Women Worldwide with Deirdre Breakenridge

Michelle Bacharach, Co-Founder and CEO of FINDMINE, joins Host Deirdre Breakenridge on Women Worldwide. Michelle's retail tech company, FINDMINE, is an enterprise SaaS startup positioned to make retail more efficient and shopping more delightful. Michelle, who started in entertainment, transitioned to retail tech experiencing a number of interesting stories that highlight the challenges of starting a tech company in New York.

On the show, Michelle discusses how she wanted to figure out and define a different consumer experience. With people asking millions of questions about the products they want to purchase, retailers were not equipped to answer everything. Michelle launched her platform, FINDMINE, to help tailor and customize the consumer shopping experience answering their questions and using machine learning to scale product curation. Michelle also discusses what it takes to create a winning team describing her own experience as working with people who are really passionate and can “pull themselves out of the weeds.” Michelle offers advice to startup founders including her “don’t die” strategy and how "keeping a life" will prevent diminishing returns.

A little more about Michelle Bacharach   Michelle has a strong background in strategy and product management, with heavy agile experience. She is also currently the senior admissions consultant with The MBA Exchange. Prior to launching FINDMINE, Michelle was Director, Project Management at Univision.com & Entertainment.

You can connect with Michelle on LinkedIn and Twitter @mymeeshell

Direct download: WW_064.mp3
Category:Business -- posted at: 10:36pm EDT

Aly Saxe, founder and CEO of Iris PR Software, joins Host Deirdre Breakenridge on Women Worldwide.  Aly's journey in public relations has led her from PR pro to PR agency owner to building software for agencies and in-house teams. Chaotic systems and a lack of visibility into her team’s performance pushed Aly to create a tech platform to cure the headaches of PR agency management.

On the show, Aly discussed her approach to problem-solving especially as a woman in tech. Because you have to be flexible and agile and keep up with the pace of change, Aly shares her favorite resources. She also offers her insights on the importance of integration in an organization and the best way to break down silos between departments including marketing, PR, sales and other areas within a company. Because these barriers separate talent, businesses miss out on increased productivity, ideation, innovation and a better experience for customers.

A little more about Aly Saxe …  In 2007, Aly founded Ubiquity PR to provide strategic PR services to funded, high-growth B2B tech companies. Ubiquity PR created award-winning PR campaigns for companies like Infusionsoft, Firehost, SocialWhirled, and LeadMD.

You can connect with Aly on LinkedIn and Twitter @Aly_Saxe

Direct download: WW_063.mp3
Category:Business -- posted at: 11:24pm EDT

Samantha Paxson, Chief Marketing Officer at CO-OP Financial Services joins Host Deirdre Breakenridge on Women Worldwide. Samantha is the chief architect and marketing technologist who leads the development of her company's go to market corporate strategy for product development, credit, sales, business development, and marketing.

On the show, Samantha discusses her journey, transitioning from PR and marketing agency work to a position in Financial Services. She shares how she was “ignorant enough not to have any fears” often raising her hand to get involved in new responsibilities. For her, “passionate ignorance has no limitations.” Samantha believes this was the secret to getting recognized early on. At CO-OP Financial Services, she was promoted to Vice President by the age of 30. Samantha's ability to collaborate with others and to build trust with her team helped her to advance more quickly. She also discusses the importance of understanding what’s going on in a company that's larger than your own role, and what it means to be a problem solver beyond your own department.

A little more about Samantha Paxson  Samantha is a brand and corporate strategist, intraprenuer, product experience consultant, design thinker, behavioral analyst and corporate problem solver. She is the founder of THINK by CO-OP, an innovation content platform empowering the evolution of mission-driven financial services.

You can connect with Samantha on LinkedIn

 

Direct download: WW_062.mp3
Category:Business -- posted at: 10:48pm EDT

Shannon Bloemker, founder and CEO of Glasshouse.com, joins Host Deirdre Breakenridge on Women Worldwide. Shannon has extensive experience in residential design, construction management, cost control, green building, and home maintenance. After having learned the value of good property management during her years as a strategist and co-owner of Five Ten Capital, Shannon founded Glasshouse in 2015 to bring the benefits of preventative maintenance to the single-family owner-occupied market.

On the show, Shannon discussed how a circuitous path took her from working 80-hour weeks on Wall Street to 80 hours weekly as an entrepreneur and owner of her start-up company.  With a passion for sustainability, she created Glasshouse to help homeowners sustain their biggest investments in life … their homes. Shannon shared the challenges of marketing to niche audiences and building strong partnerships. Social media, PR and relationship building and trade shows have been instrumental in increasing company awareness and thought leadership. Shannon also offered her advice to other entrepreneurs on problem-solving, delegating responsibilities and how to keep your priorities top of mind.

A little more about Shannon Bloemker  Shannon earned her Master’s Degree from Harvard in Environmental Science & Sustainability after changing careers from the Mortgage-backed Securities Industry at Salomon Brothers and Franklin Templeton Funds. She also managed six high-end residential construction projects for investment, each of which required a yearlong process of design, value engineering, strategic planning, and oversight.

You can connect with Shannon on LinkedIn and Twitter @shannonbloemker

Direct download: WW_061.mp3
Category:Business -- posted at: 7:11pm EDT

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