Discover the go-to podcast for driven women entrepreneurs ready to lead! Join host Adrienne Garland, CEO of She Leads Media, as she uncovers the unfiltered path to scaling your business to 7 and 8 figures. Each week, bold female founders share their raw stories, overcoming challenges, and proven strategies for explosive growth – all without sugar-coating a thing.
🚀 Why She Leads is Your Essential Listen:
Super-practical, actionable advice to conquer your entrepreneurial hurdles
No-holds-barred insights on leadership, scaling, and business growth
Real, refreshing conversations with industry-leading women entrepreneurs and leaders (and male allies!)
Impactful strategies to influence your family, community, and the world
At She Leads Media, we reject the notion that women must be deferential or pull back our opinions. Instead, we're creating a powerful platform where women are free to express their brilliance without restraint. Whether you're launching your venture or ready to scale new heights of revenue and profit, The She Leads Podcast: Real Conversations with Women Entrepreneurs delivers the unvarnished truth you need to thrive in today's competitive business landscape.
The She Leads Podcast (formerly Sugar Coated) is your ultimate resource for:
✅ Practical and actionable business growth strategies and tactics
✅ Authentic leadership development
✅ Transformative mindset shifts
✅ Genuine connections with like-minded women
Don't miss out on game-changing wisdom from Adrienne Garland - fearless entrepreneur, innovative media producer, and inspiring professor. Subscribe now and join a community of women who refuse to hold back their voices, thoughts, or opinions. Your journey to 7-figure success and beyond starts here – no sugar-coating required!
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Adrienne Garland (00:01.322)
Hi everybody and welcome to Sugar Coated. I'm your host, Adrienne Garland, and I can't wait to tell you about what we have planned for December 1st. So as many of you may know, or maybe you don't, I am the CEO of SheLeads Media, and SheLeads Media is the producer of this podcast, Sugar Coated.
We also have a podcast network where other women entrepreneurs and podcasters have their podcasts. So we like to say that the She Leads Podcast Network is for women by women. And the reason that we have this podcast is actually born out of the work that we started doing back in 2013, where we were bringing together successful women entrepreneurs with
other women who had businesses that were looking to get very practical, actionable advice that they could use in their own businesses. So back in 2013, my partner, Laura Leites, and I started a conference that was called
Adrienne Garland (01:21.554)
Amazing. The first year that we did it, it was just sort of an idea that we had and we were able to successfully secure our sponsorships. We had over 100 women in attendance and it was just something that was really special and different at the time and everybody who attended asked us to do it again. And so we did. So we did it for several years, for about three years.
And Laura was raising a sizable family, three kids, that really needed her time and attention. And while the conference was a success, it wasn't successful enough to sort of support both of us in full-time salaries. So...
Laura moved on from WomynCon and I kept it going because I am really passionate about this business. I'm really passionate about education and inspiration for women entrepreneurs. I like to say that entrepreneurship is sort of the answer for women, sometimes corporate, the corporate environment is not the most.
welcoming or the place where women can really excel. And so I think that being able to know what the skills are and what the steps are that you must take if you're a woman looking to start a business, knowing that information is incredibly empowering because it gives you choice. And
choice is power. And so I continued with the conference and in 2016, changed the name to She Leads, She Leads Media, and changed the conference to She Leads Live. And so every year since 2016, we have held the She Leads Live conference in person. In 2021, it was
Adrienne Garland (03:37.734)
a year that we had taken off because during the pandemic, we had continued with the conference in an online way. And it was just not something that I felt like I wanted to do again, even though the conference online was incredible. It definitely did not have the same type of feeling and anybody who has been to the She Leads conferences knows exactly.
what it is that I'm talking about, but it didn't have the same type of heart and feeling that the live conferences did. So I sort of paused it for a year, reassessed and then brought it back to life, live last year in New York City. So She Leads Live 2022 happened. And this year we are back at the same location at this beautiful loft that is in one of the triangle,
buildings that are in New York City, the historical Triangle buildings. I believe there's only 13 of them left. But the conference takes place at Triangle Loft, which is in the Meatpacking District in New York City. So super cool neighborhood down there. And the venue is owned and operated by another incredible woman entrepreneur. So I just love having the conference there.
The woman that owns the space is also very supportive of all of the local businesses. She's really dedicated to women. She is in the art world and brings a lot of attention to creatives that are doing amazing things. It's very much in alignment with what my values are.
Adrienne Garland (05:32.25)
beauty into this world in a variety of different ways. It doesn't have to be just how things look, but also how they make us feel. And what true beauty is and what beautiful means to us really goes down to love, right? So the more that we can love ourselves and...
give ourselves what we need in the form of inspiration, in the form of advice, and in the form of being able to, as women, take care of ourselves and make the money that we need for ourselves, for our families, for our communities to thrive. This is what SheLeads Media and the SheLeads conferences are all about. It's also what the podcast network is about, and my podcast, the one that you're listening to right now, Sugar Coated, it's what it's all about.
Okay, so talking about the conference is what I wanted to do today. So that was just a little preamble, a little backstory of, you know, how we got to where we are today, which is hosting and producing the She Leads Live 2023 conference in New York City. The conference is taking place on December 1st. So that is a Friday. It's all day.
And we have about 20 different speakers. And the theme this year is all about visibility. So visibility for women entrepreneurs, what you need to do in order to prepare yourself for visibility, what you need to do in order to get the visibility that you need in order to grow your business. And finally, once you do get that visibility, what do you do with it? And how do you leverage it?
all so that you can grow your business. And so we have incredible sessions planned for the entire day on, again, Friday, December 1st. And before the conference, one of the most special things that we do is we host a VIP evening. So the night before, on Thursday, November 30th, from 5.30 to 9 p.m., we will be at
Adrienne Garland (07:53.974)
a VIP evening. This evening is going to be incredibly special. And there are only a couple of spots left. So if you do want to attend the VIP evening, please purchase your ticket ASAP on sheleadsmedia.com. Everything is right there. If you run into any issues, please let me know. But it's pretty simple.
So go ahead and purchase that ticket for the VIP evening if you have any interest in going whatsoever. And I think after I tell you what it's all about, you'll want to grab that ticket. The VIP evening is hosted by the absolutely incredible, inspirational, just intelligent, beautiful, creative person, Cheryl Eisen. She is known as the celebrity
And what her business, which is called Integrated Marketing Group, does is they stage multimillion dollar properties for sale. So it truly is a marketing approach, a marketing for these luxury residences. So Cheryl has tons of projects all over the country and some international locations as well.
But what she does is she works with the different property managers and the owners of the residences in order to create an interior that is set for sale. So she creates these incredible environments that are warm and welcoming and stunning and luxurious.
and all of the things that you can imagine a multimillion dollar properties interior looks like, so that they sell more quickly. The work that she does and her team is extraordinary. She not only sources different pieces and furniture and artwork, but she also commissions things. She has things constructed.
Adrienne Garland (10:10.962)
It's truly inspirational and it just goes to show what someone can do when they have a vision and they have the enthusiasm and the dedication. So Cheryl Eisen and her company are incredible sources of inspiration for me and I think for...
many of the other women that have attended the VIP evening with Cheryl in the past. So again, this year, the VIP evening is taking place on November 30th. It will again be at a multimillion dollar property in the Tribeca neighborhood of New York City. And for anybody that comes in, that's coming from out of town, we can...
you know, stay over, I'm staying over in a hotel in New York City. It's an investment that I truly believe that you want to make for yourself. Um, so that after the VIP evening is over, you can, uh, in a relaxed way, uh, go back to your hotel and then get ready for the conference. The next day, you will have met some incredible women that you can network with even more.
of the next day during the conference. So again, on December 1st of this year, it's coming up soon, I believe at this point that I'm recording, we're about 17 days away. So December 1st is the She Leads Live 2023 conference taking place at 675 Hudson Street. And we have an incredible keynote speaker, Betty Hines, who is the
CEO and founder of Women Elevating Women, which is an organization that works very closely with women's presidents organization. For those of you who know what that organization is all about. So those two organizations work together and Betty is an inspirational person that does a lot of work to help women entrepreneurs to grow their businesses and to thrive.
Adrienne Garland (12:26.082)
We also have panels on platforms that help you to increase your visibility. We have our flagship panel called Pitch the Media with some of the most incredible journalists and editors that you will ever be able to meet. This is a rare opportunity to get in front of actual journalists from the BBC, from Black Enterprise Magazine, from Marie Claire.
from Forbes and from Shape. We also have an international guest who's a moderator. She has her own publication called About Time Magazine that reaches thousands and thousands of people. So we're excited that she'll be able to be moderating the panel. We also have a lightning keynote by somebody who was one of the originators of
programming at MTV back in the day. So cannot wait to hear from that speaker. We also have a beautiful panel on mental and physical wellness for busy entrepreneurs because we do need to take care of ourselves in order to get this visibility and continue to grow our business. So super excited about that. We have other panels on what you need to do to increase sales for your business growth.
what the impact of purpose-driven content creation is on your business growth. And finally, we have a hysterical closing keynote with Carol Montgomery. She is a comedian and one of the funniest people that I have met, so cannot wait to unleash her goodness on all of us. So that is a day. It's going to be packed
It's also going to be packed with yummy delicious healthy food snacks coffee breaks and lots of room for networking so Come on out to the she leads live conference that's taking place on December 1st In New York City and do the right thing, you know invest in yourself
Adrienne Garland (14:48.038)
invest in creating relationships with some of the people that are going to be in the room with the speakers. Every single speaker that attends this conference is dedicated to helping women entrepreneurs. And so this is not one of those conferences that you go to and the superstar comes out on stage and leaves and leaves the conference and goes off and does something else. The speakers stay.
The speakers are also part of the audience. It's their desire to really help women. And so they stay, take advantage of the journalists that are there. You might not ever have an opportunity to actually speak to an editor from Marie Claire magazine. So I would say that attending the She Leads Conference is probably one of the best things that you can do for your business.
And I also just want to give a little bit of a real life example of that. So last year during the Pitch with Media panel, we had an incredible freelance journalist. She works for a multitude of publications. She's also a bestselling author. Her name is Aline Pofelt. She's written several books that are focused on entrepreneurship. And we had somebody who got up in front of the Pitch with Media panel and told her story. And PS.
Her name is Jennifer Dawn, who also has a podcast on the She Leads Podcast Network called Happy Productive. Tune in. But Jennifer Dawn got up in front of that media panel and captivated the attention of Elaine Pofelt, who then wrote an article about her for Forbes magazine. So that is a direct outcome, a tangible outcome that is incredibly positive, that has brought
much attention to Jennifer Dawn's business. And that happened at She Leads Media. Jennifer probably would have not gotten that opportunity in any other place. I also heard a story, a couple of stories. I heard a story from someone who attended one of the early conferences that was called WomanCon, where we had a visualization by another incredible woman.
Adrienne Garland (17:12.054)
And during this visualization, this particular person, whose name is Haley Foster, who is also speaking at She Leads, sort of had a visualization experience that changed the trajectory of her professional life. And it was sort of in that moment at the conference.
that Haley decided what she was going to move forward with and she brought it to life. And she has a very successful community that is thriving. And again, it's also to help to support women, women entrepreneurs. It's called Foster Women, and I am a member of that incredible group. Again, highly recommend joining. So that is another outcome.
Other outcomes, there are women that actually met each other on the pitch, the media panel, and one is a public relations professional, or actually they're both public relations professional. One is also a producer at one of the top networks that is based in New York City. I don't want to mention what that is, but so the both of them.
really hit it off. And so now they have co-developed a program where they're helping people to get media ready. And they're also hosting some of their own different workshops and events. And they are, like I said, they're collaborating and they're earning revenue from this collaboration. And they met on stage at the She Leads Live conference last year. So those are just three examples just from
the conference last year and also from the origins of the conference, I have hundreds of other stories about people that have formed lifelong friendships with one another, that have developed partnerships together, that have gotten media attention, that have sold products, that have secured sponsorships. The list goes on and on and on. So be in the room.
Adrienne Garland (19:27.294)
the opportunity zone, if you will, with some of these women. I mean, can you imagine being in the room with Cheryl Isen, who is a multimillion dollar business owner that has built her business from the ground up? It's not often that you get to learn from somebody like that and be able to have a one-on-one conversation. So the opportunities are numerous.
It's also what you make of those opportunities. I highly recommend attending the She Leads Live conference. I'm incredibly biased because it is my conference, but we have put this conference together so that these magical moments happen. We facilitate the gathering and we curate the day so that those colliding moments of magic are sure.
to happen. So again, I am Adrienne Garland. I am one of the producers of the She Leads Live Conference. I have brought on a co-producer for this year. Her name is Tori Barker. She also does have a podcast called Creative Visionaries that's on the She Leads Podcast Network. And she has been giving me everything that she's got to help co-produce this conference. And I am incredibly grateful.
And just a little bit more about me in case you don't know me through this sugar-coated podcast I am dedicated to women entrepreneurs. I am an instructor of entrepreneurship at NYU the Tisch Center for Hospitality. I also teach a live class at Rice University in the Jones School of Business online MBA program, which was just
ranked again for the fifth year in a row as the number one online entrepreneurship program in the country. I could not be more grateful to be part of that success. I teach a class there that is all about launching businesses while reducing risk. I also take students on international trips. I'm a faculty member, one of the
Adrienne Garland (21:48.85)
many faculty members, but I specifically am in the online MBA program faculty member. I take the online MBA students to different countries supported by the incredible Rice staff, but take them to different countries and they work on consulting projects with local startup businesses. So the PS to all of this is I've seen a lot of different businesses, not only in the US, but also around the world.
And so I have a real good understanding of some of the, of all of the issues that can come up and arise when we're talking about entrepreneurship. And so through that lens, I believe that I have a really unique perspective and know what some of the challenges are, the really big challenges that entrepreneurs face, but also that specifically women entrepreneurs face.
So again, come out to She Leads Live, meet me, meet Tori, meet Cheryl, meet the rest of the speakers, meet the rest of the attendees, and I promise that you will take away something that is tangible that can help you to grow your business in 2024. Go to sheleadsmedia.com and click on She Leads Live 2023.
where all the information is, where all the speakers are, where the agenda is, and where you can purchase your tickets. So do it now. And please, if you have any comments or questions, do not hesitate to email me at adrianne at sheleadsmedia.com. I will see you at She Leads Live.