Episode 19- Finding your Tribe

Terri talks about the importance of being vulnerable, to ask for help, and to trust others to build your tribe and that she doesn’t have it all figured out.   

Who is Terri Mead? 

Terri Hanson Mead is President of Solutions2Projects, LLC, a consulting company that provides IT strategy and IT compliance services in the life sciences space in addition to expert witness consulting services.  She is also an active angel investor and former Vice President of Sand Hill Angels, regularly advises startups and in her spare time, flies helicopters.  She is passionate about supporting, and advocating for, female founders and investors and has created Class Bravo Ventures to more formally do so.  

Show Highlights 

• It’s ok to be vulnerable 

• You are worthy 

• Ask for help; learn to receive as well as you give 

• Friendships don’t need to be forever 

• Trust others 

• If you are feeling lonely, reach out your hand and someone will come running (modified from a song from Dear Evan Hanson) 

Contacts 

You can follow Terri on Twitter at @terrihansonmead or go to her website at www.terrihansonmead.com or on Medium:  https://medium.com/@terrihansonmead 

Feel free to email her at PilotingYourLife@gmail.com. 

To continue the conversation, go to Twitter at @PilotingLife and use hashtag #PilotingYourLife. 

Episode 18 -Martin Lynch

 Terri talks to Silicon Valley tech executive Martin Lynch about how his catastrophic bike accident in 2014 made him into a more empathetic man and how is determined to do another Ironman.   

Who is Martin Lynch? 

Martin is a Silicon Valley high tech executive and currently the COO of SunLink. He is an experienced tri-athlete and Ironman competitor and lives in Los Gatos, CA with his incredibly supportive wife Kelly and their teenage daughter. He had a catastrophic bike accident in 2014 that resulted in significant injuries that he continues to recover from and live with three years later.  He continues to work towards being able to compete (to his satisfaction) in another Ironman and is writing a book about his experience.   

Show Highlights 

• Martin describes the bike accident that changed his life in 2014 and waking up disoriented five days later in the hospital 

• Martin initial response was to conquer the situation and get back to normal as quickly as possible 

• Martin believes that the accident, recovery and long-term implications are much harder on his wife than on him 

• Martin was ignorant of the extent of the damage to his body and didn’t learn until later how catastrophic the injuries were and even signed up for a half Ironman for nine months after the accident only one month into recovery  

• His delusional / ignorant state helped him recover and he tried to maintain as much of a sense of normalcy as possible with his job 

• He learned a lot about himself and his family as he recovered, and he was blessed to have his marriage become stronger and deeper and more meaningful 

• He was able to stay positive by using his mind as a tool and move forward even if it was just a little bit 

• Martin talked about how the accident and recovery changed him and made him more empathetic and he understands his mind better; it made him a better listener 

• Did his athletic training help him in his recovery from a mental perspective?  

• He talks about the hardest part being the impact on his family 

• Terri asks about when he is going to write the book and suggests that he include his wife, Kelly as a voice in the book and that he done one now and another one later 

• Martin would like to wave a magic wand to get more people to listen more to each other to improve things in the world 

Terri’s Key Takeaway 

So much in life is mind over matter.   

Contact 

You can find Martin on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/martinilynch/ 

You can follow Terri on Twitter at @terrihansonmead or go to her website at www.terrihansonmead.com or on Medium:  https://medium.com/@terrihansonmead.  

Feel free to email Terri at PilotingYourLife@gmail.com. 

To continue the conversation, go to Twitter at @PilotingLife and use hashtag #PilotingYourLife. 

Episode 17 -Ask me Anything

Terri is joined by her producer, Jacqueline, and her dog, Violet, in the first Ask Me Anything episode where Terri answers questions posed by the Piloting Your Life listeners.   

Show Highlights 

• Jacqueline wants to know when Terri realized she was a connector and where the skill come from. 

• How has being a twin shaped you?  

• You have had an amazing life and journey, but no one is perfect. What would you correct with the luxury of hindsigh?  

• Terri’s brother BJ asks what her favorite childhood memory was with him and their sister Sherry. 

• When you are driving, what do you do?  Meditate?  Listen to the radio or podcasts?  Catch up on business or personal calls? 

• How do you keep up your passion and energy for all that you do through all trials and tribulations of work, home, investor ups and downs and manage to balance it all? 

• How do you do all that you do and stay motivated?  Your mom is exhausted just reading about your life.   

Contacts 

You can follow Terri on Twitter at @terrihansonmead or go to her website at www.terrihansonmead.com or on Medium:  https://medium.com/@terrihansonmead 

Feel free to email her at PilotingYourLife@gmail.com. 

To continue the conversation, go to Twitter at @PilotingLife and use hashtag #PilotingYourLife. 

Episode 16 -Diana Silva aka Molé Mama

Terri talks to Diana Silva aka Molé Mama about how being able to speak Spanish launched her global, technical career and how being ahead of her time prompted the creation of Molé Mama.   

Who is Diana Silva? 

Diana Silva has over 10 years of global digital marketing and eCommerce experience. She’s held senior management positions at Leapfrog, Walmart.com, SanDisk, Ancestry.com and Cisco Systems. Diana has extensive product marketing, eCommerce, digital merchandising, branding, public relations, and social media experience and has driven expansive revenue growth, successful product launches, and increased brand awareness and social media channel growth.  

Diana is also the founder of Molé Mama, author, video blogger and radio host. Her Molé Mama Recipes YouTube channel celebrates family recipes, cooking delicious meals at home and adding love to every recipe.  

Show Highlights 

• Diana talks about how speaking Spanish as a Latina got her into working on the internet in 1991 

• Diana was recruited by Intel and later by Walmart.com 

• Diana worked with the Rock (Dwayne Johnson) and Garth Brooks and Neo 

• Terri and Diana talk about how infrequently they are asked to speak on technical topics although they are asked to be on diversity and inclusion panels and how we need to become more visible to conference and panel organizers 

• Mole Mama is Diana’s brand and passion and how the idea came to her 10 years ago when she presented a white paper on an interactive food channel and it was rejected twice so she decided to do it on her own 

• Diana has been ahead of her time from a technology and brand perspective and was frustrated because she wasn’t heard at the time 

• Writing Molé Mama was incredibly healing for Diana after the loss of her mother, Rose 

• Diana started her radio show over a year ago but wanted to quit every week the first 6 months 

• Diana wants to help people from all cultures connect over food and the table to break down the barriers that lead to racism 

• In high school, Diana was in a beauty pageant in Santa Maria, CA and declared that it was the time to do away with sexism, racism, and ageism 

• If Diana had a magic wand, she would help people to understand that they are ‘enough’ 

 
Terri’s Key Takeaway 

Timing is everything.   

Contact 

To learn more about Diana and Mole Mama, go to her website at www.molemama.com 

You can follow her on Twitter at @mole_mama and watch her cook on her YouTube channel www.youtube.com/c/molemamarecipes 

Her book can be purchased from the website Molé Mama; A Memoir of Love, Cooking and Loss 

You can find her on Facebook at www.fb.com/molemama and see what’s for dinner at www.fb.com/groups/molemamawhatsfordinner 

You can follow Terri on Twitter at @terrihansonmead or go to her website at www.terrihansonmead.com or on Medium:  https://medium.com/@terrihansonmead.  

Feel free to email Terri at PilotingYourLife@gmail.com. 

To continue the conversation, go to Twitter at @PilotingLife and use hashtag #PilotingYourLife. 

Episode 14 -Cindy Ehnes

Terri talks with Cindy Ehnes about how she sees crisis as opportunity, how she insists on thriving not just surviving, and how she didn’t let losing her left hand at the age of 19 hold her back from becoming not only the first disabled professional skier but in being a champion for patients in the healthcare system. 

Who is Cindy Ehnes? 

Cindy Ehnes is the Executive Vice President of COPE Health Solutions, an attorney licensed in California and Colorado who served as Gov. Schwarzenegger’s Director of the CA Department of Managed Health Care for seven years, the author of The Prentice Hall ADA Compliance Advisor and was a world class ski racer.  She served for nine years as Consumer Representative and Chairman of Colorado's insurance plan for uninsured, high-risk individuals and was the Enforcement Director for the Consumer Affairs section at the Colorado Division of Insurance, where she oversaw passage of several patients' rights initiatives, including new rules for patients with chronic conditions and for newborns.  

Show Highlights 

• Cindy became a ski racer in the mid-west and got a ski scholarship to college  

• Cindy lost her hand in a meat grinder when she was 19 

• Cindy finds joy in the littlest things in life which is a major factor in her ability to face the challenges in her life 

• Cindy’s mom helped give her courage to continue with her life very quickly after the amputation 

• The importance of not transferring your fears as parents to your children  

• Cindy was selected by cosmetic company Bonnie Bell to ski with their national team and became the first person with a disability to be a professional in the ski industry 

• Cindy is a firm believer in not just surviving, but thriving 

• Cindy moved to Colorado, practiced law, had her two daughters, one with a severe medical issue and due to the medical issue, changed her life priorities 

• Cindy learned that her child, and others like her, were medically uninsurable which led to starting a grassroots effort that led to her work in healthcare 

• Cindy moved to California and was asked by then Governor Schwarzenegger to be the Director of Managed Healthcare 

• Cindy became inspired to begin the work on building the technical infrastructure in California to support integrated medical records from experience with Kaiser’s integrated medical record system while she had breast cancer  

• Terri and Cindy discuss healthcare in the US and the healthcare systems supporting it 

• Terri talks about the frustrations associated with having disparate medical record systems in managing her healthcare 

• Cindy used her power of being a regulator to help patients  

• Patients are expected to, with the high cost healthcare programs, to be empowered to make their own healthcare decisions but aren’t given the tools to do so 

• Terri talks about her increased optimism around healthcare with changes in the FDA  

• Cindy encourages those involved in healthcare to focus on the patient because that will simplify solving healthcare related problems 

• Terri talks about as investors, we can do well and do good and should be focusing on leaving the world a better place for our kids and grandkids and the importance of founders to develop products and services based on lived experiences 

• Cindy would wave her magic wand to change the president.   

Terri’s Key Takeaway 

If we as parents can give our children a sense of agency over their own lives, we have succeeded as parents. 

Contact 

Cindy can be found on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/cindy-ehnes-472a609/ 

Here’s a link to an interview she did in 2016.  https://www.huffingtonpost.com/laura-dunn/women-in-business-qa-cind_b_11063826.html 

You can follow Terri on Twitter at @terrihansonmead or go to her website at www.terrihansonmead.com or on Medium:  https://medium.com/@terrihansonmead.  

Feel free to email Terri at PilotingYourLife@gmail.com. 

To continue the conversation, go to Twitter at @PilotingLife and use hashtag #PilotingYourLife. 

Episode 13 -Bubbly Bonus Part 2

Terri and her producer Jacqueline Steenhuis chat over the same bottle of Scharffenberger Brut as in the first Bubbly Bonus episode in part two of the conversation where we get to hear Jacqueline’s story beginning in science, leaving the workforce to stay at home with her two daughters, and gradually re-engaging in work outside the home as she continues to explore what she wants to do when she grows up.   

Show Highlights 

• Jacqueline shares her story beginning as a student in science and how some of her teachers attempted to limit her but she chose to embrace those limiting words and turn them into motivation to prove them wrong by pursuing her PhD  

• Jacqueline talks about how hard it was to shift from working full time to being a stay-at-home mom and how she missed the external validation and the mental game of being in science 

• Terri didn’t know that Jacqueline had a PhD in science when they first met as Jaqueline taught nature journaling to kids in elementary school and was and is an extremely talented artist 

• Jacqueline transitioned back into the workforce by working part time coaching for Weight Watchers  

• Jacqueline became a certified life coach in 2016 and how she is bringing together the work she has done at Weight Watchers into life coaching in helping people deal with their relationship with food 

• Terri talks about the importance of addressing underlying behavioral health issues when treating chronic health issues 

• They talk about beginning their  working together on various projects starting with Terri’s re-branding project 

• Jacqueline leveraged her life coaching experience to get to who Terri is and can be, used her artistic talent and applied it to the branding and website design, and her researching and problem solving skills to develop new skills to apply to the branding and website development project 

•  While Jacqueline appreciated the love and hugs she got from volunteering at the school, when she started getting paid by Weight Watchers, she realized that getting money makes you understand that you are economically viable 

• Jacqueline talks about how much she loves to solve a problem that has never been solved before and how much she enjoyed that when she worked at Stanford 

• Jacqueline now needs to decide what to do with her new skills and experience and Terri plans to keep her busy with more projects  

• Terri talks about the importance of having win/win situations in her work and her world right now and achieving ease in her work and life.  Jacqueline is choosing courage.   

Terri’s Key Takeway 

Don’t listen to what other people say to limit you unless you use it as a motivational factor. 

Contact 

You can follow Terri on Twitter at @terrihansonmead or go to her website at www.terrihansonmead.com or on Medium:  https://medium.com/@terrihansonmead.  

Feel free to email Terri at PilotingYourLife@gmail.com. 

To continue the conversation, go to Twitter at @PilotingLife and use hashtag #PilotingYourLife. 

Episode 12 The First Bubbly Bonus

Terri and her producer Jacqueline Steenhuis chat over a bottle of Scharffenberger sparkling wine and discuss the first seven episodes of Piloting Your Life, embracing who you are in the world, emotional labor, and the importance of taking risks to live a bold and beautiful life.   

Show Highlights 

• What is the Bubbly Bonus?  

• Terri and Jacqueline talk about bestie bestie wu wu friends and embracing vulnerability and femininity 

• Jacqueline emphasizes the importance of embracing who you are and how it adds to what you bring to the world 

• They talk about the interview with Mary-Jo Dionne:  perception isn’t part of the equation, it is the equation 

• Terri’s talks about her doubts and insecurities about angel investing and being a real helicopter pilot and no longer accepting others’ limitations 

• Terri decided that after reading The Feminist Fight Club that she would no longer adapt and accommodate to make other people feel better about themselves at her expense 

• Jacqueline talks about with sexism that we women tend to play small in the world  

• Terri and Jacqueline talk about how women de-escalate situations and the emotional tax paid by women also called emotional labor  

• The birth of a podcast, how sometimes you need to do something to improve, and learning as we go 

• They talk about the episode with Tyler Lynch:  how you can screw up and recover  

• Terri finally introduces Jacqueline and how they met 

Terri’s Key Takeway 

It is important to take risks to live a bold and beautiful life. 

Follow Jacqueline Steenhuis on Instagram @JacquelineSteenhuis or go to her website www.JacquelineSteenhuis.com

To find out more about the bubbly that livened our conversations check out http://www.scharffenbergercellars.com/ 

You can follow Terri on Twitter at @terrihansonmead or go to her website at www.terrihansonmead.com or on Medium:  https://medium.com/@terrihansonmead.  

Feel free to email Terri at PilotingYourLife@gmail.com. 

To continue the conversation, go to Twitter at @PilotingLife and use hashtag #PilotingYourLife. 

Episode 11 - Necker Island

Terri Mead talks about how she got to Necker Island to play tennis with Richard Branson.    

Who is Terri Mead? 

Terri Hanson Mead is President of Solutions2Projects, LLC, a consulting company that provides IT strategy and IT compliance services in the life sciences space in addition to expert witness consulting services.  She is also an active angel investor and former Vice President of Sand Hill Angels, regularly advises startups and in her spare time, flies helicopters.  She is passionate about supporting, and advocating for, female founders and investors and has created Class Bravo Ventures to more formally do so.  

Show Highlights 

• Necker isn’t a geographic location; it’s a state of being 

• Terri answers the question as to how she ended up on Necker Island  

• Terri was intimidated by the others in the group and suffered from imposter syndrome, not unlike the others on the trip as she found out later 

• Terri started to breathe and found herself among her people 

• Being a part of the Change Makers / Rule Breakers group and the various business activities 

• Terri hid on the tennis court because it was safe and comfortable and she wanted to play tennis with Richard Branson 

• Terri practically fell over a table into Richard’s lap on the first night at dinner 

• Why did Terri go on this trip?  What did she hope to get out of it?   

• Terri’s key takeaways from the trip 

• Terri takes a swim across the channel 

• Terri played tennis with Richard, as partners, and Richard got nailed in the chest with a tennis ball by our opponents 

• Coming home with a Necker glow 

Terri’s Key Takeaway 

Some things are not too good to be true and you need to take the chance and go for it 

Contacts 

You can follow Terri on Twitter at @terrihansonmead or go to her website at www.terrihansonmead.com or on Medium:  https://medium.com/@terrihansonmead 

Feel free to email her at PilotingYourLife@gmail.com. 

To continue the conversation, go to Twitter at @PilotingLife and use hashtag #PilotingYourLife

Episode 10 - Ahtziri Fonseca

Terri talks to Ahtziri Fonseca about setting the goal at an early age to be the first in her family to go to college and how she is looking to pursue her MD / PhD while working at Stanford on the Project Baseline clinical trial.   

Who is Ahtziri Fonseca? 

Ahtziri is the daughter of immigrants from Mexico who came into the US in the 90's. She was raised in Sonoma, CA and is the oldest of three.  Her mom, as a single mother, worked her way up from fast food jobs to working in a hospital. Her mom’s story served as inspiration for her to go on to be the first in her family to graduate from college in 2015 with a Neuroscience degree. Since then she has been involved in neurosurgical clinical research and is now working at Stanford as a member of Project Baseline.  

 
Show Highlights 

• Ahtziri talks about how she set a goal for herself to go to college and her mom was an inspiration for her in that she came to the US from Mexico 

• She felt supported and encouraged at school and was internally motivated to be the first in her family to go to college 

• When she finally got to college, she felt lost after having left her family and been so focused on getting to college 

• Ahtziri leveraged the resources at school, including the Chicano/Latino Association and with many calls to her mom, she was able to finish college 

• She got into college starting with a pre-college program in middle school and a college prep high school and participating in extra-curricular activities and getting excellent grades 

• Ahtziri was encouraged by her mom to apply for the $50K scholarship from a Latino music award show which she won; only one was awarded in the US 

• Once in college, she felt like a small fish in a big pond and felt unsupported which made her feel like she wasn’t good enough to do research 

• She had a Chicano/Latino Association advisor who saw her potential and encouraged her to apply for a neuroscience research program where she learned that she could do research and truly enjoyed it 

• After college, she did neurosurgical clinical until the principle investigator moved to Ohio and she had the opportunity to move back to the Bay Area where she got involved with the Stanford Medicine on the Project Baseline clinical study where Terri met her 

• Terri talks about Project Baseline, being a part of the clinical trial, and leveraging data and technology to flip healthcare on its head 

• Ahtziri plans to pursue her MD and PhD and has encouraged her siblings to pursue their studies and who are currently attending college 

• Ahtziri knows that too much fear is limiting and you need to find a way to eliminate the blocks 

• If Ahtziri could wave a magic wand, she would make sure that people are given the opportunities to reach their full potential.   

Terri’s Key Takeaway 

You don’t have to know how to get there; set a vision, know what you want, and start taking the steps 

Contact 

You can find Ahtziri on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/ahtziri-fonseca-b471439a/ 

You can follow Terri on Twitter at @terrihansonmead or go to her website at www.terrihansonmead.com or on Medium:  https://medium.com/@terrihansonmead.  

Feel free to email Terri at PilotingYourLife@gmail.com. 

To continue the conversation, go to Twitter at @PilotingLife and use hashtag #PilotingYourLife. 

Piloting your Life Episode 9 -Becoming an Entrepreneur

Terri Mead talks about how she became in an entrepreneur when she started her consulting company in 2005 but only recently acknowledged actually being an entrepreneur.  

Who is Terri Mead? 

Terri Hanson Mead is President of Solutions2Projects, LLC, a consulting company that provides IT strategy and IT compliance services in the life sciences space in addition to expert witness consulting services.  She is also an active angel investor and former Vice President of Sand Hill Angels, regularly advises startups and in her spare time, flies helicopters.  She is passionate about supporting, and advocating for, female founders and investors and has created Class Bravo Ventures to more formally do so.  

Show Highlights 

• Why Terri chose to start a company and not just hang a shingle until she found another job 

• What Terri did to start the business in terms of creating an LLC, a business plan, a marketing plan, and a professional website and set up the administrative functions 

• How Terri’s prior experience starting at the age of 9 led to the creating and running of her own business 

• Terri talks about how not everything went according to plan  

• Terri enjoys the diversity of the work that she does and the wearing of many hats but can often feel like an outsider 

• Terri finally admits she is an entrepreneur after looking up the definition of the word 

Terri’s Key Takeaway 

If opportunity knocks on your door a second time, make sure to open that door! 

Contacts 

You can follow Terri on Twitter at @terrihansonmead or go to her website at www.terrihansonmead.com or on Medium:  https://medium.com/@terrihansonmead 

Feel free to email her at PilotingYourLife@gmail.com. 

To continue the conversation, go to Twitter at @PilotingLife and use hashtag #PilotingYourLife. 

Piloting Your Life Episode 8 -Andrea Barrica

Terri talks to Andrea Barrica of O.School about how she is taking her successful startup experience with inDinero ,where she developed her vanilla cred, and is creating a safe place on the internet for women to learn about sex and pleasure and to ask for what they want both inside and outside of the bedroom.  

Who is Andrea Barrica? 

Andrea is CEO/co-founder of O.School, an online shame-free platform for pleasure education, powered by live-streaming and chat to help people unlearn shame, process trauma, and learn about sex and pleasure. Previously, Andrea co-founded YC-backed accounting and tax platform, inDinero.com, where she led sales and operations. She also served as a venture partner and entrepreneur-in-residence at 500 Startups, one of the world’s most active, global seed funds.  

 
Show Highlights 

• Andrea talks about how she went from being a linguist to being a co-founder of an accounting software startup in the Y Combinator accelerator that had raised $1M and how she never saw being an entrepreneur as an option.  She simply wanted to help her friend.   

• Andrea talks how she would have been better off without any sex education rather than what she received. She talks about how learning about sex and pleasure from porn is like learning how to drive while watching the Fast and the Furious 

• Terri asks about what sex education is available both offline and online and how Andrea is trying to bring some of the magical courses available offline, online broader audience with O.School 

• Andrea talks about the importance of consent and giving people permission to have their desires; these are life skills.  

• Andrea talks about economic and social agency and agency over your own body 

• Terri and Andrea talk about economic opportunity and the shifting demographics that are creating new product and service opportunities for startups and investors 

• Andrea talks about raising funds for O.School from investors who really don’t understand the problem or the scope of the problem and  resistance from investors because of their LPs (limited partners) as well as limitations on payment processing (or exorbitant fees and charges) or ads (like on Facebook) because of subjective things that put a company into a ‘high risk’ category  

• Terri and Andrea talk about the new and huge opportunities in FemTech, how some investors don’t know what FemTech is, and the investors who have been supportive and share her vision of making sure that everyone with an internet connection can get access to good, sex education 

• Andrea would wave a magic wand to increase people’s self-awareness at earlier ages  

Terri’s Key Takeway 

If you don’t have agency over your own body, how can you have economic and social agency?  

Contact 

You can follow Andrea on Twitter @abarrica or @odotschool or on her website at http://www.o.school/ 

You can follow Terri on Twitter at @terrihansonmead or go to her website at www.terrihansonmead.com or on Medium:  https://medium.com/@terrihansonmead.  

Feel free to email Terri at PilotingYourLife@gmail.com. 

To continue the conversation, go to Twitter at @PilotingLife and use hashtag #PilotingYourLife. 

Piloting Your Life Episode 7 -Angel Investing

Terri Mead became an angel investor at the prompting of her fellow helicopter buddy Stu’s suggestion and committed to doing it for two years as her ‘PhD.’ 

Show Highlights 

• Being an opportunist 

• How Terri became a member of Sand Hill Angels and the challenge of not fitting the ‘typical profile’ 

• How Terri’s value add is in providing diversity of through and perspective 

• Jumping into investing, demo days, and feeling a bit stupid about some of the early deals she brought to Sand Hill Angels 

• Becoming a board member and then vice president of Sand Hill Angels 

• Completing her unofficial PhD and making space for the next big thing 

You can follow Terri on Twitter at @terrihansonmead or go to her website at www.terrihansonmead.com or on Medium: https://medium.com/@terrihansonmead.

Feel free to email Terri at PilotingYourLife@gmail.com.

Piloting Your Life Episode 6 -Monique Woodard

How founder, venture capitalist and trailblazer Monique Woodard charted her own course to become a VC and how she sees opportunities in the shifting demographics in the US.

Who is Monique Woodard?

Monique is an early stage investor raising a $25M fund to invest in intersection of startups led by Black and Latino founders and companies focusing on high-growth categories that will be impacted by coming demographic and economic growth. She has led 500 Startups’ investments in companies in the US and Africa, including Blavity, ROHO, and Printivo. She is currently on the board of advisors for Women 2.0 and has been an advisor to for-profit startups and technology-focused organizations including Hackers/Founders, EveryoneOn.org and Startup Policy Lab. She regularly speaks, writes, and advises on startups, consumer internet, and government technology.

Show Highlights

• Monique talks about how it is both well-meaning but condescending to be called a unicorn.
• Monique paints the picture of what a typical venture capitalist looks like
• How Monique became a VC and the challenges she overcame on the way to 500Startups
• Monique talks about she and her friends noticed that there were so few black founders at various demo days and wanted to change that by creating Black Founders
• How she leveraged her ability to develop and nurture relationships to surround herself with people who wanted her to succeed
• Terri and Monique talk about being fangirls of Kirsten Green of Forerunner Ventures and how she didn’t follow the traditional path to VC
• Monique talks about how you have to be what you have never seen before when there are no role models or examples in front of you
• Monique and Terri talk about the problem in VC right now in that they are not shifting with the change in demographics and are not keeping up with how the market is changing
• How VC circles are no longer reflective of what the US represents and the problem with the resulting bias
• Blue ocean /green field market opportunities in shifting demographics and purchasing behaviors
• Monique would wave a magic wand to change the viewpoint of VCs towards founders and markets as well as changing the flow and direction of money from LPs to go into a broader swathe to create a portfolio that better represents actual demographics.

Terri’s Key Takeaway:

While we have focused on the difficult of being something we cannot see, if we can’t see it, we need to create it for ourselves and for those who follow us.

Contact Monique can be found on Twitter @moniquewoodard and via her website www.monique.vc

You can follow Terri on Twitter at @terrihansonmead or go to her website at www.terrihansonmead.com or on Medium: https://medium.com/@terrihansonmead.

Feel free to email Terri at PilotingYourLife@gmail.com.

Piloting Your Life Episode 5 - Becoming a helicopter pilot (solo cast)

Show Summary

Terri talks about when she fell in love with aviation and how she became a helicopter pilot.  In this episode, she focuses on getting her private rating when she was 38. 

Who is Terri Mead?

Terri Hanson Mead is President of Solutions2Projects, LLC, a consulting company that provides IT strategy and IT compliance services in the life sciences space in addition to expert witness consulting services.  She is also an active angel investor and former Vice President of Sand Hill Angels, regularly advises startups and in her spare time, flies helicopters.  She is passionate about supporting, and advocating for, female founders and investors and has created Class Bravo Ventures to more formally do so.    

Show Highlights

• Terri talks about flying with her dad as a kid and going up in a helicopter at the age of 8, knowing then that she wanted to fly helicopters
• She shares about how she only told her husband and her husband gave her a discovery flight for her 38th birthday hoping she would shut up about it
• Terri's road to her private rating was bumpy and took about 10 months and about 6 different instructors
• Becoming a helicopter pilot was one of the hardest things Terri has ever done but she persisted
• She still had doubts about her skills as a pilot even after getting her private rating and until recently didn't see herself as a real helicopter pilot

Terri’s Key Takeaway

Don't let anyone take away your sense of accomplishment or joy.

Contacts

You can follow Terri on Twitter at @terrihansonmead or go to her website at www.terrihansonmead.com or on Medium:  https://medium.com/@terrihansonmead

Feel free to email her at PilotingYourLife@gmail.com.

To continue the conversation, go to Twitter at @PilotingLife and use hashtag #PilotingYourLife.

Piloting your Life Episode 4 -Jason Calacanis

Show Summary

How angel investor, author Jason Calacanis succeeded despite feeling like "the cards were stacked against him".  @Jason @Launch

Who is Jason Calcanis?

Jason Calacanis is a technology entrepreneur, angel investor, and the host of the popular weekly podcast, This Week in Startups.  He is the founder of a series of conferences that bring entrepreneurs together with potential investors including Launch Festival and more recently, started an incubator for early stage startups.  He is an avid poker player, is originally from Brooklyn, NY and currently lives in San Francisco with his wife and three young daughters.  He has a new book called "Angel, How to Invest in Technology Startups" which is a great read for anyone interested in angel investing or understanding how angel investors operate.  To say that he loves working with tech startups is an understatement. 

Show Highlights

• How did Jason get to where he is right now? 
• Is Jason internally motivated or motivated to prove others wrong? 
• Has Jason already been curious? How has that impacted his life?
• Is Jason creating an inclusive ecosystem and how has Fraeda Kapor influenced his approach to be intentionally inclusive?
• Why does Jason think we have a massive on-boarding problem? 
• Does Jason like being an outsider and has he used it to build his brand?  (Thanks, Monique Woodard for the question. http://www.moniquewoodard.com/)
• What would Jason do to wave a magic wand to make for a better world?  

Terri’s Key Takeaway

Being “open” doesn’t mean that you will create a diverse environment; you must be intentional in order to expand the types of people in your life or at an event.  

Contact

You can reach Jason via Twitter:  @Jason, @Launch or via Instagram:  @jason or via his website   http://calacanis.com/ or by email:  jason@calcanis.com

If you are interested in his book, Angel:  How to Invest in Technology Startups, it can be purchased at www.angelthebook.com

You can follow Terri on Twitter at @terrihansonmead or go to her website at www.terrihansonmead.com or on Medium:  https://medium.com/@terrihansonmead . 

Feel free to email Terri at PilotingYourLife@gmail.com.

To continue the conversation, go to Twitter at @PilotingLife and use hashtag #PilotingYourLife.

Piloting Your Life Episode 3 - Mary Jo Dionne

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Show Summary

How Mary-Jo Dionne sees obstacles as opportunities and adventures and found humor in her darkest moments.  @MaryJoDionne

Who is Mary-Jo Dionne?

Mary-Jo is a writer, speaker, performer, podcaster, philanthropist and has her own company, Mary-Jo Dionne Productions based in Vancouver, Canada.  Prior to starting her company, she worked as a copywriter with multi-national ad agencies and in-house marketing departments. She writes for outlets like The Huffington Post and has performed stand-up comedy in Vancouver, New York, Toronto, and LA and wrote and produced a one-woman show called "Glowing: A Reproduction Production". She now has two young and adorable daughters, JouJou and Birdie. She now has a podcast called Tea with a Titan where she interviews people who have fallen but continue to get back up every time.  What started as a gift to her daughters now has listeners in over 70 countries.  She is also a three-time melanoma survivor. 

Show Highlights

• How she sees obstacles as opportunities and adventures. 
• Does she see herself as fearless or courageous and how does she move through fear to achieve?
• How her mom influenced her positive outlook on life and view of life from a place of abundance.
• How she consciously aims to expand and how her upbringing influenced her way of being in the world. 
• How Mary-Jo survived her darkest days, pregnant with a diagnosis and treatment of melanoma. (Thank you, Susanne Biro for the great question @susannebiro)
• How she imagines difficult people as sitcom characters.  
• Her experience on Necker Island and talking to Richard Branson. 
• How she would wave a magic wand to eliminate self-doubt.
• How decisions can change your life and it only takes a decision to move from one state of mind to another. 

   Terri's Key Takeaway

Perception is not part of the equation; it is the equation.

Contacts

Follow Mary-Jo on Twitter:  @MaryJoDionne or via her website at https://maryjodionne.com/

Her podcast Tea with a Titan can be found at:  https://maryjodionne.com/tea-with-a-titan/

To help with the recovery in the British Virgin Islands, go to www.bvihelp.com

You can follow Terri on Twitter at @terrihansonmead or go to her website at www.terrihansonmead.com. 

Feel free to email Terri at PilotingYourLife@gmail.com.

To continue the conversation, go to Twitter at @PilotingLife and use hashtag #PilotingYourLife

Piloting Your Life Episode 2 - Tyler Lynch

Show Summary

How Tyler Lynch went from a successful tech job to minimum-security prison to another successful six figure tech job and an advocate for marginalized people in his community.  

Who is Tyler Lynch?

Tyler Lynch is a software and solutions architect focusing on Clinical Solutions for Elsevier, a global information and analytics that help institutions and professionals progress science, advance healthcare and improve performance. His passions include relaxing with his boyfriend eating Asian food and watching Netflix, solving complex problems with technology, advocating for homeless and transgender community members, and paying it forward wherever possible.  

Show Highlights

• How did Tyler end up in prison?
• How was Tyler able to get a high paying tech job with a $45B global company while on house arrest after being in prison?
• How did Tyler use an Amazon wish list to upskill while in prison and maintain his tech skills?
• Do people treat him differently because of his past drug use and time in prison in the workplace?
• What was Tyler’s journey to sobriety and how did the DEA, Homeland Security, and the Federal prosecutor help him on this journey? 
• How he supports the marginalized in his Philadelphia community and the Wall of Love. Sharing the message of love, tolerance, and resistance to hate. 
• What are Tyler’s suggestions for addressing gender parity and some of the disparity issues with people of color? Should we be more proactive?  Should we consider civil disobedience? 
• How he serves the Federal government outside of prison. 
• How he would use a magic wand to help the LGBTQ youth and how he is helping transgenders in his community.  

Terri’s Key Takeaway

In this charged political and social climate, now more than ever, it is important to take the time to listen to others, especially those who may have different experiences in this world.  We need to check our assumptions and keep open minds.  

Contacts

Connect with Tyler on Linked-in:  www.linkedin.com/in/tylerlynch 

If you are interested in supporting the LGBTQ community: www.aidsfundphilly.org 

You can follow Terri on Twitter at @terrihansonmead or go to her website at www.terrihansonmead.com or on Medium:  https://medium.com/@terrihansonmead

Feel free to email her at PilotingYourLife@gmail.com.

To continue the conversation, go to Twitter at @PilotingLife and use hashtag #PilotingYourLife.

Piloting Your Life Introduction

Welcome Aboard! 

My podcast, Piloting Your Life, has been cleared for takeoff and I am excited to see you have boarded the aircraft.

I need all of you on board to pay attention as I give you your in-flight instructions.  We may encounter some turbulence upon takeoff, so please remain in your seat with your seat belts fastened until we reach a comfortable cruising altitude and the seat belt light has been turned off. 

Your in-flight entertainment will consist of inspiring interviews with people who chose not to rely on their internal fortitude to chart their own course. Terri discusses what helped them achieve the success they enjoy today. The goal is to provide inspiration for those struggling to overcome, among other things, sexism, racism, socioeconomic, cultural and educational challenges, that may or may not have been of their own doing, to be the pilots in their own lives. There will also be solo casts where Terri describes aspects of her own journeys that have been challenging or life changing.

If there are points of interest that you would like to check out along our journey (for the in-flight entertainment) , please drop us a line at PilotingYourLife@gmail.com.  This includes other inspirational guests you may want me to interview or some of my stories you would like to hear.  

I thank you for flying with me today.  It’s a beautiful day to fly, and we are cleared for takeoff.  

Terri

@PilotingLife #PilotingYourLife    @TerriHansonMead    @Sol2Proj

Medium:  https://medium.com/@terrihansonmead

www.terrihansonmead.com