This week Alberto sat down with Maria Hatzistefanis, founder and CEO of the Rodial Group, bestselling author, and a Dragon on Dragons Den Greece.

Maria grew up on a small island in Greece, dreaming of a bigger world. She moved into magazines, studied business at Columbia, entered investment banking, then got fired at 25, a moment that forced her to choose what she actually wanted.

With 20,000 in savings and no beauty industry experience, she started Rodial from home, faced investor rejection, and built the brand through focus, persistence, and product storytelling. She took a suitcase to Cosmoprof, met suppliers stand by stand, found the lab she still works with today, and launched with a tight initial range, because focus beats noise in the early days.

You will learn

• How Maria built Rodial from home, with limited capital, no funding, and no industry background
• Why launching with focus beats launching too many products, and how to pick a niche that travels
• How to win attention without huge budgets, naming, storytelling, press strategy, and consistent brand positioning
• How to think about influencers realistically, what works now, what changed after Covid, and why long term partnerships matter
• How to handle failure, cash flow pressure, and decision making, including the lesson from a mistake that nearly ended everything

Follow Maria:

https://www.instagram.com/mrsrodial

https://uk.linkedin.com/in/maria-hatzistefanis-64b7985

https://www.tiktok.com/@mrsrodial

https://twitter.com/MrsRodial

Get Maria's books:

How to Make Your First Million: Build wealth with style and audacity

https://amzn.to/4crK3P1

How to Make it Happen: Turning Failure into Success

https://amzn.to/46B3DEN

How to Be an Overnight Success

https://amzn.to/4b1ACmV

How to Live Your Best Life: Transform your mindset and manifest

https://amzn.to/4blUL8F

#entrepreneurship #founderstory #startupjourney #mariahatzistefanis #mrsrodial #rodial #beautybrand #businesspodcast #startupadvice #femalefounder #thrivingminds #marketingstrategy #brandbuilding #entrepreneurlife #dragonsdengr

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This week Alberto sat down with Dr Erin Hope, a leading clinical psychologist, bereavement specialist, and founder of The Loss Foundation, a national charity supporting people after cancer loss.

Grief is something every human will experience, yet almost none of us are taught how to understand it, process it, or support others through it. In this conversation, Dr Erin explains why grief is not a disorder, not a weakness, and not something to get over, but a deeply human response to love and loss.

This episode also offers practical guidance, for those grieving right now, and for those trying to support someone they love. From what to say at a funeral, to how to check in months later, to how workplaces and parents can better support grief, this is a compassionate and deeply grounding conversation.

This is not about fixing grief. It is about learning how to live fully while carrying it.

You will learn

• If the the way you grieve is healthy and normal

• How grief shows up mentally physically and emotionally

• Why avoidance helps short term but harms long term

• How to support someone grieving without trying to fix them

• How to build a meaningful life while carrying loss

• How long does grief really last

#grief #bereavement #personalgrowth #mentalhealth #loss #coping #podcast #healing #griefsupport

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week Alberto sat down with Lee Warren, a world leading persuasion and communication expert, keynote speaker, and advisor to senior leaders and global organisations.

Lee’s work challenges one of the most common myths in business and leadership, that people are persuaded by logic, data, and facts. In reality, most decisions are made emotionally first, and only justified rationally afterwards.

You will learn

• How to influence people without being manipulative
• How to build trust in the first moments of a conversation
• What makes someone instantly more persuasive
• How to tell when someone is trying to persuade you
• The golden methods to network and communicate without feeling awkward or fake

Follow Lee:

https://www.instagram.com/leewarrenspeaker

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyzgGQAJw9tsTljLJYYr_zg

https://www.linkedin.com/in/leewarrenspeaker

https://twitter.com/leewarrenspeaks

https://www.facebook.com/leewarrenspeaker

#LeeWarren #AlbertoZandi #ThrivingMinds #Persuasion #Networking #PublicSpeaking #CommunicationSkills #Influence #Leadership #BusinessGrowth

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.