Woman-Run

Woman-Run

por Wright Lindsey Jennings
Temporada 2
Connected and Informed Patient Care with Lauren Weaver and Christine Scarlett
In this episode of the Woman Run Podcast, host Meredith Lowry sits down with Christine Scarlett and Lauren Weaver, co-founders of The Patient Whisperers and Upskillery based in Northwest Arkansas. The duo shares their origin story, which began when Lauren was Kristine’s patient at an ophthalmology practice, leading to a successful influencer marketing campaign and eventual business partnership. They discuss their transition from traditional healthcare consulting to creating a movement centered around emotional intelligence, soft skills, and human connection in patient care. Kristine and Lauren break down their core methodology of keeping patients connected, informed, and safe, explaining how empathy and soft skills complement technical medical protocols to diffuse distress and build trust. They reflect on their experiences as female co-founders, navigating their friendship alongside business decisions, and their participation in local entrepreneurial networks like the VC Women Achieve program through The Venture Center. The conversation highlights the launch and growth of Upskillery, an online learning platform designed to make soft-skills training engaging by utilizing bite-sized, social-media-style content. They dive into practical advice, including tips for making positive first impressions, applying the Q-TIP principle of quit taking it personally, and adapting human connection strategies to fast-paced environments like emergency rooms. Looking ahead, they outline their future plans to integrate AI tools for interactive roleplay scenarios, roll out a consumer direct-to-learner model, and expand their platform to featuring external healthcare thought leaders.
Paper Hearts Bookstore with Beth Quarles
In this episode of Woman Run, host Meredith Lowry interviews Beth Quarles, owner of Paper Hearts Bookstore in Little Rock's Pettaway Square and a full-time elementary school teacher. They discuss how independent bookstores can go beyond selling books to actively cultivate and strengthen local community connections through creative events, partnerships, and shared experiences. They explore unconventional book clubs hosted by Paper Hearts, including the Silent Book Club for introverts, the Read Between the Wines club hosted in partnership with local restaurants, a Cookbook Club where members gather for potluck dinners, and the End of Life Book Club. Beth highlights engaging community events for all ages, such as Stuffed Animal Sleepovers for kids that feature visits to local Pettaway businesses, and adult Reading Retreats held at a Victorian Airbnb in Hot Springs featuring poetry workshops led by Poet Laureate Kai Cogan. The discussion also covers initiatives to support local educators through classroom wishlists and professional development, alongside their Stage to Page partnership with Argenta Community Theater, which blends script reading, live performances, and group discussions. Paper Hearts Bookstore is located in Pettaway Square off Main Street in Little Rock, Arkansas, and can be found online at paperheartsbooks.com, on social media at @paperheartsbooks, or via email at hello@paperheartsbooks.com.
Ease Supper Club with Erika Gee
In this episode of the Woman Run podcast, guest Erika Gee shares essential strategies for hosting stress-free dinner parties while building genuine community through intentional gathering. She emphasizes that the key to a memorable gathering is prioritizing guest comfort over perfection, observing that "a great dinner party relies on guest comfort rather than perfection". Throughout the discussion, Erica Gee explains how removing the stress of hosting fosters true connection and allows the host to be fully present with their guests. She offers practical advice on managing meal logistics, preparing prep checklists, and setting the right ambiance, noting that "while food brings people together, atmosphere sustains the conversation". Ultimately, the episode highlights how thoughtful preparation and a focus on hospitality can transform any gathering into a meaningful, community-building experience. www.easesupper.club Produced by Vines/Brookshire www.vinesbrookshire.com
Breaking the Patterns of the Past with Claire Brown
Welcome to an in-depth episode of the Woman Run Podcast, hosted by Meredith Lowry. In this installment, Meredith sits down with Claire Brown, a dynamic multi-hyphenate realtor, author, podcaster, and the inspiring founder of Power Women. What began as a local, private Facebook group in Little Rock, Arkansas, has rapidly transformed into a sprawling statewide network with over 10,000 members. It offers women a strictly curated safe haven to openly discuss deeply personal, financial, and societal topics that are traditionally shrouded in shame or swept under the rug. Claire shares the raw, authentic origin story of her organization, reflecting on a profound personal crisis that occurred two years after her divorce. Following a deeply painful heartbreak involving a long-distance relationship and a financial betrayal, she found herself journaling intensely on the flight home from Europe. Rather than focusing on the heartbreak itself, she turned her analytical lens inward to figure out why she felt so isolated and how she had previously defined herself solely through the roles of wife and mother, rather than as an individual woman. Recognizing a desperate collective need for authentic female friendship, she immediately reached out to five moms to organize a carpool schedule and a fateful night out, which sparked the creation of "Power Moms"—a group that she quickly renamed "Power Women" because she realized that restrictive labels are completely counterproductive to female growth. The conversation beautifully shifts toward the strategic mechanics of juggling a high-powered career, public advocacy, and single parenthood. Claire emphasizes the critical role that intense self-reflection, selective time management, and professional coaching play in her daily execution, noting that she has worked with 16 different coaches over the last 11 years to ruthlessly target her own personal blind spots and maintain strict accountability. She addresses the raw realities of moderating a massive online community, the legal and physical safety interventions she has had to personally make for members fleeing domestic violence, and the vital importance of providing anonymous posting features so women can access life-saving resources without public stigma. Ultimately, Claire leaves listeners with an inspiring challenge to cultivate their own dreams and build intentional, uplifting inner circles, highlighting that real progress requires moving past passive intention, because "the manifestation doesn't happen without action."
Leading with Heart, A Talk with Jamie Jones Walsworth
In this comprehensive episode of the Woman Run Podcast, host Meredith Lowry sits down for an in-depth conversation with Jamie Jones Walsworth, the 128th President of the Arkansas Bar Association. Reflecting on her historic tenure as only the ninth woman to serve as president—and part of a rare streak of consecutive female leadership—Walsworth notes that while progress is being made, her primary, overarching mission was to foster structural empathy and civil connection. She reminds listeners that the daily reality of legal practice is incredibly grueling, noting that community bonds built through the Bar Association are vital because they "help us survive the day... what we do isn't easy. There's a reason that lawyers have high alcoholism rates, high drug rates, high suicide rates, because it's hard." A massive portion of Walsworth’s presidency involved hitting the pavement to visit individual county bar associations across the state. Through these visits, she confronted the harsh reality of legal deserts—rural areas and county seats where residents have few, if any, accessible attorneys. "There are counties in Arkansas where you will not find a licensed lawyer to go to," Walsworth warns, highlighting how rural lawyers find themselves "in their car five or six hours a day because they have to drive sometimes three hours to get to a client and three hours back home." She notes that these rural lawyers are doing essential work for everyday people, from helping teachers with "estate planning" to resolving critical "title issues" that can quietly devastate families if left unaddressed. To combat this, Walsworth champions law school incubator projects to incentivize young lawyers "to go back to their communities to practice." To amplify these human-centered legal issues, Walsworth launched the initiative "ArcBar on Air: President's Mic." The podcast was designed to pull back the curtain on the profession, exploring everything from "the legislative process and... the sausage behind the scenes" to a deep-dive book club series analyzing Devil in the Grove and systemic injustice. The show even touched on modern culture with an episode dedicated to "the legal era of Taylor Swift," alongside an exploration of Jonathan Haidt's The Anxious Generation. Walsworth uses the platform to speak passionately about how technology is eroding societal norms, warning against the "dehumanizing nature" of social media. "Social media... allows me to make you 'the other' and not see you as a human being anymore," Walsworth cautions. "I shouldn't attack your humanity just because you don't agree with me." The episode also highlights Walsworth's forward-thinking internal leadership, specifically her initiative to bring the CliftonStrengths personality assessment to the Arkansas Bar to improve collaboration. Rather than focusing heavily on trying to fix inherent weaknesses, Walsworth argues that people should "double down on [their] strengths" and learn how their colleagues process the world. As she prepares to hand over the gavel, she leaves listeners with a poignant reminder of why collective service matters, asserting that when it comes to the legal community, "we really are—as cliché as it is to say—better together than we are apart."
Engineering the Skies with host Jane Kim & guests Suzanne Peyton and Mary Fair
In this full-length episode, host Jane Kim sits down with trailblazing aviation civil engineers Suzanne Peyton and Mary Fair. They dive deep into the world of aviation infrastructure—explaining what it actually takes to run and build airports—and tackle the critical business and cultural challenges of retaining women in traditionally male-dominated STEAM professions. The guests share their personal career trajectories, discuss moving from engineering into executive leadership, and offer invaluable, candid advice on how to navigate constructive feedback, build professional trust, and negotiate a career that accommodates personal priorities without sacrificing upward momentum.
Building From Scratch: The Serial Entrepreneur Playbook with April Seggebruch
In this full episode of the Woman Run Podcast, host Meredith sits down with serial entrepreneur April Seggebruch to look back on her journey from a central Illinois farm girl to a major business founder in Northwest Arkansas. April shares how growing up on a farm shaped her work ethic, jokingly noting that her upbringing is "probably where I got a lot of my persistent grit." Driven to find a path to a bigger city, she earned a basketball scholarship to the University of Arkansas, becoming the first in her family to graduate from college. April reflects warmly on her athletic days, laughing that her time on the court was "back when I actually lifted weights—now I just lift laptops." The conversation digs deep into her academic and professional evolution at the Walton College of Business, where pivotal mentorship from professors like Dr. Jensen and Dr. Carol Reeves completely changed her trajectory. April details the reality of co-founding the retail workforce management software platform Movista in 2010 with Stan Stanowski, calling their leap of faith "Mayday" because "we left our corporate jobs and started Movista the following week." She explains how they revolutionized a "pencil and paper era" into a company that grew to over 100 employees, and opens up about her transition away from the business to focus on her true passion as a builder, noting that in entrepreneurship, "there's no role you can be afraid to do... thus, there's no role you can shy away from learning." Meredith and April also discuss the critical economic and cultural importance of local independent businesses. April passionately defends the food and beverage industry as the heartbeat of the regional ecosystem, arguing that "without them, we wouldn't be cool—we wouldn't have the vibe that folks now flock to be within." Finally, April previews her latest venture as a partner at Good Gravy Group, a hospitality management company stepping in to revitalize iconic local brands. She shares an exclusive look at their mission to bring back the nostalgia of the beloved AQ Chicken brand to Springdale, alongside expansions for other favorites like Trash Ice Cream, jokingly admitting that while she loves the operational side of hospitality, she has "robot envy" for automation that can help local kitchens scale.
Deanna Ray: The Shifting Tides of Corporate AI
In this episode of the Woman Run Podcast, the Meredith Lowry interviews Deanna Ray, the Chief Legal Officer for the Little Rock Water Reclamation Authority, to unpack the intersections of local government, vendor negotiations, and the implementation of organizational artificial intelligence policies. Deanna describes her organization as a municipality or government agency that reclaimed used water, treated it, and discharged it back into the Arkansas River, adding that "water wastewater treatment actually is very technology-based." The catalyst for their conversation stems from recent state regulation, specifically Act 848 passed during the 2025 Arkansas legislative session. Deanna explains that under this act, "if you are a government agency that uses any type of AI, then you must have an AI policy." She clarifies that the law defines AI broadly, encompassing everyday features like text autocorrect, spelling tools, and automated note-takers rather than just generative text programs. An essential pillar of Act 848 is ensuring that artificial intelligence does not operate unchecked. Deanna emphasizes that under the law, "you must have a human component to it. You cannot let AI make any decisions... there has to be a human check on any of those decisions." Beyond state compliance, the episode highlights a collaborative, multi-departmental approach involving leadership, human resources, legal, and IT teams to refine these guidelines. A key area of concern is customer and employee data privacy, which Deanna describes as a major responsibility since "we are responsible for shepherding our customers and their information and our employees and their information." The hosts also discuss the practical challenges of software terms of use, noting that platforms like Microsoft Copilot often contain clauses designating the tool "for entertainment purposes only," meaning tech providers carry no liability for professional errors. This lack of vendor liability emphasizes the necessity of internal policies, as Deanna points out that "the AI vendors, they don't care if their stuff is misused because they've already decried all liability." The discussion covers a real-world learning experience where an IT director innocently used an AI note-taker during a Microsoft Teams meeting. This highlighted a massive legal risk, as using automated transcription can inadvertently destroy confidentiality. Deanna warns that if a note-taker records an internal conversation, it can "destroy attorney-client privilege" and create a record that becomes "foiable" under public records requests. This risk is reinforced by a recent ruling from the Southern District of New York. In that case, the government successfully subpoenaed a defendant's search and prompt history from a generative AI platform because information shared with commercial AI platforms lacks confidentiality. The episode addresses other technical shortcomings, such as AI "hallucinations." Deanna mentions that even top legal research databases have faced scrutiny because their specialized research bots were "putting out incorrect summaries of cases." This reinforces why continuous verification remains mandatory, since a language model "is a language prediction tool, and it's trying to give you the next word in the sequence." Ultimately, the episode encourages leaders to proactively engage with these technologies rather than avoiding them. Deanna concludes by urging organizations to adapt continuously, advising managers "to not be afraid of AI" but to "respect it" and commit to ongoing policy reviews as the software evolves.
Mastering Business Communications and Storytelling with Kerri Jackson Case
In this deep-dive episode, Meredith Lowry speaks with Kerri Jackson Case about the evolution of "MarCom" (Marketing and Communications) and the vital role it plays in business. With over 20 years of experience transitioning from TV news reporting to corporate and boutique PR, Kerri explains how strategic communication is built on the foundation of storytelling. The conversation covers the tactical use of press releases in the age of AI, the importance of "plain English" in professional settings, and the personal "plot twists" of being a "whole person"—balancing motherhood, adoption, and entrepreneurship. The conversation explores the definition and necessity of MarCom (Marketing and Communications), which Kerri Jackson Case defines as the strategic act of delivering the right message through the most effective channel to a specific intended audience. A central theme is the importance of storytelling, with Kerri noting that people understand their world through narratives and that businesses must learn to tell stories about themselves that are fundamentally focused on the needs of the customer. The participants discuss the critical timing for engaging a communications professional, advising that they should be "at the table" from the very beginning of a business or project to identify potential barriers and prevent costly public relations blunders. This early involvement is particularly vital when mediating between legal departments and public perception; a communications expert can translate dense legal jargon into "plain English" that satisfies the spirit of the law without alienating or terrifying the audience. The episode also highlights the evolution of tactical tools like the press release, which Kerri defends as a vital instrument for establishing credibility not just with traditional newsrooms, but with search engine algorithms and AI models like ChatGPT. By using a Q&A or FAQ format in their digital infrastructure, businesses can ensure that AI pulls from trusted, authoritative sources when users ask questions about the brand. Finally, the discussion touches on the personal reality of being a "whole person" in the industry, emphasizing the challenges of balancing professional leadership with the unpredictable "plot twists" of family life and motherhood. SheSpeaks Communications https://shespeakscommunications.com/
Kathleen Lawson: Just Get Started!
Just Get Started—Entrepreneurial Secrets with Kathleen Lawson In this episode of the Woman Run podcast, host Ricky Smith sits down with Kathleen Lawson, the Executive Director of Economics Arkansas, to discuss how entrepreneurial thinking serves as a foundational life skill. Economics Arkansas, a nonprofit established in 1962, defines economics as the "science of decision-making," focusing on how individuals manage scarcity to make better choices as professionals and citizens. The organization provides over 200 workshops annually and offers free resources and stipends to PreK-12 educators across the state to integrate financial literacy into their classrooms. Kathleen’s own venture into business began when she decided to participate in her organization's $10-Challenge, an experiment where individuals invest a small amount of their own money into a micro-business idea. Kathleen practiced this principle by investing $100 into chocolate and supplies to create "cocoa bombs," which she marketed through a single Facebook post under her business name, Sprinkles and Spice. The business grew rapidly, generating over $2,000 in sales in the first month and eventually landing her products in 13 retail stores across Arkansas within a single year. This journey led her to identify five key ways to think like an entrepreneur, starting with the directive to just get startedrather than waiting for a perfect plan. She emphasizes the importance of a growth mindset, noting that she spent hours on YouTube learning specialized skills like cake decorating to meet customer demand. Kathleen also stresses the need to know when to pivot or stop, explaining that she eventually "sunsetted" her business when it no longer aligned with her personal scale and passion, viewing it as a successful chapter rather than a failure. Furthermore, she advises professionals to focus on their unique value by identifying core strengths and delegating or automating tasks that do not add to the primary product. Finally, she encourages others to look for opportunities everywhere, training the brain to see problems as solvable business or mission-driven opportunities. Beyond business strategy, Kathleen maintains her leadership at Economics Arkansas and her family life through intentional habits like explicit scheduling on a calendar and a unique daily "Google Photos" purge to remain proactive and organized. Her story serves as a testament to the power of small experiments in building real-world confidence and professional success. Individuals and teachers interested in these economic tools and competitions, such as the Stock Market Game, can find more information at EconomicsArkansas.org.
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