2B Bolder Podcast : Career Growth and Insights from Women in Business, Tech & Sports – Details, episodes & analysis

On episode #155 of the 2B Bolder Podcast, I got to sit down with someone I could have honestly talked to for hours — Dr. Fern Halper. And if you've been feeling overwhelmed by all the AI noise out there, this one is for you.

Fern has been working in data and AI for over 30 years — long before it was a headline — and she is the real deal. What struck me most wasn't just her brilliance or depth of knowledge; it was her warmth, her wisdom, and the genuine human kindness she brings to everything she does. It was such an honor to have her on the show, and I walked away inspired.

We got into all of it — data foundations, governance, trust, and the career skills that keep you valuable as AI tools and agents move faster than most organizations can keep up with. No fluff, just real talk.

Here's what we covered:

• Fern's unexpected path from oceanography research to data and AI leadership
• The career forks that shaped her journey and why speaking up is everything
• What companies are actually coming to her for: strategy, starting points, and governance
• The new roles emerging around responsible AI, ethics, stewardship, and operations
• Why so many enterprises are lagging behind and what "building a foundation" really means
• What feels genuinely different about this AI moment — and why it comes with real risks
• Where agentic AI and multi-agent systems are taking businesses in the next 3 to 5 years
• The skills that stay valuable no matter what: critical thinking, risk, communication, and literacy
• The mistakes leaders keep making — skipping the business need and treating governance like a chore
• Why trust isn't just technical — it's the change management your people can actually believe in
• Why we need more women's voices at the table when it comes to AI governance and ethics

If this resonates with you, please share it with a friend who needs to hear it — and don't forget to like and subscribe!

Resources:

• 📖 Data Makes the World Go 'Round: The Data, Tech, and Trust Behind AI Success by Dr. Fern Halper
• 🔗 Connect with Dr. Fern Halper on LinkedIn
• 🌐 aifoundationsgroup.com

"Different is better than better." It's the belief that drove Monica Nassif to build one of the most beloved household brands in America, and in the latest episode of the 2B Bolder podcast series, she sat down with me to share exactly how she did it. And this was a conversation I didn't want to end.

Monica didn't stumble into entrepreneurship. She grew up the oldest girl in a family of nine kids, all born within 10 years, running the household when her mom needed backup, holding jobs from age 10 onward, babysitting, waitressing at a truck stop (where she lied about her age at 15!), and typing in an ER at 16. Her mom's mantra? "Learn to work with people." That stuck.

What I love most about Monica's story is the boldness of her strategy. She built a beautiful, high-end cleaning brand called Caldria, and then deliberately set out to compete with herself before anyone else could. That's how Mrs. Meyer's was born, inspired by her real Midwestern mom, Thelma Meyer, the original recycler who wasted absolutely nothing.

We cover so much:

• Why she trusted trend-spotting over focus groups 
• How packaging and fragrance turned cleaning products into something people wanted on their countertops 
• The two "belly flops" and the financial guardrails she used to shut one down before it became a sinkhole 
• Building an up-tempo culture with office badminton, ornament contests, and talent shows
• Why authenticity and storytelling are your biggest competitive advantages right now, especially in the age of AI

And she's got a book coming late April, I Bottled My Mother: The Mrs. Meyer Story, Grit, Grime, and Growing a Business, part love letter to her mom, part startup manual. It's the business book that's actually funny and emotionally honest. I cannot wait to get my hands on it. I'm sure it will be a very popular business book.

Her advice to her younger self? Slow down and listen more. Mine too, Monica. Mine too. 😄

🎧 Please check out this episode, drop a review, and share it with a founder or dreamer in your life!

Resources:
I Bottled My Mother: The Mrs. Meyer Story
Monica Nassif on LinkedIn

Curiosity is a gift—but it only turns into momentum when it’s tied to impact. Host of the 2B Bolder Podcast, Mary Killelea, sits down with Carol Wilder, a strategic operator who helped launch the Alexa Skills Kit at Amazon, led generative AI partnerships at Dell, and now advises companies and municipalities on pragmatic AI adoption. Carol shares how aligning questions to concrete outcomes reshaped her career—and how that same shift can turn AI from a buzzword into a lever that reduces cycle time, improves resource utilization, and frees people to do higher‑order work.

We trace her pivotal moments: choosing the right team under pressure to ship Alexa skills, learning to communicate with crisp, results‑first clarity, and reinventing after hard feedback by defining what to stand for. Carol explains why so many AI programs stall, starting with tools rather than business goals, and outlines a simple framework: pick the outcome, fix process debt, unify data, then layer intelligence. She also challenges the cost of mass layoffs, noting how creative friction, hallway collisions, and institutional memory are often the real engines of innovation.

For women building careers in AI and product management, Carol offers direct, useful guidance: use automation to mute the noise, make impact legible, and build fundamentals in programming and model thinking through credible paths like Coursera and DeepLearning.AI. We explore mentorship as a multiplier, customer‑centricity as adopting a client’s aspirations as your own, and the underrated power of showing up prepared, questions ready, network engaged, and confidence primed.

If this conversation helps you refocus on outcomes and sharpen your AI strategy, share it with a friend, subscribe for more candid career playbooks, and leave a quick review to help others find the show.

Resources:
Carol Wilder on LinkedIn
Company websites: productmuseai.ca & www.atomic47.co


See the full library of Women in Business and Tech Career podcasts
Carol Wilder's Career Tips for Women Transcript

The 2B Bolder Podcast provides first-hand access to some amazing women. Guests will include women from leading enterprise companies to startups, women execs, coders, account execs, engineers, doctors, and innovators.

​​On episode #55 of the 2B Bolder Podcast, Lia Garvin, a TedX speaker, author and successful woman in tech ​who is highly respected in the industry ​shares her lessons learned from 10 years of experience working in some of the largest and most influential companies in tech including Microsoft, Apple, and Google. She talks openly about how we as women can explore the power of reframing to overcome common challenges found in the modern workplace.  How and why she sets stretch goals. She talks about her love of supporting diversity and inclusion and why she feels it's everyone's role and responsibility. As an operations leader, speaker, and coach, Lia is on a mission to humanize the workplace, one conversation at a time.  Tune in to hear stories and advice straight out of her recently published book Unstuck​ and gain​ actionable steps you can take today to be more confident in your career. 

Connect with Lia Garvin

Buy her Book, UNSTUCK  Reframe your thinking to free yourself from the patterns and people that hold you back

Reframe with Lia on YouTube

See the full library of Women in Business and Tech Career podcasts
Lia Garvin's Career Tips for Women Transcript

The 2B Bolder Podcast provides you first-hand access to some amazing women. Guests will include women from leading enterprise companies to startups, women execs, coders, account execs, engineers, doctors, and innovators.

On episode #54 of the 2B Bolder Podcast, Monique Little, the Chief People, and Administrative Officer at First Tech Federal Credit Union talks about the importance of having a growth mindset.  Reflecting back on her career she talks about understanding the difference between being a good manager and leader and how being vulnerable and being self-aware has allowed her to grow.  Monique encourages us to all be risk-takers and understand the importance of stepping up and raising your hand to try new things. To stretch ourselves and not let self-doubt hold you back.  She shares how she stays relevant and networks and has successfully developed her support system.  Tune in to learn great nuggets of advice and tips that can be applied to your career today and help you with your career strategy in and outside of HR.

Connect with Monique Little

See the full library of Women in Business and Tech Career podcasts
Monique Little's Career Tips for Women Transcript

The 2B Bolder Podcast provides you first-hand access to some amazing women. Guests will include women from leading enterprise companies to startups, women execs, coders, account execs, engineers, doctors, and innovators.

On episode #53 of the 2B Bolder Podcast Mary Bows, a Trusted Advisor to Global B2B Demand Gen and ABM Channel Marketing Leaders shares her career journey and advice she's learned along the way.  Mary is Senior Enterprise Sales Director for MRP, a Predictive Account Based Marketing Platform. In addition, she collaborates with B2B Marketing Leaders to devise and implement full-funnel account-based marketing programs that build targeted awareness, demand, and revenue via direct and channel.  Mary talks about her global experiences and how they shaped who she is today. Mary believes her clients are everything and those relationships take time to cultivate and nurture and the beauty is they can develop into so much more than business.  Tune in to hear her story and perspective on working in the B2B space.

Connect with Mary Bows on LinkedIn

See the full library of Women in Business and Tech Career podcasts
Mary Bows's Career Tips for Women Transcript

 
The 2B Bolder Podcast provides you first-hand access to some amazing women. Guests will include women from leading enterprise companies to startups, women execs, coders, account execs, engineers, doctors, and innovators.

On episode #52 of the 2B Bolder Podcast guest Kristie Mann, Vice President of Product Marketing for the Intel Optane Group shares her passion-filled career journey. With 19 patents and a successful 20 + year career, Kristie speaks about her resilience as a woman in tech and gives tips on how to continually develop your tech acumen. She provides advice on ways women can be heard or seen at work. Kristie shares how she has been able to navigate her career and transition between a variety of roles that have fulfilled and challenged her over the years. Kristie takes nothing for granted and works tirelessly to be a champion for other women. Kristie is a dedicated mom, a lover of innovation, and is driven by customers' success. Tune in to hear her career story.

Connect with Kristie Mann on LinkedIn

See the full library of Women in Business and Tech Career podcasts
Kristie Mann's Career Tips for Women Transcript

The 2B Bolder Podcast provides you first-hand access to some amazing women. Guests will include women from leading enterprise companies to startups, women execs, coders, account execs, engineers, doctors, and innovators.

On episode #51 of the 2B Bolder Podcast,  Sangeeta the founder of Gotara, a global career growth platform for Women in Stem shares her career journey and motivation behind her passion.   Before becoming the CEO and founder of Gotara, Sangeeta has had a rich and diverse career in tech. She was the Vice President of Connections at Amazon where she led an organization that develops and operationalizes products that reinvent management science leveraging big data, technology, and data science.  Prior to that, she spent nine years at Nielsen in various roles including head of global client operations, chief diversity officer and global head of data science, and chief of business process improvement officer and also spent 9 years working for GE Aviation where early on she acquired 27 patents and over the years was successful in leading different business organizations to have high impact business results.

Sangeeta talks about her transition from being a corporate executive to following her passion to support women in STEM and starting Gotara.  Learn about all the wonderful offerings that Gotara provides to women in STEM.   It's an amazing organization full of resources that are critical for working women today.

Connect with Sangeeta on LinkedIn

Resources:
Visit Gotara The Global Career Growth Platform for Women in STEM

See the full library of Women in Business and Tech Career podcasts
Sangeeta's Career Tips for Women Transcript

The 2B Bolder Podcast provides you first-hand access to some amazing women. Guests will include women from leading enterprise companies to startups, women execs, coders, account execs, engineers, doctors, and innovators.

On episode #50 of the 2B Bolder Podcast  Alana Karen author, speaker, and  Director of Search Platforms at Google talks about her career growth and self-discovery.  She shares how her experiences have shaped her to be the leader she is today.  Learn what she is most proud of, who inspires her, and why she is so passionate about supporting #womenintech.   Tune in for this insightful interview and wonderful discussion with a down-to-earth, super-smart woman.

Connect with Alana Karen on Linkedin

Resources:
Read Alana Karen's Blog
Check out her book “The Adventures of Women in Tech: How We Got Here and Why We Stay”

See the full library of Women in Business and Tech Career podcasts
Alana Karen's Career Tips for Women Transcript

The 2B Bolder Podcast provides you first-hand access to some amazing women. Guests will include women from leading enterprise companies to startups, women execs, coders, account execs, engineers, doctors, and innovators.

On episode #49 of the 2B Bolder Podcast, Monique Hayward talks about her multifaceted career.  Monique is the Senior Director for Business Applications Ecosystem Marketing at Microsoft Corporation.  She leads the team responsible for the marketing strategy and programs to accelerate the growth of Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Power Platform products.

Prior to Microsoft, Monique worked for 22 years at Intel Corporation, leading teams and managing strategic programs in marketing, communications, and business development in Information Technology, Data Center Platforms, Software & Services, Global Diversity, Mobile Platforms, and Corporate Marketing.  She also did a two-and-a-half-year assignment as the Chief of Staff and Technical Assistant to Intel’s first Chief Technology Officer.  Monique also has experience in PR and marketing communications at Tektronix, American Greetings, and the U.S. Department of State.

In addition to her corporate marketing career, Monique is also an award-winning entrepreneur, author, and speaker.  She co-founded DRISCOLL Cuisine & Cocktail Concepts, a personal chef service in 2019, and prior to that Monique owned and operated Dessert Noir Café & Bar in Beaverton, Oregon, and served as a partner in a mobile software applications company.

Tune in to hear her insights, advice, and secret to success.  Find out what drives her and how she has never let any roadblock stand in her way of success.   You'll be inspired and gain actionable tips to grow your career.

Connect with Monique on LinkedIn

Resources:
Visit Monique's website to learn more. 

See the full library of Women in Business and Tech Career podcasts
Monique Hayward's Career Tips for Women Transcript

 
The 2B Bolder Podcast provides you first-hand access to some amazing women. Guests will include women from leading enterprise companies to startups, women execs, coders, account execs, engineers, doctors, and innovators.