Wings of Inspired Business

Melinda Wittstock
  • 4.9 (148)
  • ENTREPRENEURSHIP
  • UPDATED BIWEEKLY
Wings of Inspired Business

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. 3H AGO

    Experiential Marketing: Entrepreneur Lacey Bridges on Elevating Brand Stories Through Human Connection

    Lacey Bridges is the founder of Black Flamingo Agency, an experiential marketing firm in Los Angeles. As a visionary leader and innovative creative marketer, Lacey excels at crafting immersive experiences that drive brand success. Her entrepreneurial spirit and passion for the experiential side of marketing solutions have positioned Black Flamingo Agency as one of the fastest-growing trailblazers in the industry. Spearheading groundbreaking campaigns for major brands like Good American, Savage X Fenty, and TopGolf, Lacey has created transformative and unforgettable experiences that solidify her reputation as a leader in experiential marketing. 🔑Key Takeaways🔑 🌟😊 The Power of Experiential Marketing: Learn how to create unforgettable human-to-human contact with brand events that transcend digital content in a disconnected world. 🥰❤️Creating Emotional Connections: Discover how brands can touch people's hearts through authentic storytelling and attention to detail. Whether through a grand event or bespoke content, learn the importance of making every small detail count, so people leave with a lasting positive feeling. 📈🔥Generating Long Tail Earned Media: Learn why creating magical experiences that bring people together around a brand promise turns customers into loyal and enthusiastic influencers, posting many months after the event. 🚀🌈 Women Supporting Women: How to create a safe, empowering space for women to grow, support one another, and thrive together in the industry by actively seeking out collaborations with other female-led businesses to foster mutual growth and empowerment. 💕 🤝Love What You Do: Learn from Lacey's personal story of becoming an entrepreneur, her passion for creating a joyful work environment for her team, and how she ensures every project is treated as a partnership, never just a transaction. 🎙️Subscribe to Wings and get the full Show Notes at https://bit.ly/Wings926 More about Lacey at Black Flamingo Agency

    45 min

  2. APR 15

    Escape to Panama: Real Estate Maven Melissa Darnay on Why It Makes A Perfect New Home for Entrepreneurs

    Melissa Darnay has been living her dream life in Panama since 2012 as the CEO of Choose Panama, a luxury real estate and rental agency based in Panama City. Melissa specializes in helping clients find the perfect investment properties that align with their personal dreams and financial goals. Her unique approach sets her apart from other real estate professionals—she guides clients from their first inquiry through every stage of settling into Panama, offering support long after the transaction is complete. 🔑Key Takeaways🔑 💰 📈 Panama's Business Potential: For entrepreneurs looking for a Plan B, Panama offers unique advantages. With its business-friendly environment, stable climate free from natural disasters, and strategic geographical location, it's a viable option for business diversification and real estate investment. 🏡 🏖️ Navigate Panama’s Real Estate Like a Local: Learn how to make a move stress free and find the maximum ROI properties in Panama to support your dream lifestyle. 💪 🤗 Embrace Change and Adaptation: Be inspired by Melissa's story of how to turn tragedy unexpected challenges into pure gold with a leap of faith. 🔥🛠️Entrepreneurial Spirit and Resilience: Learn how to build resilience by jumping in with both feet and being willing to experiment and learn through failures to eventually succeed. 🎯 💵Smart Investment Strategies: Why you should consider looking overseas, and why you need clarity on your exit strategy for any foreign investments. 🎙️Subscribe to Wings and get the full Show Notes at https://bit.ly/Wings925 More about Melissa at Choose Panama  Get your FREE copy of "Panama Uncorked: Everything You Need to Know to Visit, Live or Invest in Panama" Listen to The Panama Podcas

    39 min

  3. APR 8

    Focus On Feedback: Serial Entrepreneur Penny Zenker AKA “The Focusologist” on Achieving More With Less

    Penny Zenker is a serial founder, sought-after speaker, bestselling author, and former C-Suite executive of a global top five market research company who now helps entrepreneurs and executives at firms large and small, including Deloitte, Pfizer, SAP and Samsung solve complex problems and find alignment to accelerate business growth. Over the past three decades, she has built and sold multiple multimillion-dollar companies—including the award-winning tech firm Smart Moves she founded and sold to a French company. Penny is also a Tony Robbins Business Coach helping companies double and triple businesses and her TEDx, “The Energy of Thought,” has had over 1 million views worldwide. 🔑Key Takeaways🔑 👓💬Focus on Feedback: Many things demand your focus in business, but the most important focus is on feedback from your customers, your team, and your numbers and data to create an iterative loop for growth. 🧠✨The Reset Mindset: Learn the power of dynamic reassessment, constantly checking in with yourself and your team to ensure you're focused on what truly matters. Business environments are ever-changing, and staying adaptable is the secret to your success. How to Achieve more with less: 😅💼 The Paradox of Control: Why the more you try to control, the less control you have. Delegating authority along with responsibility builds trust, empowers your team, and fosters a culture of creativity and ownership. 🔍🤝 The Power of Dynamic Reassessment: Penny emphasizes the importance of constantly checking in to ensure you're focused on what truly matters. Business environments are ever-changing, and staying adaptable can significantly impact success. 🧠 💡 The Energy of Thought: Mindset can either limit or propel us. Approaching challenges and navigating change with a growth mindset opens up opportunities that we might not have considered possible, and enables you to shift focus as necessary. 🎙️Subscribe to Wings and get the full Show Notes at https://bit.ly/Wings924   More about Penny at PennysKeynote Get Penny’s book The Reset Mindset: Get Unstuck, Focus on What Matters Most, and Reach Your Goals Faste

    49 min

  4. APR 1

    Inside the Crucible: Entrepreneur Lindsay Guzowski on Transforming Venture and Private Equity with Unbiased Executive Assessments

    Lindsay Guzowski is the CEO and founder of The Crucible, a company transforming how private equity and venture firms assess and develop leadership at their portfolio companies using scientifically validated, bias-tested tools. A visionary entrepreneur, she co-founded a plumbing company that grew from a $40,000 investment into a multi-million-dollar enterprise acquired for over $20 million. With degrees from Dartmouth College, UNC-Chapel Hill, and Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management, Lindsay blends expertise in sociology, finance, and management. Since founding The Crucible in 2020, she has earned multiple industry awards, all while being a devoted mother to her competitive go-kart-racing son. 🔑Key Takeaways🔑 🔍 👩‍🔬 Eliminating Bias in Executive Evaluations: Learn the innovative approach that removes bias from investors and others assessing founders and executive teams so venture firms no longer overlook diverse and qualified talent based on outdated stereotypes or unconscious bias. 🧩 👥 Strategic Team Building: How to assess cognitive abilities, resilience, pattern recognition, innovative thinking and emotional leverage, so your business can identify gaps and strategically build balanced teams, enhance collaboration and reduce turnover. 📈 🚀Data-Driven Decision Making: How The Crucible uses tailored algorithms and innovative assessments to provide actionable insights, allowing investors to make informed decisions and better match team dynamics with company objectives. 💼🔥The Five Success Factors: Learn what predicts the success of an entrepreneurial or executive leader, from “disdain for losing” to numbers fluency, storytelling, empathy, and ability to process information quickly with accuracy. 💡 🛠️ Systems Vs. Linear Thinkers: The creative power of ‘matrix thinking’ and why women with children are inherently better at “connecting the dots”, collaborating and enabling cross-disciplinary innovation. 🎙️Subscribe to Wings and get the full Show Notes at https://bit.ly/Wings923 More about Lindsay, plus a 20% discount on Crucible  Short Link:  https://bit.ly/Wings923 Link: https://melindawittstock.com/wingspodcast/lindsay-guzowski

    57 min

  5. MAR 25

    Tackling the 2% Problem for 10X Returns: Venture Investor Julie Castro Abrams on Building Her Woman-Only VC Fund

    Julie Castro Abrams is a venture capitalist and gender and racial justice activist who has spent the majority of her career working to build great women-owned companies and economic access for women. She is the founder and CEO of How Women Lead, a network of 14,000-plus top executive women who come together to learn, break barriers to success, and make an impact. Using her extensive background, Julie helps top executive women harness and activate their power across all aspects of their careers and lives. She also leads the sister organization, How Women Invest, an early-stage venture capital firm seeking to realize untapped economic potential by focusing on the intersection of female founders and female investors, particularly those of color. 🔑Key Takeaways🔑 🚀 📈 Potential vs Previous Results: Why women founders are evaluated by venture investors with a higher and different level of scrutiny than men, and how to overcome investor bias—whether conscious or unconscious. 👩‍🔬 🤟 Breaking Barriers: What it takes to launch a successful female-led venture capital firm, and how Julie succeeded by building on an already established community to get her first $10 million from 221 female investors. 🤝 🌱 Empowering Female Investors: Why women should diversify their investment portfolios into venture capital firms supporting women entrepreneurs—not only for a potential 10X return, but also because most female founders create mission-driven companies that have a social impact. ✨ 🌈 Invest in Values: How to make venture investments with companies and funds that align with your values for social impact and purpose. 💰💵 Expanding Women's Wealth: Learn how Julie’s New Table Campaign is encouraging women to unite their financial power to achieve a profound impact, with a target to channel $1 billion into women-run venture capital firms. 🎙️Subscribe to Wings and get the full Show Notes at https://bit.ly/Wings922   More about Julie at How Women Lead https://www.howwomenlead.com/ and How Women Invest  https://www.howwomeninvest.com/

    59 min

  6. MAR 18

    Writing Your Next Chapter: Entrepreneur Nina Sossamon-Pogue on Resilience and Overcoming Adversity

    Nina Sossamon-Pogue is a sought-after speaker, two-time bestselling author, and entrepreneur whose journey through elite gymnastics, TV anchoring, and Corporate America from startup to IPO defies the ordinary. An Olympic hopeful on the USA Gymnastics team with Mary Lou Retton, an injury crushed her dreams before becoming a catalyst for a 20-year career as an Emmy Award winning journalist and anchor. Another transformative challenge led her to technology and a journey navigating startup growth to a highly successful IPO. Drawing on her expertise across communications, corporate leadership and resilience research, she now helps others conquer life’s obstacles to reach new levels of success. Author of This Is Not the End: Strategies to Get You Through the Worst Chapters of Your Life and But I Want Both: A Working Mom’s Guide to Creating a Life She Loves, Nina also founded the innovative online coaching company Now What Workshop. 🔑Key Takeaways🔑 🏆 🏋️‍♀️ What Athletes Teach Entrepreneurs about Resilience: Athletes bring essential skills to business: persistence, discipline, coachability, and the ability to get up after a fall. These skills are game changers in entrepreneurship, where failure is part of the journey.  🌟✊Past the Pain There’s Gain: From life-changing injury to horrific public tragedy, learn how radical changes in circumstance brought about by unexpected events or challenges can help us all emerge stronger, revitalized and thriving in life’s new chapters. 💼 🚀 Adapting in Business: Sometimes external happenings like tariffs, recessions and pandemics force a change in business strategy and operations. Nina shares how her newly launched public speaking career got sidelined when Covid struck, and how she found the resilience to pivot quickly to grow an even bigger business.  🌱🔍 The Now What Workshop: If you're in a "now what" moment, learn how Nina’s online coaching provides actionable strategies to help you navigate through crises and find paths forward, no matter the situation, so you do better than “bounce back” by growing stronger and more capable with each new hurdle.  🎙️Subscribe to Wings and get the full Show Notes at https://bit.ly/Wings921   More about Nina at Nina Sossamon-Pogue https://www.ninasossamonpogue.com/ and Now What Workshop https://nowwhatworkshop.com

    44 min

  7. MAR 11

    Transforming Gardening with AI: Entrepreneur Donna Letier on Cultivating Wellness with Container Gardens

    Donna Letier is the CEO and founder of Gardenuity, a fast-growing company merging gardening with the wellness sector through personalized container gardens and AI-powered gardening experiences. Donna has raised $8 million for her company so far, innovating Gardenuity Match, which uses AI and weather tech to custom-craft gardens around lifestyles, climate and environment. With over 20 years of retail experience, spanning public and private companies, Donna has worked in the areas of operations, brand marketing, and product development, and takes a data-driven approach with a consumer point of view. Previously, she was CMO for a home furnishings brand with over $500M in annual revenue. She has also been part of the marketing team at Neiman Marcus, MGM, Barneys New York, and United Artists. Donna has been featured in Story of a Brand, Cheddar News, Forbes, Tech FW, WFAA #UpWithHer, Growing Spaces, and The Grow Network. 🔑Key Takeaways🔑 🌿🌐 Gardening for All: Learn how gardening is being democratizing so that anyone can experience its nutritional and mental health benefits—whether you're in a high-rise, have a backyard, or live in an urban apartment. 🌍🤖 Grounding in a Digital World: Discover how gardening can improve your mental health by grounding you in the present, away from the hustle and bustle of technology and constant connectivity. Learn the holistic wellness benefits that come with getting your hands in the soil. 🌱💡 AI and Gardening: How AI is being used to personalize gardening experiences, from weather tech and predictive alerts to understanding what plants most align to climate, lifestyle and circumstance—to ensure your success, no matter where you live. 🔥🛠️Entrepreneurial Insights: What gardening can teach us about the entrepreneurial process – resilience, innovation and adaptability – from sprouting to pruning and seasons of growth. 🎙️Subscribe to Wings and get the full Show Notes at https://bit.ly/Wings920 More about Donna at Gardenuity

    48 min

  8. MAR 4

    Tax Time: Entrepreneur Melissa Broughton on How to Be Proactive with Tax and Accounting

    Melissa Broughton is a tax and accounting specialist and the founder of Busy Bee Advisors, helping business owners and entrepreneurs get savvy about complex, even frustrating, tax and bookkeeping situations. Her background in corporate accounting and auditing complements her desire to serve as a financial translator, of sorts, to sole proprietors and small business owners so that they feel confident in their financial decisions. With her husband Eric, a tax professional, Melissa co-hosts a popular podcast, The Real Buzz: Taking the Sting Out of Taxes. She is a member of Business Network International, Rotary, FU Nights, Women in Consulting, and previously served as finance chair on the Sacramento Children's Receiving Home Board of Directors. 🔑Key Takeaways🔑 🚀 🌱Why Tax Time Is An Opportunity: Learn to be proactive about your taxes and get early advice from tax professionals. 🤔💭Understanding Uncertainty: With the shifting political landscape, tsunami of Presidential executive orders, and DOGE cuts, make sure you verify facts before making any business decisions based on news or social media. 📈 💡Proactivity over Reactivity: Understanding potential deductions and credits, like R&D tax credits or ADA compliance credits, can result in significant tax savings. 💼🔥Choosing the Right Business Structure: Whether it’s a sole proprietorship, LLC, S Corp, or C Corp, each business entity has different tax implications, and these can change depending on the state. 🛠️✨Tools in Your Arsenal: Why it’s vital to develop a robust toolkit of trusted advisors – including a tax professional, a business attorney, and a financial advisor. 🎙️Subscribe to Wings and get the full Show Notes at https://bit.ly/Wings919 Get a complimentary copy of Melissa's new book, The 4-Hour Bookkeeper Listen to Melissa’s podcast The Real Buzz: Taking the Sting Out of Taxes

    44 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 - 2025
  • Episodes
    930
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Wings Media LLC 2019
  • Show Website
    Wings of Inspired Business

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