Finding Purpose After Sudden Loss
SheVentures
Imagine your significant other dies unexpectedly from a heart attack. In the midst of grief, you must find the resilience to go on while raising children and deciding how to move ahead professionally. This week’s guest — Sejal Lakhani-Bhatt — shares her story of the unexpected and how she managed to balance her family, her health, and her profession. Lakhani-Bhatt speaks candidly about her global banking career and how mentorship helped her climb the ladder at Deutsche Bank. Her husband, a tech entrepreneur, supported Lakhani-Bhatt when she decided to leave her banking job. Though...
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Has This Startup Vet Created the TikTok of Live Fashion Events?
SheVentures
Named one of Inc. magazine’s top 100 female founders to watch, Maggie Adhami-Boynton is well-versed in the pivots required for an early-stage company to morph into a viable, scalable business. A 15-year startup veteran, she understood earlier than most the rapid evolution of digital apps and e-commerce and hit the ground more than a decade ago. Adhami-Boynton helped grow Canada’s Plastic Mobile, an award-winning mobile app agency, to acquisition in 2015. In 2019, she soft-launched , one of North America’s first live video commerce apps, which quickly amassed hundreds of...
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This Woman Is Raising a Venture Capital Fund, Solo!
SheVentures
Kimberley Nixon tells it like it is. Yes, she is a Los Angeles–based venture capitalist and the founder and managing partner of . Yes, she is passionate about increasing access to investment for women of color, who we know raise less than 1 percent of all venture capital. Nixon is also keen to share the human side of her life. Health is a topic she knows intimately as she overcame cancer in her late 20s after a misdiagnosis. Today, she is balancing, like many of us, her passions with being a wife and mother to two tweens. If you are looking for a relatable, smart, hip role model, Nixon is...
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Breaking Down Barriers: Women’s Representation in the Music Industry
SheVentures
If you’re feeling stuck in your pursuit of success in the music industry despite all the hard work and effort you’re putting in — you’re not alone! Karla Ortiz, founder of , delves into her struggles and victories as a woman of color in the entertainment industry. Early in her career, Ortiz shaped digital marketing campaigns for megastars like Mary J. Blige, Rihanna, and Nelly Furtado. Decades later, she founded Monark Entertainment, an agency focused on streaming and digital marketing, with a particular emphasis on supporting women of color. Ortiz shares her experiences as a...
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Transforming Women’s Health and Racial Equity
SheVentures
Ever wondered how one woman can impact racial wealth and investment equity as well as advancements in women’s health? In two decades, Erika Seth Davies transitioned from a career in development and fundraising to becoming the CEO of , a groundbreaking fund that secured an impressive $44 million (in 2022) to revolutionize the U.S. women’s health market through impact investing. But wait, there’s more! Davies isn’t stopping at women’s health. She’s also the mastermind behind the , an impact investing venture tackling the persistent racial wealth gap. Tune in as we explore the...
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How a Global Perspective Helped Pauline Idogho Create Her Business
SheVentures
From Nigeria to London to Paris to the United States, Pauline Idogho’s journey has taken her on a whirlwind tour of different cultures and experiences. But it’s her ability to adapt to change that has made her a successful entrepreneur. As the founder of Mocktail Club, an innovative line of elevated non-alcoholic beverages, not only does Idogho take pride in offering delicious, natural drinks, but she also dedicates 1 percent of her sales to support clean water initiatives around the world. She tapped into an ever-evolving market — and has learned to diversify her distribution...
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From Biomedical Engineer to Baby-Feeding Startup CEO
SheVentures
Becoming a parent is a seismic pivot in itself. Add the societal pressure to breastfeed — with virtually no support and sleepless nights — and you have a rocky six months. But it doesn’t need to be this way. Andrea Ippolito, CEO of , created a community to help women navigate everything from finding an insurance-covered lactation consultant to exploring different formulas to scoring the best-quality breast pump. Ippolito offers free classes and directories of allies and providers and works with workplaces and insurers to help parents get the support they need. As a mom...
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Kenya Duke’s Divorce and Financial Empowerment
SheVentures
Divorce is a life pivot that touches many, and it can be civil or act as a wrecking ball. You may know Kenya Duke from her BET+ show The Gary Owen Show, with her now ex-husband and their three children. Duke, an entrepreneur, real estate investor, and host of the podcast Truly Kenya, shares her experience of divorce, as well as its emotional and financial impacts. The pain of financial instability and the struggle to make ends meet can be overwhelming. But there is a way to regain control and find empowerment. Duke tells her story from childhood to what it means to be a Black woman in the...
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From Army Vet to Spa Creator
SheVentures
Have you ever considered opening a spa, but the number of unknowns stopped you? Not Crystal Bethea, founder and CEO of , who pivoted from Army veteran to licensed massage therapist, cosmetologist, and entrepreneur. Bethea is passionate about massage, acupuncture, and other wellness modalities. Coming from a family of veterans, she’s passionate about helping vets maintain their health and to help them pursue their entrepreneurial dreams and find fulfillment in their post-military lives. That’s why C3 Wellness Spa is a franchise and ready to expand! Bethea works with her husband, Marus...
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How a Heart Attack Changed This Ph.D.’s Life — for the Better
SheVentures
Imagine rising through the ranks of the Federal government for three decades until one day a sudden heart attack forced you to reevaluate your life priorities. , is an Army veteran, former U.S. Postal Service employee, and a U.S. Department of the Treasury human resources manager. By all accounts, she built a stable career while raising two children, going through a divorce, and taking every opportunity possible to educate/upskill herself, tireless in her pursuit of knowledge. While building her career, Owens was often asked by friends or family about how to navigate the Federal government....
info_outlineImagine experiencing a range of tropical fruit year-round right in your own home. From pink pineapples grown on farms in Costa Rica to fresh yellow dragon fruit native to Mexico and Central America, Desiree Morales provides exotic, tropical fruit in a box delivered to your doorstep. Morales recognized this niche during the pandemic — and went all in.
Morales, CEO and founder of Tropical Fruit Box, a company dedicated to providing fresh, exotic tropical fruit to consumers, is an offshoot of the existing family business, WP Produce, which was started by her father, Willy Pardo. He started out selling exotic and tropical fruit from the back of his truck in Miami to provide the neighborhood staples common to their diet, but tough to find in local markets. Morales’ business experience helped her identify a gap in the market, which she filled with on-demand tropical and exotic fruit boxes.
Inspired by her father’s commitment to building relationships, Morales and her family collaborate with farmers globally to supply quality produce to customers.
Listen to Morales discuss her experience as she grew up working alongside her father, how she applied her knowledge to expand the family business, and her pivot to building a venture of her own on this episode of SheVentures.
2:25 Morales speaks about her father’s success
4:10 Following in her father’s footsteps, Morales saw a need in today’s market and worked to meet it
6:23 Morales describes her experiences growing up in the family business
8:58 What kick-started Morales’ idea behind Tropical Fruit Box?
11:22 There were many roadblocks Morales fought to overcome
13:30 How did the COVID pandemic affect Morales’ business?
20:53 Morales discusses her highs in business and personal life
23:15 Morales describes lessons she learned while building her business to what it is today
26:05 Tips for entrepreneurial women looking to build their own business