CXO Outlook – November 2022 – 10 Most Inspiring Business Women 2022

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Most Inspiring Business Women 2022

Head of Advisory Board

Dr. Manoj Varghese, Ph.D

Managing Editor

Sarath Shyam

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Anuja Mulmule Emma James Andrew Scott

Suchita Gonsalves

Naomi Wilson

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The Leaders of the Future

There is nothing extraordinary in a man leading an organisation. Many of them, if not for the power of their positions, are ordinary people. But women who rise to the top of leadership are truly special for many reasons. The struggle to reach the top of a man’s world is among them. Undoubtedly, many would agree that a successful woman is much smarter than a successful man.

Despite making positive results at the top, women continue to be underrepresented in leadership positions, although it has increased over the past five years (2017-2022). According to Global Gender Gap Report, 2022, published by the World Economic Forum, global gender parity for Women's share of senior and leadership roles reached 42.7%, the highest gender parity score yet. However, during the first decade of their career, for every one woman that makes it into leadership, nearly twice (1.8) as many men make it, says a LinkedIn report. This gap between women and men further increases with work experience, and for every one woman that makes it to the top after 20 or more years, 2.2 men reach the top.

Indeed, a woman’s path into a leadership position is drastically different from a man’s. But she, who is intelligent, passionate and determined, has achieved incredible success. In the issue, we celebrate the success of the most accomplished leaders from the world of business by featuring the 10 Most Inspiring Business Women 2022. We hope their untold stories will inspire the next generation of women leaders. On the cover, we have Carrie Wheeler, the Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer at Liquid Web, who is responsible for defining and driving the growth of Liquid Web's strategic product lines, including Managed Hosting, Cloud Services, and Managed Applications Services including Managed WordPress, Managed WooCommerce, and Managed Magento. Enjoy Reading.

Sarath Shyam

CARRIE WHEELER

EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT & CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER, LIQUID WEB

PERFECT HOST

S'REDAEL STHGISNI

INMYVIEW

10

The Unseen Problem for Business Leaders that cannot be Ignored

Caroline Purvey, Principal CEO, TRE UK

42

The Power of a HumanCentric Approach in Sales and Sales Enablement

Britta Lorenz, Leadership Coach, Mentor, & Consultant

70

Living Your Best Professional Life by Adopting a 5-Dimensional Approach to Your Health and Wellness

Dr. Christine Sauer MD, ND, Physician, Naturopath, Brain & Mental Health Coach

Lessons for Direct Selling and QNET In the Post-Pandemic Realm

Malou T. Caluza, CEO, QNET

52

The Evolution of Digital Humans: Combining Human Intuition and Robotic Precision!

Aditi Basu, Chief of Marketing, Future Market Insights Inc.

66

Having a Better Approach in Life: How to Stay Optimistic

Shreesha Khare, Author, Chief Humanitarian Being, Guide

IN MY VIEW

THE UNSEEN PROBLEM FOR BUSINESS LEADERS THAT CANNOT BE IGNORED

Caroline Purvey, Principal CEO, TRE UK

Globally nearly 1 billion people are suffering from mental health disorders. 12.8 billion workdays are lost in the UK alone because of anxiety and depression. Research from a study of managers and workers reveals the following which suggests the problem is not going away.

Half of the senior managers privately consider workers with mental ill-health a liability.

Employees continue to raise concerns that admitting mental health problems to their bosses could harm their careers.

51% of managers admitted they considered a worker who was mentally unwell to be a “liability”.

65% of managers thought talking about mental health at work was a sign of weakness.

84% of managers felt employees risked missing out on promotion by admitting mental health issues.

68% of the workers polled believed that telling their boss they were suffering from some form of mental health issue would impact their job.

This whole sorry situation for business leaders and

Everyone – all of us - has history, we have our own backstory. No one escapes stress, overwhelm, and trauma at various stages of life

Caroline Purvey has dedicated over a decade to creating a unique, sustainable, cost effective programme to eradicate unnecessary suffering from stress, overwhelm, and trauma. An established and trusted brand TRE UK® delivers the Total Release Experience® programme which has transformed the lives of men, women, and children globally. Author of #1 bestseller ‘Feel It To Heal It’ Caroline comes highly recommended by professionals including doctors, counsellors, therapists, and psychologists. Her validated and accredited programme is adopted by Fire & Rescue, Police, and Prison Services. Her expertise is unparalleled, as is her drive and passion.

owners comes at a cost. Mental health results in not least low productivity, low morale, and loss of revenue. To say this is a real problem for business leaders is an understatement.

Some insights into mental health

Physical, mental, and emotional health are intrinsic. Social engagement and behaviours, depending on the level of deeper suffering are also impacted. It may be comforting to know it is not only the overwhelm of work or the behaviour of the office bully or abuser that is the real cause of the problem. These situations are only part of the bigger picture and the tipping point that leads to many symptoms including aches and pains, insomnia, gut problems anxiety, depression, high blood pressure, burnout, or at worst suicide. Everyone – all of us - has history, we have our own backstory. No one escapes stress, overwhelm, and trauma at various stages of life. It is part of life. There are those situations we have control over and those we don’t. Did you know that every stressful, overwhelming, or traumatic experience from birth builds tension in the body? Would it surprise you to know that it is this accumulation of tension over the years that causes so many underlying problems? Let’s not forget Covid lockdown exacerbated the problems for millions across the world. The stats remind us of the downward spiral for those battling mental health is still on the rise and is causing a lot of head scratching for business leaders.

What are the current options?

From Charities through to global organisations there is a lot of ‘box ticking’ going on to address the situation. The same familiar practices

If as a leader you share the same optimism and are ready for a change in leading those on your payroll on a journey to eradicate mental health concerns then time for a new conversation

are rolled out from encouraging peer talk, counseling, coaching, or allowing time out whether for Doctors’ appointments or signingoff work, which can run into weeks, months even years.

There is the feel-good factor that many crave. It comes for example from drinking, eating (the wrong kind of foods), smoking, over-exercise, overuse of technology, or gambling.

Those with deep pockets can invest in a plethora of therapies and treatments. But like everything else the reason there is no lasting effect is because healing must come from the inside out not the other way round.

Why will they never really work?

Accepting the cause of mental health is tension in the body’s muscle memory it becomes obvious you cannot talk it out. More so when one is unaware of the problem that causes the problem. Blocked memories, lack of confidence, low self-esteem, and lack of self-belief often go back to adverse childhood experiences.

Medication is like sticky plaster; it is not getting to the cause. The added risk of side effects or at worst addiction does not sound like the solution either.

Substance abuse and OCD behaviour is a way of masking the problem but unfortunately for many can become an addiction.

Ignoring the problem altogether eventually leads to burnout or more serious health problems.

What if?

What if it was possible to heal from the inside out?

What if we all take responsibility for our well-being?

What if there were a solution that 99% improves physical, mental, and emotional well being and not by chance?

What if after 5 weeks high levels of anxiety and depression are reduced by over 60%?

What if there were a sustainable, costeffective solution that thanks to technology could reach out to thousands at any one time?

What if there were something all your staff could do in less than one hour a week, that would enable them to be happier, more energized, focussed, productive, creative, and healthier on every level?

What if your staff were so resilient they could deal with anything and remain calm?

What if there were something you could lead your staff with that would create positive team building?

What if your company could try it for free?

Time for change

The answer to all the above is yes, it is possible. If as a leader you share the same optimism and are ready for a change in leading those on your payroll on a journey to eradicate mental health concerns then time for a new conversation. We live in a world of change and have many challenges ahead to deal with. We need organisations where people are healthy, in balance, and resilient. If you think you have tried everything, there is one more thing to try! Just one conversation could be a game-changer.

CARRIE WHEELER

EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT & CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER, LIQUID WEB

THE PERFECT HOST

Carrie Wheeler is the Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer at Liquid Web. As a part of the executive leadership team, she is often sought after for her problemsolving skills, forward-thinking approach, optimism, and versatile nature. Her expertise, interpersonal skills, and strategic vision make her a true leaderexuding power and confidence.

An Upbringing Based on Hard Work & Dedication

Born in a family of educators, Carrie was raised by strong-willed and courageous women who instilled in her a sense of hard work, discipline, and bravery since childhood. Her mother and grandmother were her role models in every possible way. In college, Carrie pursued a Bachelor of Science in Marketing & Finance from Trinity University and an M.B.A. from

Southern Methodist University. Early in her career, Carrie credits her foundation in consulting as the catapult for her success, “My career was positively influenced at the very beginning when I joined a “Big Six” Consulting firm. That experience taught me business fundamentals, how to ‘show-up’ professionally, what it meant for people to have expectations of me, and how to meet commitments,” shares Carrie.

Carrie’s career in consulting industry, however, started with a surprise. She recounts, “On my very first day in consulting, I had no idea I was supposed to learn how to code.” Coming from a business background, learning to code was challenging for Carrie. “I had to throw myself

in, go through training, and learn how to code.

Over time, I carved out a niche in translating technical concepts to business leaders and business concepts to technical leaders. These skills eventually led me into senior leadership and strategy, ” adds Carrie.

After this stint, Carrie held several IT leadership positions at Accenture, MCI Communications, AT&T, and Cbeyond. Her key areas of expertise now lie in executive management, product & market strategy, merger and acquisition planning and execution, customer experience and operations, systems development, program and capital management, and process definition and development.

Stepping into the Leadership Role

In 2015, Carrie joined Liquid Web as its COO and later became the EVP and General Manager of the company. Currently, she is responsible for defining and driving the growth of Liquid Web's strategic product lines, including Managed Hosting, Cloud Services, and Managed Applications Services including Managed WordPress, Managed WooCommerce, and Managed Magento.

Wearing dual hats of COO & EVP, Carrie devotes her time to think about the future

strategies of Liquid Web. “A big part of my role is putting together the best accumulation of many different inputs and interpreting the trends we’re seeing. In this role, I get to use my creative and interpersonal skills in addition to analytical, technical and financial skills I’ve leveraged for prior roles.” states Carrie.

The Go-To Destination for Fully Managed Hosting & Custom Solutions

Established in 1997, Liquid Web is a family of brands that represent 10 companies whose mission is to enable small businesses and the creators that build sites and stores for them –to make money online. Generating over USD 160m in revenue, Liquid Web is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year.

In today’s competitive marketplace, liquid web’s uniqueness lies in its people-plus-technology support that goes far above and beyond

“Our sweet spot and passion are the millions of SMBs, and the developers, designers, and agencies who aren’t big enough to have a technical staff, tools, and support to help them execute their vision,” shares Carrie. This is where Liquid Web’s expertise comes into play. It offers simplified, high-performance, secure, and curated solutions to accelerate SMBs and creators getting, staying, and growing online.

What makes Liquid Web Unique?

In today’s competitive marketplace, Liquid Web’s uniqueness lies in its people-plus-technology support that goes far above and beyond. ‘The Most Helpful Humans In Hosting,’ a term coined by Liquid Web’s team, provides round-the-clock hosting support and a series of simplified products that gives clients the freedom to create great sites, stores, and applications as well as grow their business and keep their clients satisfied.

Furthermore, Liquid Web’s distinctive strategy of having a product for every project in its family of brands allows it to market in four distinct categories: Liquid Web (High Performance Managed Hosting), Nexcess (Digital Commerce Cloud), StellarWP (WordPress Software and Tools), and soon-to-be-launched ‘SaaS-like’ products which will make it even easier to build, launch, and maintain a WordPress site or store.

Likewise, Carrie and her team at Liquid Web listen and collect feedback from their customers and empower nearly 1000 employees and contractors to deliver a remarkable experience. This way, Liquid Web assists web professionals in devoting their time to innovating and strengthening their businesses instead of worrying about managing their websites. Owing to its unparalleled hosting services, Liquid Web has emerged as one of the highest customer loyalty brands in the world based on the Net Promoter Score.

A Day in the Life of a Leader

As the EVP & Chief Operating Officer of Liquid Web, Carrie splits her day at work into strategic planning meetings, problem-solving discussions with clients and internal teams, and staff development. Carrie’s mantra of staying calm under stressful situations is rooted in her belief that every problem can be solved if one thinks clearly, focuses on the data and stays objective, and remains confident in one’s abilities. Moreover, Carrie mentions that one of her critical roles in the organization is to set the right tone at work. As a result, she focuses on bringing the right attitude and outlook each day at Liquid Web. This includes ensuring that everyone on the team stays aligned to their goals and objectives and works efficiently towards achieving them.

Being a sports fanatic, Carrie’s perfect idea to unwind after a day at work is to catch football game or by watching nearly every single baseball game played by the Atlanta Braves. She also loves exploring the outdoors with her family and helping her daughter in her journey through college life. Besides these, Carrie loves reading true crime novels with a hot cup of coffee whenever she has some free time.

Keeping Customers & Employees at the Forefront During Pandemic

“One of the things I’m most proud of is that our team pivoted very quickly to fully working remotely when the pandemic hit,” shares Carrie. At the onset of the pandemic, all 600 employees and over 300 contractors of Liquid Web had seamlessly transitioned to remote working without having a blip in customer satisfaction, service, or responsiveness.

During such turbulent times, Carrie and her team not only assisted customers in making

infrastructure-related decisions to meet their growing scale and security needs but also developed new products like WooCommerce Automated testing to enable eCommerce business owners to identify any cart, payment, or login problems affecting their sites and Sales Performance Monitor to send merchants alerts on sales trends, giving them much needed visibility and allowing them to get back on track if store sales were slowing down. In addition, Liquid Web also launched StoreBuilder, an intelligent, nocode eCommerce solution that makes building a store on WordPress faster and easier. At all levels, Carrie and the senior management team of Liquid Web kept their customers and employees at the forefront of their decision-making process.

The Future

The COVID -19 pandemic forever changed the concept of work, the workplace, and the workforce. It, however, opened doors for leading organizations such as Liquid Web to recruit from the global talent pool. The company now hires the best of talent with specific technical skills and specialized experience who will bring in fresh perspectives and innovative ideas, resulting in increased productivity.

Going ahead, Liquid Web’s North Star strategic vision is to simplify online commerce— in all forms—for new and existing online merchants, leveraging open-source solutions riding on its infrastructure, software assets, industry expertise, and world-class technical support. “We have a big audacious goal of being the leader in making WordPress easy for small and midsize businesses to make money online. So, figuring out the right solutions to meet customer needs in an easy-to-use way is what I’m super passionate about right now and has most of my attention,” concludes Carrie.

EXPERT

OPINION

Malou T. Caluza, CEO, QNET

Malou T. Caluza is the CEO of QNET, a prominent e-commerce based Direct Selling company with a global footprint. She holds the distinction of being the first female CEO of QNET and has been featured in “Asia’s 15 Over 50” – a publication that recognizes most successful women in Asia. Malou has been with QNET for over 20 years. Having started her career in customer service, she went on to build an award-winning global customer care center, before expanding into business development, operations, marketing and network success.

Despite the unprecedented challenges of the pandemic, the direct selling industry was able to adapt swiftly and thrive. Companies have pivoted to online solutions to support their community of distributors and help bolster incomes. Industry stakeholders have implemented various changes to ensure long-term sustainability to tackle unforeseen circumstances. In countries like India, last year recorded the highest year-on-year growth rate of 28.3% and the highest CAGR of 17.6% over the period of last three years, making it amongst the top 20 direct selling markets across the globe. It’s proof that the sustainability measures are working. Malou Caluza, Chief Executive Officer of QNET, summarises her insights based on the learnings from the challenges of the last two years and what it means to operate in India, a key market for QNET in Asia.

As the world rebounds from a pandemic that has profoundly impacted almost every facet of life, it is quite obvious that what looks like a unique once-in-a-lifetime experience has left us knowing more about ourselves as individuals, members of communities, industry, and the international community. I say this knowing that the economic consequences have been astounding. Many businesses shut down completely, others struggled and continue to battle with economic instability. However, some businesses displayed a great deal of adaptability and resilience.

The global direct selling industry, of which I’ve been a part for more than 20 years was also initially impacted, especially since the business is best conducted by building value

through individualised, personal relationships. However, in a surprising show of strength and perseverance, the industry managed to adapt to the changing business environment and new consumer behaviours. Here are a few invaluable business lessons we learnt over the last two years as we continued to serve the needs of our customers and build stronger relationships with them.

Invest in digitization

According to a McKinsey report, responses to COVID-19 have expedited the adoption of digital technologies by several years – and many of these changes are here for the long haul. We’ve seen this to be true, with video calls, contactless payments, e-learning, and online shopping becoming a part of our daily lives.

The rate of adoption for direct-to-consumer businesses could well have been higher since the industry has always had a combination of online and offline support systems.

Just before the lockdowns first came into effect in March 2020 we had been preparing for our annual global convention, a five-day mega event that takes place in Malaysia and welcomes over 20,000 participants from around the world. This event is usually the highlight of our calendar since it gives us the rare opportunity to meet our global community of distributors in person and engage with them. When the world went into lockdown and all physical events were cancelled after an initial period of apprehension, we pivoted to a digital solution by turning the convention into a virtual event.

With the use of cutting-edge technology, we were able to provide our customers with an immersive experience that brought the energy

The rate of adoption for direct-toconsumer businesses could well have been higher since the industry has always had a combination of online and offline support systems

and excitement of the convention to their homes. Over 200,000 QNET distributors and customers from more than 50 countries logged into our 3-day virtual event and nearly 40% of the audience was from India. By going virtual when we did, we managed to penetrate a much broader and diverse group of people for the first time in our 24-year history!

The advantages of going virtual go beyond reaching a wider customer database. Businesses can also drive cost efficiency by providing services and support through digitised onboarding, programmed business support materials, and on-demand digital content to enable business building. Similarly, businesses that have invested in improving and enhancing the online customer experience for their distributors will reap the rewards in the long run.

Invest in leaders

Leaders are at the heart of how people feel about delivering on their company’s purpose and being our ambassadors while selling to our customers. It is leaders who shape a company’s culture, cascade it across teams and motivate them to be their best versions. The pandemic helped our company’s culture evolve in ways that put even more focus on our people, guiding us in how we responded to their needs in times of a global crisis. And when our leaders shared this evolving culture with their teams, the teams were able to demonstrate pride and trust in us to our customers. Much of this trust is behind the numbers that our top distributors were able to help us deliver during the pandemic. Our response to the pandemic gave them confidence in the way we conducted business.

It clearly demonstrates the power of open honest communication within and outside a company. We made sure to communicate every step of the way and backed up our messages with action, always putting our people first, taking every measure to keep them and their loved ones safe. Our leaders were on the same page as us and adapted as we adapted. This past year, my team and I have done more virtual meetings, training, and events than ever with our global leadership of distributors. I’m proud to say that the engagement and level of collaboration has never been higher. In fact, thousands of new distributors registered for the QNET business in India in the last two years and the retention rate has been like never before!

Recalibrate, adapt and evolve

of action was to understand the cause, learn from it and prevent it from recurring. It was the only way to stay one step ahead of a constantly changing global scenario, with zero visibility into the future.

Emerging Trends

With the use of cutting-edge technology, we were able to provide our customers with an immersive experience that brought the energy and excitement of the convention to their homes

This is perhaps the most important learning that emerged from the pandemic. Since the entire world was experiencing new ways of working and conducting business, setbacks were expected. Everyone was trying to wade through unfamiliar waters – some of them without contingency plans even! We learnt that every time we experienced a setback, the best course

Unwittingly, we’re all a part of the gig economy now. More and more professionals are embracing microentrepreneurship and seeking work-life balance, leading to a 180-degree shift in how companies generate revenue. What’s more, this is the best time to invest into markets like India, given the stable macroeconomic environment despite the disruptive pandemic wave. It is the right time for QNET too to catch up with the upward economic momentum, as elicited by the recent PHDCCI report on International Economic Resilience (IER).

Overall, it’s hard to imagine a period of greater change, or opportunity, for direct sellers. As long as direct selling companies have adapted to the change and learned to ‘roll with it’, as they say, this period of change is likely to be the greatest for our generations – and for generations to come.

Website: https://www.agneschaullc.com/

Headquarters: Arizona, USA

About the Company:

Agnes Chau LLC provides the strategies, tools, and techniques for physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being.

Website:

https://www.liquidweb.com/

Headquarters: Michigan, United States

About the Company: Liquid Web delivers reliable, highly-available, secure, and hassle-free hosting fueled by its Heroic Support®. The company provides managed hosting products and services to over 45,000+ customers, spanning 150 countries.

Agnes Chau

Carrie Wheeler

Transformational Life Coach & Private Consultant

EVP & Chief Operating Officer, Liquid Web

https://www.123dentist.com/

Headquarters: United Kingdom

About the Company:

Global Transform has been established for more than 15 years, building a select c-suite advisory service operating a discreet advisory service to a variety of Fortune, FTSE, and Venture firms.

https://daxgrant.com/ Website: Website: https://prosperitythinkers.com/ Website: https://www.saltypeakrealestate.com/ Website:

Headquarters: Texas, USA

About the Company:

Prosperity Thinkers aims to educate entrepreneurs, investors, and other wealth-minded people to think and act more Prosperously and helps its client to create good money methods and take back ownership and control of their finances.

Headquarters: Burnaby, Canada

About the Company: Co-founded in 1993 in Vancouver by Dr. Amin Shivji, 123Dentist has grown to over 250 practices, 3,200 team members serving 2 million patient visits annually with support centres in Vancouver and Toronto.

Headquarters: Utah, USA

About the Company:

The company focuses on serving builders in residential new construction, selling existing homes and helping buyers bring their new home vision into reality.

Dax Grant

Jennifer Turner

Kim Butler

Lacy J. Hardman

CEO, Global Transform Vice President of Dental Hygiene Operations, 123Dentist Founder, Prosperity Thinkers Owner, Salty Peak Real Estate

Website: https://www.luisaferrario.com/

Headquarters: Nicosia, Cyprus

About the Company: Luisa collaborates with her clients to help them develop effective change strategies and then support them as they lead and manage the change process.

Website: https://www.delthapharma.com/en/

Headquarters: Rome, Italy

About the Company: Deltha Pharma aims to provide people with effective, innovative, and high-quality supplements that accompany them throughout their lives and ensure good health.

Website: https://inceptionfertility.com/

Headquarters: Texas, USA

About the Company: Inception Fertility (Inception) is a family of fertility brands committed to helping patients build their own families.

Website: https://www.creatingambassadorsofpeace.com/

Headquarters: Maryland, USA

About the Company:

Dr. Theresa A. Moseley is a United States Army Veteran, United Nations Peace Ambassador, Retired Educator, Motivational Speaker, 10x-Best Selling Author, 3x International Best-Selling Author, a 3x-Award Winning Educator, and a United Nations Peace Ambassador.

Luisa Ferrario Maria Francesca Aceti

Nicole R. Braley

Dr. Theresa A. Moseley

Founder, Elle Effe Consulting Ltd. Chief Executive Officer, Deltha Pharma Chief Marketing Officer, Inception Owner and CEO, TAM Creating Ambassadors of Peace

BUSINESS WOMEN 2022

AGNES CHAU

TRANSFORMATIONAL LIFE COACH & PRIVATE CONSULTANT

Reconnecting with Our Divine Intelligence from Within

Transformational coaching today is viewed as a medium used to help bring about a paradigm shift in awareness to a way of being that honors one's most authentic self, the person we are at our very core.

Helping individuals thread along the path of self-discovery where desires and values will be better defined is Agnes Chau, as she offers her bespoke transformation life coach and private consultant services to executives, leaders, coaches, healers, and influencers. Embarking upon the journey of positively impacting lives,

Agnes began her entrepreneurial journey with the transformational life coaching business Agnes Chau LLC and her nonprofit, The Empowered Heart. “Helping people tap into their hearts, to tap into the Divine Intelligence within that connects us with the Divine Source, is the change I want to bring into people’s lives to help them and to help their families and communities. This will help people awaken to their potential and live positive, conscious, and empowered lives and positively impact their families and communities,” elucidates Agnes, a leading Transformational Life Coach, a PSYCH-K Facilitator, and a Private Consultant.

Helping people tap into their hearts, to tap into the Divine Intelligence within that connects us with the Divine Source, is the change I want to bring into people’s lives to help them and to help their families and communities

Agnes Chau Transformational Life Coach & Private Consultan

Catering to Physical, Emotional, Mental, and Spiritual Well-being

The Empowered Heart was conceived to share the strategies, tools, and techniques learned for restoring one’s physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual well-being. “The Empowered Heart envisions a world where people awaken to their potential and live positive, conscious, and empowered lives,” declares Agnes. The Empowered Heart’s mission is to educate people about strategies, tools, and techniques for physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being. “We do this through Empowered Heart Circles. These community gatherings are for self-love, selfcompassion, and self-care. When we Empower people, we Elevate them and ourselves (mentally, physically, emotionally, and vibrationally), and we can all Engage with others and society in positive ways, and Enlighten each other and nurture the kinship of Creatorship,” explains Agnes. She has

My best systems and strategies from 26 years in engineering have carried over to support my clients with getting to the root of problems quickly, identifying solutions that resonate with them the most, and empowering them to live their best life

also conducted Empowered Heart Circles online and offers these online events on a monthly basis.

In tandem with this unique offering, Agnes also provides self-defense training for women. The volunteer instructors of The Empowered Heart dedicate their time to teach the Gracie JiuJitsu Women Empowered Program at Certified Training Centers and self-defense workshops in the community. Additionally, women who want training and need financial assistance are sponsored. In conjunction with Agnes Chau LLC, the Empowered Heart gifts transformation sessions to the Angels 14 community of veterans

and allies. “Our Core Values are leading from the heart, and self-empowerment is self-love. We start with breathing into the heart and tapping into the Divine wisdom, knowledge, and love that resides within us. We believe in tapping into our heart, mind, and body intelligence to empower ourselves and others to realize and awaken to our potential,” reveals Agnes.

So, in essence, her days consist of facilitating transformation sessions for people, conducting Empowered Heart Circles, training and teaching Gracie Jiu-Jitsu, right up to creating content, including articles and administrative work.

Every Challenge is an Opportunity in Disguise

She attributes her education and her zeal to constantly learn as having played a key role in shaping the person she is and achieving the success she enjoys in the field today. She enjoys learning to help herself and others. It was at engineering school that she discovered how to learn and how to problem-solve. She recounts having completed her leadership training alongside her aerospace engineering career. She believes this honed her abilities to work with people from different backgrounds and cultures, to get to the root of problems quickly, and to help identify effective and efficient solutions. “These skills are transferable to my work today. Learning various methods to restore wellbeing has been a passion of mine, and this enables me to help clients by

offering different tools from my treasure chest that resonate with them the most,” adds Agnes.

She has achieved several significant milestones along her career path and superior customer delight levels. Some of the highlights include working as a flight test engineer; leading large teams to get to the root of problems quickly while working under tremendous pressure; becoming an intrapreneur to pursue innovation; coordinating across several divisions on technology management; becoming an Executive and working across multiple products, systems, and different cultures across different countries; and mentoring junior engineers from diverse backgrounds. “Many skill sets are needed to achieve these significant milestones, including interpersonal skills, teamwork, collaboration, the ability to listen and create a safe space. These skills transferred over to my work now as a transformational life coach,” explains Agnes as

she adds, “My best systems and strategies from 26 years in engineering have carried over to support my clients with getting to the root of problems quickly, identifying solutions that resonate with them the most, and empowering them to live their best life.” Additionally, she was also recognized and awarded the Top Transformational Life Coach of the Year Award by the International Association of Top Professionals (IAOTP).

The aforementioned skill sets combined with her top-tier training services across several modalities to restore well-being enables Agnes to guide her clients to reach practical solutions. Helping clients on their life journey to become the best versions of themselves is a significant milestone on Agnes’ journey as a leader.

Help Yourself Before Helping Others

However, while helping individuals become better versions of themselves can be highly rewarding, it can also be overwhelming sometimes. Hence, effectively managing the emotional fatigue of coaching is a priority. Agnes has a routine in place to help better streamline her day. Her morning routine consists of connecting with the heart, mind, and body, thereby enabling her to handle the pressures of the day. “I start with breathing into my heart to connect with the Divine Source within and outside of us,” informs Agnes. This routine is followed by her next exercise, where she identifies three things that she appreciates or is grateful for. Then, she practices Transcendental Meditation for mindful relaxation. This activates alpha brain waves that bring her to a whole brain state. It also helps her attain calmness, increased creativity, and other benefits that support her throughout the day. This is followed by Chi Kung or another form of yoga to wake up the physical body. “This morning routine sticks because it's the first thing I do when I

get up, and it's a powerful habit that has reduced my stress levels, enabled more creativity and productivity, and boosted my immune system,” adds Agnes.

Peeking into the Future Agnes has made massive progress in this domain and has exciting plans for the end of this year, with some already in play. In addition to writing articles for Brainz Magazine and conducting podcasts, she also gave a talk on transformation

and brain health at the Million Dollar Business Networking Event in November.

The Empowered Heart also had a booth at the Million Dollar Pageant and Agnes gifted Lesson 1 of Jedi Training to the audience at the Million Dollar Mingle Business Networking Symposium.

TThe Empowered Heart also had a booth at the Million Dollar Pageant and Agnes gifted Lesson 1 of Jedi Training to the audience at the Million Dollar Mingle Business Networking Symposium and to students at an after school workshop. The Empowered Heart will also be featured at the Empowering Women’s Conferences and at the Wellness by Choice Expos taking place in Arizona in 2023. Agnes Chau LLC will have a booth at the Enterprising Women's Conferences in 2023. Agnes envisages reaching out to a broader audience through these conferences and reach a global audience through the Empowered Heart Circles online.

LEADER’S INSIGHTS

THE POWER OF A HUMANCENTRIC APPROACH IN SALES AND SALES ENABLEMENT

Britta Lorenz, Leadership Coach, Mentor, & Consultant

Britta Lorenz is a leadership coach, mentor, and consultant. With her humancentric approach, she focuses on the 3 P’s – People, Purpose, and Performance. Moreover, Britta is the creator of the C²LEA²R framework for leadership. She is Partner at PDAgroup GmbH, focusing on Sales Enablement, and founded her company, Britta Lorenz – Be Human, to empower people on their journey to excellence. Britta supports all humans from initially identifying their purpose, values, and vision to synthesizing an action plan to influence change at all levels: individually, teams, and organizations. Her mission is to guide people to reach their potential by embracing human-centric approaches.

In the post-pandemic, so-called new world, sales companies need to be more human-centric and not purely dataand quota-driven. This means they must empower their employees with tools and resources for a successful future in which people buy differently than before because of changed buyer behavior. Also, leaders should embrace the power of emotional

intelligence to empower their teams for high performance.

Compassionate leadership is essential in any organization, not only sales companies. But what is compassionate leadership?

Compassionate leadership is a leadership style that focuses on employees’ wellbeing and emphasizes their needs and emotions. It includes creating a supportive

When salespeople feel supported by their leaders, they are more likely to be engaged and perform at a higher level

environment, providing constructive feedback, and showing empathy.

When salespeople feel supported by their leaders, they are more likely to be engaged and perform at a higher level. Furthermore, compassionate leadership will help create a positive work environment that, again, is a key to high performance.

It is vital to ensure that the salespeople have the right tools and resources and provide them with guidance and coaching.

They are essential for salespeople to be successful. Therefore, sales companies must ensure that their salespeople have access to the latest technologies that support their daily workflow and services to sell efficiently and effectively. Additionally, sales companies need to train their salespeople on how to use these tools and resources.

And this is where the human-centric approach to sales enablement comes into the game. And again, this is a high focus on the team’s needs. Sales enablement is a strategic initiative equipping salespeople with the knowledge, skills, and tools they need to be successful.

These strategic enablement initiatives are closely linked to the overall company goals. They include training programs and coaching sessions so every salesperson can work on developing themselves personally while also getting feedback from managers who will be able to guide any personal improvement initiatives forward in an efficient manner.

They provide content, sales and enablement collaterals, including case studies, benchmarks, blog posts, articles, and studies geared towards specific needs within different industries.

A human-centric, compassionate approach will also help to boost positive company culture. Culture is the set of values, norms, and beliefs that guide an organization’s behavior. It’s what makes a company unique and is reflected in how employees interact with each other and customers.

Positive company culture is one in which employees feel valued, respected, and motivated.

Fostering a positive company culture is essential not only for sales companies, for attracting and retaining top talent, as well as for improving customer satisfaction.

Conclusion:

To succeed in today’s world with more uncertainty than ever, sales companies need to adapt their strategies to be more human-centric. This means ensuring that their salespeople are empowered with the right tools and resources through strategic enablement initiatives and that their leaders provide compassionate, authentic leadership to trigger high performance.

What do you think? Do you agree that a human-centric, compassionate approach is essential to thriving in today’s world?

You want to learn more about humancentric leadership or how to become a better leader. If you have any questions or want help getting started with your own Sales Enablement, I invite you to follow me on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram, and visit my website for more info! I offer coaching and consulting services for individuals and organizations who are ready to take their leadership skills to the next level!

NICOLE R. BRALEY

CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER, INCEPTION

Spearheading Efforts to Deliver an Exceptional Customer Experience

“It’s not just grit. Leadership is more than just grit. You need intuition, confidence, intentionality, and crystal-clear communication skills,” quotes Nicole Braley, the Chief Marketing Officer at Inception. She truly personifies these leadership qualities. Indeed, Nicole is inspired by other leaders who are not only invested in business goals but also know how they affect the market, community, and environment.

As a leader, Nicole believes in maintaining a growth mindset and uses a mix of formal

and informal learning to build and refine her leadership skills. Currently, with the support of an executive coach, she is exploring the next step in her leadership journey—a talent fostered by emotional and spiritual connectedness. What does this mean, and how does it help leaders in growing their organizations? Nicole, who has been practicing emotional and spiritual connectedness for some time now, goes on to explain, “The idea behind this skill is centered around the desire to become a better coworker, leader, friend, and parent by valuing connectedness and realizing how I can use

Braley, Chief Marketing Officer, Inception

By putting customers at the heart of our brands, we make it clear to current and future customers that their experience with us matters

Nicole

emotional and spiritual energy to make the most of each situation and propel and develop big—or bigger—relationships in business.”

A Marketing Expert

Nicole is a seasoned marketing executive and business leader with over 15 years of experience building, leading, and delivering extensive commercial marketing and growth in various industries, including network-driven healthcare.

As the CMO of Inception, Nicole leads the organization’s marketing and communications initiatives, highlighting its commitment to providing each patient with an individualized and specialized approach to fertility care. “In my current role, I also have a vested interest in mentoring first-time managers as it’s that critical juncture in career trajectories which impact future leadership pipeline,” mentions Nicole. For her professional achievements, she gives credit to her executive coach and CEO of Inception, who have supported her leadership journey.

Building the Families of the Future

Established in 2014, Inception is a family of fertility brands committed to helping patients build their own families. The Founder & CEO, TJ Farnsworth, launched Inception after a frustrating two-year fertility journey with his wife. That experience led him to think over a more streamlined process for patient care that not only delivered results but ensured patients had as pleasant an experience as possible.

Since then, Inception’s focus has been on elevating the patient experience throughout the entire process—from financing fertility treatments and caring for aspiring parents to matching donors with recipients and storing cryopreserved embryos and tissue. The company embodies the premium

Nicole is a seasoned marketing executive and business leader with over 15 years of experience building, leading, and delivering extensive commercial marketing and growth in various industries, including network-driven healthcare

fertility brands and services to ensure every touch point meets the highest standards of care and compassion. In addition, Inception has the fastest-growing network of fertility clinics in North America and one of the largest frozen donor egg banks in North America. “By putting customers at the heart of our brands, we make it clear to current and future customers that their experience with us matters,” passionately says Nicole.

It is All About the Customer Experience

According to Nicole, most marketers have been beating the user experience drum nonstop for the past two decades. However, the customer experience (CX) should be at the heart of business strategy.

“My focus has been on the customer—and in our business, the customer is a patient,” says Nicole. Hence, the marketing team at Inception leverages sophisticated technologies to enhance

the customer experience and leads with an exceptional UX. Most importantly, collect feedback (direct and indirect) on all of these things from their customers. This feedback is taken very seriously and acted on to ensure customer recovery and retention and serve as an input for incremental enhancements on the customer journey side. “I believe CX is truly about a customer’s entire interaction with our brands,” adds Nicole.

A Rapidly Growing Business from the Start

As per the latest reports, the global fertility treatment market is expected to reach $21.7 Billion by 2025 at a CAGR of 8%. These astounding figures will result in a growing demand for access to clinics, top doctors, and other fertility-related services from a family of brands such as Inception Fertility in the coming days. As a premier fertility brand and leader in reproductive healthcare, Inception is already leading efforts to ensure accessibility by launching new products and services, opening new locations, and recruiting the best doctors.

Moving Ahead

Commenting on Inception’s ongoing plans, Nicole remarks, “Part of my focus from the last couple of years has been on formalizing and developing our brands' architecture. My second focus is to deliver on revenue and future value – and in marketing, that is all about the demand generation!”

By October 2022, Inception will launch a new eCommerce brand and a range of products that will expand the company’s opportunity to engage with new customers outside of its core customer base and sharpen its focus on fertility and lifestyle. “I am very excited to lead these efforts, which will further our commitment to our patients, their experience, and delivering optimal outcomes,” concludes Nicole.

EXPERT

OPINION

The Evolution of Digital Humans: Combining Human Intuition and Robotic

Precision!

Aditi Basu, Chief of Marketing, Future Market Insights Inc.

Aditi Basu is Chief of Marketing at Future Market Insights Inc. a leading business consulting and market research company and is responsible for driving strategic marketing for key service lines and domains. She started her corporate journey 16 years back in the business consulting industry and has held leadership positions at Capgemini and Frost & Sullivan. Her key accomplishments include being invited as a speaker to NIT Durgapur, to talk on issues pertaining to commercialized innovations. She has been quoted in several leading marketing and business journals such as CDO Magazine, Brandingmag, Research World, Drug Discovery Trends on disruptive innovations of future and how they will impact the Global Marketplace.

It is not unknown to us that Artificial intelligence (AI) is has opened up several new opportunities in the global market. Not only is the use of AI limited to the technology domain, but also in various other domains like healthcare and fashion. Digital human is one such opportunity driven by the foundation of AI that will help various companies achieve scalability quickly and efficiently.

According to a recently published report by Future Market Insights, the global artificial intelligence systems spending market is expected to grow rapidly with over 45% CAGR during 2022-2032. Such spending will help companies move towards implementing digital humans in their processes.

So what are Digital humans? They are a part of the metaverse. They work as non-playing characters (NPCs) backed by AI and not simple replicas of human beings. They can react intelligently to human moods based on tone, body language, and facial expressions. They will respond to these inputs in a manner that will enable them to understand the situation in a cognitive and nuanced manner.

As implied by their name, digital humans require no sleep and no wages. They can be widely deployed and handled by digital humans simultaneously as they are always available and scalable and can handle a large number of user interactions all at once. They engage with users in an intelligent manner, effectively "recreating" human interaction on a scale far more extensive than what can be achieved by customer service representatives or chatbots. There are, however, some disadvantages associated with digital humans.

In this blog, we will discuss the various stages of development for digital humans, how they differ from the other applications of AI and how these digital humans can be used in different domains with different usages.

The evolution of digital humans

Over the past decade, digital humans have moved from hype to practical application. The dramatic advancements in AI algorithms, the vast quantities of data generated, and the substantial increases in computational power have made digital humans irreplaceable, especially in gaming and film.

The evolution of digital humans can be divided into five stages of development, from two perspectives: automation level and human figure similarity. In the first level, these machines were manually crafted and used for 2D displays only. The second stage mainly relied on motion capture equipment to collect data on mouth shapes, facial expressions, and body movements that were used for video recording. In the third stage, the reliability shifted to algorithms for the creation of virtual avatars for real-time interaction and live broadcast.

As a digital human advance to levels 4 and 5, it becomes capable of simulating reallife behavior. As a result, it was able to learn from a huge array of facial expressions, human conversations, and body language. Through natural facial expressions and body movements, it can mimic intelligent human interactions

A digital human, belonging to the top most development level can acquire expertise in a certain field quickly with its advanced

deep learning capabilities. The intelligent interaction of level 4 or can be employed in general scenarios and across a wide range of industries. This can transform the industrial landscape.

The various features of digital humans that make them different from other AI applications

In the past three to five years, digital humans have gained popularity through the metaverse. Their contextual-based behavior enables them to initiate and engage in conversations with humans thanks to the latest advances in AI and simulation. For instance, digital humans are particularly useful in fields such as healthcare, where they allow doctors to simulate surgeries before performing them on patients.

To revolutionize the user's digital experiences, digital humans are being equipped with an artificial intelligence layer that can comprehend speech and text. In addition, they

As implied by their name, digital humans require no sleep and no wages. They can be widely deployed and handled by digital humans simultaneously as they are always available and scalable and can handle a large number of user interactions all at once

are equipped with a visual technology layer that can recognize facial expressions and commands. This is an interesting development, as it allows automated conversations to be enriched with persuasion and emotions. They stand out from other AI applications because of this.

A lot of technology and algorithms are combined and worked on for months to create the most accurate digital humans. These include computer vision, big data, machine learning, affective computing, and artificial neural networks. However, digital humans must be implemented with caution, since they should only be considered as a development rather than a replacement for the human touch.

Currently, virtual assistants and virtual investigators are popular uses of digital humans, allowing them to assist users both in real-time and in the metaverse. Second, digital humans can also be used to train soft skills without involving humans.

Due to the capability of digital humans to replicate humans to a great extent, they open up remote and hybrid work opportunities. As a result, digital humans can be used to handle visas and migrations from any location. However, the main challenge is to ensure a consistent digital connection. Thanks to 5G and 6G, these problems can be solved and new advances in digital humans can be achieved.

Digital Humans have been replacing few human interventions across industries

With artificial intelligence-enabled intelligent services, digital humans can significantly increase productivity, enabling the integration of the digital and physical economy. Therefore,

if built and used correctly it can lead to huge cost benefits from process and operational optimization across industries.

Recently, the fashion industry has turned to digital humans to solve some serious concerns about wheelchair users. In the United States, almost three million wheelchair users struggle to enter a fashion store, and sometimes it's impossible. As a result, they turn to online shopping but find it extremely challenging to find clothes that fit well. This is because they need to try them on first and without talking to someone who can assist. To make fashion fairer, companies like All is for All developed digital human helpers who can explain the accessibility features of clothes online. Others under-serviced by digital humans include those unable to have faceto-face conversations, those living in remote areas without access to the same services as others, and the poor.

With the help of digital humans, companies are able to manufacture more efficient and safer products while optimizing the costs and productivity. By incorporating digital humans into design processes, engineers will be able to incorporate human factors engineering and ergonomics principles earlier in the design cycle. For instance, UGS Tecnomatix Jack human simulation solution was used at Ford Motor Co. to evaluate worker safety and ergonomics during the installation of a newly designed satellite digital antenna radio system. A design review of the product was conducted early in the process. By assessing performance and ergonomic problems before prototyping, late design modification efforts were easily reduced.

There is also a major use of digital humans in the healthcare industry, where longstanding problems are being addressed through the use of digital humans. The fact that counseling sessions are conducted by real humans often makes people feel hesitant to open up - a person who is both able to help, but also capable of judging and showing bias. Digital humans can't do that. Therefor virtual digital therapists are being used to detect and identify symptoms of poor mental health.

For instance, the UneeQ Creator can be used to create an advisor, companion, or support worker that is similar to a human-to-human conversation by taking into account what questions end users might be reluctant to ask. They just might come up in a human-to-machine conversation and lead to better results.

Another domain where there is a scope of massive transformation using Digital humans is education, with a "digital human" teacher having recently been tested in New Zealand. As per the students, this digital human not only explained them the various aspects of energy but also asked questions to the students to make the learning session more interactive.

Currently, digital humans are proving to be commercially valuable in a wide variety of areas. Eventually, large

teams of digital humans will coexist with humans in everyday life chores as well as at work. Leading companies such as SenseTime and Xiaoice, tech giant Huawei Technologies Co are jumping on the bandwagon of digital humans. In cooperation with Chinese real estate developer Vanke, Xiaoice developed Cui Xiaopan, a virtual employee for Vanke. It is the digital human's responsibility to remind employees to pay their bills on time and collect their dues. Additionally, Huawei Cloud has hired its first virtual employee, Yunsheng.

Digital avatars are still in their nascent stages, but their gestures, appearance, and actions will become more refined and realistic in the coming years.

Despite the huge possibilities with Digital Humans, why it cannot completely replace human labor?

Research concludes that over 4/5th of all communications between organizations will be based on virtual entities. There are many digital "things" that have replaced personal interactions with people, such as chatbots, selfcheckout kiosks, self-service portals, and other digital "things." Various studies predict that 95% of customer interactions by 2025 will be handled by AI. As a result, customers

will lose out on the opportunity to be treated with a smile, a reassuring tone, empathy, and a natural emotional connection. It may be because of this that 71% of Americans prefer human interactions over chatbots.

Despite their inability to mimic human emotions, these machines can be effectively programmed to emulate them on a large scale and virtually. Emotions are not easily contained within one hemisphere of the human brain. Both hemispheres are typically affected rapidly by emotional events. Although conversational AI, such as voice assistants and chatbots, or even live chat functions, can converse in very left-brain ways, they lack the right-brain elements of natural conversation, such as body language and tone of voice, which help create emotional connections. In digital humans, these cues are communicated through their voices and animations.

Businesses and customers can look forward to emotional connections when dealing with the technology of digital humans, considering that emotional connections are more valuable

to businesses to yield more highly satisfied customers. However, the demand for skilled workers will remain the same. This is also because digital humans are machines at the end of the day undergoing wear and tear, facing malfunctions, also the speed at which they can do a job is sometimes questionable. This is a major reason why even today with so much of advancements in automation, AI, only some percentage of manual labor is replaced by these technologies. More than 60% of functions, processes still rely on human labor and human cognitive abilities.

To conclude, Digital humans can be a boon to humankind but can never replace human labor. However, their advantages can be used to enhance the productivity of the human workforce, thus elevating the manufacturing capacity of the entire organization. And what is needed for this kind of human-machine collaboration to work seamlessly, is a positive cultural shift, awareness and training for such interfaces and collaborations to be successful

to get the desired results.

Businesses and customers can look forward to emotional connections when dealing with the technology of digital humans, considering that emotional connections are more valuable to businesses to yield more highly satisfied customers

BUSINESS WOMEN 2022

LACY J. HARDMAN

OWNER, SALTY PEAK REAL ESTATE

Inspiring Woman Entrepreneur Forged in Fire

Today, women inspire us across all walks of life as they assume countless roles, personally or professionally. In the last decade, women have continued to increasingly play an integral part in the evolution of the world’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. They have built businesses from the ground up through sheer passion, humility, and determination to make a difference in today’s society.

Lacy J. Hardman, Owner of Salty Peak Real Estate, is at the forefront of female entrepreneurship. “I began to be ‘seasoned’ at

a young age through hardship and adversity to refine my character that provided a foundation for resilient leadership development,” explains Lacy.

Rising Through Hardships

Living life through hardship and turmoil early on molded Lacy into the legacy she is today. Growing up with a bipolar mother, Lacy took on a lot of responsibility that nurtured her emotional intelligence and empathy and enabled her to make sound decisions independent of her emotions amidst the chaos. She recounts how despite the cards her mother was dealt in life, her mother was

I began to be ‘seasoned’ at a young age through hardship and adversity to refine my character that provided a foundation for resilient leadership development

Lacy J. Hardman Owner, Salty Peak Real Estate

motivated to work hard at her job of laying noodles in a factory for frozen dinners. She worked all the overtime she could to ensure a roof over her family’s head, clothes on their back, and the ability to fuel her shopping addiction. This left Lacy with the responsibility of fending for her younger sister and herself. “The manic side of my mother loved to have the euphoric high of shopping, which would end abruptly when we arrived home, and the reality of how much money she spent sunk in, she would take it out on us. It was a hard cycle to endure combined with the revolving door of abusive men that she introduced into our lives,” describes Lacy. Both the siblings were denied the opportunity to discover their talents and passion in their youth, yet they are thriving as adults.

“But I am completely okay with my childhood experience with my mom; I realize she had (my mom was just hit and killed by a car on 12 Sep 2022) a mental illness that didn’t allow her to love and protect me if she hadn’t had that setback. I love her dearly. I am so grateful for her character examples of a strong work ethic and her willingness to work for what you want. She also taught me to always be thankful for every little thing. The rawness of her mental illness

Photo Credit: Lindsey Smith

Lacy strongly believes that adversity is the refiner’s fire that bends iron but tempers steel

also allowed me to develop a grit that would help me persevere in some tough times ahead and I’ll forever be grateful for that,” she adds.

Her life experiences from childhood to adulthood led her down the path of building Salty Peak Real Estate. During summers, she worked with her sister alongside her father to repair trailers and mow the yards. It gave her the confidence to own a historic 4-plex in Louisville, KY, later in life that she could easily tend to regarding maintenance. In tandem with this, her father’s untimely illness and open-heart surgery when she was just 14 years old had her pursuing every medical experience possible that would grant her knowledge and skills to pave the way to becoming a cardiovascular surgeon.

Successfully Overcoming Challenges

She volunteered as a candy striper at American Fork Hospital at the age of 14. She also interned in the operating room at Timpanogos hospital and the cardiovascular center at Utah Valley Hospital. She takes pride in earning her CNA and EMT before graduating high school. During her senior year, she attended a medical camp in St. George, and the Army National Guard present asked her about her plans for the future. Having explained her aspirations to become a cardiovascular surgeon, an offer to completely pay for medical school if she joined the army was extended. Being at the tender age of 17 with no adult rights, her father signed her into the Army. She volunteered to deploy to Afghanistan in 2004 and had an incredible experience helping local Afghans with access to dental and medical support that wasn’t available to them in their local village.

After being enrolled in the pre-medical semester, post her Afghanistan deployment, she realized that she would not be able to physically or emotionally raise her future children as she conversed with a friend that switched careers. “That didn’t sit well. I grew up in a home where my mom was consumed with work and not typically available physically or emotionally. I wanted a different experience for my children when they came to earth. I went home that night and dropped all of my pre-medical classes. I wasn’t sure what I would do, but I was enrolled in the ROTC program at the University and headed down a path to commission as an Army officer and go on active duty,” elucidates Lacy. She majored in psychology and ended up deploying two more times, both to Iraq; one of them was as a company commander leading a company of Soldiers with the mission to deliver ammunition to warfighters through Iraq

and Afghanistan. She says, “It was a tough job, but I had trained them well and motivated them by working with them in the trenches slinging ammo. I recognized them as the team to supply the bullet that killed Bin Laden. I enjoyed being able to lead through love and empowering them to own it.”

She worked her way up to the top 3 percent of her field in the Army. She recognized it was her time to transition out of the Army and did so with

Photo Credit: Lindsey Smith

an honorable discharge and highest recognition of a Bronze Star, a Combat Action Badge, and her Parachutist Badge, among many others. As she transitioned from a life dedicated to her Army duties, she focused on interviewing every real estate agent she could.

While she worked to earn her real estate license, Lacy invested and helped her brother-in-

law launch a welding business, began learning the ropes as a support role in a commercial brokerage, and worked alongside her husband to grow his home and yard business. She and her husband partnered with his best friend in an adventure trailer business. She reveals, “I delayed my real estate class to focus on tripling the sales of the trailer business in one summer. A year later, we were in a lawsuit with our business partner that destroyed us financially. Fortunately, our attorney was able to prove fraud on our business partner, and we settled out of that, and now I own the business 100 percent.”

Climbing the Ladder to Success

Despite the ordeals encountered, Lacy’s real estate business flourished. Lacy strongly believes that adversity is the refiner’s fire that bends iron but

In a day, Lacy dedicates a few hours to managing her team at SPRE and maintaining BAA, and the rest of her time is spent working with her family and team building Swell Retreat

Photo Credit: Lindsey Smith

tempers steel. All these life experiences made Lacy the strong woman she is today; a boss at Salty Peak Real Estate, Builder Agent Academy, and Swell Retreat. Salty Peak Real Estate, within a short time, is growing exponentially. The team focuses on serving builders in residential new construction, selling existing homes, and helping buyers bring their new home vision into reality. “I have grown in business every year since 2017 and added a revenue stream last year through Builder Agent Academy,” informs Lacy. She continually strives to empower her team to achieve the vision of SPRE, Builder Agent Academy, and Swell Retreat. She also actively works as President of the local Real Estate Association and President of her church's Young Women program. “I love to serve in my church and was recently called to serve as the Young Women President for our congregation. I love being a mom. I strive to be an example to my children of loving Jesus Christ, serving all that we cross paths with, courageously acting on my vision to have an impact in real estate and at the Swell Retreat, and empowering them to be comfortable doing the same as they will eventually pursue their divine destiny and purpose in life,” says Lacy.

Carving a Niche Space in the Real Estate Industry

In a day, Lacy dedicates a few hours to managing her team at SPRE and maintaining BAA, and the

rest of her time is spent working with her family and team building Swell Retreat. She ensures her team is always at the top of its game. She extensively researched and implemented the most cutting-edge online software that promises low overhead while empowering her team and serving her clients in the most optimal way possible.

With a fervor to keep moving forward, Lacy shares with us the current market trends and the future she envisions. When the pandemic struck, the real estate market got busy and home pricing increased dramatically with bidding wars on homes and typically those with $20k-$30k cash down above appraisal were winning the wars. Post pandemic, the interest rate increased and reduced the average buyer’s buying power causing the housing market to slow drastically. Now the real estate industry is starting to transition back to a more “normal,” whatever normal is now days, buying and selling market. Most markets still have high pricing, overall, due to a nationwide average need for more houses than what is currently available. Builders are working hard to help bring more homes to the market despite the challenge of increasing costs of goods and labor. Keeping this in mind, SPRE will continue to implement systems to better serve its clients and strengthen its workforce with the best knowledge and resources while continuing to deepen the roots of Lacy’s vision. Simultaneously, Lacy envisages extending Builder Agent Academy’s reach nationwide.

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EXPERT OPINION

Having a Better Approach in Life: How to Stay Optimistic

Shreesha Khare, Author, Chief Humanitarian Being, Guide

Shreesha Khare is an author and an inspirational thought leader, aka a leading luminary. She is walking on the path of “Self-Illumination” to be more of her true self, share more of her personal experiences, and change the lives of others through her own journey of personal transformation. There is a deep internal desire in her to take all of what she has learned and remind others that it is all about knowing within and be true to their evolution on this planet earth as a human being. She believes that suffering is the key to unlocking our greatest gifts. She is the Founder and Chief humanitarian Being at S&S Co-Space for Humanity, a boutique where you will be served with coaching and guidance of self-love and self-actualization, is like taking a journey into the inner cosmic world.

The moment a man comes out of the womb, the world they see is through the eyes of others, and their thoughts are through the thoughts of others. They are playful, lovable, creative, full of laughter, and adventurous. They are full of energy as babies, hold the attitude of ‘can do anything’, and have a curious nature. When adults enter our lives when we become a bit grown up, they start giving us direction on what we should and should not do, what we can and cannot do. Our decisions are not our own; every action is influenced by their interference. This puts us in the zone of succumbing to our own emotions. Also, we live our lives on the edge of brood outcomes. Furthermore, when we become adults, we hold onto our negative self-talk and when we go out in public, we must put on a mask.

Then later in life, when we are tired of the masking, we look for a better approach to life. What a life? An interesting one, right?

Let me set up a meet and greet with the harsh reality of life. In spite of whatever is going on in life outside of you, I will be there. It is you who have to change your approach towards life. Before we head to that part, I want you to ask these questions: Where can you change yourself?

If you cannot change yourself in certain situations, then what else can you do?

There are no prescriptions to follow to be optimistic. Every person should be on the path to figuring things out for themselves. However, let’s dive into some basic things that we need.

In life, bring yourself together with your own self, as you are the centre point of this world, whatever is happening in your life. You must build a relationship with yourself. Once you do that, your relationship with life will naturally be better. Start celebrating your journey and the destination you have reached. You have been through sperm to grow up human, which means in life as well, changes will start with small steps and bring monumental transformation. Your optimistic journey starts with yourself. What do you think about yourself? What is the story you tell yourself about yourself? Do you accept yourself the way you are? Life is not purely light or dark, it is in navigation mode where we must go through some darkness to understand its meaning only later in life. Moreover, while we are living a life full of light, we need to appreciate it.

This darkness and light are not outside, but within you. If you don’t accept your shadow, you will be in a pessimistic, cribbing zone about life, people, and situations. You live in a universe that is made up of millions of galaxies, in which our Milky Way galaxy is just a speck of dust. In addition to this, in the Milky Way there are millions of solar systems, in which our own solar system, which you have studied since childhood, is only one speck of dust in terms of size. And in our solar system, planet Earth is another speck of dust in terms of size. In this human population, you are just a speck of dust. You are a one-of-a-kind person. Every planet knows its value and where it stands. In a similar way, you should know about yourself

with no comparison to others and accept yourself with all your flaws first.

Your life should be your responsibility, a critical component in hastening your transformation and feeling liberated in life. When you embrace taking 100% responsibility, it is a powerful belief and simple that you choose to consciously create the reality around you and whatever happens in your life. It is a thought that you need to grow in the garden of your mind. If for some reason you are unable to, then start with a small step. Like right now, whatever is happening in your life, irrespective of the results, you understand your life and you take the responsibility. You must practise every single day to get anywhere in your life, as repetition of thought will bring out different results beyond what you are experiencing right now. I understand that it is easy to write but difficult to process in real life. But here’s the thing: this is a story you’re telling yourself.

As said, start small; you can do this with your eating habits in your breakfast routine. So, whatever you eat today, you are responsible for it as the quality of your life is your responsibility alone. Irrespective of your past experiences, what you have gone through in life, or how you have behaved in life, it is your ability to understand and work around it. Your life will be at mercy if you blame circumstances or wait for things to be fine around you. Then you will act; then this is not a right belief you are carrying. You are not a disabled person; you have the ability to respond to it accordingly. When you embrace

ownership and responsibility, it gives you the maximum power to create the life you want.

If you really want to stay optimistic and live a better life, then you need a strong mental spectacle through which you live your life every single day, and that is an “attitude.” Our environment is a mirror of our mental attitude. If you don’t like our environment, we need to change our attitude first. Your attitude is like clay; it doesn’t care what shape you give it, but once shaped, it will become your behaviour towards what is going on around you and within you. It either moulds you into something great or annihilates you. You need to be aware of which attitude in life is pulling you down and which attitude is lifting you up in life. When you have that awareness and overcome the reason why it is happening, your transformation begins. Your attitude is a mix of thoughts in your mind and feelings you feel in your body with those thoughts in mind, and that determines your actions and the response you give, which gives you results in life. The interesting part about being a human is that we are always living on edge, ready to react to things. Start observing yourself. What is your attitude to daily life? When you focus on small things, big things will automatically take care of themselves. You don’t have to do everything in life for a reward. You need to get your life right. That is the biggest reward. Whatever the circumstance is, check your attitude, which comes from a mindset shift, and when that happens, your life will shift majorly.

“There is no one way to live life and stay optimistic; with duality existing, it is all about understanding things and going to the root.”

Namaste!

There are no prescriptions to follow to be optimistic. Every person should be on the path to figuring things out for themselves

LEADER’S INSIGHTS

LIVING YOUR BEST PROFESSIONAL LIFE BY ADOPTING A 5-DIMENSIONAL APPROACH TO YOUR HEALTH AND WELLNESS

Dr. Christine Sauer MD, ND, Physician, Naturopath, Brain & Mental Health Coach

Dr. Christine Sauer MD ND is a German-trained physician and naturopath, as well as a gastrointestinal disease specialist, currently working as a Holistic Brain and Mental Health Professional, Coach, and Educator. Her own struggles with chronic pain, weight loss, and mental health issues have led her to dedicate her life to improving the gut health and brain/mental health of others and enabling them to drop unwanted pounds – all with natural means. She wrote #1 bestselling books, and lectures on the topics and coaches individuals, groups as well as families. As “The Doctor who Knows how You Feel” she is known to make a lasting impression and positive difference in the lives of her clients and followers.

We all want to live our best life. The issue seems to be that there are always roadblocks coming along, circumstances that life throws our way that derail our best intentions.

It is time to check if you are truly living your best professional life – and your best personal life – in all 5 dimensions – physical, mental, social, financial, and spiritual.

You will see how this approach to true individualized whole-person health can positively impact healthcare costs for families, employees and corporate healthcare plans.

The 5 Dimensions of Health and Life

We all are multidimensional beings. And we like to separate similar issues in a category.

If all dimensions or determinants of health are in an ideal state and in balance we live in homeostasis, resulting in heightened quality of life and happiness

I have done that with wholeperson health.

If all dimensions or determinants of health are in an ideal state and in balance we live in homeostasis, resulting in heightened quality of life and happiness.

Here are examples of what I mean by each dimension of health and life: (not complete)

Physical Dimension

Physical Health means the functioning of our physical body, the organ systems, the mechanical parts, biochemistry, physics, anatomy, physiology, and more.

Examples of issues that need to be looked at in the physical dimension are:

Exercise

Nutrition Genetics

Medication

Supplements

Toxins

Lab Testing

Air Quality

Sleep

Hydration

Physical Illnesses

Hormones

Immune System Health

Blood Sugar Levels

Trauma/Injuries/Accidents

Allergies

Infections

Sexual Function

Mental Dimension

This is generally understood to encompass feelings, emotions, beliefs, values, thoughts, schemas, and mental patterns.

But have you ever thought about what it really means?

Mental health is much more than just what we think is going on in our minds, or what we think about. Here are some examples of determinants of mental health.

Emotions

Discipline Thoughts

Upbringing Environment

Procrastination

Happiness Body image

Self-Love Self-Care Self-Talk

Emotional Trauma Emotional Abuse

Sense of Control/Power

Anger

Assertiveness

Selfishness? Selflessness? Being submissive Responsibility for self Leadership of Self Generational History

Many factors go into how we function in relation to our own self and others outside of us, be it family, friends, acquaintances or strangers. Here are issues that need to be looked at when assessing this dimension

Loss of a partner Divorce Marriage School Success Work-Life Integration? Leadership of others Information Sources

Health Habits of Friends/ Family Illness of Friends/Family Leadership

Dealing with difficult people

Relationship with pets and animals and the environment Satisfaction at Work Cultural Issues Intergenerational Trauma (e.g. holocaust)

Financial Dimension

Losses/Grief Sense of Hope Successes Failures

Experienced Stress Worries Intimacy

Sexual Satisfaction Sense of Fun Sense of Humor Addictions

Social Dimension

Humans are Social Beings. We thrive of being part of a group, of a community.

Relationships

Sexual Relationships Toxic Relationships Conflict Narcissism

Loving Others Dealing with Loss and Grief Co-Dependency Boundaries

Sense of Connection Sense of Belonging Loneliness

Partnership Quality Abuse in Relationship Stress from Work and Life Environment and others

In our modern world, we are no longer growing or making everything we need to live. We are dependent on a monetary system to buy necessary resources. A steady source of income means feeling secure, not having to be afraid of going hungry, losing a safe place to live, and being able to afford the lifestyle we desire and deserve. Here are factors that influence our functioning in this dimension and directly – or indirectly –our health

The spiritual dimension of health is often neglected in modern medicine and often left to clergy that are most often not trained to deal with the intersection of spirituality of health

Work

Basic Security

Having enough Food Security of Home – Avoid Homelessness

Having enough saved for retirement

Having enough saved for emergencies

Affordable healthcare available

Afford supplements

Afford prescription medications

Afford Transportation

Afford a healthy environment (air pollution, water pollution etc.)

Afford healthy food Afford education Work-Life Integration Leadership issues Budgeting Investing Saving Habits

Spending Habits

Giving to others/ charitable spending Gambling Financial Risk Taking Lending – Debt Insurance-Life Insurance-Health Insurance-Disability

Spiritual Dimension

The spiritual dimension of health is often neglected in modern medicine and often left to clergy that are most often not trained to deal with the intersection of spirituality of health. In this dimension we also many charlatans, but also many serious and effective healers in the spiritual or, as they often call themselves “energy” dimension. Spirituality, whether in the context of organized religion or not, is

one of the most human issues and one that hasn’t been researched well by science, in part because the effectiveness of spiritual interventions is very hard to quantify with the currently available means of science. I wouldn’t be surprised if, in the future, we see many more studies evaluating the efficiency of health interventions targeting this dimensions.

Purpose

Passion Goals

Sense of meaning

Does my life matter?

Why am I here on this planet?

Values Morals Courage Creativity

Taking Risks

Self-Awareness

Who am I accountable to?

Connection to past generations

Connections to future generations connection to the environment/earth/planet connection to higher power?

Religion and Spirituality Meditation Yoga/TaiChi/Qigong

Energy healing in all its variants

How do we do a truly holistic assessment to inform a truly integrative approach to wholeperson leadership, health and wellness?

It is complex, for sure and requires a welltrained practitioner, questionnaires and quite a bit of time to perform properly.

But I think, in the interest of reducing the total cost of healthcare, for ourselves, our families and that of our employees, we need more of it.