From Corporate Titles to Entrepreneurial Freedom with Lisa Tong

From Corporate Titles to Entrepreneurial Freedom with Lisa Tong

What happens when the title you've worked decades to earn no longer feels like the destination? In the premiere episode of Season 7, Michelle sits down with entrepreneur, educator, and founder Lisa Tong to explore the emotional and practical realities of moving from corporate life into entrepreneurship. Together, they unpack identity shifts, imposter syndrome, financial fears, intuition, and the challenge of defining success on your own terms. Lisa shares her journey from corporate leadership into building multiple businesses, including her work as The Chinese Soup Lady, while pursuing a doctorate in Traditional Chinese Medicine. This conversation is a refreshing reminder that entrepreneurship is often less about having a perfect plan and more about having the courage to keep becoming. If you've ever wondered who you are beyond your job title, this episode is for you. KEY MOMENTS 00:00 | Meet Lisa Tong Lisa shares her journey from corporate leadership to entrepreneurship and explains how a passion for traditional Chinese medicine inspired her newest business venture. 02:00 | What Corporate Life Still Teaches Us Why corporate experience remains valuable and how entrepreneurship allows women to bring their whole selves forward instead of starting over. 03:00 | Letting Go of Titles and Financial Security Lisa discusses the two hardest things she had to release after leaving corporate life: identity tied to title and the comfort of predictable income. 04:45 | When Do You Finally Call Yourself a Founder? A candid conversation about imposter syndrome, entrepreneurship, and why many women struggle to fully own the founder label. 06:00 | The Multi-Hyphenate Challenge Why women don't have to fit into a single professional box and how entrepreneurship creates room for multiple passions and identities. 08:00 | The "Crabs in a Bucket" Effect Lisa shares a powerful analogy about societal expectations and why family and friends sometimes struggle to understand entrepreneurial decisions. 11:00 | Planning Versus Trusting Yourself A discussion about balancing business strategy with intuition and learning to move forward without having every answer figured out. 13:00 | The Fear That Comes With Entrepreneurship Lisa explains how she works with fear instead of fighting it and why acknowledging different parts of ourselves can be more productive than suppressing them. 16:00 | What Entrepreneurship Doesn't Prepare You For The reality of mistakes, financial decisions, and accountability when there is no larger organization to absorb the impact. 18:00 | The Freedom Side of the Equation Why Lisa would never trade the flexibility, autonomy, and creativity she has found through entrepreneurship. 20:00 | Becoming Through Action Michelle and Lisa explore how entrepreneurship creates opportunities for growth, self-discovery, and building confidence through experience. 23:00 | Reframing the Stories We Tell Ourselves A powerful discussion about mindset, self-awareness, and recognizing when we are operating from scarcity instead of possibility. 25:00 | What's Next for Lisa Lisa shares her vision for completing her Doctor of Traditional Chinese Medicine and continuing to bridge traditional wisdom with modern education. FINAL THOUGHTS Entrepreneurship is often presented as a business journey. This conversation reminds us that it is also an identity journey. Lisa's story challenges us to rethink success, embrace the many parts of ourselves, and trust that we do not need a title to validate who we are becoming. CONNECT WITH LISA TONG LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisa-tong/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisa-tong/] Website: https://thechinesesouplady.com/ [https://thechinesesouplady.com/] CONNECT WITH EMPOWERED BY AI If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe, leave a review, and share it with a woman who is building what's next. Because the future of entrepreneurship isn't about fitting into a box. It's about having the courage to create your own.

Feminine Intelligence AI: How Awedacity Is Rebuilding AI for Women Who Refuse to Be Invisible

What happens when women stop waiting to be represented in AI and start building it themselves? In this episode, I sit down with Nathania and Stephanie, co-founders of Awedacity, who are creating something most people are still talking about but not actually doing. They are building woman-centered AI tools from the ground up using real conversations, real experiences, and real data from women around the world. This is not theory. This is what it looks like when women step into the room and start shaping the future of AI instead of reacting to it. Nathania and Stephanie are the co-founders of Awedacity, a women-led initiative focused on building AI tools that reflect women’s lived experiences. Their work blends community-driven data collection, AI customization, and a clear mission: use technology to center women, not sideline them. TIME-STAMPED KEY MOMENTS 00:01:00 – How Awedacity Started A three-year friendship built entirely online turns into a shared mission to advance women through technology. 00:03:00 – The First Women’s Empowerment Conference in the Metaverse They pulled off a global, hybrid event combining Zoom and the metaverse. Complex, messy, and worth it. 00:05:30 – The Shift from Metaverse to AI They stopped chasing tools and focused on what matters: using tech to advance women. 00:06:30 – The Problem: AI Feels Biased Out of the Box Early AI tools reflected a default that many women did not see themselves in. 00:07:30 – Collecting Real Data from Women Global conversations with women became the foundation for building a new kind of AI experience. 00:10:30 – What “Data” Actually Means in This Context Audio, transcripts, themes, and lived experiences turned into structured AI inputs. 00:12:00 – Building the “Prompt Disco” Brain Using ChatGPT to analyze conversation data and generate themes that shape a woman-centered AI model. 00:13:30 – From Prompt Disco to Feminine Intelligence Agency The evolution from a concept to a product with defined use cases and tools. 00:15:00 – AI Personas Built for Women Tools like monetization support, social media guidance, and boundary-setting agents designed with intention. 00:17:00 – Real Use Cases and Beta Testing Iterating through feedback, watching how women actually use the tools, and refining from real behavior. 00:20:00 – Why They Refuse to Rush This They chose depth over speed in a space obsessed with constant updates and noise. 00:28:00 – The AI Noise Problem New tools, new updates, constant pressure. Their approach cuts through that by staying grounded. 00:30:00 – The Real Question: Who Is Shaping AI? If women step back, someone else decides what AI becomes. 00:32:00 – The Goal: Women Feeling Seen in AI Not just using AI. Seeing themselves reflected in it. 00:39:00 – Where to Find Their Work Feminine Intelligence AI platform and how to get involved. This episode is a clear example of what happens when women move from awareness to action. Nathania and Stephanie are not waiting for better tools. They are building them. If this conversation sparked something for you, don’t sit on it. Explore what they’ve created. Test it. Question it. Contribute to it. Because if women are not shaping AI, we already know how that story ends. Listen, take action, and then come join me on YouTube for demos and deeper breakdowns. https://innovativeaistudio.com/podcast [https://innovativeaistudio.com/podcast]

Rethinking AI Strategy, Confidence, and Control with Jelena M.

Most leaders think their biggest AI problem is choosing the right tools. It’s not. In this conversation, Jelena M. breaks down what’s actually getting in the way of AI adoption inside organizations and for solo entrepreneurs. From decision fatigue and failed pilots to over-engineered governance, this episode reframes how to approach AI with clarity, confidence, and control. If you’ve felt behind, overwhelmed, or unsure where to start, this one will ground you fast. 00:00 – Welcome + What This Season Is About Why this season focuses on readiness, literacy, and action you can take immediately. 03:00 – Why Leaders Feel Stuck with AI Decisions Too much noise. Too many tools. Not enough clarity on what actually matters. 04:30 – The Real Gap in AI Adoption It’s not tools. It’s the lack of human skill development and structured support. 05:45 – Governance vs. Guardrails When you actually need formal AI governance and when it’s overkill. 07:30 – Why 95% of AI Pilots Fail And why that failure is expected, not a signal to stop. 09:00 – AI Agents vs. “Agentic Behavior” Why most teams are buying into hype instead of understanding what AI can realistically do today. 11:30 – What Healthy AI Leadership Actually Looks Like Involve your team. Ask better questions. Stop forcing tools into workflows. 13:00 – What Work Should Stay Human Strategic decisions, context-heavy thinking, and anything tied to values and judgment. 15:00 – Women, AI, and the Confidence Gap Women use AI 10–40% less. Here’s how that changes and why it matters. 16:30 – AI as a Safe Practice Space Using AI to rehearse leadership moments before they happen in real life. 18:00 – A Practical AI Exercise You Can Do This Week Map your workflow. Decide what to automate, draft, or keep human. 22:00 – Final Advice: You’re Not Behind Most people are still at the beginning. Ignore the hype and focus on skill-building. If you take one thing from this episode, make it this: You don’t need more tools. You need better decisions about how you use them. Start small. Map one task. Decide what AI should do, what it should start, and what stays yours. Then test it. If you want to go deeper, head over to the podcast page: innovativeaistudio.com/podcast

How AI Is Redefining Brand Strategy for Women Entrepreneurs with Diane Whiddon

What happens when you stop treating AI like a tool… and start using it as a thinking partner? In this episode, Diane Whiddon breaks down how AI is reshaping brand strategy in real time. Not in a hypey, tech-bro way. In a practical, client-facing, “this is what’s actually working” way. If you’ve been feeling like branding is something that happens for you in fits and spurts, there’s a smarter way to approach it. This conversation shows you what that looks like. About Diane Diane Whiddon is a brand strategist and AI educator helping entrepreneurs rethink how they position, communicate, and scale their work using AI. She transitioned from web design and client boundaries into AI-driven brand strategy and now runs an AI membership focused on practical implementation. [00:01:00] Diane shares her pivot from client boundaries and web design into brand strategy and AI integration. [00:02:00–00:04:00] The realization that branding is bigger than design. It’s strategy, positioning, and how AI is expanding that work. [~00:05:00] Diane launches her AI membership and shifts fully into AI-driven strategy work. [~00:08:00–00:12:00] How AI is changing the way brand strategy is developed for clients. Faster insights, deeper clarity, better positioning. [~00:15:00] The difference between using AI for tasks versus using it to think. [~00:20:00+] Why entrepreneurs need to stop treating AI like a shortcut and start using it as a strategic partner. [~00:25:00+] How Diane is using AI in real client work and what’s actually working right now. [~00:30:00+] The bigger shift happening in business. Strategy is becoming more dynamic, iterative, and AI-supported. AI is not making branding easier. It’s making shallow branding obsolete. If you’re still relying on surface-level messaging, you’re going to feel stuck. But if you start using AI to think deeper, test faster, and refine your strategy in real time, everything changes. This episode gives you a clear look at what that shift actually looks like in practice. If this episode made you rethink how you’re using AI in your business, share it with someone who’s still stuck in “content mode” instead of strategy. And if you’re ready to go deeper, connect with Diane and explore how she’s applying this work with real clients. You can find her at https://swayrisecreative.com/ or over on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/dianewhiddon/ Do not miss her community https://www.skool.com/ai-designers-academy/about

AI Without Women Is a Risk | Dr. Julia Stamm on Trust, Power, and Impact

What happens when the people building AI don’t reflect the people it impacts? In this episode, I sit down with Dr. Julia Stamm, sociologist, founder of She Shapes AI, and global thought leader working at the intersection of technology, policy, and society. We get into the real conversation most people are still avoiding. Who is building AI. Who is being left out. And why that gap is not just a diversity issue, but a systems-level risk. If you’ve ever felt like the AI conversation wasn’t built for you, this episode will hit home. [00:01:00] Dr. Stamm introduces her background as a sociologist working across tech, policy, and innovation. [00:02:00] The conversation shifts to women in AI and why representation is not optional. [00:03:00] Key stat: women are three times more likely to build impact ventures. This changes how AI should be built. [00:04:00] Overview of She Shapes AI and the global awards recognizing women building in AI. [00:06:00] The larger mission: using AI to solve real societal problems, not just optimize business outputs. [00:08:00] Why a thoughtful approach to AI builds trust. And why that trust matters more than speed. [00:09:00] The danger of “rose-colored glasses” in AI. Critical thinking is an asset, not a blocker. [00:10:00] Trust gaps between leadership and teams. Also between men and women in AI adoption. [00:11:00] How to get involved with She Shapes AI and join the movement. [00:12:00] Future vision for the awards and ongoing global initiatives. [00:13:00] Closing reflections on leadership, responsibility, and shaping the future of AI. AI is not neutral. It reflects the people building it. If women are not in the room, the outcomes will not serve them. And that is not a future any of us should accept. Dr. Stamm makes it clear. This is not about catching up. It is about stepping in and shaping what comes next. If you are building something right now, you are already part of that shift.