Leadership Variations: Unfiltered
Season 1: Cracking the Code – From Underestimated to Undeniable spotlights senior women in STEM who’ve broken barriers and redefined success. If you’re a woman in science, tech, engineering, or math—or you lead teams in these fields—this series offers real stories, bold leadership, and hard-won insight you won’t hear anywhere else. These candid conversations go beyond inspiration—they offer career insight, leadership lessons, and visibility strategies for STEM women leaders navigating executive paths.
Each episode features unfiltered stories from women who’ve risen to executive roles in industries that weren’t built for them. We unpack how they navigated bias, burnout, reinvention, and visibility—without apology and without a playbook.
Leadership Variations: Unfiltered is a limited-series podcast exposing the messier side of leadership—the parts no one talks about, but every leader lives. Each series explores a different high-stakes topic: rising without apology as a woman in STEM, redefining success after burnout or reinvention, busting leadership myths that don’t hold up in the real world, making bold talent decisions without a clear playbook, and leading when the politics are real—but the guidance is vague.
If you’re leading through complexity, developing leaders others overlook, or navigating visibility at the top—this podcast is for you.
Hosted by Dr. Amy Bladen Shatto—a leadership strategist and executive coach with 25+ years of experience advising senior leaders and developing talent in high-growth and Fortune 100 companies
Learn more at www.leadershipvariations.com
Leadership Variations: Unfiltered
Cracking the Code: From Underestimated to Undeniable with Jennifer Wipf, Ginko Bioworks
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Leadership Variations: Unfiltered | Series 1, Episode 3
Leading Through Change & Authentic Leadership in STEM
Join us for an inspiring conversation with Jennifer Webb, General Manager of the Biosolutes Business Unit at Ginkgo BioWorks, a pioneer in synthetic biology transforming diverse industries worldwide. With 7 years of leadership experience at Ginkgo, Jennifer shares her journey navigating massive organizational growth, restructuring, and the challenges and opportunities of leading in a high-change environment.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How Jennifer leveraged her technical and leadership strengths to succeed in a new general manager role
- The complexities of guiding teams through disruptive change with empathy and excitement
- Strategies for rebuilding trust with new and existing teams post-restructuring
- The importance of authenticity in establishing leadership credibility and managing former peers who now report to you
- A candid look at a difficult plant closure abroad - the leadership lessons it offered and how those challenges were turned into growth opportunities for her team
- Career advice on embracing bold moves and recognizing that leadership trajectories are rarely linear
- Empowering words for women leaders who feel underestimated and need help “cracking the code” for senior leadership success
Podcast Chapters:
00:19 Meet Jennifer Webb
01:01 STEM Journey & Leadership Background
02:25 Company Restructuring & New Role
03:19 Navigating Change Management
05:29 Building Trust with New Teams
08:42 Authentic Leadership & Credibility
12:48 Managing Plant Closure Abroad
16:06 Empowering Teams Through Transition
19:29 Career Growth & Bold Moves
21:27 Advice for Underestimated Women Leaders
Subscribe for more unfiltered leadership stories and practical insights from women breaking barriers in STEM and beyond.
#WomenInSTEM #LeadershipDevelopment #ExecutiveCoaching
Watch & Subscribe
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Work with Dr. Amy Bladen Shatto
📈 Tired of being underestimated? Partner with a coach who specializes in helping leaders in STEM break barriers and accelerate impact. Book a consultation → https://calendly.com/abladenshatto/30min
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About the Host
Leadership Variations: Unfiltered is hosted by Dr. Amy Bladen Shatto, PhD, PCC, BCC — an Industrial/Organizational Psychologist with over 25 years of experience helping organizations make faster, smarter leadership decisions. She specializes in science-based assessment, executive coaching, and leadership development strategies that deliver measurable business outcomes.