Shali Reed is the COO of The Reeder LLC, a content strategy consulting and media company helping B2B brands and founders turn storytelling into revenue. She is also a former go-to-market and customer success leader who’s closed over $8 million in sales, and now blends business strategy with bold creativity to build brands that scale with soul. Known for her unfiltered takes on leadership, motherhood, and entrepreneurship, she’s redefining what modern growth looks like — equal parts operator, creator, and storyteller.

You can connect with Shali Reed on Linked and on Instagram. Also, check her out on her website here. Here are the tools to start your own business that Shali shared on the podcast:

1. Bob Iger’s Master Class.

2. Claude AI Tool to write a business plan, marketing resource, and legal guidance.

3. Honeybook for automated invoicing.

Follow Pave Her Way Podcast on Instagram @paveherwaypodcast. Subscribe to Pave Her Way podcast on your favorite streaming platform on Apple, Spotify and Amazon Music. Also, you can follow Pave Her Way on Linkedin as well.

Caroline Ruder. Caroline is a former Director of NA Quality at Amazon, where she spent over a decade leading large-scale operations, developing leaders, and driving customer-focused improvements across complex systems.

Throughout her career, Caroline became especially passionate about building strong teams and helping individuals grow into confident, capable leaders. Her experience spans fulfillment operations, inventory management, and quality systems, with a consistent focus on operational excellence and people development.

After 13 years at Amazon, Caroline made the intentional decision to step away from her corporate role to focus on her family and a new season of life in Montana. She is currently exploring how to apply her leadership experience in new ways, with a long-term interest in supporting organizations and individuals in building strong, effective teams.

You can connect with Caroline Ruder on Linkedin. Here are a few tips Caroline shared:

1. Develop strong communication skills

2. Bring your personal identity/brand into your day-to-day work day

3. Bring your creativity to your work! Fictional Leadership Book Recommendation: Enders Game

Follow Pave Her Way Podcast on Instagram @paveherwaypodcast. Subscribe to Pave Her Way podcast on your favorite streaming platform on Apple, Spotify and Amazon Music. Also, you can follow Pave Her Way on Linkedin as well.

Laura works with women returning to the paid workforce after a career break, helping them take control of their job search and find work aligned with their current goals. With over 15 years of experience in HR, along with her own journey of returning from a career break and changing careers, she understands the unique challenges women face as they reenter the workforce. Rather than viewing career breaks as a liability, she helps women see them as an asset and position them with confidence. She lives in Texas with her husband and son, but will always be a Midwesterner at heart!

You can connect with Laura Niebauer on Linkedin. Here are a few of the Career resources she shared on the episode:

1. The Ultimate Guide On Returning To Work After Your Career Break

2. Book Recommendation: The Power Pause

Follow Pave Her Way Podcast on Instagram @paveherwaypodcast. Subscribe to Pave Her Way podcast on your favorite streaming platform on Apple, Spotify and Amazon Music. Also, you can follow Pave Her Way on Linkedin as well.

Mercedes Swan is the Career Love Coach and creates empowering and safe places for high-performing and purpose driven Black women. She is a business and career coach for Black Women across the US, leveraging her expertise as a certified HR Professional (SHRM-CP), executive recruiter, and DEIB champion. It's her passion to see more Black Women find bliss personally and professionally and her mission is to close the pay, promotion and inclusion gap.

Mercedes holds a Master’s degree in management and a Bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Florida. Mercedes has 8+ years of experience as an HR professional in talent acquisition, DEI, talent management and change management.

Mercedes currently lives in Florida with her fiancé, and two sweet boys: a chocolate American Staffordshire Terrier named Uno and tri-colored Beagle named Thorin. In her personal time, she loves nerding out , kayaking, spending time with family and crafting.

You can connect with Mercedes Swan on Instagram- @mercedes.swan. Follow Mercedes tools and resources below:

1. Check out Happy Black Women.

2. Download Mercedes free Career Love Journal

3. Black Woman Bliss Community (a free and paid community experience for high-performing, passionate Black women).

Follow Pave Her Way Podcast on Instagram @paveherwaypodcast. Subscribe to Pave Her Way podcast on your favorite streaming platform on Apple, Spotify and Amazon Music.

Urmi is a self-published author, speaker, blogger, and podcast host who works in the financial services industry in Canada. She holds both the CFA and CAIA designations and is deeply passionate about empowering women through mentorship, education, and public speaking.

Her book, Discovering Your Identity: A Rebirth from Interracial Struggle, reflects her journey as a third-culture kid navigating questions of identity, culture, and belonging. Through her writing and lived experiences, Urmi aims to create spaces for honest conversations around representation and self-discovery. She also hosts the podcast Stories Beyond Borders, which amplifies diverse voices and stories on identity, migration, and language.

Outside of her professional and advocacy work, Urmi enjoys reading thrillers, practicing boxing, and staying active through running and HIIT workouts.

You can connect with Urmi Hossain on Instagram- @urmamio. Follow Urmi’s 3 Tips for how to break into the financial industry:

1. Connect with 100 Women in Finance.

2. Listen to the podcast, Leave Your Mark.

3. Check out the following Books Recommendations: “Leave Your Mark” by Aliza Licht and “Ikigai:The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life” by Hector Garcia.

Follow Pave Her Way Podcast on Instagram @paveherwaypodcast. Subscribe to Pave Her Way podcast on your favorite streaming platform on Apple, Spotify and Amazon Music.

Nina is a proud wife, mother, grandmother, entrepreneur, and community leader whose life is deeply rooted in faith, family, and service. She is the oldest of three daughters, a role that taught her early about leadership, compassion, and perseverance. Nina’s entrepreneurial spirit was shaped by the example of her parents, who broke barriers in their own right. Her mother made history in their hometown as the first Black woman and first woman to own and operate an auto body shop, where she skillfully repaired and restored vehicles with determination and pride. Her father was a DJ, whose deep love for music inspired Nina’s own appreciation for creativity, rhythm, and connecting with people through joyful celebration.

Before stepping into public leadership, Nina spent more than twenty years in the nursing field. That same heart for service later guided her toward entrepreneurship and event design. She began her business journey humbly—selling floral arrangements, décor, and women’s clothing through roadside and tent pop-up shops for many years. She then launched into wedding coordination, event design, and planning. In 2020, Nina expanded her vision by opening SB Fashion Boutique and soon after, launched the Simply Beautiful Event Center, a vibrant venue that now hosts weddings, receptions, and community celebrations throughout the region.

Nina is a Certified Wedding and Event Planner through the Wedding Planning Institute and the CEO and Owner of Simply Beautiful Events & More, a full-service event and floral design company. In addition to her thriving business, Nina proudly serves as a school bus driver for Butler County Schools. She serves on both the Career Tech Advisory Board and the Hospitality and Culinary Arts Advisory Board, lending her leadership to career training and workforce development programs that help prepare students for success in the hospitality industry.

In August 2025, Nina Jones Bonner made history as the Mayor-Elect of Georgiana, Alabama, becoming both the first Black woman and the first woman ever to hold the position. Her leadership vision is built on unity, revitalization, and opportunity. She continues to pour her heart into every role she holds—serving God, her family, and her community with excellence, humility, and love.

You can connect with Nina Bonner on Instagram- @sbeautifuleventsandmore. Follow Nina’s 3 Tips for how to get involved in your local city:

1. Volunteer in your local community.

2. Network with people involved in local community organizations.

3. Stay updated and read local magazines and newspapers to know what’s going on in your local community.

Follow Pave Her Way Podcast on Instagram @paveherwaypodcast. Subscribe to Pave Her Way podcast on your favorite streaming platform on Apple, Spotify and Amazon Music.

Pave Her Way closed the year with our Season One recap, reflecting on conversations with our twelve incredible guests, the lessons we learned, and the growth along the way. We are deeply grateful to our guests and listeners for making the 2025 season so meaningful, and we can’t wait to share the exciting guest lineup we have planned for 2026. Thank you for your continued support and for being part of our journey.

Follow Pave Her Way Podcast on Instagram @paveherwaypodcast. Subscribe to Pave Her Way podcast on your favorite streaming platform on Apple, Spotify and Amazon Music.

Erin is an executive career coach and a senior sales leader at Amazon, known for helping high-achieving women step into leadership with clarity, confidence, and an authentic sense of self. With more than a decade of experience leading strategic sales and account teams, she has built her career at the intersection of performance, people development, and purposeful growth.

At Amazon, Erin leads a national strategic account organization responsible for driving adoption and growth across some of the largest commercial customers in the US. She has shaped global account management strategy, built scalable leadership frameworks, and coached managers and sellers to excel in fast-moving, high-stakes environments.

As the founder of Erin Lewber Coaching, Erin works with women who are in pivotal moments of their careers and lives. Her clients are often stepping into leadership, pivoting into new industries (including sales), or rebuilding confidence after burnout, identity shifts, or personal transitions. Erin’s coaching blends strategic career guidance with meaningful clarity work and is wildly committed to helping women take up space in rooms where they once felt they had to shrink.

Erin’s work is deeply informed by her own lived experience navigating career, motherhood, divorce, and rebuilding her identity. Her belief is simple: women are most powerful when they return to themselves and lead from that place.

Outside of work, Erin’s most important role is being a mom to her two kids (and their very loyal dog). She hosts the podcast Career Lunch Break and uses it as a space to talk honestly about growth, ambition, and being human in the process. When she’s not coaching or leading, you’ll usually find her outside—on a trail, in the yard, or getting fresh air as a way to reset and unwind.

You can connect with Erin Lewber on her website here. Also, you can reach out to her on Linkedin here and Instagram-@erinlewber.

Follow Erin’s Top 3 Tips below:

1. Invest In your Well-Being

2. Journaling

3. Get to Know Yourself

Follow Pave Her Way Podcast on Instagram @paveherwaypodcast. Subscribe to Pave Her Way podcast on your favorite streaming platform on Apple, Spotify and Amazon Music.