She Built It® Podcast

Hosted by Melanie Barr

Business Careers

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Episodes

300

Latest episode

Aug 2026

Language

EN-US

About the show

Welcome to the She Built It® podcast. Join me as I talk to women who have successfully built it - a life and business that they love. We dive into the topic of “how” they built it and talk about everything from having the courage to make career leaps to the details of how to lead effectively, build teams, implement growth strategies, and infuse tech innovation. Magic happens when we focus on the part of ourselves and our business that brings us joy so let’s dive in.

Listen to episodes

60 recent

August 18, 2026Episode 29927 min

How Do You Build a Skincare Business That Lasts 20 Years? with Rachel Lee Lozina

On She Built It®, Rachel Lee Lozina, founder of Blue Water Spa, licensed esthetician with 23 years of experience, and owner of two locations in New York, shares the skincare truth that most people never hear: the facials that actually change your skin, the ingredients that are marketing ploys, and why slow and consistent beats aggressive and trendy every single time. This conversation goes well beyond skincare. Rachel gets candid about what it actually took to open a second location an hour and a half from home, the cold calling, the free facials, the rejection, and the loneliness of being the new kid on the block after 18 years of established credibility. She also shares the pay structure mistake that kills most beauty businesses, why she stopped worrying about being liked by her team after 40, and how she uses AI to analyze her business metrics in ways she never could before. This is for anyone who’s ever wondered what it really costs to grow a service business from one location to two. Connect with us: Blue Water Spa Website Blue Water Spa LinkedIn Blue Water Spa Facebook Blue Water Spa Instagram Rachel Lee Lozina LinkedIn Rachel Lee Lozina Instagram Work with She Built It® Media She Built It® Instagram She Built It® CEO, Melanie Barr Instagram Melanie Barr LinkedIn She Built It® LinkedIn

August 11, 2026Episode 29822 min

How Ollie AI Is Using AI to Solve the Mental Load

On She Built It®, Christy Shannon, co-founder, CMO, and mother of four, opens with a stat that should stop every busy parent in their tracks: 41% of parents say that most days they are so stressed they cannot function. That’s not a personal failing; that’s a U.S. Surgeon General warning. Christy asks a question that’s harder to answer than it sounds: if you use AI every day to make your work life easier, why hasn’t anyone brought that same logic home? She built Ollie AI to do exactly that: a Family AI that lives in your text messages, connects to your email, calendar, and WhatsApp, and sends a shared morning rundown to you and your partner so neither of you has to hold the entire schedule in your head. She also gets honest about what it actually feels like to build something completely new in a rapidly changing space: the pivots that feel like failure but aren’t, the discomfort of self-promotion, and the truth most founders still won’t say out loud: great products don’t just rise on their own. Connect with us: Ollie AI Website Ollie AI LinkedIn Ollie AI Instagram Christy Shannon LinkedIn Work with She Built It® Media She Built It® Instagram She Built It® CEO, Melanie Barr Instagram Melanie Barr LinkedIn She Built It® LinkedIn

August 4, 2026Episode 29729 min

Reimagining Egg Freezing and Donation: Lauren Makler on Building Cofertility

On She Built It®, Lauren Makler, co-founder of Cofertility, shares how a rare disease diagnosis, three surgeries, and her sister’s act of extraordinary generosity led her to build something the fertility world desperately needed. Cofertility helps women freeze their eggs for free when they donate eggs to intended parents, making egg freezing more accessible and egg donation less transactional at the same time. Lauren talks about falling in love with the problem instead of the solution, how Cofertility used a vibe coding hackathon to transform how their team uses Claude, navigating fertility as a deeply personal and increasingly politicized topic, and the higher highs and lower lows of founding her own company after nearly a decade inside Uber. This conversation is for anyone who has navigated a winding road to parenthood, anyone building in a space that matters deeply, and anyone trying to figure out how to make a company feel sustainable for the long game. Connect with us: Cofertility Website Cofertility LinkedIn Cofertility Instagram Lauren Makler LinkedIn Lauren Makler Instagram Work with She Built It® Media She Built It® Instagram She Built It® CEO, Melanie Barr Instagram Melanie Barr LinkedIn She Built It® LinkedIn Episode Resources: Everything is Figureoutable Challenge RESOLVE: The National Infertility Association Claude AI Uber Health: Reimagining the Way People Access Healthcare

July 28, 2026Episode 29616 min

She Watched Patients Struggle With Flossing for Years. Then She Built the Fix.

On She Built It®, Brynn MacLennan, product designer, mother of five, and co-founder of Slate, shares how co-managing a dental practice revealed something that couldn’t be unseen: even wealthy, educated patients weren’t flossing. Not because they didn’t care about their health, but because flossing was broken. Brynn shares how she turned that insight into a patented 3-in-1 electric flosser now sold in 870 Target stores, what it took to hit $1M in year one, and the marketing strategies that actually moved the needle, including why dental professional influencers outperform lifestyle influencers for Slate every time. She also talks about the leadership evolution of letting go, the books that changed how she builds her team, and why she thinks founders need to talk more openly about failure. This conversation is for any founder who started with a problem no one else thought was big enough, and turned out to be right. Connect with us: Slate Flosser Website Slate Flosser LinkedIn Slate Flosser Instagram Brynn MacLennan LinkedIn Brynn MacLennan Instagram The Day I Realized Oral Health Wasn’t Just About Teeth | Brynn MacLennan | TEDxSpokane Work with She Built It® Media She Built It® Instagram She Built It® CEO, Melanie Barr Instagram Melanie Barr LinkedIn She Built It® LinkedIn Episode resources: OuterSignal — Know Every Customer Claude AI Multipliers, Revised and Updated: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter by Liz Wiseman Who Not How: The Formula to Achieve Bigger Goals Through Accelerating Teamwork by Dan Sullivan

July 21, 2026Episode 29525 min

The Fashion Brand Built on Comfort, Community, and a Very Clear Point of View

On She Built It®, Lauren Dudley Stephens, co-founder and CEO of Dudley Stephens, shares the origin story behind one of the most beloved family-owned fashion brands in the lifestyle space. What started as her mother's frustration with finding stylish, washable fleece that could go from boat to dinner became a 10-year brand built entirely on family funding, community, and the belief that women should never have to choose between looking chic and feeling comfortable. Lauren talks about how she grew Dudley Stephens through the early days of Instagram influencer culture, how AI is changing what's possible for small fashion brands, why going viral doesn't always translate to sales, and what leading a team for the first time really taught her about herself. This conversation is warm, honest, and full of the kind of real talk you only get from a founder who is still in it, every single day. Connect with us: Dudley Stephens Website Dudley Stephens LinkedIn Dudley Stephens Instagram Lauren Dudley Stephens LinkedIn Lauren Dudley Stephens Instagram Two Sisters in Business Podcast Confessions of a Type B Founder Substack Work with She Built It® Media She Built It® Instagram She Built It® CEO, Melanie Barr Instagram Melanie Barr LinkedIn She Built It® LinkedIn

July 14, 2026Episode 29414 min

Why Women’s Healthcare Is Still Broken, and How Lori Casselman Is Building the Platform to Fix It

On She Built It®, Lori Casselman, a 20-year healthcare executive turned founder, shares what it took to build June Health, Canada’s first virtual clinic providing complete care across every stage of women’s health. Lori talks about the opportunity she sees for AI to close the gender health equity gap, the leadership lessons that come with scaling a startup in healthcare, and the culture principles she fiercely protects inside a fully virtual team. She’s candid about the hardest parts of building, including the moment you realize a team member who helped you get here may not be the right person to get you to the next stage, and honest about what keeps her grounded through the pressure of a very big mission. This conversation is for any founder building something that matters at the intersection of people, technology, and purpose. Connect with us: June Health Website June Health LinkedIn June Health Instagram Lori Casselman LinkedIn Work with She Built It® Media She Built It® Instagram She Built It® CEO, Melanie Barr Instagram Melanie Barr LinkedIn She Built It® LinkedIn

July 7, 2026Episode 29326 min

Aviva Founder Amy Briggs on AI, Parenting, and Solving the Mental Load

On She Built It®, Amy Briggs, a pediatric speech and language pathologist turned tech founder, shares how a clinical career spent supporting families revealed an invisible problem: the mental load of modern parenthood. That insight became Aviva, an AI-powered app that takes over family scheduling logistics so parents can put the phone down and actually be present. Amy walks through why she chose scheduling as her starting vertical, how she built a tool people trusted enough to hand over their inboxes and calendars, the bootstrapped and disciplined way she's grown Aviva through word of mouth, and how she protects her own presence and joy while building a company from scratch. This conversation is for any founder building from lived experience, and for any parent who has ever felt like the only person holding the family calendar together. Connect with us: Aviva Website Aviva LinkedIn Aviva Instagram Amy Briggs LinkedIn Aviva: The Family Calendar AI - Google Play Store Aviva: The Family Calendar AI - App Store for iPhone Work with She Built It® Media She Built It® Instagram She Built It® CEO, Melanie Barr Instagram Melanie Barr LinkedIn She Built It® LinkedIn

June 30, 2026Episode 29220 min

What a Mohs Surgeon Learned in the OR That Led Her to Build a Skincare Brand for Teens

On She Built It®, Dr. Angela Casey, double board-certified dermatologist, micrographic surgeon, residency program director, and founder of Bright Girl Skincare, shares why the patients she operates on every day inspired her to build a consumer brand for teens. After years of treating skin cancers that could have been prevented with early habits, Dr. Casey created Bright Girl: a clinically tested, clean skincare line designed to build consistent daily routines in teens and tweens. She walks through the three-year R&D process, how she bootstrapped without outside capital, the challenges of marketing a brand she believed in, and how she balances being a surgeon, professor, mom of three daughters, and founder. This conversation is a masterclass in building with purpose, starting with proof, and leading a mission-driven business without a business degree. Connect with us: Bright Girl Website Bright Girl LinkedIn Bright Girl Instagram Bright Girl YouTube Dr. Angela Casey LinkedIn Center for Surgical Dermatology Work with She Built It® Media She Built It® Instagram She Built It® CEO, Melanie Barr Instagram Melanie Barr LinkedIn She Built It® LinkedIn

June 23, 2026Episode 29130 min

How to Lead a $30 Million Dollar Nonprofit and Turn Big Ideas Into Scalable Systems

Childcare is not a personal problem. It is an economic one, and the system built to support it is underfunded, understaffed, and breaking down. On She Built It®, Jennifer Cowan, CEO of Connections for Children, a $30 million nonprofit serving the West Side and South Bay of Los Angeles, shares what it actually takes to lead a mission-driven organization through a pandemic, wildfires, a headquarters move, and a national childcare workforce crisis, all while continuing to grow. Jennifer talks about how she turns big ideas into scalable systems, what it takes to align public, private, and community stakeholders around a common goal, and why resiliency and flexibility are the most critical leadership skills in the nonprofit sector today. She also speaks to the founding of New York City’s first Expanded Learning Time model (now replicated nationally) and what leaders need to understand about building something designed to scale. This is a conversation about systems, leadership, and what it looks like to keep showing up for families when everything around you is changing. Connect with us: Connections for Children Website Connections for Children LinkedIn Connections for Children Instagram Connections for Children Facebook Jennifer Cowan LinkedIn Work with She Built It® Media She Built It® Instagram She Built It® CEO, Melanie Barr Instagram Melanie Barr LinkedIn She Built It® LinkedIn

June 16, 2026Episode 29027 min

How to Build Healthcare Tech That Earns Trust

When Dr. Maheen Mausoof Adamson’s father had a stroke that left him unable to speak, it took him fifteen minutes to ask for a glass of water. She had just finished her PhD in neuroscience. She understood the brain but still couldn’t help him. On She Built It®, Dr. Adamson shares how that experience eventually led her to found Soof Solutions, an FDA-cleared, AI-guided communication app that uses eye and head tracking on an iPad to help people with ALS, stroke, and other neurological conditions communicate when speech is no longer possible. She also opens up about building a company while holding dual roles at Stanford and VA Palo Alto, navigating the leap from researcher to founder, and why she chose to crowdfund on StartEngine so that the community, not just investors, could be part of what she is building. This conversation is about what happens when science, personal mission, and entrepreneurship meet, and what it takes to build something that puts real impact directly in the hands of patients. Connect with us: Soof Solutions Website Soof Solutions Instagram Soof Solutions LinkedIn Maheen Mausoof Adamson LinkedIn Stanford Profile StartEngine: Invest in Startups Online Soof Solutions App — FDA-Cleared Eye-Tracking AAC Soof Caregiver App — Real-Time Patient Monitoring & Support Soof Provider App — Clinical Tools for Neuro & Stroke Care Work with She Built It® Media She Built It® Instagram She Built It® CEO, Melanie Barr Instagram Melanie Barr LinkedIn She Built It® LinkedIn