Ep 01 - Maria Goldsholl: Building Authentic Leadership and Culture in Startups

Todd starts off the series with a bang as he talks with his first guest, Maria Goldsholl, Managing Partner-Human Capital, about the mindset required to grow and learn from the tough times at any level, and what particular traits she looks for when evaluating a team or a leader. Watch till the end to learn what startup coffee and stinky fish have in common. ABOUT OUR GUEST: Maria Goldsholl, Managing Partner Human Capital Maria Goldsholl is a seasoned, energetic executive leader with an extensive background in organizational and talent development, culture management, developing HR infrastructure and building teams and operations. Her expertise has been cited and featured in Forbes HR council, The Wall Street Journal, Working Mother Magazine, Entrepreneur, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and other publications. Prior to joining TechCXO, she was the Chief People Officer for PokitDok, a venture backed high growth healthcare technology company, where she provided leadership and direction for human resources function and served as trusted advisor to CEO and executive team on people related issues. Maria was also responsible for providing thought leadership and execution of people initiatives, organizational development, recruitment and culture initiatives. In addition, she served as COO for Moms Corps, where she was responsible for managing the day-to-day activities of this first- to-market staffing and search company. She began as the first employee of company and helped grow the organization to $16 million business with franchises and offices nationwide. As the Director of Organizational Development for The Weather Channel, she was responsible for the company’s diversity efforts, succession planning and work/life programs. The company earned five “Employer of Choice” top rankings in the telecommunications industry. A native of New York, NY, Maria holds a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the University of La Verne in Athens, Greece, and a master’s degree in Organizational Behavior from Brooklyn College in New York. What is THE SKYLOUNGE? Tales from the SkyLounge is a podcast where we take you on a journey through the world of business, consulting, and venture investing. In each episode, we gather in our virtual sky lounge, high above the hustle and bustle of the everyday world, to hear stories from the people who are shaping the future of these industries. From entrepreneurs who are disrupting the status quo, consultants who are helping companies solve their biggest challenges, and investors who are making bets on the next big thing. ABOUT OUR HOST: Todd Merrill is an experienced software executive who typically assists clients as a fractional or interim CTO and CiSO as a partner at TechCXO. He has served in a series of companies as a C-Level executive focused on leveraging the Cloud to bring SaaS offerings to market. As an entrepreneur, turn-around expert, technology and product leader, and mentor, Todd has held full corporate P&L and product development responsibilities and directed diverse international teams of Engineering Managers, Mobile Architects, Developers, Dev Ops, QA, and Customer Success professionals. Subscribe and turn on notifications to listen to new episodes as they launch! YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfeCS-Varb4gu2uCwyRTXWWEdP676Huh6 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6jz6ubcaUZ20Xh8TXhwzEN Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/tales-from-the-sky-lounge/id1730134658 Amazon: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/4ba289a5-0d33-4589-95c7-83416731a864/tales-from-the-sky-lounge Follow Tales From The SkyLounge on Social Media X/Twitter: @TFTSkyLounge TikTok: tiktok.com/tftskylounge Learn more about TechCXO: https://www.techcxo.com/ Production/Design: James Liebman Music: Soundstripe/Cody Martin-Sunrise