This week in the guest chair we have Whitney Gates, an experienced marketing leader turned entrepreneur as co-founder and CEO of Wondry Wine. Her diversified skill set is driven by over 13 years of experience in brand management, shopper marketing and sales across Fortune 200 companies.

Rejecting exclusivity, Wondry presents customers with a more approachable, stronger, semi-sweet wine. Drawing inspiration from her disabled uncle’s wine-making journey, Whitney’s hustled her way into becoming a multi-million dollar company in just a few years. 

In this episode she shares:

• How she went from making wine herself and doing door to door selling to launching Wondry online and expanding onto Target shelves
• What it takes to stand out in a crowded market (and even get a deal with Mark Cuban on Shark Tank)
• The importance of understanding your customer and adjusting your pitch accordingly

Highlights include:

0:00 – Introduction to Whitney Gates

8:17 – Launching Wondry 

11:20 – Defining Wondry’s category: wine vs. cocktail hybrid

15:00 – Investing in the business

18:40 – Door-to-door sales and proof of concept

31:00 – Whitney’s Shark Tank experience and partnering with Mark Cuban

34:00 – Becoming profitable and managing costs as you scale

41:00 – Tips for entrepreneurs 

This week in the guest chair we have Melyssa Ford, media personality, actress, and advocate known for her dynamic presence in entertainment. With a career spanning television, film, and radio, she has captivated audiences as a host on the Joe Budden podcast and various TV appearances.

As a seasoned veteran in media and entertainment, Melyssa mastered the art of pivoting and identifying viable opportunities to launch into new and exciting spaces.

In this episode she shares:

• Her new podcast Hot and Bothered that fosters meaningful conversations about women’s wellness, intimacy, and health 
• Overcoming depression, negative self-talk, and finding grace through personal healing
• The many benefits to pivoting several times in her career

Highlights include:

00:00 Intro

02:00 Building a film/TV personality 

06:00 Being an undocumented immigrant

14:00 Creating her own path

19:00 Battling mental health issues

27:00 Navigating perimenopause

40:00 The podcasting landscape

47:00 Living with a brain injury

1:00:00 Tips for entrepreneurs 

This week in the guest chair we have Alexis Barber, a lifestyle influencer and founder of Too Collective, a modern wellness and loungewear brand. At just 25 years old, Alexis is the host of the top-rated Too Smart For This Podcast and has worked with brands like Lululemon, Rare Beauty, Microsoft, and Miss Dior as a content creator. 

In this episode she shares: 

• How growing up low-income provided the foundation for having confidence and an ambitious mindset to overcome the limitations of her past
• Her transformative experience as an MBA candidate at The Wharton School at UPenn
• How she makes a living off of content creation and the opportunities being an influencer has provided

Highlights Include:

00:00 Intro 

03:00 Confidence and putting yourself out there

09:55 Becoming a lifestyle influencer

12:04 Navigating side hustling and a corporate role

19:27 Collaboration with Rare Beauty 

20:48 Launching a robe company 

29:09 MBA program at Wharton

39:20 Transparency in content creation

44:07 The importance of building a team

Helena Faustin is a Registered Nurse and content creator from New York City who has garnered an audience of millions by sharing her love and passion for cooking. As a mother of three, Helena inspires people with her massively popular food blog, That Nurse Can Cook, to get comfortable in the kitchen and cook delicious meals for their families.

In this episode she shares:

• The ways she stayed consistent in content creation, and why it paid off
• How she differentiated her physical cookbook, The Soul of Scotchie, from others on the market
• How she diversified her revenue streams to triple her income and surpass her nursing paycheck 

Highlights include: 

00:00 Intro

05:22 Finding a path in nursing

10:51 The goal of work-life balance

11:52 Cooking as an outlet

15:25 Intentional content creation

19:24 Unlearning the idea of creating perfect content 

27:21 Diversifying revenue streams

33:38 Hiring a team for content creation

41:09 Revenue from YouTube & brand partnerships

43:42 Publishing a unique cookbook

49:59 Take control of your inner voice

52:30 Tips for entrepreneurs 

This week we have a special student spotlight featuring Hiwote Getaneh, an audio producer curious about human-centered, emotion-driven storytelling. We first met when she joined my Podcast Moguls accelerator program, and it’s been so awesome to follow her journey from working in social policy research, to growing her own podcast, to actually changing her career path to work in podcasting full time, to moving to Portugal to live and work full time, to now launching her Emerging Voices, a podcasting accelerator for aspiring creators who want to start a podcast that is unique to them and build their creative resilience along the way.

In this episode she shares:

• How identifying a niche audience transformed her podcast and entrepreneurial journey
• Her focus on helping first and second-generation immigrant women find confidence in their stories 
• Balancing financial stability after leaving her full time job and moving abroad to Portugal

Highlights include:

00:00 Intro

03:00 From analyst to podcaster

07:45 Mastering storytelling 

13:30 Lessons from Podcast Moguls

18:00 Creating content with purpose

21:00 Becoming an expat in Portugal

28:00 Preparing for full time entrepreneurship 

33:00 Building a platform to monetize

43:00 Defeating self-doubt

47:00 Living in Portugal

54:00 Tips for entrepreneurs