An interview with Summers McKay
In an age where polarization has become the norm online and media networks utilize conflict to gain more attention in reality television, it can be delightful to know there are people out there spreading good news…and quite literally doing so.
Summers McKay is the CEO of The Optimist Daily @optimistdaily, a news publisher that spreads good news and uses a multimedia approach to offer formulas for success to its audiences.
In this interview summers talks about her professional life, the struggles and the beauty of early motherhood and how she loves leading a company where she gets to read good news everyday. She also talks about a past experience in working as a reality television producer where she refused to do what she was asked from the network as it would have created a false and conflict-inducing narrative, and what she did following that experience.
Summers McKay has been building successful, Do Good Do Well, businesses for over twenty years. A U.C. Berkeley grad with an MBA from UCLA Anderson, Summers brings a unique set of skills from both her robust education and intense practical experience creating brands, running companies, and leading innovative teams. She is a contributing writer, podcast host and the author of Running With Kenyans. She is determined to apply lucrative and scalable business rigor to the world of doing good.
In addition to offering her expertise to her fellow entrepreneurs at Noospheric, Summers ran her own company, Love Summers Company, LLC. Love Summers Company was a sexual health and intimate wellness company focused on creating natural intimate care products and sex life enhancing apps. Her company won the 2015 Audience Choice Award at the Silicon Beach Fest Startup Pitch for their app concept, the Make Love More App.
Prior to joining The Optimist Daily, Summers served as Chairman of Santa Barbara Entrepreneur, where she led strategic masterminds and executive development groups including Santa Barbara Entrepreneur Advantage, and served as Executive in Residence at Noospheric. She founded UCLA Anderson EDGE, offering rigorous business education to graduate and undergraduate students. She’s also a lecturer for UCLA Anderson, and an instructor for UCLA Extension. Summers business, motherhood, and life mantra is simple – Help good things grow.
Make sure to check out the episode on the podcast for the full interview…
This episode was recorded earlier and published on September 21st, 2021 on The Insider Mom Podcast
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About the host
Hi there! I’m Royah Loie, a doula, childbirth educator, lactation counselor and the creator of The Insider Mom Podcast. Becoming a parent made me realize so many things, one of which is the incredible work so many moms do in raising their kids, work that sometimes goes unnoticed in society. It’s unfortunate because, I truly believe that moms have one of the most valuable jobs in the world .
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