Ellie Hearne
Ellie Hearne helps leaders make culture and strategy work together. Combining communication skills with intangibles like trust and accountability, she gets to know cultures, helps define and enhance strategies, and…
Founders don’t come with instruction manuals. Neither do these interviews. What you’ll find here are real conversations with people who’ve built things. Some massive, some modest, all meaningful. They talk about what worked, what didn’t, and the stuff nobody warns you about. No highlight reels. No curated origin stories designed to make you feel bad about your Tuesday.
The founders featured here come from every industry imaginable. Tech, food, fashion, healthcare, education. Some raised millions. Others bootstrapped with pocket change and a stubborn refusal to quit. The common thread isn’t money or fame. It’s the willingness to start something when the outcome was far from guaranteed.
These interviews cover the practical stuff too. Daily routines. Biggest mistakes. The advice they’d give their younger selves. How they handle the days when nothing seems to work. Because those days happen to everyone, even the people who look like they’ve got it all figured out.
If you’re starting something, thinking about starting something, or just curious about what makes founders tick, this is a good place to spend some time. Not because every answer will apply to your situation. But because somewhere in here, someone said the thing you needed to hear.
Ellie Hearne helps leaders make culture and strategy work together. Combining communication skills with intangibles like trust and accountability, she gets to know cultures, helps define and enhance strategies, and…
Catharine Montgomery is the Founder and CEO of Better Together Agency, a Black woman-founded, AI-forward communications firm dedicated to advancing equity through strategic storytelling. With over 15 years of experience…
Kellie Okonek is a leadership strategist, executive coach, and adventure-based facilitator helping visionary founders and teams move from functioning to flourishing. With 20 years of experience leading complex oil and…
After years working with top HubSpot partner agencies, Jasz Rae Joseph noticed a troubling pattern: businesses investing heavily in marketing technology, only to end up tangled in overly complex setups,…
Ashley Rector is a former attorney turned entrepreneur, the founder of Quimby Digital and the visionary behind Wimbly Social, a forthcoming AI-powered SaaS platform built to revolutionize organic social media…
Cydnee DeToy is a Career Coach and Speaker for ambitious millennial women. Cydnee equips clients with the mindsets and strategies to create and thrive in the career they want. She…
Danielle Sabrina is the founder of Society22 PR, a Top 10 National PR Firm on Inc.’s Fastest Growing Companies, and ranked #5 Best Company in America by Entrepreneur magazine. Danielle…
Driven by the belief that every child can learn to read, Jessica co-founded Ignite Reading to deliver that instruction at scale, specializing in high-dosage, evidence-based tutoring. This proven instructional method,…
Nick Deflorio is an entrepreneur, trading educator, and founder of Onyx Trading Education—a global trading education company helping everyday people gain access to the world of finance through skill-based learning….
Brittany Martin Déjean is the founder of Inclusion Jumpstart and has a mission to help non-disabled leaders get comfortable with disability to accelerate inclusion in business. In the years after…
Ciara Siegel is a Brand & Marketing Strategist with 15 years of experience helping businesses grow—from global giants like Pampers, Godiva, and TikTok to small business owners and solopreneurs building…
Linda Du is the founder and CEO of Moola Money, a fintech startup helping millennials build healthier financial habits through personalized, AI-powered tools. With a background in management consulting for…