021: How Business Owners are Weathering the Storm with Allie Lehman

025: Raising Startup Capital on Twitter with Lolita Taub and Chrissy Cowdrey

In this special two-part episode of She Starts Up, I'm sharing a startup story and interviewing two women on opposite sides of the narrative, Chrissy Cowdrey and Lolita Taub.

More about Lolita

Lolita Taub is a first-generation Latinx operator and investor pushing for diversity in tech. She's acting Chief of Staff and interim head of sales at Catalyte; a scout at Indie.vc, Venture Partner at NextGen Venture Partners, and an LP at Operators Collective and Portfolia's Enterprise Fund; and a mom to the cutest Dachshund mix.

More about Chrissy

Chrissy Cowdrey is CEO & Founder of Stagger. Chrissy's career has been rooted in leading creative teams through the human centered design process. She's designed digital experiences for startups and large companies ranging from Disney, USAA, Logitech and frog design. As an avid traveler and addicted to seeing the way other parts of the world works, she designed Stagger to solve a problem of visual storytelling for herself that has grown into a business focused on visual storytelling and brand building for businesses. When she's not working, she spends her time staying active and planning for her next travel adventure.

Listen for...

Part 1

• An announcement some exciting news: I've made my first investment in Stagger, an app for visual storytelling for your brand.
• The tweet from Lolita Taub that got me over 30 pitch decks for review, sparking the investment in Stagger.
• Lolita Taub's story and background, including how she became involved in the startup world.
• How working with an executive coach allowed Lolita to find her purpose and magic sauce: connecting people to resources to achieve goals and produce results for all.
• Lolita's involvement in the startup community and the projects she is currently working on, including an investor and startup matching tool.
• The importance of diversity in startups, teams, and investment. Lolita is helping to create a world where technology is led by the diversity of our population

Part 2

• What it was like for me, a former founder raising capital, being on the other side of fundraising as an investor.
• How Chrissy stumbled upon Janine's tweet expressing she was looking to invest and how the conversation continued from there.
• The story of how Chrissy came up with the idea for Stagger, and how she turned her idea into a widely-used app by influencers and small businesses.
• Chrissy's experience with fundraising and what it was like to raise money during COVID-19.
• The evolution of Stagger's product and ways it will help small businesses and businesses with storytelling and building their brand.
• Behind the scenes of Stagger, including user testing, building the product, and juggling fundraising and product management.

Listen Now on iTunes, Spotify and Google Play!

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Connect with Lolita Taub Online

Lolita's Twitter

Lolita's Newsletter

Schedule a Call with Lolita

Connect with Chrissy Cowdrey Online

Chrissy's Email

Chrissy's Twitter

Mentioned in this Episode

Startup Investor Matching

Raising During COVID - Virtual Demo Day

Startup Investment Consideration Form

Fundraise from Scratch Course (if you use the link + promo code TeamLolita, you'll get 10% off)

Arlan Hamilton's Book

Stagger.it

024: From Founding a Company to Freezing Eggs: Real Talk with Amanda Goetz

Amanda Goetz is the VP of Marketing for The Knot Worldwide. Previously, she served as a startup founder building availability software for the wedding industry after spending years analyzing companies for Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur Of The Year program. Amanda is a Midwest girl at heart but lives in the Upper West Side of NYC with her three children: Hadley, Lincoln and Greyson.

Listen as Amanda and I discuss

• Her startup story and how she got her business off the ground.
• Fundraising as a female founder, and the adversity we both faced while trying to raise capital.
• How working in a startup prepares you to take on a role in a larger company.
• What it's like to transition from founder to employee.
• Her time as a wedding planner for celebrities.
• Why she decided to freeze her eggs and what the entire process looked like.
• Amanda's advice for female founders and working mothers.

Listen Now on iTunes, Spotify and Google Play!

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Connect with Amanda Goetz Online

Twitter

Instagram

023: Adoption Misperceptions with Megan Garbe

I am so excited to have Megan Garbe on this episode of She Starts Up, where she openly shares her experience of adopting her daughter Lily. Megan and I speak about adoption misperceptions, as well as her journey of becoming an adoptive parent and ways we can be more mindful when talking about adoption. Let's start up!

Bio

[waiting]

Listen as Megan and I discuss...

• the path leading up to her family's decision to adopt, which included seeing a fertility specialist, and forgoing IVF treatments.
• the adoption process, and the trainings & tests required for those adopting a child.
• her personal experience with finding and working with adoption agencies, the home study, match process and waiting period.
• mental health for adoptive parents: the rooted causes of post-partum depression and anxiety for adoptive parents.
• how society views and adoption and adoptive parents and how we can make efforts to change the systematic differences change our viewpoint
• Being mindful of your language and word choice when speaking to adoptive parents
• The benefits of open adoption and navigating the relationship between with your child's birth parents as an adoptive parent
• how Megan and her husband speak openly to her child about adoption and her birth parents and why this is important.
• Her advice for people considering adoption.

"Adoption is not a plan b its just another plan"

"adoption is not transactional, it's a lot of factors that go into it."

Listen Now on iTunes, Spotify and Google Play!

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Connect with Megan Online

Twitter

Instagram

022: Motherhood Comes In All Forms

Motherhood isn't one-size-fits all. In this episode of She Starts Up, I'm kicking off a new series called Motherhood Comes in All Forms. Over multiple episodes, I'll be speaking with different moms about their path to motherhood and the challenges they faced along the way. But before we dive into the series, I want to give you a look into my journey.

Listen as I...

• Provide a sneak peak into the rest of the series: which includes raw, honest conversations with adoptive mothers, women who have struggled with hormone imbalances and single moms.
• Share my story of starting a family and having four children in just a few short years
• Talk about my twin pregnancy, including my fears, complications and the difference from a singleton pregnancy.
• Speak on about how my husband and I managed with four kids
• Open up about my experience with postpartum depression

Listen and Subscribe on iTunes, Spotify and Google Play!

021: How Business Owners are Weathering the Storm with Allie Lehman

Allie Lehman of the Wonder Jam joins me on this episode of She Starts Up to chat about her creative background and being a business owner during the coronavirus pandemic.

Listen as Allie and I discuss...

• Allie's favorite ways to create and how she finds a balance between creating as a hobby and to make money
• her experience with starting newsletters, including her previous Death to the Stock Photo and her current newsletter A Consideration
• the reason behind Allie's newsletter and her experience thus far with sending out emails every week
• how the small businesses are affected by the pandemic and are they are reacting and changing course to stay relevant during this time.
• the Wonder Jam's creative and unique ideas for tiny businesses.
• how the Wonder Jam has shifted their perspective and business model to serve their customers who need help.
• the importance of relationships as an entrepreneur.
• how business owners can stay nimble during the coronavirus pandemic and the positive changes and innovations she is seeing from business owners during these hard times.
• ways to keep your team connected when working from home.

Find Allie Online

• Subscribe to Allie's newsletter
• The Wonder Jam
• Instagram
• Twitter

Listen and Subscribe on iTunes, Spotify and Google Play!