Women Changing The World

EP 70: Living Authentically with Drew Taylor Cohen

In this episode, Lis Best is joined by Drew Taylor Cohen, an impact consultant, founder and values coach at Chosen Directions. Drew discusses how to unearth your chosen values, why values alignment is so important, and the role values can play in our careers, lives, and relationships.
Drew’s work helps people navigate transitions with confidence and purpose. In this conversation, Drew offers guidance for identifying your chosen values and examples of them in action.  
Drew shares her incredibly inspiring entrepreneurial journey, which includes not only finding her own values and incorporating them across her life, but also intentionally finding a partner on Bumble by putting her values front and center.
Drew gives embodiment prompts and roadmap suggestions for how to integrate your chosen values into “the magic three”: yourself, your relationships, and your work. We conclude with her vision for a more authentic future.
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, YouTube, or on your favorite podcast platform.
Episode Outline:
(04:22) Discovering how to live more authentically
(06:40) Living in alignment with your chosen values 
(10:07) Finding your values and calling in a partner with aligned values
(17:34) Incorporating your chosen values into your life
(20:45) Real-life example of values alignment 
(25:42) The ongoing nature of healing
(28:46) How values work supports life’s transitions 
(33:41) Where to begin your chosen values journey
(37:36) The relationship between values and community 
(42:29) Building an authenticity-obsessed world 
Resources Mentioned:
Join our next Girls Club Collective Community Power Hour on August 9 
Guest Info: 
Take the Chosen Directions Values Quiz: Values Quiz
Subscribe to Drew's Newsletter: Your monthly guide to living authentically
Join the next How to Live Authentically workshop: Sign up here
Follow along with Chosen Directions on Instagram: @chosendirectionscoaching
Follow Drew on LinkedIn: Drew Taylor Cohen
Follow Us:
Learn more on our website: girlsclubcollective.co
Follow us on Instagram: @girls_club_collective
Connect with us on LinkedIn: Girls Club Collective 
About Lis: 
Lis Best is an executive coach for impact leaders, founder of the Girls Club Collective, and host of the Women Changing the World podcast.
Since launching her business in 2020, Lis has helped hundreds of leaders navigate ESG and sustainability careers, launch heart-centered businesses, and become more effective change agents.

EP 69: Making Climate Action Cool with Freya Williams

In this episode, Lis Best is joined by Freya Williams, a sustainability, brand purpose, corporate responsibility, and marketing leader with 20+ years of experience in sustainability. Freya discusses personal sustainability, green giants and green unicorns, how to make climate action cool, the importance of framing in marketing and messaging, and what leadership means to her today.
We talked about how world-changing women can balance personal, professional, and planetary goals to avoid burnout. Freya shares how she incorporates meaningful personal sustainability into her work. 
Freya offers expert insight into the role of green giants and green unicorns in the world, how a company becomes one or the other, and what she learned writing a book on these business structures. She then shares the six common factors her book identifies as contributing to the success of the green giants.
Unfortunately, doom and gloom have become the norm of climate action conversations; sustainability marketing and messaging need a major update. Freya gives new ways to frame these important messages that feel more engaging and compelling. 
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, YouTube, or on your favorite podcast platform.
Episode Outline:
(04:10) Building a career in sustainability and social impact
(08:10) Personal sustainability and strategies for maintaining motivation
(14:40) Importance of community to create momentum
(21:14) Green giants and green unicorns 
(26:33) Six key factors that contribute to becoming a green giant
(30:20) How to make climate action cool
(37:35) Effective approaches to sustainability marketing
(46:40) Leadership for change agents 
Resources Mentioned:
Join our next Girls Club Collective Community Power Hour on August 9 
Mainstream Green by Graceann Bennett and Freya Williams
Rothy’s Shoes
The Cool Down
Guest Info: 
Connect with Freya Williams on LinkedIn: Freya Williams
Subscribe to Freya’s Substack: Green Giants Etc
Buy Freya’s book: Green Giants
Follow Us:
Learn more on our website: girlsclubcollective.co
Follow us on Instagram: @girls_club_collective
Connect with us on LinkedIn: Girls Club Collective 
About Lis: 
Lis Best is an executive coach for impact leaders, founder of the Girls Club Collective, and host of the Women Changing the World podcast.
Since launching her business in 2020, Lis has helped hundreds of leaders navigate ESG and sustainability careers, launch heart-centered businesses, and become more effective change agents.

EP 68: Relationship over Task with Maria Estrada, PhD

In this episode, Lis Best is joined by Maria Estrada, PhD, an educator, facilitator, and coach. Maria discusses effective allyship, how to create containers that foster understanding, and what justice really means. We also get into the role of fire in climate action, why we need to center indigenous wisdom in climate work, and concrete examples of the innovation that comes from diversity.
When engaging in collaborative work, voices from extremely varied backgrounds are often present. Maria speaks to the importance of creating appropriate containers and space for this work to unfold. She shares how her current projects integrate dialogue and justice, assuring that risk and benefits are equally distributed, the procedural aspects of decision-making are considered, and judgment is suspended. 
Maria defines allyship as taking individual responsibility for actively advancing the rights and inclusion of people who are different from us and provides a framework for considering our various layers of access and power. We wrap by discussing fire, which plays a critical role across ecosystems, as well as spiritually, and exploring the role of healing for our planet, ourselves, and our relationships.
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, YouTube, or on your favorite podcast platform.
Episode Outline:
(06:00) Creating effective containers for collaborative work in regenerative agriculture 
(12:00) The connection between dialogue and justice, plus an exercise to practice 
(18:14) How Maria’s immigration journey has shaped her
(24:56) Defining allyship and how to leverage our privilege to help others
(31:05) Examples of shifting power dynamics 
(35:34) Prioritizing Indigenous wisdom around fire and climate resilience 
(44:47) Why we should prioritize relationships over tasks for better collaboration
Resources Mentioned:
Emily Anne Brant
Rebecca Magee
Guest Info: 
Connect with Maria on LinkedIn: Maria Estrada
Reach out to Maria directly: maria@thecollective180.com
Follow Us:
Learn more on our website: girlsclubcollective.co
Follow us on Instagram: @girls_club_collective
Connect with us on LinkedIn: Girls Club Collective 
About Lis: 
Lis Best is an executive coach for impact leaders, founder of the Girls Club Collective, and host of the Women Changing the World podcast.
Since launching her business in 2020, Lis has helped hundreds of leaders navigate ESG and sustainability careers, launch heart-centered businesses, and become more effective change agents.

EP 67: Collaboration and Momentum for Climate Action with Anna Adlard

In this episode, Lis Best is joined by Anna Adlard, the President and Co-founder of Workshop, a design thinking practice that activates teams for climate action. Anna offers actionable and inspiring wisdom, including ways to build momentum for systematic change and leadership tips for effective project management. 
Collaboration, teamwork, and a climate activation mindset are critical components to achieving sustainable change. Anna’s work details steps to bridge the gap between a great project plan and a finished result. She speaks to the imperative of having a heart-forward approach to drive change within the climate activism movement. This work requires more space for an emotional landscape. 
Anna details the multiple qualities leaders can bring to their projects, which extend far beyond brainpower. Lis and Anna remind us that self-care is community care and emphasize the importance of resourcing ourselves and protecting our energy. Anna concludes by sharing advice for how to structure plans that reduce overwhelm and burnout while going after big, lofty goals.
This conversation is a must-listen for change makers and climate activators!
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, YouTube, or on your favorite podcast platform.
Episode Outline:
(02:14) How Workshop is helping organizations advance climate action and its origin story
(11:12) Why we may want to reframe “change agents” as “activators”
(13:28) Tips to make collaboration more organic, fun, and joyful
(19:09) Why women are particularly suited to lead collaboration 
(24:53) Four types of intelligence necessary for creating systems-level change 
(31:37) Leadership, not having the answers, and hope as a practice
(38:03) Practical advice for working in systems change and creating momentum
(45:00) What Anna would tell her younger self
(47:30) Beginning every day knowing: “I have what I need”
Resources Mentioned:
Not Too Late, a project and book edited by Rebecca Solnit
Guest Info: 
Follow Anna on LinkedIn: Anna Adlard 
Learn more about Workshop: Workshop website
Follow Us:
Learn more on our website: girlsclubcollective.co
Follow us on Instagram: @girls_club_collective
Connect with us on LinkedIn: Girls Club Collective 
About Lis: 
Lis Best is an executive coach for impact leaders, founder of the Girls Club Collective, and host of the Women Changing the World podcast.
Since launching her business in 2020, Lis has helped hundreds of leaders navigate ESG and sustainability careers, launch heart-centered businesses, and become more effective change agents.

EP 66: Bending Reality and Making the Impossible Probable with Victoria Song

In this episode, Lis Best is joined by the incredible Victoria Song, the CEO coach to billion-dollar companies and author of the bestselling book Bending Reality. Bending reality is something that becomes possible when we’re in a state of expansion, and Victoria shares not only how to embody this state but also how to apply it in your life. 
Victoria’s insights are a synthesis of the larger patterns that emerged through teachings from coaches, business mentors, yoga instructors, and spiritual leaders. She shares the remarkable story of channeling the Bending Reality book during the pandemic and then offers a few of those frameworks to instantly apply to your life. Lis and Victoria work through relatable real-life examples around money and our bodies followed by a special deep dive into love and relationships. Victoria shares the alchemical medicine that runs through her courses and programs, as well as how this healing work can help bolster new generations of confident, soul-led feminine leaders. 
Prepare to feel expansive!
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, YouTube, or on your favorite podcast platform.
Episode Outline:
(03:35) How Victoria became a CEO coach to billion-dollar companies
(07:41) What is bending reality and learning how to do it
(10:34) Victoria’s process of channeling her book, Bending Reality 
(12:52) Where to get started on your bending reality journey
(21:02) Contraction versus expansion in different areas of life
(26:17) Learning to release subconscious programming around our bodies and appearance
(32:18) Applying bending reality techniques to love
(39:27) Victoria’s Alchemy Journey program and the shifts it offers participants
(46:46) How we become each other’s medicine in intimate learning containers 
(49:45) Ushering in a new heart- and soul-led generation of feminine leadership
Resources Mentioned:
Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert: bookshop.org
Guest Info: 
Learn more about Victoria’s courses: Blending Reality courses  
Get a free 7-day trial to Bending Reality Club: Embodied
Buy Victoria’s book, Bending Reality: Available here
Follow Victoria on Instagram: @victoriaesong
Follow Us:
Learn more on our website: girlsclubcollective.co
Follow us on Instagram: @girls_club_collective
Connect with us on LinkedIn: Girls Club Collective 
About Lis: 
Lis Best is an executive coach for change agents, founder of the Girls Club Collective, and host of the Women Changing the World podcast.
Since launching her business in 2020, Lis has helped hundreds of leaders navigate ESG and sustainability careers, launch heart-centered businesses, and become more effective change agents.

EP 65: Building a Grown-Ass Business with Celi Arias

In this episode, Lis Best is joined by Celi Arias, a seasoned entrepreneur with a proven track record of building and selling 7-figure businesses and founder of Grown Ass Business™ (GAB). Celi offers insight into her GAB framework, why it’s so effective, and a few mindset shifts entrepreneurs can make right now.
Each program that Celi’s company, Grown Ass Business™, offers addresses the fact that entrepreneurs tend to make business overly complicated when in almost every instance, some part of their business’s foundations simply needs to be fortified. Celi is truly a master builder of rock-solid foundations. 
Celi and Lis discuss learning to read the story numbers tell, what can happen when you don’t have a firm business grounding (it happens to a lot of people!), and Celi’s choice to be transparent about fertility as an entrepreneur. Ultimately, Celi is determined to provide business owners with the tools they need to learn the rules and then break them so that founders can operate from a state of freedom (not overwhelm). 
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, YouTube, or on your favorite podcast platform.
Episode Outline:
(1:17) What is a Grown Ass Business™?
(5:16) Two examples of solving simple problems that led to massive scaling
(10:53) Celi’s 30-year path of serial entrepreneurship 
(22:04) “Business can be easy, it's usually us that makes it hard.”
(31:55) Fertility as an entrepreneur 
(42:22) Permission to be a leader using the strategy that suits YOU
Guest Info: 
Connect with Celi: LinkedIn
Follow Celi on Instagram: @celigrowsbusiness 
Join the next cohort: GAB Accelerator
Book a call with Celi: grownassbusiness.com
Follow Us:
Learn more on our website: girlsclubcollective.co
Follow us on Instagram: @girls_club_collective
Connect with us on LinkedIn: Girls Club Collective 
About Lis: 
Lis Best is an executive coach for impact leaders, founder of the Girls Club Collective, and host of the Women Changing the World podcast.
Since launching her business in 2020, Lis has helped hundreds of leaders navigate ESG and sustainability careers, launch heart-centered businesses, and become more effective change agents.
 

EP 64: Our favorite moments from this season of the Women Changing the World podcast with Lis Best

In this episode, Lis shares her favorite moments and takeaways from this season. Listen for our favorite advice and wisdom from the brilliant experts featured in our latest episodes.
 
Ready to spend more time together? Check out the spaces below where our community hangs out:
Monthly Meditation
Girls Club CollectiveInstagramLinkedIn

EP 63: A peek behind the scenes of community business-building, reflections from the fertile void, and a deep dive on my “why” with Lis Best

In this episode, Lis shares a behind-the-scenes look at what she’s been learning and experiencing behind the scenes over the past few months of reconfiguring her business. Lis also shares a bit more of the “why” behind the creation of Girls Club Collective (GCC). This episode touches on topics including:
💗 The evolution from 1:1 executive coaching to the GCC community over the past 3.5 years
💗 The “fertile void” and what FOCUS has really felt like in practice in this season
💗 How my childhood and teenage years inspired me to prioritize deep friendships with other women in my adult life
💗 The professional loneliness I have experienced throughout my career, and what inspired me to build something to combat that
💗 My lived experience of the phrase “having an amazing circle of women around you is seriously the biggest life update”
💗 What’s coming up this summer and fall on the podcast and beyond
 
Ready to spend more time together? Check out the spaces below where my community hangs out:
Monthly Meditation
Girls Club CollectiveInstagramLinkedIn

EP 62: Leading community-centric climate programs, prioritizing real self-care, and relationship-building in your sustainability career with Charlie Reed

In this episode, we talk to Charlie Reed. Charlie is currently Global Sustainability Lead at Intuit, where she leads community-centric climate programs. With nearly a decade of experience in corporate sustainability, Charlie has focused on driving climate and social impact initiatives within the technology, consumer goods, food/beverage, and apparel sectors. 
 
This episode covers:
 
✨ How liking something that everyone else hated in grad school informed where Charlie is today
✨ Recommendations for turning informational interviews into real long-term relationships
✨ The importance of being clear on what you are asking for, both in life and in coffee conversations
✨ How (and why!) to use your next role to close a gap in your experience
✨ Advice for people wanting to break into the ESG space or land their next role
✨ Reflections on holding the vision during a long and messy job search 
 
You can learn more about Charlie below:
LinkedIn
 
Ready to spend more time together? Check out the spaces below where my community hangs out:
Monthly Meditation
Girls Club CollectiveInstagramLinkedIn

EP 61: Founding Soapbox Project, joyful activism, and the power of self-efficacy with Nivi Achanta

In this episode, we talk to Nivi Achanta, the founder and CEO of The Soapbox Project, a friendly community of busy people that combines personal responsibility, collective action, and FUN! Soapbox curates meaningful action pathways for professionals who are overwhelmed by the climate crisis. 
 
This episode covers:
 
🧼 How Nivi made the jump from corporate America to founding Soapbox Project 
🧼 Where her own impact journey started and what she learned from sending a bold email
🧼 Why the "baggage" of going full-time in entrepreneurship is not helping anyone
🧼 How Nivi has secured press in top-tier outlets like the Washington Post and New York Times
🧼 Joyful activism and ways to incorporate it into our everyday lives
🧼 How bite-sized action can help you reach your goals
🧼 The importance of real self-care and how you can add it into your life
 
You can learn more about Nivi below:
Soapbox Project Website
Soapbox Project Instagram
Nivi’s LinkedIn
 
Ready to spend more time together? Check out the spaces below where my community hangs out:
Monthly Meditation
Girls Club CollectiveInstagramLinkedIn