Ellevate Podcast: Conversations With Women Changing The Face Of Business

Host Anusha Harid-Paoletti sits down with author, activist, and world-record skydiver Melanie Curtis to reframe what fear really is—and how to act anyway. Melanie shares the mental playbook she uses from aircraft door to boardroom: identify fear’s signal, interrupt it with breath, name the sentence you’re believing, and choose a simple, confidence-anchored reframe. She opens up about healing and vulnerability (and why both are skills you can practice), then takes us behind her documentary that parallels the 80-woman, 200-mph world record with the grit of the women’s suffrage movement. For parents, educators, and young women, Melanie offers ways to cultivate safe support, permission to care about what lights you up, and a path to real resilience. We close with what’s next: fewer jumps, more stages, and a mission to champion women and girls by speaking boldly in every room.Thank you to our sponsors Gies College of Business Want to be considered for the podcast? Send an email to ashton@ellevatenetwork.com w

In this episode of the Ellevate Podcast, host Anusha sits down with Tiffany Irving, Senior Vice President and Wealth Advisor at Mesirow Wealth Management, to talk about building wealth with purpose. Tiffany shares her path into financial advising, the importance of serving diverse communities, and her Three P’s approach—Prepare, Plan, Protect—as a practical framework for financial security. She also dives into the power of financial literacy for younger generations, common mistakes people make when planning (or failing to plan), and why redefining legacy matters. Listeners will leave with insights that make money management approachable, personal, and empowering.Thank you to our sponsors Gies College of Business Want to be considered for the podcast? Send an email to ashton@ellevatenetwork.com with your topic focus and a short bio.To learn more about Ellevate Network and how we’re building a community that supports women+ at every stage of their careers, visit ellevatenetwork.com or reach out to info@ell

What separates good managers from leaders people line up to work for? In this energizing conversation, host Anusha sits down with Whitney Faires—internationally recognized coach, keynote speaker, and former senior executive at Intuitive Surgical who helped scale a $2B business line—to unpack the Courageous Leader Roadmap. Whitney shares the “Sunday-night test” for honest self-assessment, explains why people-first leadership outperforms results-only management, and reframes fearless communication as a practice of refusing to let fear decide what gets said—not saying everything that crosses your mind.You’ll learn how to identify your leadership archetype, build judgment and self-awareness in high-stakes moments, and consistently access your power zone using personal activators (and guarding against depletors). Whitney also talks candidly about navigating guilt, competing priorities, and career pivots you didn’t choose—plus how to reclaim agency by focusing on what you can control and designing growth inside any

Award-winning marketing strategist and entrepreneur Sacha Awwa (Founder, SAMG; Co-founder, My Marketer Mentors) joins Anusha Harid-Paoletti to demystify why marketing feels complicated—and how to make it simple, measurable, and effective. Drawing on 22 years across the New York Times and high-growth startups, Sacha lays out a foundation-first approach: clarify mission/vision, nail the Four W’s (why, who, way, what), define accurate ideal customer profiles, and build customer-market fit before spending a dollar on channels. She shares a right-sized MarTech stack (GA/Search Console, CRM/ESP) and how to use AI tools (ChatGPT, Claude) to accelerate research and planning. We dig into B2B vs. B2C nuances, community-building that beats tiny ad budgets, and two unforgettable war stories, one about scaling customer service with moms, another about founders getting in their own way. If you’ve ever wondered where your ad dollars go, or whether you even need ads yet, this episode gives you the roadmap to market smarter,

In this thought-provoking episode, host Anusha Harid-Paoletti sits down with Dr. Camille Preston, business psychologist and author of Living Real, to explore how leaders can navigate disruption, grief, and the “shallowing” of modern life. Drawing from her own journey through profound loss, Camille shares how avoiding hard conversations not only limits our resilience but also our joy. Together they discuss practical ways to rethink energy, resist digital distraction, and embrace radical presence in leadership and life. With wisdom forged at the intersection of psychology and business, Camille offers listeners a blueprint for leading with authenticity, compassion, and strength in times of uncertainty.Thank you to Gies College of Business for sponsoring this podcast. Want to be considered for the podcast? Send an email to ashton@ellevatenetwork.com with your topic focus and a short bio.To learn more about Ellevate Network and how we’re building a community that supports women+ at every stage of their career

Katy Brodsky Falco is the Founder and Executive Director of the Foundation for Women's Health. She comes to this work through an equity lens, having worked in criminal justice reform for 20 years. After surviving both HELLP syndrome and breast cancer, Katy was horrified to learn about the long history of inequities in rigorous research of women’s health. Seeing how clearly the public sector failed to close the gender equity gap in health for decades across both democratic and republican administrations, she created the Foundation for Women’s Health as a private sector solution to not only equalize research funding for diseases across gender, but also across disease. Katy has built and managed non-profit research organizations for leading academic institutions for the past decade. She was the Executive Director of NYU School of Law's Criminal Justice Lab, and prior to this, she was Executive Director of Crime Lab New York, a criminal justice research organization based at University of Chicago. She was also Ex

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