Liftoff Journeys

Send us Fan MailHere's the thing about AI that nobody wants to admit: everyone's talking about it, but most people still can't tell you exactly how it's changing the game right now, today, in real and tangible ways. This episode fixes that.In this special edition of Liftoff Journeys, I'm bringing together four conversations with leaders who aren't just theorizing about AI. Mike Finnerty, CEO Co-founder, Mutinex,  Matthew Wilson, Global Head of Revenue, Social Scale AI, Aubriana Alvarex Lopez, Co-founder, Agnitio and Vince Walden, CEO, KonaAI. They're building with it, selling with it, and using it to solve problems that have frustrated marketers, compliance officers, and brand leaders for years. Recorded live from the Colossal Bowl event, these chats cover everything from AI-powered content creation that actually protects your brand, to a startup founder's raw advice on getting comfortable with hearing "no," to the future of marketing mix modeling, to why your compliance team might be the most exciting department in your company right now (seriously).If you're a CMO trying to justify your next investment, a founder wondering when to take the leap, or a business leader trying to figure out where AI fits into your world without the hype and the fluff, this is the episode to turn up. You'll walk away with real frameworks, bold predictions, and the kind of practical wisdom that only comes from people who are deep in the work.Support the showSubscribe to our YouTube channelWatch the TV show "Liftoff with Jeanniey Walden" Follow us on XFollow us on InstagramTalk to us on FacebookMeet Jeanniey live - see where she will be next.

Send us Fan MailWhat if the way we've been thinking about media, audiences, and even healthcare marketing is fundamentally broken... and the fix is already here?In this special edition of Liftoff Journeys, I'm taking you aboard a mansion yacht in Miami (yes, you read that right) for three back-to-back conversations with some of the sharpest minds in media, healthcare, and advertising. And fair warning: this one's going to challenge a few things you thought you knew.You'll hear from Sean Black, General Manager/SVP, Audience Path US, who believes the traditional approach to audience targeting is outdated and is building real-time, signal-based technology that watches what people are doing right now instead of relying on stale data from weeks ago. You'll sit in on a conversation with Cliff Covey, SVP, Group Director, Digital Activation at CMI Media Group, a healthcare media veteran who's been in pharma for two decades and is genuinely fired up about how AI could transform the way patients and doctors connect at the moments that matter most. And you'll meet Lorenzo Zefferino, Executive Media Leader at Evergreen Trading, a media buying innovator who breaks down why the human element still matters in an AI-driven world, why "win-win-win" is more than just a catchphrase, and why common sense is still the most underrated skill in advertising.This isn't your typical "here's what AI can do" episode. These are real people sharing what they're actually building, what's working, what's broken, and the advice they'd give to anyone trying to keep up in a landscape that changes every six months. Whether you're in media, healthcare, advertising, or just trying to understand where things are headed, this conversation will give you something to think about.Oh, and there may or may not be a story about blue-painted toenails. You'll have to listen to find out.Support the showSubscribe to our YouTube channelWatch the TV show "Liftoff with Jeanniey Walden" Follow us on XFollow us on InstagramTalk to us on FacebookMeet Jeanniey live - see where she will be next.

Send us Fan MailAshley Miles is the kind of person who makes you want to go rethink your entire business strategy and then actually do something about it before the day is over. She walked away from the corporate world with all its resources, the big teams, the trade events, the ability to snap your fingers and mobilize, and built Franklin West from scratch. Self-funded. No VCs. No safety net. Just a bold vision and the relationships to back it up.This conversation gets into the stuff that every leader is feeling right now but not always saying out loud. Budgets are shrinking, expectations are skyrocketing, and the old playbooks aren't cutting it anymore. Ashley breaks down exactly how she's helping companies navigate that tension and she drops a stat that honestly stopped me in my tracks about where the workforce is headed by 2027. If you're a founder trying to scale, a corporate leader being asked to do more with less, or a young professional trying to figure out how to actually stand out, this one is going to hit in all the right places.Support the showSubscribe to our YouTube channelWatch the TV show "Liftoff with Jeanniey Walden" Follow us on XFollow us on InstagramTalk to us on FacebookMeet Jeanniey live - see where she will be next.

Send us Fan MailThere's an entire workforce out there, millions of women, who have been told for decades that their career has a ceiling. Francis Tesmer decided that was done. She didn't just talk about it, she built the first ever college degree pathway for beauty professionals in partnership with L'Oréal and then put over $1 million in scholarships behind it so that money would never be the reason someone couldn't walk through that door.Francis is back on Liftoff because every time we talk to her, the impact has grown. Graduates are building bigger businesses, earning more, leading differently, and their daughters are watching. When a woman's child looks at her and says "I believe women deserve jobs at the highest level" because of what she saw her mother do? That's not a career program. That's generational change. Whether you're in the beauty industry or not, this conversation will make you rethink what it really looks like to turn passion into power and who gets left behind when we don't.Support the showSubscribe to our YouTube channelWatch the TV show "Liftoff with Jeanniey Walden" Follow us on XFollow us on InstagramTalk to us on FacebookMeet Jeanniey live - see where she will be next.

Send us Fan MailThis conversation made me hungry AND inspired, which honestly is the best combination. James Mazzuto spent 20 years in the corporate world, earned an MBA from Tulane, lectured at universities, ran a nonprofit, launched a solar startup, and was literally about to go to LAW SCHOOL on a chancellor's scholarship at Seton Hall when something completely unexpected happened. He walked into a restaurant to kill time for six months and got hooked. Like hook, line, and sinker hooked.Now he's overseeing three restaurants across New Jersey, Allendale Social, Charlie's Place, and Saku — alongside partner Daniel Gray and Michelin-star chef Joey Sergentakis. And the way he talks about hospitality, about the trust that goes into something as intimate as sharing a meal, about why you can train someone to make a cocktail but you can't train them to CARE, that hit different. He also calls himself a "recovered MBA" which might be the best self-description I've ever heard on this show.If you've ever wondered whether it's too late to completely pivot your career or whether that thing scratching an itch you didn't know you had might actually be your calling, this one's for you.Support the showSubscribe to our YouTube channelWatch the TV show "Liftoff with Jeanniey Walden" Follow us on XFollow us on InstagramTalk to us on FacebookMeet Jeanniey live - see where she will be next.

Send us Fan MailI have been looking for someone who lives at the intersection of creativity and business strategy and Paul Koslowski is exactly that person. He's an award-winning architect and co-founder of Dunn Koslowski, a firm that's spent nearly 24 years creating spaces that don't just look beautiful, they make people FEEL something. We're talking restaurants where you don't even realize you've been drawn up to the second floor, residences that are a pure expression of someone's personal brand, and hospitality spaces designed to work just as well for a post-yoga lunch as they do for the biggest celebration of your life.But what really got me in this conversation is how Paul thinks about brand in a way most marketers and business leaders never consider. He dropped this 80-20 rule that honestly every business owner needs to hear — and the way he breaks down why most companies get design completely wrong might make you rethink that Pinterest folder you've been building.If you've ever wondered why some spaces just hit different or why your dream vision might actually be working against you this is the episode to listen to.Support the showSubscribe to our YouTube channelWatch the TV show "Liftoff with Jeanniey Walden" Follow us on XFollow us on InstagramTalk to us on FacebookMeet Jeanniey live - see where she will be next.

Send us Fan MailThis one is personal for me. Over 10 years ago, Stan Rosenberg was my intern, and watching where his career has gone since then honestly makes me so proud. While he was still in HIGH SCHOOL, this guy started a nonprofit called Trip of a Lifetime that has now raised over a million dollars and sent more than 350 students on transformational travel experiences. Since then, he's scaled teams at major companies and now runs his own firm, Storm King Consulting, where he's built a community of over 550 leaders all paying it forward.But what really makes this conversation special is how Stan talks about the things nobody tells you about sales, community, and knowing what you're NOT good at. He's a self-described introvert who people didn't think would last three months in sales, and the way he flipped that into his biggest strength is something every leader needs to hear.If you've ever felt like you have to be the loudest voice in the room to win, this episode is going to change the way you think about that completely.Support the showSubscribe to our YouTube channelWatch the TV show "Liftoff with Jeanniey Walden" Follow us on XFollow us on InstagramTalk to us on FacebookMeet Jeanniey live - see where she will be next.

Send us Fan MailSo I've been a little obsessed with Ross Simmonds ever since I came across one of his presentations and this conversation did NOT disappoint. Ross is a global thought leader and entrepreneur who helps brands scale through content, but the way he thinks about content is completely different from what most marketers are doing right now. He says things that honestly make a lot of people in the industry uncomfortable, like that distribution matters MORE than what you actually create, and that the channels most brands are afraid of are exactly where they should be showing up.But it's what Ross said about the person on the other end of the screen that completely shifted my perspective. He has this way of breaking down something we all know deep down but keep ignoring, and once you hear it you won't be able to unsee it in your own marketing.And if you're leading a stretched-thin team right now trying to keep the lights on AND be creative at the same time? Ross shared something his company does every single week that I think every business should steal immediately. You're going to want to hear this one all the way through.Support the showSubscribe to our YouTube channelWatch the TV show "Liftoff with Jeanniey Walden" Follow us on XFollow us on InstagramTalk to us on FacebookMeet Jeanniey live - see where she will be next.

Send us Fan MailAlex Bennett started washing dishes at his parents' restaurant at 16, and by 25, he was running the whole place. But then life threw him some curveballs: a divorce, a master's degree he couldn't use at the worst possible time, and a career pivot most people wouldn't see coming. And somehow, all those detours led him to write a historical fiction trilogy about bourbon, pirates, and a Scottish rebellion. Yeah, you read that right.What really got me is how Alex talks about letting life take you where it's going to take you instead of fighting it. He has this incredible way of looking at setbacks not as failures, but as setups for something better. And the story behind how the book came together, including one random conversation with a kid at the bar that made him rewrite an entire manuscript. I won't spoil it, but let's say the details matter more than you think.If you've ever felt stuck between what you planned for your life and where life actually took you, this one is going to hit different. Alex drops some seriously good advice for anyone chasing a dream, starting over, or just trying to figure out their next move. Plus, you're going to learn something about whiskey history that will make you the most interesting person at your next happy hour. Trust me on that one.Listen now and find out how a dishwasher turned bartender turned author figured out that the best stories, in books and in life, come from the chapters you never planned to write.Support the showSubscribe to our YouTube channelWatch the TV show "Liftoff with Jeanniey Walden" Follow us on XFollow us on InstagramTalk to us on FacebookMeet Jeanniey live - see where she will be next.

Send us Fan MailImagine taking your child to a therapist for help with their behavior, only for the therapist to basically call you a bad parent and tell you it’s your fault they act the way they do? I sat down with Karen Thomas, the founder and CEO of Naturally Recovering Autism, and what she shared about her journey had my jaw drop.This mom spent over a decade and more than $100,000 of her own money researching, experimenting, and figuring out how to help her son recover from autism symptoms, naturally. Spoiler alert: She did it! Her son went from struggling in kindergarten to being a college graduate living independently, and she's helped other parents see incredible results too, including a mom whose nonverbal son started talking and reading within two months of starting Karen's program. This is a mom who refused to accept "there's nothing we can do" and built an entire recovery roadmap from scratch! And she did it all before AI. Whether you're a parent navigating autism, dealing with health challenges in your own family, or just trying to figure things out when nobody has the answers, you're going to feel so seen listening to this. Grab your copy of my new book the Trust Threshold, available on Amazon https://www.liftoffcompany.com/the-trust-threshold/Support the showSubscribe to our YouTube channelWatch the TV show "Liftoff with Jeanniey Walden" Follow us on XFollow us on InstagramTalk to us on FacebookMeet Jeanniey live - see where she will be next.

Send us Fan MailSergio has one of those journeys that sounds almost unbelievable. He came to the US as a refugee, grew up in real poverty in Brooklyn, got into some serious trouble as a kid, and somehow turned it all around to become a vice president at a multinational consulting firm who's spoken in front of Congress. It’s like a mix of West Side Story meets an episode of The Americans with a bit of Goodfellows and Hijacked all tied together. Yet, it’s 100% REAL, and that's what makes this one SO good.We got into everything from how his family's history shaped his mindset, to the moment law enforcement completely changed his trajectory, to what he's building now, and okay, I have to tell you about this, he's launching a spy school startup called Tradecraft Adventures! It’s where people actually get to live as an undercover operative for four days. Like, WHAT?! I couldn't believe he was sharing all of this, and I didn't want this conversation to end.Sergio owns every single part of his story, including the messy parts that most people would never talk about. At the end of the day, his journey is about figuring it out as you go, and honestly, aren't we all doing that? If you need a reminder that where you started doesn't define where you're headed, this is your episode. Trust me on this one.Grab your copy of my new book the Trust Threshold, available on Amazon https://www.liftoffcompany.com/the-trust-threshold/Support the showSubscribe to our YouTube channelWatch the TV show "Liftoff with Jeanniey Walden" Follow us on XFollow us on InstagramTalk to us on FacebookMeet Jeanniey live - see where she will be next.

Send us Fan MailTrust is the invisible line between momentum and stagnation. Cross it, and teams move faster. Miss it, and nothing works the way it should.In this episode of the Snarketing Podcast, hosts Matt Wurst and Valerie Vespa welcome back their first-ever repeat guest, Jeanniey Walden, for a wide-ranging, candid conversation about trust, leadership, attention, and growth in an AI-shaped world.Jeanniey introduces her new book, The Trust Threshold: Crossing the Line Between Stuck and Unstoppable, and breaks down how her AIR Method (Authenticity, Inspiration, Relatability) applies far beyond business strategy. The discussion spans everything from why attention has collapsed to a three-second window, to how leaders unintentionally create “checklist workers,” to why relatability is a revenue and survival skill, not a soft one.The episode also explores how AI can be used as a thinking partner rather than a shortcut, the danger of performative leadership, and why trust signals show up long before revenue drops. With real-world stories from Fortune 250 brands, startups, and personal leadership moments, this conversation blends practical insight with humor and honesty.Within hours of its release on 2/24, the book hit bestseller! Grab your copy by going to https://www.liftoffcompany.com/the-trust-threshold/Support the showSubscribe to our YouTube channelWatch the TV show "Liftoff with Jeanniey Walden" Follow us on XFollow us on InstagramTalk to us on FacebookMeet Jeanniey live - see where she will be next.

Send us Fan MailHopefully you know by now that I didn’t just wrote a book (The Trust Threshold) - but this took me on a journey I never expected. I didnt just write it - I “vibe-Authored” it. And during that process I realized I created the way I lead when I was a little girl (WHAT?!?!)This episode came from sitting down with Vanessa and Keith Bell for an unexpected, unfiltered, no-prep conversation about my own journey. The one that led me to do something I swore I would never do again…write another book.I talk openly about my first book experience years ago, and why I never wanted to write another book. Bu more importantly, it touches on how the journey to write a book through this vibe-authoring process led me on a journey to understand so much more of who I am and give me the insights to create the framework that can now help and power other business, brands and leaders.You will hear so much and meet the great team behind this process. We talk about the early fears.The moment the outline stopped me cold.And the realization that the framework behind my work (authenticity, inspiration, and relatability) didn’t start in my career… it started when I was young and helping my grandma learn to speak after a stroke. This conversation became the missing chapter in my own story. It helped me understand why this podcast exists, why this book needed to be written, and why the AIR Method isn’t just a business framework, it’s a way of navigating life, leadership, and growth.If you’ve ever said:Writing a book sounds cool, but I could never do it, I dare you to not just listen to this podcast, but to try it out. My book is all about helping people go from Stuck to Unstoppable and you deserve that.Oh and P.S. If you are seeing this before 2/23 - enter our giveaway for a free copy of my new book https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/432368-the-trust-threshold-crossing-the-line-between-stuck-and-unstoppableSupport the showSubscribe to our YouTube channelWatch the TV show "Liftoff with Jeanniey Walden" Follow us on XFollow us on InstagramTalk to us on FacebookMeet Jeanniey live - see where she will be next.

Send us Fan MailI don't know about you, but 2025 wasn't the best year for me. I lost my mom, my former company liquidated in bankruptcy and most people I know lost their jobs. That had to be more than a coincidence, and after chatting with Letao Wang, now I know why and I am super psyched for this new year- the year of the Fire Horse!All I have to say is THANK goodness Letao didn't listen to his family and chose this path. A conversation you will not want to miss. In this episode of Liftoff Journeys, I sit down with Letao Wang, counselor and award-winning astrologist, to talk about how your life can positively impact many people when you follow the path you are drawn too. Like many of us,  Letao didn't find his career part right away. In fact,  he followed the expected path his family had set for him. He graduated, went into finance, graduated, and stepped into a career that looked stable and successful. But internally, something was missing, and he could feel it.Imagine living according to expectations rather than alignment. That was Letao's reality and a chance spiritual encounter during his Saturn return became the moment that shifted everything. Not because it gave him all the answers, but because it finally gave him permission to ask better questions.He makes everyone who has been in this position before feel really happy as he shares how  how astrology and counseling became tools for Letao not to escape reality, but to understand people more deeply and to help them heal. What I loved most was how authentic and relatable he was about fear, doubt, and the grief that can come with choosing a different path. Best of all, he trusted his inner voice. Trust led to belief and belief led to his business leadership. This episode is for anyone who has ever looked at their life and thought, this should feel right by now. This is your year. Let's do this.Support the showSubscribe to our YouTube channelWatch the TV show "Liftoff with Jeanniey Walden" Follow us on XFollow us on InstagramTalk to us on FacebookMeet Jeanniey live - see where she will be next.

Send us Fan MailFamous author and great guy, Gareth Russell Dreamt about being the Czar of Russia when he was little. WHAT?!?  I wasn’t expecting this conversation to go where it did, and honestly, that’s my favorite kind.In this episode of Liftoff Journeys, I sit down with author and historian Gareth Russell to talk about how he became the writer he is today… and it turns out that journey started much earlier than most people realize. Long before the books, the acclaim, or The Palace, there was a child in Belfast surrounded by Bible stories, family history, old films, and an imagination big enough to dream of becoming the Czar of Russia.Gareth is incredibly authentic about the fact that writing wasn’t just a dream, it was a refuge. A place where things made sense. A necessity before it was ever a career. And in that honesty, there’s something deeply inspiring about realizing that the path doesn’t have to be linear or obvious to be meaningful. This is one of the first conversations we have had where the person knew what they wanted to be when they grew up from such a young age!Because this is Liftoff Journeys, the conversation doesn’t stay in one lane. We move from childhood dreams to modern leadership, from royal history to artificial intelligence, and from the past to the very real questions we’re all asking about the future. Gareth shares why history isn’t something we leave behind, it’s something we repeat, reinterpret, and often fail to listen to.This episode is for anyone who’s ever felt called to something before they had the language for it. For anyone who’s taken a winding path and for anyone who believes that understanding how people become who they are can change how you think about your own journey.P.S. It is SUCH a good conversation that we've already asked Gareth to come back on the show in a month (we heard he is working on a new project) and we want to share the scoop!Support the showSubscribe to our YouTube channelWatch the TV show "Liftoff with Jeanniey Walden" Follow us on XFollow us on InstagramTalk to us on FacebookMeet Jeanniey live - see where she will be next.

Send us Fan MailI’m sitting down with Stephen Gee, CEO and co-founder of Blend, expecting him to give me a common story of his background, and at some point he casually says, “I actually went to college to become a volcanologist.”Volcanoes.Lava.Remote islands.No friends. (His words, not mine.)And somehow… that explains everything about how he sees leadership today.This episode of Liftoff Journeys is very much about Stephen’s journey, not the polished LinkedIn version, but the real one where he followed curiosity instead of a title and ended up exactly where he was supposed to be.Stephen walks through how studying volcanoes ; systems under pressure, unseen fault lines, sudden eruptions , shaped the way he now spots what’s broken in modern leadership. Why siloed executives feel productive but miss what’s actually building beneath the surface. Why pressure narrows perspective instead of expanding it. And why the most dangerous leaders aren’t the ones who fail, they’re the ones who stop questioning.We laugh a lot in this conversation. About awkward rooms. About walking into spaces where you have no idea what anyone does. About realizing, decades into your career, that the most growth happens when you’re willing to say, “I don’t know, tell me more.”We also get real about:how Stephen accidentally found his way into the human side of leadershipwhy community and cognitive diversity matter more than playbookshow Blend was built by intentionally breaking industry boundariesand why curiosity — not certainty — is what actually makes leaders betterWithout trying to, this conversation brings The AIR Method™ to life:Authenticity — being willing to admit what you don’t knowInspiration — letting unfamiliar perspectives reshape your thinkingRelatability — realizing no one’s path is as linear as it looksIf you’ve ever wondered how someone really ends up where they are, or if you’ve felt that quiet nudge that says there might be more growth outside your usual lane, this journey will stick with you.Because sometimes the very thing that seems like a detour…turns out to be the training ground for everything that comes next.Support the showSubscribe to our YouTube channelWatch the TV show "Liftoff with Jeanniey Walden" Follow us on XFollow us on InstagramTalk to us on FacebookMeet Jeanniey live - see where she will be next.

Send us Fan MailSome kids learn how to speak up early.Others learn how to disappear.Scilla Andreen learned how to disappear.Bullied as a child and conditioned to keep her voice small, Scilla grew up believing that staying invisible was safer than being seen. That belief followed her into adulthood until the moment she realized that silence was no longer an option.In this episode of Liftoff Journeys, Jeanniey sits down with Scilla Andreen, CEO & Co-Founder of iNDIEFLIX and Founder of iMPACTFUL, for a conversation that will hit home for anyone who was ever bullied, excluded, or made to feel like they didn’t belong. (That's almost all of us at some point in our lives)Scilla shares how the loneliness she experienced early in life didn’t break her, it shaped her. What started as her love for independent film became a global edutainment movement focused on empathy, mental health, and human connection, reaching schools, corporations, and communities around the world.Together, they talk about what it really takes to build a purpose-driven business when your motivation is deeply personal, the tension between passion and practicality,  the courage required to ask for what you’re worth, and the cost of living in a world where technology, isolation, and mental health struggles are colliding faster than we’re willing to admit.This conversation is about what happens after Scilla starts living authentically, inspirationally and in a very relatable way (The AIR Method).It’s a powerful reminder of three things we could all be reminded about:1- Kindness isn’t weakness, it’s leadership.2- Being seen isn’t ego, it’s responsibility.3- Choosing to use your voice can change far more than your own life.This isn't just a journey you need to hear, its one you need to share with someone who needs to hear they matter too. Support the showSubscribe to our YouTube channelWatch the TV show "Liftoff with Jeanniey Walden" Follow us on XFollow us on InstagramTalk to us on FacebookMeet Jeanniey live - see where she will be next.

Send us Fan Mail“When I grow up, I want to be a bubble bather.” At three years old, my daughter didn’t know what a career was, but she knew exactly what mattered to her: helping people, having fun, and creating happiness. That moment stayed with me. What’s remarkable is that those same values have guided every chapter of her life since, through different paths, different choices, and now, working alongside me at Liftoff Enterprises. In this relaunch episode of Liftoff Journeys, I sit down with longtime friend and collaborator Steve Olenski (aka The CMO Whisperer) to share the true origin story of this podcast and why it’s coming back now. We talk about the quiet moments that define us, the trust it takes to honor who we are at our core, and how easily that trust gets disrupted as we grow up and “get practical.” This conversation also introduces the heartbeat behind my upcoming book, The Trust Threshold: the idea that growth doesn’t come from reinventing ourselves, but from crossing the invisible line between self-doubt and self-trust. This episode sets the tone for everything Liftoff Journeys is about:real stories, real people, and the moments that shape us long before success has a name. If you’ve ever wondered whether the things that lit you up early in life still matter, this journey starts here.Support the showSubscribe to our YouTube channelWatch the TV show "Liftoff with Jeanniey Walden" Follow us on XFollow us on InstagramTalk to us on FacebookMeet Jeanniey live - see where she will be next.

Send us Fan MailJoin us on this episode of Liftoff Journeys as we dive into the inspiring story of Keith and Vanessa Bell, a dynamic couple who transitioned from traditional careers to successful entrepreneurs. Discover how they turned their passion for storytelling into a thriving business, helping others become published authors. From professional careers, to their initial steps into real estate and now the creation of Blank Page to Author, Keith and Vanessa share their journey, challenges, and the innovative approach that sets them apart. Tune in for an uplifting conversation about faith, resilience, and the power of writing your own story. And, stay tuned for Jeanniey's announcement. Looking to write your own book? Get started here!Support the showSubscribe to our YouTube channelWatch the TV show "Liftoff with Jeanniey Walden" Follow us on XFollow us on InstagramTalk to us on FacebookMeet Jeanniey live - see where she will be next.