What happens when you refuse to let your past define your future? This week, host Lauren Douglass sits down with Troy Alexander, the founder and CEO of T363 Skin and a motivational speaker whose story is pretty extraordinary. Troy went from a two-year prison sentence to building a business and a life rooted in unwavering self-belief. In this conversation, Troy shares the four principles that guide everything he does, why mental strength matters more than anything else, and the daily practices that keep him pushing forward, plus his incredible journey to Founder & CEO. His story will challenge you to rethink what's possible and remind you that even when the world doesn't have your back, you can still have your own. This is one you don't want to miss.

From perfume labs to Glamsquad’s CMO chair, Simona Gaudio shares how detours, setbacks, and self-belief built her nonlinear career.

This week on Humans & Brands, host Lauren Douglass sits down with Simona Gaudio, CMO of Glamsquad, for an honest conversation about leadership, career detours, and staying kind in a business that often rewards the opposite. Simona shares how she went from working in a perfume lab to leading marketing at one of the most recognizable beauty brands, all while navigating the pandemic, a layoff, and a pregnancy at the same time. She opens up about what it means to rebuild from scratch, why every “no” isn’t the end, and how relationships (and not résumés) end up carrying you through the toughest seasons of your career.

If you’ve ever felt behind, stuck, or unsure of your next move, this one’s a reminder that there’s no straight line to success.

This week we're flipping the script. Instead of hosting, Lauren joins Valerie Vespa and Matt Wurst on The Snarketing Podcast, and the conversation is too good not to share.

We touch on some of Lauren's favorite hottakes: why B2B marketing is so bad right now, why most corporate brands are failing to break through the noise, and why the human touch is already more important than ever in an AI-centered world.

We also talk about the sea of sameness in B2B, how to turn your sales team into thought leaders, and what she wishes every CEO understood about marketing.

If you've attended a conference that felt pointless or wondered why B2B marketing feels so disconnected from actual humans, this conversation will resonate. It's snarky, it's honest, and it's packed with tactical advice for anyone trying to cut through the noise. There are a lot of hot topics to cover in this episode, so let's get into it.

This ones for the dreamers who are all about rejecting the traditional path.

What happens when you build a company from a calling instead of a business plan? Maria Sipka, Co-Founder and EVP of Brand Strategy at Linqia, shares one of the most profound conversations about entrepreneurship you'll hear.

From a 10-day silent Vipassana retreat that told her to leave everything behind, to spending two years traveling the world discovering her purpose, Maria's path has been anything but traditional. We talk about why she believes we're living in a Renaissance moment, how marketers hold the key to unlocking human emotion, and why it took five years instead of one to build what she thought would be a quick startup.

Maria gets real about the power of surrender over control, how choosing a co-founder is like choosing a life partner, and her guiding principle: "It's the silence between the notes that makes the music." This episode is for the dreamers, builders, and believers who know that business can be strategy and spreadsheets, but also energy, intuition, and a little magic from the universe.

What does it really mean to be daring? This week we explore taking big swings and stepping into opportunities that feel scary but could change everything. Host Lauren Douglass sits down with Jennifer Peabody, President of Havas Edge, who knows exactly what this looks like. Jennifer made the bold decision to take a job three levels below her previous role and cut her salary by two-thirds, and it became the best decision of her life. She gets real about her 23-year journey at the same company, being the only woman in the C-suite, why she keeps a "remember who you are" note on her phone, and how emotional resilience became her superpower. If you've ever wondered whether to take that scary leap or felt like the only one in the room, this conversation will remind you that confidence is a muscle you can build, and sometimes the boldest moves are the ones that don't make sense on paper.

Growing up with big dreams written on a whiteboard (own Manchester United, start a media company, buy a yacht), Michelle Turnbull Reeves, three-time founder and Founder & CEO of Zipline AI, meant writing her own rules from day one. From a small suburb in Brisbane to building multiple successful companies, Michelle's story is about the power of beautiful naivety and never waiting for permission. Host Lauren Douglass sits down with Michelle to talk about how being an outsider became her superpower, why she's an "annoying optimist", and her mantra borrowed from Nike's Phil Knight. We unpack why waiting for permission is just wasting time and how to approach every door like it's open. If you're brave enough to articulate an idea, you're brave enough to take the next step. This conversation will leave you questioning what you're waiting for and remind you that sometimes the best thing about not fitting in is the freedom to create your own path.

Many careers follow a straight line. Evin Shutt, CEO and Partner of 72andSunny, took the opposite approach. From middle school teacher to the first employee (and now CEO & Partner!) at one of the most creative agencies in the world, her story is about having the courage to pivot when something doesn't feel right. Host Lauren Douglass sits down with Evin to explore her "pendulum" approach to work-life balance, what 94% of C-suite women have in common, and how Evin realized she was chasing what she thought she should do instead of what made her happy. Evin gets real about sitting with discomfort, optimism as a core value, and why women's sports are having their moment. At the core: be patient, it's okay to start over, and sometimes the best decisions don't make sense on paper. Let's get into it.

What happens when you refuse to let corporate politics kill your creativity? This week, host Lauren Douglass sits down with Drew Train, Co-Founder and CEO of Oberland, who left it behind to start his own shop, and hasn't looked back since.

Drew gets brutally honest about why independence matters and the creative process that doesn't happen at a desk. He doesn't hold back on what's broken in advertising - from AI copy flooding LinkedIn, to holding companies strip-mining creative agencies for media margins.

His take on independence isn't just about business freedom; it's about having the guts to say what needs to be said when everyone else is staying quiet. If you're tired of sanitized takes on the creative industry, this conversation delivers.