Shawne “Lights Out” Merriman is the CEO of the Lights Out Brand, an athletic performance line of clothing, shoes, and gear. Shawne played football professionally for the San Diego Chargers and Buffalo Bills, retiring in 2013. He founded the Lights On Foundation as a freshman at the University of Maryland to help provide warm clothes to the communities in need. Shawne also co-founded Lights Out Xtreme Fighting, which showcases premier MMA events and streams exclusively on Fubo Sports Network.

Amy Friedrich is the President of U.S. Insurance Solutions at Principal Financial Group. Amy learned the importance of leadership and partnership at a young age, and today focuses on helping businesses develop solutions to improve workplace community. In this episode of How Success Happens, Amy shares how business owners can foster better conversations in the workplace and manage their own and employee wellness and burnout in the current economic climate.This episode of How Success Happens is brought to you by Principal Financial Group. Discover insight to help support your employees and your business at principal.com/businesses. Insurance products issued by Principal National Life Insurance Co (except in NY) and Principal Life Insurance Company®. Plan administrative services offered by Principal Life. Principal Funds, Inc. is distributed by Principal Funds Distributor, Inc. Securities offered through Principal Securities, Inc., member SIPC and/or independent broker/dealers. Referenced companies are members of the Principal Financial Group®, Des Moines, IA 50392. ©2022 Principal Financial Services, Inc.

Alex Kinnier is the Co-Founder and CEO of Upside, a retail technology company that connects consumers with brick and mortar businesses to help communities thrive. Upside has given over $100 million in cash back to users and over $200 million in incremental profit to businesses. Alex began his career at Google, developing the agency display advertising team and leading the company’s acquisition of DoubleClick. He was Opower’s Senior VP of Product and Engineering and is now a partner at Builders VC.

Suzy Deering is the Global Chief Marketing Officer of Ford Motor Company, one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world. She was previously the Global Chief Marketing Officer of eBay and was listed on Business Insider’s “Top 50 Most Innovative CMOs in the World” two years in a row. She now leads Ford’s eCommerce and digital strategies while supporting the company’s vision to transform electric powered vehicles with Ford Blue and Ford Model e.

Candace Nelson is the Co-Founder of Sprinkles, the world’s first cupcake bakery and ATM. Founded in 2005, Sprinkles has sold more than 75 million cupcakes nationwide. Candace also founded Pizzana, a chain of Neo-Neopolitan restaurants, and CN2 Ventures, a venture studio that invests in young consumer businesses. In addition to entrepreneurship, Candace is executive producer and judge on Netflix’s “Sugar Rush” and judge on Food Network’s “Cupcake Wars.”

Dane Cook is a comedian and actor known for his comedy specials, stage presence, and observational humor. He has released five comedy specials and has appeared in movies such as “Good Luck Chuck,” “My Best Friend’s Girl,” and “Dan In Real Life.” He was the second comedian, to sell out Madison Square Garden. Cook’s upcoming comedy special, “Above It All,” was released this October via Moment, a digital platform for creators to develop unique ticketed experiences with audiences.

Jon Patricof is the CEO and Co-Founder of Athletes Unlimited, a new innovative network of professional sports leagues. Founded in 2020 with Jonathan Soros, Athletes Unlimited is committed to creating sports spaces from a player-led and player-driven perspective. Jon is a current board member of the Major League Soccer club, New York City FC, and was president from 2016 to 2018. He also previously was President and COO of Tribeca Enterprises, which operates the Tribeca Film Festival.

Emilia Fazzalari is the Co-Founder and CEO of Cincoro Tequila, a tequila brand co-owned by Emilia, Boston Celtics Co-Owner Wyc Grousbeck, Charlotte Hornets Owner Michael Jordan, Los Angeles Lakers Co-Owner Jeanie Buss, and Milwaukee Bucks Co-Owner Wes Edens. Since launching in 2019, Cincoro has sold over 1.5 million bottles. Emilia is currently a Trust board member of Boston Children’s Hospital and a board member of Giving Grousbeck Fazzalari along with her husband Wyc.

Jeanie Buss is the owner and president of the Los Angeles Lakers, a 17-time championship-winning basketball team in the National Basketball Association. In 2020, Jeanie became the first female controlling owner to lead an NBA team to a championship title. Jeanie is also the co-owner of Women Of Wrestling (WOW), the only all-female wrestling organization. WOW, developed in partnership with GLOW creator David McLane, premiered in syndication on September 17.

Using her experiences working at both large corporations and small businesses, Beth Wood now strives toward providing businesses with better resources for family succession. In this episode of How Success Happens, Beth highlights how business owners can engage in succession planning by working on their business, not just in their business. This episode of How Success Happens is brought to you by Principal Financial Group. Discover insight to help support your employees and your business at principal.com/businesses. Insurance products issued by Principal National Life Insurance Co (except in NY) and Principal Life Insurance Company®. Plan administrative services offered by Principal Life. Principal Funds, Inc. is distributed by Principal Funds Distributor, Inc. Securities offered through Principal Securities, Inc., member SIPC and/or independent broker/dealers. Referenced companies are members of the Principal Financial Group®, Des Moines, IA 50392. ©2022 Principal Financial Services, Inc.

Caspar Coppetti is the Co-Founder of On, a global sportswear brand focused on providing innovative footwear and apparel for running. Founding the company in 2010 with Olivier Bernhard, Coppetti helped develop On’s CloudTec technology which seeks to give On shoe wearers the perfect running sensation. On (NYSE: ONON) went public in 2021 and had net sales of $775 million. The company has been making moves towards becoming more sustainable, recently announcing its CleanCloud technology.

Hernan Lopez is the co-founder and chairperson of Danvas, a startup bringing digital art into the real world through museum-quality LED displays. Previously, Lopez was the founder and CEO of Wondery, a storytelling podcast network acquired by Amazon in 2021. Prior to founding Wondery, Hernan was President and CEO of Fox International Channels. He proudly chairs the Hernan Lopez Family Foundation and is also a founding Governor of The Podcast Academy, and a board member of the Latino Donor Collaborative.

Adam Greenblatt is the CEO of BetMGM, a sports betting and gaming entertainment company leading in the online betting space. Adam was previously the Director of Corporate Development and Strategy at Entain and helped create BetMGM during his time in the role. He was also the Director of Corporate Development and Strategy at LadbrokesCoral and Ladbrokes. Since 2012, Adam has also been the president of Stadium Technology Group, Entain’s American sports betting software company.

Chris Rondeau is the CEO of Planet Fitness, one of the largest fitness franchises in the world built on instilling a judgment-free zone environment. Chris started at the company in 1992, working the front desk at the first location. He eventually became Chief Operating Officer in 2003 and Chief Executive Officer in 2013. Under his leadership, Chris took the company public, doubled the number of Planet Fitness locations to 2300, and grew the number of members to 16.2 million.

Prerna Gupta is the Founder and CEO of Mysterious, a social media platform developed in partnership with CAA which curates short form music video NFTs. The company is currently supported by high-profile celebrities including Lebron James, Mariah Carey, and Steph Curry. Prerna previously co-founded successful mobile entertainment applications such as Smule and Hooked, which grew to a reach of over one billion people. With Mysterious, Prerna brings an innovative way to interact with audio-visual content through the rise of technologies like web 3 and blockchain. Grammy award-winning singer-songwriter Ne-Yo is one of Mysterious’ many celebrity investors. In addition to releasing two albums at the top of the Billboard 200 chart, Ne-Yo was a judge on NBC’s World of Dance and currently stars as Sage Odom on the television series, Step Up.

Ryan Steelberg is the Co-Founder and President of Veritone, Inc., a NASDAQ publicly traded company leading in enterprise AI software, services, and solutions. Ryan founded multiple companies with his brother, Chad; Their first company, Adforce, was founded in 1995 and acquired by CMGi in 1999 quickly after its IPO. He then served as President and CEO of Brand Affinity Technologies, Inc. and Head of Broadcast at Google Inc. He also was Co-Founder and President of dMarc Broadcasting, an advertising company that was acquired by Google and integrated into their Google Ads platform.

Dan Doctoroff is the Chairman and Founder of Target ALS, a nonprofit medical research foundation focused on finding treatment for ALS, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. Dan was previously New York City’s longest-serving Deputy Mayor for Economic Development and Rebuilding and the former CEO and President of Bloomberg LP. He led NYC2012, New York City’s bid for the 2012 Summer Olympics, and most recently founded Sidewalk Labs in 2015, a Google subsidiary that uses and innovates technologies to improve urban infrastructure.

Dave Finocchio is the Co-Founder and former CEO of Bleacher Report, a digital media company centered around all sports culture and content. Dave connected millions of sports fans with curated content on Bleacher Report’s social media platforms using innovative digital media consumption strategies. In 2012,  Bleacher Report was acquired by Turner Broadcasting for $215 million. After stepping away from Bleacher Report in 2019,  Dave, with digital media veteran Anna Robertson, co-founded The Cool Down in 2021. The company focuses on engaging in further conversations on climate change and climate tech to create actionable change.

Meredith Berkman and Dorian Furhman are founders of Parents Against Vaping e-cigarettes (PAVe). The company was founded by three concerned moms as a grassroots response to the youth vaping epidemic. Parents Against Vaping e-cigarettes has become an influential advocacy and education nonprofit run and powered by passionate volunteers across the country, the national parent voice fighting the predatory behavior of Big Tobacco.

Nell Diamond is the Founder and CEO of Hill House Home, a digital-first lifestyle brand offering bedding, bath, baby, accessories and apparel, including their widely beloved Nap DressⓇ. Hill House Home is a digital-first lifestyle brand that brings beauty and joy to everyday rituals. With its design-centric approach, Hill House Home offers impeccable quality, and timeless, feminine styles through quality products designed to enhance and celebrate life.

Benny Buller is founder of Velo3D. Velo3D is a metal 3D printing technology company. The company unlocks true design freedom and enables customers in space exploration, aviation, power generation, energy, and semiconductor to innovate the future in their respective industries. Using Velo3D, these customers can now build mission-critical metal parts that were previously impossible to manufacture. Previous to Velo3D Buller was at Khosla Ventures,, Solyndra, Inc., and First Solar.

Christopher Plowman is the CEO of Insight Timer. Insight Timer is one of the world’s top meditation apps with the largest collection of free guided meditations (they have over 130,000 titles!) Insight Timer is the home to millions of meditators pushing a movement to calm your mind, reduce anxiety, manage stress, sleep deeply and improve happiness.

Steve Gottlieb is founder and CEO of Shindig, a platform for online video chat events. Prior to Shindig, Gottlieb founded the independent record label TVT Records and its publishing arm TVT Music.

JuE Wong is the CEO of Olaplex. Olaplex is one of the top independent haircare brands. Ms. Wong has extensive experience in scaling business and financial performance for all classes of business from emerging businesses, middle market growth organizations and established/ legacy companies. She has strategic and operating expertise in digital and technology-driven platforms of growth. Prior to joining Olaplex, Ms. Wong served as the Global Chief Executive Officer of Moroccanoil Inc.

David Siegel is the CEO of Meetup, the largest platform for finding and building local community. Prior to joining Meetup, David was CEO of Investopedia and before that, President of Seeking Alpha. He hosts the podcast Keep Connected, which is dedicated to the power of community. David’s book, Decide & Conquer, lays out the framework for decision-making that leaders can use to ensure organizational and personal success.

Michael E. Kassan is the founder and CEO of MediaLink, a leading strategic advisory firm. Described as the “ultimate power broker,” he is a trusted advisor on speed dial with every major executive in the media, marketing, entertainment and technology C-Suite. They seek his insights and instruction for solving their most complex business challenges. MediaLink is a part of UTA, which acquired the firm from Ascential pLc in 2021.

Wendy Lund is the chief communications officer of Organon. Organon is a global health care company dedicated to making a world of difference for women, their families and the communities they care for. Wendy is responsible for establishing and overseeing global communications and related advocacy. Throughout her career, Wendy has maintained a focus on women’s health, helping bring information and advocacy around the world.

Sallie Krawcheck, is the co-founder of Ellevest. Ellevest is the #1 investment company for women. Sallie’s professional mission is to get more money into the hands of women. Ellevest was named on CNBC’s top 50 "Disruptor" list in 2019, on LinkedIn’s 50 “Most Sought-After Startups” list two years in a row, and as one of Entrepreneur Magazine’s Top 100 Brilliant Ideas. Krawcheck is also the best-selling author of “Own It: The Power of Women at Work.”

Julie Rice is co-founder of the fitness phenomenon, SoulCycle. Rice's life's work has been about building community and she served as Co-CEO at SoulCycle from 2006 to 2015 before serving as a Partner at WeWork from 2017 to 2019. She is currently the Co-Founder of Peoplehood. Peoplehood makes the world a more connected and empathetic place, one conversation at a time. In addition, she is a board member of the Public Theatre and WeightWatchers.

Chris Soukup understands the frustrations the deaf community faces. He’s seen deaf children put in schools that isolate them and deaf adults struggling to get work. A third-generation member of the deaf community, he knows the unexpected roadblocks...