Conversations with Women Who Lead is a business podcast for female founders, executives, and women in leadership who are building something real and figuring it out as they go. Host Ann Marie McHenry, a licensed therapist and business coach who founded and sold a seven-figure practice, brings honest conversations about what it actually takes to scale a business, lead a team, and sustain yourself in the process. Just women who lead, talking about what that costs and what it's worth.
Honey & Bro Co on Building a Family and Community-Centered Children's Brand
Mel Wiltsey and Alex Santos didn't meet as business partners. They met when Mel, working as a postpartum doula, came into Alex's home to help her family survive months of sleepless nights with a newborn.
In this episode, the founders of Honey & Bro Co share how that relationship turned into a children's sleepwear brand built on bamboo and eucalyptus fabrics, inspired by their own kids, and tested nightly by their toughest critics: their toddlers. They talk candidly about starting a business with almost no background in fashion or manufacturing, the expensive inventory mistakes that came with learning as they went, and what it actually takes to build trust fast enough to become business partners after knowing each other for only a few months.
We also get into what makes their partnership work, thick skin, open communication, and a shared vision that mattered more than experience, plus why they believe emotion and passion are strengths in leadership, not liabilities. This is a conversation about building something real, staying rooted in family even as the business grows, and choosing connection over scale.
In this episode:
From postpartum doula to business partner: how Melissa and Alex's relationship began
Learning to manufacture clothing with zero fashion background, mistakes included
Why they'd rather be someone's favorite brand than the biggest one
Using their own children as product testers, and the honest feedback that follows
Navigating conflict and building trust as co-founders and friends
Why they see emotion and passion as leadership strengths, not weaknesses
Find them:
Social Media: @thehoneyandbroco
Website: https://thehoneyandbroco.com/ (https://thehoneyandbroco.com/)
19 Sept 2026
Alice Kao of Sender One Climbing on Empathy, Ego, and Asking for Help
Alice Kao didn't set out to build a climbing empire. She set out to survive a breakup.
In this episode, Alice, co-founder and CEO of Sender One Climbing, shares the story behind one of the fastest-growing climbing gym brands in the country, and the winding, honest path that got her there. From investment banking to international toy sales to a chance visit to a climbing gym in London during one of the hardest seasons of her life, Alice walks through the moments that shaped her, including a childhood spent largely on her own after immigrating from Taiwan at fourteen, three years of unpaid work while building the business, and an unexpected reconciliation with an ex-boyfriend who became one of her largest investors.
We talk about what it actually looks like to co-own a business with your spouse, why she considers "relentlessly asking for help" her biggest advantage, and how she's learned to let herself cry in meetings without losing her ability to lead. Alice also opens up about what she's had to unlearn (winning at all costs), what she's still working on (slowing down enough to be present), and why she believes women are natural leaders, especially the ones raising kids at the same time.
This is a conversation about ambition without the performance. About building something meaningful while still figuring yourself out. And about what happens when you decide to be brave instead of certain.
In this episode:
How a breakup in London led to a business now expanding into new markets every year
Why Alice calls asking for help her superpower, and what most people get wrong about it
Running a company with your husband: the good, the hard, and the honest
What changed when Alice stopped chasing passion and found a deeper purpose
Crying at work, leading with empathy, and why she stopped apologizing for either
Connect with Alice:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/alice-kao-ca/ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/alice-kao-ca/)
https://vimeo.com/1194015726/5a86e89d48?share=copy&fl=sv&fe=ci (https://vimeo.com/1194015726/5a86e89d48?share=copy&fl=sv&fe=ci)
10 Sept 2026
Bonnie Phillips on Overnight Success, Solo Entrepreneurship, and Knowing Your Worth
Bonnie Phillips has built three businesses: a photography studio serving female founders and families, a fine art portrait brand for schools, and a new venture still in its early stages. In this episode, Bonnie sits down with Ann Marie to talk about what it actually looks like to grow a business while raising a family, including the parts that don't make it onto social media.
Bonnie gets honest about the isolation of solo entrepreneurship, why it took her ten years to become an "overnight success," and how she's learned to say no to the wrong clients. She and Ann Marie dig into a question every ambitious person eventually asks: is success about ambition, or about contentment, and can you have both?
This conversation covers finding your ideal client, building community outside the screen, and knowing your worth after years of chasing the wrong metrics.
Find Bonnie at bonniephillipsphotography.com (http://bonniephillipsphotography.com) and on Instagram @bonniephillipsphotos.
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