Reinvent Yourself

#79: Sonsoles Gonzalez (Jumping into the research gap her bosses ignored)

When Sonsoles Gonzalez, founder of hair and skincare line Better Not Younger (Better-NotYounger.com), worked in corporate (L’Oreal, P & G) the researchers came in regularly to point out that women 40+ were an underserved market. But the corporations didn't want to go there.  “We used to joke in meetings: ‘What happens to women 45+? Do they disappear?’” she says. Last year, at age 54, she rushed into the gap with her own line of haircare and scalp products that cater directly to aging hair; she also created oral supplements to promote healthy hair growth. Sonsales says entrepreneurship is so “exhilarating” she now “realize[s] how much I had stopped learning." Her advice for anyone launching off of a corporate job: 1. Gravitate to what you love to do. 2. Talk to people doing something similar. 3. Be prepared not to look back.

 

 

 

#78: Reinventing the Sister Act (Julie and Royce Pinkwater)

“The wonderful thing with sibling love is that it comes with a deep, deep trust. You know almost everything about each other.”

So says Julie Pinkwater, co-founder, with her sister Royce, of Oathlife.com, a new premium oat milk with 15 grams of plant protein.  Pinkwater, a former magazine publisher (who launched More Magazine), reinvented first into the real estate business, joining Royce, a real estate veteran, to create Pinkwater Select, a boutique agency sourcing luxury properties around the world. When Royce needed a new “level of learning and challenge”, she reinvented into the “highly competitive” drink business with a product called Bonta.

“We know each other’s skill sets and don’t overlap,” she says, noting that the sisters also have “a challenge all siblings have—you bring all your childhood baggage with you,” says Julie: “There’s lots of joy, laughter, and tough days, too. But there’s no backbiting or infighting.  Our biggest problem is constant snacking.”

#77: How to start your dream reinvention for $20K or less (Amanda McIntosh)

How does a professional musician and self-described “book worm” start a fabulous niche beauty product for under $20,000? By noticing a “glaring hole” with a “low barrier to entry” and jumping in. Amanda McIntosh, was on her way home from a concert when she realized she didn’t have any more washcloths for her special skincare routine. She was grossed out by the grey, half-wet wash cloths left on her shower rail.  “My practical brain got started, asking, ‘How do you change the process?’”  McIntosh began by researching how to make a washcloth that was stain-resistant, quick drying, and would “feel fancy.”  Dozens of trips to the fabric store led her to an incredibly soft polyester used in baby blankets that met all of her qualifications. Her washable makeup remover clothes called Take My Face Off, Inc (TakeMyFaceOff.com) was born. Today, Take My Face Off products  disrupt the unsustainable makeup wipe business by selling amusing reusable wipes that last for 4-5 years.  “I invested a good portion of my retirement account” to get started, she says. “I never wanted to lose more than I could earn back in a year.” 

#76: How to relaunch your career after a break (Mika and Ginny Brzezinski)

“Women [who have had a career break] feel dislodged from the rest of the world and they feel everybody sees it,” says Mika Brzezinski co-host of TV’s Morning Joe, founder of KnowYourValue.com, and co-author with her sister-in-law Ginny, of the new handbook “Comeback Careers” Rethink, Refresh, Reinvent Your Success at 40,50, and Beyond” (https://amzn.to/2NqJBUM).  “I want to tell them, it’s all right not to know what’s next. They have value. They may have to take a big step back, use a side hustle or go sideways in the door.” Listen in as Mika and Ginny divulge some of their research on how to network more strategically, how to pitch your volunteer work to a corporate recruiter, and how to short circuit your negative mindset.

#75: Ditch your 50-line To Do List for a 5-line Priority List (Tonya Dalton)

“Overwhelm is not having too much to do, it’s not knowing where to start,” says Tonya Dalton, serial entrepreneur and author of “The Joy of Missing Out: Live More by Doing Less” (https://amzn.to/2sa7598) a “mini course” in a new organization paradigm.  Dalton believes most productivity manuals fail women because they are written by men who can’t account for or understand the multi-faceted, multi-pressured lives real women lead.  “Women have a lot more guilt, lean in more to productivity and process things differently in our brains,” she says. Join this insightful conversation with CoveyClub founder, Lesley Jane Seymour, where Dalton explains that you must put your purpose, passion and priorities at the center of your life so you can “create structure for the weeks and days”.  She explains how to create a “priority list” with “Escalate" at the top, “Cultivate" in the middle, and “Accommodate" at the bottom.  "Most of us get stuck at the bottom in the accommodate area," she warns.  “Screaming fires get done but are not so important.” 

 

 

#74: Reinventing how marketers view you (Vaughan Emsley)

“It’s not that marketers are stupid,” says Vaughan Emsley, founder of Flipside, a startup ad agency dedicated to flipping marketer’s perceptions of men and women 50+ away from images of people “sitting home watching daytime TV” to what he calls “The Second Coming of Age”—in which people 50-70 act and feel like they’re 17 again. “It’s just muscle memory. [We’re taught] that the rising generation is more interesting than the previous generation—and that was always true. “  Emsley, a 25-year veteran of Saatchi & Saatchi, believes we’ve reached a “tipping point” where businesses are stalling by focusing only on millennials. “Boomers are sitting on 60 trillion of assets, 10 times the amount held by millennials…and only 5-7% of marketing dollars are directed at them.“

#73: Reinventing by moving to a new city (Lesley Jane Seymour)

When your adult children have finally moved on to their own lives, some women find the only way to jumpstart their own bliss is by relocating. “I'd always imagined we’d live forever in our big, beautiful suburban home where I'd given birth to my daughter two days after moving in 24 years earlier,” says CoveyClub founder Lesley Jane Seymour in conversation with Covey Editor at Large, Deborah Marquardt. “But once she and my older son had vacated the nest, the house felt like a mausoleum to sadness; every inch reminded me of their childhood and reinforced how they were now finally gone. Plus the town is so kid-focused that I could walk down the street naked and if I didn’t have a child with me no one would notice.” Seymour and her husband downsized in New Orleans, a city they’d visited on vacation for 30 years. “We wanted warm weather, a university town—where we can teach or learn, interesting culture, diversity of age and economic backgrounds, beautiful housing, a lower cost of living, and people open to newbies. We got them all—and more. Plus we have a 31-year old marriage. Sometimes you just have to jump off the high dive in order to start learning and rediscovering yourself—and your spouse-- again.” 

#72: Have a growth mindset about everything (Jill Gwaltney)

What do you do after you work in your family printing business for twenty years and you make it successful enough to sell? You realize you are “loosing [your]self” and you need to reinvent. Because you "love solving customer problems”, you start a digital ad agency named Rauxa. (Never mind that you have zero experience in advertising). And you fill it with 70% women (in a sector that is known for male dominance and is rife with #MeToo issues and complaints).  “Being a woman is an advantage for building relationships and trust,” CEO Jill Gwaltney tells CoveyClub founder Lesley Jane Seymour. “That’s an important part of the business.” Gwaltney says she lives by the mantra her mentor father gave her: “Don’t work with a**holes."

#71: The benefits (and challenges) of persistence (Candy Gold)

When (now) Broadway Producer Candy Gold (The Heidi Chronicles, Hadestown, Jagged Little Pill & more) was a novice reporter in Boston flying around the country to cover everything from politics to entertainment discovered she was pregnant, she knew she'd have to cut back her crazy job. She chose the perfect “mom job”: freelance. Which worked fine until the economic downturn of 2008, when all freelance dried up. A random television ad for a local cable station inspired her to pitch (and win) a slot for a self-produced show called “Neighborhood Cooking with Candy Gold”. Ten years later she leveraged that know-how and her experience producing local children’s theater into becoming a producer on Broadway, eventually winning several Tony awards. The trick to it all, she says: “Persisting."

#70: 3 things you may be accidentally doing to sabotage your job search (Dr. Nayla Bahri)

“High achievers say that all they have to do is work harder or out perform everyone around them in order to succeed,” says Dr. Nayla Bahri, PCC, Leadership and Development coach, Columbia University. “But it may not be productive. [My research shows people] do best if they’re willing to do the inner work [before they] open LinkedIn and apply to 100 jobs.  Burnout is why it’s not working. People are addicted to interviewing—[to the point where] they don’t want to get out of bed.”  Bahri tells CoveyClub founder Lesley Jane Seymour that you must “start with a practice of reflection—journaling, walking in the words. Find out what you miss, what you’re glad is over, what brought you great joy, flow, productivity. Then divide your search into thirds: 1/3 applying to appropriate work, 1/3 strategic learning, 1/3 doing the work.” You also have to reframe how you speak. “I rarely talk about jobs,” she says. “I talk about work, which we carry with us. If the work you do in the world is yours, then you have a better chance of saying it’s about me finding a place to offer my work; it changes from a place that needs me to a place where I can add value.”