You may know that in my “other” life I’m a marketing and communications leader. I’ve been working in this field for nearly two decades after leaving journalism. And there’s nothing I love more than when my author world and my corporate world collide and I find a novelist.

That’s the case with today’s guest. In my latest role as a consultant for a healthcare system, I have been working with a fierce leader in this field. Gina Calder is now the first Black female regional president at Hartford Healthcare, overseeing the system’s central region.

She is a tireless advocate for equity in healthcare and an unrelenting champion for women of color. Her leadership style is both generous and badass.

And she’s turned that advocacy into a book of affirmations called She Looks Like Me!, aimed at young girls to, in her own words, “help them have their own vocabulary and language to describe how spectacular and remarkable they are and and are becoming.”

So I had to have her on the show to talk about her second career as an author and how her desire to lift up young women and girls intersects with the work she’s doing for the healthcare industry.

We talk about:

• Her mother’s influence on her confidence and creativity

• Why she focused on affirmations in her book and what she hopes young girls will take away

• Why it’s so important for young girls to see themselves reflected back to them in today’s leaders

• How she made the time to get the book written and published with such a demanding career

And so much more.

You can get in touch with Gina on IG @thexenexec

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