From boardrooms to brainstorming sessions and global calls to late-night deadlines, women all around the globe are carving out powerful careers while also shaping exactly what leadership looks like in our modern age. Our WomenWhoMeanBusiness spotlight celebrates these women who are not only leading in their industries but also setting brand new standards for growth, balance, resilience, and more.
This month, we’re proud to be celebrating three women whose stories remind us that flexibility, risk-taking, and curiosity are at the core of this growth: Megan Smiley of Vision Media, Jamie Eisinger Burgess of Qventus, and Maggie Neilson of Forward Global.
Megan Smiley
Megan Smiley is quick to joke that if her career were a movie, it would be called Deadlines and Deadlifts, and honestly, it’s hard to imagine something that would fit even better. She’s a woman who thrives under pressure, but also knows full well the importance of stepping back to recharge after all her work is done.
Her love for media started with an NBC internship during college, but when she realized the career path meant moving to small markets she didn’t feel drawn to, she boldly pivoted into advertising. That fearless ability to shift course has defined her journey ever since. At just 27, she quit a corporate job to start her own business. Looking back, she admits she’d push her younger self to take even more risks: try new industries, test different roles, and most importantly, never stop exploring.
Curiosity, for Megan, is non-negotiable. “Stay curious!” she says. “You will never get bored in the advertising world. Every day I learn something new.”
Every client, every project, every challenge sharpens her skills and keeps her engaged. She admits her schedule isn’t always neatly balanced (you can thank different time zones and deadlines for that), but that just means she has to be even more deliberate about creating space to recover with family and friends.
At the heart of her leadership is openness: she may have her own way of doing things, but she believes the best growth happens through feedback, collaboration, and a willingness to try new approaches.
And if she could talk to her younger self? “Take even more risks,” she says. “Test out different industries/companies/positions. If you think it, at the very least explore it. That perspective is so key later on.”
Jamie Eisinger Burgess
For Jamie Eisinger Burgess, mornings start off with what she calls her non-negotiables: exercise, a sauna session, and family time. “I honor them,” she says, and it’s that very commitment to herself that fuels her ability to not just succeed but also thrive in a role that rarely slows down. As SVP of Marketing at Qventus, a healthcare technology firm, her days are a steady rhythm of virtual meetings, creative brainstorming, and experimenting with new AI tools, all woven together with the energy she brings to her team.
What grounds Jamie the most in her day-to-day life is a unique blend of creativity and problem-solving. She describes her leadership style as motivational and fun, yet firmly accountable; she asks a lot from those around her, but she also always shows up with the same enthusiasm she expects from others. Her entire career has been shaped by bold leaps, like leaving Qualcomm for Flex and later stepping into an incubator team of just nine people. Risky? Absolutely. But those leaps are what propelled her forward.
When speaking to other women in business, Jamie doesn’t shy away from challenges like self-doubt: “When you have imposter syndrome, know that it’s part of your journey to feeling 100% valid and experienced to have your seat at the table,” she says. And if her career had a title? She laughs: “Boardroom and Backwoods.” Pretty fitting, in our opinion!
Maggie Neilson
And then there’s Maggie Neilson, whose leadership philosophy leans heavily on the art of coaching. As Chief Growth Officer at Forward Global, she’s focused on setting a clear vision, building consensus, and then trusting her team to find their own way forward. Weekly check-ins serve as her anchor, not as a tool for micromanagement, but as a way to stay connected, share ideas, and remove roadblocks together.
Her days begin early, with Zoom calls across time zones, but she has learned the value of self-care. “I try to be kind to myself and to be realistic that I am not ever going to ‘get it all done,’” she says. After many years of never stopping and being perennially burnt out, I also try to discipline myself to shut off and get some rest.” After years of running on empty, she’s embraced a different rhythm: one that makes space for rest, kindness toward herself, and the understanding that recharging is just as important as producing.
The boldest move of her career came when she walked away from the company she had built from the ground up. Staying would have been safe, but she knew she’d stopped growing and it’s that very leap into the unknown that has opened the door to fresh challenges and perspective. Today, her greatest source of inspiration is her family: “My daughters; they are smart, hard-working, funny, kind people who inspire me to set a good example,” she says. And, if her career had a title, she laughs that it would be “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” a spot-on nod for anyone balancing leadership, family, and a career that spans the globe.
Why These Women Mean Business
Each of these women may have taken wildly different routes to get where they are today, but the through-lines are unmistakable: bold risks, endless curiosity, and a whole lot of heart. Megan shows us that taking that leap even before you’re ready can open doors you didn’t even know existed. Meanwhile, Jamie proves that honoring your non-negotiables doesn’t just keep you grounded, it fuels everything else. And Maggie reminds us that flexibility and a little self-kindness aren’t weaknesses in leadership; they’re secret weapons.
Put their stories together and you don’t get a picture of perfect résumés or flawless balance. Instead, you get a version of leadership that’s totally authentic and willing to bet big on what matters most: themselves.
And really, that’s the spirit of #WomenWhoMeanBusiness: celebrating women who don’t just climb ladders, but reimagine what the top looks like and, in doing so, redefine success for all of us.