entrepreneur Archives - The Travel Wins

Megan Driscoll – Always Evolving

Megan Driscoll is this week’s guest. As the CEO and Founder of the public relations firm EvolveMKD, we discussed the need for business travel for clients. Even with all of the available technology, Megan finds it necessary as ever to meet in person with clients and create face to face time. Creating lasting bonds and reputation with clients, new and existing, is essential for the way she formed her public relations company.

Make sure to listen to the entire episode and check out EvolveMKD on their social media outlets.

Megan on social media:

Click here to see other guests choices for listening while traveling

Summary

Megan Driscoll is the CEO + Founder of EvolveMKD, a public relations and social media agency based in New York City. She has 17 years of experience in healthcare, aesthetics and dermatology, and prestige beauty. Key to her success is Megan’s ability to always find a way. Megan finds potential in every opportunity for her clients through determination, relationships, agility, and sound strategy coupled with creative spirit. Megan is widely recognized for her work, earning a spot on PRWeek’s 40 Under 40 List and being honored as one of 12 women chosen for The Ernst and Young Entrepreneurial Winning Women class of 2018. Additionally, Megan was the first ever recipient of the Early Career Achievement Award from her alma mater, the University of Chicago.

Megan has cultivated relationships with physicians, consumers, key opinion leaders and tastemakers to gain her clients national level recognition. At the end of the day, Megan wants to surround herself with smart, passionate people who value integrity–people who are serious about their work, but don’t take themselves too seriously. This philosophy is at the heart of founding EvolveMKD. At EvolveMKD, Megan provides day-to-day client counsel, strategic direction and a savvy eye for what makes news and who can make the news happen.

Prior to EvolveMKD, Megan was the President of Behrman Communications, where she managed agency operations, mentored staff, and provided strategic advisement for 30+ clients. Megan has also held senior roles at Emanate, Lippe Taylor, Fleishman Hillard and Euro RSCG Life PR. When she’s not building brands and making media headlines, she’s a pasta connoisseur who refuses to operate a moving vehicle. Megan also held childhood aspirations of becoming President of the United States or a hair stylist. She realized she’s settled on a smart compromise between the two.

Megan holds a B.A. in Public Policy from the University of Chicago.

Jeanine Wright – Legal Angel

Jeanine Wright is my guest today. Jeanine is the Chief Operating Officer and Chief Legal Officer at Simplecast. She also personally invests in startups, has owned and operated a business of her own and enjoys serving as a Board Advisor and Board Member to startup and growth companies.

Jeanine’s worked with startup, high growth and turn-around companies for over a decade, specializing in technology, finance and entertainment & media. She co-led a team that sold a company to GoDaddy, launched an international joint venture and other partnerships with some of the world’s largest companies, solicited and closed traditional, mezzanine, and warehouse financing facilities, and assisted with equity raises from both institutional and strategic investors. While continuing to work hard, Jeanine prides herself on being able to see and overcome business and legal hurdles to propel a company’s growth and innovation.

JEANINE’S AREAS OF EXPERIENCE:

Startup and Growth Strategic Counseling
Corporate Finance and Fundraising
Strategic Ventures
Mergers and Acquisitions
Intellectual Property
SaaS/IaaS/PaaS Platforms
Marketing and Advertising Compliance
Consumer Financial
Regulatory Compliance
Human Resources
Negotiation
Enterprise Risk Management
Board Compliance/Corporate Governance
Privacy Law/PCI Compliance
E-Commerce and Distribution
Dispute Resolution/Litigation
People Operations and Management
Intellectual Property
Protection & Licensing
Real Estate

Jeanine Wright on social media:

Jeanine’s listening choice while traveling for work is:

Song – Shake Shake Senora, Harry Belafonte
Podcast – The Longest Shortest Time

Click here to see other guests choices for listening while traveling

SIMPLECAST

Since 2013, thousands of individual creators and companies have trusted Simplecast with their audio, including Politico, Shopify, TechCrunch, Harvard, Medium, Fast Company, and many other names you know and love.
Capable of handling even the most confusing aspects of podcasting with the greatest speed and accuracy, Simplecast makes professional podcasting easier than ever — whether you’re totally new to audio, or already a seasoned creator — with the helpful tools and resources you need to publish and share your stories, evolve your craft, and connect with a world of listeners.

5 for Friday with Jeanine Wright

Today’s 5 for Friday is with Jeanine Wright. Jeanine is the Chief Operating Officer and Chief Legal Officer at Simplecast. She also personally invests in startups, has owned and operated a business of her own and enjoys serving as a Board Advisor and Board Member to startup and growth companies.

Jeanine talks about her mindset for business travel and how that has changed over the years while becoming a wife and mother. She prefers to strip down her business trips so she can make it home to spend time with her family.

I always try and find good nuggets of information from my guests and Jeanine shared a Facebook page called New Podcast Creators geared towards helping people that want to create their own podcast. It’s a page where you can find out and ask questions on how start your own podcast.

I hope you enjoy this quick chat and come back on Monday for the full episode.

Jeanine Wright on social media:

JEANINE’S AREAS OF EXPERIENCE:

Startup and Growth Strategic
Counseling
Corporate Finance and Fundraising
Strategic Ventures
Mergers and Acquisitions
Intellectual Property
SaaS/IaaS/PaaS Platforms
Marketing and Advertising Compliance
Consumer Financial
Regulatory Compliance
Human Resources
Negotiation
Enterprise Risk Management
Board Compliance/Corporate Governance
Privacy Law/PCI Compliance
E-Commerce and Distribution
Dispute Resolution/Litigation
People Operations and Management
Intellectual Property
Protection & Licensing
Real Estate

Jeanine’s listening choice while traveling for work is:

Song – Shake Shake Senora, Harry Belafonte
Podcast – The Longest Shortest Time

Click here to see other guests choices for listening while traveling

SIMPLECAST

Tanya Stanfield – Road Warrior Strong

My guest today is Tanya Stanfield. Tanya is a branding expert and founder of Road Warrior Strong. Road Warrior Strong is a fitness concierge built for business travelers. Tanya shares years of experience of traveling for work while learning ways to stay fit and healthy on the road. We also talk about the necessity of good sleep while traveling. It was a great talk and I’m thankful for Tanya’s friendship and time.

TANYA STANFIELD ROAD WARRIOR STRONG

My career has been a series of adventures and “firsts” that have dropped me in the middle of chaos. Shortly after finishing my degree at the University of Wisconsin, I began my career in London, England and acted as a spokesperson for Homes for Islington – the first American to do so. Upon my return to the States, I took over marketing for a small digital firm in Milwaukee and later, at a startup managed by Kellogg School of Management and McCormick School of Engineering (Northwestern University). After freelancing for a few years, I made the leap into corporate America where I became the first regional business development manager for a mid-sized consulting firm, expanded the firm’s business development and marketing capabilities while managing and motivating teams.

In my free time, I travel as much as possible, catch live music events, and fit in as much physical activity as possible both inside and outside the gym. In fact, I’m a three-time marathoner and recently launched a fitness hub for business travelers – Road Warrior Strong.

Activities & Affiliations

Techstars Seattle 2018 Class
• Ellevate, Member
• Vice President of Development, Steppenwolf Associates (2014)

Connect with Tanya Stanfield:

Tanya’s traveling music/song/podcast choice is:

Road Warrior Strong playlist

Click here to see all of the guests listening choices when traveling.

5 for Friday with Tanya Stanfield

5 for Friday with Tanya Stanfield. Tanya is the CEO and Founder of Road Warrior Strong. Road Warrior Strong is a fitness concierge built for business travelers. Sounds like a perfect person to speak with for The Travel Wins podcast. Tanya shares why she started Road Warrior Strong and how it keeps her busy.

Don’t forget to catch the full episode on Monday.

Here’s a clip from her website:

“No matter what my career threw at me, I always made time for working out and eating well. I even trained for my second marathon while working three jobs seven days per week, and never missed a training session. So when I began traveling for work, I thought staying fit on the road would be a piece of cake.
Easy, right?
I saw other consulting colleagues’ health crumble due to stress, horrible airport food, lack of sleep, and weight gain. But I was convinced that wasn’t going to happen to me. So before my first business trip, I spent over an hour on TripAdvisor viewing hotel fitness room photos to make sure I found one that would suit my needs. Needless to say, after all of the time spent doing that and with all of the real work I still had to do, meal planning went straight out the window.”

Connect with Tanya Stanfield:

Transcript:

Tanya Stanfield: You’re absolutely right and I think one thing people struggle with when they’re traveling is you know they go from destination to destination and sort of hope and pray that you know they’ll be able to maintain their health and fitness on the road you know they hope that there’s a decent gym in their hotel they hope that they’ll be able to find healthy meal options where they’re at but I think the disconnect happens when they don’t know that in advance and when you’re in the moment and when you’re traveling it’s such a stressful environment speeding in the first place not only do you not have time to search for those resources when you’re in a destination and you’re traveling but you also suffer a lot from you know fatigue and HSN and when decision fatigue sets in you know you have less ability to make the right choices for your body so that’s something that we’re really trying to do is just really close that gap for people I’m on Instagram and then on the website is I almost like a resource guide as well

The Travel Wins: I mean seems like you’re going after specific cities and really saying here’s how to you know, here’s how to travel in San Francisco or doing more City based types of stuff as well

Tanya Stanfield: We are yeah so right now we’re focusing primarily on some core cities Chicago, San Francisco, Seattle being three of them and expanding as we go along but we do help travelers. I help travelers personally for travelling to multiple destinations you know most recently I helped one traveler who’s traveling to Las Vegas and I helped another who was traveling to Louisville so I love just being a sounding board for people and just really helping them dig in and find you know where they’re gonna work out and where they’re gonna eat healthy while they’re traveling to these various destinations

The Travel Wins: Was your advice do not hit the slot machines in the McCarran Airport Vegas

Tanya Stanfield: It did not. no no it’s surprising because you know Las Vegas isn’t known for being you know a healthy paradise in the least but there are a lot of options there they’re just not very well publicized. So you know for this particular traveler we were able to track down some great resources for her as far as taking yoga classes were concerned which is kind of a surprise and also you know finding places where she could eat you know you know on her dairy-free diet so there are ways where you can you know find what you need for your body on the road again it’s just about having that plan in advance and knowing where to go and where to find it

5 for Friday with Marcus Peterson

Today’s 5 for Friday is with Marcus Peterson. Marcus is an NFL wide receiver, model and entrepreneur. Being a young man from Inglewood, California, who attended a small Christian school playing “8- man” football and was not introduced to the game of football until his 10th grade year of high school. As his passion for the game grew he continued to sharpen his craft on the field and make his dream of becoming a professional football player a reality. Without receiving any Division-1 college scholarships, it was a long shot coming from the odds of his situation. Although, his college career did not pan out as expected, he did not let that diminish his drive for making it to the big leagues staying focused on his (Plan A).

After his collegiate senior year he had the opportunity to train with elite NFL quarterback’s, receivers, and trainers. Marcus’s faith in God & himself lead to signing a contract with an NFL team. He received his MBA while studying and working in London, England. Working as a model and entrepreneur, Marcus is using his positive mindset to grow his motivational apparel company, MP Motivational Brand Apparel.

The full episode will be available on Monday so make sure to come back and be inspired. I’d like to thank Marcus for sharing his story and passion with us.

Connect with Marcus Peterson:

What The “MP” Brand Represents

“MP” Motivational Brand Apparel, represents for anyone who has ever been over looked, told they couldn’t achieve something, they aren’t good enough, or underestimated. Understanding that there are and will be times in our lives where we will be overlooked and counted out but we can never lose faith or site of our goals. No matter what industry we are in, we all have a story of challenges we endure to achieving success. This notion provides the opportunity to wear our struggles through apparel to ignite our dreams in overcoming the “No’s” in life to becoming living proof of YES!

“MP” apparel is a great concept to remind others and ourselves that when we recognize our “Why” & “Purpose” in life having control of the ending result and can NEVER give up on our dreams. Understanding, that whatever happens, a human being does not have the last word for on our destiny, God does

Transcription

TTW: What were some of the things that stood out when you traveled overseas?

MP: Once you think I understood how small America really was when you’re living here all you think about is like how America is so huge the American impact the population the market is so huge when I was over there it was so small if you have the Chinese and the Japanese market which can double you know for triple the US market yet that UK market the French market alone Germans aspirin so it’s like the world is so cute another thing that point out to me might was time management is key there’s no such thing as enough for instance you wake up maybe eight o’clock seven o’clock and go to sleep boom about 11:00 there’s really no such thing as a point time it’s just I’ve learned that there’s 24 hours in the day yeah it sounds it doesn’t sound like a lot but that that transformation of morning and night to morning and night to 24 hours is very drastic because like you can be sleep here but you know China just waking up you know you have to get that email fill out my signal Thailand was terrible because I was doing my dissertation and trying to build a global brand I’m having to set my alarm clock at 4:00 in the morning because it was 7 p.m. here in Los Angeles so you know if I need to email or get in touch for people in the US or you know in France or in the UAE you know times were different so just understanding that we have 24 hours in a day I will take a nap at like 10 p.m. which is absurd and then going to say that Alexis thing but like everything was just different because there’s so many different time zones

TTW: yeah well yet you know it can prefer my work my day job you know we deal with factories in China Vietnam India and Mexico at the same time so no but you know you start dealing with time zones of different countries and you got to get you know you had deadlines hurt for order cuts and everything else it’s different you know and then you’re dealing with Freight issues from China or India and then you got having cot so yeah you’re right I mean it’s just it’s actually a small world now with technology

MP: yeah exactly and even with that like the dollar fluctuates so low if you know the again when we can be what 85 cent compared and then you know couple days later it could be you know 60 cent so David so you have to look at that as well so everything was just way more advanced when I was able to travel when I came to cultures religions history laws it was just international trade laws and yeah I think that’s why with what you’re trying to do after your NFL career actually getting your MBA in London probably it’s best suited because it gave you that mindset I’ve always looked at it like you know for instant I school to learn Spanish yeah someone rushing help for you yeah so on so my Spanish teacher with african-american he swore dismantle everything it’s been but I think it’s a correlation from running someone who typically is a Latin descent or Hispanic so it’s cut its have a mixed it like that so I learned international business which is called global business there so to learn international business and ordeals internationally kind of made not just more sense that I learn more authentically than I did then I would have probably followed my international affairs in just one market

Cristina Alcivar – Airport Lifestyle

Today’s podcast is with Cristina Alcivar. Cristina is the founder of Vane Airport Magazine, a digital resource for airport travelers.

“Airports more recently are diversifying and increasing more healthy food options”

Vane Airport Magazine is a complete resource guide providing information on air travel and varied information available at airports around the world. Cristina started Vane as a way to help airport travelers find and locate the hidden gems for us business travelers. Her website is packed full of information on airports, traveling, food and fitness.

Vane Airport Magazine is a digital resource for the health-conscious traveler.

They inspire, guide, and connect travelers to airport wellness services around the world. For example, airport healthy food options, airport spas, airport meditation/yoga rooms, airport gyms and so much more.

Vane Airport Mag has been mentioned in well-known publications such as Huffington Post and travel.usnews.com. In addition, VANE was shortlisted in the 2014 Global Wellness Summit competition for wellness innovation forefront of travel.

Connect with Cristina Alcivar and Vane Airport:

Asia Hall – Living Neon

I am excited to share my podcast with Asia Hall. Asia is the founder of Neon Cowboys, a cutting edge fashion business which includes light up cowboy hats, light up holsters, light up earrings, footwear and other fun items. She started Neon Cowboys in her early twenties after already having a fashion business under her belt. She has traveled thru out the US, marketing and networking as well as visiting China to meet with her factories.

“I really enjoy travelling overseas for work”

Los Angeles born & raised, Asia graduated from Westmont in Santa Barbara with a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and Art. During college, she started her first international clothing brand, Once Youth, with her younger brother.

After graduation she landed QA Analyst II at Electronic Arts for their mobile game division.

She is now the CEO of Neon Cowboys, a wearable tech brand who sells her patent pending illuminated cowboy hats that glow in the dark like neon signs. She is also the Co-Founder of WETESO (Wearable Tech Solutions), a consulting firm that partners with researchers, scientists and inventors in developing consumer tech products and bringing them to market.

Asia has a lot to share with the world as she continues to create bringing life, joy, and fun to her companies and those around her.

Traveling the United States and abroad while starting and running a business is an accomplishment in itself. I can’t wait to see what the future holds for this bright light.

Connect with Asia Hall: