Step into the Pivot

Welcome to Step into the Pivot where your hosts Ivana and Theresa talk to people just like you. We will have honest conversations with our guests about issues they have faced, how they had to pivot to address them and lessons learned that you can apply to your life.

Step into the Pivot is a business podcast hosted by Theresa Conti & Ivana Polonijo, with 88 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80.

Theresa Conti & Ivana Polonijo hosts Step into the Pivot, a business show with 88 episodes published.

Our AI reads these to draft pitches. Use them as grounding for a pitch that cites a real guest and a specific topic.

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  Episode #89

  Jessica Porter and Hayley Porter: The 401(k) Girls

  Sep 25, 202626 minS3

  Today we invite Jessica Porter and Hayley Porter, the duo behind the 401(k) Girls, to talk with us about the pivot they’re helping lead in financial education and 401(k) retirement planning. They share what it’s like to create content while algorithms shift under your feet, why “talking head” explanations still matter even when they don’t always get the reach, and how they’ve learned to communicate with more clarity, more brevity, and more humanity. Subscribe, rate, and share this podcast with a friend who needs a confidence boost with their 401(k)! Thanks for listening! Guest Bio: The 401(k) Girls is a financial education platform founded by financial planners Jessica Porter and Hayley Porter to make retirement planning and investing simple, approachable, and fun for younger professionals and clients. Securities and investment advisory services offered through Osaic Wealth, Inc . member FINRA/SIPC. Osaic Wealth is separately owned and other entities and/or marketing names, products or services referenced here are independent of Osaic Wealth Jessica Porter is a Financial Advisor, Partner at BPG Wealth Management, and co-founder of The 401(k) Girls. Growing up in a blue-collar family where money wasn't openly discussed, she developed a passion for helping people feel more confident and informed about their finances. Today, she works with business owners, retirement plans, and families to simplify complex financial decisions and create practical strategies for long-term success. When she's not talking about retirement plans, you'll likely find her on a long road trip, discovering new food, or spending time with her husband, step-daughter, and dog, Daisy. Hayley Porter is a Financial Advisor with BPG Wealth Management and co-founder of The 401(k) Girls. She specializes in helping business owners, employees, and families navigate retirement and financial planning with confidence - minus the confusing jargon. Her mission is to make financial education approachable, practical, and empowering. Outside of work, she enjoys traveling, gardening, biking, and exploring the outdoors with her husband. Connect with The 401(k) Girls: The 401(k) Girls: LinkedIn Jessica Porter: LinkedIn Hayley Porter: LinkedIn Connect with Theresa and Ivana: Theresa , True Strategy Consultants: tsc-consultants.com LinkedIn @treeconti , Insta @tscconsultants Ivana , Courageous Being: courageousbeing.com LinkedIn @ivipol , Insta @courbeing SITP team , Step Into The Pivot: stepintothepivot.com LinkedIn @step-into-the-pivot , YouTube @StepIntoThePivot

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  Episode #88

  Brooke Vixamar - Rising Above the Sunk Cost Fallacy

  Sep 11, 202629 minS3

  Today we talk with Brooke Vixamar, a former financial services annuity expert. When a wave of unexpected loss hit her family, the careful language of retirement planning and life expectancy tables turned painfully concrete, and she started asking a sharper question: what do I want my days to actually feel like? We follow Brooke’s pivot from annuities and retirement income conversations into cybersecurity and identity management, where she now works in product marketing. Thanks for listening! Remember to subscribe, share, and leave a review. Let us know what success at work means to you in the comments! Guest Bio: As a product marketing leader, my focus is on deeply understanding the industries, pain points, and boardroom pressures of our buyers to connect the right solutions to the right problems. I've spent my career helping identity, security, and growth leaders find solutions that actually move their business forward. Solutions that deliver measurable outcomes their board cares about: reduced fraud losses, faster customer onboarding, lower operational costs, successful digital transformation. Connect with Brooke: LinkedIn Connect with Theresa and Ivana: Theresa , True Strategy Consultants: tsc-consultants.com LinkedIn @treeconti , Insta @tscconsultants Ivana , Courageous Being: courageousbeing.com LinkedIn @ivipol , Insta @courbeing SITP team , Step Into The Pivot: stepintothepivot.com LinkedIn @step-into-the-pivot , YouTube @StepIntoThePivot

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  Episode #87

  Liam Polonijo - Intergenerational Advantage

  Aug 28, 202632 minS3

  Boomers. Gen X. Millennials. Gen Z. They're often described as competing generations. What if they're actually different cultures trying to solve many of the same problems? After delivering a keynote on intergenerational leadership, communication, and the growing influence of Gen Z, Liam Polonijo returns to Step Into the Pivot to share the research, revelations, and surprising insights that reshaped how he thinks about work, leadership, and collaboration. Thanks for listening! Remember to subscribe, share, and leave a review. Let us know what success at work means to you in the comments! Guest Bio: Liam is an avid inner work practitioner. Through committed daily practice of Inner Bonding, transcendental meditation and general healthy lifestyle, he has upleveled his leadership, communication, organization, time-management skills, and navigation of personal and professional transitions. Liam serves as Generation Z Consultant to Courageous Being, providing valuable input across the center’s varied services. He studies Psychology and Business at the University of Colorado Boulder. Connect with Liam: LinkedIn Connect with Theresa and Ivana: Theresa , True Strategy Consultants: tsc-consultants.com LinkedIn @treeconti , Insta @tscconsultants Ivana , Courageous Being: courageousbeing.com LinkedIn @ivipol , Insta @courbeing SITP team , Step Into The Pivot: stepintothepivot.com LinkedIn @step-into-the-pivot , YouTube @StepIntoThePivot

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  Episode #86

  Monika Herceg - Diary of Tenderness

  Aug 14, 202626 minS3

  Monika Herceg is the most awarded young author in recent Croatian history, with more than twenty literary awards for her poetry, plays, and short stories. In this deeply honest conversation, she shares how divorce, motherhood, financial uncertainty, and the decision to choose her own future became catalysts for rebuilding her life one small step at a time. Monika introduces a beautifully simple practice: keeping a "Diary of Tenderness" to notice how we care for ourselves, honor our needs, quiet the inner critic, and make room for rest. This warm, candid episode is a reminder that tenderness is not weakness. Sometimes, it is the bravest pivot we can make. Subscribe, share, and leave a review telling us what your next pivot might be! Guest Bio: Monika Herceg is one of the most recognized contemporary literary voices from Croatia. Her work has been translated into more than twenty languages and honored with numerous international awards. Her poetry and plays explore themes of womanhood, intergenerational memory, science, tenderness, freedom, and human dignity, while her advocacy work focuses on feminism, scientific literacy, and human rights. Her book Closed Season (Lovostaj) is an award-winning 2019 poetry collection by Croatian author Monika Herceg, exploring themes of female experience, patriarchal violence, and war through a unique blend of physics and politics. The English translation was recently published and is available for purchase online . Connect with Monika: Website , LinkedIn , Closed Season Connect with Theresa and Ivana: Theresa , True Strategy Consultants: tsc-consultants.com LinkedIn @treeconti , Insta @tscconsultants Ivana , Courageous Being: courageousbeing.com LinkedIn @ivipol , Insta @courbeing SITP team , Step Into The Pivot: stepintothepivot.com LinkedIn @step-into-the-pivot , YouTube @StepIntoThePivot

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  Episode #85

  Laurel Hardt - When One Door Closes, Another Door Opens

  Jul 31, 202623 minS3

  A company gets sold and suddenly the career you built for decades is no longer yours to steer. That’s the moment our guest, Laurel Hardt, faced after 34 years in one organization, and it became the pivot that reshaped everything that came next. Laurel breaks down how she diagnoses the real problem behind missed deadlines and blown budgets: no development process, no clear architecture, and no shared way of working. We close by connecting those same change management principles to today’s AI in the workplace conversation: how leaders can reduce fear, evaluate impact job by job, and use automation to free people for higher-value work. Subscribe, share this with someone facing a pivot, and leave a review with the biggest change you’re navigating right now. Guest Bio: Laurel Hardt began her career at Fred Meyer at age 18, eventually building a remarkable 34-year career that took her from cashier to Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer. Along the way, she became the youngest department manager in Fred Meyer history, developed strong teams, and helped create and lead several trailblazing roles that shaped how the company conducted business. After leaving Fred Meyer in 1999, Laurel spent 14 years consulting in areas including process improvement, leadership development, personnel development, performance management, and organizational development. Outside of work, she treasures her family, her 46-year marriage to George, time at the Oregon coast, creative projects, and her current study of Stoicism, which she connects to modern leadership and management wisdom. Connect with Theresa and Ivana: Theresa , True Strategy Consultants: tsc-consultants.com LinkedIn @treeconti , Insta @tscconsultants Ivana , Courageous Being: courageousbeing.com LinkedIn @ivipol , Insta @courbeing SITP team , Step Into The Pivot: stepintothepivot.com LinkedIn @step-into-the-pivot , YouTube @StepIntoThePivot

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