In this episode of Founders Voyage, we try to explore the journey to personal happiness, fulfillment, and resilience. Together, Nancy and Spencer discuss the difference between fleeting happiness and lasting fulfillment, how overcoming challenges can strengthen us, and practical habits like gratitude, exercise, and kindness. By sharing personal stories and actionable advice, we highlight the importance of finding meaning in work and life, recognizing others’ efforts, and building a positive mindset. Join us as we encourage entrepreneurs to pursue purpose and resilience in both business and everyday life.

💡 Key Takeaways From This Discussion:
🔸 Redefining Success: Shifting your focus from fleeting happiness to long-term fulfillment can help you build a more resilient and purposeful entrepreneurial path.
🔸 The Contagious Power of Attitude: Showing up with positivity, and intentionally spreading it, can uplift teams and relationships, even in tough times.
🔸 Finding Fulfillment Beyond Work: See the importance of seeking meaning through passions, hobbies, acts of kindness, and gratitude practices outside the workplace.
🔸 Growing Through Hardship: Facing personal and professional challenges can build your empathy, strengthen relationships, and deepen your sense of purpose.

🎥 Big thanks to VidOps for supporting Founders Voyage. Use code voyage at ⁠vidops.io⁠ for 10% off expert audio, video, animation, and photography services.

👏 Props to the stellar crew: Nancy Nash, Daniel M. Melo, Carlos Javier Chacón Sánchez, Matthew Ray, and host Spencer Walker-Fooks. You bring this show to life.

🥂 Want to support the journey? Join us on ⁠Patreon⁠ and help amplify more voices like Spencer.

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Akmal is a full-time MBA candidate at the International Institute for Management Development (IMD) in Switzerland, with notable achievements in corporate finance, investment analysis, and management consulting. Originally from Indonesia, Akmal has held roles at PwC and successfully founded multiple startups, including a fintech peer-to-peer lending company and Jakarta Business Partner, a consultancy supporting SMEs. He is particularly passionate about ethical business, community impact, and the future of climate investing. Akmal embodies resilience and adaptability, continuously leveraging his experiences to create meaningful change within the entrepreneurial ecosystem.

💡 What You’ll Learn from Akmal's Journey:

🔸 The Power of Resilience: Learn why perseverance and the ability to bounce back from setbacks, like navigating bankruptcy and starting anew, are essential traits for founders.

🔸 Scaling Challenges & Leadership Evolution: Hear Akmal’s hard-won lessons about the unique difficulties that arise when scaling companies, from misalignment and communication breakdowns to shifting from top-down to democratic leadership styles.

🔸 Reinventing Yourself Through Education & Networks: See how strategic pauses, such as pursuing an MBA at IMD, building new networks, and embracing ongoing learning, are vital to sustaining growth and preparing for future opportunities, including the next frontier of climate-focused finance.

You can connect with Akmal on ⁠LinkedIn⁠ to follow his journey.

🎥 Big thanks to VidOps for supporting Founders Voyage. Use code voyage at ⁠vidops.io⁠ for 10% off expert audio, video, animation, and photography services.

👏 Props to the stellar crew: Nancy Nash, Daniel M. Melo, Carlos Javier Chacón Sánchez, Matthew Ray, and host Spencer Walker-Fooks. You bring this show to life.

🥂 Want to support the journey? Join us on ⁠Patreon⁠ and help amplify more voices like Akmal.

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Ximena Hernandez Buffa is the co-founder and New Business Director at MTI, a certified social selling specialist, digital marketing educator in Uruguay, and an acclaimed conference speaker across Latin America. With over 15 years of experience in the IT and consultancy sector, Ximena is passionate about empowering others and championing multiculturalism. She has built her business on democratic values, flexibility, and a relentless focus on both personal and professional growth, making her a sought-after thought leader in digital transformation and work culture.

💡 What You’ll Learn from Ximena's Journey:

🔸 Defining Success on Your Own Terms: Ximena emphasizes the importance of regularly redefining personal and professional success based on your values and current stage of life, rather than traditional metrics like financial gain or company size.

🔸 Building a Democratic & Flexible Work Culture: Discover practical insights into cultivating a trust-based, democratic work environment where flexibility enables both employee happiness and company resilience, particularly vital for women balancing family and career.

🔸 The Power of Continuous Learning & Networking: Ximena credits her growth to a commitment to ongoing learning, travel, and building meaningful connections, advising entrepreneurs to focus on accumulating knowledge and relationships early in their careers.

🔸 Navigating Change & Leveraging Technology Thoughtfully: Learn how Ximena adapts to rapid technological shifts (like AI) by staying people-centered, personalizing services, and centering trust, rather than relying solely on automation.

You can connect with Ximena on ⁠LinkedIn⁠ to follow her journey.

🎥 Big thanks to VidOps for supporting Founders Voyage. Use code voyage at ⁠vidops.io⁠ for 10% off expert audio, video, animation, and photography services.

👏 Props to the stellar crew: Nancy Nash, Daniel M. Melo, Carlos Javier Chacón Sánchez, Matthew Ray, and host Spencer Walker-Fooks. You bring this show to life.

🥂 Want to support the journey? Join us on ⁠Patreon⁠ and help amplify more voices like Sabina.

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Selen is the Brand Manager at Sanofi for the Turkey, Iran, and Levant markets, specializing in rare diseases. She is a 2021 graduate of the MIT Leadership and Innovation Bootcamp and has built a dynamic career in the pharmaceutical industry, drawing from global experiences in France, the US, and Spain. Selen’s passion for innovation, cross-cultural understanding, and patient advocacy is evident in her approach to brand management and her ongoing commitment to professional and personal development.

💡 What You’ll Learn from Selen's Journey:

🔸Embracing Cross-Cultural Experiences: Selen underscores the value of engaging with multiple cultures, both for personal growth and for developing empathy and adaptability in business.

🔸Focusing on Real Needs: She advocates always keeping the underlying need or problem at the center of any project or entrepreneurial endeavor, rather than being blinded by solutions or routines.

🔸Strategic Adaptability & Prioritization: Selen shares how proper prioritization, staying flexible, and being willing to pivot, both professionally and personally, are crucial for sustained impact and work-life balance.

🔸Leadership through Inclusivity & Humility: She believes that effective leaders practice inclusivity, genuinely care for their teams, and lead with humility, always striving for continuous learning and authentic connection.

You can connect with Selen on ⁠LinkedIn⁠ to follow her journey.

🎥 Big thanks to VidOps for supporting Founders Voyage. Use code voyage at ⁠vidops.io⁠ for 10% off expert audio, video, animation, and photography services.

👏 Props to the stellar crew: Nancy Nash, Daniel M. Melo, Carlos Javier Chacón Sánchez, Matthew Ray, and host Spencer Walker-Fooks. You bring this show to life.

🥂 Want to support the journey? Join us on ⁠Patreon⁠ and help amplify more voices like Selen.

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Michael is the founder and inventor of the Kuzma Self Playing Guitar, a groundbreaking instrument that combines his lifelong passion for music with his expertise in electrical engineering and entrepreneurship. Starting as a college side project, Michael turned a wild idea into a tangible product now sought after by music lovers and innovators worldwide. His journey is not only a testament to technical ingenuity and perseverance, but also to the power of storytelling, collaboration, and fearless iteration in building something truly original.

💡 What You’ll Learn from Michael's Journey:
🔸 The Power of Asking for Help: Michael shares how consistently reaching out for advice and support accelerated his progress and solved seemingly insurmountable challenges.
🔸 Iterate Relentlessly and Embrace Failure: Discover the crucial role of rapid prototyping, learning from mistakes, and pivoting when approaches hit a dead end.
🔸 Building a Product through Community Inspiration: Michael illustrates how customer feedback, unexpected conversations, and crowd-sourced ideas shaped both his product and its unique "artist you can own" market positioning.
🔸 Turning Passion into Opportunity: See how Michael leveraged his personal love for guitar, curiosity for engineering, and desire for adventure to carve an entrepreneurial path, and how you can, too, by following what excites you.

You can connect with Michael on ⁠LinkedIn⁠ to follow his journey.

🎥 Big thanks to VidOps for supporting Founders Voyage. Use code voyage at ⁠vidops.io⁠ for 10% off expert audio, video, animation, and photography services.

👏 Props to the stellar crew: Nancy Nash, Daniel M. Melo, Carlos Javier Chacón Sánchez, Matthew Ray, and host Spencer Walker-Fooks. You bring this show to life.

🥂 Want to support the journey? Join us on ⁠Patreon⁠ and help amplify more voices like Michael.

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Stefan Siarov is an accomplished aerospace and electromechanical engineer with a passion for systems thinking, innovation, and human-centered organizational growth. His career journey spans roles at the European Space Agency, where he worked on pioneering lunar habitat projects, to pivotal contributions in scaling early-stage startups like Valispace. Along the way, Stefan has also distinguished himself as a guest lecturer, advisor to sustainability-focused startups, and a vocal advocate for the importance of personal well-being and authentic self-expression within entrepreneurial environments.

💡 What You’ll Learn from Stefan's Journey:
🔸Embracing Systems Thinking: Stefan demonstrates how applying a systems engineering mindset not only tackles technological complexity, but also enhances team-building, organizational structure, and personal decision-making.

🔸Fostering Human Systems: Learn how Stefan’s experience building and scaling diverse teams taught him the importance of culture, communication, and empathy—crucial ingredients for startup success.

🔸Navigating Burnout & Personal Alignment: Gain insights into Stefan’s honest reflection on burnout, how self-awareness and proactive care are essential for sustainable leadership, and the courage required to realign your path with your values.

🔸Taking Radical Action & Following Flow: Be inspired by Stefan’s advice to continuously act on clarity, pursue work that energizes you, and courageously use your voice—reminding founders to prioritize meaningful action and authentic connection above all.

You can connect with Stefan on ⁠LinkedIn⁠ to follow his journey.

🎥 Big thanks to VidOps for supporting Founders Voyage. Use code voyage at ⁠vidops.io⁠ for 10% off expert audio, video, animation, and photography services.

👏 Props to the stellar crew: Nancy Nash, Daniel M. Melo, Carlos Javier Chacón Sánchez, Matthew Ray, and host Spencer Walker-Fooks. You bring this show to life.

🥂 Want to support the journey? Join us on ⁠Patreon⁠ and help amplify more voices like Stefan.

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Joel Acevedo-Nieto, Ph.D is a doctor in neuroscience, professor at the University of Puerto Rico, and an expert in mental and emotional performance processes. He is the founder of Sharp Focus, a cognitive training platform designed to help those with concentration difficulties, and is currently involved in a pioneering fellowship research in resilience and learning in children. He uses innovative methods, including comparative studies with zebrafish, in collaboration with the Mayo Clinic.

Joel’s entrepreneurial journey is deeply rooted in scientific validation, mental health advocacy, and the application of neuroscience to real-world challenges, especially for children and those affected by ADHD and other cognitive disorders.

💡 What You’ll Learn from Joel's Journey:

🔸 Building Impactful Teams: Joel emphasizes the importance of mutual respect, complementary skills, and clearly defined co-founder roles as the foundation for entrepreneurial success.

🔸 Science-Driven Innovation: His approach demonstrates that rigorous scientific validation and adaptability are vital for translating research into tools that genuinely benefit users—never skipping the step of robust clinical evidence.

🔸 Resilience as a Mindset: Joel’s research and personal story highlight the value of embracing a growth (malleable) mindset—seeing failure as part of the learning process and an opportunity to build resilience in both business and life.

🔸 Bridging Research and Real-World Problems: From advanced cognitive training platforms to mindfulness programs for children, Joel exemplifies how cutting-edge neuroscience can be directly applied to address pressing problems like mental health, trauma, and educational disparities.

You can connect with Joel on ⁠LinkedIn⁠ to follow his journey.

🎥 Big thanks to VidOps for supporting Founders Voyage. Use code voyage at ⁠vidops.io⁠ for 10% off expert audio, video, animation, and photography services.

👏 Props to the stellar crew: Nancy Nash, Daniel M. Melo, Carlos Javier Chacón Sánchez, Matthew Ray, and host Spencer Walker-Fooks. You bring this show to life.

🥂 Want to support the journey? Join us on ⁠Patreon⁠ and help amplify more voices like Joel.

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Jacky So is a first-generation Cambodian American leader in health equity, tech, and community innovation. With a background leading distributed, multilingual tech teams that have improved access to healthcare for millions of Americans, she brings a unique blend of hands-on data expertise, startup grit, and a relentless passion for equity. Jacky currently works in the nonprofit sector, driving systemic change at the intersection of technology, public service, and social impact. Her journey from navigating childhood as part of an immigrant family to becoming an influential voice in healthtech, community building, and AI policy, exemplifies resilience and purpose-driven leadership.

💡 What You’ll Learn from Jacky's Journey:

🔸Turning Adversity into Purpose: Jacky’s experiences facing discrimination and being “the only” in her community fueled her drive to use technology and data as tools for representation and equity, an inspiring model for entrepreneurs seeking to create impact from their lived experiences.

🔸Building with Community, Not Just for It: Throughout her career, Jacky emphasizes the importance of bringing community voices to the decision-making table, ensuring solutions are co-created and truly address real needs, a key lesson for startup founders aiming for lasting impact.

🔸 Navigating Barriers with Creativity and Grit: Despite being actively discouraged from pursuing tech, Jacky carved her unique path by combining diverse disciplines and pitching herself into new roles, showing that unconventional, self-directed learning and persistence pay off.

🔸 Equity in Data and Technology: Jacky highlights language access and culturally responsive data collection as vital to equitable innovation, and shares hard-earned insights about the risks and responsibilities of AI, advocating for intentional, ethical tech leadership.

You can connect with Jacky on ⁠LinkedIn⁠ to follow her journey.

We wanted to thank podcast.today for featuring us recently in their entrepreneurship newsletter. It's a great way to find new hidden gems!

🎥 Big thanks to VidOps for supporting Founders Voyage. Use code voyage at ⁠vidops.io⁠ for 10% off expert audio, video, animation, and photography services.

👏 Props to the stellar crew: Nancy Nash, Daniel M. Melo, Carlos Javier Chacón Sánchez, Matthew Ray, and host Spencer Walker-Fooks. You bring this show to life.

🥂 Want to support the journey? Join us on ⁠Patreon⁠ and help amplify more voices like Jackie.

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