Badass Women in Business

Hosted by Aggie & Cristy

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Episodes

159

Latest episode

Aug 2026

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EN-US

About the show

Welcome to The Badass Women in Business Podcast , the definitive space for unfiltered, tactical insights into female entrepreneurship, enterprise scaling, and business monetization. Hosted by seasoned business owners, growth partners, and exit strategists Cristy O’Connor and Aggie Chydzinski, this podcast moves past passive advisory to bring you directly inside the high-stakes execution of building and successfully exiting companies on your own terms. As hands-on growth partners who actively engineer scale and value alongside founders, we deliberately strip away the superficiality of traditional corporate highlight reels. Instead, we dissect the raw, hard-earned operational strategies and profound psychological shifts required to unlock true enterprise value. Each week, our conversations turn systemic business obstacles into high-velocity execution plans, offering sophisticated, real-world frameworks for ambitious women who are leading teams, optimizing cash flow, and engineering highly scalable, exit-ready companies. Whether you are in the trenches of bootstrapping an innovative startup, navigating complex partnership dynamics, or designing the ultimate monetization strategy for your life's work, this podcast provides the active strategy needed to drive valuation and claim full autonomy over your future. Subscribe now to join a premier movement of women rewriting the rules of modern commerce, one definitive story at a time. New episodes deliver partner-level value every Tuesday.

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August 18, 2026Episode 2753 min

The Risk of Doing Nothing: Stephanie Georges on Midlife Reinvention for Women Over 50

Send us Fan Mail The most dangerous career risk for many experienced women is not the leap, but staying in roles and systems that keep minimizing their power. Stephanie Georges brings four decades of Wall Street and C suite transformation experience to a sharper conversation about dignity, agency, AI, and why midlife can become a serious entrepreneurial advantage when women stop waiting for permission and start building the conditions for their next chapter. SHOW NOTES Strategic Focus This conversation asks what happens when highly capable women reach the edge of reinvention and realize that competence alone will not protect their purpose, health, or power. For founders and executives, Stephanie’s lens is especially useful because she treats dignity not as a soft idea, but as a strategic operating principle for making decisions, designing better systems, and building platforms that serve women with more precision. Key Takeaways Why the real risk may be staying too long in a role, relationship, or system that quietly drains agency. How dignity offers a broader, less zero sum frame than equity for changing the narrative around women’s power. Why women over 50 carry underrecognized economic, professional, and lived experience that the business world has not fully learned how to value. How AI can become more useful for women when it is trained around women’s language, research, health needs, and workplace realities rather than generic assumptions. GUEST CONTACT & CONNECT Stephanie Georges is a seasoned executive, strategist, Harvard Advanced Leadership Initiative Senior Fellow, and co creator of The Meraki Dignity Project, a women’s movement and AI enabled platform supporting women over 50 through major life transitions. Website: https://www.merakidignity.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/merakidignity/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/merakidignity/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheMerakiDignityProject Substack: https://substack.com/@merakidignity Join the proveHER community and read the companion Blogcast for more conversations and practical resources for women building, leading, and redefining what comes next. --- Subscribe and Review If you loved this episode, drop us a review, share it with a badass woman in your life, and subscribe to Badass Women in Business wherever you get your podcasts. Stay badass. Stay bold. Build it your way. Keep up with more content from Aggie and Cristy here: Facebook: Empowered Women Leaders Instagram: @badass_women_in_business LinkedIn: ProveHer - Badass Women in Business Website: Badasswomeninbusinesspodcast.com Athena: athenaac.com

August 11, 2026Episode 2651 min

Turning Fandom Into Revenue Without Losing the Brand with Veronica Hart

Send us Fan Mail Growth in entertainment is no longer just about getting attention; it is about turning emotional connection into live experiences, licensing, merchandise, sports, and global partnerships without diluting what people loved in the first place. Veronica Hart, Chief Growth Officer of RWS Global, unpacks how leaders can build new revenue streams, protect brand integrity, and create momentum in complex markets while making sure women are not waiting for permission to claim their seat at the table. SHOW NOTES Strategic Focus This conversation explores the discipline behind modern brand growth: how companies decide when an idea has enough audience demand to expand, how leaders build alignment across creative and commercial teams, and why women’s perspectives are not a side conversation but a business requirement when companies are trying to reach the full market. Key Takeaways Brand expansion works when companies understand where fans are emotionally invested, then create products, experiences, and partnerships that feel like a natural extension rather than a cash grab. Live experiences are becoming a serious growth channel because consumers need a compelling reason to leave the couch, show up in person, and participate in a story beyond the screen. Women leaders bring a critical lens to growth strategy because companies often leave meaningful revenue untapped when they fail to account for women as consumers, decision makers, and cultural drivers. Veronica’s career shows the power of taking an opportunity further than assigned, especially for women who have been conditioned to ask for permission when the better move is to take the work, run with it, and raise the standard. GUEST CONTACT & CONNECT Veronica Hart is the Chief Growth Officer of RWS Global, where she leads growth strategy across live entertainment, brand experiences, licensing, merchandise, and global partnerships. Her career includes executive leadership roles at Paramount, CBS Consumer Products, Sesame Workshop, The Jim Henson Company, and HIT Entertainment, as well as service as Chair of the Board for Licensing International. Website: www.rwsglobal.com LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/rws-global/ Instagram: @rwsglobalofficial Join the proveHER community and read the companion Blogcast for deeper takeaways from this conversation. --- Subscribe and Review If you loved this episode, drop us a review, share it with a badass woman in your life, and subscribe to Badass Women in Business wherever you get your podcasts. Stay badass. Stay bold. Build it your way. Keep up with more content from Aggie and Cristy here: Facebook: Empowered Women Leaders Instagram: @badass_women_in_business LinkedIn: ProveHer - Badass Women in Business Website: Badasswomeninbusinesspodcast.com Athena: athenaac.com

August 4, 2026Episode 2552 min

AI Transformation Is a People Problem: Megan Malli

Send us Fan Mail Megan Malli, CEO of AnswerLab, reframes transformation as a deeply human discipline, where AI, customer insight, and leadership all fail when they are layered onto broken workflows or disconnected cultures. In this conversation, she shows why curiosity, trust, and human centered strategy are becoming the real executive advantage for companies that need to move faster without losing the people they depend on. Show Notes The Strategic Focus: This episode explores what it takes to lead through uncertainty when technology is accelerating, customer behavior is shifting, and traditional planning cycles no longer hold. Megan makes the case that the future belongs to leaders who can replace control with trust, turn research into business currency, and build organizations where better answers emerge from the right people being invited into the room. Key Takeaways: Why AI cannot rescue a weak workflow, and how leaders can redesign the work before adding new tools. How human centered research helps companies move beyond what happened and understand what customers actually need next. Why high achieving women often keep raising the bar without claiming the room, and how imposter syndrome can become a leadership signal rather than a limitation. How trust, curiosity, and visibility inside teams create stronger decisions, better adoption, and more durable momentum during change. Guest Contact & Connect Megan Malli is the CEO of AnswerLab, a user experience research and strategy company helping major brands translate human insight into better business decisions. Company: https://www.answerlab.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/meganamalli/ Join the proveHER community and read the companion blogcast for more founder led conversations on leadership, growth, and building businesses with greater courage and clarity. --- Subscribe and Review If you loved this episode, drop us a review, share it with a badass woman in your life, and subscribe to Badass Women in Business wherever you get your podcasts. Stay badass. Stay bold. Build it your way. Keep up with more content from Aggie and Cristy here: Facebook: Empowered Women Leaders Instagram: @badass_women_in_business LinkedIn: ProveHer - Badass Women in Business Website: Badasswomeninbusinesspodcast.com Athena: athenaac.com

July 28, 2026Episode 2453 min

How to Modernize a Legacy Business Without Losing Its Core: Anne Huntington Sharma

Send us Fan Mail Anne Huntington Sharma explains how leaders can honor a company’s history while still making the difficult decisions required for its next chapter. Drawing from her path from “center number 17” to President and CEO of Huntington Learning Center, she explores succession, franchise growth, digital transformation, and the discipline of evolving only when change creates measurable value. Show Notes The Strategic Focus This conversation examines what it takes to lead a second generation company with credibility, patience, and strategic clarity, especially when the business must preserve a proven model while adapting to new technology, changing customer expectations, and a complex franchise network. Key Takeaways Legacy leadership requires more than inheritance; it demands outside experience, operational credibility, and the humility to build a team with deeper expertise than your own. Successful transformation begins with a real market need, followed by careful testing, franchisee input, and consistent communication before broad implementation. Succession is not a single event but a long process built on trust, role clarity, honest dialogue, and a shared understanding of what the business will need next. Franchising can create scalable impact and recurring revenue, but only when the model is repeatable, the founder can relinquish control, and franchisees have meaningful forums for feedback. Guest Contact & Connect Anne Huntington Sharma is President, CEO, and Board Member of Huntington Learning Center, where she leads strategy, partnerships, innovation, and the continued evolution of a nearly 50 year education brand. Website: https://huntingtonhelps.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anne-huntington-sharma/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/huntingtonhelps/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HuntingtonHelps Join the proveHER community and explore the companion blogcast for deeper insights, practical tools, and continued conversations with women building influential, enduring businesses. --- Subscribe and Review If you loved this episode, drop us a review, share it with a badass woman in your life, and subscribe to Badass Women in Business wherever you get your podcasts. Stay badass. Stay bold. Build it your way. Keep up with more content from Aggie and Cristy here: Facebook: Empowered Women Leaders Instagram: @badass_women_in_business LinkedIn: ProveHer - Badass Women in Business Website: Badasswomeninbusinesspodcast.com Athena: athenaac.com

July 21, 2026Episode 2348 min

Reinvention Without Permission: Jane Bertch on Building La Cuisine Paris and Starting Again at Any Age

Send us Fan Mail Jane Bertch left corporate banking, moved through London into Paris, and built La Cuisine Paris into the largest English language French cooking school in the city, despite having no culinary background and no perfect plan. In this conversation, she shares why clarity comes through action, how community turns an experience based business into something durable, and why women should stop waiting for permission to begin again. Show Notes Jane’s story is a masterclass in founder reinvention, not as a polished leap from certainty to success, but as a lived process of testing, adapting, listening to clients, and building community around an idea that once felt wildly impractical. Clarity comes through action: Jane makes a powerful case for practicing in public, reminding women that waiting for complete readiness often delays the very learning that creates confidence. A lasting business is built through responsiveness: La Cuisine Paris grew through relationships, word of mouth, client trust, and constant adaptation, proving that beautiful ideas only survive when they meet real market desire. Community is not a soft asset: From her cooking school to her retreats and future work with women entrepreneurs, Jane shows how the right people, in the right environment, can help women see and step into a larger version of themselves. Reinvention belongs at every age: At 50, Jane is expanding beyond La Cuisine Paris into women’s development, retreats, writing, and entrepreneurial support, carrying the message that it is never too late to plant the tree. Guest Contact & Connect Jane Bertch is the founder of La Cuisine Paris , author of The French Ingredient , and creator of women centered experiences through JCMB Consulting , including retreats, entrepreneurial programs, and her Substack, Prompts from Paris . Website: La Cuisine Paris Email: contact@janebertch.com Phone: 00 33 6 25 58 80 83 LinkedIn: Jane Bertch on LinkedIn Instagram: @janebertch Substack: Prompts from Paris Join the proveHER community and access the companion blogcast for deeper insights from this episode. --- Subscribe and Review If you loved this episode, drop us a review, share it with a badass woman in your life, and subscribe to Badass Women in Business wherever you get your podcasts. Stay badass. Stay bold. Build it your way. Keep up with more content from Aggie and Cristy here: Facebook: Empowered Women Leaders Instagram: @badass_women_in_business LinkedIn: ProveHer - Badass Women in Business Website: Badasswomeninbusinesspodcast.com Athena: athenaac.com

July 14, 2026Episode 2248 min

Scaling a Purpose-Driven Coffee Brand from Garage Roasting to National Retail with Jillian Salinas

Send us Fan Mail Jillian Salinas, founder of Beach City Coffee , joins Badass Women in Business to share how a backyard roasting hobby became a national retail brand rooted in community, sustainability, and resilience. Her story offers a grounded look at what it takes to rebuild after disruption, enter major retail without a clear roadmap, and grow without abandoning the values that made people care in the first place. Show Notes The Strategic Focus: This conversation explores the long game of building a values-led consumer brand, where staying power comes not from chasing every opportunity, but from staying deeply connected to community, moving quickly when the market shifts, and making operational choices that reflect the company’s original purpose. Key Takeaways: Community can become a strategic advantage. Jillian’s growth was not built only on product quality, but on relationships, trust, and a brand story people could believe in. Resilience often means rebuilding before you feel ready. When Beach City Coffee’s original revenue stream disappeared during the pandemic, Jillian had to pivot quickly and pursue retail growth without a perfect roadmap. Sustainability has to survive scale. Beach City Coffee’s compostable, PFAS-free packaging reflects Jillian’s belief that environmental responsibility should be built into the business model, not added later as a marketing layer. Purpose-driven growth requires discipline. As the brand expanded into major retailers, including Whole Foods, Walmart, Kroger, Ralphs, Frys, and King Soopers, Jillian stayed focused on protecting the principles that shaped the company from the beginning. Guest Contact & Connect Jillian Salinas is the founder of Beach City Coffee , a Redondo Beach-based coffee brand that grew from small-batch roasting into a national retail presence while championing compostable packaging, community, and ocean-conscious business practices. Connect with Beach City Coffee: Website Instagram LinkedIn Facebook TikTok To connect with more women building bold, values-led businesses, join the proveHER community and read the companion blogcast. --- Subscribe and Review If you loved this episode, drop us a review, share it with a badass woman in your life, and subscribe to Badass Women in Business wherever you get your podcasts. Stay badass. Stay bold. Build it your way. Keep up with more content from Aggie and Cristy here: Facebook: Empowered Women Leaders Instagram: @badass_women_in_business LinkedIn: ProveHer - Badass Women in Business Website: Badasswomeninbusinesspodcast.com Athena: athenaac.com

July 7, 2026Episode 2142 min

Building a Franchise Brand Around Care, Systems, and Self Belief with Nuttha Goutier

Send us Fan Mail Nuttha Goutier built Sabai Thai Spa from less than $1,000, a clear vision, and a deep belief that wellness should feel like belonging, not a transaction. In this conversation, she shares how Thai hospitality, community care, disciplined systems, and a staff first culture helped turn one spa into a growing franchise brand with ambitious expansion plans across Canada and beyond. Show Notes Nuttha’s story is a powerful reminder that the strongest brands are not built only through capital, polish, or speed, but through a clear point of view, a repeatable customer experience, and the courage to protect the culture that made the business work in the first place. How Nuttha translated the warmth of Thai village life into a spa experience designed around all five senses, genuine hospitality, and emotional connection. Why Sabai Thai Spa grew through grassroots marketing, word of mouth, community trust, and a customer journey that made people feel deeply cared for. How systems, training, and operational discipline allowed Nuttha to step out of the day to day business and prepare the brand for franchise growth. Why she believes staff come before customers, and how caring for the team creates the kind of service culture customers can feel immediately. Guest Contact & Connect Nuttha Goutier is the founder of Sabai Thai Spa, a Thai inspired wellness franchise built around hospitality, care, and community. Website: https://sabaithai.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nutthagoutier/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nutthagoutier/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61573378331497 Join the proveHER community and read the companion blogcast for more conversations with women building companies, leading boldly, and redefining what success can look like. --- Subscribe and Review If you loved this episode, drop us a review, share it with a badass woman in your life, and subscribe to Badass Women in Business wherever you get your podcasts. Stay badass. Stay bold. Build it your way. Keep up with more content from Aggie and Cristy here: Facebook: Empowered Women Leaders Instagram: @badass_women_in_business LinkedIn: ProveHer - Badass Women in Business Website: Badasswomeninbusinesspodcast.com Athena: athenaac.com

June 30, 2026Episode 2053 min

Giving Patients Their Voice Back: Human-Centered AI with Dr. Maheen Adamson

Send us Fan Mail When Dr. Maheen Musoof Adamson watched her father lose his ability to speak after a stroke, her life’s work became deeply personal. In this episode, she shares how that experience led her to build Soof Solutions, an AI-enabled communication platform helping stroke, ALS, and non-speaking patients express their needs through eye movement, while challenging what healthcare innovation can look like when science, empathy, and access lead the way. Show Notes This conversation is about building technology that serves real human need, not just market excitement. Dr. Adamson shares how she moved from neuroscience, Stanford, and government research into entrepreneurship, and why responsible healthcare innovation requires clinical rigor, emotional conviction, global access, and the courage to lead without abandoning your values. How her father’s stroke became the catalyst for building Soof Solutions. Why eye-tracking technology can help patients communicate needs like water, comfort, pain, or connection. What it takes to raise capital and build trust as a Pakistani American Muslim woman in healthcare innovation. Why mentorship, women’s networks, and support systems matter when founders can no longer “white knuckle” their way through leadership. Guest Contact & Connect Dr. Maheen Musoof Adamson is a Clinical Professor of Neurosurgery at Stanford School of Medicine, Research Director for a national women Veterans center, Senior Scientist at VA Palo Alto Healthcare System, and CEO and Founder of Soof Solutions. Website: https://soofsolutions.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maheenmadamson/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/soofsolutions_/ X: https://x.com/soofsupport Join the proveHER community and read the companion blogcast for more insight into the founder story, leadership lessons, and human-centered innovation behind this episode. --- Subscribe and Review If you loved this episode, drop us a review, share it with a badass woman in your life, and subscribe to Badass Women in Business wherever you get your podcasts. Stay badass. Stay bold. Build it your way. Keep up with more content from Aggie and Cristy here: Facebook: Empowered Women Leaders Instagram: @badass_women_in_business LinkedIn: ProveHer - Badass Women in Business Website: Badasswomeninbusinesspodcast.com Athena: athenaac.com

June 23, 2026Episode 1954 min

Why Legal Strategy Is a Growth Strategy: Protecting Value Before It Costs You Millions with Hillary Hughes

Send us Fan Mail Most entrepreneurs view legal support as something they need when problems arise, yet the most successful founders understand that legal strategy is one of the earliest and most important investments they can make in protecting enterprise value. In this conversation, Hillary Hughes shares how thoughtful contracts, intellectual property protection, governance structures, and investor readiness can help founders avoid costly mistakes, preserve negotiating power, and build businesses that are both investable and acquirable. Show Notes The Strategic Focus This episode explores the often-overlooked connection between legal infrastructure and business growth, demonstrating how the decisions founders make in the earliest stages of company building can significantly impact valuation, fundraising success, operational stability, and long-term exit opportunities. Through practical examples and cautionary tales, Hillary reveals why proactive legal planning is not an expense, but a critical component of sustainable growth. Key Takeaways Why founders should view legal counsel as a strategic business partner rather than a resource reserved for disputes and emergencies. The hidden risks within contracts, intellectual property ownership, vendor relationships, and manufacturing agreements that can destroy enterprise value during due diligence. What investors look for when evaluating a business, and how strong governance, clean records, and operational discipline increase confidence and valuation. Why AI can be a powerful tool for education, but remains an imperfect substitute for experienced legal judgment when negotiating complex agreements. Guest Contact & Connect Hillary Hughes Chair, Business Practice | Foster Garvey Consumer Brands Industry Group Leader Website: Foster Garvey LinkedIn: Connect with Hillary Hughes Join the proveHER Community for resources, events, and conversations designed to help ambitious women build, scale, and exit successful businesses. For additional insights from this episode, visit the companion Blogcast at Badass Women in Business. --- Subscribe and Review If you loved this episode, drop us a review, share it with a badass woman in your life, and subscribe to Badass Women in Business wherever you get your podcasts. Stay badass. Stay bold. Build it your way. Keep up with more content from Aggie and Cristy here: Facebook: Empowered Women Leaders Instagram: @badass_women_in_business LinkedIn: ProveHer - Badass Women in Business Website: Badasswomeninbusinesspodcast.com Athena: athenaac.com

June 16, 2026Episode 1855 min

When Money Feels Unsafe: Tiffany Carter on Trauma, Sales, and Building Real Wealth

Send us Fan Mail Tiffany Carter’s story challenges the polished mythology of entrepreneurship by exposing how trauma can quietly shape the way high achieving founders earn, sell, lead, and stay visible, even when they appear successful from the outside. In this deeply honest conversation, Tiffany reframes money mindset as more than a confidence issue; it is a nervous system, identity, safety, and self trust conversation that determines how much capacity a leader truly has for wealth, visibility, and growth. Show Notes Tiffany Carter joins the Badass Women in Business Podcast for a raw, strategic, and profoundly human conversation about money attachment, trauma informed business growth, emotional based selling, and the hidden survival patterns that can follow ambitious women into leadership. A former TV news broadcaster turned multimillionaire entrepreneur, Tiffany is the host of ProjectME with Tiffany Carter , a top ranked money and entrepreneurship podcast, and the creator of Emotional Based Sales Techniques™, a system credited with helping clients generate more than $265 million in sales. Her work sits at the intersection of business strategy, emotional intelligence, attachment theory, and nervous system awareness, helping entrepreneurs understand why they may crave wealth, freedom, and visibility while still unconsciously resisting the very success they say they want. Why childhood trauma can become adult money drama, showing up as under earning, overworking, hoarding, burnout, fear of reinvesting, or resistance to being fully seen. How the “false self” can help high achievers perform, succeed, and receive praise, while quietly disconnecting them from their real voice, values, boundaries, and deeper purpose. Why visibility can feel dangerous for entrepreneurs who learned early that attention, power, or money were tied to control, exploitation, criticism, or emotional risk. How trauma wired founders can stop shaming their automatic stress responses and begin managing money, sales, leadership, and growth with more awareness, guardrails, and support. Why emotional based selling is not manipulation, but a deeper way of creating trust, communicating value, and helping the right buyers feel seen, safe, and ready to invest. How Tiffany’s decision to finally build ProjectME became a turning point in moving from survival, secrecy, and self doubt into truth telling, service, and financial autonomy. Why conventional business advice often fails people with complex lived experience, and why the right strategy has to account for the human being behind the brand. This episode is for the founder, executive, advisor, coach, or creator who knows she is capable of more, but keeps meeting an invisible wall around money, visibility, expansion, or self trust. Tiffany’s message is not about pretending fear disappears; it is about learning how to build wealth without abandoning yourself, how to sell without performing, and how to lead from the real self instead of the survival identity that once kept you safe. Guest Contact & Connect Tiffany Carter is a money attachment expert, business mentor, international speaker, multimillionaire entrepreneur, creator of Emotional Based Sales Techniques™, and host of ProjectME with Tiffany Carter . Through ProjectME, she helps business owners multiply sales, clients, and cash online while healing the emotional and subconscious patterns that keep them stuck in scarcity, self sabotage, and inconsistent income. Learn more about Tiffany at https://www.projectmewithtiffany.com and connect with her on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, and LinkedIn at ProjectME with Tiffany Carter. Join the proveHER community and read the companion blogcast for more conversations with women building bold, strategic, and deeply human businesses. --- Subscribe and Review If you loved this episode, drop us a review, share it with a badass woman in your life, and subscribe to Badass Women in Business wherever you get your podcasts. Stay badass. Stay bold. Build it your way. Keep up with more content from Aggie and Cristy here: Facebook: Empowered Women Leaders Instagram: @badass_women_in_business LinkedIn: ProveHer - Badass Women in Business Website: Badasswomeninbusinesspodcast.com Athena: athenaac.com