Everyone knows that there will be highs and lows in life; however, the mindset of ‘progress is a process’ will help you navigate your pivots. My conversation with Free the Vision helps frame highs, lows, momentum and keeping the focus on progress. More about Free: Free Warren, creatively known as Free The Vision, is a creative director and tv producer that lives at the intersection of music, storytelling, and live experiences. He is a world traveler driven by curiosity and the inner workings of culture. Free is originally from New Jersey, and raised in Atlanta, GA where he got his start as the innovator behind music videos for notable artists like Tyrese and Birdman, which landed him in the world of production. He has directed commercial campaigns for the Mark Zuckerberg Foundation in addition to spirit brands such as Tito’s and Jack Daniels. Free has produced for networks that include BET, WeTv, AMC and ALLBLK. However his artistic journey has always been quite unique. Free started his creative consulting and production company, Free 3 Creative as a means to serve as a vision architect for strategy and development. One of the many things that has set him apart is his talent reflecting that of a marketing chameleon building 360 experiences into his work. This distinct skill has afforded him the ability to move beyond just the art of visual storytelling and into a world of developing the roll out executions for artist releases as well as consulting record labels (UMG’s Cinematic, Slip-N-Slide). As an intentional builder of relationships and community, Free began to bridge his love for artistry and experience by producing live music events and partnering with global brands like Soho House. Taking his wealth of industry connections, he began to construct platforms for artists to perform and touch their audiences in intimately impactful spaces. Free’s signature events, “Turn Up the Volume” and “On the Mic,” have given artists like Coco Jones, Eric Bellinger, India Shawn and Grammy winning and multi-platinum producers Bryan Michael Cox and Kosine the opportunity to perform to sold out crowds. Free The Vision is a multifaceted talent that exercises all of his creative prowess. He is the author of three published book titles, Fragment Reality, Hypocrites Know Best and Sh!t I Learned in Route to 30, and was named “Top Influencer to Work With” by Huffington Post. He relentlessly strives to unify the worlds of storytelling and experience. As a tv producer of shows like Social Society, he materializes his passion for amplifying Black culture and bringing their narratives to the forefront. There is no space or team that Free The Vision encounters that he does not leave positively impacted. He is a vision architect that insistently sets his mission on bringing the world creativity that inspires and shows the multiplicity of those who look like him. Free The Vision is beyond a moniker, it is a calling.

Dr. Chris Kawa, founder of Discover Chiropractic, shares how getting your body right, sets your mind right. He created an algorithm to help his patients understand the stressors of their body and what areas should be targeted; it helps people see their progress. Adjustments help the nervous system repair itself and start functioning correctly. More about Dr. Chris Kawa: Dr. Christopher Kawa has been practicing chiropractic care for over three decades. He is the founder and owner of Discover Chiropractic, Inc., serving patients in the local community since 1991. With a passion for health and wellness, Dr. Kawa aims to provide tailored treatment plans to help his patients achieve optimal function and live pain-free. Outside of work, Dr. Kawa enjoys an active lifestyle and spending time with family. Married with three grown children and three grandchildren, he takes advantage of the local beaches and mountains to go surfing, skiing, and boating. Dr. Kawa also has strong interests in politics, business, and finance. After 32 rewarding years in practice, Dr. Kawa remains dedicated to delivering excellent chiropractic care and promoting whole-body health and wellness

Dr. Holly Fennell, ND, founder of Age Quencher, shares why it’s important to have a clear and healthy mind as you pivot. She is a distinguished Canadian Naturopathic Doctor with twenty years  in clinical practice where she integrates her extensive knowledge to empower individuals on their wellness journeys. As a prominent figure in the field, Dr. Fennell, ND runs a bustling practice in the heart of downtown Toronto. She is a highly sought-after speaker with her profound understanding of the biology of aging, women's health and the intricate world of Naturopathic Medicine. Dr. Fennell's exceptional contributions have not gone unnoticed by the media, she has been featured across esteemed platforms such as CBC, iHeart Radio, Best Health, The Kit, Summer Style, The Globe and Mail and HELLO! magazine. She is the founder and Chief Scientific Officer at Age Quencher. 

Kara Gooch, Engagement & Career Coach for active Apprentices with her dream company, Accenture, participated in Goodwill’s Rising Together training program. After completion, she was offered a role within Accenture. Accenture is a partner of Goodwill’s Rising Together initiative, which connects people, particularly those from populations that have been historically marginalized, with a wide range of resources, including skills training, transportation and internet access to support entrance into and longevity in the workforce. As a Goodwill partner, Accenture expands its Skills to Succeed services for youth and young adults, which provides skills training and resources to help them navigate their careers. The program also uses immersive virtual reality training to help people impacted by the criminal justice system learn to tell their stories on a personal level to interviewers and other people in their lives. Accenture recognize the important role professional apprenticeship can play in closing the skills gap in North America and increasing access to digital economy careers. It believes that apprenticeship programs create new career pathways for previously untapped talent and re-skill those whose jobs have been – or will be – disrupted by technology. The Apprenticeship Program at Accenture is an earn-and-learn model with benefits that provides a pathway to a full-time role with Accenture after a typically 12-month-long apprenticeship—a role with career opportunities for continued growth. Since launching the Accenture North America apprenticeship program in 2016, it has onboarded more than 2,000 apprentices. WorkingNation, a nonprofit media company focussed on the future of work, has released a short documentary film called "Glory in Overcoming." It focuses on three women ofcolor, all single mothers, who completed a skills-training program called the Goodwill Digital Career Accelerator.  Kara Gooch, one of the women, had three daughtersunder age four and was getting divorced when she entered the training program she says changed her family's lives.  The two other women, Chelsea Rucker and ShaheeraAlnatshia, also overcame significant obstacles before pivoting and finding tech careers.--Most people associate Goodwill with donation centers and thrift stores.   The Goodwill Digital Career Accelerator is a training program designed in partnership with Google and with more than $29 million in funding and grants from Google.org.  Since 2017, Goodwill says more than 1.5 million people have upgraded their digital and tech skills throughthis and its other training programs, and that more than 350,000 U.S. workers have landed jobs (both in the tech industry and in "non-tech" industries where tech skills are in demand.)

There’s a difference between keeping moving forward and moving up. Everyone can move forward but, in the scheme of things, few people actually level up. When successfully pivoting, it’s important strategize how to move up to get to where you want to go. Executive director of Dining Out Jersey Shore, Tara Jean McDonald, joins me on this episode to discuss how to deal with idenity loss when moving up. Tara Jean McDonald is Publisher of Dining Out Jersey Shore magazine. She is a versatile journalist who has researched, interviewed, and produced for content in publications such as Dining Out Jersey Magazine, Fashion Haunts Magazine, Our Town News Publication and NJ Discover. She has 15 years of experience in Production and Postproduction of TV Commercials, Live News Coverage, TV Entertainment Segments and Live Theatrical Events. She has co-hosted a live talk show for radio and TV with NJDiscover TV, and she is currently helping to create Dining Out Jersey’s YouTube channel.  She consistently brings a special warmth, caring, insight and humanity to her stories and her reputation flourished with on sight reporting about Hurricane Sandy, homelessness and Tent City, pervasive hunger in New Jersey, and Jersey’s iconic music and film scene. She remains at the epicenter of what’s happening around the county and state.

Amanda Bybel shares the importance of redefining success at each stage of life. As a recovering addict, she learned to take the positive side of the situation and use it to grow her coaching business. Her persistence keeps her dreams alive. She’s an entrepreneur, a motivational speaker, a yoga enthusiast, a wife, a mom, corporate dropout and Founder of The Inner Beauty Bybel + The Sparkle System Coaching + Practitioner Certification! Amanda is on a mission to empower women to rebirth themselves so that they can create a legacy, become their own best friend and heal the future generations to come. This is so much her mission that she has created an internationally recognized and board accredited certification to help equip you with the tools you need to create the ripple effect in the lives of your clients and your communities.As a Trainer and Expert in Neuro-Linguistic Programming, manifestation and the subconscious mind- Amanda teaches you to utilize revolutionary and out of the box teachings to help people find their own personal power to create their dream lives!She will be celebrating 10 years clean in April.

Before you can successfully pivot, you have to map out your direction. Having a strategy will help you with figuring out what vehicle you’ll use to get you there. Steve Spiro, host of the Master Connector Show on LinkedIn, shares how to identify your vehicle and build relationships to get you to the next level of your career. More about Steve: In November of 2020, he was approved to do a LinkedIn live show, called the Master Connector Show. Along with Cameron Toth, they broadcast live on Wednesdays 1pm EST. The show’s mission is right online with my personal mission which is to be the light, uplift and inspire. The Master Connector Show and Steve’s other LinkedIn activities has created a lot of buzz and has catapulted him as a speaker. He’s been asked to speak at events and workshops, both live and virtual, along with appearances on podcasts and live broadcasts. Additionally, he’s a Business Automation consultant with Quadient, helping companies streamline and automate how they communicate and connect with their customers, leveraging artificial intelligence, with both hardware and software. There are three things he lives life by: the power of mentorship, growing oneself through self development and continuing to create meaningful connections through building a large network.

Maria Doughty, a former corporate attorney, strategist and advocate turned president and CEO of The Chicago Network (TCN), shares how understanding and owning a P&L will advance your career. At the end of the day, companies need to generate profit to remain in business. Being able to read and act on a profit and loss statement will guide you in scaling a company. More about Maria: She has been with TCN, Chicago’s premier leadership organization engaging the city’s most influential women, since April 2020. Before that, Maria spent 20 years with Allstate Insurance Company, most recently as Director of Public Policy and Regulatory Investigations and Examinations and Corporate Counsel. She served as chief legal counsel for field operations, managing counsel and Corporate Litigation Division member. Like TCN’s members, Maria serves on a number of local civic and philanthropic organizations, including Leadership Greater Chicago, Latino Policy Forum, Illinois Coalition Against Domestic Violence, and Illinois Task Force for Employment and Economic Opportunity for Persons with Disabilities.

We all have a money story. What’s yours? Is it holding you back? Melissa Houston, founer of She Means Profit, shares how money is tied to your self-worth. Let’s start believing that deserve what we’re worth and make some profit! More about Melissa: She’s a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA) with over 20 years of work experience. Additionally, she’s a Finance Strategist, who works with Small to Medium-sized business (SMBs) owners and the senior-level finance person in their business to ensure financial and business strategies are in place so that profit is optimized. Melissa monitors KPIs regularly, manage cash, provide audit support and many other finance functions.In the past, she’s worked with business owners and project managers in high-tech industries, public accounting and government. Also, she has extensive experience with corporate accounting, financial planning, SRED work, Internal Controls and ITGCs. She has a column at Forbes.com, Entrepreneur and other large publications where she shares her personal and business finance knowledge with entrepreneurs. Melissa’s passion is helping entrepreneurs and business owners how vital it is to understand their business numbers as the CEO of their business. Melissa just launched "Cash Confident: An Entrepreneur's Guide to Creating a Profitable Business.” The book helps entrepreneurs understand their new money journey. I am a Financial Strategist for CEOs, which means that I help successful business owners increase their profit margins without increasing sales to put more cash in their pocket. In addition to offering Fractional CFO work, I offer 1:1 coaching services and sell online digital courses.

Living in an attention economy used to all the noise can be hard taking online courses that are more isolating than socializing. Martin Ramsin, CEO & cofounder of CareerFoundry, shares how important it is to make online learning human-centric. The less isolating the experience is the more the success rate. More about CareerFoundry: It’s an online school for career change to tech, offering programmes in full-stack web development, user experience (UX) and user interface (UI) design, digital marketing and data analytics. CareerFoundry is a new kind of school for a new world of work, equipping the workforce of the future. 15% off CareerFoundry’s courses for my awesome listeners: UX Design Program UI Design Program Web Development Program Data Analytics Program Digital Marketing Program Product Management Program