Wonder Woman in Business, Charisse Curiel

Charisse Curiel

Charisse Curiel, EMBA is a mom of two boys, a wife, and a marketing professional with nearly 20 years’ experience spanning several industries.

Currently, Charisse is the Digital Marketing Manager for Leopard Solutions, a woman owned law firm intelligence and attorney data company serving the legal industry. Leopard Solutions’ is the largest and most accurate law firm data platform with actionable intelligence and insights on over 4,200 law firms worldwide and 7,000 US corporate legal departments. One of the company’s latest product release is the Leopard Law Firm Index and the inclusion of a diversity tool incorporated into two legacy products, The Leopard List and Firmscape, also coming soon to Leopard In House. The Leopard diversity tool helps legal recruiters fill their talent pipeline with more women and attorneys of color; it also allows for corporate counsel and law firm management to keep an informed eye on diversity. Charisse joined Leopard Solutions in March 2018, managing all digital assets and creating almost all of the content for the company.

Prior to joining Leopard Solutions, Charisse was an account manager in luxury goods for nearly 15 years, as well as, the co-owner and marketer of a family-owned wine bar in Brooklyn. That experience further taught her to connect with people on both a personal and digital level creating a following of neighbors and community leaders that still attribute the rise of East Bedford Stuyvesant to the work she and her family put into creating a new business in a long forgotten area of Bedford Stuyvesant.

Enjoy the podcast.

Charisse Curiel

Connect with Charisse

Charisse Curiel, EMBA
Marketing Manager

212.430.8536
charisse@leopardsolutions.com

LinkedIn  |  Twitter  |  HotSpot News

Subscribe to our newsletter here.

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Wonder Woman in Business, Patrice Tanaka

Patrice Tanaka

Joyful Planet

Patrice Tanaka is a best-selling author, public speaker on business and life purpose, serial entrepreneur and co-founder of three award-winning, PR & Marketing agencies and the consultancy, Joyful Planet, focused on helping individuals and organizations discover and actively live their purpose to unleash greater success, fulfillment and joy in their personal lives, workplaces and communities. Life and organizational purpose are the subjects of Patrice’s best-selling books, Beat the Curve and Performance360. Patrice has been honored by PRWeek (Hall of Fame inductee), PRSA Foundation (Paladin Award), PRSA (Paul M. Lund Award for Public Service), New York Women in Communications (Matrix Award), Working Mother magazine (“Mothering that Works” Award), Girl Scouts of Greater New York (“Women of Distinction” Award), University of Hawaii (“Distinguished Alumni Award), among others. Patrice has lived in New York City for most of her adult life, but calls Hawaii “home” and she is committed to living her life with the “Aloha Spirit.”

Patrice was born and raised in Hawaii then moved to NYC in her early 20’s. She considers NYC home, but even FAR AWAY from Hawaii tries to live her life with the ALOHA SPIRIT. After a 35+ year career in PR, co-founding 3 award-winning agencies she started her consultancy, Joyful Planet LLC. She is very involved in different “communities,” including Girl Scouts GNY, Dancing Classrooms, Phelophepa Train of Hope in South Africa, Diversity Action Alliance, NY Women in Communications, Women’s Forum NY

One of her favorite professional accomplishments is having lead a group of colleagues in a management buyback to start an employee-owned PR agency, PT&Co. and building it by focusing on our “business purpose” – to create GREAT WORK, GREAT WORKPLACE, GREAT COMMUNITIES THAT WORK. This business purpose-focused and drove our start-up agency to be recognized WITHIN 8 YEARS as…#1 MOST CREATIVE AND #2 BEST WORKPLACE among all PR agencies in the U.S.

Over the past 5 years, her proudest accomplishment has been:

• Helping thousands of people gain greater clarity about their life and leadership purpose so they can leverage their talent, expertise, and passion in service of other people and our planet.

• My vision is 7.7 BILLION PEOPLE living their life purpose and helping to create a more joyful planet. Joyful Planet is both my vision and the name of my consultancy

• Because discovering and living your life purpose is a “competitive advantage” in business and life, I’m focused on helping groups that could REALLY BENEFIT from having a competitive advantage like WOMEN, GIRLS, COLLEGE STUDENTS, PEOPLE OF COLOR, YOUNG PEOPLE STARTING OUT IN THEIR JOBS/CAREERS.

Patrice considers Desmond Tutu, an Anglican cleric who won a Nobel Peace Prize as one of her greatest inspirations for his tireless work as an anti-apartheid and human rights activist. She had the pleasure of meeting him through my work for the Phelophepa Train of Hope in SA. Desmond Tutu and his wife Leah are Honorary Patrons for the Phelophepa, two 19-car trains that travel throughout SA delivering primary health care to REMOTE, underserved areas of the country. What she didn’t know until she met Desmond Tutu is how “overflowing with joy” he is as a human. He is the embodiment of JOY! He inspires me because although he’s EXPERIENCED AND fought AGAINST the brutality of Apartheid he is a bubbling, GURGLING fountain of JOY!

Patrice personally has the strongly held belief that women should lift each other up and believes that achieving GENDER EQUITY is the GREATEST CHALLENGE OF OUR LIFETIME. We must SEAT MORE women at every LEADERSHIP TABLE. We can best achieve this by creating a STRONG SISTERHOOD of WOMEN, helping one other obtain seats at these leadership tables. She is a big believer in “sisterhood” – women helping women to succeed. That is why she has always been involved in women’s organizations to foster a “sisterhood.”

• Patrice belongs to the following organizations that lift women:

  • Girl Scouts (she has been a Girl Scout since she was 5 years old!)

  • Women’s Forum NY

  • New York Women in Communications

  • Asian Pacific American Women’s Leadership Institute/CAPAW

One of Patrice’s biggest challenges in starting and growing a business involved successfully winning new business. However, she has succeeded. She believes you can make this happen in two mutually reinforcing ways:

• Building a reputation for doing great work and, at the same time

• Building your network of support – and always be contributing to that network so when you reach out, support will be there for you. Most of the business she won at her PR agencies was through one and often BOTH of these MUTUAL REINFORCING strategies. She won some of our BIGGEST CLIENTS THIS WAY: Avon, Charles Schwab & Co., Dyson, Godiva, Liz Claiborne, Microsoft, Target, Wyndham Hotels, Wines from Rioja (Spain) 

FUN FACTS: a ballroom dancer and has won championships and she wrote a book about this called, “Becoming Ginger Rogers.” 

Enjoy the podcast.

Patrice Tanaka

Connect with Patrice:

Patrice Tanaka l Founder & Chief Joy Officer

Joyful Planet LLC
One River Place  #2610
New York, New York 10036

Email Patrice@JoyfulPlanet.com

Social: LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram

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Freeman Means Business

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Wonder Woman in Business, Carol Ross-Burnett

Carol Ross-Burnett

Carol Ross-Burnett is CEO of CRB Global LLC offering diversity, equity and inclusion (“DEI”) consulting, advising and coaching to individuals, groups and organizations. She most recently served as Senior Advisor, Diversity & Inclusion (“D&I”) Strategic Partnerships at Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton, LLP, a full-service, global law firm with eleven offices in the U.S. and four international offices. In that position, she worked closely with executive leadership; partners; professional, administrative and support staff; clients and other external constituents to collaborate and partner around D&I.

Ms. Ross-Burnett was originally hired with director-level responsibilities for Sheppard Mullin’s nascent diversity and inclusion initiatives, a role that she held for ten years. During that time, she helped to position Sheppard Mullin as a D&I thought leader in the legal profession. The firm now regularly earns top client awards and law firm rankings for D&I, including a preeminent industry award in 2019. Ms. Ross-Burnett was awarded the firm’s 2020 Diversity & Inclusion Award for her outstanding leadership and contributions.

Before joining Sheppard Mullin, Ms. Ross-Burnett was a law school assistant dean of career services and multicultural affairs, and principal in her first consulting practice. She is a seasoned speaker, experienced trainer and workshop facilitator, and published author who has served in DEI leadership roles with many local, state and national associations and organizations. These include the Association of Law Firm Diversity Professionals, the American Bar Association, the California State Bar, the Los Angeles County Bar, and the National Association for Law Placement. She currently serves on the board of California LAW Pathways, a statewide diversity pipeline program that provides instruction and guidance to underrepresented students through high school, community college, undergraduate school, and as they enter law school. 

A woman of many talents, Ms. Ross-Burnett is also a singer, songwriter and music producer who holds an annual workshop in Los Angeles for singers, songwriters, authors and speakers; she also hosts workshops for women. In addition to speaking and writing in the area of diversity, equity and inclusion, she will shortly earn the top designation of Distinguished Toastmaster, and her publications include stories in the Chicken Soup for the African American Soul and Chicken Soup for the African American Woman’s Soul books..

A lifelong learner, Ms. Ross-Burnett recently began her doctoral studies in Organizational Change & Leadership at the University of Southern California. She is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of California at Berkeley and also holds a 60-unit master's degree in counseling with honors from San Francisco State University. She received a certificate of completion from the Leadership Development in Interethnic Relations (LDIR) community program in Los Angeles, and recently completed a training intensive for professional coaches.

Enjoy the podcast.

Carol Ross-Burnett

 Contact Carol

Carol Ross-Burnett

Trusted DEI Advisor|Corporate & 

Personal Coach|Speaker & Author

 323.435.1916

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Freeman Means Business

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Wonder Woman in Business, Neha Sampat

Neha Sampat, Esq.

Neha Sampat, Esq. is CEO and founder of GenLead|BelongLab, where she focuses on building belonging and true inclusion. Through consulting, training, speaking, and coaching, she helps organizations create peak‐performance, inclusive teams by addressing hidden barriers to belonging, such as internalized bias, unconscious bias, generational diversity, distrust in teams, and wellness challenges. She is a nationally sought-after expert on disrupting Imposter Syndrome and runs the top-rated “Owning Your Value” program to develop inclusive leadership.

Neha’s insights have been featured in numerous publications, including Time Magazine, Thrive Global, ABA Journal, and News India Times. Neha holds BAs in Sociology and Political Science from University of Illinois at Urbana‐Champaign, obtained her JD from UC Berkeley School of Law, holds a Certificate in Graduate Applied Psychology, and is certified in Hogan Assessments. Neha works across industry, from Pixar to Perkins Coie LLP, and UC Berkeley to City of San Leandro. Neha also relishes her role as mama to her two kiddos. You can read more of Neha’s insights at blog.genlead.co, follow her on TW/IG/FB at @belonglab, and reach her directly at neha@genlead.co. 

As mentioned in the podcast:

Get comfortable with being uncomfortable - Luvvie Ajayi's TED Talk

Neha, in print:

On her childhood and the seeds of her drive to create belonging:

Growing Up Brown in America: When Every Day is Halloween

What It Means to Be American: My Journey from "Other" to "Us"

On Imposter Syndrome as a stress and mental health issue:

Your Chronic Stress: It's a Matter of Confidence, Not Competence

A call to deal with imposter syndrome, a hidden source of attorney distress

On Neha's career journey:

Legal Career Spotlight: From Private Practice to Dean of Students to Belonging Consultant

Enjoy the podcast.

Neha Sampat

Connect with Neha and learn more about her work:

www.genlead.co

hello@genlead.co

blog.genlead.co

Send a message to connect on LinkedIn

 https://www.linkedin.com/in/nsampat/

Follow on TW/FB/IG

@belonglab

To periodically receive free tips and insights on belonging, leadership, and Imposter Syndrome, visit: https://bit.ly/GLBLemail

To stay posted on upcoming cohorts of her online Owning Your Value course, visit: https://bit.ly/OYVonlineinterest

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Wonder Women in Business Ally, Ari Kaplan

Ari Kaplan

Ari Kaplan, an attorney and legal industry analyst, is an inaugural Fastcase 50 honoree, a fellow of the College of Law Practice Management, and a finalist for the International Legal Technology Association’s Thought Leader of the Year award. He is the author of Reinventing Professional Services: Building Your Business in the Digital Marketplace (Wiley, 2011) and The Opportunity Maker: Strategies for Inspiring Your Legal Career Through Creative Networking and Business Development (West Academic, 2nd Ed. 2016). Kaplan serves as the principal researcher for a variety of widely distributed benchmarking reports, has been the keynote speaker for events worldwide, and is the founder of the Lawcountability® business development software platform and iPhone app. He is an avid swimmer, a self-taught, beginner-level python coder, and a two-time Ironman triathlon finisher.

Contact Ari

Ari Kaplan Advisors LLC
576 Fifth Avenue, Suite 903
New York, NY 10036

(646) 641-0600

Ari@AriKaplanAdvisors.com

Enjoy the podcast.

Ari Kaplan

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Wonder Woman in Business Laura Bocquillon

Laura Bocquillon

Laura Bocquillon is Head of Marketing and Operations at Ulule's North American headquarters based in Montreal. Ulule is the leading impact crowdfunding platform. Her main focus is to empower entrepreneurs and creators move from idea to action, with the goal of supporting the birth of solutions that will fuel a more diverse and sustainable world.

Prior to this role, Laura worked in Paris on bringing cultural experiences online with the Google Cultural Institute and France's largest online cultural media, Artips. 

Enjoy the podcast.

Laura Bocquillon

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