Beyond Representation: Why Women Entrepreneurs Need Systemic Disruption, Not Just a Seat at the Table

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Adrienne Garland: Leadership isn't just changing. It's evolving in ways we're only just beginning to imagine. And women, we're not playing this game anymore. We're the ones reshaping the entire field, building models, movements, and businesses that serve more than just a few. On the She Leads Podcast, you'll hear real conversations with women who've broken through all kinds of barriers, revenue, identity, borders, and expectations. There's no sugar coating here, just the truth told by those who are living it. I'm Adrienne Garland, entrepreneur, strategist, educator, and creator of live experiences, gathering women leaders together for over a decade. And this is the She Leads Podcast. Welcome back to the She Leads Podcast. Our first episode for 2026. You may have heard this fascinating statistic from the Gusto's 2024 new business formation report. 2024 women started 49% of all new businesses in the US, which is an increase of 69% since 2019.

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Adrienne Garland: We're celebrating this everywhere and we should because it matters. It really truly matters. But women aren't achieving the same level of success as men when they're starting about the same percentages of businesses. So why is this? And what are we missing? I've been thinking about this a lot and deeply for the last several years, I would say, and I keep circling around this one question that challenges the ways that businesses are creative. Wanted to understand when these women led businesses are created. What is the true level of actual disruption that we're building that is going to fundamentally change outcomes for other women entrepreneurs everywhere? So after 13 years of doing the work that I'm doing with She Leads Media with teaching entrepreneurship I have observed or maybe learned that the existing structures and systems are that are in place today. They happily reward women who succeed within those confines, but they don't really change anything that's structural.

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Adrienne Garland: So, what the system rewards and what it will not ever reward, I'd say from observation and what it actively resists are women building new business models, new types of businesses that actually redistribute the power. So, the facts are pretty clear. Only 4.2% of womenowned businesses ever get the chance to cross the $1 million revenue threshold in their business. And that is fascinating to me. Why is this the case? So, in 2025, I set out to speak to womenowned businesses that were able to cross that $1 million Mark to understand, you know, what is their their secret weapon? What is their secret source for getting past that $1.2, I'm sorry, that $1 million. I want to understand this 4.2% of women that get past the million mark in revenue. I want to understand out of them, how many are actually building something that's different that paves the way for more women to cross that threshold themselves. And this this phenomenon just reminds me of corporate so very much, right?

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Adrienne Garland: So there are women who are able to succeed within the the framework within the structure of corporate. They as we used to say know how to play the game. They know how to make it to the top get into management. And I don't want to take anything away from these incredible inspirational women. They truly are to be admired for their accomplishments and for literally winning a game that is has all the odds stacked against them. But as we often observe, there are very few women that are at the top in corporate and corporate's not changing. The pipeline has been laid long ago and some women or others are able to actually eke through the system and make it to the top. Uh you see this in the studies that show that there are about the same number of men and women that enter the workforce and as you sort of go up that ladder, you see more and more women that sort of peel away. And even the statistics that show the number of public companies that have women as CEOs, it's it's pathetic.

00:05:35

Adrienne Garland: So, So, for those of you who are just tuning in to the She Leads Podcast for the first time here in 2026, just wanted to say hello, introduce myself. I'm Adrienne Garland and this is She Leads. Welcome to 2026. It's the year that we're moving from simple representation in entrepreneurship to actual redistribution. What the heck am I talking about when I say let's talk about disruption. So, I want to start by acknowledging something that really doesn't get said enough. Every single woman who builds a successful business or even has the guts to build a business at all is disrupting something full stop. And this matters. It really is important. Now, that said, my feeling is is that we're primarily operating with just one definition of success and one model of disruption. And I say this primarily because there are definite examples of people that are disrupting these systems in other ways.

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Adrienne Garland: So this one definition of success and this one model of disruption I believe is truly limiting what women are building toward. And perhaps it's the reason that more women are not able to build milliondoll plus businesses and beyond. Let me be clear about this $1 million mark. This is not a vanity metric. Rather, when women have businesses that are past the million-doll mark, more wealth is freed up for that woman. And when women have access to resources when they have access to profit capital. We build successful businesses that drive economic growth, create jobs, foster innovation, and invest back into communities into their families. And this all leads to better health for all, education for all, and overall societal prosperity. Because capital helps women overcome barri barriers and fully participate economically. I just want to pull out an example that was recently in the news. Take a look at MacKenzie Scott.

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Adrienne Garland: According to CNBC, MacKenzie Scott announced that in 2025 she contributed $7.1 billion in charitable donations and that she's now given away 26.3 billion since 2019. She supports causes that give quote special attention to those operating in communities facing high projected food insecurity, high measures of racial inequality, high local poverty rates, and low access to philanthropic capital. So, with that as background and context, I'd like to offer somewhat of a framework that I've been thinking about lately that I'm calling Three Levels of Disruption. So level one is representation disruption. It's about who succeeds. This level is when you succeed when you maybe weren't really supposed to or what society expected you to do.

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Adrienne Garland: So some examples of the of this are maybe a Latino woman who owns a construction company that has 50 employees and she's killing it or a black woman who's building a $2 million tech enabled business or maybe a woman like me who's over 50 and she's launching a venturebacked startup. So make no mistake, these examples are truly disruption, right? They break the pattern of who gets to accumulate wealth, who gets to be called an entrepreneur, and who ultimately gets taken seriously. This matters enormously. especially for women of color who face compounded barriers. So when you succeed in a space that wasn't designed for you, you are proving that it is possible and that changes what's imaginable for others, for the next generation of women. Again, this is incredibly important and it is disruptive, but it's disruptive within an existing system, right? We need to celebrate this, honor this truly It is disruption.

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Adrienne Garland: But now here's where this next level of disruption gets maybe even more interesting. Okay. So level two I'm calling the model disruption. And I have been circling around this for years. Conferences that I've put on, we've called them, you know, new models of success, new business models. I'm always looking out in the ecosystem or you know how can businesses be started in a completely different way that not only benefit the business and and that even go beyond you know people planet profit but rather that they change the way that wealth is distributed and allows more people to build wealth and and gain that wealth and puts power into the hands of people and teaches people a new way. Now, I haven't seen a lot of examples like this, but I have, you know, gotten a peak into some and I find them to be super fascinating and I I also find them to be, you know, very challenging, right?

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Adrienne Garland: And we don't see enough examples of these types of businesses that are highlighted in the media because they're not billiondoll unicorn companies. But that's that needs to change. And so this next is model disruption. Okay, so let's just go back to that same construction company example that's owned by a Latina woman with 50 employees. This new model would sort of be that she's running this company as a worker cooperative that has profit sharings, right? Or that she may only be building affordable housing and community projects. That is what her construction company focuses on. She may also create paid apprenticeships for women who are entering trade, right? Or different trades. Maybe she's focusing on specifically regenerative building practices and she's sourcing all of her subcontractors from exclusively from women and minorityowned suppliers. Right? So, she's not just in the industry replicating the models of success that have come before.

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Adrienne Garland: She's actually changing how the industry is operating. There are many, you know, government programs in place that try to reward a certain portion of business to some of these womenowned and and minorityowned businesses. But some of these other things that I've mentioned really go a longer way toward changing how the industry operates and who gets awarded projects and what types of projects are actually being brought to market. Another example, let's take a a beauty company, okay? A black woman who owns a beauty company is a level one disruption, right? She owns it, she's profitable, it's amazing. But for level two, changing the model, she's challenging conventional beauty standards within her marketing.

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Adrienne Garland: So, it's not to, you know, make her and her consumers more appealing to the male gaze, but rather potentially about, you know, what beauty means from the inside out and how you you literally do not need to change the the size of your nose or the structure of your face in order for you to literally be valuable. Another way, and we've seen this, is using sustainable and ethical sourcing from suppliers that care about the how they're getting access to some of the ingredients that go into it. That, you know, obviously they're not being tested on animals and that the ingredients are actually something that are good and healthy for people's wellbeing. She may be paying living wages throughout the whole entire supply chain to make sure that no one is being exploited and she could be building products that do good toward serving underved communities and funding those communities with her profits.

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Adrienne Garland: So this is where we start to see a little bit of a difference when it comes to alternative business architectures. Now, next is system sorry is level three. Level three is systemic disruption. This is when you succeed and your success redistributes power. So, you're not just building wealth for yourself. You're building wealth that creates economic opportunities for others and paves the way for them. This level three challenges the systems that created the barriers in the first place. So, it redistributes resources back into communities that have been systematically excluded and creates pathways and infrastructure that make it easier for women. This is where we're actively working to change the rules. And I would even say further than that, to not just change the rules, but also to change the game. Right? So that we're not just playing a game and figuring out strategies how to win. We are actually creating a new game in a new way.

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Adrienne Garland: So some of the examples of this might be a woman who exits her $10 million company. She sells it for maximum value and she uses those proceeds to create an investment fund for women of color entrepreneurs, right? That would be an amazing way to use her her wealth to then feed into the next generation of entrepreneurs and and pave the way. There's not enough of this done despite the the media that says that there are numerous grants and opportunities available. We know that this is not the case. Or a business owner who hits the $5 million mark, good on her. and converts her business into an employee stock ownership plan or ESOP as they're called so her employees can build wealth within the company and they have an ownership stake in it. Or an entrepreneur who creates a radically transparent supply chain that exposes and changes industry exploitation. These things, even when I'm saying them, even though I believe them wholeheartedly, they scare me. I have to say, right?

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Adrienne Garland: Because is when anybody does anything to point out current power structures and point out where they're, you know, not benefiting people and that I'm even suggesting to take power away from those who currently hold it. You put yourself up for scrutiny, right? You also expose yourself. And so even saying these things, you know, they feel very vulnerable. And at the same time, you know, working in as an entrepreneur struggling for 13 years to figure this stuff out and I consider myself to be a pretty thoughtful and intelligent human being. And not being able to break through that million-doll mark in my business myself has been a great source of frustration. And if I am struggling so much. I know that there are tons and tons of other women and the proof is in the statistics. I mean, with a small percentage, less than 5% of women being able to, you know, break through that mark, you know, the progress is abysmal.

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Adrienne Garland: Even within corporate women making 85 cents on the dollar, I think it's even backslid a little bit. There's just something that is fundamentally wrong with the system. And I think so many of us know it and we think that entrepreneurship is the answer so that we could create something different. And what really gets in our way is that when we look out into the world into the media, into the research and into AI to look for new ways that we can benefit ourselves and our our families and and create that wealth for ourselves. We're just creating more of the same. We're basing our businesses on models that have worked in the past that they they just don't work for women. You know, if they if they worked then, you know, we wouldn't be having this conversation. I wouldn't have the She Leads Media business trying to help pave the way for women. It's it's just not fair. It's really encouraging. that women are starting half of the businesses, right? It it says something. We have grit.

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Adrienne Garland: We have the enthusiasm for it. We have the energy for it. We have the desire for it. And we have we certainly have the intelligence and the execution capabilities and all of the soft skills that we need in order to build an incredibly successful, profitable, beautiful business. But when we're launching 49% of the companies and we're only getting only, you know, 4.2% of us are getting past that $1 million mark. There is something wrong, right? There is something wrong systematically. There is not something wrong with women. I want to be super clear about that. And I also don't think that men are holding women back. I don't think that that's it at all. So many women, so many men and women that I speak to are, you know, they they know how absolutely intelligent and incredible women are and they know that we are capable beyond measure. And so this is confounding, right? Even talking about it is is sort of confusing. And there are so many variables at play.

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Adrienne Garland: There's so many systems at play that we need to look at each one of these things individually and figure out, you know, what is that one one, two, three, you know, things that we can focus on that start to unwind these these structures that are designed to keep women small. I mean, I would even go on to say that some of these businesses, and it's certainly not all the businesses that get past the million-doll mark, but some of the businesses that get past the million-dollar mark, I've taken a hard look at them, and I'm I'm I'm going to say something controversial. The businesses that are beauty brands, that are brands that literally force ourselves to shrink ourselves, hold us in, hold us back, make us feel that we are less than when we are perfect as we are. Those brands that launch and benefit and grow to multi-million dollar businesses.

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Adrienne Garland: I I don't want to take anything away from that, but these businesses are are laying into the narrative and they're operating within the existing structure and they reward womenowned businesses that uphold the narrative that women need to modify themselves in order to becept able to so societal expectations of how they look, how they show up, how they talk, how they present themselves versus companies that go past the million-doll mark that are benefiting people, humans, or the planet in some very real way, right? And There's always there's always gray areas here. Again, I don't want to take away from those in incredible women that have worked so hard no matter what to get past that million dollar mark, multi-million dollar mark, sell their companies and beyond. But some of these companies that are just upholding these standards of beauty that are unreasonable and that are meant to to distract women from more important things in life. I don't know.

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Adrienne Garland: I'm I I just sort of awakened to some of this as as I was, you know, reading through businesses that are are successful that are led by women that are some of these, you know, beauty brands, some of these wellness brands that are, you know, they they do a really good job of of telling us that we are not well if we don't fit into a certain if if we don't look a certain way those are harmful you know and to to financially benefit from that is I don't know it it just doesn't it doesn't sit right with me. So that's why I was thinking about these three different levels of disruption when it comes to entrepreneurship and how can we bring these two things together. How can we as, you know, women entrepreneurs launch companies that get past the million-doll mark that are also changing systems that are disrupting in the very best way?

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Adrienne Garland: And and again, I I'm not here to say that we need to to take power away, but we do need to change things so that they're they're more evenly distributed and so that they're more fair. Hey everyone. So, for years I've been working with Dr. Kent and sending people in my network his way. He does so much impact work. What do I mean by that? Well, he helps people create books and podcasts and things like that. He even helps with this podcast behind the scenes. Dr. Kent is my thought partner. Anyone listening knows that we all need to do what we can to get our thoughts, opinions, and voices out into the world and how important it is for women to invest in other women and for women to hire other women. I am all about that and you all know that. But in this case, I think Dr. Kent is an exception. He's doing something really different via this new program that he's launched called the Genius Discovery Program. So, he wants to work with people like me and like you who are impact driven. Dr. Kent has an intensive program that goes for a month.

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Adrienne Garland: He also has a three-month program where he figures out where you're headed with your brand, your business, your speed. speaking and your signature story as a thought leader. I've known Dr. Kent for a long time. So, believe me when I say that he has a ton of experience working with people that are looking to make an impact but might not know exactly how to approach them. So, if you're interested in talking to him, you can go directly to talktokent.com or you can send me a DM on Instagram at @sheleadsmedia or just shoot me an email over at hello@sheleadsmedia.com. That's my world view. I do believe that as humans we are equal and I've had some debates with my my sons about this one and you know at a a certain level it the argument falls apart because in some way we are all biased in in one way or another and you know equality Sometimes situationally the argument for that falls apart.

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Adrienne Garland: So I am not standing on a pedestal saying that I know how to accomplish equality. But what I do know is that it's not just a little unfair. It is wildly unbalanced. And as somebody whose sign is Libra, my birthday is in October. somebody who is very focused on justice and equality. I know that it could never be perfect and that it's always sort of swinging back and forth, but the scales are tipped in the favor of the minority really because the majority of us are do not have the same type of access. We do not have the same type of just, you know, smooth path. that a very few do and that needs to change and it needs to change in 2026 and beyond. Okay, so just a little bit a couple more facts around that and something that I I took a look at that I just wanted to call out here because I thought it was super interesting. So the Tory Burch Foundation has a fellows program And it is fascinating.

00:33:40

Adrienne Garland: So the Tory Burch Foundation fellows I guess in what's the word not encourage but cultivate women entrepreneurs and help them get past the the million-doll mark. So like I said before the statistic of only 4.2% of women getting past the million dollar mark on a national basis is quite a different story. story for the women that make it through the Tory Burch Foundation Fellows program. So in that program, 42% of womenowned businesses get past that million-doll mark when they go through the Tory Burch Foundation Fellows program. Now, this could be a little bit of self selection. This could be that Tory Burch really knows her stuff because the the foundation provides an infrastructure that gets success rates that are 10 times the national average, right? 4.2 to 42%. So that's proof that when you add capital, that when you add mentorship and support via networks, that women absolutely can build million-dollar businesses.

00:35:10

Adrienne Garland: This is definitely something to be studied in greater depth and something that I'm going to be looking at more and more over the coming months. Okay. So what's also super interesting is that that the Tory Burch Foundation fellows since it began there have been 385 of them which is remarkable and they come in in 20 plus different industries. So even though Tory Burch is a fashion brand I thought that when I looked at this that I would see that oh maybe this 42% number is because people that go through the program are in fashion, beauty, things like that. And I I sort of setting myself up to be a tiny bit disappointed. But what we see is that uh over these 385 fellow fellows that these industries range from construction to food to technology, health, education, and beyond fashion, beauty as well. But there's remarkable diversity here. And so that is Absolutely incredible.

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Adrienne Garland: So based on these three different levels of disruption that we were talking about, what I'd like to really understand, how many are replicating existing business models with a female owner like we talked about as a level one disruption? How many are fundamentally changing how the industry operates are level two disruption? And how many are at this level three disruption that we're talking about where they're redistributing power and pathways for others. So all three of these levels as we've been talking about, they matter and they're valid, but they're building toward different futures. Okay, so the sophisticated trap here is that the system is going to readily fund and celebrate level one disruption, but it's much harder, right, to get funded for level two. And this level three That's where you're going to face the most resistance. So, it's going to take somebody that is very strong that that knows how to gain access to capital in order to make this happen.

00:38:10

Adrienne Garland: Level one doesn't threaten the existing power structures. It operates within it, but it does change who's allowed in. Great. Level three, on the opposite end of the spectrum, it changes who holds power and how it's distributed. Something that I also wanted to to point out is that is sort of where it matters. I've seen this lately too. There are several women who have recently experimented with changing their LinkedIn profiles. So, I don't know if they actually changed their names or if they just changed their gender identity, but when they changed it from female to male, they got more profile views. They got more impressions, they got more engagement and I believe they even got some job offers. So to me, this signals, and this was not a scientific study, this was just a couple of women doing this to see what happens because of the frustration of of, you know, attempting to get a job. The algorithm itself, which is part of the system, it rewards being male.

00:39:40

Adrienne Garland: I guess you know that that that is what it is, right? now. But that is again the the whole entire reason for this conversation. It's part of the system and that system needs to change because that is not fair. That system is determining who gets opportunities, who gets seen by investors, recruiters, customers, right? When you're an entrepreneur, that system algorithmically programs to underweight female presenting profiles. That's f* up. just is right. So, every business model that relies on those types of systems for growth is building on a foundation that's designed to have women fail. Okay? You're not competing on a level playing field. You're overcoming a handicap built into the code, literally. Okay? On level one, we are saying we're going to work ourselves like mad women in order to overcome these different biases. And we said women do this. That's amazing. But it's also really, really exhausting and again not fair.

00:41:10

Adrienne Garland: On level two, it's where women go in and they build platforms that don't analyze themselves, right? And they say, "I'm going to do this in a different way." That's also very exhausting, but very needed. work. Level three disruption says, I'm going to expose this bias, which I'm attempting to do with this podcast, and force these platforms to change their code. Right? We can do this in so many different ways. We can protest, we can use the media, we can point out these examples, or we can go off and build alternatives that fundamentally redistribute visibility and opportunity. The the Grub here is that we need access to capital in order to do these things because they are such a departure from what exists today. It's turning around the Titanic. Okay. Data point two, the capital access pattern. So, women receive less than 2% of all venture capital. But here is what is more revealing. Women are two and a half times more likely to invest in other women than male investors are.

00:42:40

Adrienne Garland: Yet 2thirds of all informal investments still go to men. And when women do get funded, look at what industries dominate. Like I said before, beauty, beauty, tech, tech to help optimize women's appearance, wellness, quote unquote apps, right? Apps that help them manage their moods, that manage their cycles, that manage their productivity in the home, right? Help them to organize things. right? Distracting them from what's important. Other funded industries, and I I just read something about this the other day, fashion tech, right? Helping women to shop, helping them to style, helping them to present themselves. You know, I've been saying instead of buying yourself that Louis Vuitton bag, why don't you take that money and invest it so that you can get the benefits of compounding interest growth, right? $1,000 is going to be a bag that is sitting on your shelf and does nothing to help your future.

00:44:10

Adrienne Garland: Some of these businesses that do get funded are certainly doing important work and some are creating products that are inclusive where they might not have existed before and some are challenging harmful industry practices. But I still ask, is capital flowing to women's businesses because we're innovating in ways that threaten the status quo or because our businesses are serving existing market demands without disrupting power structures. Right? So that looks like level one, I got funded from a beauty startup, which is great. It's representation. Level two is my beauty startup challenges conventional conventional standards and uses ethical practices. That's that's a win. Level three is my beauty startup is a B-Corp that funds programs that teach girls how to reject beauty industry manipulation. Now, that is a systemic win. The question isn't which is right, right? We're not here to judge. The question is what are we actually building toward on a collective basis? Okay.

00:45:40

Adrienne Garland: Another fact and stat, another data point here, and I know that this is long, but this is all so important and is the things that I think about every single day. The GEM report, the global entrepreneurship monitor report shows that women are 40% more likely than men to close businesses for family or personal reasons. Let that sit in. Right? So, going back to the framework, what does that look like? So, for level one, It blames the women. Women need better time management and support systems to maintain their businesses through life's phases. And I've thought about this, right? This is even a business that I wanted to start when I was in college. I wanted a a business that helped women do the things that they need to do, right? It it sets the problems on women's shoulders. Two response is we need to design business with built-in phases of life flexibility models that can scale up and down back and forth without collapsing right through different phases of women's life.

00:47:10

Adrienne Garland: And this is a a good thing, but we're still relying on the fact that things are the way that they are. With this more disruptive level three systemic and systems change, we our response would be that we need to fun fundamentally restructure how we define successful businesses because the current definition assumes uninterrupted linear paths that are only available to people whose lives are supported by invisible labor. Okay. The GEM data also shows that women at par or higher in innovation across 18 of 51 countries. So this isn't about capability as we talked about before. Women are highly highly capable. This points to the fact that infrastructure is at what is issue here and it's being architected for lives that don't exist or only exist because someone else is doing the invisible work. So here's where we are. Level one disruption, you're in the room. You're playing the game. Level two disruption, you're changing how that game and how that room operates, right?

00:48:40

Adrienne Garland: This is sort of lean in, if you will. But level three disruption is you're building a different room and inviting in people who were never allowed there in the first place. Think we should be striving toward level three disruption, no matter how challenging and hard it is. And now all three matter. They're all necessary. But in 2026, it it a call out to all of you for 2026. This is the year that we need to start asking what level of disruption are we building toward and what is the infrastructure that we need in order to get there? Because what I've learned is you can get to a million dollars. I'm not saying easily, but you can get to a million dollars with level one disruption and a lot of grit, a lot of hard work, and potentially burning out. But getting to $10 million and sustaining it through multiple life phases requires level two and level three thinking. The women who thrive past a million in 2026 aren't just the ones getting better at level one disruption.

00:50:10

Adrienne Garland: They're the ones that are brave enough to build on level two and level three infrastructure even when it's harder, slower, and less celebrated. So, where am I placing my bets in 2026? It's why I am taking She Leads Global and what that actually means. So in 2026, as I've mentioned before, we're taking She Leads to Canada, France, and the Virgin Islands. I'm actively seeking sponsors for what I'm calling the Business Architecture Intensive in remarkable exotic locations. And let me tell you why and how this connects to all three of those levels. Traditional entrepreneurship events, ones like I've been holding. She Leads Live for 11 years. They're designed for level one really. Get in the room, exchange information, learn tactics and strategies, and make connections that matter. That is information transfer, and it's useful, but it doesn't build the infrastructure we need.

00:51:40

Adrienne Garland: We've been getting closer to it with panels like Pitch the Media, where we are attempting to to get into the media to create a new narrative. But in 2026, She Leads is creating something different. I'm not I will not be creating just networking events or even events that give you a lot of information. Information these days is a commodity. What I'm building is level two and level three design business design laboratories. We're gathering women together who have proven level one success. They've crossed or are approaching that $1 million revenue mark. You've proven that you can build a business within the existing infrastructures. But in 2026, we're going to be asking some different questions, right? How do I design for phases, not just linear growth? How do I build a model that lets me redistribute wealth while still accumulating it? Do we create infrastructure that makes it easier for other women, not just ourselves, but others.

00:53:10

Adrienne Garland: And how do we measure success that goes beyond revenue and goes beyond even exits? And why are we going to be going to these remarkable locations, going outside of New York? Well, first of all, I love to travel and to learn from others in diverse places, but because the caliber of the disruption that we're building should be reflected in the environment where we're designing it. We cannot design this new level three infrastructure in hotel ballrooms. Uh even though those are fun to participate in sometimes we have to go somewhere that reminds us of what is possible when you refuse to be small and when you remember you're building something that is bigger than you. Now I have been touching on these things for 11 years.

00:54:40

Adrienne Garland: But all of this has really crystallized over the last couple of weeks with help from different people that I've been speaking to and also with the the help to be frank of not Frank but Claude AI really has helped me to synthesize everything that I have been talking about and actually writing about privately behind the scenes. I hope to be coming out with my book in 2026 where I outline many of these ideas. And so I've I've sort of given you a little bit of a taste of what we're thinking about for the manifesto for 2026. Also going to be working with women that are beyond their first million. They are women that are interested in this new concept, this new business approach, this level two and level three disruption. So some of the questions that you might be asking yourself is not how do I scale faster or how do I scale, but how do I build my business differently, right?

00:56:10

Adrienne Garland: How not how do I get in the room, how do I get a seat at the table, but rather how do I build that room that redistributes access Not how do I exit for maximum value for myself only, but rather how can I build maximum impact legacy and create wealth that serves more than just me. I'm doing this because 13 years has taught me that getting to a million proves that you can hustle within the existing systems. Again, amazing. But getting to $10 million proves that you can architect new models and then getting to legacy proves that you can redistribute power. So I'm in I'm so interested in level two and three. Level one work has been the work that I've been doing for the last 13 years really. So it's time for me to graduate. So all of this requires phasebased business design not linear models.

00:57:40

Adrienne Garland: alternative capital strategies, value metrics that go beyond extraction and signal impact sustainability and redistribution and that are more focused on collective infrastructure, not just individual achievement. Couple of questions that I just want to leave you with at the close of this episode are asking yourself, is your business current ly at level one, two or moving toward level three disruption and where do you want it to be and what is the infrastructure that you need to get there? I want us to start thinking differently about the way that we are building businesses as women and not just follow the same patterns that are not designed to support us but rather to support a system that actively works against us. I'd also love for you to join the 2026 travel architecture series that will be headed to Canada, France, and the Virgin Islands in 2026.

Adrienne Garland: So, if you're interested in any of this, building level two and level three disruption, traveling to unlock your disruption in a new environment, or just talking to me a little bit. So, so that we can get clear on what it is that you would like to build. Please reach out to me at hello@sheleadsmedia.com. I cannot wait to uncover, unveil, and build 2026 businesses that get to the level two and level three disruption. I'm not interested in helping women to simply survive these broken systems. I'm interested in helping women to build alternatives. And this is radical work and it's risky. But you know what's more risky? Building businesses on infrastructures that are designed for our failure and expecting them to sustain us through our multiple life phases without redesigning the foundation. This episode is your invitation to level up not just in revenue, but in the kind of disruption you're building tour. Welcome to 2026.

Adrienne Garland: If this conversation moved you, inspired you, or made you think differently, please take a moment to leave a five-star rating and review. It's not just about boosting the show. It's about amplifying the voices of women entrepreneurs who are leading with vision, building with purpose, and shaping what's next. We need more of these conversations in the world right now, don't you think? And if someone came to mind while you were listening, someone who matters to you, send this episode to them. If there's something on your mind about leadership, legacy, or what's next, I want to hear it. Head to sheleadsmedia.com/voice and leave a voice memo or note. Your insight might just help shape a future episode. Make sure to follow the show and come back next week for more conversations you won't hear anywhere else. Thank you so much for listening.