The Girl Dad Show: A Professional Parenting Podcast

In this episode of The Girl Dad Show, Young Han sits down with Britt Riley, founder and CEO of Haven, to unpack why she built a company that puts childcare, workspace and fitness under one roof, what her market research turned up about the gaps in the childcare industry, and how Haven went from a single Rhode Island location to a national franchise model. Britt is direct about her view that the industry, left to its own devices, is broken, and about why she thinks a genuinely new model had to come from outside it. She talks about the research that preceded the business, the decision to franchise rather than scale alone, and what it takes to run a multi-location company without losing whatever made the first location work. The conversation also gets personal. Britt started Haven out of her own experience trying to hold a career and parenthood together, and she is candid about what building it while raising two girls has actually required. She talks about how much of entrepreneurship she believes comes down to innate wiring rather than strategy, how she thinks about guiding her daughters' ambitions without steering them, and why she keeps returning to the idea that the first five years matter more than anything that follows. Expect a clear argument for treating early childhood as a societal problem rather than only a parenting one, a useful read on self-awareness as a founder, and the case for building the thing you could not find. 🔗 CONNECT WITH BRITT RILEY 👥 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brittanyweatherbyriley/ 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yourhavenlife/ 💻 Haven: https://yourhavenlife.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 Patti Rother, founder of Root + Rise Franchise Dev and a 22-year veteran of franchising, to unpack the move from restaurant operations into franchise development, why sales and operations break the moment they're run as separate departments, and what it took to leave and build her own company. Patti has worked with brands including Panera Bread, Noodles & Company, Blink Fitness, Scenthound and the Head to Toe portfolio, and her argument comes from having actually operated the units she now sells: growth has to be fast and durable at the same time. She talks about building a brand's sales infrastructure from the ground up, where AI genuinely helps, and why she designs every engagement so the brand ends up owning the system rather than renting it. The conversation also gets personal. Patti is candid about building a company while raising kids, and about a parenting choice that runs against instinct: letting her children see the full side of her rather than a composed version, because that's what lets them feel and own their own emotions. She also chairs the IFA's Franchising Pride Council and spent six years on its Women's Franchise Committee, work that connects to the same idea, that people do better when they aren't performing a version of themselves. Expect a practical view of franchise growth, a real case for integrating sales and operations, and a reminder that the most valuable thing you can build is something other people can carry without you. 🔗 CONNECT WITH PATTI ROTHER 👥 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pattirother/ 💻 Root + Rise: https://www.franchise.dev/ 🔗 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 Raphael Rajan, co-founder of EZee Assist, an AI platform built for franchising, to unpack the path from industrial engineering to strategy consulting to founding a company, why franchising turned out to be the right problem to go after, and how the first customers came in. Raphael explains what the product actually does giving franchisees and support teams immediate answers and coaching insight instead of leaving them to hunt through documentation and where he thinks AI is heading in work and education. The conversation also gets personal. Raphael parents by asking rather than telling, and he's thought hard about what that does for a kid's confidence including how to handle the questions six-year-olds ask about things like the tooth fairy. He talks about raising twins across three cultures, why he believes storytelling is the one skill AI won't take, and what a serious injury this year taught him about being present when you physically can't do what you normally would. Expect a clear read on where AI actually helps, a useful frame for building confidence and curiosity in kids, and an honest account of what happens when independence is taken away from you. 🔗 CONNECT WITH RAPHAEL RAJAN 👥 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/raphaelrajan/ 💻 EZee Assist: http://www.ezeeassist.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 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.