From Underdog to Entrepreneur: Building Dreams with Pat Miller

About From Underdog to Entrepreneur: Building Dreams with Pat Miller

Have you ever felt like the outsider? That you are never the first pick? That you are always being underestimated or overlooked? Do you identify with being the underdog? If you answered yes to any of these questions, welcome to From Underdog to Entrepreneur: Building Dreams with Pat Miller. Each week, Pat brings super successful entrepreneurs like herself who can provide the tips and tools to help you win when the chips seemed stacked against you.

Publisher

fert

Category

business · education

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

11 Dec 2025

Latest episode

22 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

45 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   22 Oct 2026

   She Left Miami's Luxury World to Become a Therapist

   What does it take to walk away from a six-figure salary, a Miami lifestyle, and a 20-year career in luxury fashion? In this episode of From Underdog to Entrepreneur, Pat Miller sits down with Melissa Hidrobo, creator of The Stellar Soul, who helps high-achieving professionals design strategic exits from corporate America through a blend of personal clarity and practical strategy. Melissa spent two decades climbing the ladder at luxury brands, including Chanel, Louis Vuitton, and Tiffany & Co. before leaving to build something of her own on her own terms. Melissa shares how growing up around her aunts' luxury boutique in Ecuador sparked a lifelong passion for fashion, which led her to an MBA in international luxury brand management in Paris and a career with Louis Vuitton, her dream brand. She opens up about the night in the summer of 2019 when, sinking into her couch after closing the boutique, she heard a clear thought: "I don't want to do this anymore." Rather than quitting overnight, she built a bridge, earning a master's degree in transpersonal psychology while working full-time, hiring a financial advisor, and forming what she calls her "personal board of directors." Chapters 0:00 Intro – Welcome Melissa Idrobo 1:52 Growing Up Around a Luxury Boutique 3:12 Landing a Job at Louis Vuitton 5:43 The Night She Decided to Leave Corporate 6:12 Questions to Ask Before Changing Careers 8:29 Building a Quiet Exit Plan 8:57 Studying Transpersonal Psychology 11:18 The Hardest Part of Leaving a Six- Figure Career 12:33 How Her Network Grew After Leaving 15:42 Defining Success on Your Own Terms 19:26 Why a Financial Advisor Was Key 23:11 From Golden Handcuffs to Freedom 24:42 Turning Fear Into Fuel 32:44 Building a Personal Board of Directors 37:04 Letting Go of Perfectionism 43:21 Why Working for Yourself Feels Different 46:13 Advice for Women Who Feel Stuck 51:46 Where to Find Melissa 📖  Underdog to Empire —Available Now  Pat's new book — Underdog to Empire: Breaking Barriers and Building Businesses with Strength, Strategy, and a Sense of Humor — is available for eBook pre-sale now. Widely available everywhere on September 22, 2026.  The story of how a girl who ate last at the dinner table built a construction company from a $100 bill. How she lost her husband and still got back up. How every person who tried to hold her back ended up building her up instead.  👉 Get your copy now at: www.patmiller.net (http://www.patmiller.net/) Connect with Melissa Hidrobo Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/melissahidrobo/ (https://www.facebook.com/melissahidrobo/)

2. 

   15 Oct 2026

   He Co-Founded E! Entertainment — Nobody Knows His Name Until Now

   From splicing underground cable in Manhattan to co-founding a $10 billion global media empire, this episode is packed with one of the wildest entrepreneurial journeys the show has ever featured. In this episode of From Underdog to Entrepreneur, Pat Miller sits down with Larry Namer, CEO of LJN Media and co-founder of E! Entertainment Television, a cable network now valued at over $10 billion and broadcast in 142 countries. Larry's career spans more than 50 years, including launching media companies in Russia and China, and he's the author of the book Off Script: Never Followed the Crowd. Larry shares how he started as an assistant underground cable splicer making $90 a week in New York, rose through the ranks at Manhattan Cable, and eventually landed in Los Angeles to build the country's first fully underground cable system. From there, an idea sparked over movie trailers, a scrappy business plan, and just $2.5 million led to the creation of E! Entertainment, a network that grew from 11 employees to over 1,100 in three years and helped launch the careers of Howard Stern, Ryan Seacrest, Greg Kinnear, and the Kardashians.   Chapters 0:01 Intro – Welcome Larry Namer 1:38 From Coney Island to Cable Splicer 2:52 Rising Through the Cable TV Union Ranks 4:19 Building the First Underground Cable System in LA 5:46 Moving to LA and Chasing Hollywood 6:13 The Idea That Became "The Trailer Channel" 7:35 The Idea That Became E! Entertainment Television 9:03 Raising Money with 31 College Interns 11:39 E!'s Explosive Growth to 1,100 Employees 12:42 Launching Howard Stern, Kardashians, and Talk Soup 14:07 Producing Music Festivals in Russia 15:40 Starting a Concert Company with David Bowie, Bowie & More 17:14 "Influence Is Temporary, Impact Is Timeless" 20:00 Why He Finally Wrote His Book 21:45 Blending Memoir and Cookbook in "Offscript" 22:45 Using AI to Hit the Bestseller List in 4 Days 24:50 Backstage Stories: Kardashians, Stern, and O.J. Simpson 26:23 Expanding East: New Jersey Film & Media Growth 28:37 Embracing AI in Business 39:56 Defining Legacy Beyond Money 41:26 Closing Thoughts and Where to Find Larry    📖  Underdog to Empire —Available Now Pat's new book — Underdog to Empire: Breaking Barriers and Building Businesses with Strength, Strategy, and a Sense of Humor — is available for eBook pre-sale now. Widely available everywhere on September 22, 2026. The story of how a girl who ate last at the dinner table built a construction company from a $100 bill. How she lost her husband and still got back up. How every person who tried to hold her back ended up building her up instead. 👉 Get your copy now at: www.patmiller.net (http://www.patmiller.net)   Connect with Larry Namer. Larry Namer is the co-founder of E! Entertainment Television and CEO of LJN Media. He is available for board, advisory, and consulting roles focused on architecting global strategies. 📖 New Book: Two Minute Television Larry's latest book, Two Minute Television (https://www.amazon.com/Two-Minute-Television-Future-Pocket-ebook/dp/B0HGV8MFRM?ref_=ast_author_mpb), is now available on Amazon in Kindle, softcover, and hardcover editions. 📖 Also Available: Offscript… Never Follow the Crowd Get your copy of Offscript… Never Follow the Crowd (https://a.co/d/7A09GXP) on Amazon in Kindle, softcover, and hardcover editions. Contact Larry: ljn@ljnmedia.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/larrynamertv/?hl=en (https://www.instagram.com/larrynamertv/?hl=en)

3. 

   8 Oct 2026

   Journalist and Author Reveals How She Built a Brand Writing

   Why do so many ambitious women hit the same wall, no matter what industry they're in? In this episode of From Underdog to Entrepreneur, Pat Miller sits down with Stefanie O'Connell, an award-winning journalist and author of the new book The Ambition Penalty: How Corporate Culture Tells Women to Step Up and Then Pushes Them Down. Stefanie's reporting spans industries from Silicon Valley to the military to the trades, and what she found was strikingly consistent: women who speak up, ask for more, and assert their ambition are met with backlash  regardless of the field they're in. Stefanie shares how her career evolved from writing about personal finance in the early 2010s to uncovering a much bigger story: that when the same effort produces different outcomes depending on someone's identity, that's not an individual problem; it's a systemic one. That realization led to years of reporting, data analysis, and interviews that became the foundation for her book. Chapters 0:01 Intro – Welcome Stephanie O'Connell 3:52 Staying Silent to Avoid Being Labeled 8:38 Why This Book Starts a Bigger Conversation 15:34 The Gender Pay Gap Hasn't Moved Since 2005 16:56 How DEI Became a Cover, Not a Fix 20:34 Why Women Drop Off at the Partner Level 22:59 The Backlash Against Ambitious Women 27:04 Burnout Isn't Personal; It's Environmental 30:53 Pat's Story: Starting a Company With $100 34:26 The Shocking Leisure-Time Gender Gap 39:09 Why "Doing It All" Is Unsustainable 44:13 Turning "Underdog" Status Into a Strength 47:31 Why Equality Benefits Everyone, Not Just Women 48:35 Pat's Fight for Her WBE Certification 51:51 Where to Find Stephanie's Book 📖  Underdog to Empire — Pre-order the eBook Now Pat's new book — Underdog to Empire: Breaking Barriers and Building Businesses with Strength, Strategy, and a Sense of Humor — is available for eBook pre-sale now. Widely available everywhere on September 22, 2026. The story of how a girl who ate last at the dinner table built a construction company from a $100 bill. How she lost her husband and still got back up. How every person who tried to hold her back ended up building her up instead. 👉 Pre-order your copy now: www.patmiller.net 📩  Join the Underdog Community — Free Weekly Newsletter Every Tuesday, Pat sends a free weekly newsletter with: * Episode recaps and key takeaways * Exclusive content you won't find anywhere else * Pat's personal thoughts on entrepreneurship, resilience, and building something real * The Subscriber Exclusive — a personal question from Pat that doesn't appear anywhere else 👉 Subscribe free: www.patmiller.net/newsletter

Contact From Underdog to Entrepreneur: Building Dreams with Pat Miller

Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.