Ep 386: Elizaveta Usyaeva on Building and Leading a Strong Team of Assistants

In this episode of The Leader Assistant Podcast, I’m excited to dive into the world of building and leading a high-performing assistant team. I’m joined by Elizaveta "Liz" Usyaeva, who shares her experience building a team from scratch at Yandex. We discuss everything from hiring strategies and stress-testing candidates to the art of balancing executive support with team leadership. If you're looking for practical [...]

2026-07-07T15:05:15-05:00July 26, 2026|Leadership, Podcast|

Ep 381: Ashley Langlais on Supporting the Goals of Your CEO

In this episode of The Leader Assistant Podcast, Ashley Langlais, Chief of Staff at DVx Ventures, shares her unique approach to being a strategic partner to a CEO. Ashley details her journey in supporting her CEO through a "big first," such as writing his first book, making his goal her own from day one.  Jeremy and Ashley chat about how to provide support beyond [...]

2026-04-09T14:15:28-05:00June 21, 2026|Leadership, Podcast|

Ep 380: Amber Youngren – Executive Assistant and Office Manager Lead at Forged Fiber 37

Amber Youngren is the executive assistant and office manager lead at Forged Fiber 37. In this episode of The Leader Assistant Podcast, Amber discusses the evolving role of the Executive Assistant. She shares how EAs can become strategic leaders by developing skills for operations and Chief of Staff roles, building deep trust, managing up, and acting as the organization's ultimate connector to translate observations [...]

2026-05-16T11:29:12-05:00June 14, 2026|Leadership, Podcast|

Ep 377: James McPartland on Leading from Where You Are

James “Mac” McPartland is a keynote speaker, author of the Unopened Gifts ® series, and MindShift & Performance Coach. In this episode of The Leader Assistant Podcast, James talks about what it really means to lead from where you are, self-leadership, radical responsibility, and communication. LEADERSHIP QUOTE The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.  – George Bernard [...]

2026-04-02T22:30:24-05:00May 24, 2026|Leadership, Podcast|

Ep 370: Jana Franklin on the Biggest Mistake CEOs Make When Hiring a VA

Jana Franklin is President of CEO Concierge, a company dedicated to offering high-quality virtual assistant services to busy entrepreneurs, business owners and C-suite levels. In this episode of The Leader Assistant Podcast, Jana talks about the importance of training and onboarding when bringing on an assistant, the role of personality assessments in the hiring process, treating assistants as business partners, and more. CONNECT WITH [...]

2026-01-30T11:41:02-06:00April 5, 2026|Leadership, Podcast|

Ep 366: Deborrah Mac Kenzie on Executive Assistant Superpowers

Deborrah Mac Kenzie-Meneades has over 30 years of experience in executive support. In this episode of The Leader Assistant Podcast, Deborrah shares her assistant career story, including a bit from her experience leading EA teams, and talks about superpowers assistants have. CONNECT WITH DEBORRAH Deborrah on LinkedIn ABOUT DEBORRAH Deborrah Mac Kenzie works as the Executive Assistant at Energetiq Technology, Inc. she is not [...]

2026-01-10T11:29:26-06:00March 8, 2026|Leadership, Podcast|

Ep 364: Robert Hosking – Global Executive Director at Robert Half

Robert Hosking is executive director of the administrative and customer support practice at talent solutions and business consulting firm, Robert Half. In this episode of The Leader Assistant Podcast, Robert talks about how assistants can earn a seat at the table. He also shares tips for interviewing, breaking through the AI wall when applying for jobs, weighing job offers, and more. CONNECT WITH ROBERT [...]

2026-02-05T14:20:39-06:00February 22, 2026|Leadership, Podcast, Resources|

Ep 363: Dawn Stallwood on EAs, Automation, and Beautiful Leadership

Dawn Stallwood has close to 30 years of experience serving and working closely with leaders and their management teams – including executive assistants and chiefs of staff. In this episode of The Leader Assistant Podcast, Dawn talks about how EAs bring space and perspective to CEOs and their teams, what beautiful leadership is, and what she’s seeing in the professional space related to automation [...]

2026-02-16T13:28:30-06:00February 15, 2026|Leadership, Podcast|

Ep 360: Ricky Blanco – Stepping into a Leadership Mindset as an EA

Ricky Blanco Saavedra is a Sr. Executive Assistant at Viva Talent, supporting the CTO and Head of Go-to-Market at Shippo. In this episode of The Leader Assistant Podcast, Ricky talks about discarding the “I’m just the EA” mindset, and stepping into a leadership mindset, how to fight impostor syndrome, and more. LEADERSHIP QUOTE Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. [...]

2026-01-27T11:18:52-06:00January 25, 2026|Leadership, Podcast|