How Lynnea Olivarez Built a Global Network, Used AI to Scale and Refused to Apologize for Any of It

Trust in science is not a given anymore. It is earned, protected and communicated.

In this episode of Women I Want You to Know by Andrea L. Johnston™ Podcast, Andrea sits down with Lynnea Olivarez, founder of Ticket to Biotech, the premier global network for communications professionals across the life sciences. With 15 years of experience spanning big pharma, small biotech, government and global agencies, Lynnea left a high-performing corporate path to build the community she needed when it simply did not exist. In two years, she has grown it to over 1,500 members worldwide, bootstrapped, with a team of three.

This conversation is for the woman who has looked around at her industry and realized what she needs simply does not exist and then built it. Lynnea didn't set out to become a founder, she set out to solve a problem she was living with herself. What started as a side project became a full-time business because the gap in her own career turned out to be a gap the entire industry was feeling. This episode is about what happens when you stop waiting for someone else to fix it and start trusting yourself enough to go first. 

In this episode, listeners will hear:

• What the hardest hike of her life taught her about self-trust and why that lesson became the foundation for everything she built next
• How AI has functioned as a core team member at Ticket to Biotech 
• Why Lynnea advises women in communications to "take up space" and not let biases break you down
• Why bootstrapped female founders need to stop apologizing for charging for their work and start commanding what they are worth without explanation
• How the community Lynnea built to serve others ended up being the thing that changed her own life in ways she didn't see coming

Lynnea Olivarez is clear-eyed, generous and completely unafraid to name the things that usually go unspoken. This is a conversation about building something from nothing, trusting yourself when certainty is unavailable and refusing to shrink in a field that has spent too long treating communications as an afterthought.

Links and Resources:
https://www.tickettobiotech.com/
https://www.fuelforfemalefounders.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/lynneaolivarez/
Read Lynnea's WIWYTK feature on LinkedIn

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

The science is complex, trust is fragile, and mistakes are human, right? Like we're talking about treating real people. Like the science is it's like sci-fi sometimes. So at the end of the day, we're talking about doing things to people's bodies and their lives and the lives of their loved ones.

SPEAKER_00 0:15

Hi everyone, I'm Andrea Johnston, entrepreneur, communications executive, and believer in the power of women and the unlimited potential in all of us. On Women I Want You To Know, we shine a light on real women who are breaking barriers, blazing new trails, and redefining what leadership looks like. These are real conversations about ambition, drive, difficult choices, and impact, the kind you won't hear anywhere else. Because every woman's story has the power to propel another from dream to reality. This is women I want you to know. What you just heard is Linnea Oliveira's, and she said it better than I ever could. When trust is fragile and the stakes are human, the people responsible for translating complex science into something the world can understand and believe in are not an afterthought. They're essential. And for too long, the people doing that work have had no dedicated space to grow, connect, and lead at the level the industry actually needs from them. Linnea decided to change that. As the founder of Ticket to Biotech, the premier global network for communications professionals and life sciences, she built the community she needed when it didn't exist. In two short years, she has grown it to over 1,400 members worldwide, bootstrapped with a team of three. In this conversation, we talk about what it takes to make that leap, how AI is reshaping the future of communications in this industry, and why women in life sciences need to stop apologizing for taking up space. This one is for every woman who has ever been the one holding the narrative together while wondering if anyone noticed. Let's get into it. I am so excited to share this conversation with you. Linnea, I would love for you to share with our audience a little bit more about what prompted you to create Ticket to Biotech, what it is, what audience you seek to serve, and how this idea came to you. Because you were not a founder prior to this, right? You had worked in kind of corporate America. So take us on this journey with you.

SPEAKER_01 2:30

Sure. Well, it's such a pleasure to be here. Thank you for inviting me, Andrea. So, yes, I am a founder as of two years and two or three months ago. Before that, I was in biopharma communications. So did a little bit of everything from big pharma, small biotech, did a sit-in-government, different agencies. And I started ticket to biotech because I felt like there was a gap in my own career as I was growing to be a more senior professional. I felt like I wasn't meeting the people that I wanted to in order to grow my own network. I wasn't able to find the right resources and programming to grow my own skills. And there are a lot of fantastic PR and communications organizations and also communities out there, but many of them are industry agnostic. In our industry, which I know you are intimately familiar with as well in life sciences, there are a ton of unique challenges and opportunities, but it there's really nothing else like it. And so I felt like, well, if this is something that I feel like I need, maybe other people will too. And I talked to a lot of friends and family about it, as I'm sure would-be entrepreneurs often do. And everyone kind of said, Yeah, yeah, I think you might be on to something, Linnea. So it was sort of a side project for a while, but as side projects often turn out, they don't go anywhere because they are side projects. So decided in order for this to become something potentially, I would need to devote my full attention to it. And so that's what I did in October 2023. And fast forward to more than two years later, we've become the premier global network for communications professionals across the life sciences. And we focus on networking, building connections, knowledge sharing, and professional development. Think of it as a modern take on a professional society.

SPEAKER_00 4:30

I remember hearing that one of the things that kind of got you over the hump or kind of like really, upon reflection, got you to make this leap was when you were hiking and the enchantments, I think, if I remember correctly. So, you know, a lot of women struggle with when am I ready? Should I take the leap? Can you talk a little bit about what went on and how you finally got comfortable with this is the right time?

SPEAKER_01 4:57

It wasn't necessarily something I set out to do. I I didn't quite know that this was going to become a business at the very beginning. It became evident that it had sustainability potential once we came out of the woodwork. But at the beginning, it was really more about this need. And when I and so I'm I'm a hiker, I love being out in nature with my own thoughts, and that's sort of how I process what's happening in the world around me. But the other thing that was happening for me personally was I was at a little bit of a crossroads in my career, and I wasn't really finding what else I wanted to do next. I've, as you heard in my intro, I've privileged to have done a bunch of different things in my career. And I was sort of at this point of like, well, what is this all building toward? And I realized one of my strengths is around bringing people together and bridging, bridging networks and connecting dots. And so it sort of crystallized and the enchantments hike, yes, that's you have a fantastic memory. That was also the hardest hike I've ever done in my life. But I realized, well, if I I can do this, it was just a for me personally a tremendous push and conquering of, I don't know, a lot of my fears. So I had to keep going. And I realized, well, maybe I should just go with this. This is a good idea. Maybe I should trust myself. This is a chance I have to take a chance on myself. And I haven't I haven't looked back since, just like on the hike.

SPEAKER_00 6:26

I love hearing that. And kudos to you because two years is a pretty impressive milestone. So many companies and entrepreneurial efforts will fail after year one or before they even reach year one. So the fact that not only have you gone past that, but you are thriving and succeeding and growing. I think that's incredibly inspirational. And you mentioned that it's global. So you have now people beyond the US. I saw you posting that you were in England recently. Tell us a little bit about the global footprint.

SPEAKER_01 6:57

We started as a function of my network. We do have mostly a US footprint, but again, that's just a function of my network and then the networks of a lot of the people who've joined since. We are very intentionally not making this a US-centric organization. We strive very hard to have ex-US points of view represented, whether it's in peer coaching groups or are we trying to do more in-person events like the one you mentioned in London last November, which was adjacent to one of the bigger IR conferences in our industry, as well as having voices represented in our online programming as well. We operate in a very complex industry and an even more complex geopolitical environment. So we really are trying to make sure that everyone who not only is a communicator, but is interested in communications. And that could mean CEOs, CBOs, people in other business partners who are other business partners in our industry, anyone who is interested in or where communications touches, we want to be involved, regardless of where they are geographically, where they are in their career, what they've done, or what they want to do in the future.

SPEAKER_00 8:19

Now, as you look ahead, you talked about the complexity of this industry. You know, we're at such a volatile time in many ways for life sciences. Communicators are often right in the crosshairs of everything that's happening as they think about how to engage with external constituents. Where do you really see communications going? Where do you sort of see the evolution? What are the things that are on your radar?

SPEAKER_01 8:42

A lot of the conversation as I was coming up, and even until recently, focused on this notion of getting a seat at the table. And this might be controversial, although it's not an original idea. I've definitely heard some of our speakers talk about it, so I'm just gonna co-opt it. I think that that notion is a little tired, and frankly, it's a little bit beneath us. We deserve that respect, but it's also earned through showing and showing up and engaging fully with our stakeholders and with our business partners. So I don't think that we necessarily should be begging for relevance, but we do have not only an opportunity but an obligation to be in those conversations, to be in the room where those decisions are made and be part of the decision-making process. And I think that one of the most overlooked ways that we can do that is we just need to be talking to each other. As communicators, ironically, we a lot of times we're not, we're just not talking to each other. There's so much we can learn from each other. And most of the time, within a few minutes, you you find out within our community that there's only one or two, three, four degrees of separation, or that the person in the room has gone through a similar challenge or or has some fantastic milestone in front of them. So I think that by again, it's a little bit corny, and I don't mean to be trite, but simply by talking to each other, I think that we're gonna be able to kind of more fully align on a baseline for the role. So it's it's about judgment, bringing that context, anticipation, not just reaction. And I also think kind of tying it back to some of the words you used a little bit and passing it around being strategic advisors, especially in our industry, the science is complex, trust is fragile, and the stakes are human, right? Like we're talking about treating real people, like the science is it's like sci-fi sometimes. So at the end of the day, we're talking about doing things to people's bodies and their lives and the lives of their loved ones. And so I think that we're our profession in general is evolving to be more business counselor-esque, but especially in our industry, we we're gonna be right there alongside the CEOs, the CBOs, the CSOs, like chief scientific officers, chief medical officers. I my goal, and I'm not shy about saying this, is to have the chief corporate affairs officer or chief communications officer as a given on those leadership pages of the websites of the companies and and clients our communities serve moving forward, not just something like an afterthought or something that comes when a company's reached a certain stage.

SPEAKER_00 11:37

I also really love the fact that you're thinking about education, because a lot of what's inherent in what you're talking about is continuing to evolve skills and continuing to enhance what we as experts bring to the table. How is Ticket to Biotech really doing that? Because I see you offer masterclasses, you are bringing people together and convening different events. How important is that to what you're building in the community?

SPEAKER_01 12:01

That's it. Like that's that's a bit, I mean, all of that ties into what we're trying to do. And something that's an a really almost paradoxical challenge that we faced from the beginning is because our community skews senior, and that's been consistent from day one, like whether we've had five members or now we're at over 1400 members globally, about half of our community has more than 15 years of experience, and two-thirds have more collectively, more than 10 years of experience. So we're talking about this really senior crowd. A lot of times, senior people don't want to be told that they need to learn something new. So we have to think about how we're packaging it. And that's posed a really interesting conundrum. So we're very careful. If you go on our website, you probably won't see the word training anywhere. You probably won't see the word workshop anywhere. And we do use the words professional development pretty sparingly. And so how we're supporting that growth, a ticket to biotech is multifaceted. And so our goal is to provide value again, wherever you're at in your career, whatever you're going through in life. And for some people, that means coming to a networking event once a quarter, which we do, we do have those in the big biopharma hubs once a quarter and trying to build more, as you saw in London and Chicago, et cetera. Some people need these masterclasses, like the one that you're about to do on the business of the business. Some people are looking for, again, that deeper connection beyond surface level networking, and that's where the peer coaching groups come together. Some people maybe are experts, like we have people who join just simply for one specific set of programming, like our media panels where we bring journalists in. Some people just find that like super, super relevant. But we're really trying to look set both set the conversation from a global community level as well as leverage the fascinating and very diverse expertise across the community in different discipline-specific groups that we call roundtables. And so it's really been fun to roll a lot of those out now. So if you do want, like I said, that media programming, or if you want IR or patient advocacy or AI, like you can get all of that, or you can get some of it. Whatever, whatever that need is for you, we want to be there for you. We want the community to be there for you.

SPEAKER_00 14:28

Amazing. And since you brought up the magical word of AI, I would love for you to share with the audience a little bit more about how AI plays such an important role and what you have been building at Ticket to Biotech. And also, how do you see AI playing a role in the future of communications?

SPEAKER_01 14:46

We could not be where we are without AI. We were a team of three. I brought on my colleagues about a year ago. So the first 14 months or so was just me, but it wasn't just me. It was it was me and and my friend Chat GPT. I think I was doing vibe coding before vibe coding was termed that I also have used it as a thought partner. And that I'll get into that a little bit more because I think that that's really where the future is and where we need to be pushing ourselves to be integrating AI into our workflow as communicators. But AI has shaped anything from how I talk about ticket to biotech to helping me understand our stakeholders' needs, what's resonating, what's not working. I mean, as an entrepreneur, I think that's almost like equally as important, right? The ability to see really quickly what's not working and pivot as quickly as you can, because you literally do not have time or money or other resources to based on things that aren't working.

SPEAKER_00 15:45

So true.

SPEAKER_01 15:46

Yeah. To putting together compelling programming and yes, wordsmithing, but but it's it's really enabled me as someone who I feel like is is already pretty good at connecting dots. It it enables me to just go exponentially faster, quicker, more efficient, more thorough. And I'll give one specific example that I think people are often surprised to hear because a lot of communicators still feel, and I'm I'm not arguing with the notion that communicators need to have good writing skills, but I think a lot of people might be surprised to hear that a lot of the emails that we put out or content we put out, frankly, is because of AI. It's an it's AI powered. Like people come to us for the syntheses that we bring out of our programming, because not everyone can attend everything, of course. But there's no way I'd be able to pump out these like top 10 takeaways on a regular basis without the help of AI. But I'll use this as a segue then to talk about the future of the profession with AI, where my expertise and my team's expertise comes into play, however, is we are instrumental in guiding the AI into that final solution. So I'll just give one concrete example here to like illustrate that point. So when I put in, let's say, an event transcript and the bios of the speakers and the maybe the audience, like blinded audience Zoom chat into the AI and ask it for the top 10 takeaways. Sometimes I have to reorient it, right? Like I'm using my background, my expertise as a communicator, as the the founder and community manager of Ticket to Biotech to reorient it and redirect it. So actually, like that point that you highlighted is is not really relevant. Like we need to be, we need to focus it in a different way for our audience. Same thing when putting together programming and and so forth. So I think that we collectively as a profession, especially in our industry, need to get more attuned and used to using AI as a thought partner, as and like this old notion of, I think it's an old notion of using it as an intern. Like I think that's that's very outdated. It's already smarter than a lot of us. So why not take advantage of that?

SPEAKER_00 18:11

So talk to us a little bit about what you sort of see the future for ticket to biotech. I know you have a lot of ideas that you are not one to rest on your laurels. So you've had growth, you're looking at global. What are some of the other things where you think Ticket to Biotech can really add value to this community?

SPEAKER_01 18:29

This year is about getting people to take advantage of that hard one in the trenches built infrastructure. I think about our future and who we're talking to and who we're reaching, sort of in three concentric circles or three areas of a ripple, if you will. The first is getting other communicators in our industry on board. And we're, I think we trick ourselves into thinking we're in a niche industry. I mean, it is niche, like we're we're doing communications and life sciences, but there's a lot of us, like if you really broaden it to think about all the different types of communicators who are supporting all the different kinds of life sciences. You're not only talking about companies and agencies, right? You're talking about freelancers and independents, maybe scientists who want to transition into communications, you're talking about government communicators, medcoms. Yes, yes, exactly. Yeah, medical med and sciom communicators, we're we're running to make an effort to serve those folks as well. Visual communicators, graphic designers, academia, venture capital, like it just goes on and on. So there's actually quite a lot of us, and even though I'm super, super proud that we now have this community of over 1400 people, there's a lot more of us to go. So trying to bring more people into the fold. And then beyond that, I feel like the next rung of the circle, if you will, is bringing in other people in the industry who aren't necessarily interested in communications per se. But like I've kind of been saying, getting more CEOs, CBOs, CSOs, folks who don't necessarily have comms in their title interested and understanding and supportive of this function is how I think we're gonna get to that next level. And then finally, the public at large. I mean, for heaven's sakes, like we have communications in a lot of our titles. Who else is gonna tell these stories if the people who are doing communications don't? And I think we underestimate the power that we have, especially the collective power that we have as communicators to talk beyond the business stakeholders of investors or PD targets, but the people whose lives we can be impacting. That's not just for marketing. So I think that there's uh it's kind of a bold vision, but again, I I really, really truly sincerely believe that collectively we can we can have that powerful impact.

SPEAKER_00 21:00

Well, here we are, two women talking about communications and life sciences. And at least in my experience, while there are many very talented men in communications, it is a majority of women that choose this field and choose this career path. So, how would you advise women who are thinking about this career path and communications and even specifically in life sciences? Because while many of the executive suites are starting to have more representation, it's still a very male-dominated industry. So, what would your advice to women be out there?

SPEAKER_01 21:33

My advice to women in communications and especially in our industry is to take up space and again, super corny, but but really lean on each other. A lot of the unconscious biases that I think I've I've definitely had, I've realized firsthand how damaging those can be. I know when we were talking In preparation for this podcast, Andrea, one of the things I was talking about was it's just kind of unbelievable to me how many times we or my colleague Michelle will still get asked, Oh, you do this full time? Like and it's just like this is a tremendous like they'll be complimenting us on one hand for our success. But then it's like, well, how do you how do you think how do you think this is this is getting done?

SPEAKER_00 22:29

Oh, it's so cute, Linnea. It's so cute that you're doing.

SPEAKER_01 22:32

Yeah, it's so it's so cute. Yeah, and I feel like I feel like for the longest time people felt like this was something I was doing out of my garage. Like, you know, it's like like just this fun little like side project. And you have to laugh because otherwise you're you're really gonna cry. It's it's it's so hard to it, it's so hard to hear, hear those things. And the other thing I get asked all the time is, well, how can we help Linnea? How can how can we how can we get involved? And my answer is is pretty simple. I say, engage, don't be a lurker. Like I literally had someone at an event last year come up and introduce themselves to me and say, hi, I'm so and so. That's how memorable this was, saying, I'm so-and-so, I'm a lurker, I've I've been following you. And he like proceeded to tell me all these things. And so it's interesting because people are looking, even if you don't think they're looking, but like I would have loved if I'd known a little bit more about this person and good, you know, good for them for showing up to an event. Maybe they'll come back to more. But just in like engage and show up and and be present for each other. There's so much power in that. And then two, like, put your money where your mouth is. Like, I mean, what do what do you think? Like, I'm a bootstrap female entrepreneur in my 30s. Like, yes, I need money to make this happen. Like, get a pro membership, right? Like, just like do like if if you're a huge agency or a big company, like that's pittance, right? So it's like be very thoughtful about what you're putting forward and your ability to follow through, especially, especially a communicator. We of all people should be the ones who are thinking about what our words mean and how not just the intent, but the impact of them.

SPEAKER_00 24:19

I think that's very well said. And it actually also makes me think about how important it is that women don't apologize for needing to make money in their business. I mean, you don't hear a lot of men conversing about like the struggle to get this to be viewed legitimately or to command a certain amount of money. I mean, you're a founder, you're building a really important business, you're serving a community. Yes, there are costs associated with that. That's life. And I feel like we as women should feel very empowered to command what we're worth, whatever our business is, and stop feeling like we have to apologize for charging people because that is very limiting mindset. And at the end of the day, not only do you want to control your own destiny, not only do you want to work in a purpose-driven, mission-aligned organization, but you have to pay the rent, you have to pay the mortgage, you have to put food on the table. Like stop apologizing. I just feel like we have to change that narrative.

SPEAKER_01 25:16

Yeah. And frankly, it's something I'm still very much working through on a personal level. I I realize I'm getting better at it, but even in social settings, like if a friend is introducing me to someone, I actually have a hard time saying, Oh, I'm an entrepreneur and owning that or like I'm a CEO. Like I even just saying it now, it just doesn't quite feel natural. And I'm, I think that has a lot to do with our conditioning as women, especially in communications, because we're so used to being behind the scenes and being categorized as an enabling function. And so I think that kind of brings full circle actually, everything we've been talking about around being business advisors and being involved in the conversations. Like we should be driving the conversations and not afraid to, again, take up space and unapologetically take up space.

SPEAKER_00 26:11

I think that's such a great insight and lesson learned because it's when I was growing up and coming through the ranks, I'll never forget I had a boss who said, We are kingmakers, not kings. And I think there's a tremendous amount of truth to that, but I also think it allowed many times for me to acquiesce or be, you know, deferential to other people and not use my voice, not feel like, hey, I should really disagree with this or push against this. And it is important. Communications is a strategic function. It is important to feel empowered to use that voice. So I'm so glad you said that.

SPEAKER_01 26:42

I was just, I was also gonna add that was reminding me like the Kingmaker Kingpin comment around the value of relationships. I know we've hit on that in a few different ways in this conversation, but karma's a bitch, man. Like it's just it's in it's incredible to me how short-sighted sometimes employers can be or colleagues can be, especially in an industry or a profession like ours. Like, like like what goes around comes around. It has been incredible to me to see all the people from my past emerging now. And I'm trying to give people whether they treated me poorly or well, the benefit of the doubt. But it's hard. It's really hard in some cases to be the bigger person. And it's just, again, it's been another way that this whole experience has been incredibly humbling because you never know, right, where your client is gonna be. They could be your boss tomorrow, your partner could be your client tomorrow, could be the person deciding whether you're gonna get that job that you've been having your eye on for the past five months. So just like treat people with respect because you really don't know where they're gonna come up again in your life.

SPEAKER_00 27:57

Excellent advice. Again, I mean, I think any boss, any leader has at some point struggled with finding the right balance sometimes, managing certain situations and certain people, but with experience and maturity comes better decision making and hopefully better interactions with people. So I think that advice is so important. No matter where you are in your career, we can always get better at how we manage those interactions and how we show up for each other. Because yes, it's so funny how many things come back around and how people reintersect. Because even though this is a large community with a lot of different stakeholders, I tend to often cross paths with the same people again and again, which I think is also what you're speaking to there. Yes, yes, exactly. Is there anything you really want to stress with our audience about their career development and how they think about networking and the importance of community?

SPEAKER_01 28:53

I think I'd like to reiterate the importance of showing up first and foremost for yourself. I know again, we've we've talked about that a little bit, but just to crystallize it as we put the punctuation on this fantastic, well, I think it's fantastic episode. Hopefully everyone else does too. But it's so hard, right? It I mean, especially like, you know, I don't have kids, but as you said, a lot of a lot of the the people in our profession are women, right? Just to be a working mom in today's society and to to be good to yourself, you have to do that before you can be good to other people. You have to learn how to develop your own voice and trust your voice. And if we can do that, then I think I think we're halfway there. As far as ticket to biotech goes, it's just truly been been an incredible journey. And I I often joke that sometimes I wish I could just press the pause button on all of the learning and the change, both from a day job perspective, an entrepreneurial perspective, a growth perspective. I built this community because I needed it, but I didn't know just how much I needed it. And it's it's a lot of people actually don't know that it enabled me to make some very, very important life changes because of the confidence and the love and and the support and the respect I was I've been shown through this incredible community. And so I just hope that I can continue to pay that forward and create the space for all of us to do that for each other and ultimately enable us in our community specifically to create that powerful life science narrative for all of the people and families and caregivers that that we serve.

SPEAKER_00 30:46

I love that. That's beautiful. And I admire so much what you've done and what you've built, and the thought and the purpose you've put behind the decisions that you made. I really feel like it's incredibly exciting to see someone take the leap that you've taken and really build something unique. And it's, I truly think of you as a visionary because this is an incredible thing that you've accomplished. And I'm so grateful to Becky Von Siatsky, who was the first person who was like, you have to meet Linnea. And then I'm thankful to Scott White, who said, Come on, we got to get you two together because really it's been such an incredible opportunity to get to know you and to see what you're building and to see the difference this community is making for other communicators. So, congratulations and I wish you continued success and cannot wait to see where Ticket to Biotech continues to go. I hope more people who are listening will check out Ticket to Biotech, learn more about Linnea and all the exciting things that she and her team are doing. And thank you for listening in to this episode of Women I Want You to Know. Thank you for being here today and sharing in this inspiring story from Women I Want You to Know. Please leave a review and share this episode with another woman in your life. And please join the conversation and connect with us on LinkedIn and Instagram and keep fueling the future for female founders and leaders.