We were lucky to catch up with Hillary Gadsby recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Hillary thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Alright, so you had your idea and then what happened? Can you walk us through the story of how you went from just an idea to executing on the idea

When I launched the Secrets of Successful Women Entrepreneurs speaker series in 2014, I had no idea where it would take me. I was driven by a desire to bring women together in Los Angeles and provide them with opportunities to connect and learn from successful women in business. But as the first event approached, I started to feel nervous. Would anyone show up? Would the speakers be able to engage the audience?

Despite my fears, the first event was a resounding success. Toni Ko, the CEO and founder of NYX Cosmetics, shared her inspiring story of entrepreneurship, and attendees left feeling energized and motivated. And that’s when I realized that I was onto something.

Over the next six years, I continued to host successful speaker series events and collect feedback from attendees. Women consistently told me that they needed mentorship, connections, and access to capital. But I didn’t have the bandwidth to start a company at the time, so I put those ideas on the back burner.

It wasn’t until 2019, when my father passed away, that I realized I needed to make a change. I made a promise to him that I would go big or go home, and that’s when things started to fall into place. A friend of mine invested in my idea and became my co-founder, and together we launched Boss Talks in 2020.

Of course, we had no idea what was about to happen to the world. But we refused to let that stop us. We quickly pivoted to a virtual format and launched a mentorship platform for women. It wasn’t easy, but it was incredibly rewarding to see the impact we were making on the lives of so many women. The Boss Talks mentorship platform was born out of our determination, drive and the passion to help other women succeed.

Hillary, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Boss Talks is a leading global mentorship platform for women entrepreneurs and business leaders. Our mission is to empower women in business by providing curated mentorship, connections, and a supportive community to help them successfully launch, grow, and scale their businesses. We bring together pioneering female leaders from diverse industries to share their wealth of knowledge and expertise through our live events and virtual communities.

Our platform offers our members access to eight in-house mentors who specialize in areas such as PR & Visibility, social media, Digital Marketing, Sales, Mindset, Fundraising, Branding, Business Processes, and Email marketing. Each member receives two evergreen trainings per year, as well as office hours with our mentors, and one live Q&A session with each mentor annually. They also have access to our video library of past trainings and events. It is like its own streaming service for women entrepreneurs.

Whether you are a woman in corporate interested in starting a business or an entrepreneur seeking growth, Boss Talks is the ideal platform for you. We are committed to empowering a million women in business to turn their dreams into reality.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

I have faced many challenges throughout my entrepreneurial journey, but there is one story of resilience that stands out to me. In 2021, my mother passed away after a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease. She was my biggest source of inspiration and motivation and losing her was devastating.

Ironically, her teachings about resilience and perseverance helped me push through this difficult time. Despite the overwhelming grief, I had to continue with the launch of a major conference in Nashville with Vanderbilt University that was scheduled right after the new year. It was a critical event for my company, and I couldn’t let my personal loss interfere with its success.

It was a tough balancing act, but I managed to pull it off with the help of some amazing women who surrounded me during the conference. Their support and encouragement kept me going, and we ended up having a hugely successful event. Looking back, I realized that this experience taught me the true meaning of resilience – that no matter how hard life gets, we have to keep pushing forward and never give up on our dreams.

We’d love to hear about how you met your business partner.

I had been running my business for some time when I met my co-founder through a mutual friend. My friend knew that she was interested in entrepreneurship and thought that our skills and experiences would complement each other.

My co-founder had worked in corporate for over two decades and had mentored women in her business for many years. When she learned about my business and the impact it was making, she was immediately intrigued. She attended a few of my events in Los Angeles and we hit it off right away.

As we got to know each other, we realized that we shared a similar vision for the future of our industry. She decided to invest in my business and become my co-founder, bringing her wealth of experience and knowledge to the table.

From that day on, we worked tirelessly to turn our shared vision into a reality. It was the beginning of a strong partnership that has endured through thick and thin, and I’m grateful to have her by my side as we continue to grow and expand our business.

Contact Info:

• Website: bosstalks.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bosstalksnetwork/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bosstalksnetwork
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/69119453

Image Credits
Sabrina Hill