The 10 Most Innovative Women Changing the Face of Business 2022

4. LEADRSHIP IS GENDER NEUTRAL Different leaders define leadership in their ways. According to Rear Admiral Grace Murray Hopper. "You manage things; you lead people." For Jack Welch, "Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others." Also, for Peter Drucker, "Leadership is lifting a person's vision to high sights, the raising of a person's performance to a higher standard, the building of a personality beyond its normal limitations." There are many more definitions of leadership. However, none of these defines the gender of a leader. It is the result that matters ultimately. Since the early 21st century, organizations have realized that irrespective of gender, they need strong leadership to survive the ever-competitive market. If an organization is making huge strides in its journey and its employees are paid well to raise their families, are they bothered that it is a woman who made it possible? Probably not! ?????????????????? WBEC Metro NY & WBEC Greater DMV President & CEO Editor's Note Presently, women are making huge strides in almost all sectors with their creativity, leadership, skills, and problem-solving abilities. Their leadership has been proven instrumental to various organizations' success. In this edition of "The 10 Most Innovative Women Changing The Face of Business 2022", we have curated a list of innovative women leaders setting new benchmarks for excellence in their respective domains. On the Cover Story, we have Sandra P. Eberhard, the President, and CEO of the WBEC Metro NY & WBEC Greater DMV, two of the 14 regional affiliates of the Women's Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC), the nation's leading advocate of women-owned businesses and third-party certification organization. Sandra started her professional career as a mathematics teacher. The problem-solving techniques she designed for her students and project manager certification prepared Sandra for her move to the corporate world. So, what are you waiting for? Delve into more inspiring stories of successful women business leaders who are changing the face of business. Sonal K Editor

5. Editor In Cheif Sonal K Managing Editor Ehsan Jami Publishing Control Team Alexis, Michael Visualiser Mary Chars Art and Design Head Stephan Wood Art And Design Assistant Anushka Bhosle Art and Pictures Editor Namrata Chaure Business Development Manager Kenneth Lyods Marketing Manager Chirs Philip Business Development Executive Maria, Wilson, Martina, Alex, Kelvin Technical Head Jacob Smile Assistant Technical Head Alina Sege Digital Marketing Manager Jennifer Parker Assistant Digital Marketing Manager David King Research Analyst Earl Lewis Circulation Manager Scoot Taylor sales@theincmagazine.com The Inc Magazine Rochester, New York- 14602, United State Phone- +1 [217]503-4344 Info@theincmagazine.com Follow us www.facebook.com/theincmagazine/ www.twitter.com/theincmagazine/ www.linkedin.com/company/theincmagazine Copyright© 2022 The Inc Magazine www.theincmagazine.com

6. C O V E R S T O R Y 08 Sandra P. Eberhard Helping Women Led Businesses Thrive ARTI ARTICLE Anna Stépanoff 20 Wild Code School is reinforcing Women Tech Posi�ons on the Market

7. C O N T E T S 12 Danielle lafond Ensuring quality with innovative sampling kit 16 Aimee Ravichandran Helping Authors to Succeed 24 Kim grennan Meet the Leader behind a Disruptor in the Digital Marke�ng Landscape 30 Margaret graziano Helping to Change Workplace Culture

8. The 10 Most Innovative Women Changing the Face of Business 2022 Helping Women Led Businesses Thrive M two of the 14 regional affiliates of the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC), the nation’s leading advocate of women-owned businesses and third-party certification organization. During her tenure as Executive Director, her organization has seen more than 157% growth in the number of certified businesses. The firm has developed and delivered tools, resources, information, and connections for high growth and impact to women-owned businesses of all ethnicities. eet Sandra P. Eberhard, the President, and CEO of the WBEC Metro NY & WBEC Greater DMV Inc. Helping Women-Owned Businesses Sandra started her professional career as a mathematics teacher. The problem-solving techniques she designed for her students, along with project manager certification, prepared Sandra for her move to the corporate world. Before joining WPEO-DC in 2011, Sandra worked as an Asset Manager for a major healthcare company’s northeast region, she managed all leased and owned facilities and administrative sales shared service operations in the northeast. Sandra approved and arranged for financing of capital spending plans, consistent with financial objectives, in addition to developing programs for efficiency gains and delivering them nationwide. Additionally, Sandra was also responsible for the fulfilment of member collateral, working with marketing, sales, and external vendors to deliver materials just in time to the homes of all insured in the northeast market. Sandra has also received the Chairman Award for performance excellence during the crisis of 9/11. Sandra has always been an advocate of women’s issues and she is a trained Crisis Intervention Counsellor. She was a member, then President of the New York Women’s Agenda- a coalition of women’s organizations affiliated with over 100 organizations dedicated to improving the lives of women and their families in New York City. It is this experience with local businesses, years of corporate operational efficiencies, and passion to support women that led Sandra to WBEC Metro NY and Greater DMV Inc., 2 regional affiliates of WBENC the nation’s leading advocate of women-owned businesses and third-party certification. As an affiliate organization of WBENC, Sandra’s organization’s core offering is certifying women-owned businesses that are at least 51% owned and operated by women so they can contract with Fortune 1000 corporations. These businesses must not only remain open but scale and grow their capabilities to meet corporate needs as well as provide employment to their local communities. Sandra and her colleagues offer business development programs with curriculums that help them achieve that growth and scale. Program content and connections are facilitated at the local and national levels and delivered by Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) in the corporate and business arena. The organization also nurtures alliances of community experts that can support businesses at the appropriate time in the life cycle. Most importantly, Sandra and her team deliver all their programs through a cultural lens. They embrace the diversity of the women in their network and present tools, resources, and information to them as it meets their demographic and psychographics. The Greatest Accomplishment As a lifelong learner and believer in adapting to new thoughts, Sandra is still working towards that 08 www.theincmagazine.com

9. “greatest accomplishment”. She does know it will be a combination of her definition of success in life and career, and when she will be able to answer the question, “Does Hope Rise when I walk into a room” with an affirmative response. Tackling Biggest Failures While starting, Sandra thought that it was all up to her to win or lose. There were times when she could have utilized her teams in better ways. She has learned that she doesn’t have to have all the answers and can depend on her team to meet goals. Sandra has also realized that allowing compensation to drive career choices and personal goals rather than purpose and meaning don’t lead to happiness. It took her a while, but she is finally in a place professionally where she has both drive and passion for the work. Sandra P. Eberhard President & CEO What Success Looks Like Sandra believes, as the leader of the organization, success means being the premier facilitator in empowering women-owned businesses by creating an environment, which is inclusive, trusted, and ever-evolving to better serve its audiences. Specifically, success means being the thought-leader and the real-life catalyst in areas like social capital, human capital, infrastructure, finance, culture, and policy awareness and increasing the visibility of these women business owners locally and nationally. In recent years, Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) have been non-financial factors that play an ever-increasing part in the analysis of businesses’ material risks and growth potential. Sandra would like to create a program, that takes businesses from the basics to comprehensive sustainability, not only giving them a competitive advantage but, increasing their impact on the local economy. Promoting community-based business to visibility where others will use their services and/or products which will help growth and economic impact. Implementing New Ideas Sandra would like to work closely with schools and universities in her organization’s territory to introduce and support entrepreneurship, respectively, and provide help to students who want to start their businesses. Also, utilize these students to support women-owned businesses, providing students with real work experience before they enter the workforce. 09 www.theincmagazine.com

12. F Inc. specializes in manufacturing sterile sampling solution for transport and laboratory analysis. Under the leadership of its current President, Danielle Lafond, the organization got reoriented from its earliest years towards agri-food and international markets, which eventually allowed Danielle to position the firm to achieve constant growth over the years. Previously LABPLAS served the clinical market, then the agri-food market opened up, offering much more promising business potential. Over the years, Danielle and her team at LABPLAS have gradually developed several other markets in fields where ever sample security is essential. Founded in 1987, LABPLAS DANIELLE LAFOND LABPLAS INC |President Danielle believes, through businesses and targeted shows, she and her team have been able to listen to the users in the laboratory industry, both in Canada and abroad. As an organization, LABPLAS has created a strong partnership with its distributors, focusing on transparency and communication. It has also relied on colorful, playful, and intelligent marketing, which appeals to the human side of LABPLAS’s scientific clientele. The Steadfast Leader Described as authentic, approachable, positive, and resilient, Danielle loves to get an opportunity to question herself and the team to go further and to think differently. At LABPLAS, everyone has a voice, and each person can express himself or herself freely; all of the employees of LABPLAS benefit from one another’s input. Danielle likes people, and she likes to know their stories, share their experiences, to establish genuine and respectful relationships that have an honest, solid, and durable foundation. This is also how she conceives the company, and she promotes this philosophy every day, both with the employees and with the suppliers and customers. 12 www.theincmagazine.com

13. The 10 Most Innovative Women Changing the Face of Business 2022 Ensuring quality with innovative sampling kit After studying law, Danielle was in charge of HR and legal affairs in a company for four years, which explains her human approach to business. After discovering a passion for entrepreneurship at the age of 33, Danielle bought back all the shares of the company she had founded with her father in 1987. At that point in time, the company had only one machine developed by its employees. Now with more than 100 employees, LABPLAS sells its products from Quebec, via a network of distributors, to customers in more than 65 countries. LABP- LAS Inc. has been manufacturing sterile sampling products for over 35 years to meet the most demanding safety and compositional analysis needs of the food, pharmaceutical, veterinary, chemical, and environmental industries. 13 www.theincmagazine.com

14. According to Danielle, the decision to take 100 percent control of the company in 1993, gave her greater agility and helped her tune into her feelings. Currently, under Danielle’s leadership, LABPLAS is the second-largest company in the world in its respective sector. Danielle says, “It hasn’t always been easy; it was not obvious how we would find financing and establish our credibility, but we managed to do so and established long-lasting relationships with both our suppliers and our customers – and these relationships have endured for over 30 years.” She also thinks the same is true about LABPLAS’s employees, with many of them now having more than 20 years of seniority with the average length of service being more than 10 years. Tackling Challenges Danielle believes, her team is never completely prepared for challenges, and that’s a good thing. She thinks, knowing too much about the dangers that lie ahead, could paralyze the company and it can become too set in its ways or inflexible in its customer offerings. She says, “You have to stay tuned, surround yourself with the best people, not be afraid to be challenged, and, above all, you must be willing to dare. You can’t control the situa- tion; instead, you have to welcome it and remain resilient.” “Who would have thought that we would be facing a pandemic?”- she added. Achieving Balance Between Heart and Mind For Danielle, success is first and foremost about achieving a balance between heart and mind, between profes- sional and personal life. She believes, it’s about finding a way to be fully present and active in both spheres. And this applies equally to the company: it must move forward, surpass itself and allow the individuals who compose it to surpass themselves and make a difference in society. Future Roadmap Danielle always strives to stay ahead of the clients’ needs by maintaining close contact with them; which is illustrated by the sterile biodegradable sampling bag that the company has developed 14 years ago and which to this day is the only one on the market. When Danielle implemented the first business planning system system in 1995, LABPLAS had only 12 employees. After installing several robots, the company has been working on an new innovation for machine quality control. Thanks to Danielle’s strong leadership, the company continues to develop new products every year and manufacture its production equipment to meet its needs. The company has established a scientific laboratory to ensure the validation of its products and to advance research in microbio- logical analysis. LABPLAS’s team of engineers and computer technicians ensures that the company benefits from advances in methodology, digital technologies, and artificial intelligence, both on the production floor and in all of its other departments and services. 14 www.theincmagazine.com

16. Helping Authors to Succeed M accomplish marketing on a limited budget. promotion services are; managed social media posts, Managed Facebook ads, Amazon ads, and Bargain Booksie ads, Press releases, Keyword research, Facebook live book launch events, Connection to podcast interviews. eet Aimee Ravichandran, the Owner, and founder of Abundantly Social, which understands the need to Aimee grew up in San Antonio, Texas, where she attended UTSA and graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology. During that time, she started working with Houston known Sandy Lawrence, who is the former CEO of Perceptive Public Relations. While working for the organization, Aimee began to learn the ins and outs of social media, and soon she developed a great understanding of managing different types of business social media accounts. However, she didn’t stop there, she went on and took multiple courses and attended social media examiner webinars learning about social media marketing and consulting. Helping Clients Succeed Aimee feels, it is okay to, not be an expert at every social media platform. Being an expert in a few and doing them very well is what is truly important. While knowing how each platform works is necessary, not everyone fits every avenue. Abundantly Social is entirely committed to helping its clients succeed on social media platforms. The firm offers fully managed social media packages for small businesses and authors. Abundantly Social provides everything, one needs to start improving his/her social media presence. Social Media Consultation: Abundantly Social provides social media consultations for authors and small businesses. With years of experience in social media marketing and public relations, Aimee and her team help their clients to form a plan and advises them accordingly. BookPre-Production: Aimee and her team have years of experience helping authors get their books prepared for publishing. The services include; Finding and negotiating with editors, formatters, and cover designers, Assistance in obtaining ISBNs, Assistance in Book Promotion: Abundantly Social offers complete packages to help its clients to promote their books. The firm’s book 16 www.theincmagazine.com

17. The 10 Most Innovative Women Changing the Face of Business 2022 registering with the copyright, LCCN, Uploading to Amazon, Uploading to Ingram Sparks. Membership Programs: Abundantly Social’s membership program was specially curated for authors, where the firm provides weekly training materials and discounts on all of its service bundles. The Secret Sauce of Leadership One of the keys to Abundantly Social's success is the passion with which Aimee engages with her clients. The energy and enthusiasm with which she pursues their goals. Another key to Abundantly Social’'s effectiveness is Aimee’s ability to view many pathways to success. Everyone's journey is unique and being flexible and open to a variety of methods has been a major part of achieving Abundantly Social’s goals. Aimee Ravichandran Abundantly Social | Owner well as the press itself and it has been a wonderful opportunity. The Greatest Accomplishments and Future Roadmap When we asked Aimee about the future of her organization, she says, “Abundantly Social’s acquisition of client accounts with various small presses is our greatest accomplishment. Small businesses like these see the benefit of having Abundantly Social work with all their authors as well as the press itself and it has been a wonderful Aimee feels Abundantly Social’s acquisition of client accounts with various small presses is her and the team’s greatest accomplishment. Small businesses like these see the benefit of having Abundantly Social work with all their authors as 17 www.theincmagazine.com

18. started it off as a quarterly subscription instead of monthly to give it time to grow. opportunity.” Tackling Failures Mission and Vision Aimee believes, her biggest failure thus far is when she created a book box subscription service. Aimee had researched every aspect of how to run it, joined different Facebook support groups and laid what she felt was a strong founda- tion by partnering with local writing organizations. Yet it did not take off how she wanted it to. It just kept requiring more and more money with little to no profit. Aimee wanted it to be successful so badly so that it would help Indie and small press authors, but it just never really took off and she had to shut it down. Aimee learned a lot during that whole process. Aimee loves helping others with what they are passionate about and lets that shine. Doesn’t matter if it is a small business owner that took the leap of faith and started a press, or an author that wants to get their book to be a best seller and get their story out to everyone. For her, the key lesson was the importance of taking more time to create a more thorough busi- ness plan. In hindsight, Aimee feels, she would have taken the time to do a pre-launch campaign to create interest and a strong subscriber base instead of just launching her first box offering right away. Aimee realized the importance of planning so that she could buy wholesale items rather than on a 18 www.theincmagazine.com

20. www.wildcodeschool.com www.wildcodeschool.com STÉPANOFF Wild Cold School | Founder 20 www.theincmagazine.com

21. The 10 Most Innovative Women Changing the Face of Business 2022 More Women in Tech Positions 3 3%, that is the percentage of women among Wild Code School’s students in 2022, and this number is about to grow even more. Tech jobs have never been that valued among young girls, even though our own vocations emerge at a very young age. No surprise that only 17% of women are working in tech, and that there are still a lot of barri- ers for women to work in the IT world. Paradoxically, tech companies increasingly seek women candidates and are starting to value gender diversity among teams. CEO Anna Stépanoff co-founded Wild Code School in 2013, with the idea of creating a new environment of education – where the students could benefit from a personalized training support, but also from a project-based teaching approach thanks to ‘learn- ing-by-doing’. The school promotes gender diversity among its students, to empower women in tech positions! The goal of Anna Stépanoff is to create an educational environment that empowers people, especially women. The school is progressively moving towards gender parity within IT fields by taking actions to facilitate women's access to its training courses. Today, Wild Code School is a leading European tech school offering lifelong learning programs at 20+ campuses, remotely or at company’s offices, and has trained 5,000 alumni in the most in-demand digital skills: web development, data, product management, cybersecurity and no code. In 2017, the initiative Women are Programming aimed to boost women’s tech education by providing scholarships to acquire the hard and soft skills to make it as a tech professional. This was available on Wild Code School’s European campuses, such as: Behind Wild Code School’s Creation: Who is Anna Stépanoff? It all started in Belarus, where Anna is originally from, and where her dream of being a teacher was born. When she benefited from scholarships to go further in her studies, she left her home country at the age 19 to fulfill her ambition. ● Coding Bootcamp Lisbon ● Coding Bootcamp Berlin Another action is the promotion of women partners’ and Wilders’ careers and role models through events, interviews, articles, videos... Anna Stépanoff is one of them: mother of 3 children, and yet CEO of a leading tech school, Entrepreneur, and Regional advisor of the French Centre-Val de Loire Region, she made a successful career: Bachelor of Arts at Harvard University in Social Sciences, PhD on the History of museums at La Sorbonne, Consultant at McKinsey and now CEO at Wild Code School, she went through a lot of learning and working environments before starting an educa- tion business. “Organize your life balance, work and family - with kids specially, they take time and the company takes time. I have 3 kids and that is my everyday challenge, we need to share responsibilities with our partner and father of our kids and be supported. I personally recommend women to be brave, to think that it is possible - I see a lot of women limiting themselves. Just go for it and try things and if it doesn’t work, it is ok!” Her strong belief in education and technology chang- ing lives made her realize three things: there was - and still is - a huge lack of tech talents in the market, women are underrepresented in this field and the straitjacket of education is not adapted to this fast evolving industry. Then came the idea of creating an alternative teaching approach, coupled to technology and aligned with the current businesses’ needs. Followed the birth of Wild Code School’s first campus in 2013, in La Loupe, France. 21 www.theincmagazine.com

22. Technology talents are all around us, that is why the school is encouraging its students to change careers or upskill to fulfill their dreams, and helping companies find their next tech talent. Today, the rate of return to employment for women (86%) is even higher than Wild Code School’s overall rate (82%). Regardless of their initial level or age, female candidates are highly sought after. “I was planning to go into the data analysis field and it turned out that Wild Code School was looking for future students with my profile - and they were ward- ing scholarships for the training. [...] It was a gift of destiny for me. It was exactly what I wanted to do and it came at the right time” - Doriane, a Paris alumni in data analysis “I worked for a few years in a consulting company and wanted to switch to coding. At that time, I discov- ered the initiative Women are Programming on Facebook and decided to apply for the scholarship. I passed the tests and joined Wild Code School for a 5-month web developer training and I am now specializing in front-end development. [...] Wild Code School not only allowed me to discover powerful tech tools and languages, but also gave me all the skills I needed to have a global vision and practical experi- ence in web development and be multi-skilled and totally resourceful in finding a job afterwards.” - Audrey, Brussels alumni in web development Wild Code School’s students and partners prove it everyday: “Go for it! You’re capable, courageous, and just as justified as men. Do it for yourself—but also for future generations. Your choices today will make the difference tomorrow. And if you falter at first, do it again!” - Anne, Talent Acquisition Specialist at Ubisoft Ivory Tower “No more clichés of the pimply-faced geek developer with glasses locked in the dark. Web development is within the reach of anyone who is motivated and invested! As women, we can bring something different to the profession. [...] We sometimes have a sharper eye for the practicality of certain features. We can be an asset to a team and we shouldn't be afraid to take the plunge.” - Sophie, Toulouse alumni in web development “Never hesitate to get started! This is a fast-growing sector and there is a great demand for new recruits. Moreover, you should not be afraid of this environ- ment, which is still predominantly male, otherwise it will remain so and that would be a pity!” - Servanne, a Remote alumni in cybersecurity 22 www.theincmagazine.com

24. ??????????? Axle Eight | Founder & CEO 24 www.theincmagazine.com

25. The 10 Most Innovative Women Changing the Face of Business 2022 ????????????????????????????????????????? ???????????????????????????? ??????????????????????????? More about the Firm As a full-service boutique digital marketing firm, Axle Eight offers a wide range of marketing solu- tions from paid media, content creation, PR, email, and social media services to mid-sized companies. As a service-based business that’s highly commod- itized, it’s hard to differentiate on a completely unique level. H aving mentioned her favourite quote about success, it is only accurate to share how the Founder & CEO of Axle Eight, Kim Grennan, feels about her success, "I’ve always been a “do things differently” type of person. I don’t love going with the grain of things if I can help it and like finding new, better, more fun ways of anything. I think that most entrepreneurs have a big hint of this in their DNA. I have had a lot of help and support from family, friends, my husband, people in my network, even strangers. It’s hard to do anything on your own, so help continues to be key to my personal success." Kim further apprised, “There are not dozens, but hundreds of thousands of people who offer aspects of the services that Axle does. But it’s the people, and our process for how we get things done for our clients, our work quality, and how we pride ourselves on building unique relationships with our clients that set us apart. We like being very person- able, more casual, and results-oriented. We tend to have a human approach to relationships and less of a white-collar business approach. We want to be approachable and transparent while achieving results you’ve only dreamed of.? AS the digital revolution came into the picture in a massive way, the marketing industry saw its vertigi- nous rise and the arrival of new marketing firms with modern techniques that have thrown open new avenues for brands to reach their target audience. Scottsdale-based Axle Eight, a niche digital marketing agency, is one such firm that found its genesis in 2016 as the brainchild of seasoned entrepreneur and market- er Kim Grennan who specializes in strategic planning, start-ups, and web analytics. ??????????? ??????????????????????? ????????????????????????? ??????????????????????? ????????????????????????? ???????????????????? ????????????????????????? ???????????????????????? ??????????????????????????? ?????????????????????????? ??????????? With over a decade of experience as an entrepreneur, Kim has helped build and oversee multiple products and enabled businesses to perfect their road from zero to one. Born in Los Angeles but raised in Arizona, the dignified woman holds a B.S. in Economics from the University of Arizona and an MBA from Loyola University Chicago. Talking about the inspiration behind the inception of Axle Eight, the leading lady stated My background originally began in finance and corporate strategy but my love for creativity is what made me fall in love with marketing. Because unknown to many, marketing is one of the greatest true mixes of analytics and creativity. You need a very diverse set of skills to be broadly functional across all the various components that marketing holds; from design and copywriting to web analytics, technical SEO, and paid media. And I loved that I got to exercise a diversity of skills in this field.” 25 www.theincmagazine.com

26. The Source of Inspiration Kim’s Favourite Book Kim’s favourite book has always been Rich Dad Poor Dad. It’s an old one but a classic! The first time she read it she was 14 and it completely changed her life. It’s funny because she re-read it every year and she is always at a different stage in her life at the time and it provides new insight and perspective just solely based on where she is at that moment while reading it. It’s the book that keeps on giving because it always keeps her motivated in new ways. Future Outlook Kim Grennan has always been attracted to how one could build a business and accomplish financial success through that, and she started Axle Eight with that goal in mind. It has been the most difficult endeavour in her life to date as an entrepreneur, but by far absolutely the most rewarding thing she has ever done. She proudly said that they have the best team around. Kim truly values each and every person along the way who she has had the privilege to call a colleague and a friend. In a service-based business, you're only as successful as the people you surround yourself with. And the team at Axle has been very fortunate in this capacity. A larger team delivering services and results to the right clients in a systematic way that continues to be scalable. They have big growth goals, and luckily, they have never had a year where they haven’t achieved them. Kim plans on not breaking that streak! That keeps things most exciting for her, when they continue to crush their goals then get to create new ones. Clientele & Corporate Ethos Axle works with brands typically with 10-100 employees who are looking to do more with their marketing budget. The team works really well with B2B companies or B2C service-based companies who want to do things differently than the status quos of their respective industries. When it comes to building relationships with the clients, Kim and her entire team put a lot of emphasis on building trust through just being good people, being flexible, and getting results fast. At the end of the day, they are all just humans and they want to work with people who they like. It’s so important for Kim that her team can prove their value and show you that they are approachable, transparent, and are going to make the right calls for your business within the first 30 days. “We want you to fall in love with what we do for you. And the clients we work with love this mentality that we have”, shared Kim Grennan. Hurdles on the Way Axle works to improve their operational efficiencies every single day. It is something that has improved so significantly over the years, but will never stop. There is always room for improvement and we take great pride in sharing ideas amongst the team and having people internally take the lead on new improvement projects, and more! As a marketing agency, how you operate is a big part of your value, so for them it is a living and breathing “challenge” of making this excellent every single day. 26 www.theincmagazine.com

27. Jewels in the Crown Most Empowering Women in Business in 2021 - CIO Views Here is the list of awards won by Kim and her venture: 10 Most Influential Women in Tech - Analytics Insight Top 10 Inspiring Women Leaders Striving for Change - Perspective The 10 Most Influential Business Women to Watch in 2022 - Mirror Review 30 Most Reputable companies 2020 - The Silicon Review Most Inspiring Business Leaders to Follow 2022 - Business Iconic 10 Most Influential Women Leaders 2020 - As pioneer 10 Most Admired Business Women to Watch 2021 - CIO Views A Piece of Advice for Female Entrepreneurs Best Boutique Digital Marketing Agency 2021 - Arizona - Corporate Vision Magazine Do it now - it’s not going to get any easier as the years go on. You will likely only continue to get salary increases and feel more stuck and content inyour employment. So, rip the band aid off and take a chance in building something for yourself! 20 Best Scottsdale Digital Marketing Agencies - 2019, 2020, 2021 - Expertise 27 www.theincmagazine.com

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30. Cover Story MARGARET GRAZIANO KeenAlignment | FOUNDER, CEO ? 30 www.theincmagazine.com

31. The 10 Most Innovative Women Changing the Face of Business 2022 Helping to Change Workplace Culture Culture Helping to Change Workplace M reset for companies that have been around a long time, or with start-ups that are looking to grow to the next level. Margaret has been in the human relations/talent optimization industry for more than 25 years. She began her career as a recruiter and moved her career forward to executive search, then organizational development, then executive coaching, and all of that along with 20-year volun- teerism in the human potential industry. She integrates human potential, organizational devel- opment, change management, and talent optimiza- tion to inspire and catalyze organizational culture. eet Margaret Graziano,CEO, and founder of KeenAlignment which works to transform organizational culture as a executive team to integrate the espoused culture, what they want, and what they're committed to with how people work, communicate and accomplish goals. “ I am the master of my fate. I am the captain of my soul. The company provides a carefully curated and strate- gically sequenced Culture Blueprint, a road map to its clients and they guarantee breakthrough results. Margaret spends over 250 hours on her profession- al development each year. She works diligently to have clean relationships and communicate what needs to be communicated. Margaret is completely committed to delivering outstanding results for the clients her company serves, and actively practices and lives the ‘work’. Ideal / Actual Culture Diagnostic: It gives sound and current data on which to make balanced deci- sions for intentional and healthy organizational change. Organizational Culture Alignment: It creates the conditions for proactive, inspiring and collective change to occur from the inside out. Transforming Organizational Cultures At KeenAlignment, Margaret and her team are transforming organizational culture as a reset for companies that have been around a long time, or with start-ups that are looking to grow to the next level. There's typically some inflection point in the organization where they need to break through the ceiling of what's possible, and they realize that the way to do it is through creating a high-perfor- mance, healthy, and intentional organizational culture. That’s what KeenAlignment does. Marga- ret and her organization’s vision is to forever liberate the human spirit at work, and its mission is to shape a high-performance, healthy and inten- tional organizational culture. Margaret and her team do that by working hand-in-hand with the Leadership Development: It creates outstanding leaders, who can move strategy forward with passion and alignment. Talent Optimization: It shapes a healthy, empowered human system where people put their highest and best use of self to work. Liberating the Human Spirit at Work As a Leader in Talent Acquisition for more than 20 years, Margaret witnessed first hand why people leave companies. 70% of the time, they were the wrong 31 www.theincmagazine.com

32. person for the job. The other 30% of the time it’s because there’s no vision or structure for how people are led. So, people are frustrated, feel unappreciated, or feel undervalued. Over and over again, with more than 10,000 people, she got to see how dysfunctional the “human system” in most organizations is. Then, as she got into the human potential movement, volunteering in a myriad of different organizations, and participating in large group empowerment workshops, she saw how misaligned people are with the work they chose to do. Most are working for a paycheck with little to no self awareness about what work life fulfillment means to them. Somewhere along the line they lost themselves and forgot who they really are and what's really important. Then, after realizing that life is fleeting and 70% of their waking hours are spent working, one day they wake up and they realize they are unhappy. It is the first instinct to point to the job because most people think their happiness comes from the outside. Sometimes it really is the job, or the leader, and most of the time it is a case of missing purpose and passion from the inside out. It's never solely about the job or people they're working with. People just recreate the same situation at companies, because inside they're missing some- thing. They're missing a touchpoint with their highest and best self about where they should be spending their time, and what they should be doing. So, they're looking for a job to fulfill a need that the job can never fulfill. If they're unhappy it is easy to point outside yet the answer is always within. to creating a high-performance, healthy and inten- tional organization that can do good in the world with more peace, freedom, and ease. Typically, they have between 50 and 650 employees, or they have a plan to get there in the next few years. They may be a company that is growing exponen- tially and starting to see that their unintentional culture, the culture that was created based on behav- iors of the most influential people, is not working for them. So, they want to realign and set the stage for fast growth, with a high-performance, healthy and intentional culture. Or, they’re an organization that's been around a long time and handed from one generation to the next. The new generation sees that the way things were done and how culture has morphed over time is not effective for where they need to go, and who they need to be now. In another scenario there might be companies that are doing good and new leadership comes in and that new leadership’s values are not being reflected throughout the organization. Instead, what gets espoused is entangled behavior of wills, that is causing stress, breakdowns, confusion, and volatili- ty. The new leader then says this cannot be, this is not a healthy way to run a company. So, they say they need to hit refresh as Satya Nadella did at Microsoft. Those are the 3 situations where a company would work with KeenAlignment. It delivers more than promised and makes sure not to take on any clients who don't want to do the work from the inside out. KeenAlignment only focuses on what it can deliver outstandingly, and if they want the company to do things that it doesn’t have expertise in, it says no to projects that are distractions. Both of those experiences encouraged Margaret to become part of the workplace empowerment movement. She spends the majority of her time teaching, writing, designing programs and working with Executive teams. Her work keeps her busy and utilizes her passions, strengths and interests. She is grateful for her humble roots in recruiting, she often refers to those days as the MBA school of hard knocks. Picture of the Future Margaret is most excited about his new book that's coming out, which is about cultural transformation from the inside out. One of her goals for the company is to create a certification program for practitioners, where they can learn how to do the cultural transformation from KeenAlignment’s blueprint. She is also excited about new people Satisfied Clientele Margaret says, “Our clients are small to mid-sized organizations who want to do good in the world or who are already doing good in the world.” These clients are entirely 32 www.theincmagazine.com

33. joining the organization who are aligned with the mission, vision, and values. Margaret and her team are excited about transforming the world of work and creating a world of work that works for everyone where people don't have to feel like they have to get the hell out of work every day just to be happy, but they can go to work and be happy. Margaret "Magi" Graziano, Peak-Performance Culture and Leadership Coach Recognized as one of Silicon Valley’s Top 100 Women Leaders, Magi’s groundbreaking work is driven by her power to uncover and catalyze human potential. Pioneering the leading edge of Leadership Training, Organizational Culture and Strategic People Operations, she brings: Proven success transforming organizational culture with more than 25,000 lives impacted Over 25 years of experience in unlocking the wealth of talent, human spirit and capacity in organizations Methods that increase employee performance, ignite passion in teams and deliver up to 10x return on program nvestment ??????????????????????????? 33 www.theincmagazine.com