What does it take to build a business that is not only sustainable but sellable and why do so many women founders still exit for less?

In this episode of Women I Want You to Know by Andrea L. Johnston™ Podcast, Andrea sits down with Carrie Kerpen, CEO of The Whisper Group and former founder of Likeable Media, to explore exit readiness, founder strategy and the real mechanics behind wealth creation for women business owners.

Carrie shares how Likeable Media scaled during the early social media boom and why the company’s real transformation began in 2013 when social media stopped being “new.” That shift forced a different kind of leadership, one rooted in profitability, operational discipline and building an asset that could be sold.

This conversation speaks directly to women founders experiencing decision fatigue, founder isolation and the pressure of performance as protection. Kerpen’s perspective reframes growth as a long game, especially for women seeking autonomy, sustainable business growth and a path from operator to CEO.

In this episode, listeners will learn:

• Why being “sellable” matters even when selling is not the goal
• How to shift from growth at all costs to consistent growth with strong margins
• What buyers evaluate in services businesses, including client diversification, founder independence and profitability
• How The Whisper Group supports women through exit readiness advisory, peer matching and brokerage services
• Why representation matters beyond celebrity exits and why “lifestyle” and everyday businesses can be exit worthy
• How women can build self trust alongside external success and make decisions without perfect certainty
• Why networking remains a career advantage in corporate leadership and entrepreneurship and why it is even more valuable in an AI driven economy

This episode is for women l founders building for the future. It is a practical and motivating conversation about exit readiness, women entrepreneurship, CEO mindset for women and how women can create wealth without sacrificing their wholeness.

Listen now to hear how women founders can build businesses that serve their lives today and expand their options for tomorrow.

Links and Resources

• Learn more about Carrie Kerpen and The Whisper Group
• Listen to Carrie’s podcast, The Exit Whisperer
• Connect with Carrie Kerpen on LinkedIn
• Read Carrie's WIWYTK feature on LinkedIn 

What does leadership really look like when decisions are difficult and tradeoffs are unavoidable?

In this episode of Women I Want You to Know by Andrea L. Johnston™ Podcast, Andrea Johnston sits down with Trisha Price, Chief Product Officer, for an honest conversation about leadership, career seasons and the complex choices women face while leading in tech.

Trisha Price is a widely respected product leader, boy mom and podcast host who has built her career navigating male-dominated environments without allowing that reality to define or limit her. From large enterprise organizations to high-growth startups, her professional journey reflects the power of intentional decision-making related to leadership, risk-taking and honoring different seasons of life.

In this episode, Trisha Price shares the following insights:

• How she navigated her path into the C-suite in a male-dominated industry
• Why career decisions often depend on seasons of life rather than linear progression
• The reality of tradeoffs for working mothers and why guilt often impacts women more than their children
• Why women should pursue leadership roles before feeling fully “ready”
• What it truly means to make hard calls as a leader, particularly when people are involved
• How to think through tradeoffs in product strategy, growth and technology decisions
• How to remain connected, visible and relevant while working remotely
• Why community, movement and authentic relationships matter more than ever
• The personal experiences that have shaped her leadership approach

This episode offers a conversation about leadership as well as honesty, responsibility and what it means to make thoughtful choices over time.

Listen now and learn why the hardest calls often define the strongest leaders.

Links & Resources:

Listen to Hard Calls podcast hosted by Trisha Price

Connect with Trisha Price on LinkedIn 

What does it really take to move cancer research forward and who makes those breakthroughs possible?

In this episode of Women I Want You to Know by Andrea L. Johnston™ Podcast, Andrea sits down with Yung Lie, PhD, President and CEO of the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation, to explore the people, funding, and courage behind some of the most important advances in cancer treatment today.

Yung’s path to leading one of the most respected cancer research foundations in the world began outdoors in the Midwest, driven by curiosity, science, and a deep love of discovery. Her career reflects what happens when women are given the freedom to follow bold ideas.

But this conversation goes far beyond a career timeline.

In this episode Yung shares:

• Why young scientists are essential to the future of cancer breakthroughs and why they’re at risk of being lost
• How Damon Runyon-funded researchers helped pioneer chemotherapy, targeted therapies, and immunotherapy
• What most people don’t understand about cancer as a disease and why “one cancer” doesn’t exist
• How funding gaps and proposed NIH cuts could derail decades of progress
• The growing role of AI, data science, and machine learning in accelerating diagnosis and treatment
• Why community is where scientific breakthroughs are born

Yung also opens up about her most personal chapter: caring for her husband through an aggressive, rare cancer diagnosis and how that experience reshaped her leadership, urgency, and commitment to patients and families navigating impossible choices.

This is a conversation about science, but also about humanity, courage, advocacy, and what it truly means to invest in the future.

Listen now and learn why the breakthroughs of tomorrow depend on the decisions we make today.

Links & Resources: 

• Learn more about the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation
• Support the Timmerman Traverse benefiting Damon Runyon
• Listen to Yung Lie on The Long Run podcast with Luke Timmerman

Connect with Yung Lie, Ph.D.:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/yunglie

https://www.linkedin.com/company/damonrunyon

https://www.instagram.com/damon_runyon/#

https://www.youtube.com/user/DamonRunyonFnd/videos

Yung S. Lie, PhD, is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation, a non-profit organisation that provides today’s best young scientists with funding to pursue innovative cancer research. She joined the Foundation in 2008 as Scientific Director, was promoted to Deputy Director and Chief Scientific Officer in 2014, and began her current role in December 2018. Her goals are to foster new generations of scientists, enabling them to explore novel ideas and take risks, and to fill the gaps in traditional research funding that threaten future breakthroughs.

Yung received her BA in Molecular and Cellular Biology from the University of California at Berkeley and earned her PhD in Biological Sciences from Stanford University. Following graduate school, she worked as a bioinformatics consultant at Celera/Applied Biosystems, contributing to the Human Genome Project. She completed postdoctoral research in neuroscience as a Damon Runyon Fellow at the University of California at San Francisco and at The Rockefeller University.

There are extraordinary women shaping our world every day - founders, executives, advocates and community builders who are defining success on their own terms.

Women I Want You to Know by Andrea L. Johnston™ are real conversations about what it took to get here and the tradeoffs, risks and revelations behind their success.

Candid, insightful and inspiring, this podcast celebrates the women leading with purpose, building with grit and proving that impact is possible, and we are capable of more than we know.