Pretty Powerful Podcast with Angela Gennari

Episode 56: Cara Kamenev

Building a brand can be a daunting task, especially in the ultra-competitive markets of cosmetics and alcohol... but Cara Kamenev has taken on both with incredible success! Cara Kamenev is a co-founder and CEO of Thomas Ashbourne, the young, ready-to-sip canned and bottled craft cocktail brand that launched last year.
Before joining Thomas Ashbourne, she was a rising star at L'Oreal Paris in the US for nearly 10 years where she served as Vice President of Brand Engagement, focusing on brand equity marketing, paid media and digital while also managing celebrity and brand ambassadors on global and local initiatives.
Although she was incredibly successful, she felt it was time for a change (in her personal life at this time, she was going through a divorce and was raising her daughter on her own) - and the jump was huge - she was diving head first into a different category and was responsible for building an entire team and brand. 
The brand is young and fun and backed by amazing celebrity partners including Sarah Jessica Parker (The Perfect Cosmo), Ashley Benson, Rosario Dawson, Vanessa Hudgens (The Margalicious) and more to come.

Episode 55: Linda Criblez

This is the podcast episode that you NEED to listen to! Linda Criblez, formerly Chief of Station and senior operations officer for the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) and now the Deputy Director of Homeland Security at GEMA, shares some critical insight about cybersecurity, the dark web, the opportunities for women in the CIA, current international struggles and how to keep your family safe at home.
Linda Criblez has expertise in counter-terrorism, hard target threats, and cybersecurity. Her Washington based assignments included an executive role leading the personnel, planning, contractor, training, budget, strategy, policy, communications and employee engagement for hundreds of personnel and a budget in the hundreds of millions of dollars. She served as an operations officer with assignments around the world and started her operational career as part of the 9/11 task force.

Episode 54: Bianca D’Alessio

There are real estate brokers, and then there is Bianca D'Alessio... an exceptionally brilliant, strategy driven, world-traveling, public-speaking, reality TV star, social media maven, elite Real Estate Broker who manages a $10B portfolio for Nest Seekers International that primarily focuses on the insanely competitive NYC and Hamptons luxury markets. If you think that is a mouthful, you should try keeping up with her for a day. Bianca is easily one of the most impressive women I've met, and she says that while she may not be the smartest person in the room, no one will outwork her. I disagree with her not being the smartest person in the room, by the way. 
Prior to her career in Real Estate, Bianca was traveling around the world and later transitioned into a non-profit position, focusing on leadership development, communication, and behavioral training workshops for women across the United States. As an avid volunteer and advocate for women, Bianca regularly facilitates workshops in New York on topics such as opening a bank account, establishing and using lines of credit responsibly, household budgeting and navigating the financial aid process. She also serves on the Alumni Advisory Board for her alma mater, Babson College in Boston. During her time at Babson, Bianca packed a suitcase and moved to Auckland, New Zealand for six months where she enrolled at the Business School at the University of Auckland. She then spent the next three months living in China, Russia and India studying the entrepreneurial ecosystems and political spheres that affect business in the emerging markets. Bianca eventually went on to do consulting work for a technology start-up firm in Tel Aviv, Israel. Through her time abroad, she gained incredible insight on different communication styles, negotiation tactics and cultural norms. Bianca prides herself on being a strong listener, lifelong learner and loyal advocate for her clients.

Episode 53: Ashley Ford

In my experience, there are four essential items that entrepreneurs need to stay focused on in order to create, manage and scale their business.... mission, vision, strategy and FINANCE! Ashley Ford, Founder of Pretty Penny, is an expert in small business accounting, a QuickBooks guru, and has worked with hundreds of entrepreneurs to transform the way they make and spend money in their businesses. She knows that financial clarity is the key to sustainable success and is obsessed with helping women in business succeed. Thankfully I am finally seeing women approach what was a taboo topic.... money and finance. You cannot scale businesses without it, so it's time to get comfortable with it. Ashley Ford can help!

Episode 52: Yuquan Holloway

Sometimes you meet someone who truly strikes you as genuine and intriguing.... Yuquan Holloway was that person for me... The moment I met her I wanted to know her story. Yuquan uses her education in engineering, coupled with her gift of being able to simplify and streamline very complicated processes, to create efficiency within organizations. Yuquan is the Founder of Holloway Consulting, and considers herself an "accidental entrepreneur" after working within the large Fortune 100 company sector for most of her career. However, the results she provides her clients is certainly no accident, as she is intentionally moving the needle for them in developing better change management strategies and cross-functional initiatives. 

Episode 51 - Kavitta Ghai

I believe that the very best business ideas come from seeking a solution to a problem, not finding it, having the courage and tenacity to solve the problem yourself, and then marketing it to others who would benefit from the solution as well. This is exactly what Kavitta Ghai did after saying to herself one too many times, "There has got to be a better way!" and deciding she was going to find it. Kavitta is not your typical entrepreneur... she founded her company, Nectir, as a college student who wasn't quite able to connect and thrive in the standard educational model as someone with autism and ADHD. However, one pivotal instructor changed her perspective by changing the learning environment, and suddenly, everything felt right. She excelled in that class, and set out to provide this same environment for students around the world. Kavitta Ghai is creating communities within classrooms and building the campus of the future. This insightful conversation has certainly changed my view about the future of education.

Episode 50: Jane Gentry

As a business owner or executive, sometimes we cannot see the forest for the trees.. you are so busy working IN your business, that you stop working ON the business. If you have ever struggled with growth, vision or operations, Jane Gentry is who you call to level up and set your business on the right trajectory. As someone who has personally benefitted from her sage advice, I cannot advocate enough for executives to seek outside guidance when you become stuck or need to tighten up your operations... Jane Gentry is my go-to, and now you get to learn from her as well! You will absolutely view your company, sales and leadership style differently after this episode.

Episode 49: Kerry-Ann Powell

Kerry-Ann Powell doesn't just support a cause, she champions it! From attending law school to get to the root of a domestic violence problem to raising $120 million to build the Martin Luther King Jr Monument in DC, she is passionate about making a difference. Now she funnels that passion into helping small businesses.
Kerry-Ann is a global business strategist, speaker and champion of small and medium sized businesses. She is committed to spreading the gospel that running a small and medium-sized business is vital and important to our economies, yet it doesn't have to feel like trying to manage a chaotic tornado. And business owners can run their businesses smoothly and feel confident that they will thrive.

Episode 48: Lindy Nowak

As a bootstrapping entrepreneur, it is a constant battle between time, money and talent... what should you or could you do yourself, and what needs to be outsourced due to lack of time or talent... yet is affordable? I learned the hard way that building a website can be daunting, and probably not the best use of my time as an entrepreneur, but it was soooo expensive to have it done professionally! Lindy Nowak set out to make that both affordable and easy for her small business clients! Lindy Nowak spent over 15 years as a creative director in New York City working for multiple brands including L’Oréal, Bon Appetit, Entertainment Weekly and Women’s Health Magazines. Today, she is the founder and CEO of Up in a Day, a turnkey website product that helps CPAs, mortgage brokers, restaurant owners, therapists, and tech start ups get a great website up and running quickly, on budget, and with very little effort from them. Hear about Lindy's journey from creative director to tech founder... and lessons learned along the way!

Episode 47: Sally Gimon

Growing up my family had very little money, so just having a little bit of savings in a bank account, even if briefly, felt like we were "rich" for the moment. Then there were concepts that were completely foreign to me.... a trust being one of them. I really didn't understand the use, the value and benefit of them until recently, and Sally Gimon explains irrevocable trusts in depth in this interview. A trust is no longer just for the uber-wealthy.... lots of people are taking advantage of the tax and legal benefits of a trust, and Sally tells us how it has enabled her real estate business to become even more successful.