GSD Factor Podcast

How I Published Three Books In One Year

One year.  Three books.
 
First ever GSD Factor podcast takeover special host Randy Ford brings together author Misha Bleymaier-Farrish and some of her publishing team to share how it came to be, the ups and downs, and some things that aspiring authors can consider.  
 
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Navigating the Professional Pivot with Juliette Foster

Juliette Foster joins us for an encore guest appearance and we are so delighted!  Her first podcast appearance we tackled the topic of A Life Beautifully Paired with Confidence and Resilience.  Now we are tackling the journey of Navigating the Professional Pivot which most of us have or will face. 
 
Juliette Foster is a radio/television journalist and founder of the media services company Magnus Communications. As Managing Director, she brings more than 30 years experience gathered in news, documentaries, and current affairs. Juliette has worked for some of the leading names in UK and international broadcasting including Sky News, Bloomberg Radio & Business Television, BBC Radio, BBC News Channel, BBC World Service Television and Share Radio, the UK’s first national radio station dedicated to business, finance and money matters. As a conference moderator, Juliette has worked with many high-level organisations including The Organisation for Economic Co-Operation & Development (OECD), The United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), the multi-national professional services company PWC, Swift International Banking Operations Seminar (SIBOS) and King Salman Relief. Juliette is a Fellow of the RSA (Royal Society of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce).
 
Connect with Juliette Foster on LinkedIn.

How Vaco is Being Influential in Corporate with their Working Mom’s Collective

Vaco understands the significance of drawing the circle wider to broaden our perspective, to connect on a deeper level, and to be a force for positive change in our world.  This aligns beautifully with the GSD Factor attribute of Be Influential.  
 
On today’s episode of The GSD Factor podcast we are honored to have the co-chairs of Vaco’s Working Mother’s Collective, Taryn Dicken and Kelly Maxwell.  They will share the why behind this important ESG initiative and provide insights into how other organizations can enhance their own efforts. 
 
Taryn Dicken
Taryn Dicken joined Vaco in 2019 and currently leads Vaco New York’s accounting and finance practice. Taryn began her career at Goldman Sachs and spent over 5 years working in the finance division. After Goldman, Taryn spent over 2 years working at a New York-based hedge fund in investor relations. In 2015, she transitioned to the staffing industry marrying her accounting/finance experience with her passion for client service. Taryn is also a Co-Chair of the Working Mother’s Collective at Vaco. Taryn graduated from Villanova University in 2007 with a BS in Finance and International Business and a minor in French. In her free time, Taryn enjoys working out, traveling to new places and spending time with her two children, family and friends.
 
Kelly Maxwell
Kelly Maxwell is the Managing Director of the Accounting & Finance Direct Hire practice for Vaco Dallas, as well as the Global Line of Business Leader for the Financial Perm Division at Vaco LLC.  She leads a dynamic team that provides talent solutions, client engagement and recruiting in order to creatively solve problems for professionals and companies across DFW.  Additionally, she serves as the co-chair for the Working Mother’s Collective ERG.  She earned her MBA from Southern Methodist University and her BBA in Human Resources/Organizational Behavior from University of North Texas.  Kelly serves as Board President for the Bridge Breast Network, where she has volunteered since 2017.  In her free time, she enjoys reading, embroidery, running and spending time with her family and 2 pups named Bailey and Harley.
 
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Connect with Kelly Maxwell on LinkedIn

How Asia is Being Influential in Insurance Theresa Blissing

Asia is not only rising but actively redefining the insurance landscape and trailblazer Theresa Blissing has been front row capturing the lessons and amplifying the stories with the world in her new book, The Future of Insurance, Volume IV. Asia Rising.
Her journey in the insurance landscape began in 2004 with Generali in Frankfurt, Germany. Fast-forward to 2015, intrigued by technological advancements reshaping the industry, Theresa pursued an intensive master's program with a research component. Her research, concentrated on the adoption of big data in Southeast Asian insurance sectors, paved her transition to management consulting. Here, she collaborated with multiple firms and later founded the consulting and research practice, Accelerating Insurance.
In 2019, recognizing the transformative narratives in Asia's insurance sector, Theresa co-launched the Asia InsurTech Podcast. As of 2023, it ranks among the world's top-tier InsurTech podcasts, boasting listeners from over 160 countries.
In 2023, Theresa has unveiled a fresh show, the global podcast, InsurTech Amplified, reiterating her commitment to spotlighting insurance innovation worldwide.
 
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Connecting with Confidence Raghu Sundara

The GSD Factor's first and possibly most important attribute is Be Confident.  Activating this attribute when connecting and building your network are keys to success.  
 
Raghu Sundara got his first taste of business networking while working in management in the insurance industry where he was exposed to over 15 chambers of commerce.  After spending nearly 20 years working in corporate America, Raghu decided to open his own insurance agency business in 2018.  Raghu immediately started attending as many chamber networking events as possible and saw a trend where too many people cared more about getting referrals and instant gratification rather than building relationships and being a giver.  He realized that networking is a marathon and not a sprint and people should not be expecting instant returns on their time invested in networking.  It also taught him to focus on being a problem solver for people even if it had nothing to do with his occupation.  Before long, Raghu wanted to be known as a connector who happened to own an insurance agency instead of an insurance agent.  To learn more about the people he met, Raghu started organizing 20 meet-ups per month with business owners in his local networking community and met with over 1,000 people in 4 years.  As a result, Raghu was inspired to open Always Be Connecting to assist business owners in growing their networks in a more organic and sustainable way.
 
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Real Talk For Working Moms Christine French

Be sure to check out episode 6 which was Christine's first appearance on our GSD Factor Podcast where she shared her story of courage, resiliency, and becoming a Mom.  This has been our most popular and most downloaded episode of all time!  
Now that her tiny human is 1 years old, we are excited to have her back as we have real talk for working moms!
Christine is a corporate finance professional learning to balance her career with navigating new motherhood.  With that comes a wide range of complex feelings, from trusting daycare, staying present in her marriage, becoming more secure in the decision to have one child, and discovering her new identity as a mother.  These feelings are made even more nuanced because her journey to this point has involved an early loss as well as delivery and postpartum complications.  She is passionate about sharing her joys and struggles openly in the hope that it can help other moms feel less alone.
Connect with Christine on LinkedIn or Instagram

Intellectual Curiosity Sean Stowers

The GSD Factor attribute of Be Inquisitive is looking at intellectual curiosity with an industry expert in the learning space.  
 
Sean Stowers is the founder, Chief Learning Officer and CEO of WeLearn. Sean started WeLearn with two things in mind – the first to build better humans through learning and the second – to get up every day and work with people he loved to work with and do really cool things. 
Sean aims to be a thought partner to all of the clients he has worked with. He is adept at identifying the dots that need to be connected – and helping those around him to see that as well.
WeLearn is the recent winner of SEVEN Brandon Hall Group Awards for the work we did together with our partners! 
 
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Learn more about WeLearn

Always Be Learning Chrisanthi Symeonidou

The GSD Factor attribute of Be Inquisitive boils down to always be learning.  Sometimes we know that our Point A is and what we want our Point B to be but need to figure out how to get there.
 
Chrisanthi is multilingual and enjoys travelling, learning languages and exploring new cultures. Her passion for languages translated into pursuing a degree in French and Russian, followed by a master's degree in International Management. The thread connecting Chrisanthi's past throughout was her growing interest in technology and collaborating with people from all over the world. This is at the heart of her career today, where she is now a Salesforce Consultant for a multinational company!
 
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Brave Leadership Crystal Whiteaker

What is a GSD Factor Leader?  A leader that knows when to lead, when to follow, when to push, when to support and regularly utilizes all six attributes of the GSD Factor life.  Join us as we talk with author of Brave Leadership is a Choice Crystal Whiteaker about the synergies of a GSD Factor Leader and a Brave Leader.
 
Crystal Whiteaker (pronouns: she/her) is the Founder and CEO of Crystal Lily Creative, and Author of Brave Leadership is a Choice: An Inclusive Guide to Creating Belonging. Crystal is an Inclusive Branding and Leadership Development Consultant who helps mission driven brands and leaders create human-focused messaging and environments rooted in core values. Crystal brings over 15 years of creative, relational, process driven experience across multiple industries. She is a self-described "corporate trained, creative hippie” who puts a strong focus on core values to help people connect, communicate and lead with belonging in mind. 
 
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Visit Crystal's website

Building DEIB With A Purpose Dr. Jim Kanichirayil

Building DEIB with a purpose and intentionality is so important across all our industries and we tackle this topic with Dr. Jim Kanichirayil.
Dr. Jim is a talent nerd. He's been in and around the talent space for longer than he'd care to admit. He's currently the VP of Growth for EngageRocket, a leadership effectiveness and employee engagement platform. Most of his career has been spent helping organizations build elite teams by attracting, developing, and retaining top talent. He has his doctorate in organizational leadership and his study was on employee retention and turnover. He's the co-founder and co-host of Cascading Leadership.
 
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