252K
Downloads
299
Episodes
A podcast offering tips and tricks for reinventing yourself by former More magazine Editor In Chief and creator of CoveyClub.com, Lesley Jane Seymour.
Episodes
Friday May 27, 2022
Friday May 27, 2022
Susan Schoenberger always knew she wanted to be a writer. After graduating from Dartmouth with a degree in English, she launched her journalism career in newspapers. But when the market crashed in 2008, the publishing industry faltered, and Schoenberger’s career of over 30 years came to a standstill. As she applied for new work (more than 50 applications over the next 2 years), Schoenberger never gave up on her writing. Listen in to her conversation with CoveyClub founder, Lesley Jane Seymour, to learn how a personal trauma informed her stunning new novel.
FREE GIFT! Don’t start your reinvention without downloading CoveyClub’s starter guide called “31 Badass Tips for Launching Your Reinvention Without Fear!”
Bio:
Susan Shoenberger serves as Director of Communications for Hartford International University for Religion and Peace, a graduate school with an interfaith dialogue focus. Her first novel, A Watershed Year was published in 2011. She is also the author of The Virtues of Oxygen, published in July 2014 and The Liability of Love, published in July 2021.
Key Links:
Susan’s novel The Liability of Love on Amazon
Website
Join CoveyClub: If you like what you hear, you can support the CoveyCast podcast with a five-star rating, and subscribe for more inspiring conversations.
Time Stamps
[00:3:02.00] Becoming a writer and working in journalism
[00:5:18.00] Struggling to work freelance and landing current job
[00:14:30.00] First book and burying stories
[00:16:06.00] Revision and reproduction
[00:19:12:00] Sexual violence and #MeToo
[00:22:02.00] The importance of telling your story
[00:29:15.00] Secret skills she learned throughout her writing life that you can use
Social & Website
Friday Apr 08, 2022
Friday Apr 08, 2022
Ellen Snee grew up in New Jersey, the oldest of five children in an Irish Catholic family. When she was 12 years old, a priest friend came to the house for dinner and gave everyone a blessing. Young Ellen then announced to her family that she wanted to become a priest when she grew up, for the opportunity to bring peace and joy to others. When her elders enlightened her to the fact that women are not allowed to become priests in the Catholic church, a young rebel was born. Snee decided instead to become a nun, discovering the Sacred Heart community while attending Fordham and going on to teach for Sacred Heart University. One of many reinventions caused her to transition to a career in women’s development, and after 18 years she left her convent. In this conversation with CoveyClub founder Lesley Jane Seymour, Snee recounts the reinventions of her life, including launching a Fortune 500 business, moving to California and meeting her husband, helping women claim leadership roles in the business world, and writing her book, “Lead: How Women in Charge Claim their Authority”. Learn Snee’s steps for dealing with fear of transition and how to take the leap to follow your passions.
FREE GIFT! Don’t start your reinvention without downloading CoveyClub’s starter guide called “31 Badass Tips for Launching Your Reinvention Without Fear!”
Bio:
Ellen Snee has been at the forefront of women’s leadership for more than 25 years. Dr. Snee brings strategy, research and executive experience to global companies and their top female talent. Her original research at Harvard University on women’s experience in roles of authority formed the foundation of her consulting and coaching work with Fortune 500 companies such as Cisco, Goodyear, Marriott, Pfizer and Schwab. Later, as the Global VP of Leadership Development at VMware, she launched the company’s groundbreaking business initiative, VMwomen, designed to attract, develop, advance and retain talented women. Her new book Lead: How Women in Charge Claim Their Authority makes her wisdom and experience accessible to all women seeking to accelerate their careers. Dr. Snee lives in the San Francisco Bay Area where she continues to coach and advise women leaders and executives worldwide, and frequently speaks to companies and conferences.
Time Stamps:
3:19 – Catholic family and childhood dreams
6:32 – Life changing books and female empowerment
8:52 – Starting coaching business
13:02 – Writing her book
19:20 – What the younger generations are doing right
22:28 – What you can do to get ahead
25:20 – How to lead effectively
32:50 – Coaching stories
Key Links:
Social & Website
Join CoveyClub: If you like what you hear, please support the CoveyCast podcast with a five-star rating, and subscribe to CoveyClub.com for more inspiring conversations.
Friday Apr 01, 2022
Friday Apr 01, 2022
Jennifer McKay is no stranger to reinvention. Born and raised in New Orleans, she completed a communications degree before moving to Los Angeles and starting a twenty-year career in marketing. Later, married with children, she moved with her family back to Louisiana and a new career as a stay-at-home mom. After five years, however, McKay was restless. She knew she needed to get back to work but the idea of returning to corporate America was daunting. Her reinvention as an entrepreneur began when her sister started a direct sales company. Soon, McKay was part of the #1 skincare brand in the country, raising a team of consultants and building her own organization within the company. Listen to her conversation with Covey Club founder Lesley Jane Seymour to discover how McKay rediscovered her passion for fine art in her 50s and embraced her identity as an artist. “It’s such a personal thing to create,” McKay advises. “And it’s such a generous thing to offer for the world.”
FREE GIFT! Don’t start your reinvention without downloading CoveyClub’s starter guide called “31 Badass Tips for Launching Your Reinvention Without Fear!”
Bio:
Jennifer McKay is a Louisiana artist currently living in Lafayette, LA. Her abstract art consists of mixed-media paintings and sculptural pieces.
Key Links:
Join CoveyClub: If you like what you hear, you can support the CoveyCast podcast with a five-star rating, and subscribe to CoveyClub for more inspiring conversations.
Time Stamps:
2:33 – Growing up in New Orleans and starting in marketing
3:20 – Stay-at-home reinvention
5:00 – Starting sales with older sister
10:48 – Working up to the top of the company
11:38 – The art of failing
13:28 – How you can balance success and stress
17:37 – Why you need a mentor
23:20 – Joy and learning
27:05 – The importance of positive self-talk
30:50 – Success at any age
Friday Mar 25, 2022
Friday Mar 25, 2022
New York City native Caitlin Meister began teaching even while she was still learning herself. A lifelong learner, she developed a passion for igniting the curiosity in young minds. Her first reinvention came when her son was born, giving her a new understanding of working with children – but as a mom. She went on to create The Greer Meister Group, a NYC-based private educational consulting and tutoring practice. And, like many of us, when Covid hit in March 2020, Meister was forced into another reinvention. She saw the loss of community that kids were experiencing and witnessed the need for connectedness in her own son. In her conversation with CoveyClub founder Lesley Jane Seymour, Meister explains how she reinvented her approach to teaching, bringing a sense of connection to children in the time of Zoom calls and quarantine. Most importantly, she shares her insights on how parents can reinvent their approach to educating their children, how you can find the “teachable moments”, and most importantly how you can foster a lifelong love of learning in your child.
FREE GIFT! Don’t start your reinvention without downloading CoveyClub’s starter guide called “31 Badass Tips for Launching Your Reinvention Without Fear!”
Bio:
Caitlin Meister is the Founding Director of The Greer Meister Group, a New York City-based private tutoring and educational consulting practice. Her interest in education began when she was young, and she began teaching children and teens while pursuing her own education. Inspired by her own educational experiences at the Little Red School House, Stuyvesant High School, and Wesleyan University, she went on to receive additional training through the Harvard Graduate School of Education and in the Orton-Gillingham approach for teaching students with language-based learning differences. Meister has extensive experience working with gifted learners and supporting neurodiverse students, and she is dedicated to a strengths-based, neurodiversity-affirming approach.
Key Links:
Join CoveyClub: If you like what you hear, you can support the CoveyCast podcast with a five-star rating, and subscribe to CoveyClub for more inspiring conversations.
Time Stamps
02:54 - How giving birth to her first son changed her relationship to teaching
04:30 - Reinventing her personal identity as a mom
09:43 - Perserving the growth mindset in kids
11:07 - How you can foster your child-like curiosity
14:45 - Pivoting business protocols during COVID
20:45 - How to create opportunities for your children without force
26:00 - How to reduce parenting stress
Social & Website
Friday Mar 18, 2022
Friday Mar 18, 2022
Kate Eckman assumed she’d follow the rest of her family into a medical career. Quickly, however, she realized the path wasn’t for her and she turned to journalism. Eckman’s career took her from red-carpet reporting in Hollywood to covering politics in DC, courts in Chicago, and even wildlife in Florida and Africa. When she moved to New York for a television job, Eckman was forced to reinvent–and quickly–after the job unexpectedly fell through just one week later. Being in New York City allowed Eckman, who happened to meet the physical qualifications, to begin modeling for the plus size industry, which brought her face-to-face with her own insecurities about body image. In her conversation with CoveyClub founder, Lesley Jane Seymour, Eckman explains exactly how the trajectory of her life was changed by loss and spiritual upheaval and how it finally led to her telling her story in a book.
FREE GIFT! Don’t start your reinvention without downloading CoveyClub’s starter guide called “31 Badass Tips for Launching Your Reinvention Without Fear!”
Bio:
Kate Eckman empowers high-achieving individuals to actualize their full potential. She leverages her experience as a well-known communications, performance and mindfulness expert, accomplished entrepreneur, and elite athlete to equip leaders with the tools, methodology, and energetic boost they need to excel at the game of life.
Key Links:
Social media:
Join CoveyClub: If you like what you hear, you can support the CoveyCast podcast with a five-star rating, and subscribe for more inspiring conversations.
Time Stamps
5:17 - Growing up, going to Penn State, starting her journalism career
7:10 - Moving to New York
7:48 - Modeling, body image struggles, and beginning to write more vulnerably
8:20 - Losing two people to suicide and focusing on public speaking
11:09 - Writing Full Spirit Workout
15:20 – Why questioning who you are is a good thing
22:00 – Normalizing losing a job as an opportunity to grow
29:12 – Kate's tips for mitigating judgment
Social & Website
Thursday Mar 10, 2022
Thursday Mar 10, 2022
With a family of 12 physicians, Hasti Nazem didn’t hesitate before going pre-med. Her beloved aunt’s passion for medicine and emigration from Iran had sparked a family-wide love of healthcare. But for Nazem, lifelong struggles with anxiety and depression left her feeling burned out, and she did what few in her family had done before: she chose to put her mental health first and reinvented. Unfortunately, she moved into the world of finance just before the 2008 market collapse. When a personal loss prompted her to return to school, she found herself connecting with two partners and starting a wellness company focused on sleep. Today, Nazem is the head of product and education for CoveyClub sponsor Kindra, a women’s wellness company that focuses on menopause. Listen in to her candid conversation with CoveyClub founder Lesley Jane Seymour as they dig into the science of how to fall asleep–and Nazem’s secrets to staying asleep during these years of hormonal disruption.
FREE GIFT! Don’t start your reinvention without downloading CoveyClub’s starter guide called “31 Badass Tips for Launching Your Reinvention Without Fear!”
Bio:
With nearly 10 years of experience at the intersection of life sciences, health and wellness, and consumer brand-building, Hasti Nazem integrates product development with technical advancements. She is particularly passionate about drawing from deep scientific communications experience to empower consumers to better understand their health, encourage engagement with the medical community, and bridge gaps often overlooked in menopause.
Key Links:
Kindra special offer to podcast listeners:
Try any of the specially-designed Kindra products for 20% off using the coupon code COVEY20.
Join CoveyClub: If you like what you hear, you can support the CoveyCast podcast with a five-star rating, and subscribe to CoveyClub for more inspiring conversations.
Time Stamps
07:10 - Growing up pre-med; reinventing for mental health
10:16 - When her aunt dies, Nazem decides to return to school, meets partners, launches a wellness business
12:02 - Leaving her start-up 10 days before the pandemic shut-down
12:31 - Learning the signs of burn-out
16:33 - Discovering Kindra; exploring the underlying relationship between sleep and menopause
20:00 - Why is there a lack of visibility for women going through menopause and post-menopause?
25:00 - Nazeem’s 5 unexpected tips for falling asleep
28:23 - Journaling for menopause and better sleep
32:19 - Finding the right bath products during menopause
36:34 - Stay-asleep tips
Social & Website
Friday Feb 25, 2022
Friday Feb 25, 2022
Mississippi native Janet Gurwitch was destined to join the fashion industry. Her father owned a chain of shoe stores and she herself graduated college with a degree in retail. After spending 14 years with Houston department store Foley’s, Gurwitch went on to become the Executive Vice President for Neiman Marcus. While there, she met make-up artist Bobbi Brown, then just beginning to launch her make-up line. Although she never intended to become an entrepreneur, Gurwitch was inspired by Brown to start her own business. At the age of 42, Gurwitch left Neiman Marcus and sought a makeup artist with whom she could build a beauty brand. After networking with beauty editors at Vogue and other magazines, she made her choice, invested her life’s savings, and created Laura Mercier. But after 13 years, when Nemain Marcus was sold to a private equity company, their 51% investment in Laura Mercier went with it. Gurwitch was forced to sell and she once again faced a career reinvention. Listen in to her conversation with CoveyClub founder, Lesley Jane Seymour, to learn how Gurwitch joined the private sector and bought five beauty brands in the course of ten years.
FREE GIFT! Don’t start your reinvention without downloading CoveyClub’s starter guide called “31 Badass Tips for Launching Your Reinvention Without Fear!”
Bio:
Janet Gurwitch is an operating partner with Advent International, where she serves on the board of Olaplex, Inc. Gurwitch is the founder and former CEO of Laura Mercier Cosmetics & Skincare, a global brand of high-end niche cosmetics. Prior to founding Laura Mercier, Janet Gurwitch was the Executive Vice President of Neiman Marcus, where she developed strategy and managed 80% of Neiman Marcus’ $2 billion sales volume across 35 doors.
Key Links:
Social media:
Join CoveyClub: If you like what you hear, you can support the CoveyCast podcast with a five-star rating, and subscribe for more inspiring conversations.
Time Stamps
4:40 – Growing up in Mississippi and fashion
5:38 – What being an entrepreneur means and makeup brands
7:33 – Giving up everything to start a business
14:16 – The secret to a good elevator pitch
19:00 – The importance of headhunters in private equity
23:13 – Knowing the industry vs educational background
29:50 – How you can work past doubt
30:53 – How to use networking to your advantage
Social & Website
Friday Feb 04, 2022
Friday Feb 04, 2022
Paula Floyd is no stranger to transition. After seventeen years working with giants of the beauty industry such as MAC, Benefit, and Urban Decay, she felt the need for a shift. In her 50s, she was making $500,000 a year with an incredible title, but something didn’t feel right. She decided to look at what stood to be changed within the industry, and she found self-reinvention along the way. Leaving her six-figure job and selling her house, she founded HeadKount, a retail education service for small beauty brands looking to get their products into big retail stores. Things were going well...until the global pandemic. “Part of my business model was planning for the worst,” Paula says. Worried she might have to lay off the team-members who were relying on her, she stepped back and figured out how to shift her approach during a once-in-a-lifetime disruption. “How do you sell a skincare item you can’t open up and smell or touch on your hand?” she asks. In this conversation with Covey Club’s Lesley Jane Seymour, Paula explains how the many transitions in her professional life have impacted how she lives and thinks. “Follow what you love,” she advises us. “It’s really true: you’re worth it.”
Time Stamps:
[00:03:16.00] Introduction to makeup and start of career
[00:06:38.00] Meeting the ‘big guys’ of makeup and maturity
[00:11:44.00] Dealing with loss and insecurity
[00:16:10.00] Beauty industry secrets you should know
[00:21:35:00] The pandemic and starting a company
[00:27:55.00] Money, consumerism, and storytelling
FREE GIFT! Don’t start your reinvention without downloading CoveyClub’s starter guide called “31 Badass Tips for Launching Your Reinvention Without Fear!”
Friday Jan 28, 2022
Friday Jan 28, 2022
Business was a driving focus for Christine Bader from a young age. Growing up in Manhattan with two parents both working in corporate America, she followed their lead and received her MBA from Yale. Community interest was also a focus for her, working both with AmeriCorps and in NYC government to support misplaced youth. Bader enjoyed serving in communities that needed support, but when John Browne, then-CEO of BP, spoke to her business class in 1998, Bader knew she’d found her company. She went on to work for BP for eight years and fell in love. But then the Deepwater Horizon explosion spilled over 200 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico and everything changed.
Bio: Christine calls herself a “Thought leader, community/program builder, consigliere/facilitator/advisor/evangelist on all things business and society.” She is the Co-Founder, Storyteller, The Life I Want.co.
Key Links:
Christine’s Book: The Evolution of a Corporate Idealist When Girl Meets Oil.
Her website: Storyteller, The Life I Want.co
For everything reinvention: Join the lifelong learners at CoveyClub
FREE! Download: CoveyClub’s starter guide “31 Badass Tips for Launching Your Reinvention Without Fear!”
Please leave us a review or 5 stars! Subscribe to the podcast and share with friends who are reinventing!
Timestamps
[00:03:02.650] Falling in love with her job in sustainability at British Petroleum, BP.
[00:07:52.990] Working on human rights and community issues in Indonesia
[00:14:27.820] What happens when the Deepwater Horizon rig explodes
[00:17:35.210] Writing her book: The Evolution of A corporate Idealist When Girl Meets Oil
[00:26:13.140] Quitting Amazon and giving up the identity she’d worked to build for 20 years
[00:26:45.040] Moving the family to Bali
[00:35:50.140] Christine’s 3 best steps for people transitioning from corporate life (plus one you’ve never heard before)
Social & Website
Friday Jan 21, 2022
Friday Jan 21, 2022
Toronto native Ariel Garten was 23 when she had her first collection showcase at Fashion Week. The owner of a budding clothing label that was making newspapers around the city, she was bewildered when her father suggested she leave the industry. Garten went to school while producing her designs at the same time, eventually graduating with a degree in neuroscience Something in her was prompted to follow her father’s advice, and she found herself on the cusp of a radical reinvention. Having worked in neurological research and early brain computer interface systems, Garten decided to commercialize the technology - a process that involved raising millions of dollars from investors. The result was the award-winning Muse Headband collection, a brain-sensing headband that gives real-time feedback during sleep and meditation. At 5’2”, a petite female in a male-dominated industry, Garten was able to fund and create a product that has now been used in studies by Mayo Clinic and other major research institutions. “I was so scared,” she says, “that it wouldn’t be good enough…but at the same time, I had this deep confidence in myself and I had the ability to really silence my inner critic.” In this candid conversation with Covey Club founder Lesley Jane Seymour, Garten explains her choices and the passion that inspired her along the way.
FREE GIFT! Don’t start your reinvention without downloading CoveyClub’s starter guide called “31 Badass Tips for Launching Your Reinvention Without Fear!”