History Is A Moment. Service Is A Practice: Dr. Thelma Witherspoon On Leading

History Is A Moment. Service Is A Practice: Dr. Thelma Witherspoon On Leading

True impact isn’t about making history—it’s about showing up to do the work. In this episode, Dr. Thelma Witherspoon [https://www.thelmawitherspoon.com/], Hamilton Township Committee woman, shares the grit and grace required for local governance. Drawing from her diverse background in law enforcement, faith, and elected office, she redefines leadership as stewardship. If you’re interested in the nuances of leading or public service, join us for an honest conversation on building influence through integrity, mentoring the next generation, and turning local action into community-wide change. Tune in to discover why solving even one local problem can be the spark that changes everything. Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share! Visit katherinebyrne.com [https://katherinebyrne.com/]

The Power Of Noticing: Why Attention Is the New Leadership Skill With Emily Gaines Demsky, Artist And Founder Of 3 Good Things Movement

In a world engineered to drag our attention toward negativity and urgency, the ability to consciously direct our focus is a radical and powerful leadership skill. Artist and advocate Emily Gaines Demsky [https://emilygainesdemsky.com/] joins us to explain her transformative 3 Good Things Movement, which moves beyond standard gratitude exercises into a tangible, daily commitment to noticing beauty. By learning to anchor our awareness in the simple, quiet joys surrounding us, we can interrupt the cycle of despair, cultivate resilience, and develop a flexible, “hawk-eye” perspective that helps us connect dots, solve problems, and lead with clarity even during difficult times. Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share! Visit katherinebyrne.com [https://katherinebyrne.com/]

Not Invited? Build Your Own Table: How To Stand Out In A Competitive Industry With Broadcaster, Professor And Business Owner, Kelsey Nicole Nelson

In a competitive industry, do you ever feel like you’re waiting for an invitation that will never come? Stop waiting. The secret to standing out isn’t getting a seat at someone else’s, it’s learning how to build your own table. Meet Kelsey Nicole Nelson [https://kelseynicolenelson.com/], an award-winning broadcaster, professor, and entrepreneur who has mastered the art of not just being seen, but owning the entire space. In this exclusive interview, Kelsey shares her journey of defying the odds by turning every ‘no’ into ‘on’ (game on). Learn how she leverages authenticity, a master-of-all-trades mindset, and a commitment to lifting others to redefine success in high-profile sports media. Discover the power of claiming your voice, controlling your narrative, and becoming the architect of your own career. Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share! Visit katherinebyrne.com [https://katherinebyrne.com/]

The Business Of Blooming: Cameron Hardesty On Building Poppy Flowers From Idea To Investment

Floral design is the last big-ticket purchase you are making when planning your wedding. Although it may seem beautiful on the outset, it is downright ugly behind the scenes. When Cameron Hardesty was planning her own wedding flowers, she encountered unclear pricing, rigid minimums, sourcing issues, and manual workflows. After going through such a nightmare, she decided to turn it into a business idea. She joins Kate Byrne to discuss how she became the CEO and Founder of Poppy [https://www.poppyflowers.com/], a company that’s rethinking floral sourcing, pricing, and logistics using technology, transparency, and deep customer empathy. Cameron explains how she found her sweet spot to thrive in the vast wedding market, what it takes to modernize a legacy business, and how to navigate motherhood and a venture-backed company at the same time. Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share! Visit katherinebyrne.com [https://katherinebyrne.com/]

From Corporate To Impact Tech: Equera.ai Founder Danielle Finch On Career Pivot & Industry Transformation

Are you successful on paper, but feel like something is missing inside? In this episode, we sit down with Danielle Finch [https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniellefinch], Founder and CEO of Equera.ai [http://equera.ai/]. Danielle made the bold career pivot from twenty years of corporate success—including roles at GE, Michelin, and as Director of Customer Experience at HomeToGo—to become a social entrepreneur in the impact tech space. Her story isn’t one of impulsive reinvention, but a thoughtful reorientation from chasing profit to pursuing equity as the ultimate outcome. Danielle recognized that ‘staying is also a choice’ and realized she ‘had to get off her path’ to follow a greater purpose. We dive into how Danielle is leveraging systems thinking to disrupt the extractive tourism industry, turning it into a powerful lever for addressing wealth inequality by redirecting capital back into local communities. Discover how she built a practical runway for her leap and how she redefined success by shifting her focus from the what to the why. If you’re contemplating a big move or want to learn how to find real leverage inside broken systems, tune in to understand what it truly takes to build something that shifts, not just scales. Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share! Visit katherinebyrne.com [https://katherinebyrne.com/]