Most founders don’t fail because of a lack of passion. They fail because they don’t understand their numbers.

In this episode, I sit down with Rachel Phillips, Co-Founder and COO of Fully Accountable, to break down the financial blind spots that quietly sink startups, and the simple systems that can save them.

Rachel went from practicing law to building one of the fastest-growing outsourced accounting firms in the digital and e-commerce space. But her journey wasn’t smooth. At one point, she was running payroll with $2 in the bank account, choosing to bet on herself rather than take on the wrong clients.

This conversation is packed with the kind of clarity every founder needs, especially if numbers make you nervous.

We talk about:

• The #1 financial mistake early founders make

• Why your bank account balance is NOT an indicator of success

• When you actually need a CFO (and when you absolutely don’t)

• Cutting the bottom 20% to double your profit

• How to turn your accounting department into a profit center

• Building and scaling a remote-first culture long before it was normal

• The moment Rachel realized she had to niche down or risk losing everything

If you are scaling, pivoting, fundraising, or simply trying to understand your financial reality, this episode will give you the confidence and clarity you’ve been avoiding.

At just 20 years old, Aleksandar Svetski lost everything, $200,000 in debt, wiped out by the stock market, living on a friend’s floor, and selling door-to-door to afford a can of tuna. That rock-bottom moment didn’t break him; it built him.

In this raw and unapologetic conversation, Sonia sits down with Alex to unpack the failures, pivots, and rebuilds that shaped his unconventional path from debt to becoming a leading voice in the Bitcoin space. From early entrepreneurial mistakes to launching the world’s first Bitcoin-only savings app to stepping away when regulation and burnout crushed his joy. Alex shares the truth behind resilience that most founders rarely discuss.

In this episode, we dive into:

• Losing $200K and rebuilding from zero
• The life-changing lessons of door-to-door rejection
• Why his early startup failed and how that led to Bitcoin
• Battling regulators while trying to innovate
• Knowing when persistence becomes self-destruction
• How to avoid “founder Frankenstein” product mistakes
• What the next generation of Bitcoin adoption will really look like

If you’re a founder facing uncertainty, burnout, or the fear of letting go, this episode will challenge how you think about resilience and what it truly means to rebuild.

What makes a founder walk away from stability, an excellent salary, and a clear corporate path, just to start over from scratch?

In this episode of Tenacity with Sonia C., Marco Benitez, CEO of ROOK, shares the pivotal moment that changed the trajectory of his life. From a national Taekwondo champion in Mexico to a biomedical engineer and then climbing the ladder in big pharma, Marco had everything society tells us to want. Yet he felt deeply unfulfilled.

When his wife asked, “Why are you so sad?”, it forced him to face a truth he’d been avoiding: he was meant to build, not maintain.

Sonia and Marco unpack:

• ⚡ The internal battle between comfort and purpose
• ⚡ How he navigated a high-risk pivot from fitness wearables to healthcare & insurance
• ⚡ The real emotional cost behind raising capital (400 investor calls!)
• ⚡ Why being “in love with the problem, not the product” saved his company
• ⚡ What founders misunderstand about resilience and long-term vision
• ⚡ The future of health data, wearables, and consumer control
• ⚡ How to make the leap when fear has you frozen

This episode is a powerful reminder that tenacity isn’t loud; it’s the quiet decision to keep walking, even when the world tells you to stay where it’s safe.

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What does it take to build and scale a tech startup while your country is under attack?

In this episode of Tenacity with Sonia C, Ukrainian founder Oleksandr (“Alex”) Buratynskyi, co-founder of T-Travel, shares the raw, unfiltered truth about growing a startup during the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, with no outside funding, constant uncertainty, and the pressure to keep his team motivated while the world around him shifted overnight.

Alex opens up about:

• The hackathon spark that pushed him from QA testing into entrepreneurship
• Bootstrapping T-Travel through wartime conditions when investors disappeared
• How the invasion changed everything, from funding to timelines to team morale
• The biggest mistake he made as a founder (and how it cost years of time and money)
• Why overbuilding early nearly crushed the company
• How he scaled to 37,000+ users without VC dollars
• The mindset tools he used to stay steady while leading through crisis
• His philosophy from his book Systematic Adaptiveness, and how founders can apply it in their own moments of chaos

This conversation serves as a blueprint for fostering founder resilience, resourcefulness, and psychological endurance.

If you’re navigating failure, rebuilding after a setback, or fighting to keep your dream alive, Alex’s story will remind you that tenacity is a strategy, not just a trait.

When you try to serve everyone, you end up serving no one.

In this episode of Tenacity with Sonia C., Sonia Couto sits down with Gabriel Kaam, founder and CEO of K&R, to unpack one of the hardest, but smartest, growth decisions a founder can make: niching down.

Gabriel shares how focusing his agency on fashion and luxury e-commerce helped him land clients like L’Oréal, Givenchy, and Louis Vuitton, without a sales team. He opens up about the early struggles of scaling, why being small became his biggest superpower, and how founders can win trust from big clients, even when you’re still building.

You’ll learn:

• Why niching down is the key to sustainable growth
• How being small and flexible can attract global brands
• The truth about managing client expectations and setting boundaries
• How to sell your idea before your product
• Why cheap hires cost more in the long run

If you’re building a startup, agency, or SaaS, this episode is your reminder that focus isn’t a limitation; it’s leverage.

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What does it take to leave a decade-long career at JP Morgan and build a profitable fintech startup in one of the most stigmatized industries in America, Cannabis?

In this episode of Tenacity with Sonia C., host Sonia Couto sits down with Aubrey Amatelli, founder and CEO of PayRio, the first payment provider focused exclusively on cannabis and alternative medicines.

Aubrey shares her journey from the stability of corporate banking to the chaos of startup life, all while raising three kids as a single mom. She opens up about:

• Leaving JP Morgan to launch a cannabis fintech from scratch
• Turning stigma into strategy in an underbanked industry
• Hitting profitability in under 12 months, self-funded
• Balancing motherhood, burnout, and leadership in a male-dominated space
• How one platform crash reshaped her entire approach to resilience

This conversation is a masterclass in tenacity, purpose-driven leadership, and building credibility when the system isn’t built for you.

🎧 Listen if you’re a founder breaking barriers, rebuilding after setbacks, or redefining success in a stigmatized industry.

When you think of breast cancer, you probably don’t think of men, but you should.

In this episode, Phil Alderson shares his story of surviving male breast cancer, a diagnosis most men never imagine they’ll face. From the moment he found a lump to navigating isolation, stigma, and the lack of male-focused support, Phil’s honesty will challenge what you think you know about breast cancer.

As two survivors, one male, one female, Sonia and Phil go into:

- The reality of male breast cancer (yes, it happens)

- Why early detection saves lives

- How stigma and silence make men more vulnerable

- The need for more inclusive awareness and language

- Rebuilding identity and purpose after cancer

If you’re a man, a father, a brother, this episode could save a life.

When Alexandra Goldwell was diagnosed with Stage 3 breast cancer as a single parent and lifelong healer, she was forced to confront the limits of her strength and the depth of her beliefs about healing. A psychologist and somatic therapist for over 25 years, Alexandra had spent her career helping others process pain, but breast cancer became her most personal teacher.

In this episode of Tenacity with Sonia C, we have an honest and transformative conversation. Alexandra shares how she approached her diagnosis differently, why she delayed surgery, and the mental and emotional practices that helped her navigate fear, isolation, and uncertainty. We also talk about the often-ignored post-cancer phase, the disorientation, the grief over a changed body, and the process of redefining your identity and priorities after survival.

This isn’t just a story about breast cancer; it’s about agency, resilience, and rewriting your life on your own terms.

🎧 Listen now for a conversation that will speak to anyone facing a life-changing diagnosis, a significant transition, or the challenge of starting over.

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