I'm Here Too

About I'm Here Too

A podcast, hosted by Ara Tucker that explores the intersections of art, culture, commerce, careers, creativity, family, identity and all that fills the spaces in between.

Publisher

Ara Tucker

Category

society & culture

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

20 Aug 2025

Latest episode

7 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

57 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   7 Oct 2026

   Dropping Your Armor, a conversation with Melani Dziire

   Hi everybody, welcome to this episode of I’m Here Too. Today, I’m talking to Melani Dziire about her journey from corporate executive to executive coach. We talk about some of the costs of success, including burnout and feeling disconnected from who you are and what you want. As fellow introverts, we trade tips on what’s worked as entrepreneurs and as executives. Melani also shares what it looks like to embrace a new identity, lean into discomfort, and make time for rest during the off-season. Off we go, enjoy. About Melani Dziire Melani Walker Dziire is an executive coach, leadership advisor, and Founder of Desired Outcomes. After a successful career as a Fortune 500 senior executive, Melani made a significant career transition and found herself rethinking what came next. That experience now informs her work helping leaders navigate critical transitions with greater clarity and intention. Melani brings extensive leadership experience spanning financial services, risk, governance, and organizational change. Today, she works with executives and organizations through coaching, leadership development, and Transitional Intelligence (TQ), with a practical approach shaped by both her professional expertise and lived experience. A proud graduate of Clark Atlanta University, Melani holds executive leadership certifications from Cornell University, Emory University, and the University of South Carolina. She is a Certified Public Accountant and Certified Executive Coach and has served in leadership roles on several boards.

2. 

   30 Sept 2026

   Bringing Your Mission to Market

   Hi everybody, welcome to this episode of I’m Here Too. Today, I’m talking to Neekta Hamidi about how a career spanning science, technology, philanthropy, and public policy prepared her for entrepreneurship and the lessons she’s learned along the way as she built Mission to Market Studio, an advisory practice that helps mission-driven organizations turn progress into proof and use that proof to make better decisions, strengthen partnerships, secure funding and grow. Off we go, enjoy. About Neekta Hamidi Neekta Hamidi is the founder of Mission to Market Studio, an advisory practice that helps mission-driven organizations turn progress into proof and use that proof to make better decisions, strengthen partnerships, secure funding, and grow. She works with leaders at inflection points to clarify what matters, define how success should be measured, and build the strategy and operating systems their next stage requires. Neekta’s career spans science, technology, philanthropy, and public policy. She has worked at Schmidt Futures, Ginkgo Bioworks, IBM Watson Health, the Federation of American Scientists, and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. Her leadership experience also includes the World Economic Forum’s Global Shapers Community, SMU Impact Lab, SWAN Impact Network, and Women In Bio.

3. 

   23 Sept 2026

   Building Out of Necessity, a conversation with Onyedika Achilike

   Hi everybody, welcome to this episode of I’m Here Too. Today I’m talking to Onyedika Achilike about what it means when you grow up with entrepreneurship as a way of life designed to provide necessities and not a passion project. She shares how her definition of stability has evolved over time and lessons learned (and unlearned) along the way during her time in venture capital investing and  building her own businesses in a variety of industries including wellness and recruiting. Off we go, enjoy. About Onyedika Achilike Onyedika is an entrepreneur whose career spans wellness, startups, and venture capital. After working as a venture investor in New York and Atlanta and operating startups across North America, Africa, and Europe, she founded Blue Nomad, a skin health and wellness brand based in New York’s Flatiron district. She is also the founder of NOSSA, a specialist sales and BizOps recruiting firm helping companies build commercial teams across the US, South Africa, and everywhere in between.

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

15 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

3 ratings

Contact I'm Here Too

Guest appearances

Books guests

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