Step into the Pivot

Theresa Conti & Ivana Polonijo
  • 5.0 (9)
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  • Updated Weekly

Welcome to Step into the Pivot where your hosts Ivana and Theresa talk to people just like you. We will have honest conversations with our guests about issues they have faced, how they had to pivot to address them and lessons learned that you can apply to your life.

  1. 5d ago

    Brooke Vixamar: Rising Above the Sunk Cost Fallacy

    Today we talk with Brooke Vixamar, a former financial services annuity expert. When a wave of unexpected loss hit her family, the careful language of retirement planning and life expectancy tables turned painfully concrete, and she started asking a sharper question: what do I want my days to actually feel like? We follow Brooke’s pivot from annuities and retirement income conversations into cybersecurity and identity management, where she now works in product marketing.  Thanks for listening! Remember to subscribe, share, and leave a review. Let us know what success at work means to you in the comments! Guest Bio: As a product marketing leader, my focus is on deeply understanding the industries, pain points, and boardroom pressures of our buyers to connect the right solutions to the right problems. I've spent my career helping identity, security, and growth leaders find solutions that actually move their business forward. Solutions that deliver measurable outcomes their board cares about: reduced fraud losses, faster customer onboarding, lower operational costs, successful digital transformation. Connect with Brooke:  LinkedIn Connect with Theresa and Ivana: Theresa, True Strategy Consultants: tsc-consultants.com LinkedIn @treeconti, Insta @tscconsultants Ivana, Courageous Being: courageousbeing.com LinkedIn @ivipol, Insta @courbeing SITP team, Step Into The Pivot: stepintothepivot.com LinkedIn @step-into-the-pivot, YouTube @StepIntoThePivot

    Brooke Vixamar: Rising Above the Sunk Cost Fallacy

  2. Aug 28

    Liam Polonijo: Intergenerational Advantage

    Boomers. Gen X. Millennials. Gen Z. They're often described as competing generations. What if they're actually different cultures trying to solve many of the same problems? After delivering a keynote on intergenerational leadership, communication, and the growing influence of Gen Z, Liam Polonijo returns to Step Into the Pivot to share the research, revelations, and surprising insights that reshaped how he thinks about work, leadership, and collaboration. Thanks for listening! Remember to subscribe, share, and leave a review. Let us know what success at work means to you in the comments! Guest Bio: Liam is an avid inner work practitioner. Through committed daily practice of Inner Bonding, transcendental meditation and general healthy lifestyle, he has upleveled his leadership, communication, organization, time-management skills, and navigation of personal and professional transitions. Liam serves as Generation Z Consultant to Courageous Being, providing valuable input across the center’s varied services. He studies Psychology and Business at the University of Colorado Boulder. Connect with Liam:  LinkedIn Connect with Theresa and Ivana: Theresa, True Strategy Consultants: tsc-consultants.com LinkedIn @treeconti, Insta @tscconsultants Ivana, Courageous Being: courageousbeing.com LinkedIn @ivipol, Insta @courbeing SITP team, Step Into The Pivot: stepintothepivot.com LinkedIn @step-into-the-pivot, YouTube @StepIntoThePivot

    Liam Polonijo: Intergenerational Advantage

  3. Aug 14

    Monika Herceg: Diary of Tenderness

    Monika Herceg is the most awarded young author in recent Croatian history, with more than twenty literary awards for her poetry, plays, and short stories. In this deeply honest conversation, she shares how divorce, motherhood, financial uncertainty, and the decision to choose her own future became catalysts for rebuilding her life one small step at a time.  Monika introduces a beautifully simple practice: keeping a "Diary of Tenderness" to notice how we care for ourselves, honor our needs, quiet the inner critic, and make room for rest. This warm, candid episode is a reminder that tenderness is not weakness. Sometimes, it is the bravest pivot we can make.  Subscribe, share, and leave a review telling us what your next pivot might be! Guest Bio: Monika Herceg is one of the most recognized contemporary literary voices from Croatia. Her work has been translated into more than twenty languages and honored with numerous international awards. Her poetry and plays explore themes of womanhood, intergenerational memory, science, tenderness, freedom, and human dignity, while her advocacy work focuses on feminism, scientific literacy, and human rights. Her book Closed Season (Lovostaj) is an award-winning 2019 poetry collection by Croatian author Monika Herceg, exploring themes of female experience, patriarchal violence, and war through a unique blend of physics and politics. The English translation was recently published and is available for purchase online. Connect with Monika:  Website, LinkedIn, Closed Season Connect with Theresa and Ivana: Theresa, True Strategy Consultants: tsc-consultants.com LinkedIn @treeconti, Insta @tscconsultants Ivana, Courageous Being: courageousbeing.com LinkedIn @ivipol, Insta @courbeing SITP team, Step Into The Pivot: stepintothepivot.com LinkedIn @step-into-the-pivot, YouTube @StepIntoThePivot

    Monika Herceg: Diary of Tenderness

  4. Jul 31

    Laurel Hardt: When One Door Closes, Another Door Opens

    A company gets sold and suddenly the career you built for decades is no longer yours to steer. That’s the moment our guest, Laurel Hardt, faced after 34 years in one organization, and it became the pivot that reshaped everything that came next. Laurel breaks down how she diagnoses the real problem behind missed deadlines and blown budgets: no development process, no clear architecture, and no shared way of working.  We close by connecting those same change management principles to today’s AI in the workplace conversation: how leaders can reduce fear, evaluate impact job by job, and use automation to free people for higher-value work. Subscribe, share this with someone facing a pivot, and leave a review with the biggest change you’re navigating right now. Guest Bio: Laurel Hardt began her career at Fred Meyer at age 18, eventually building a remarkable 34-year career that took her from cashier to Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer. Along the way, she became the youngest department manager in Fred Meyer history, developed strong teams, and helped create and lead several trailblazing roles that shaped how the company conducted business. After leaving Fred Meyer in 1999, Laurel spent 14 years consulting in areas including process improvement, leadership development, personnel development, performance management, and organizational development. Outside of work, she treasures her family, her 46-year marriage to George, time at the Oregon coast, creative projects, and her current study of Stoicism, which she connects to modern leadership and management wisdom. Connect with Theresa and Ivana: Theresa, True Strategy Consultants: tsc-consultants.com LinkedIn @treeconti, Insta @tscconsultants Ivana, Courageous Being: courageousbeing.com LinkedIn @ivipol, Insta @courbeing SITP team, Step Into The Pivot: stepintothepivot.com LinkedIn @step-into-the-pivot, YouTube @StepIntoThePivot

    Laurel Hardt: When One Door Closes, Another Door Opens

  5. Jul 17

    Susan Bradley: The Blind Spot of Transitions

    In today's episode, we sit down with Susan Bradley, founder of the Sudden Money Institute (SMI) and Financial Transitionist Institute (FTI), and a leader in financial transition planning.   Susan draws a sharp line between change and transition: change is the external event, while transition is the internal adaptation that can take years. If you’re navigating a major life transition, sudden money event, or a hard choice you cannot unsee, listen through and take notes. Subscribe, share this with someone in a season of change, and leave us a review with the one word guiding your next chapter. Guest Bio: Susan Bradley, CFP®, CeFT®  the founder of the Sudden Money® Institute which began 24 years ago as a community of practice seeking to better serve their financial planning clients by developing processes and tools for the personal side of money and for clients going through transitions. This Think Tank created the Certified Financial Transitionist® (CeFT®) designation and a division for training and certification called the Financial Transitionist® Institute. Susan has served on the FPA’s National Board of Directors, the National Football League’s Players Association’s Financial Education Advisory Board, and she serves as the Dean of Transitions for the Council of Deans of the Purposeful Planning Institute. She is seen and heard frequently in the national media, including NBC’s Nightly News, CNN, NPR, The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times. She is the author of Sudden Money: Managing a Financial Windfall (Wiley 2000), and she is also the recipient of the Insiders Forum Iconoclast Award 2017. Connect with Susan:  LinkedIn Connect with Theresa and Ivana: Theresa, True Strategy Consultants: tsc-consultants.com LinkedIn @treeconti, Insta @tscconsultants Ivana, Courageous Being: courageousbeing.com LinkedIn @ivipol, Insta @courbeing SITP team, Step Into The Pivot: stepintothepivot.com LinkedIn @step-into-the-pivot, YouTube @StepIntoThePivot

    Susan Bradley: The Blind Spot of Transitions

  6. Jul 3

    Hosts Only: Money, Money, Money

    Money can make smart, capable people freeze, and it’s rarely because they don’t understand math. We unpack the structural realities that affect women’s finances, including the earnings gap, caregiving interruptions, and the long-term impact on savings and retirement security. Then we zoom in on the relational side: how many couples slide into traditional divisions of labor without meaning to, and how that can leave women unprepared during unexpected life transitions. Thank you for listening! Please subscribe, share this with a friend who needs the nudge, and leave a review so more pivoters can find this conversation! Research: Women's Pay Gap, Motherhood and Career Progression, Family and Finances Connect with Theresa and Ivana: Theresa, True Strategy Consultants: tsc-consultants.com LinkedIn @treeconti, Insta @tscconsultants Ivana, Courageous Being: courageousbeing.com LinkedIn @ivipol, Insta @courbeing SITP team, Step Into The Pivot: stepintothepivot.com LinkedIn @step-into-the-pivot, YouTube @StepIntoThePivot

    Hosts Only: Money, Money, Money

  7. Jun 19

    Tiffany Salzman: Share Your Shine

    A lot of careers look great from the outside while quietly feeling misaligned on the inside. We sit down with Tiffany Salzman, founder of Candor Concepts, to talk about a pivot that isn’t just a job change; it’s a decision to build a purpose-driven life and business where leadership, marketing, and community impact all point in the same direction.  We also talk Rotary, service above self, mentorship, and what it means to invite a new generation into community leadership. Finally, we use the Rotary Four-Way Test as a practical lens for decisions, boundaries, and burnout prevention, with a reminder to include yourself in “all concerned.”   Subscribe, leave a review, and tell us: what pivot are you stepping into next? Guest Bio: Tiffany Salzman is the Founder and Chief Strategist of Candor Concepts, a women-led marketing collective in Portland, Oregon. With 25+ years of experience working with purpose-driven brands, she helps leaders build marketing momentum — and movements. She's also a longtime Rotarian, incoming District Governor for 2028-2029, and a firm believer that the best ideas happen when everyone grabs a marker and contributes to the big picture. Connect with Tiffany:  LinkedIn Connect with Theresa and Ivana: Theresa, True Strategy Consultants: tsc-consultants.com LinkedIn @treeconti, Insta @tscconsultants Ivana, Courageous Being: courageousbeing.com LinkedIn @ivipol, Insta @courbeing SITP team, Step Into The Pivot: stepintothepivot.com LinkedIn @step-into-the-pivot, YouTube @StepIntoThePivot

    Tiffany Salzman: Share Your Shine

  8. Jun 5

    Kevin Spaeth: Cherish Every Day

    This episode covers extremely sensitive topics. Listener discretion is advised. Please prioritize your well-being while listening. Your life can change in a single, absurd moment, and sometimes it’s the kind of moment nobody would believe if it weren’t true. We’re joined by Kevin Spaeth to talk about the day he was hit by a car while riding his bike… by his dentist. What follows is a story involving a subdural hematoma, a coma, emergency brain surgery, and a recovery that tests a teenager’s confidence in the most public way. Kevin explains how he learned to prize every day without living in fear, why he got back on a bike, and how “make hay while the sun shines” shapes his parenting and love of the outdoors in the Pacific Northwest. We even get to meet Bub, his beloved dog, and talk about savoring time when you don’t know how much you have left. Subscribe, leave a review, and tell us: what pivot are you stepping into next? Guest Bio: Since 1997, Kevin has dedicated his professional career to working with ERISA plans, focusing on helping small businesses help their employees prepare for retirement. Originally from New Jersey, he relocated to California in 2001. In 2017, he moved up to live on the Oregon/Washington border.  In his spare time, Kevin enjoys spending as much time as possible with his wife and three kids exploring the Pacific Northwest.  He's also a competitive chili chef with several wins under his belt. Connect with Kevin:  LinkedIn Connect with Theresa and Ivana: Theresa, True Strategy Consultants: tsc-consultants.com LinkedIn @treeconti, Insta @tscconsultants Ivana, Courageous Being: courageousbeing.com LinkedIn @ivipol, Insta @courbeing SITP team, Step Into The Pivot: stepintothepivot.com LinkedIn @step-into-the-pivot, YouTube @StepIntoThePivot

    Kevin Spaeth: Cherish Every Day
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About

Welcome to Step into the Pivot where your hosts Ivana and Theresa talk to people just like you. We will have honest conversations with our guests about issues they have faced, how they had to pivot to address them and lessons learned that you can apply to your life.

Information

  • Creator
    Theresa Conti & Ivana Polonijo
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    87
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Step into the Pivot
  • Show Website
    Step into the Pivot