The Found Podcast with Molly Knuth

I get pitches in my inbox every day. Most of them I can't fit into the schedule, no matter how great they are. This one stopped me cold. Sarah Jakle is the founder and executive director of DemocraShe, a nonpartisan nonprofit offering free online training to high school girls in evidence-based resiliency skills, leadership, and civic engagement. They pay their participants $15 an hour. They recruit specifically from historically underrepresented communities. They are 90% girls of color and 70% first-generation Americans. And they have a wait list seven times longer than their current capacity. Only 28% of Congress is women. Only 11% is women of color. Sarah and her organization are doing something about that, and they're starting in high school, because that's the last time boys and girls believe equally that they can run for office. This conversation genuinely moved me. Have a notebook ready. What You'll Hear in This Episode: Why Sarah started DemocraShe after watching the 2020 election, and what she saw that nobody was addressing The two specific barriers she identified: women not seeing themselves as candidates and the outsized harassment women face when they do run Why DemocraShe pays its participants $15 an hour, and what that teaches young women beyond the paycheck The peer-led model: why the program is built by the girls, for the girls, from the name to the curriculum to the workshops The nervous system tools built into every session: grounding, the inner best friend, savoring, and the Viktor Frankl quote you will want on your vision board Why community over competition has to be taught early, while young women's brains are still neuroplastic Sarah's own story: being told in 2014 she would never work again, and how the same skills she now teaches girls are what got her back up How to Get Involved: Apply to the program: democrashe.org Donate to support paid participation and program access: democrashe.org Connect with Sarah on LinkedIn Listen and Subscribe: Spotify Apple Podcasts If this episode fired something up in you, share it with a high school girl in your life. Or a parent. Or a teacher. Or anyone who needs to hear that running for office is a birthright, not a privilege reserved for a certain kind of person.

I've known Josie Manternach since she was roughly in first grade, and I still learned things about her in this conversation that I didn't know. Josie is an educator by trade, a military spouse, a mom, and now a community impact leader at the Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque. But the path that got her there? It's the kind of story that is going to hit differently depending on where you are right now, whether you're holding tightly to a plan that's starting to unravel, or you're on the other side of a pivot wondering how all the pieces are going to fit together. She grew up in Cascade, fell in love with the ag room at Cascade High School, went to Iowa State to become an ag teacher, and had what she thought was her whole life figured out. Then came a retirement, a once-in-a-lifetime job offer, a Navy JAG program acceptance, a cross-country move, a pandemic, a baby, a thesis, and eventually... a path back home that looked different from the one she'd imagined. Every single step of it makes sense when you hear her tell it. What You'll Hear in This Episode: How the ag room at Cascade High School shaped Josie's entire career trajectory (and why belonging matters more than we think) The once-in-a-lifetime job offer that arrived at the exact same moment as her husband's Navy JAG acceptance What it felt like to leave the dream job she thought she'd retire from...at age 24 Life as a military spouse: navigating DC, Florida, a pandemic, a newborn, and starting over more than once How she learned to build community from scratch in places where she didn't know anyone Teaching middle school science in Maryland, working in higher ed in Florida, and what each season taught her Completing a master's thesis through Ohio State while working full time and raising a toddler Her current work at the Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque: dyslexia tutoring, rural teacher retention, third grade literacy, and the grad partnership initiative The stat that stopped me cold: 47 students now receiving dyslexia tutoring weekly in Dubuque...where two years ago there were zero local options Resources and Links: Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque: dbqfoundation.org Rural Teacher Summit: coming this summer at Camp Little Cloud in Epworth Contact Josie directly through the Community Foundation website Listen and Subscribe: Spotify Apple Podcasts If Josie's story resonated with you, share it with someone who is in the middle of a plan that just got disrupted. This one is for them.

I told you this was going to be a different kind of conversation, and I meant it. Serin Silva spent two decades inside high-pressure corporate environments at companies like MSNBC and Hearst, leading integration communications for billion-dollar acquisitions and overseeing a book of business worth $40 million. She was in rooms where she was often the only woman leader, playing a game with rules she didn't write and didn't always like. And then one morning, crossing the Bay Bridge on her commute, a little voice said: how much longer are you going to do this? That question changed everything. Today Serin is an energy healer, psychic medium, ceremonialist, and business strategist who helps women founders get unstuck and move fast. She brings together nervous system regulation, somatic work, intuitive gifts, and Fortune 500 rigor to help her clients find clarity, focus, and in some cases, double their revenue in under a year. This conversation goes everywhere, and I loved every minute of it. Grab a notebook before you press play. What You'll Hear in This Episode: How two decades in Silicon Valley and corporate media shaped Serin's understanding of what women have been asked to suppress at work The morning on the Bay Bridge that changed her life, and what it looked like to follow a voice she'd been ignoring for years What nervous system regulation actually has to do with business results Why heart-centered leadership isn't soft, and how women are already positioned to lead what's coming next The old corporate model (built for making cars, applied to people), why it's dying, and what's replacing it How Serin thinks about AI as a tool for freeing up more humanity, not less What it means to stop shape-shifting and stand at your full height The kaleidoscope analogy that I'm still thinking about Serin's answer to The Found Podcast closing question that genuinely moved us both Connect with Serin: Website: serinsilva.com Free 15-minute business reading Listen and Subscribe: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5YACTbRulN4NooX32NgzgV Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-found-podcast-with-molly-knuth/id1530616432 Have a notebook nearby for this one. Serin asks some questions in this conversation that deserve a real answer, and you'll want to write them down.

We're back with Part 2 of my two-part series on 10 things I know for certain about building a business, not from books or courses, but from almost a decade of living it. If you missed Part 1, go back and listen to Episode 255 first. We covered lessons one through five, and this episode picks up right where we left off. Today we're finishing out the list with lessons six through ten, and honestly these might be the ones that hit the hardest. We're talking money mindset, why you can't do it alone, what a coach actually does for you, giving yourself full permission to change your mind, and the thing I believe most deeply after all of it: this whole founder journey is personal development first. In This Episode: Lesson 6: Finances can be simple (and the money mantra that changed everything for me) The "money flows like water" mindset shift I learned from CPA Sheila Hansen Gina Knox's money waterfall system and why it finally made my finances click Lesson 7: You will not realize your goals entirely on your own. Bring others along. Lesson 8: You will grow faster and go further with a coach, a mentor, or a consultant in your corner How working with Katrina Klooster changed the trajectory of my 2025-2026 transition How podcasting consultant Jill Carr helped me make clearer decisions about the future of this show Lesson 9: You are allowed to change your mind (Surge, Sierra Mist, and why pivoting isn't failing) Lesson 10: This journey is personal development first and a professional endeavor second People and Resources Mentioned: Sheila Hansen, CPA (and past Found Podcast guest) Gina Knox, founder of Small Business Money School (also a past Found Podcast guest) Katrina Klooster, life and leadership coach (another Found Podcast guest - Episode 252) Jill Carr, podcasting consultant (and, you guessed it, a Found Podcast guest!) Miranda (the Found Podcast editor who makes it all happen every week!) Find Molly: Website: mollyknuth.com Instagram: @mollyknuth Email: [email protected] Listen and Subscribe: Spotify Apple Podcasts Did something from this episode (or the last one) land for you? I'd genuinely love to hear it. Reach out on Instagram or send me an email and tell me which lesson resonated most. And if you know a founder who needs to hear this... send them both episodes.

It's a solo cast! It has been a while since it was just me and you, and I'm glad to be back in this format because I have some things to say. This episode was sparked by a moment that happened in March of 2026 at the You Conferences in Cedar Rapids. I was the 3:00 PM speaker and somewhere between the nerves and the sound check and a very unexpected karaoke moment involving Gloria Gaynor, something clicked for me about identity, confidence, and what it actually takes to build something from scratch. So I came here to share 10 things I know for certain about building a business. Not from books. Not from courses. From living it, for almost a decade, through the pivots and the wins and the moments I wish I could do over. This is Part 1. We're covering numbers one through five today, and Part 2 (six through ten) drops next week. In This Episode: The karaoke moment at You Conferences that reminded me to trust myself again Lesson 1: You don't need to reinvent the wheel at the beginning (the unsexy foundation every business actually needs) Lesson 2: Slow down. Then go even slower. But don't stop moving. Lesson 3: Your story is your edge (and why it creates fans before it ever creates customers) Lesson 4: Selling isn't yucky. Talk about your offers. All the time. More than you think you should. Lesson 5: You'll only make as much money as you've built capacity for Resources Mentioned: Gina Knox — money management framework for small business owners Chilled Freezer Meals — local and shipped freezer meal delivery Katrina Klooster — life and leadership coach You Conferences Cedar Rapids — annual women's conference Find Molly: Website: mollyknuth.com Instagram: @mollyknuth Listen and Subscribe: Spotify Apple Podcasts Part 2 drops next week. Make sure you're subscribed so you don't miss it.