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Welcome to the Forty Over 40 blog. We frequently spotlight one of our honorees and their thoughts on reinvention, mentorship and momentum…plus a peek into what makes them tick.

This Q & A is with Nan Forte, LivingHealthy’s Chief Product & Content Officer. During her tenure at WebMD, Nan grew the WebMD audience from 1 million+ to over 120 million+ users monthly. In addition to audience growth, Nan also led efforts in the development of WebMd’s Symptom Checker — a first of its kind product designed to help people figure out what their symptoms mean.

1. What was a pivotal moment of reinvention for you?
I have had several and perhaps therein lies the key: When I pursued my rare Masters degree in “Biomedical Communications” in lieu of Medical School in 1984, at the age of 20 after 4 years of grueling Pre-Med, my family basically said, “If you drop out of Med School, you are on your own kid.” I immediately became a live in Nanny for room and went to night school and started covering my passion: the dialogue of health and wellness.

My second was leaving WebMD. That was planned by me and I knew it would be difficult as I had built a great reputation and was at the top of the corporate ladder. I knew I had to do it but then once I did it I truly had to grapple with my identity — I wanted it to be so much more than the “WebMD Lady.” When I left WebMD my best girlfriend said to me, “Haven’t you done enough? Rest already.” And I thought to myself, “I am JUST getting started.” I was turning 45 and I knew I wanted my next 20 years to be back in start ups. I wanted to fulfill my passion in all of wellness versus just illness. I left when I was 48 and I did truly fear being older and a woman and identity-less without my big title and platform. But that is when I actually truly found myself, after I released the big titles and got right back in the room with start ups and people half my age and it was the best thing I ever did.

2. Who has been a valuable mentor or sponsor?
Deborah Farrington and Laura Sachar of Starvest Partners are the most instrumental, positive, supportive, smart and truly authentic mentors I have ever met.

3. What is your biggest goal right now?
To “democratize wellness information and options.” At WebMD my goal was to “democratize medical information” for patients. At LivingHealthy — and other start ups that I advise — my goal/passion/purpose/joy is to help people get the most out of each and every day. This requires knowledge, access, support, and innovation.

4. How did you feel on your 30th birthday? What were you doing at that time?
I was joining a start up – iVillage and pregnant with my second daughter and raising my first!

5. How do you unplug? How often do you unplug?
I practice yoga and meditation — the goal is to do both daily but the reality is every other day.

6. What’s the best networking contact you’ve made? How did you make it?
Jim Citrin of Spencer Stuart via Pat Fili Krushel whom I worked for at WebMD.

7. What challenge / achievement are you most proud of?
Becoming the Most Trusted Brand in America for WebMD (TrustZ Millward Brown) and winning the Delta Sigma Chi award for Non-Deadline Reporting for WebMD for 5 consecutive years.

8. What cause do you most want to advance?
Girls Who Code.

9. What song can’t you get out of your head?
“Ripple” by the Grateful Dead.

10. What is the best piece of advice you ever received?
“Don’t be just a writer. Be an expert on what you write about.” and “You might have more impact NOT being a doctor.”

11. What is your “keep me going” quote?
“Because you gotta have faith.” And “People support what they help to create.”

12. What is your secret indulgence?
Pretzels and chocolate. And romantic comedies.

13. Who on the list of prior Honorees would you like to meet?
Everyone!

Check out Nan Forte’s full 40 Over 40 profile here!

Welcome to the Forty Over 40 blog. Every week we spotlight one of our honorees and their thoughts on reinvention, mentorship and momentum…plus a peek into what makes them tick.

This Q & A is with Tina Fordham. Tina is the Managing Director, Chief Global Political Analyst at Citi Research Citigroup. As the first and only chief political analyst to work for a major financial institution, Tina is a trailblazer in the field of political analysis for companies and investors.  Named one of the Top 100 Most Influential Women in Finance, Tina is also one of the top-read research analysts on Wall Street.

1. What was a pivotal moment of reinvention for you?
The onset of the financial crisis from 2007 saw an almost perfect storm of challenges: giving birth to my second child, my promotion to MD at Citi, and being the sole breadwinner for my family at a time when my industry was under once-in-a-generation pressure. It forced me to become more entrepreneurial, be highly disciplined, and use the crisis as an opportunity to transform my work. I was able to connect with a whole new audience and became a high-profile public speaker in the process. It was sink or swim.

2. Who has been a valuable mentor or sponsor?
I have 3: Jennifer Scardino, now at Santander, who sponsored me for MD and helped me navigate the financial crisis; Rosemarie Forsythe, recently retired from her role as head of International Political Strategy at Exxon Mobil and a former chief negotiator on arms control at the US State Department who helped me think about how to define my role at Citi, and Anne Richards, CIO at Aberdeen Asset Management and a nuclear engineer by training who is a tireless promoter and connector of women. All are wonderful friends, mentors and supporters.

3. What is your biggest goal right now?
To redefine banking research. I’d like to continue to find new ways to help senior decision-makers make sense of global complexity, bring together experts from across disciplines to solve problems and form new networks — and have fun doing it. Also, sleep more. These goals contradict one another, I realize.

4. How did you get your first job? How did you jump to your second job?
I got my first job at the age of 14 by walking into what I thought was the coolest shop in San Jose, California, Streetlight Records, and asking for it. I cleaned records for $2.85 per hour, or more if I wanted records instead of cash, and I was on top of the world. I am not sure I ever formally applied for a job thereafter; I’ve always tried to spot opportunities and creatively pitch how I can contribute, from teaching English in a small town in then-Czechoslovakia to convincing Citi that they needed a Chief Political Analyst.

5. What time do you typically wake up? What do you do every morning?
I wake up at 6 every day for the market open, have two cups of coffee while reading the overnight headlines to see what might move markets that day, and either head to my office in London’s Canary Wharf, catch a plane to see clients somewhere on the Continent or the US, or take my daughters to school.

6. How do you unplug? How often do you unplug?
I don’t do much unplugging, as my role analyzing the impact of political developments for financial markets is more or less 24-7. I do decompress though, by running in the parks of Northwest London 4 or 5 times per week. That clears the cobwebs. Music also helps: I’m a proud supporter of the Academy of Ancient Music in London, a baroque orchestra which performs using period instruments.

7. What challenge / achievement are you most proud of?
My two daughters think girls can do anything. They take karate, play with dolls, and insist on playing Helen Reddy’s, “I Am Woman” while getting dressed in the morning. I swear I didn’t put them up to it.

8. What was the last business book you read?
I never read business books, though I do like business school case studies. I think you can learn more about human nature from fiction, and the writing is much better.

9. What cause do you most want to advance?
Improving conflict resolution, which is leading to unprecedented flows of refugees (2/3 of whom are women and children) and furthering the economic prospects of women and girls by reducing gender inequality, a topic we took on in a recent paper, Women in the Global Economy: Global Growth Generators, available here: “Women in the Economy: Global Growth Generators”.

10. What is the best piece of advice you ever received?
Madeleine Albright said there is a special place in hell for women who don’t help other women. I feel extraordinarily lucky that I’m part of a community of women — friends and colleagues — who really support each other, professionally and personally. They’re indispensable. And a few good men, too.

11. What is your “keep me going” quote?
Virgil: Fortis Fortuna Adiuvat– Fortune favors the brave.

12. What is your secret indulgence?
Sourdough toast with a lot of melted butter. Reading in bed. And dancing.

Check out Tina Fordham’s full 40 Over 40 profile here!

Welcome to the Forty Over 40 blog. Every week we spotlight one of our honorees and their thoughts on reinvention, mentorship and momentum…plus a peek into what makes them tick.

This week’s Q & A is with Ari Horie, Founder & CEO of Women’s Startup Lab — a Silicon Valley accelerator that seeks to unleash the power of women as fearless leaders in the start-up world. As one of Forty of 40’s 2015 Honorees, Ari was one of our 40 women to watch over 40. Her experience with leading companies has made her an expert Innovation Ecosystem Builder & Consultant.

1. What was a pivotal moment of reinvention for you?
When I was a “mom-preneur”, I attended a hack-a-thon that was predominantly of male gender. I recall one very knowledgeable woman, standing up and voicing her pitch and asking the hacking team for guidance towards a solution. No one joined her team. At that moment, I knew a new option for women entrepreneurs needed to be available.

2. Who has been a valuable mentor or sponsor?
Elea Carey, who said, “I’m going to translate your vision” and then took Women’s Startup Lab (WSLAB) to the next level.

3. What is your biggest goal right now?
To make an impact by increasing the number of successful women entrepreneurs and expanding global diversity.

4. What time do you typically wake up? or should we be asking “do you sleep?”. 🙂
I often wake up around 3:30am and then go back to sleep some time between 6-8pm. It’s how I have been since I started WSLAB.

5. How do you unplug? How often do you unplug?
Hangout with my girlfriends. I try to spend some time with myself over the weekend but also do deep dive advising session with many of my mentors over the weekend and it’s a great mental floss and refreshing.

6. What cause do you most want to advance?
I most want to advance Global Diversity for women entrepreneurs, so that they can thrive among men and also influence the world. It’s about integration and it’s about embracing differences and zeroing in on the true potential that are unique to the individual. It’s not judging with our limited “mind frame” that is created by culture, value, or the era we are born into. Create and Embrace and Thrive – it’s my true passion, a time when we can provide a path to help each innovator soar with our support and network that are unlimited to global opportunity.

7. What is the best piece of advice you ever received?
“Be committed for what you want, and not dominated by fear.”

8. What is your “keep me going” quote?
“If someone has to lead, why not you?” – Denise Brousseau

9. What is your secret indulgence?
Chocolate covered figs and listening to my playlist of “Bang My Head”, “Hey Mama”, “Black Widow”, “Work B**ch.”

Check out Ari Horie’s full 40 Over 40 profile here!

Welcome to the Forty Over 40 blog. Every week we spotlight one of our honorees and their thoughts on reinvention, mentorship and momentum…plus a peek into what makes them tick.

This week’s Q & A is with Tereza Nemessanyi, Microsoft’s Entrepreneur-In-Residence, Tereza runs Microsoft’s business with Startups along the Coast. Formerly founder of HonestlyNow.com. She has worked with companies such as Walt Disney, Interpublic Group and IBM. She has an MBA from the Wharton School. In 2011, she was named one of Forbes “Ten Female Entrepreneurs to Watch.”

1. What was a pivotal momentum of reinvention for you?
Reinvention has been a recurring theme for me – I’m like a cat in that respect. But the big one for me was when I decided to re-orient my career back to my origins, which was the Startup world. I thought I would be welcomed there; this turned out far from the truth. I decided to tire people into acceptance of me, with a stretch goal of 100 events/1000 online comments

2. Who has been a valuable mentor or sponsor?
My current boss has been terrific – a great amount of latitude to apply my experience,.

3. What is your biggest goal right now?
Professionally: Impact, scale and legacy. Personally: sustainability and nurturing my family and friendships.

4. How did you get your first job? How did you jump to your second job?
When I was graduating from college in 1992, the job market was pretty terrible, but it was the early days of big transformation in Eastern Europe, and Prague, specifically. I am of Czech heritage, and it seemed silly to stay here an suffer through an entry level telemarketing job when I could be venturing into all kinds of new things over there. It really seemed like “where the party was”. I’d always been a strong writer, so I landed there an pick up gigs as a freelance journalist. But I quickly learned that (a) I’d want to earn more money, and (b) that I was interested in digging much deeper than transactional news journalism would allow. One of the great things about writing is that it’s an excellent way to meet people. I was particularly interested in the nascent commercial broadcast television market, which to me would quickly explode; and in fact, a national broadcast license was up for tender and someone was going to win it. So I met a bunch of the players. Then, one day, I got a call from a woman saying she’d gotten my name from a mutual contact, as she was part of a group which had just won this national television licence. She needed to move to Prague fast, and needed an apartment. This mutual contact had told her that I was the person in the know. So I said “Sure, I’d be happy to help you find an apartment. By the way — are you hiring? Because I’m looking right now. What a coincidence!” And that was it. I became her assistant and the first employee of what became the first commercial television network in post-Communist Europe.

5. How do you unplug? How often do you unplug?
Not much. I love what I do and try to integrate it. If it’s joyful, it’s not so much like work. Now my girls are old enough that I like to unplug with them. We try to vacation in places that are electronics free. On weekends, we focus very much on family time, and try to have Sunday dinner.

6. What’s the best networking contact you’ve made? How did you make it?
 I am incredibly lucky to have a network of outstanding people. I say “lucky”, but for sure, it’s an outgrowth of years of hustle and relationship development. And yet, all relationships are two-way – we are at the other’s mercy for whether they wish to engage. With that preamble, I have to say that Sara Holoubek has been, hands down, a life-changing networking contact for me. I wrote my first Op Ed on Sara’s prompting, and as I write this, am sitting in DC getting ready to attend a set of innovation meetings at the White House – an opportunity created by Sara. She has been incredibly generous with me. The funny thing is, we met via another common connection, Pavel Dolezal, a Czech entrepreneur whom I met in reading online comments on Fred Wilson’s blog, AVC.com. Relationships can happen from any direction – and it’s so important to be open to that energy.

7. What cause do you most want to advance?

Hands down – pulling girls into the tech pipeline, and pumping them up to the very top. Inclusive innovation is the best innovation – these organizations become remarkably better, and also, it distributes wealth for more inclusive downstream investment. Women and our other under-represented groups are our nation’s most undervalued economic resource. It’s where the growth is. Plus – selfishly, I have two daughters. I do believe, in this case, that’s what’s good for my kids is good for everyone.

8. What song can’t you get out of your head?
I’m a singer, so my favorite songs are ones I’d love to sing myself. This will sound depressing, but one of my favorites for self-soothing is the beautiful Mezzo Soprano solo in Handel’s Messiah, “He Was Despised”. For me, it’s a meditation on how, if you’re doing truly ground-breakingly and game-changingly important, people will feel threatened by that. So much so that they might hate you. But when you have the conviction that what you’re doing is right for the greater good, you must continue on. This is the price of great change that matters. On the lighter (and cheesier) side, who doesn’t get sucked into “Defying Gravity”, from Wicked? Best Broadway song, ever.

9. What is the best piece of advice you ever received?
Find the smartest people doing the most interesting things, and physically put yourself in the middle of the action. Make them your circle, and do great work. These are the places where fascinating early opportunities emerge – it almost becomes hard to NOT hear about great stuff. Then be ready to be opportunistic and move fast.

10. Who on the list of prior Honorees would you like to meet?
Tough pick! But one stands out. I’ve been a fan of Nancy Spector, curator of the Guggenheim Museum, for a long time. We have met, however, it was way too quick. I’m dying to do a Vulcan mind-meld with her.

Check out Tereza Nemessanyi’s full 40 Over 40 profile here!

Welcome to the Forty Over 40 blog. Every week we spotlight one of our honorees and their thoughts on reinvention, mentorship and momentum…plus a peek into what makes them tick.

This week’s Q & A is with Co-Founder and CEO, Endeavor, a global organization leading the High-Impact Entrepreneurship movement around the world.

1. What was a pivotal momentum of reinvention for you?
A few years ago I showed a draft of a showy speech I had written to my husband, writer and New York Times columnist Bruce Feiler, who promptly tore it apart: “Too much Superman, not enough Clark Kent,” he explained. I always thought it was the job of a CEO to sound steely and imperious. Sadly, it wasn’t until my same husband got diagnosed with aggressive bone cancer that I finally heeded his advice because I had no choice – I couldn’t hide my emotions from my colleagues and employees so I let it all out, and much to my surprise, they respected me more for it. Fortunately, Bruce’s cancer went away and so did my hardened exterior. Since then I have strived to be a “less super” and “more human” leader, who exposes her weaknesses, admits her mistakes and embraces her flaws.

2. Who has been a valuable mentor or sponsor?
Since our organization’s mission is to select, support and mentor entrepreneurs, there are plenty of inspirational role models in our network whom I look up to. But I am especially grateful to Edgar Bronfman, Jr., the current chairman of Endeavor Global, whose perfect mix of prodding and pushback has gotten our organization to where it is today. Ten years ago, Edgar said that Endeavor needed to go from “charming” to “important,” and challenged us to expand from 6 countries in 2005 to 25 countries by 2015. I’m pleased to say that, despite our initial disbelief, we are nearly there!

3. What is your biggest goal right now?
My biggest professional goal right now is to see Endeavor become one of the world’s first self-sustaining non-profit; then we could truly call ourselves an organization “of, for and by entrepreneurs,” and demonstrate what we already know: that high-impact entrepreneurs are the engines of long-term economic growth and shared prosperity. My biggest personal goal is that my twin girls, now 10, continue to respect me throughout their adolescence!

4. How did you get your first job? How did you jump to your second job?

Yale Law School helped jumpstart my career but it wasn’t in law! My professors there recognized that my heart wasn’t in the field and generously gave me an opportunity to do independent research in Latin America which eventually led me to Bill Drayton’s Ashoka, a global organization that identifies and invests in social entrepreneurs in developing countries. I loved Bill’s model but I wanted to focus on supporting more high-impact business entrepreneurs with the greatest potential to scale and create jobs in emerging and underserved markets. This dream eventually led me to co-found Endeavor, taking care of my second and last job.

5. What time do you typically wake up? What do you do every morning?
I usually wake up around 7 when my girls do to shuffle them through the morning ritual of breakfast, dressing and drop-off. By 8:15, I’m back at my computer ready to take on the workday.

6. How do you unplug? How often do you unplug?
I try to go to a Pilates or Gyro class 2-3 times a week to unwind. There’s a studio right above the floor of my office so I really have no excuse not to go and I always feel lighter on the elevator ride down!

7. What’s the best networking contact you’ve made? How did you make it?
I’m often introduced as the stalker. Six months into Endeavor, I was still trying to up the “cred” of our board members when I learned that Peter Brooke, the legendary VC and private equity pioneer, was speaking at Harvard Business School, so I followed him—all the way to Cambridge, to Burden Hall and to the men’s bathroom where I cornered Peter into becoming co-chair of our global advisory board. As I now like to say, stalking is an underrated startup strategy!

8. What challenge / achievement are you most proud of?
The idea for Endeavor came to me in the back of a Buenos Aires taxi where I learned from the driver that not only was there not a culture of entrepreneurship in Latin America—there wasn’t even a word for it! Ten years later, my team in San Paolo got a call from the editor of the leading Portuguese-Brazilian dictionary saying that they were adding the word “empreendedorismo” to the lexicon, largely thanks to our work in the region. Helping to popularize a word in a language I didn’t even speak would have to be right up there with giving birth naturally to identical twins.

9. What is the best piece of advice you ever received?

The best piece of advice I ever received came from a 5 year old – my daughter! With the wisdom of the 40-something women on your list, she pulled me aside just as I was leaving for a business trip to caution, “Remember, you can be an entrepreneur for a short time, but you’re a mommy forever.” Since that day, the business trips have lessened but not the schoolings from my children!

10. What is your “keep me going” quote?
The quote that keeps me going is the line that buttresses my entire book: “If you’re not being called crazy, it’s because you’re not thinking big enough.” It’s an easy benchmark for knowing when to push the envelop and when to reel in your imagination. The more often than not, I’ve found crazy is a compliment.

Check out Linda Rottenberg’s full 40 Over 40 profile here!