In episode 28, I interview Layla Alexander. Ms. Alexander is an investment analyst at Female Founders Fund, a seed stage venture fund that invests exclusively in female-founded companies. Prior to joining Female Founders Fund, Ms. Alexander worked at Goldman Sachs on the Real Estate Investing Team in addition to her work at Google, Harlem Capital, and Cleo Capital. Layla’s passion for supporting marginalized communities began at her alma mater, Columbia University, where she worked with the Columbia Organization for Rising Entrepreneurs (CORE) and Almaworks, CORE's startup accelerator, which focused on mentoring undergraduate and graduate student founders.

In episode 27, I interview Debra Hare, who leads us through an exclusive personal branding exercise. This lesson on one's personal brand is vital in capitalizing on personal strengths, growing from weaknesses, and developing an authentic corporate personality.

Ms. Hare has spent over three decades focusing on providing business development and leadership coaching to service firms. Right now, she serves at Morgan Lewis as a business development coach, and she aims to help lawyers cultivate successful relationships while promoting the firm’s goals and projects. In addition to her background in legal marketing, she spent over 15 years as a businesswoman at highly successful architecture and engineering firms. I hope you enjoy the 20 minute background and advice from Ms. Hare before her insight on personal branding!

Ms. Hare has also offered to personally answer any questions if any listeners have them, so feel free to send Meredith an email at theshesucceedspodcast@gmail.com or interact with this episode through Spotify.

EXCLUSIVE INFO: sneak peak! During the episode, Mrs. Weed shares a story about writing Get Me Carlucci she's never told before. Listen to learn more!

Mrs. Weed is the author of “Get Me Carlucci: A Daughter Recounts Her Father's Legacy of Service.” Get Me Carlucci combines former Secretary of Defense Frank C. Carlucci’s own words with interviews from his contemporaries and context from Mrs. Weed, who completes her late father’s story while keeping his “characteristic deadpan humor and tell-it-like-it-is sensibility.” Despite having never seeked the spotlight, Carlucci was once called “Washington’s Ultimate Survivor” by the Washington Post after serving over 6 presidents and ultimately shaping the world. Mrs. Weed has displayed incredible research skills in her writing after scouring through both newspapers in her attic and in the Library of Congress.