The Corporate Expat Experience

“I hate sales.”

Three words that can be a confession, a proclamation, or a deeply held belief.

But what if those three words became the name of the business that could save yours?

Nicole sits down with John Kennelly, founder of I Hate Sales, to unpack the uncomfortable truth many entrepreneurs discover too late: you can build a great product, create a brilliant business model and have a compelling vision, but eventually, someone has to sell it.

And when that someone is you, things get interesting.

John has 15 years of sales experience and a refreshingly candid perspective on what happens when founders leave the corporate world and suddenly find themselves selling themselves, their ideas and their businesses.

In this episode, we dive into:

• Why the first “no” can be more useful than you think.
• The surprising mistake entrepreneurs make before they ever talk to a customer.
• Why being human could become your secret weapon in an AI-driven sales world.

John also reveals why corporate salespeople may have an unexpected advantage when they become entrepreneurs, why follower counts can be a vanity metric, what founders misunderstand about cold outreach, and why building a polished business before talking to customers can be a very expensive mistake.

If “I hate sales” has ever crossed your mind, come out of your mouth, or become part of your entrepreneurial identity, this conversation is for you.

Listen now. Then share it with an entrepreneur, or anyone who proclaims they hate sales - this episode may just change their mind 

Episode Links:

• John Kennelly on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnkennellyjr/ 
• I Hate Sales: Ihatesales.co 

From Supreme Court Briefs to Barbecue Chicken Pizza: Two federal prosecutors, one wood-burning oven, and a decision that changed the way America eats pizza forever. 

In this episode, Rick Rosenfield, co-founder of California Pizza Kitchen, shares his journey to tracing the leap from courtroom to kitchen counter, and the naive, ridiculous, wildly successful bet that came with it.

Three moments worth the listen:

• The 45-minute drive that built a category:  Rick and his business partner Larry Flax did not have a menu, a name, or a plan. They had a car ride home and an idea nobody had tried before. What happened next redefined an entire style of American pizza.
  
  
• Pioneering a Pizza Revolution with "Customer Eyes": The original menu was built to impress critics, not customers. It failed almost immediately. What Rick and Larry did next, and the accidental creation that became the centerpiece of the entire brand, changed the trajectory of the company overnight.
  
  
• R.O.C.K. - The Four Letters Behind CPK's Culture: Long before "company values" were a business school requirement, Rick and his partner built a framework that quietly became the reason people were proud to work there. He explains why one word in it mattered more than the rest, and why it became the true engine behind the brand's success.

Rick chronicles the full journey and shares even more stories, business lessons, and insights in his recently released best seller, The California Pizza Kitchen Story: How Two Federal Prosecutors Changed the Way America Eats Pizza.

There is heartbreak, hyper-growth gone sideways, a legendary first customer, and a hard-earned answer to whether naivety is an asset or a liability in business.

Listen now, and share this one with your favorite foodie, founder, or anyone dreaming of building a bold and iconic brand. 

Episode Links:

• https://www.rickrosenfield.com/
• https://www.cpk.com/

In this episode, Theresa Shigemura, Co-Founder & CEO of güdpet, shares the story of how a frustrating pile of paperwork for her family dog, Syd, became the spark for a digital platform designed to make pet care simpler, smarter, and more connected.

Teresa opens up about leaving a carefully planned corporate path to pursue entrepreneurship, building güdpet with her sister, and discovering that the best business ideas don't always emerge from a five-year plan, they can start with simply saying, “There’s got to be a better way.”

In this episode we dive into:

• The Power of the Realist + The Dreamer Partnership: Two founders with very different ways of thinking - discover how leaning into these highly complementary opposite skill sets became the ultimate operational superpower and combined helped them become a dynamic duo.
• What can an accelerator really do for you? From hard accountability checks to unlocking a robust professional network, Theresa details how participating in the inaugural SMU Spears Institute LAUNCH Accelerator provided the essential structure they needed to validate güdpet. Plus, she shares how the program's subsequent extension funding completely changed the trajectory of their business,
• Embracing “uncomfortable” customer discovery: Theresa opens up about the painful, eye-opening reality of market validation. Pushed entirely outside of her comfort zone to make cold calls to vet clinics, she explains how actively listening to potential customers led to their first major, ego-bruising business pivot within the first month of development

And there’s more: we have an exclusive announcement in this episode. Theresa reveals güdpet’s new Shelter & Rescue Technology Grant Program, offering eligible animal rescues free access to the platform to help them manage pet records, health information, behavior notes, and more - and seamlessly pass that information to an adopted pet’s new family.

This conversation is about much more than pet tech. It’s about knowing when to challenge your assumptions, finding the right people to build alongside, staying open to possibility, and having the courage to turn an idea into something real.

Listen now - and then share this episode with your favorite entrepreneur who has a great idea they want to pursue, and with your favorite pet parent.

Download the güdpet app today and let them know you heard about it from Corporate Expat!

 

Episode Links:

• Website: https://mygudpet.com/
• Shelter & Rescue Technology Grant Program: https://mygudpet.com/shelter-rescue-technology-grant-program 
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tlshigemura/
• SMU Spears LAUNCH Accelerator: https://blog.smu.edu/spearsinstitute/launch/

What happens when a corporate data analyst swaps spreadsheets for gluten-free sweet treats? Find out when you tune into this episode to hear from Addison LaBonte, the Founder & CEO of Sweet Addison's discuss her remarkable journey from the black-and-white world of finance to the creative, high-stakes world of consumer packaged goods. Addison shares the raw reality of building a business from a 700-square-foot apartment, the mental grit required to survive the "solopreneur" grind, and how she scaled her brand to ship delicious, functional treats across the US (and soon beyond!)

Episode Highlights:

• Addison’s “Corporate Escape”: Discover the specific "aha moment" that led a math-major-turned-analyst to realize her finance career was not forever and how she leveraged a creative Instagram side-hustle into a thriving full-time business.
• The Grit Behind the Glamour: Addison dives into the intense mental and physical challenges of the early days - including the staggering number of cookies she baked entirely by herself - and why she believes entrepreneurship is more challenging than being a Division I athlete.
• Scaling through Connection: Learn how Sweet Addisons uses "functional ingredients" and strategic collaborations to stay ahead of trends, along with a sneak peek at a potential nationwide retail milestone that could change everything.

Whether you are feeling "stuck in a cubicle" or are ready to take your side hustle full-time, Addison’s "deathbed mentality" and her unique perspective on professional "delusion" offer the perfect recipe for inspiration that you need now.

Press play now. This is the episode entrepreneurs, aspiring founders, and anyone questioning their corporate path need to hear.

Episode Links:

• Addison LaBonte: https://www.linkedin.com/in/addison-labonte-536227121/
• Sweet Addison's: https://www.sweetaddisons.com 

In this episode, Nicole talks with Chandler Bolt, CEO of selfpublishing.com, to dismantle the myths keeping entrepreneurs from turning their expertise into a lasting business asset. Chandler shares what it really takes to turn a book into a business and why so many entrepreneurs are leaving serious money on the table by not writing one. His argument is direct: self-publishing is no longer the fallback option or the nice-to-have for entrepreneurs - it’s the strategic move. 

Chandler reveals how his own book, Published, generated roughly seven million dollars in sales since its release, not from the book sales, but from the business it fed. He explains why a book outperforms and outlasts a business card.

In this episode, we dive into:

• Self-Publishing is "Entrepreneurial Publishing": how betting on yourself beats handing over control to a traditional publisher…

• The “Best Seller” Trap: The truth behind "bestseller" lists, and why chasing that title might not be the win you think it is…

• Leaving Money on the Table: How one book can generate millions of dollars when built the right way, and why waiting to write yours could be costing you more than you realize…

If you have ever thought "I'll write my book someday," or have a manuscript collecting dust, this conversation with Chandler might just be the motivation you need to move forward and finally become a published author.

Stop leaving money on the table. Press play now, find out what your book could actually be worth and how to get started now.

 

Episode Links:

• SelfPublishing.com 
• ChandlerBolt.com 

Billi Rogers, Chief Creative Officer at Voss Allen joins the podcast to explore the deep architecture of branding and the strategic evolution of business. In this episode, Billi shares how she navigated the natural evolution of her agency from an experiential media startup to a full-service "scale to market" powerhouse, emphasizing that business pivots should be viewed through a lens of growth rather than failure.

 

Episode Highlights:

• The DET Framework for Strategy: Discover Billi’s unique approach to avoiding brand and technical debt to ensure every marketing move is grounded in harmony and measurable results.
  
  
• The Power of Personal Experience over AI: why AI-generated content often fails to convert without an authentic human story and proper user flow.
  
  
• Personal Branding by Deleting the Noise: Billi discusses the misconception that entrepreneurs must be on every social platform, sharing how she cleared the digital noise to strengthen her professional signal and maintain her privacy.
  
  

From the future of fractional leadership to the best most unexpected advice for protecting your energy, this conversation offers a deep dive into what it truly takes to scale a brand in the modern market.

 

Episode Links:

• Voss Alan: https://www.vossalan.xyz/ 
• Billi Rogers: https://www.linkedin.com/in/billirogers/ 

 

Connect & Subscribe:

• Website: https://www.corporate-expat.com
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/corporate-expat
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/corporate_expat
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ncolwell

Latif Hamlani spent nearly four decades inside tech giants like Microsoft, Oracle and AWS. Then came the layoff, followed by twelve brutal months of job searching that led nowhere. The lesson was not subtle: the industry did not want thirty-seven years of experience, it wanted someone cheaper and younger. In this episode, Latif exposes what nobody says out loud about ageism in tech, and what he did once he stopped asking for permission and started building on his own terms.

In this episode we dive into:

• Finding Your Ikigai:  how a Japanese philosophy changed the game for Latif
• The Power of Partner Intelligence and AI:  how emerging tools are leveling the playing field for startup advantage
• Embracing HI (Human Intelligence):  why empathy and life experience remain a founder's greatest asset, even in an AI-obsessed market

This is not a comeback story with a tidy bow on it. Latif is candid about the year he spent applying for jobs, the isolation nobody warns you about, and the exact moment he realized his experience was not a liability, it was the differentiator.

Press play and hear what happens when someone stops waiting to be hired and starts building the life they were meant to live.

Episode Links:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/latifhamlani/
• Partner Assistant AI: https://www.partnerassistant.ai/
• “The Ikigai Way: A Simple Path for Living a Life of Purpose” by David E. Marlow: https://amzn.to/4wHIWll

 

Connect & Subscribe:

• Website: https://www.corporate-expat.com
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/corporate-expat
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/corporate_expat
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ncolwell

 

Everyone is talking about AI, but few have seen it from the inside out. In this episode, Nicole sits down with someone who was not just in the room where it happened - she was shaping the story being told.

Miri Rodriguez, the visionary behind Empressa AI and the woman who helped shape the human story of Microsoft Copilot, joins Nicole for a conversation that will make you rethink everything about the future of work, emerging technology and your own untapped potential.

Miri brings a rare perspective to the AI revolution - one built on years inside the rooms where emerging technology was being shaped and what she witnessed compelled her to build something the industry had never seen: a platform that puts women at the center of it all, Empressa AI. 

In this episode, Miri and Nicole dive into:

• The 123-Year Problem*: Why the gender gap in the global workforce is a crisis women cannot afford to wait on, and what is being done to close it now
• The Rise of the Portfolio Economy: Discover why the traditional one-track career is becoming a thing of the past and what the future of work looks like
• Conquering the "Croc Brain" and AI Fears: The surprising reasons women hesitate to embrace AI and the mindset shift that changes everything

This is the episode that gives you a peek behind the curtain of AI, changes the way you see technology and the future of work, and spotlights the impact of one woman's mission to ensure that when it comes to emerging technology and the future of work - no one gets left behind. 

Hit play now.

Miri Rodriguez is the co-founder of Empressa AI, a digital platform that combines technology, community and opportunity for women to contribute their knowledge and earn royalties, while the AI transforms those insights into guidance that helps rising women leaders grow. AI created by women, for women.

Episode Links:

• Empressa website: Empressa AI
• Empressa LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/empressaai/
• Miri's website: Mirirod.com
• Miri's Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mirirod/  
• Book: Women Who Run with Wolves: https://amzn.to/4fcVATb

Connect & Subscribe:

• Website: https://www.corporate-expat.com
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/corporate-expat
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/corporate_expat
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ncolwell

* reference: 2025 WEF Global Gender Gap Report

An Episode from the Vault

Some episodes are so packed with wisdom and bits of gold that they deserve their own moment in time. This is one of them.

Meet Stacy Igel - fashion designer, best-selling author, and founder of the global impact brand BOY MEETS GIRL. Stacy takes us on a fashion journey - from her earliest days designing as a child in Chicago, behind the doors of the corporate fashion world, and into one of the boldest entrepreneurial leaps you will hear about - launching her brand during the week the world shut down, 11 September 2001.

In this episode, Stacy shares:

• The 9/11 Decision: How a national tragedy became the defining moment that shaped her company into a cause-driven brand, and what Stacy did with her entire first show's proceeds 
• Hard-Won Business Lessons:  Drawing from her best-selling book Embracing the Calm in the Chaos, Stacy breaks down the non-negotiable steps every entrepreneur must take
• Pioneering Tech and Culture: From being one of the first fashion brands on Twitter and Tumblr to current ventures in emerging tech projects and creating high-profile collaborations with the NBA, Roots Canada and childhood favorite the Care Bears, learn how Stacy always stays ahead of the curve

Whether you are still in the corporate world weighing your next move, or already deep in your entrepreneurial journey, Stacy's story is a masterclass in resilience, creativity, and building something that truly matters.

This one was worth the wait. Hit play now.

Stacy Igel is Founder & Creative Director of BOY MEETS GIRL®, a purposeful, edgy, and young contemporary athleisure brand, and author of the bestselling book “Embracing the Calm in the Chaos: How to Find Success in Business and Life Through Perseverance, Connection, and Collaboration”

 

Episode Links:

• Stacy Igel: https://linktr.ee/stacyigel
• BOY MEETS GIRL®: https://www.boymeetsgirlusa.com/

Connect & Subscribe:

• Website: https://www.corporate-expat.com
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/corporate-expat
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/corporate_expat
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ncolwell

Forget the highlight reels. This episode gets real.

Nicole sits down with Kelly Massad, CEO and co-founder of Mainstay Digital, to dismantle every polished, romanticized story you have ever heard about leaving corporate life. After over a decade in consulting, including time at KPMG,  Kelly said yes to a two-week business plan, quit his job, and never looked back. What followed was not a straight line. It was a crash course in niching down, killing the ego, and betting everything on himself.

 

In this episode:

→ Why the consultant's trap of saying yes to everything is silently killing your business

→ How AI functions as a force multiplier - cutting through the noise so you can lead, not just survive

→ Nobody cares what you used to be in corporate - and the sooner you stop hiding behind it, the sooner you can build something that actually matters

This is entrepreneurship without the filter. If you are thinking about making the leap, this is the episode you cannot afford to skip.

🎧 Listen now and subscribe to the Corporate Expat Experience.

Kelly Massad is CEO/Co-Founder of Mainstay Digital, a 3D and spatial computing company that transforms complex B2B products into compelling digital experiences. 

 

Connect with Kelly and Mainstay Digital:

• Mainstay Digital: https://www.mainstaydigital.com/ 
• LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/kellyjmassad/ 
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/mainstay-digital/ 
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@mainstaydigital 

Connect & Subscribe to Nicole and Corporate Expat:

• Website: https://www.corporate-expat.com
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/corporate-expat
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/corporate_expat
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ncolwell

Recorded and filmed at MarketScale Studios - a big thank you to the MarketScale Team for your support of the Podcast. https://www.marketscale.com