The Girl Dad Show: A Professional Parenting Podcast

In this episode of The Girl Dad Show, Young Han sits down with John Francis, better known as Johnny Franchise, founder of Next Level Franchise and of Father's Eve, to unpack how a nickname turned into a business, what running and then selling a family company taught him, and why he now measures success in freedom of time rather than anything on a balance sheet. John explains where the name actually came from and what a personal brand people remember is genuinely worth. He's also direct about the stretch that reshaped everything: losing his father when he was 26 and his older brother three years later, and how those losses ultimately led to the sale of the family business. The conversation also gets personal. John's advice to parents is deceptively simple: parent the child you have, not the child you wish for, and he walks through what that has actually looked like raising two daughters. He talks about the moment his youngest, Anna, was surprised with her school's highest honor, an award voted on by the entire staff for the senior who best embodies its values across academics, athletics, and character. And he makes a case for why discipline around health matters more the longer you intend to be around. Expect a working definition of success built on time and giving back, and a reminder that the version of your kid in your head is not the one sitting in front of you. LINKS 🔗 CONNECT WITH JOHN FRANCIS 👥 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnnyfranchise/ 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thejohnnyfranchise/ 👍 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheJohnnyFranchise/ 🔗 CONNECT WITH FATHERS EVE 🐦 X: https://x.com/fatherseve 👥 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fathers-eve/ 👍 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fatherseve 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fatherseve/ 🔗 CONNECT WITH YOUNG HAN 👥 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/younghan/ 🐦 X: https://twitter.com/younghan 💻 Website: https://www.alwayshan.com/ 🔗 CONNECT WITH THE GIRL DAD SHOW 💻 Website: https://thegirldadshow.com/ 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/TheGirlDadShow/ 🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thegirldadshow 👥 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-girl-dad-show All episodes of The Girl Dad Show are proudly sponsored by Thesis, helping founders go further, together.

In this episode of The Girl Dad Show, Young Han sits down with Danessa Itaya, president of Maid Brigade and a franchise leader with more than three decades in the industry, to unpack the climb from accounting clerk to brand president, leading a team you rarely see in person, and what it took to stop needing everyone to agree with her. Danessa learned franchising from the ground up and now serves as Vice Chair of the International Franchise Association's Women's Franchise Committee. She's candid about the hardest thing she's had to overcome — a people-pleasing instinct that made her good at relationships and slow to speak up — and about the difference between caring how a decision lands and needing approval for it. The conversation also gets personal. As one of ten children, eight of them adopted into her family, Danessa brings an unusually direct perspective on belonging and on how much of a parent's influence actually lands. She talks about going back to work four weeks after having a baby, traveling to franchisees with a breast pump, the Pinewood Derby races she missed — and the answer her sons gave when she finally asked whether they had noticed. Expect a case for setting goals bigger than feel comfortable, a definition of balance as seasonal rather than fixed, and a leadership philosophy built on listening hard and then deciding anyway. 🔗 CONNECT WITH DANESSA ITAYA 👥 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danessa-itaya-cfe-87397615/ 👍 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/danessa.itaya/ 🔗 CONNECT WITH YOUNG HAN 👥 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/younghan/ 🐦 X: https://twitter.com/younghan 💻 Website: https://www.alwayshan.com/ 🔗 CONNECT WITH THE GIRL DAD SHOW 💻 Website: https://thegirldadshow.com/ 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/TheGirlDadShow/ 🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thegirldadshow 👥 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-girl-dad-show All episodes of The Girl Dad Show are proudly sponsored by Thesis, helping founders go further, together.

In this episode of The Girl Dad Show, Young Han sits down with Mike Harvey, founder of SkyeVantage, powered by The Roof Resource, to unpack walking away from corporate America, rebuilding one of the least transparent corners of home services, and what it means to commit with no backup plan. Mike traces his path from a corporate career to launching the company in 2020 as a local concept, then growing it into a national licensing platform serving homeowners, insurance professionals, and real estate partners across multiple states. He shares the thinking behind a hybrid model that pairs technology with service, why he replaced traditional markups with flat fees, and what changes for a homeowner when the pricing on one of the largest purchases they will ever make is finally legible. The conversation also gets personal. Mike is candid about the role faith has played in how he's handled adversity, what he's trying to model for his two daughters, and why purpose and giving back are built into the company rather than bolted onto it. Expect a clear-eyed take on challenging an entrenched business model, practical advice for anyone weighing the jump from a salary to their own thing, and a working reminder of what the building is actually for. 🔗 CONNECT WITH MIKE HARVEY 👥 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-harvey-77193225/ 👍 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mike.harvey.54772 💻 SkyeVantage: https://theroofresource.com/ 🔗 CONNECT WITH YOUNG HAN 👥 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/younghan/ 🐦 X: https://twitter.com/younghan 💻 Website: https://www.alwayshan.com/ 🔗 CONNECT WITH THE GIRL DAD SHOW 💻 Website: https://thegirldadshow.com/ 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/TheGirlDadShow/ 🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thegirldadshow 👥 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-girl-dad-show All episodes of The Girl Dad Show are proudly sponsored by Thesis, helping founders go further, together.

In this episode of The Girl Dad Show, Young Han sits down with TJ Schier, founder and CEO of SmashSwing, to unpack building a new category in golf entertainment, validating an idea against real customers instead of your own conviction, and what eighteen years at Chuck E. Cheese's taught him about designing experiences. TJ traces his path from Chuck E. Cheese's, where he left as VP of Field Support, through two decades as a speaker and consultant in franchising and competitive socializing, to COO of BigShots Golf, and now founding SmashSwing. He shares why he insists the product is something other than a golf simulator, how he worked through early resistance to a product people had no reference point for, and what long-term strategy looks like when you're selling something the market doesn't have a category for yet. The conversation also gets personal. TJ talks about involving his family in the business, why he'd rather give his kids experiences than things, and his approach to parenting: set the guardrails, then let them do their own thing. He draws the line himself between that and delegation — the instinct that makes a good manager is the one that makes a good parent. Expect a practical view of market validation, a non-traditional career path worth studying, and a working definition of success from someone who has built inside large companies and from scratch. 🔗 CONNECT WITH TJ SCHIER 👥 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tjschier/ 💻 Website: https://tjschier.com/ 💻 SmashSwing: https://www.linkedin.com/company/smashswing-immersive/ 🔗 CONNECT WITH YOUNG HAN 👥 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/younghan/ 🐦 X: https://twitter.com/younghan 💻 Website: https://www.alwayshan.com/ 🔗 CONNECT WITH THE GIRL DAD SHOW 💻 Website: https://thegirldadshow.com/ 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/TheGirlDadShow/ 🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thegirldadshow 👥 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-girl-dad-show 📚 MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE The One Minute Manager by Kenneth Blanchard and Spencer Johnson All episodes of The Girl Dad Show are proudly sponsored by Thesis, helping founders go further, together.

In this episode of The Girl Dad Show, Young Han sits down with Rob LoCascio, founder of LivePerson and now Uare.ai, to unpack building AI that serves people instead of replacing them, surviving the failures that come with three decades of running a company, and raising kids who can stand on their own. Rob traces his path from founding LivePerson and taking it public on NASDAQ, through nearly thirty years as its CEO, to launching Uare.ai and KID Company — ventures built on the idea that an AI model should be trained on a real person's life story rather than the whole internet. He shares what the hardest stretches actually taught him, why he thinks human-centered AI is the only version worth building, and how he learned to treat constant change as the operating condition rather than the disruption. The conversation also gets personal. Rob is direct about putting God at the center of his life and how that reframes decisions that used to feel like his alone to carry. He talks about relocating his family to Silicon Valley, the values he's tried to hand his kids, and why he sees his job as a parent as uplifting their independence rather than managing it. Expect a grounded read on where personal AI is actually headed, a usable way to think about resilience after something you built doesn't work, and a reminder that family and faith tend to outlast whatever's on the calendar. 🔗 CONNECT WITH ROB LOCASCIO 👥 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rlocascio/ 🐦 X: https://x.com/RobLoCascio 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/roblocascio/ 💻 Uare.ai: https://www.uare.ai/ 🔗 CONNECT WITH YOUNG HAN 👥 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/younghan/ 🐦 X: https://twitter.com/younghan 💻 Website: https://www.alwayshan.com/ 🔗 CONNECT WITH THE GIRL DAD SHOW 💻 Website: https://thegirldadshow.com/ 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/TheGirlDadShow/ 🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thegirldadshow 👥 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-girl-dad-show All episodes of The Girl Dad Show are proudly sponsored by Thesis, helping founders go further, together.