Blake Lew-Merwin

2 weeks ago | theskimm.com | Blake Lew-Merwin

May 21, 2025Dawn Staley helped Team USA’s women’s basketball team win gold at the ‘96 Olympics. It was the highlight of her career. Yet she fell into a depression that was so bad, she didn’t even want to look at a basketball. Nothing prepared her to process reaching such a milestone. She was left asking herself: now what? With a resumé is full of career-highs (hi, 3x national champ), Dawn says the real reward isn’t the trophy – it’s all the work it took to get there.

1 month ago | theskimm.com | Blake Lew-Merwin

Podcast·1 min readfbtwitteremailMay 7, 2025Alice Waters never cared about making money. After more than 50 years in business, she still doesn’t. Her friends and family helped her open her restaurant, Chez Panisse, with no expectations of ever seeing their money again. It’s no surprise, given she’s sparked a slow food revolution where resisting the industrial food system is the name of the game. Some call her “idealistic” with disdain. Alice says: it’s just the way things ought to be.

1 month ago | theskimm.com | Blake Lew-Merwin

April 30, 2025Karissa Bodnar once got advice from a peer – she needed real friends, not just “deal” friends. It wasn’t a dig. Entrepreneurship is lonely. And if Karissa was going to make it as a founder, she’d need friends who cared about her and not the number of zeros in her bank account. Karissa sits down with us to share how she found those kinds of friends, the time she got ghosted out of a big investment, and what she really thinks about those beauty influencer trips.

1 month ago | theskimm.com | Blake Lew-Merwin

April 23, 2025Kristen Kish didn’t grow up dreaming of becoming the first woman of color to win Top Chef—or of one day hosting the show. She grew up in the Midwest as a Korean adoptee and those wins hadn’t crossed her radar. But with a little luck—and a lot of support—she got there. Listen as Kristen shares how one mentor changed everything by challenging her to think beyond day-to-day dinner service and chase a career she never thought was possible.

1 month ago | theskimm.com | Blake Lew-Merwin

Geri Halliwell-Horner, aka Ginger Spice, practically invented girl power and forever holds a special place in our millennial hearts. In her twenties, she answered a magazine ad and ended up making pop history with the Spice Girls. In her thirties, she felt the pressures of “time lines” and adult-life creeping in. Welcome to the club. Listen as Geri shares how girl power carried her through her post-Spice Girls career.