets overlooked by investors when literally everyone uses it ✨ Taking a step back from social media to rebuild behind the scenes ✨ Networking when you'd rather not, and why she still goes ✨ Not being afraid to take up space Zarah's throughline is the "why" — she keeps coming back to who the brand is actually for, even when scaling pulls in another direction. About Zarah Garbrah: Zarah is the founder of Embrace Your Frizzique, a Melbourne-based curly and afro haircare brand she started in 2015 after struggling to find products, stylists and resources for her own hair. Half Italian, half Ghanaian, she built EYF first as a content platform and community — YouTube tutorials, workshops, events and brand collaborations — then trained as a curl specialist stylist in Sydney before developing the brand's first commercial product. In 2024, backed by a crowdfunding campaign, she launched the Hydra Curl Styler: a vegan, silicone-free styling cream formulated with Australian and African botanicals including shea butter, jojoba oil and Australian emu apple. EYF is approaching its ten-year anniversary. 💫 Learn more at https://www.embraceyourfrizzique.com/ The growth engine for women who mean business. http://www.f5collective.com 2:21 Age 14: Putting Down the Relaxer 4:25 Hair, Heritage and Identity 7:02 DIY Formulas in Her Mum's Kitchen 8:02 Building Community Before There Was a Product 9:58 Social Media, the Salon and Senior Curl Stylist 12:55 The Lockdown Leap 14:29 Australian and African Botanicals 18:19 The Crowdfunding Campaign with Lift Women 19:17 "Passion Project or a Business?" 20:21 Money Mindset and the Conversations Nobody Had 21:51 Marketing the Brand and Showing Up on Camera 25:21 Juggling Client Work and Her Own Business 27:25 The Investment Journey So Far 29:56 What's Next: Education, Products and Ten Years 33:40 Talking to Young Girls About Their Hair 35:59 Breaking Into the Beauty Industry 38:04 Always Coming Back to the Why 40:57 Founder Deep Dive: The $500K Question 43:19 The Pitch Night That Changed Everything

  3. Oct 14

    She Started at 8. Now She's Done Being Called Cute | Ava Dorsey, Ava's Pet Palace

    Ava Dorsey drew a picture of a "pet palace" when she was six years old. At eight, she started making treats in her family's kitchen because she couldn't recognize the ingredients in what she was feeding her own cat. More than a decade later, Ava's Pet Palace is on shelves nationwide — and the thing she's still fighting for isn't distribution. It's being taken seriously. "I think our branding is adorable and I think our packaging is very cute. But for people to go from 'oh, how cute' to 'wow, that is an amazing company she has' — instead of 'what a cute company.'" Ava shares: ✨ Why "cute" is the hardest word a young woman founder hears ✨ The job plan she drew at six — and what it actually said on top ✨ Going from 2–3 orders a month to over 2,000 orders in two days ✨ What it took to get USDA Organic certification in the pet category ✨ Why her mom gave two weeks' notice the same week things took off ✨ Getting on the shelf versus staying on the shelf ✨ Why independent stores and mass retailers force you to pick a side ✨ Walking into her first retail meeting at ten years old ✨ "When I got taller, people started to take me more seriously" ✨ Building a business that has to grow with you — or it dies ✨ Comparison as the thief of joy, and how she catches herself doing it ✨ Why she wants investors who bring support, not just capital ✨ What people miss about pet CPG: you're not the one eating it ✨ Her Business Minute: how to grow up without growing out of your purpose Whether you started your business at 8 or at 48, Ava's story lands on the same question every founder eventually hits: what happens when you outgrow the version of yourself everyone else fell in love with? About Ava Dorsey: Ava Dorsey is the founder of Ava's Pet Palace, a Chicago-based, family-run pet treat brand she started at eight years old. Every treat is made with seven ingredients or fewer, packaged in 30% post-consumer recycled materials and shipped carbon neutral. A certified Minority-Owned business, Ava's Pet Palace is carried at Erewhon Market, Meijer and independent pet retailers across the country. 🐾 Learn more at https://avaspetpalace.com/ The growth engine for women who mean business. http://www.f5collective.com 1:14 Starting at Eight in the Family Kitchen 4:02 The First Recipes — and Pumpkin, the Reason Why 5:27 Why It Had to Be Organic 6:48 Getting USDA Certified in the Pet Category 8:46 The Original Four Treats 10:08 Single-Ingredient Treats and Vet Formulation 12:59 The 2020 Viral Moment: 2,000 Orders in Two Days 14:35 Being 12 When Everything Took Off 16:48 "When You're Eight, It's Your Entire Identity" 18:10 Running a Business Through High School 19:48 Working with Family and Hiring a VP of Sales 22:24 From E-Commerce to Brick and Mortar 23:00 Independents vs. Mass Retailers: Pick a Side 24:00 Getting on the Shelf vs. Staying on the Shelf 25:13 Demos, Erewhon and the Midwest Chains 26:20 Comparison Is the Thief of Joy 29:03 Letting the Business Grow With You 32:53 Beyond Treats: Expanding the Product Line 34:54 Kickstarter, Wefunder and Crowdfunding 37:14 The Future: A Real Ava's Pet Palace 39:16 The Biggest Challenge Right Now Is Capital 40:06 Missing the Kitchen Days 42:02 Rooms Where Nobody Took Her Seriously 43:56 Pitching to 800 People at Twelve 46:00 Being Truly Listened To at Fourteen 49:03 "You're Married to Your Investor" 50:42 What Nobody Understands About Pet CPG

  4. Oct 7

    Her Business Partner Quit—Then Opened the Same Store 10 Doors Down | Jennifer Ann Johnson

    A month into her new business, there was a knock on the door at 10pm on a Sunday. Her business partner — the neighbor who'd put up the money — wanted out. She wouldn't sign a non-compete. Within days she'd leased a space ten stores down in the same plaza, for the same business, and when she opened she took every employee but one. Jennifer Ann Johnson cashed out her husband's 401(k) to buy her out, put her blinders on, and built True Fashionistas into Florida's largest lifestyle resale store. Jennifer shares: ✨ The Sunday-night knock that nearly ended the business before it started ✨ "Things don't happen to you. They happen for you." — and how long it took her to believe it ✨ Why she says "BS" to the idea that confidence is something you're born with ✨ Confidence as stacking: how repetition builds it one notch at a time ✨ The question we should ask founders instead of "how did you build this?" ✨ The certification plaque she didn't need — and why she got it anyway ✨ Garage saling with her grandma, and the clothes that made her feel like she belonged ✨ 60 weddings a year, chair covers washed in her own garage ✨ Running a business absentee from 1,200 miles away for 18 months ✨ Turning resale on its head: bright white, modern, and online before anyone else was ✨ "They come in as strangers, they leave as friends" ✨ Anticipating the customer's needs — and knowing when to fire one ✨ Why she went back to college in her fifties and walked the stage ✨ What she learned about her own resilience along the way Whether you're rebuilding after a partnership blew up, waiting to feel confident before you start, or wondering if it's too late to go after the thing on your list — Jennifer's story is a straight answer. About Jennifer Ann Johnson: Jennifer Ann Johnson is the owner of True Fashionistas, Florida's largest lifestyle resale and consignment store, based in Naples with a second location in Fort Myers. Before opening True Fashionistas she spent 12 years running a nationally recognized wedding planning company and bridal shop in Minnesota. She is the author of Grace & Grit: Becoming a Confident Entrepreneur, host of The Confident Entrepreneur Podcast, and a speaker and coach who teaches entrepreneurs to use the most powerful asset they have — their voice. Shop and consign at https://truefashionistas.com/ Speaking, coaching and the book at https://jenniferannjohnson.com/ The growth engine for women who mean business. http://www.f5collective.com 0:00 Cold Open: The Knock at 10 O'Clock on a Sunday 0:55 Welcome — Jen Johnson, True Fashionistas 2:08 A Dairy Farm in Central Minnesota 3:12 "This Whole Wedding Planning Thing Is Easy" 4:28 The Plaque She Didn't Need 5:34 60 Weddings a Year, Chair Covers in the Garage 8:02 Florida, and Running a Business Absentee 8:48 Garage Sales With Grandma 10:34 Starting True Fashionistas With a Neighbor 11:12 A Month In: The Partner Walks Out 12:24 "Things Don't Happen to You, They Happen For You" 16:29 Bright White: Turning Resale on Its Head 19:22 Online From Day One: 93% Sell-Through 21:04 Why She Started Speaking and Coaching 23:25 Confidence Is Learned: "I Say BS" 26:23 The Question We Should Ask Billionaires 27:13 Writing Grace & Grit and Finding Her Core Values 33:53 The Side Hustle Years, and Going Back to College 37:18 What's Next, and What She Learned About Herself 39:10 Customer Service — and When to Fire a Customer 45:49 The SBA, COVID, and the Week on the Couch

  5. Oct 7

    "Drop Athena, Take a Gender-Neutral Name": The Rejection That Built a Platform

    Athena was quoted $2.5 million to build the platform in her head. Two development teams told her the technology didn't exist. She ended up building it herself from a hotel room, eating a frozen burrito, after a tree took out the water line at her place in the woods. "I did not want to go the AI route. I really didn't. And here we are, almost entirely vibe coded for the cost of maybe a car payment." Athena shares: ✨ Why she calls the fuel behind StoryverseStream "sacred rage" — and why women are taught to fear it ✨ The agent rejection that changed everything: drop Athena, take a gender-neutral name ✨ $2.5 million vs. a car payment — how the platform actually got built ✨ Why she walked away from legacy publishing after her very first contract ✨ The 5% royalty math most new authors never hear ✨ Turning down VC money to keep the platform creator-owned ✨ Planning her exit before the platform even launched ✨ "Runways aren't just money. They're energy. They're bandwidth. They're your relationships." ✨ The myth of work-life balance when you're a founder ✨ Building a team that can handle your communication style instead of managing everyone's ✨ Why she believes every person is creative, and we're simply taught otherwise ✨ Medallic storyverse structure, and why Western storytelling keeps stalling out ✨ How a career auditing banks became her secret weapon as a tech founder ✨ The professor who told her to drop out of college — and why she listened If you've ever been told your idea was too expensive, too big, or too much — or that you'd sell better under a man's name — this conversation is worth your hour. About Athena: Athena is a fantasy author, independent publisher, and the founder of StoryverseStream, a streaming platform built for narrative franchise projects and the creators who own them. She grew up in Valdez, Alaska, landed her first publishing contract researching ghosts up and down the West Coast, and went on to launch her own labels — BlissQuest Publishing and Elder Glade Publishing — after deciding traditional publishing wasn't worth the trade. She writes the Pillars of Dawn fantasy series, including Murder of Crows and Sinnet of Dragons, and publishes adult fiction under the pen name B. Unbidden. Her novels are available in thirteen countries. She lives and writes on the Oregon Coast, deep in the Siuslaw National Forest. 📚 Books and essays: https://www.athena-author.com/ 🌐 The platform: https://storyversestream.com/ 📖 Publishing label: https://www.eldergladepublishing.com/ The growth engine for women who mean business. http://www.f5collective.com 1:11 Welcome to F5 Collective Presents Women in Business 6:34 Falling Into Fantasy: Unicorns, Dragons, Anne McCaffrey 12:49 Never Again: Walking Away From Legacy Publishing 14:04 BlissQuest, Healthcare for Authors, and Burnout 16:52 What World Building Actually Means 21:34 The 5% Royalty Math Nobody Explains 25:49 "Drop Athena, Take a Gender-Neutral Name" 32:17 $2.5 Million and "The Technology Doesn't Exist" 36:40 Inside StoryverseStream: Living in a World Longer 48:07 Medallic Storyverse Structure 54:00 Plan Your Exit. Turn Down the VC. 57:04 Everyone Is Creative. We're Taught Not to Be. 58:57 Sacred Rage and the Double Standard on Women 1:03:31 The Finance Career She Almost Went Back To 1:09:57 The Myth of Work-Life Balance 1:13:45 If You're Never Nervous, You've Hit Your Ceiling 1:15:07 Don't Wait for Permission

  6. Sep 30

    She Chased an Investor Through the Rain to Build Her Mezcal Brand | Alexa Herrera, Entre Nōs

    Alexa Herrera was a 19-year-old Parsons student with a two-point-something GPA and a thought she couldn't shake: she wanted to build an alcohol brand. What she didn't have was money, connections, or a bottle. What she did have was nerve — enough to chase a stranger in a suit across a flooded SoHo street in the rain and ask, "Have you ever thought about mezcal?" That stranger became her angel investor. Today, Entre Nōs Mezcal is artisanal, 100% agave, made in the mountains of Oaxaca in partnership with Maestro Héctor Gómez's family — and it's on the shelves at Total Wine. In this episode, Alexa shares: ✨ Chasing an investor through the rain — and landing him ✨ How "let's keep it between us" became the brand name ✨ Building a luxury mezcal brand at 19 with no connections ✨ Being two young women in a room full of 65-year-old men ✨ Partnering with a family that's made mezcal for 100+ years ✨ Six months of rejection before getting into Total Wine ✨ Why she's turning down the easy acquisition payday ✨ Building a business entirely on relationships ✨ The five-year "overnight success" ✨ Slowing down on purpose — the ducks that stopped her ✨ How she handles the days she wants to quit Whether you're building your first brand or protecting the one you've got, Alexa's story is a reminder that the people who win aren't always the most prepared — sometimes they're just the ones willing to be the freak who taps the investor on the shoulder. About Alexa Herrera: Alexa Herrera is the co-founder of Entre Nōs Mezcal, an artisanal, 100% agave mezcal brand crafted in the mountains of Oaxaca. Born in Mexico and raised in San Diego, she studied at Parsons School of Design before pursuing a master's in entrepreneurship and innovation at USC. She built Entre Nōs around culture, storytelling, and community — and is now developing a second venture. 🥃 Learn more at https://www.entrenosmezcal.com/ The growth engine for women who mean business. http://www.f5collective.com 0:00 Cold Open: "Have You Ever Thought About Mezcal?" 0:24 Meet Alexa Herrera & Entre Nōs 1:41 From Mexico to San Diego 3:03 Parsons, Gossip Girl & a 2.0 GPA 5:09 Business School Inside a Fashion School 10:53 The Idea: Mezcal in New York 13:07 Mezcal vs. Tequila 17:09 "At Ten, I Told My Mom I'd Have an Alcohol Brand" 19:03 "Let's Keep the Name Between Us" 21:39 Chasing the Investor Through the Rain 25:17 The Angel Investor Says Yes 26:45 First Trip to Oaxaca 28:19 Meeting the Mezcalero: "My Dream Is Your Dream Too" 32:37 Partnering With a 100-Year Family Business 35:42 Two Girls in a 65-Year-Old Man's Industry 38:39 Permits, Bottles & Learning Who to Trust 40:32 Coming Home & Getting Into USC 46:49 The Second Brand: Perfect Day 50:16 Six Months of Rejection, Then Total Wine 52:24 The Days She Wants to Quit (and the Ducks) 55:55 Who Actually Drinks Mezcal? Marketing & Audience 1:00:31 Turning Down the Acquisition 1:04:31 Three Things She Wishes She Knew 1:05:43 Founder Deep Dive: $500K, Funding & the "Overnight" Myth 1:12:08 Rapid Five

  7. Sep 23

    She Quit Lucasfilm at 22 to Go Out on Her Own | Melanie Paykos, Incubrand Studios

    Melanie Paykos quit her job at Lucasfilm at 22 to start her own design firm. Her reasoning at the time: "Sure. Why not? What could possibly happen?" She and her partner then won the Return of the Jedi marketing poster, competing against all the big studios. Melanie shares: ✨ Quitting Lucasfilm at 22 — and winning the poster anyway ✨ Why Star Wars had no style guide, and what it took to build one ✨ The real difference between a business and a brand ✨ Inking characters for licensees: lunch boxes, bedsheets, size relationship charts ✨ Selling Melanie Paykos Design — and why staying on felt humbling ✨ Building Creative Branding Group and Incubrand Studios with Brooks Branch ✨ The Maltese Falcon, the Casablanca piano, and 13 years of TCM auctions ✨ Why a creative director is really an air traffic controller ✨ Withholding a deadline on purpose to get the juices flowing first ✨ You will not get good work from someone who feels scared or stupid ✨ Manager vs. leader: the difference is the overview ✨ Teaching at Otis — terrifying, and where she found her first employees ✨ Bringing a brand into Roblox, where daily audiences beat the Super Bowl ✨ Where AI actually helps a creative, and where it flatly does not ✨ Her startup advice: build your processes before you open the door If you have ever left something stable without a plan, or wondered what separates a brand from a business, Melanie's run from Star Wars style guides to Sleep Club is a masterclass in starting before you are ready. About Melanie Paykos: Melanie Paykos is Founder and Creative Director: Brand at Incubrand Studios and a partner in Creative Branding Group. An award-winning creative director, she has developed brands and campaigns for some of the largest franchises in entertainment and consumer products, from Lucasfilm and Paramount to Turner Classic Movies. She founded and later sold Melanie Paykos Design, has taught and mentored designers since early in her career, and today builds and partners on proprietary brands including Sleep Club. Learn more at https://www.incubrandstudios.com/ The growth engine for women who mean business. http://www.f5collective.com 0:00 Cold Open: What Could Possibly Happen? 0:28 Welcome to F5 Collective Presents Women in Business 1:06 Erie, Pennsylvania and Knowing at Six 2:46 Selling Portraits in High School 4:07 Bauhaus, Swiss Design, and the Penn Publications Job 5:28 The Empire Strikes Back and the Lucasfilm Archives 7:13 Star Wars Had No Style Guide 7:53 She Drew, I Inked: Building the Character Library 9:55 What Intellectual Property Actually Means 11:35 Why You Feel It When a Brand Deviates 12:45 Leaving Lucasfilm at 22 to Chase the Jedi Poster 14:01 I Never Had Any Fear About Being on My Own 15:06 What Makes Branding and Licensing So Addictive 15:50 Business vs. Brand: The Real Difference 18:48 Meeting Brooks Branch and The Addams Family 19:44 Creative Branding Group vs. Melanie Paykos Design 21:02 Selling the Company and Building Incubrand 24:52 13 Years of Turner Classic Movies Auctions 26:05 Bonhams, The Maltese Falcon, and the Opening Bid 29:51 The Creative Director as Air Traffic Controller 33:18 Mentoring: Teaching at Otis Was Terrifying 36:19 Nobody Does Good Work When They're Scared 39:45 What's Next: Bringing a Brand into Roblox 41:27 Where AI Helps and Where You Lose Your Voice 46:14 Sleep Club, Jeff Bridges, and Cozy Earth

  8. Sep 18

    From Doctor to $1B Founder: How Iman Abuzeid Flipped Healthcare Hiring | F5 Collective

    Iman Abuzeid raised $100 million for a company now valued at over a billion dollars — and she is refreshingly blunt about how. She did not pitch everyone. She named the bias out loud, then treated it as a filter instead of a wall: she would only take meetings with investors who had already written checks to women or minority founders. A medical doctor who finished med school in a family of surgeons and then walked away from practicing, Iman co-founded Incredible Health after noticing both sides of healthcare hiring were complaining at the same time. Hospitals could not staff. Qualified nurses applied to ten places and never heard back. So she flipped the model: employers apply to the workers. In this episode, Iman shares: ✨ Why she only pitched investors who had already backed women and minorities ✨ Flipping the hiring model so employers apply to the workers, not the other way around ✨ Finishing medical school and realizing she did not want to practice ✨ Why a small team plus software is the epitome of what you can do with a career ✨ Staying in California for the first two years before expanding nationally ✨ Building AI voice agents Lyn and Gale, and a future where every worker has an agent ✨ Hiring for values, because you cannot teach values after someone joins ✨ Why resilience needs systems: founder friend groups, an executive coach, no-work Saturdays ✨ Saying no to every industry outside healthcare ✨ What she wishes she knew younger: the world is malleable If you are raising, hiring, or trying to build something durable without burning out, this one is full of specifics you can actually use. About Iman Abuzeid: Iman Abuzeid, M.D., is the co-founder and CEO of Incredible Health, an AI-native healthcare career marketplace connecting 1.5 million U.S. healthcare professionals with more than 1,500 healthcare employers. Born in Saudi Arabia to a Sudanese family and partly raised in the UK, she immigrated to the U.S. at 24. She holds an M.D. and an MBA from The Wharton School, and was named to the TIME100 Next list in 2024. Learn more at https://www.incrediblehealth.com/ The growth engine for women who mean business. http://www.f5collective.com 0:00 Cold Open: "That's Taken Years" 0:44 Welcome to F5 Collective Presents Women in Business 1:38 From Sudan to San Francisco 2:08 Why Entrepreneurship Is the Epitome of a Career 2:44 Both Sides Were Complaining: The Origin Story 3:29 Healthcare's Labor Shortage, by the Numbers 3:55 "Post a Job and Hope It All Works Out" 4:15 Flipping the Model: Employers Apply to Workers 5:19 Customer Discovery in the Bay Area 6:14 Two Years in California Before Going National 7:22 Meet Lyn: The AI Voice Interview Agent 8:12 Meet Gale: An AI Career Partner 8:47 A World Where Every Worker Has an Agent 9:48 Free Tools and How to Get on the Platform 10:45 1.5 Million Workers, 1,500 Employers 11:16 Why the Answer to Other Industries Is No 11:52 Challenge One: Delivering ROI, Not Just Vision 12:56 Challenge Two: Fundraising and Bias in the System 13:36 "I Was Selective About Who I Pitched" 14:04 What's Next for Incredible Health 14:43 Taking Care of the People Who Take Care of Us 15:24 Business Minute: Hire for Values 16:37 Staying Even-Keeled Through the Roller Coaster 17:37 How Iman Decompresses 18:51 Rapid Five 19:39 "The World Is Malleable" 20:38 Wrap-Up

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F5 Collective Presents Women in Business features stories of and insights from female founders, their allies, and other underserved/overlooked founder communities to inspire and encourage up-and-coming likeminded entrepreneurs. The content we create is meant to empower by sharing information gained through hands-on (and hard won) personal experience, to support by seeing "You are not alone," and to serve as a trusted "go-to" resource for all those overlooked business risk-takers just starting out, in the midst of, and seeking rejuvenation on their entrepreneurial journey.

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