For this week's episode, Sarah Trautman hosted the defy podcast LIVE and SOLO! This show aired live on the defy.community Facebook and Instagram and it featured many listeners questions submitted to Sarah. So if you missed the live stream, don't sweat it! You can check out this very special episode of the defy podcast right here! 

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Zahra Hajiaghamohseni believes that anything is possible if you are truly passionate about the work that you do (and are willing to work really REALLY hard, ask questions and find great mentors). Zahra has applied this positive attitude to her work. She founded 2 companies, completed her PhD in Behavior Analysis (it took 10-years, but who cares) and STILL loves what she does. Zahra also believes in being willing to tackle hard problems. She’s chosen to tackle the problem of insufficient numbers of quality field supervisors in Behavior Analysis. Hear how she’s proposing that this issue can be solved, why professionals should get involved in their state association and how being a part of the defy community has been life changing for her!

Show Notes:

Check out Green Space: Behavior Analysis from the Ground Up!

https://greenspacebehavior.com/

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Devon Sundberg started working with people with disabilities as a teenager in Terre Haute, Indiana. After she graduated from college she answered an ad in a newspaper (like for reals, an actual printed newspaper) looking for people interested in working at an Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) clinic. Little did she know this would become her career.  Devon met her husband, Carl, at the clinic they both worked at and in 2009 they started their own ABA business, the Behavior Analysis Center for Autism. Indiana was the first state to pass an autism health insurance law and Devon spent a lot of her time advocating and fighting for services for her clients at BACA. She loved her company, but spent more time fighting for services than being a clinician. In 2019 Devon was in a meeting with the president of an insurance company when he told her, “You’re too difficult to work with…” and immediately cancelled BACA’s contract. This was the last straw for Devon and Carl and they worked tirelessly to have BACA acquired by a larger ABA company to ensure that their families and staff could continue to receive quality care.

Devon is also the founder of the Women in Behavior Analysis (WIBA) conference. She started it because she believed there needed to be a conference that focused on the contributions that women have made in the field of Behavior Analysis. The next WIBA conference will be held IRL (and online) July 29-31st in Nashville at the Renaissance Hotel. The link to WIBA’s website and registration is in the show notes!

Show Notes:

Want to learn more about the Women in Behavior Analysis conference? Check out their website!

https://thewiba.com/

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Alex “Hoop” Hooper was born and raised in Oakland. Her mom worked a 2nd job at the most elite private schools in the Bay Area in order to ensure that Alex and her sister were able to receive the best education possible. As a result Alex had to stay late after school while her mom worked. So, in order to combat her boredom she started to play sports. And she got really good, especially at basketball. Alex parlayed her basketball skills into a scholarship to Ohio Wesleyan where she was first introduced to group fitness classes while recovering from an injury. Alex worked her way through graduate school at Georgetown University by running the front desk and later becoming a coach at an Orange Theory studio. When Alex’s dad called her out of the blue in 2019 to suggest she open her own gym and he’d be the primary investor she thought he was crazy. But she moved back to the Bay Area and started to work on opening the first F45 location in Oakland. And then COVID hit. You’ll have to listen to the rest of the episode to learn how Alex used her hustle and heart to navigate through a pandemic as a new business owner...

Show Notes:

Check out Alex’s F45 gym in Uptown Oakland

https://f45training.com/oaklanduptown/home

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Hoda Mehr grew up in Iran with a father who loved to invest in the stock market. As a little girl she used to ride with her father as he picked up investment dividend checks from companies he had invested in. Conversations about money and business were a daily part of her life. When Hoda immigrated to the US she learned that most people didn’t have open conversations about money, but they’d have open conversations about literally ANYTHING and EVERYTHING else. After Hoda applied for a few of her dream jobs and was rejected, she realized that she had to do things her way - so she founded Stock Card. Stock Card is an online tool for individual investors that helps them make better investment decisions using data analysis, automation, visualization and behavioral nudging. Hoda is passionate about continuously improving Stock Card, helping people realize that talking about money is NOT a 4-letter word and working towards making a world where no one makes a bad investment.

Show Notes:

Stock Card.io

https://stockcard.io/home

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There are people in the world who see problems and wait for someone else to tackle them. And then there are people who see problems and immediately think “What can I do to solve this?” Sara Litvak is one of those people. Sara’s identity as someone who doesn’t wait around for others to take action was heavily influenced by her late grandmother, Rosa. Rosa immigrated to the US from Russia and spent her entire life advocating for her most vulnerable students. Rosa talked to Sara like an adult from the time she was very young and encouraged her to speak her mind, actively participate in her community and be unapologetic about owning who she is. Sara took this advice to heart and formed an accrediting body, the BHCOE, for Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) organizations when she was 27. She’s worked tirelessly over the last 7-years to help grow the BHCOE into an organization that has over 500 organizational members. Learn how Sara has turned her identity as a problem solver into a successful career as the CEO of the BHCOE, how she deals with “haters” and the 1 question she thinks everyone who works at any organization should ask in order to determine if they’re in the right position or not.

Show Notes:

Behavioral Health Center of Excellence

https://bhcoe.org/

The Lean Startup

https://www.amazon.com/Lean-Startup-Entrepreneurs-Continuous-Innovation/dp/0307887898

Linchpin: Are you indispensable?

https://www.amazon.com/Linchpin-Are-Indispensable-Seth-Godin/dp/1591844096/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=linchpin&qid=1619725272&s=books&sr=1-1

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Produced by Pretty Easy Podcasts