Freeman Means Business' Wonder Women in Business Podcast

Joyce Kyles is an award winning, international speaker, 2x Amazon best selling author, life and thriving skills coach, and consultant. She is the CEO of Joyce Kyles Consulting & the Executive Director & Founder of Walking Into A New Life. A graduate of Arkansas State University, she has received certifications from Cornell University in Women’s Entrepreneurship, the University of South Florida in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Workplace, and the National Council for Mental Wellbeing in Mental Health First Aid USA. She as also received certifications in domestic violence, sexual assault, and child sex abuse. Her humbling accolades and published work include features in Huffington Post, The Memphis Flyer, Tri-State Defender, Black Press USA, the New Orleans Tribune, the Welcome Greenbook for Black Tourists and being named the Crime Victim Advocate of the Year. Joyce also wrote PSAs and performed voiceovers used for domestic violence campaigns for 103.5FM, a local Cumulus affiliate station. Joyce currently serves as the Vice President of the Memphis & Shelby Co Domestic and Sexual Violence Council and is a member of the International Coaching Federation-Tennessee Chapter and Philanthroforce.

Madison Carroll is a multidimensional singer and storyteller. Her intelligence shows through her musicianship, acting, writing, and political research and activism. Madison’s abilities, coupled with her dedication to practice and performance has led her to fruitful opportunities both professional and personal.

The innate urge to move and heal others (and herself) through fields such as music, theatre, and writing, is what inspires Madison to create and share. She cares deeply about those around her and uses her identity and privilege to advocate for others whose voices are systemically and traditionally silenced.

Originally from the small town of Hanover, Massachusetts, Madison always knew she stood out. She began singing as early as she can remember. Her mother says it’s because she almost died of suffocation during childbirth, but Madison likes to think it’s all the music her parents played and sang to her in her early years. Throughout school she became increasingly interested in writing, theatre, and politics. Singing was always her home, but she craved more knowledge and more people.

This need to grow led Madison to Ithaca College where she blossomed into a competent musician, writer, actor, and activist. At Ithaca, and within the community, she studied all of these subjects with some of the best experts in the field. Here she worked with musicians such as Wynton Marsalis and Kim Nazarian. She workshopped her writing with authors such as Therese Marie Mailhot, Bryan Washington, Rajpreet Heir, and Jericho Brown. She studied with published political and sociological theorists such as Naeem Inayutullah, Rebecca Plante, and Sumru Atuk. Madison even worked as an assistant for the college’s Piano Technician- sparking another passion she wishes to pursue.

She has performed in front of audiences ranging anywhere from two to one-thousand people. Some of her favorite venues include the nursing home she worked at in high school (this held some of her most enthusiastic audience members), her living room, and Boston’s TD Garden.

Her music, both solo (Madison Carroll) and collaborative (Quail), can be found on numerous streaming platforms such as Spotify, YouTube, and Apple Music. The tunes can also be purchased on Bandcamp where, unlike streaming platforms, the majority of the proceeds go to the artist.

Stop boring your team with bland wellbeing tricks. 🛑 It doesn't work.

And the problem is: a stressed workforce is costing you BIG dollar$.

Since the pandemic started, we are facing unprecedented levels of depression (up 53%), and anxiety (up 55%) in the workforce (Oracle).

In fact, $300 Billion is lost by US businesses each year as a result of workplace stress.

Plus, 86% of employees and executives cite a lack of collaboration or ineffective communication for workplace failures (Salesforce).

And YET, the market is flooded with training on “stress management” and “work performance”, the vast majority of which are bland, boring and cite basic tips and strategies that can be found on Google in 10 seconds or less.

The problem with these types of solutions is that they are just like infomercials – they make sense in the moment, but most people forget and never take action once the show is over.

That is why I created Joy Not Stress.

👉Let’s take wellness, mental health and healthy performance from theory to practice.👈

And have a laugh in the process. 😂

A legal industry pioneer, Jan Anne Dubin is CEO and Founder of Jan Anne Dubin Consulting.  Jan is an award-winning consultant with over 35 years of experience leading, innovating, and serving as a change agent and connector.

Celebrating more than 10 years of delivering value and results to more, JADC assists organizations and individuals to better serve client needs by focusing on developing long-term relationships, strategic communications, revenue generation and by building brand, profile, and visibility.  Jan serves as an executive coach, providing strategic guidance and counsel to organizations and individuals by assisting them to achieve breakthroughs.  Jan has coached hundreds of lawyers, law students, and marketing professionals, including corporate law department and law firm leadership as well as high-potential individuals.  Jan is a career-long champion of diversity and inclusion and is passionate about her work in this area.

She serves as a strategic business partner to the Association of Corporate Counsel and has worked with ACC to create an executive coaching program and career development workshops.  She is a partner to Seyfarth Shaw’s The Belonging Project having created a three-part series for them on Empowered Resilience: Tools for Thriving in 2021.  She is also an advisor and business partner to the Thomson Reuters Legal Executive Institute and provided instrumental assistance to create and deliver its forum on Women’s Transformative Leadership: Empowerment by Improving Participation and Representation.

Jan served as the Chief Growth Officer of LifeXT, LLC (lifecrosstraining.com), where she was responsible for new client engagements by educating organizations on LifeXT’s wellbeing tools and resources.   Prior to starting JADC, she served as the first North American Business Development Director for Baker & McKenzie LLP and as the Director of Client Relations for DLA Piper US LLP and its legacy firms, where she held various senior management and leadership roles for more than 17 years.

Selected by StreetWise, Inc., as one of 20 recipients of its 2019 Inspiring Chicagoan award, Jan was also selected by Chicago Business Journal as one of its 2018 Women of Influence.  Jan was inducted in 2017 as a Fellow into the College of Law Practice Management (COLPM) and in 2016 into the Legal Marketing Association Midwest Chapter’s Hall of Fame.  She has been recognized by Today’s Chicago Woman magazine as one of 100 Women Making a Difference and has received the Anti-Defamation League’s Distinguished Community Leadership Award.

In 1994 Jan was recruited by former First Lady Michelle Obama (then executive director of Public Allies Chicago) to join its board of directors; Jan later became its board chair and today serves on the emeritus board.  In 2020, Jan was recruited to serve on the i.c. Stars Chicago board and has been active in the Anti-Defamation League’s Women of Achievement annual dinner committee, having previously chaired the fundraising event for 27 years.

A 1994 M.B.A. graduate of The University of Chicago, Booth School of Business, she holds a B.S. degree from the University of Kansas, William Allen White School of Journalism.  Jan lives in Chicago with her fiancé David Abrams and Shetland sheep dog Quinn.

Resplendent, Compassionate, Inspiring and Beautiful are some of the words often used to describe Sonja Elise Freeman, Inaugural Ms. WIBOP 2020 and Miss WIBOP Photogenic 2020, Women in Business Pageant system , who is driven by her faith in God, love for serving the community with her platform with the Diva’s Diamonds: Words to Inspire, Empower and Encourage Online Empowerment Movement by sharing her gift of encouragement  on Anchor.fm and Instagram Live weekly. She is the Sole Proprietor of Divine Voices Media, a multimedia production, brand marketing strategy and entrepreneurial consulting firm. She is also a critically acclaimed Off-Broadway & Broadway Producer/Star of Strength of a Woman: A Phyllis Hyman Tribute of the only Phyllis Hyman tribute approved and supported by the Hyman Family, Friends and New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy and former Mayor Bill de Blasio and First Lady Chirlane McCray of the City of New York.

She is a proud HBCU 2x time PVAMU Alumna and a PVAMU Alumni Affairs 5 Year Class Reunion Ambassador at Prairie View A&M University College of Arts & Sciences, a part of the Texas A&M University system, where she received a Bachelor of Arts in Vocal Performance with a minor in Fashion Merchandising & Design in 1991. She is a recent MBA-Executive Magna Cum Laude with a 3.75 GPA/4.0 GPA scale graduate from Prairie View A&M University College of Business Class of 2021 where she was a member of Graduate Student Organization, Toastmasters International, and National Association of Black Journalists. She also earned a Doctorate in Divinity (Honoris Causa) in 2021 from the Omega Bible Institute and Seminary in  Monroe, Louisiana for 30 years of service as a Psalmist and Christian Multimedia Educator as a recording artist, radio personality, podcaster, publisher, and inspirational influencer. She completed a Women’s Entrepreneurship Certification from Cornell University/Bank of America Institute, WE NYC Kauffman FastTrac Powered by Grow with Google Entrepreneurship Program in New York City, Rice University Susanne M. Glasscock School of Continuing Studies in Music Business & Law, Leadership Certificate Charter Class Inspire Women Leadership Institute at the Dallas Theological Seminary in Houston, Texas, Certificate of Achievement from Fashion Institute of Technology State University of New York Beauty Essentials and Bloomberg Market Concepts Certificate from Bloomberg LP.

She is competing in the Ultimate Queen WBLEP Pageant 2022 on June 16-19,2022 for the “Queen of Queens” Business Pageant within the Women Business Leaders and Entrepreneurs Pageant system and presently working with the Rhythm and Blues Preservation Society in Atlantic City, New Jersey as an Artist-in-Residence, VP and COO to get funding for recording a tribute album and documentary of her Phyllis Hyman tribute. She has a beautiful and talented 24-year-old daughter named Gabbie Gabs, an award-winning Toastmaster, Filmmaker, and Music Video Director. She is an alumna of University of Rochester with a Bachelor of Arts in Film Media Studies.

Cyndy McCollough is the founder of McCollough Consulting, a digital marketing agency specifically focused on professional services organizations. On a project basis, Cyndy manages rebrands, leads website redesigns, produces corporate video, and offers soup-to-nuts martech strategy and implementation.

Cyndy's understanding of the importance of customer journeys and user experience was forged early in her career in enterprise software sales, and she spent the next 20 years applying these best practices in-house for law firms. Now she is a leading voice in the legal marketing industry, a prolific marketing technology blogger, and a member of University of Richmond’s Customer Experience (CX) Advisory Board.

Cyndy lives with her husband, pup, and cats in Great Falls, VA.

Lisa Shawver is an Entrepreneur, Author, and Empowerment Coach who loves to motivate and inspire women to transform their lives and achieve the health, wealth, relationships, love, and success that they deserve.

Lisa is a former Olympic athlete who now helps others achieve Olympic-level success through mentoring, mind skills coaching and motivational speaking. As a business owner, author, and dog mom of social media influencer and celebrity, One Up Max, Lisa lights the spark and fans the flame you've been holding within you.

After 22+ years of a career spanning companies like Travelocity, Google and more + as a business owner helping businesses like Axios, KidKraft, American Airlines, and many others, I’ve noticed one thing….

Many leaders are unknowingly limiting their team’s performance and full potential (and therefore the revenues of their business) by not fully understanding if their teams are functioning at a strong, healthy level in order to drive cost-saving productivity.

There could be a lot of square pegs in round holes preventing efficiencies and costing the business.

So I decided to launch Reframe 2.0: a 3-6 month experience which helps owners, senior leaders and their teams with the following:
1) discover the actual 'state' of the team
2) identify what strengths exist in order to maximize team output
3) adopt leadership techniques that unearth and solve issues quickly and effectively
4) own accountability towards sustaining a new high performance normal


✅ MY EXPERTISE: Certified Gallup StrengthsFinder coach with over a decade of servant leadership experience building high performing, loyal teams within global companies like Google, Sabre, and various start-ups. 4+ years of coaching mid-level managers and above on how to understand and lead with strengths.

✅ WHO ARE MY CLIENTS: Owners and senior leaders who believe that the people are what drive the business towards profitability and success and who value a development and growth-driven culture from a place of strengths and trust.

✔️ They care about team health and yet don’t have the time to invest as much as they would like
✔️ They see trust issues impacting team dynamics and output and want them resolved
✔️ They believe that when people understand natural strengths for themselves and others,
employees are happier and more engaged
✔️ They want their managers to be effective, impactful mentors leading the business
✔️ They understand that behaviors in work and life are intertwined and may take time to change
✔️ They want to give their team an objective outside party to guide and coach them towards the
ideal - however defined by aligning with company mission and core values

✅ HOW DOES THIS WORK: We start with a free 15 min. discovery call to find out if we are a good fit for partnership and if we are, we pull together a plan for you THEN and THERE.

✅ WHAT MAKES ME DIFFERENT: I activate, I tell it like I see it, I maximize. I push for change through reframing for improved, lasting results. And I guarantee that we will have a lot of fun along the way!

Bianca N. Cotton is a thoughtful, strategic, entrepreneurial leader with extensive nonprofit program management, curriculum development, and training facilitation experience.

Bianca is driven to develop leaders who are managerially and emotionally competent in their professional practices. Passionate about intentionally creating positive social change in underrepresented populations and communities of need, while demonstrating sensitivity and compassion for all stakeholders.

Bianca is the founder and podcast host of “Behind the Confident Smile” about a lifestyle and personal development company inspiring women and girls to walk in love, live in hope and be healed from past hurts utilizing the vehicles of workshops, seminars, and educational materials to propel women and girls into purpose.

Bianca has served as a nonprofit professional for over 10 years. Earning both her Master’s Degree in Consulting in the Nonprofit and Corporate Sectors and Bachelor of Arts in Sociology, her passion is for helping women who suffer silently and smile brightly. It is demonstrated through her passionate writings and speaking. She is the founder of Behind the Confident Smile a movement created to inspire women to live in hope, walk in love, and be healed from past hurts. She is a wife and mom, and she resides in Chicago, IL.

Kaaren Whitney-Vernon is a serial entrepreneur who is interested in solving communication problems. Whether its communication between brands and consumers or employers and job seekers, she believes there is a better way to connect. She has just launched a new venture to help women in tech find inclusive companies to support their growth.

Before joining Shaftesbury as the head of the XR Department, Kaaren founded two successful companies. The first, Youth Culture Inc., a media agency specializing in helping brands to target millennials’ and working with brands like P&G, L’Oreal and Coca Cola. The second, shift2, created original short-form content for brands such as Walmart, U by Kotex®, Nokia and RBC. Today, at Shaftesbury, Kaaren charges her team to produce original content for television, film, and digital brands designed to drive revenue. 

Kaaren has been quoted in BNN, Adweek, The Wall Street Journal, Globe and Mail and on CBC. She founded the North American chapter of the globally organized Branded Content Marketing Association where she was part of the conversation to bring a universally accepted measurement for branded content.

Kaaren also sits on several North American marketing advisory boards and judging panels such as Adweek’s Arc Awards and at Brand Storytelling held each year at the Sundance Film Festival. As an Executive Producer of the scripted digital series Carmilla, 100+ million views, Kaaren has been invited to speak at leading television and content markets.

Kaaren is an Official Member of the Forbes Agency Council.

Specialties: Women in Tech, Equality and Inclusion, VR, AR, Keynote Speaker, Scripted Branded Storytelling, Scripted Digital Series, Short-form content, Millennials, GenZ, Genzennials, Content Production, YouTube, Youth, Digital Series, Leadership, Publishing, Marketing, Sales, Biz Dev