Mind the Ceiling

She launched the first female-founded distillery in NYC and was the first solo female distiller in the United States. Within five years of the launch, she formed a strategic partnership with Proximo Spirits, and finally sold the company to launch mission-driven Rockaway Drinks.
Meet Bridget Firtle, a serial entrepreneur and investor in a highly male dominated industry-- spirits. Even if your industry of choice is different, everyone has a lot to learn from Bridget. On the show, she talks about confidence and how she cultivated her own from an early age. Bridget also shares important tips about finances-- personal and for any new business. With a hurdle-heavy path to purpose, Bridget reflects on some of the toughest personal challenges she faced in her career that have shaped her life today. Listen in to hear how you can harness the power of your purpose and discover the tips ceiling breakers have used to find success.
Follow Bridget: @bridgetcfirtle
Follow Rockaway Drinks: @drinkrockaway
Quotes We Keep In Mind
"A lot of times you're more smart, more prepared, and more capable than the person you're sitting across the table from."
"So anytime that I'm doubting myself, I'm constantly having conversations with myself. And I'll say like, Okay, I'm not ready to make a decision on this yet, but keep talking to yourself about it. Stay calm, and you will get clarity on the decision. And then you'll have a decision."
"Humility is important, no matter how capable you are."
Let's break ceilings! Join the movement:
MIND THE CEILING LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/company/mindtheceiling

MIND THE CEILING INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/mindtheceiling

MIND THE CEILING SHOWNOTES: http://mindtheceiling.com

She's utilizing her legal degree to fight against today's hardest issues: criminal justice and sustainability.
Meet Tahda Ahtone, lawyer, entrepreneur, prosecutor, attorney, proud mother, and advocate of the side hustle.
After graduating high school at age 16, as an Olympic fencing hopeful, Tahda hit a crossroads in her career, one that changed her trajectory forever. Along the way, she cultivated authentic tactics to network and genuinely connecting with others-- creating relationships that would serve her and her business, years after. On the show, she dives into how she leverages her legal skills, network, and alliances to build her business in an industry dominated by men. Listen in to hear how you can harness the power of your purpose and discover the tips ceiling breakers have used to find success.
Follow Tahda on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tahdaaahtone/
Quotes We Keep In Mind:
"It takes a lot of hard work, that sometimes is painful, but it's worth it. Getting hit or slapped by a saber does not feel good. But getting to walk away with the victory is definitely worth it."
"It helped me to understand the power of people like me, people of color, being in those positions and able to help their people because I was able to, as a prosecutor, take a much more humanitarian stance."
"Society pushes that we [women] should be competing with each other. When really, if we would join together in our networks, we can help lift each other up a lot faster than if we see each other as competition."

Not only the first woman to have her own opinion column in the Chicago Sun-Times, one of America's top newspapers, but Debra Pickett also managed to snag the role a few years after her undergrad. But Debra's early success came from an important realization: Doing “good work” is not enough-- there is a crucial aspect of self-promotion, says award-winning television and print journalist. Debra explains how to authentically self-promote through recognizing your self-worth, something many of us forget to do all too often. In the rooms where decisions happen, her sense of self-worth represents not just her but all the people who look like her and don't have a spot in the room. Listen in to hear how you can harness the power of your purpose and discover the tips ceiling breakers have used to find success.

Quotes We Keep In Mind
"I've been lucky enough to do that [break ceilings] a couple of times in my career."
"You have that added responsibility for being at the top of your game and delivering excellence because it's not just coming from me, but it's coming from me, as a representative of someone who's different from them."
"You know that's the life lesson: You're not going to be number one at everything. But you can find something, and you can find that track if you just dig into it."
MIND THE CEILING LINKEDIN COMMUNITY: https://www.linkedin.com/company/mindtheceiling
MIND THE CEILING INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/mindtheceiling

MIND THE CEILING SHOWNOTES: http://mindtheceiling.com

How do you build the world you want to live in? Not only does Nathalie Molina Niño, technologist, investor, writer, and all-around advocate, have an answer but she is taking steps to create that just world. From day one, Nathalie has been relentless in using every opportunity given to her, from brokering deals to buy her first car, which led to her first business, to using her success to advise multinational companies and foundations, influencing the global economy. On the show, Nathalie dives into how you can find success while still pushing for justice and how storytelling has been her superpower even in the tech and investing industries. Listen in to hear how you can harness the power of your purpose and discover the tips ceiling breakers have used to find success.
Follow Nathalie on Twitter: @NathalieMolina
Instagram: @nathaliemolinanino
Quotes We Keep In Mind
“I stopped using the word empowerment, a while ago, because it reminds me of things like when people talk about giving voice to the voiceless. No one is voiceless right? And what we need to be doing is removing the things that are silencing them.”
“My culture is a big part of where my power is.”
“You can fall into a place of complacency and just be like well that's just how it's always been. That's hopelessness at work and that's in some ways the culture that keeps people marginalized.”
Join the Mind The Ceiling Movement:
MIND THE CEILING LINKEDIN COMMUNITY: https://www.linkedin.com/company/mindtheceiling
MIND THE CEILING INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/mindtheceiling
MIND THE CEILING SHOWNOTES: http://mindtheceiling.com

She built her career on her core beliefs, fighting for fairness and civil liberties, leading to her pivotal role as the President of the ACLU through both the Trump and Obama Administrations.
Meet Susan Herman, inaugural Ruth Bader Ginsburg Professor of Law at Brooklyn Law School.
Susan has always been a fighter, battling a sexist American education system as early as third grade. She opens up about how she was perceived as a woman pursuing a law education in the 1960s when university doors were just opening for women students. Susan shares tips on dealing with controversy on both a personal and national level, diving into how she led a national organization during such a tumultuous time. Listen in to hear how you can harness the power of your purpose and discover the tips ceiling breakers have used to find success.
Follow Susan on Twitter: @Susan_N_Herman
Quotes We Keep In Mind
“I put myself in the way of that luck.”
"I just really felt for people who were being treated as if they didn't matter. They can't do that to you. They can't tell you who to be and that you're not important."
"You don't become a successful woman by trying to imitate being a man. You figure out, you know, there are a lot of women who are soft-spoken, but they're going to get their words in."
MIND THE CEILING LINKEDIN COMMUNITY: https://www.linkedin.com/company/mindtheceilingMIND THE CEILING

INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/mindtheceilingMIND THE CEILING
SHOWNOTES: http://mindtheceiling.com