As founder and CEO of Empowered Engagement, Kelley O’Keeffe is one of the youngest leaders we have hosted on LeadingShe. Having had a very successful 15-year career in sales with several large tech companies such as IBM, she is prepared to coach women toward success.  An ambitious, high-energy and hard-working leader, Kelley gives wonderful advice based upon her experience along with research data which allows women to become more strategic and tactical in their careers with a focus on sales and entrepreneurship. She recommends women use their gifts and talents to advance their careers and advises women to make sure they have advocates and sponsors in their companies. Kelley had humble beginnings which she overcame through sheer determination and the drive to succeed. She provides great networking tips to women in this episode and discusses different gender styles. Microaggressions, perfectionism, resilience----it’s all in the episode—Listen in!  https://empoweredengagement.com/ Empowered Engagement website https://empoweredengagement.com/the-scale-school The Scale School

Joanie Bily, President of RemX, an accomplished executive with two of the world’s largest employment companies, wrote a Book: Dive in D.E.E.P.: Strategies to Advance Your Career, Find Balance, and Live Your Best Life (https://www.amazon.com/Dive-D-P-Strategies-Advance/dp/1956914846/ref=sr_1_1?crid=W40PUM7SLXFR&keywords=dive+in+deep+joanie&qid=1695829107&s=books&sprefix=dive+in+deep+joanie%2Cstripbooks%2C91&sr=1-1) in which she tells many stories and gives great advice about enjoying career success. A frequent contributor to many networks as an expert on the job market, she tells the story about how she began doing this by filling in for an executive at her company. She discovered her gift for speaking to the media and despite her fears….she said ‘Yes’! Ambitious and driven even as a child, she believes strongly in goal-setting each year along with reviewing how she did reaching the set goals at the end of the year. She says it is important to know who our influential ambassadors are, who are speaking positively about us when we are not in the room.  Joanie says women have a hard time giving themselves kudos for our accomplishments but need to do so. What an inspiring leader Joanie Bily is!  Joanie Bily website https://joaniebily.com/ LeadingShe.com Instagram.com/LeadingShe Facebook.com/LeadingShe https://www.linkedin.com/company/leadingshe/

In 2022 Mary Miller’s company Jancoa celebrated its 50th anniversary and today she and her husband Tony have achieved the succession plan of their dreams by turning the company leadership over to their children. Mary continues to chair the board and her daughter has stepped into Mary’s shoes as CEO. The company began with just two office workers and 63 part-time cleaning employees and today Jancoa has 85 percent of the cleaning market in Cincinnati with over 500 employees. Her early life was filled with financial and personal struggles yet she is highly positive and a born entrepreneur and learned to take big risks to achieve success in her company and have a great life. Part of her success came from her gift of being able to read, connect with and develop relationships with people.   To distinguish her company to employees from other companies, she and Tony created a culture of caring and developed a program called Dream Engineer to help her employees enjoy better lives. She wrote a book:  Changing Direction: 10 Choices That Impact Your Dreams and plans to write another one soon. What a positive and inspiring leader Mary Miller is on this podcast! LeadingShe.com Instagram.com/LeadingShe Facebook.com/LeadingShe https://www.linkedin.com/company/leadingshe/

As president and CEO of Eric Mower & Associates, Stephanie Crockett leads a mid-size, independent marketing agency with 150 employees. She recommends that as we seek career success, we must first get clear about what drives us, what is our purpose, and understand our values. Once they understand what drives them, women then make career choices around what they want, and not perhaps what they are being expected to do.  Stephanie says that women don’t need to behave, dress, or communicate like men to be successful and says that we should bring our own unique and authentic workstyle. She has had wonderful experiences being in women’s networking organizations yet at times found that women can be competitive with one another.  One of the biggest keys to her success has been to remember she is not alone and to ask for help if she needs it. LeadingShe.com Instagram.com/LeadingShe Facebook.com/LeadingShe https://www.linkedin.com/company/leadingshe/

Kathy Boe, founder of Boecore, Inc., is an award-winning entrepreneur, engineer, and leader who has worked in support of the Department of Defense for over 25 years. Having begun her career at Hughes Aircraft, she has enjoyed a long career in a very male-dominated industry having founded Boecore over 22 years ago. We discuss topics like confidence, facing fear, and crying in the workplace. Kathy donates her time to several initiatives including non-profit work, and is the Founder and President of her family foundation. She encourages women to consider careers in STEM fields. What an inspiring leader and entrepreneur Kathy Boe is! LeadingShe.com Instagram.com/LeadingShe Facebook.com/LeadingShe https://www.linkedin.com/company/leadingshe/

Sonita Lontoh has been an entrepreneur as well as an executive with several large companies including HP and Siemens, and serves on corporate boards. Her advice to women is to be patient and realize their career journeys are long and moves may not be linear. Sonita’s leadership style has changed over her career and she says that while she has always had a technology-focused approach, she has become more customer-focused. Sonita urges companies to truly integrate their female employee resource groups with more involvement by the company CEOs and the corporate boards which will lead to more opportunities for women. LeadingShe.com Instagram.com/LeadingShe Facebook.com/LeadingShe https://www.linkedin.com/company/leadingshe/

Kathy Courtney, is COO of GreenState Credit Union, one of the largest credit unions in the country, and is a strong leader.  During her long career, she worked with large financial institutions in big cities in the U.S. and internationally yet returned to her home state of Iowa to work with GreenState Credit Union.  https://www.greenstate.org/. Kathy talks about calling out gender bias treatment in a non-confrontational yet direct way.  She recommends women take the next level up positions offered and though there may be fear, career growth is likely. After her husband’s serious health diagnosis, she reorganized her priorities placing more emphasis on family and not working quite as hard.  Kathy says offering flexible work options to employees builds strong company loyalty.  What a great LeadingShe episode and wonderful leader! LeadingShe.com Instagram.com/LeadingShe Facebook.com/LeadingShe https://www.linkedin.com/company/leadingshe/

Sue Bevan Baggott was educated as an engineer and was an executive with Proctor & Gamble for 19 years. Though she has an analytical approach to business, she learned how to read people through her experience as a child and employs an empathic leadership style today. In her coaching business, Power Within Consulting, LLC, she tells her clients that it is possible to enjoy financial success and find happiness in our careers. With clients she starts with the question, “what life experience do you want and how does your career enable that”? We discuss the challenges women have had being represented equally in angel investing and on corporate boards. Other topics include experiencing burnout and the changing expectations of companies by the millennial generation. Listen in for a wonderful episode on LeadingShe! https://www.linkedin.com/in/suebaggott1/ http://powerwithinconsulting.com/ LeadingShe.com Instagram.com/LeadingShe Facebook.com/LeadingShe https://www.linkedin.com/company/leadingshe/

D. Sangeeta is a PhD, and founder and CEO of gotara.com who started the company during the pandemic to help improve the gender gap in STEM positions for women. Sangeeta cites the statistics of women leaving STEM positions at twice the rate as men and in her work, she identifies reasons for this such as non-supportive managers, lack of opportunities, lack of recognition and lack of communication.   The mission of Gotara is to offer career support and a global career network to women in STEM professions.   Her 26-year corporate career included top executive positions Amazon, GE and Neilsen.  Sangeeta admits to experiencing fear around taking on new positions yet she took the risk. She suggests women should risk accepting new positions and opportunities especially when someone is recommending them. She talks about being straightforward and vocal which has been a strength during her career.   Sangeeta faced various gender bias and ethnic bias experiences during her career and has some great wisdom to share.  Listen in, it’s a great podcast! www.gotara.com LeadingShe.com Instagram.com/LeadingShe Facebook.com/LeadingShe https://www.linkedin.com/company/leadingshe/

Gay Gaddis founded her company T3, an advertising agency, which she grew into the largest, woman-owned independent agency in the U.S.   Her experiences are extraordinary as she relates the messages from her great book, Cowgirl Power, Kick Ass in Business and Life. She talks about the importance of tapping into our gut instincts when making decisions.  Gay talks about how she survived and thrived after she lost her biggest client after she set a boundary with this client. She says she learned long ago to embrace criticism as a way to improve her work.  Long-term employee loyalty was built at her company by beginning a unique and revolutionary approach to supporting employees who became parents. Her remedy for burnout was to change her environment and take breaks.   Gay Gaddis, she’s a Cowgirl!LeadingShe.com Instagram.com/LeadingShe Facebook.com/LeadingShe https://www.linkedin.com/company/leadingshe/