HumanizeHer with Erica Lockheimer
Welcome to the HumanizeHer Podcast where we celebrate and elevate women's voices and share their stories. We are on a mission to cultivate a world where every woman thrives, shattering glass ceilings and redefining success on her own terms. We're so grateful to have you as a listener and member of our community!! 🤩💫
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Cancer, Career Pivots, and Building Descript | Laura Burkhauser - CEO, Descript
<p >In this episode of the HumanizeHer Podcast, we sit down with Laura Burkhauser, CEO of Descript, for an insightful and candid conversation about the evolution of creative tools, career pivots, and personal resilience.</p> <p > </p> <p >Laura Burkhauser was running a hundred-million-dollar product at Twitter. She had the executive title. The salary. The status. Then she fell in love with a problem she couldn't ignore as a creator herself. She was using Descript and reached out with a simple message: 'I love this product, and I want to work here' - but they weren't exactly hiring for her...
From Career-Ending Injury To LA 2028 Olympic Comeback, Torrey Van Winden Pro Beach Volleyball Player
<p >In this episode of the HumanizeHer Podcast, professional beach volleyball player and former tech Product Marketing Manager Torrey Van Winden joins us to discuss the systemic financial disparities facing female athletes, her experience overcoming career-threatening injuries, and her ambitious comeback bid for the LA 2028 Olympics.</p> <p> </p> <p >Torrey left her stable corporate job to chase one thing: a spot on the 2028 LA Olympic team. She's a professional beach volleyball player and a newly named 2026 Cal Poly Hall of Famer - but this comeback almost didn't happen. In her first professional match out of college, she tore her...
"People Magic": Redefining Community & Real Human Connection with Mighty Networks CEO Gina Bianchini
<p >In this episode of the HumanizeHer Podcast, we sit down with Gina Bianchini, Co-Founder and CEO of Mighty Networks. Gina shares her vision for shifting the online landscape away from isolated, transactional social media toward meaningful, intentional digital and real-world connections. Reflecting on her entrepreneurial trajectory - from her childhood experiences with local passion clubs and community support systems to founding Ning and Mighty Networks - Gina breaks down what truly creates a thriving culture: setting clear norms for positive engagement, embracing "patient impatience," and treating every member as important.</p> <p > </p> <p >Nine years ago, Gina Bianchini...
HumanizeHer IRL: Red Carpet at the SheTO Summit 2025 with Nidhi Gupta, Ann Curry, & More!
<p >We took HumanizeHer to the SheTO Ignite Summit 2025 and rolled out our own red carpet to catch some of tech's most brilliant women…twirls, crowns, capes, and all! 🦸♀️</p> <p > </p> <p >SheTO is the premier global network for women and non-binary engineering leaders, and the SheTO Ignite Summit is all about celebrating the people who are actually building the industry. Founder Nidhi Gupta built SheTO from a single "let's do something big" dinner-table idea into a massive movement across dozens of countries. Her vision anchors the entire event - a room full of brilliant women who, for once, get to drop...
Surviving Domestic Abuse & Becoming "Boundary Queen" | Nillie Danesh, Founder & CEO of Glory Jewelry
<p >Note: This episode includes a candid discussion of domestic abuse, including emotional, financial, and physical abuse. If this content is difficult for you, please prioritize your own wellbeing. Support is available 24/7 through the National Domestic Violence Hotline - call 1-800-799-7233, text START to 88788, or visit thehotline.org.</p> <p > </p> <p >In this emotional and empowering episode of the HumanizeHer Podcast, we sit down with Nillie Danesh - entrepreneur, life coach, and founder of Glory Jewelry (often known as the "Butterfly Girl"). Returning to her hometown after almost seven years to join us in The HumanizeHer Studio...
Solving Loneliness with Older Adults and AI | Dana A. Griffin Co-Founder & CEO of Eldera.AI
<p >In this episode, we sit down with Dana A. Griffin - the Co-Founder and CEO of Eldera.ai, redefining what it means to age in a longevity society. Raised by her grandparents in Transylvania, she was shaped early by the wisdom of older adults and a thread that runs through everything she's built. Before Eldera.ai, Dana was a data and advertising executive, named an Ad Age 40 Under 40. In 2018 she pivoted, using AI to connect vetted adults 60-plus with young people for weekly conversations - turning wisdom into a resource for the next generation. Eldera.ai has been featured...
She Dropped Out of Her PhD to Get 25 Million Girls Into Tech | Tara Chklovski - CEO, Technovation
<p >In this inspiring and thought-provoking episode of the HumanizeHer Podcast, hosts sit down with Tara Chklovski, CEO and Founder of Technovation (formerly Iridescent). Tara shares her incredible personal trajectory, growing up in India surrounded by formidable female role models - her grandmother who built a school from scratch at age 65 and her mother who joined the Indian military as a doctor at age 43 - and learning hands-on mechanics from her father.</p> <p > </p> <p >Tara is on a mission to transform the future of technology and innovation to empower girls and young women to use cutting-edge technology to...
She Left Big Tech After 25+ Years (Google, Apple, LinkedIn) to Pause | Sarah Clatterbuck
<p >In this engaging and insightful episode of the HumanizeHer Podcast, we sit down with long-time tech leader and advocate, Sarah Clatterbuck. Bringing a rich history of engineering leadership from top tech giants including Yahoo, Apple, LinkedIn, and Google - Sarah shares stories from her multi-decade career and her passionate work driving diversity, inclusion, and web accessibility.</p> <p > </p> <p >As a senior engineering director who spent nearly three decades building the internet's biggest platforms, in Sarah's most recent role she helped build YouTube's creator economy from the ground up that grew into multi-billion-dollar businesses. In 2019, Forbes named her...
Anti-Bullying to Empowerment: Young Entrepreneur Sumer Strawbree's Affirmations Journey
<p >🌟 Meet Sumer Strawbree, our YOUNGEST guest ever! This powerhouse entrepreneur, author, digital artist, and paid speaker is changing lives through the power of positive affirmations and self-love.</p> <p > </p> <p >In this uplifting and inspiring episode of the HumanizeHer Podcast, Sumer Strawbree (along with a special appearance by her father and manager and our first male ally on the show - what better start than a father , who goes by Mastermind Statements). Sumer shares her journey from suffering severe low self-esteem as a bullied child to building a thriving brand centered around empowerment, self-love, and positive affirmations.</p> <p >...
Google's Security Princess on Turning Hacking into a Career at Google | Parisa Tabriz - VP & General Manager, Google Chrome
<p >In this powerful and candid episode of the HumanizeHer Podcast, we sit down with tech royalty Parisa Tabriz, VP and General Manager of Google Chrome, the browser billions of people use every single day. She's also known as Google's "Security Princess" - a title she gave herself on a business card almost twenty years ago that ended up sticking for life.</p> <p > </p> <p >Parisa has been at Google for nineteen years - nearly her entire career. She started out as a "hired hacker" on the security team, back when she wasn't even sure engineering was right for...
