Mastermind Your Launch

Kashi Sehgal is Co-Founder & CEO of Gigabark, an integrated mobile solutions company rooted in phone and text messaging technologies. She is also Director of Strategic Initiatives & Business Development for International Greetings, a UK-based company that specializes in design and has creates products for celebrations, stationary and creative play, and giftables. She also serves as Executive Director of SuperNova South, the largest multi-disciplinary technology conference in the Southeast.

Previously, Kashi spent time as a management consultant at Accenture where she worked with both government and Fortune 100 clients in areas such as visioning and gap analysis, cost reduction, communication plans, training, performance measurement, incentive structures and more. She also has experience in strategic planning and brand strategy – especially as it relates to early stage companies and non-profits.

She has started several non-profits including Music For Tomorrow which provided immediate financial assistance to jazz musicians affected by Hurricane Katrina and currently provides economic opportunities for jazz musicians around the country. MFT is now housed as a program of the Afro Cuban Jazz Alliance in New York. She also works with the Campus Community Partnership Foundation which promotes education through a student-centered approach focused on social responsibility and runs their Mentor Walk program.

Kashi is actively engaged in the Atlanta community serving on various boards such as WonderRoot, Andrew J Young Foundation Advisory Council, Fulton County Career & Technical Education, Amplify4Good, WINGS for Kids, and Georgia’s WIN List and with groups such as the Metro Atlanta Chamber’s Mobility Leadership Council, ChooseATL, Atlanta Regional Commission’s Innovation Committee, The Lovett School’s Sustainability Committee and as an Advice For Good Advisor.

Kashi is a native Atlantan. She attended The George Washington University for her undergraduate studies and Georgia Tech for graduate research. Kashi was selected as a member of Outstanding Atlanta’s Class of 2015, as one of Atlanta Business Chronicle’s 40 Under 40 in 2014, and as a member of the 2013 LEAD Atlanta and LaunchPad2X classes. She volunteers her time mentoring and with CARE, Acumen, and other organizations in her community.

Stefanie Diaz/Mastermind Your Launch

Stefanie Diaz has always had a keen ability for developing marketing strategies for entrepreneurs, but it’s her ability to position startups for accelerated momentum through personal branding and content marketing that has become the cornerstone to her professional success. Her background includes being a strategic adviser to CEO’s spanning startup phase to over $100 million in annual revenue. She has led strategic partnerships with global retailers and Fortune 500 companies, as well as facilitated multi-million dollar government contracts. There is something magnetic about the energy of startup founders that draws Stefanie in. They’re hungry, driven, and committed to making positive change for themselves and the greater community. After conducting over 60 interviews to date, Stefanie is excited to bring Mastermind Your Launch to the Business Radio X platform. Learn more at MastermindYourLaunch.com.

John Mamon/mPowered IT

John Mamon, CEO of mPowered IT has 20+ years of experience in I.T. Engineering/Sales/Executive working in startup companies/divisions. He helped build a successful MSP in Atlanta which was acquired in 2011. His technology related specialties Include service design, team creation and oversight, Increasing operational effectiveness. and harnessing cloud and data center services.

Stefanie Diaz/Mastermind Your Launch

Stefanie Diaz has always had a keen ability for developing marketing strategies for entrepreneurs, but it’s her ability to position startups for accelerated momentum through personal branding and content marketing that has become the cornerstone to her professional success. Her background includes being a strategic adviser to CEO’s spanning startup phase to over $100 million in annual revenue. She has led strategic partnerships with global retailers and Fortune 500 companies, as well as facilitated multi-million dollar government contracts. There is something magnetic about the energy of startup founders that draws Stefanie in. They’re hungry, driven, and committed to making positive change for themselves and the greater community. After conducting over 60 interviews to date, Stefanie is excited to bring Mastermind Your Launch to the Business Radio X platform. Learn more at MastermindYourLaunch.com.

Kelly Burton/Bodyology

Kelly Burton is an accomplished entrepreneur with greater than a decade’s experience launching and scaling start-up companies.

As Founder and CEO of her most recent venture Bodyology, a high-tech apparel company which infuses performance technology into women’s innerwear, Kelly is revolutionizing the way women dress. Since its launch in 2014, Bodyology has been identified as a high-potential apparel line by Macy’s Incorporated and featured in national publications like Inc. and Essence.

Kelly is also a social scientist having earned her PhD from Emory University in 2009.  She went on to work for Emory University as a senior researcher and ultimately left to start her own consultancy, Nexus Research Group.

As the CEO of Nexus Research Group, Kelly advises non-profits, foundations and government agencies on how to improve their social programs and maximize their philanthropic investments. She has served on more than a half-dozen boards and received the Visionary Leadership Award for her efforts to increase access to opportunity for individuals and communities throughout the South.

Kelly Burton is a sought after speaker whose unique life experiences gives her powerful insight into the range of issues and topics relevant to the modern-day business leader. Her love for entrepreneurship is infectious and she is passionate about sharing her story with others looking to blaze their own path. Kelly is a veritable renaissance woman and evidence that women can lead in multiple areas of life, all at the same time.

www.kellyburton.net

www.bodyologystore.com

www.nexusresearchonline.com

https://twitter.com/@iamkellyburton

Daniel Sabio/TechSquare Labs

Daniel Sabio is the Minister of Awesome at TechSquare Labs, and Director of Atlanta Startup Battle. He holds a BS in Computational Media from Georgia Tech and is both an experienced developer and artist. Currently, his passion is helping tech startups and entrepreneurs succeed in their ventures.

atlantastartupbattle.com

https://twitter.com/techsquare #atlantastartupbattle

Stefanie Diaz/Mastermind Your Launch

Stefanie Diaz has always had a keen ability for developing marketing strategies for entrepreneurs, but it’s her ability to position startups for accelerated momentum through personal branding and content marketing that has become the cornerstone to her professional success. Her background includes being a strategic adviser to CEO’s spanning startup phase to over $100 million in annual revenue. She has led strategic partnerships with global retailers and Fortune 500 companies, as well as facilitated multi-million dollar government contracts. There is something magnetic about the energy of startup founders that draws Stefanie in. They’re hungry, driven, and committed to making positive change for themselves and the greater community. After conducting over 60 interviews to date, Stefanie is excited to bring Mastermind Your Launch to the Business Radio X platform. Learn more at MastermindYourLaunch.com.

Carole Williams & Gina Gentilozzi/48in48.org

Carole Williams comes to 48in48 with six years of experience in nonprofit management. She has worked with large-scale and recognizable nonprofit brands. Most recently Williams worked in Major Gifts with United Way of Miami-Dade while building corporate campaigns in the legal industry. Previously, Williams also worked in nonprofit fundraising and events with the American Diabetes Association. Currently, Williams has moved back to her roots in Georgia and has taken on running the start-up nonprofit, 48in48, as Executive Director, bringing marketing and technology to nonprofits in, now 4 cities across the country.

Gina Gentilozzi has worked in hospitality and entertainment for three decades. Gina has started several small businesses in entertainment management and event logistics. Her most recent launch was Whiskey and Redheads Music, specializing in songwriter resources, brand creation and career management. Gentilozzi has joined 48in48, as Manager of Events and Development, to aid with the worldwide expansion of their mission to impact citizens in need everywhere through the skills of digital/technology professionals. Gina looks forward to working with each new city to make a difference.

Stefanie Diaz/Mastermind Your Launch

Stefanie Diaz has always had a keen ability for developing marketing strategies for entrepreneurs, but it’s her ability to position startups for accelerated momentum through personal branding and content marketing that has become the cornerstone to her professional success. Her background includes being a strategic adviser to CEO’s spanning startup phase to over $100 million in annual revenue. She has led strategic partnerships with global retailers and Fortune 500 companies, as well as facilitated multi-million dollar government contracts. There is something magnetic about the energy of startup founders that draws Stefanie in. They’re hungry, driven, and committed to making positive change for themselves and the greater community. After conducting over 60 interviews to date, Stefanie is excited to bring Mastermind Your Launch to the Business Radio X platform. Learn more at MastermindYourLaunch.com.

Becky Berry/Becky Berry Career Coaching

Infinite possibilities exist at the intersection of women, technology, and education. My belief in those infinite possibilities and my experience in varied careers, including technology, enable me to help clients gain new, unimagined perspectives on their careers. How? By helping clients rediscover, reclaim, and re-imagine their talents, skills, strengths, work experience, and life experience so they can identify their ideal careers and go after them! I know how to help women bridge the gap between their perceptions of what tech work is and the reality of the broad range of career opportunities in technology.

Here’s the thing. I’ve had several careers including magazine publisher, software entrepreneur, stay-at-home mom, and social entrepreneur. Now, as a Certified Professional Career Coach, I use my extensive and varied work experience to help women take action to embrace change with excitement to reach their dreams. Clients learn how to dig down and unearth their hidden talents. They also learn how to talk about their talents and skills as we create strategies that will lead to the success they have been looking for. We re-imagine their current careers or imagine and explore better ones. Along the way, we develop a picture or their lives that they could never have dreamed of. We take all of the work we do together and create a personalized, achievable career path.

I also help clients re-frame their “problem” traits—like ADD and dyslexia—and develop strategies to turn those problems into solutions – good ones. I’m known for my outside-the-box strategies for helping clients jump their internal roadblocks to move forward.

So, a little about me and my qualifications. I have a Master’s Degree in Special Education with an emphasis on ADD. I’m also a Certified Professional Career Coach. As I said before, I’ve had several careers, including owning a software company and working with startups.

I have 3 grown kids, so it’s hard to get them together all at once, so when I do, I’ve hit the jackpot! I love to read – anything that has words – books, magazines, cereal boxes, you name it. I love hanging out with my friends, having a good meal, going to the movies.

But here’s why I’m really qualified to help you. I get you. I get people. All kinds, sizes, and flavors of people. Crowds of people, or one-on-one. I love people.
When you love people, there is no greater rush than helping them succeed. You’re ready to get a new perspective on your career, so let’s do it.

Website: http://beckyberrycoach.com

Twitter: @beckyberrycoach

Stefanie Diaz/Mastermind Your Launch

Stefanie Diaz has always had a keen ability for developing marketing strategies for entrepreneurs, but it’s her ability to position startups for accelerated momentum through personal branding and content marketing that has become the cornerstone to her professional success. Her background includes being a strategic adviser to CEO’s spanning startup phase to over $100 million in annual revenue. She has led strategic partnerships with global retailers and Fortune 500 companies, as well as facilitated multi-million dollar government contracts. There is something magnetic about the energy of startup founders that draws Stefanie in. They’re hungry, driven, and committed to making positive change for themselves and the greater community. After conducting over 60 interviews to date, Stefanie is excited to bring Mastermind Your Launch to the Business Radio X platform. Learn more at MastermindYourLaunch.com.

Lauren Patrick/PrettySouthern.com and Terminus

Lauren Patrick is the Editor of PrettySouthern.com and the Storyteller at Terminus: Account-Based Marketing. She’s a graduate of UGA’s Grady College of Journalism & Mass Communication, where she served as Editor of The Red & Black. Since her graduation from UGA in 2007, Lauren worked for Naylor publications, Jezebel magazine, AutoTrader.com, and RaceTrac convenience stores before making her “pivot” to the startup world.

Lauren is passionate about helping early-stage technology companies launch their marketing programs. As Storyteller for Terminus, Lauren manages PR, marketing communications, and social media for the brand. 2016 was a big year for Lauren, as she helped Terminus win Best Place to Work from the Atlanta Business Chronicle, Startup of the Year from the Atlanta Chapter of the American Marketing Association, and the TAG Social Savvy award. Terminus is her fourth startup in addition to Pretty Southern, and helping her husband, Kevin, with his car company Exomotive.

Twitter: @Pretty_Southern / @Terminus
Website: www.PrettySouthern.com /  www.Terminus.com

Stefanie Diaz/Mastermind Your Launch

Stefanie Diaz has always had a keen ability for developing marketing strategies for entrepreneurs, but it’s her ability to position startups for accelerated momentum through personal branding and content marketing that has become the cornerstone to her professional success. Her background includes being a strategic adviser to CEO’s spanning startup phase to over $100 million in annual revenue. She has led strategic partnerships with global retailers and Fortune 500 companies, as well as facilitated multi-million dollar government contracts. There is something magnetic about the energy of startup founders that draws Stefanie in. They’re hungry, driven, and committed to making positive change for themselves and the greater community. After conducting over 60 interviews to date, Stefanie is excited to bring Mastermind Your Launch to the Business Radio X platform. Learn more at MastermindYourLaunch.com.

Melanie Romanaux/Somedia Solutions

Melanie leads a team of social media specialists who are passionate about connecting brands with their existing audience and reaching new audiences to:

– gain top of mind brand awareness
– provide excellent customer service
– share valuable information and remarkable content
– crowdsource to improve products and services
– develop community and loyalty among fans and followers
– establish credibility, trust, reliability, and consistency as a brand within social communities
– develop and nurture relationships with influential community members and every customer or client

Here’s how it works:

Somedia Solutions helps you form a strategy (based on their Discovery of your brand) that will place you in the right places (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Youtube, etc…) and attract prospects who will not only buy what you’re selling but who also will talk about you and recommend you to their friends, family, and colleagues.

When the strategy has been drafted and your goals are aligned – they help you execute that plan in 1 of 3 ways:

1. Training – they’re passionate about empowering business owners, athletes, entertainers, and authors to successfully and proactively navigate the social media waters

2. Consulting – your marketing team wants to work with Somedia to hear new and innovative ideas and strategies to create an even more engaging and remarkable brand experience for your fans on social networks. Bring them in for the day, pick their brains, and then your team can take those ideas and run with them.

3. Management – they’ll do the heavy lifting for you and manage all the points of a successful social media strategy:

– listening and monitoring
– responding to questions, customer service inquiries, and reaching out to new opportunities
– building your audience
– managing the conversation
– creating and publishing original content
– creating your social media policy
– reporting

Stefanie Diaz/Mastermind Your Launch

Stefanie Diaz has always had a keen ability for developing marketing strategies for entrepreneurs, but it’s her ability to position startups for accelerated momentum through personal branding and content marketing that has become the cornerstone to her professional success. Her background includes being a strategic adviser to CEO’s spanning startup phase to over $100 million in annual revenue. She has led strategic partnerships with global retailers and Fortune 500 companies, as well as facilitated multi-million dollar government contracts. There is something magnetic about the energy of startup founders that draws Stefanie in. They’re hungry, driven, and committed to making positive change for themselves and the greater community. After conducting over 60 interviews to date, Stefanie is excited to bring Mastermind Your Launch to the Business Radio X platform. Learn more at MastermindYourLaunch.com.

Candice Campbell/Nimble. Design Company

With nearly a decade of proven experience bringing connected brands to life in the built environment, Candice brings a strategic, thoughtful eye and holistic, experiential approach to every new engagement. Known for her relentless drive, meticulous attention to detail, and connected design approach, Candice has developed a reputation for delivering powerful brand experiences, and an undeterred level of Client service.

In 2014, Candice formed Nimble. A Design Consultancy to help clients realize and extend brand stories beyond the logo and into the built environment to differentiate, inspire and influence audience behavior.

Since formation, Nimble. has grown from one to an established team of four, producing award-winning, multi-disciplinary brand experiences for clients in real estate and hospitality. In under three years, Nimble. has launched over 75 new brands, led nearly 50 property repositioning campaigns, and traveled 1,000’s of miles to bring innovation and consistent brand exposure to projects in 13 core markets.

With a love for real estate, and a relentless drive to perfect the connection of brand to place, Candice leads strategic vision, art direction, and all signage and interiors work on behalf of Nimble.’s property repositioning projects and key accounts. She directs a growing internal team, and works closely with the firm’s external collaborating creative partners, to craft holistic brand experiences, spanning the gap of branding to built environment.

She is a proud Savannah College of Art and Design grad, holding a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Interior Design. Outside of the studio, Candice enjoys spending time with her husband and son, Landon, endlessly renovating her 50’s ranch and experiencing design through travel.

https://www.nimbledesignco.com

https://twitter.com/nimbledesignco

Stefanie Diaz/Mastermind Your Launch

Stefanie Diaz has always had a keen ability for developing marketing strategies for entrepreneurs, but it’s her ability to position startups for accelerated momentum through personal branding and content marketing that has become the cornerstone to her professional success. Her background includes being a strategic adviser to CEO’s spanning startup phase to over $100 million in annual revenue. She has led strategic partnerships with global retailers and Fortune 500 companies, as well as facilitated multi-million dollar government contracts. There is something magnetic about the energy of startup founders that draws Stefanie in. They’re hungry, driven, and committed to making positive change for themselves and the greater community. After conducting over 60 interviews to date, Stefanie is excited to bring Mastermind Your Launch to the Business Radio X platform. Learn more at MastermindYourLaunch.com.

Mark Wyssbrod has intertwined quality of work with small business economics, the importance of financial position and a tax strategy. He is referred to as a Small Business CFO™. As an Eagle Scout, he understands the significance of being prepared and, as an economist; he understands the worth of being efficient.

Mark has lived in the Northeast, Midwest and Southeast. This diverse background allows him to communicate well with individuals with different backgrounds, as well as understand their motivating factors. Mark has integrated improv in his business, which allows him to be a better active listener and to think creatively for “outside the box” solutions for his clients.

Mark earned his Bachelors of Science in Business and Economics with a concentration in Accounting at the University of Kentucky. He earned his Certified Public Accounting designation from Georgia in January 2002.

With an entrepreneurial spirit Mark has started several successful small businesses. A past business venture was the award winning Pro@ctive CPA. After attending a retreat in the spring of 2013 he made a decision to sell this company in order to spend more time with his family and community. Mark is a “local capitalist” and is a part owner of a local payroll company, sign company, water-collection and reuse company and development company.

Mark believes it is important to give back to his community and he does so with both his time and resources. Mark has been a temporary foster parent, a volunteer at a halfway house, supporter of numerous community activities and events (including the Alpharetta Veterans Memorial in 2015) and just completed his term as the co-chair of Leadership North Fulton. Prior to 2015, Mark volunteered over 180 hours per year; in 2015, Mark volunteered 494 hours; and in 2016 Mark volunteered over 600 hours. The increase in time invested in his community is a result of following a calling to selling his CPA firm and surviving a near-death event.

Mark has been recognized as a Business Person of Excellence by the Greater North Fulton Chamber of Commerce. Additionally, the Greater North Fulton Chamber of Commerce honored him as the 2013 Small Business Peron of the Year. This award was achieved for his focus on quality and commitment to his clients, team members and community. He has also been awarded the Five Star Wealth Manager Award for tax services since 2009 to 2013. In 2015, Mark was honored by the Georgia Society of CPA with the Public Service Award.

Jason Binder is a small business owner and independent financial planner for the firm Acolyte Advisors. He and his wife, Nicolette, have two daughters, Cecilia and Maggie. They enjoy attending local events like Food Truck Alley or taking the girls to the parks and greenway.

Jason has a passion for service within Alpharetta and the greater North Fulton area. Never one to sit back, he takes responsibility and works with others to make a difference for the community. His activities in the areas of community service, civic responsibility and economic development include the following:

• Working with area nonprofits and organizing projects as the Community Service Director for the Alpharetta Rotary Club. Jason was recently honored as the 2014 Alpharetta Rotarian of the Year.
• ​Appointed to the Alpharetta Design Review Board in 2012. The Design Review Board’s responsibility is to preserve Alpharetta’s historical and cultural character and enhance the city’s aesthetic value.​
• Worked to bring Alpharetta’s community together as a co-organizer of multiple Day of Service events. Over 500 volunteers have gathered together to help beautify Alpharetta and support our local non-profit organizations.​
• Led the development of the Alpharetta Business Academy for the Alpharetta Chamber of Commerce.​
• Serves on the Board of the Alpharetta Public Safety Foundation to support our city’s First Responders.​
• Completed the Georgia Academy for Economic Development in December 2014. Selected by the Alpharetta Chamber of Commerce, the Academy’s multi-day regional program provides participants with an understanding of the complexities of economic and community development.

Guest: Brian Srikanchana/WorkReadyGrad

Brian Srikanchana is the Founder and CEO of WorkReadyGrad. He is an Atlanta native, graduate of Georgia Tech (Biomedical Engineering, 2008), and EdTech entrepreneur. While in college, Brian co-invented two medical devices: a piezo-electric gait monitor to help post-stroke patients re-learn how to walk, and a modified bronchoscope for use with quantum dots (quantum dots are fluorescent and bind to cancer cells, helping surgeons know where to cut when removing malignant tissue).

After college, Brian spent four years as an analyst within a long-short equity macro hedge fund. Inspired by his participation in Mentor Jackets, the alumni mentoring program at Georgia Tech, both as a mentee and later as a mentor, Brian founded WorkReadyGrad to scale mentorship to many more students while helping close the US Skills Gap.

WorkReadyGrad connects students with mentors to help them navigate their educational experience. Students will be better able to plan their futures so that upon graduation they are the ideal candidate for the job they’re seeking.

Joining Brian in the studio for the interview is Doug Rhoads, the COO of WorkReadyGrad.

Stefanie Diaz/Mastermind Your Launch

Stefanie Diaz has always had a keen ability for developing marketing strategies for entrepreneurs, but it’s her ability to position startups for accelerated momentum through personal branding and content marketing that has become the cornerstone to her professional success. Her background includes being a strategic adviser to CEO’s spanning startup phase to over $100 million in annual revenue. She has led strategic partnerships with global retailers and Fortune 500 companies, as well as facilitated multi-million dollar government contracts. There is something magnetic about the energy of startup founders that draws Stefanie in. They’re hungry, driven, and committed to making positive change for themselves and the greater community. After conducting over 60 interviews to date, Stefanie is excited to bring Mastermind Your Launch to the Business Radio X platform. Learn more at MastermindYourLaunch.com.