Intentional Advancement with Cynthia Bentzen-Mercer
Your Working Life with Caroline Dowd-Higgins
Release Date: 05/20/2024
Refamulating with Claire McInerny and Julia Winston
Your Working Life with Caroline Dowd-Higgins
Claire McInerny is the Executive Producer of Refamulating, a podcast and newsletter that showcases all the ways to make a family. Claire is a podcast producer and writer based in Louisville, KY. Prior to podcasting she was a reporter for NPR stations in Indiana and Texas. Julia Winston is the host and co-creator of Refamulating. She is also a facilitator, designer and teacher of human connection in the workplace and beyond based in Austin, Texas. You can learn more about her work at . Topics/Questions: I'm really proud of the partnership Julia and I created - I wasn't meant to be...
info_outline
Navigating the Perfect Storm of Career and Burnout with Dr. Janna Koretz
Your Working Life with Caroline Dowd-Higgins
Website: Dr. Koretz is the founder of Azimuth, a therapy practice specializing in the mental health challenges of individuals in high-pressure careers. She has spent over a decade helping her clients face and overcome their mental health issues by developing a unique understanding of industry-specific nuances in fields like law, consulting, finance, and technology. Dr. Koretz has been featured in many publications, including Harvard Business Review and the Wall Street Journal, focusing on the importance of recognizing...
info_outline
Disability is Human with Dr. Stephanie Cawthon
Your Working Life with Caroline Dowd-Higgins
Website: Stephanie W. Cawthon, PhD is author of DISABILITY IS HUMAN: The Vital Power Of Accessibility In Everyday Life, a researcher, and consultant who brings relatable insights and real-world skills to her mission that – when we tap the power of accessibility – we ensure disabled people can thrive and succeed. Dr. Cawthon’s groundbreaking research has been funded by over $50 million in federal and other grants. In 2023 she founded the National Disability Center for Student Success at The University of Texas at Austin, where she is a tenured Professor of Educational Psychology....
info_outline
Nobody Cares About Your Career with Erika Ayers Badan
Your Working Life with Caroline Dowd-Higgins
Erika Ayers Badan is a digital innovator, disruptor, and seasoned executive on the cutting edge of content creation, distribution, and monetization of premier and culturally relevant content. As an early adopter of internet culture, Ayers has always been interested in what’s next, driving digital entrepreneurship and large-scale revenue growth within companies. Ayers Badan was recently named CEO of Food52 after serving as a board member and advisor since 2019. Ayers Badan currently serves on the boards of the Premier Lacrosse League, and global public safety technology leader Axon Enterprise...
info_outline
Improbably Successful with Juan Silvera
Your Working Life with Caroline Dowd-Higgins
Website: Juan Silvera is a marketing, communications and digital product strategy executive and author with 30+ years real-life experience with some of the largest financial services firms in the world and with marketing agency startups. He is currently Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer at AgFirst Farm Credit Bank, a $45 billion lending institution. He has held executive marketing roles at Rabobank, Wachovia / Wells Fargo, Bank of America and MUFG Union Bank. In addition he was principal in three digital marketing startups, two in the U.S. and one in Europe....
info_outline
The Language of Success with Theresa Slater
Your Working Life with Caroline Dowd-Higgins
Theresa Slater is the President of Empire Interpreting Service, which she founded in 2003. She built her company into a respected, award-winning organization with more than 300 interpreters and an array of customer-centric services. A speaker, author and advisor to new entrepreneurs, Slater’s love for business drives her on her path. Slater’s new book, (Business Expert Press, Aug. 30, 2024), is both autobiography and a how-to (or how not-to) guide for entrepreneurs. Learn more at . It’s Time for Women Entrepreneurs to Know They’re Worthy ...
info_outline
Delight in the Limelight with Linda Ugelow
Your Working Life with Caroline Dowd-Higgins
Linda Ugelow (YOU-guh-lo) is a speaking confidence coach, podcast host, and author of the book, and hosts a podcast of the same name. Formerly stricken with public speaking fear herself, she now helps entrepreneurs, coaches, and business leaders transform their experience of speaking from dread to delight whether online or on stage, in the media or the meeting room. Website: Book promo info: It was a great opportunity…but stage fright made you pass. How does one get over their fear of speaking? Linda Ugelow is a speaking confidence coach, podcast...
info_outline
Discover Your Work Joy with Beth Stallwood
Your Working Life with Caroline Dowd-Higgins
A coach, facilitator, speaker, consultant, author, and the founder of Create WorkJoy, Beth Stallwood has an impressive track record of enabling people to achieve their career and life goals. She’s spent 20 years developing her signature practical, passionate approach, and excels at getting to the heart of what’s actually going on. Her clients range from global corporations to tech scale-ups, sports governing bodies, charities, and higher education institutions. Beth’s “WorkJoy: A Toolkit for a Better Working Life”, highly commended by the Business Book Awards 2024,...
info_outline
Redesign Work to Have Quality of Life with Brigid Schulte
Your Working Life with Caroline Dowd-Higgins
Brigid Schulte is the author of the bestselling Overwhelmed: Work, Love, and Play When No One Has the Time and an award-winning journalist formerly for the Washington Post, where she was part of a team that won a Pulitzer Prize. She is also the director of the Better Life Lab, the work-family justice and gender equity program at New America. She lives in Alexandria, Virginia, with her husband and two children. Over Work Talking Points: ● Redesigning Work to have Time for Quality of life. How to more deliberately prioritize...
info_outline
Use Your Gut Feelings to Get Ahead with Jessica Pryce-Jones
Your Working Life with Caroline Dowd-Higgins
Jessica Pryce-Jones is author of She started her career in finance where she learned about numbers, strategy, and leadership. After ten years in the corporate world, she completed a psychology degree – she wanted to understand why some of her bosses were brilliant and others were dismal. Those insights launched a new career facilitating, coaching, designing interventions and writing. Clients include multinationals in healthcare, professional services, FMCG, banking, creative, education, manufacturing, publishing, and engineering industries as well as the public and...
info_outlineCynthia L. Bentzen Mercer, PhD, MBA, BCC, SPHR
Founder / CEO, Bentzen Performance Partners, LLC
Co-Founder / Managing Partner, The Zeal of the Heel, LLC
Strategic Executive, Sociologist, Servant Leader, Speaker, Author, Board Certified Coach
Dr. Cynthia Bentzen Mercer is an elite talent and organizational development strategist, social
psychologist, and author with three decades of experience transforming company culture through her nationally recognized approaches to identifying, unleashing, and actualizing human potential. She is a leading authority on premier workforce cultivation rooted in integrity, passion, service excellence, and diversity. Cynthia’s unique ability to inspire professional growth galvanizes a flourishing culture of innovation and discovery. Known as a visionary in organizational design, succession planning, leadership advancement, and executive coaching, she assembles top-tier teams with deep, balanced bench strength.
A stalwart professional, Cynthia’s experience traverses domestic and international, public and private, for-profit and not-for-profit, start-up, and aggressive growth companies within the real estate, gaming, hospitality, and healthcare industries. She has been recognized as one of Ingram’s 50 Missourians You Should Know, among Becker’s 143 Women Leaders of Hospitals and Health Systems to Know, a St. Louis YWCA Leader of Distinction, and one of St. Louis’s Most Influential Businesswomen.
Before starting Bentzen Performance Partners, LLC, and The Zeal of the Heel, LLC, Cynthia was executive vice president and chief administrative officer at Mercy, overseeing human resources, government relations, community relations, philanthropy, and other support functions for the ministry. A true catalyst for change, Cynthia launched Mercy’s first diversity, equity, and inclusion program and advisory board. With a passion for advancing women’s careers in business, she founded Mercy Women in Leadership. Before Mercy, Cynthia served as chief human resources officer for Ameristar Casinos, Inc., a national gaming and hospitality organization; vice president of human resources for The Cheesecake
Factory restaurants; and vice president of international human resources for Oakwood Worldwide.
Book: Now, Near, Next: A Practical Guide for Mid-Career Women to Move from Professional Serendipity to Intentional Advancement
For some women, mid-career feels like a merry-go-round. You begin your career eager to jump on. You pick the pink pony and hold on tight. You might move to the purple pony during the first stop. Look, Mom, no hands! However, a few years later, you look up and are still belted into the same saddle, on the same ride, following behind a new group of riders, going in circles. You need a bigger amusement park and a more challenging ride! A must-read for all women trying to find or fight their way to what is possible. The methodology outlined in Now, Near, Next debunks the myth that just putting your head down, enjoying the ride and working hard is the best way to realize your fullest potential.
LinkedIn | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube
www.zealoftheheel.com