Everyday Wonder Women
Each week, I sit down with a woman you probably never heard of before—but trust me, by the end, you’ll be so glad you did. This is where we get real about the tough stuff women go through, the grit it takes to get through it, and the lessons they pick up along the way. It’s honest, inspiring, and full of stories you won’t forget.
Everyday Wonder Women
Episode 15: Lauren Branch's guide to getting what you want
Lauren Branch, CEO of NewView in Tulsa, Oklahoma, shares her 28-year journey leading a nonprofit that empowers people who are blind or have low vision to live independent lives. She opens up about unexpectedly becoming CEO, facing workplace gender challenges, and navigating her husband's Alzheimer's diagnosis while maintaining her leadership role.
• Started as controller before being offered the CEO position because the organization "couldn't afford anyone else"
• First task as CEO was laying off 40% of the workforce, most of whom were blind employees she later rehired
• Faced challenges being taken seriously as a female leader in traditionally male-dominated spaces
• Emphasizes that women must advocate for themselves rather than waiting to be noticed
• Currently balancing her leadership role with caring for her husband who has Alzheimer's
• Advises young women to be intentional about setting goals and unapologetic about pursuing them
• Encourages employees to actively participate in their career development rather than waiting for opportunities
Send us a message on Instagram at Everyday Wonder Women Podcast if this episode resonates with you. If you know a woman with a story of grit, resilience, reinvention, or general badassery, send her our way—self-nominations are encouraged!
Hey friends, welcome back to Everyday Wonder Women. I'm your host, Dr. Stacee Santi Longfellow. Today's guest is Lauren Branch, CEO of NewView in Tulsa, Oklahoma, a nonprofit that helps people who are blind or have low vision live more independent, empowered lives. Lauren originally became the CEO because the company couldn't afford anyone else. Seriously. But she took the job anyway and turned the whole thing around. We also talk about something a lot more personal- Lauren's experience navigating her husband's Alzheimer's diagnosis, what it's like, how it's changed her life and how she's managing to keep it all together even on the hard days. And that brings me to something I really wanted to share.
Stacee:After a recent episode with Dr Caitlin DeWilde, a listener reached out to share how much that conversation helped her process the loss of her own mom. It was a beautiful note and a reminder that sometimes your story can reach someone in a way you'll never even know. If you ever feel that way while listening, we'd love to hear from you too. Send us a message over on Instagram at Everyday Wonder Women Podcast. We read every single one. And one more thing we're on the lookout for new guests. If you know a woman with a story of grit, resilience, reinvention or general badassery, send her our way. Self-nominations are not only welcome, they're encouraged, and it's exactly what we talk about in this interview with Lauren. Are you ready to meet her? Okay, let's go go.
Lauren:I am the president and CEO of a nonprofit organization in Oklahoma known as NewView. Our organization provides specialized services and employment for people who are blind or have low vision here in our community, and I've been doing this for a long time. As a matter of fact, on April 1st I will celebrate my 28th year and in my personal life you know, I'm married and have six kids, four of my own and two step sons. And, yeah, my husband and I have been together about 14 years.
Stacee:How'd you make that climb all the way to the top of a nonprofit?
Lauren:It's not as glamorous as you would expect, honestly. The job that I had relocated to Florida and at the time I had three small children and one on the way and my husband at the time owned a business here. Small children and one on the way and my husband at the time owned a business here in Oklahoma. So I wasn't going anywhere. And this nonprofit was looking for a controller actually, and so I interviewed with them and got the job as the controller, unbeknownst to me. I figured out pretty quick that they were in financial trouble. After I hired on, about three months into my tenure, they let the current executive director go and they were looking for a new executive director. I think that the board realized when they started getting resumes in that they couldn't pay what they thought they could. One of the board members said you know, we have this little girl upstairs that I bet we could get on the cheap. Maybe she would do it for us. And so they came up and said you know, we'd like you to throw your name in the hat, and I did and they hired me. But you know I was not overqualified for the job by any stretch, but my first official duty as executive director is. They handed me a list of employees and they said this is the layoff list and we need you to lay off 40% of the workforce.
Lauren:I was pretty devastated and I went home and cried and the majority of the people that I laid off were blind. You know, I remember going home and telling my husband I'm going to bring all these people back to work if it's the last thing I do. And ultimately I was able to bring all of them back but one. Really yeah. Yeah, it took a lot of time, but you know, I think I was just too young and naive to know that to realize that I was probably in over my head. You know, you just kind of, you know, put your head down and go to work, and I did things that I mean, I just had to figure things out. You know, we got through it and you know, and then you fast forward and here we are, 28 years later.
Stacee:And tell me about the organization how, what is it like? What does ?
Lauren:We're only private agency in the state that provides specialized services for individuals who are blind or have low vision, and we serve birth through older adults and everything in between. So now we have early intervention services, we provide direct services in the school districts, we have pre-vocational and vocational training programs, and then we have our low vision clinics, we have an adaptive sports program and we have other enrichment programs art and dance and all kinds of fun stuff.
Stacee:What's been some of the more difficult parts of being a female CEO in kind of a traditionally dominated male CEO kind of world.
Lauren:You know they tended to underestimate me or not take me seriously or even treat me like I was the secretary. It's like get coffee, take notes. You know I mean those those kinds of things. You know I don't want to say anything that's inappropriate and if you would need to, you know, cut this out, you can say inappropriate.
Lauren:But it was like you know what they I mean. At some point they had to think that you peed standing up. You know, I mean you just you had to present yourself in a way that was not what they perceived as like their wife was at home, but had to do it in a way that was unoffensive too, you know. So I think that we get tagged with a lot of labels like a man can be assertive and a woman is a bee. You have to stand a little taller, exude more confidence. You know we underestimate ourselves. They are forever overestimating their ability. I mean they think that they can do everything.
Lauren:You know, I certainly want younger women to feel that too. I want them to have the same. I want my girls to have the same confidence that the boys do and, you know, in a lot of respects, just are not intimidated. You know what Pay disparities, for example. Men are just better at asking for it, you know, I mean, they think they're worth it and they go in and ask for it. And we as women, and I, suffer from this. It's like, you know, I'm just going to keep quiet and I'm going to keep my head down, I'm going to work hard and they're going to realize how much I'm worth.
Stacee:And so, if you feel like you can't say something, just for one second, pretend you're a guy and just get the words out of your mouth and then go back to being a girl, exactly.
Stacee:I know right Quick break.
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Lauren:I was talking to a young lady recently and she came into my office and she said you know, I came to work here because I wanted to do more than just, you know, do my teacher of the visually impaired and O&M. I wanted to grow. And I said well, have you talked to your manager about that? I mean, have you expressed what you want to do and what you want? Well, no, I said. One piece of advice that I would give you is to number one.
Lauren:We're not mind readers and it's not our responsibility to tell you what your path. It's incumbent upon you, if you want something and want to create a path for you, to be very deliberate about what that is and ask for it. And if you're not ready to do it right skills or whatever then you sit down with your manager and you draft a plan to get there. I mean, nobody is going to advocate for you better than you. I think. A lot of times we just think that I'm just going to work hard and they're going to notice, and of course they know I want to be promoted and I want to be the supervisor or the manager or whatever, and that is just not true. It is not true. That's not what I'm thinking. When I get up in the morning I'm thinking okay, how many of my employees would like professional development and would like to?
Stacee:It sounds so funny when you say it that way, because it's true, as the boss, you don't wake up thinking about, yeah, how many of your employees need this or need that? I mean, you do your best, but yes, I completely, a hundred, a thousand percent agree with you that you have to advocate for yourself If you want something.
Lauren:You do, and it's a two way. Employment is a two way deal. It's not just us employing you and you get. I mean you have to be an active participant. And the other thing is is that you know I'll have people say, well, I want to be a supervisor, or I want to be a manager, or I want to do this path, okay, well, what are you doing to get yourself there? Right, and it's like they just want to sit back and go well, it's up to you to help me get there. And it's like, no, it's really not. I mean, you have to figure out those things that you're willing to invest in yourself to make you better.
Stacee:I also notice this when you are taking courses, when you're going and reading a book, when you're bringing back lessons from the book. Hey, I want to share this with you. I saw this. What do you think of this? Would you mind talking with me about what I recently heard on a podcast? I mean, when employees for me would do stuff like that, I knew I had someone to pay attention to.
Lauren:And it's somebody that you want to invest in as well. If someone's willing to invest in themselves, then I'm willing to invest in them too, and there's nothing that I enjoy more than mentoring.
Stacee:One of my favorite sayings comes from Tim Gunn, who, if you don't know, was the host of Project Runway.
Lauren:Oh yeah, I love him
Stacee:And he would always say to the designers I can only care as much as you do. And I just love that saying because I can care a lot or a little, but I'm going off of your cues.
Lauren:That's exactly right.
Stacee:Can you share a time in life that it's been hard or challenging? Personally?
Lauren:you know, actually right now my, so my husband is 68 years old and he's been diagnosed with Alzheimer's, and so I. The last couple of years have been extremely challenging for us. We've had to make a lot of life changes and did not expect to be dealing with the things that we're dealing with right now.
Stacee:Is it severe already?
Lauren:So he's past what they consider mild cognitive impairment, so he's kind of right on the borderline between he's doing much better than he is.
Lauren:So, you know, I see the challenges on a daily basis and have had to put a lot of guardrails in place. Dementia is really interesting, and for a lot of people they lose the ability to be self-aware Any given moment. They think they're doing fine, but they don't remember the 10 minutes before when they yeah. I've been really fortunate though, because number one I've been at NewView for a long time, so I've developed a lot of trust and credibility with my board of directors and with my team members. It's been hard for me to be totally present.
Stacee:Did you notice the symptoms?
Lauren:They say that the first thing that usually goes is their ability to manage finances, and so it would be like forgetting to pay the bills or, you know, messing up a bank account. I remember just getting so mad and it's like you've been a responsible adult your entire life. What is going on with you? In retrospect, it was the dementia With our house. We had a big house and pool and all of that, but Doug's ability to take care of the pool. He couldn't do it anymore. He would mess things up and I'd have to get someone to come out and fix it, or we'd need a electrician or plumber to come. You know, come out to the house, and then they would get there and he wouldn't know why they were there and he would send them away and it, oh them away, and it yeah, it was just those kinds of things. And and he was really resistant to admitting that there was anything wrong at all that's hard Cause.
Stacee:then you're trying to point out all these things.
Lauren:It almost caused us to split up. I'm glad it didn't, because ultimately we were able to figure out what was going on and yeah, so we've just been trying to, we've been trying to deal with it. Oh, Lauren, hang in there. You know certainly not what we expected to be doing at this stage in our life. I mean, I think that you know we were both still going to be working and traveling and that it's different now, but it is what it is and we just take it one day at a time, or I just take it one day at a time.
Lauren:Sometimes, you know, Doug is actually doing better than I am, because he doesn't realize. That's probably a blessing for you. Yeah, Everything going on all the time. I mean, his life is pretty easy because you know I take care. It's really interesting because my husband's an attorney and he still thinks that he's taking care of everything and you know, doing all of that. But it took a while to get everything in place so that he couldn't do damage, which was the scary thing, you know, because people can do a lot of damage.
Lauren:Yeah, Finance and everything else.
Stacee:I bet a lot of people will hear this and understand exactly what you're talking about.
Lauren:It's hard being a caregiver, I mean and it's not just dementia, but it's anything you see parents having to deal with kids with special needs, or dealing with aging parents or you know whatever the situation that I'm in, and it's just, it's hard. One thing that I wish we could do a better job is putting mechanisms in place to better support caregivers, not be totally stressed out all the time and yeah, yeah, because you can't take care of someone if your tank's pretty empty. That's exactly right, right.
Stacee:What advice would you give to a 20 year old woman that's just getting started?
Lauren:You know what you have to go after, what you want. I know at 20 years old you don't necessarily know, but I think that you have to be very intentional about setting goals and articulating those goals and to be unapologetic about it. I think there was probably a time that I was apologetic about the things that I wanted or what I was doing, and so I would say be confident, articulate what want and be unapologetic about going after it.
Stacee:The big idea I want to focus on today from this conversation is the importance of advocating for yourself. Lauren said something that I guarantee your manager or boss is thinking. We're not mind readers. It's not our job to tell you what your path should be. So many women get tripped up thinking if we work hard enough, if we're loyal enough, if we just keep our heads down and do a great job, someone will notice and reward us.
Stacee:I've been so guilty of this and here's what ends up happening. You actually don't get pulled aside at the end of the day and told that your talents are exceptional and that you might just, in fact, be the most valuable employee in the whole company. There's no apology for not seeing it sooner, no surprise raise and definitely no invite to share your brilliance with the leadership team. Instead, your job starts to feel like it's slowly sucking the life out of you. Job starts to feel like it's slowly sucking the life out of you. No one, not one single soul, except maybe the cleaning crew, realizes that you're still at your desk at 7 45 pm, and even they are just mostly annoyed that your chair is in the way of the vacuum. It's time to wake up and realize you're not at Hollywood Week on American Idol. You're playing red light, green light in Squid Game, and the only person responsible for getting you across the finish line is you. The truth is, nobody cares more about your future than you Not your boss, not your partner, not your coworkers, not even your parents, though they might tie for second place. Your job in life is to steer your rocket ship. You've got to keep the moon in the window. You've got to know when to hit the afterburner, when to coast and when to slingshot around an obstacle with pure gravity and grit. You, my friend, are Captain Jim Lovell from Apollo 13. And if that feels too overwhelming, then just be Tom Hanks pretending to be Captain Jim Lovell for the rest of your life. It works. Here's my challenge to you this week Be more direct about what you want.
Stacee:Start small if you need to. Maybe it's picking the restaurant the next time you go out to eat, instead of saying, oh, whatever you want, I'm good with anything. And then maybe someday soon you'll be able to look at the waiter and say this fancy cocktail that I ordered off the leather bound menu tastes like gasoline and your beloved lobster bisque reminds me of my fish tank at home. Just keep building that muscle to say what you want. Ask for the meeting, tell your boss what you want to do next in your career and ask what they recommend to help you get there. Then go do the work, but show your work, just like you had to do on a physics test. Maybe you read a leadership book, share a piece of it and ask your boss what you think. Maybe you listen to a podcast while vacuuming your house about a four-day work week and you're wondering if that could work at your job. Talk to your boss about it. Just maybe leave the vacuuming part out. Say what you're interested in, say what you're striving for and say what you hope to be someday, out loud. And if that feels hard, if you hear that little voice in your head saying I'm not ready or who do I think I am, I've got a trick for you.
Stacee:I heard this from the author, anne Lamont, who was recently on the Monica Lewinsky podcast, which, by the way, is excellent. Go find it and start with that episode. Anne said something that I really loved and I've been using it and you guys, it helps. She said when self-doubt shows up and it always does you don't have to let it take over. Instead, you think it, you say, quote oh hey, it, it's you. Thanks for worrying about me. I think I've got this now, unquote. And then you send it to the library, like literally, she imagined, saying quote why don't you go wait in the library there's good lighting, great books and I'll come over there to get you if I need you. Unquote.
Stacee:And then you go back to being your emotionally intelligent, thoughtful, wildly capable self, because advocating for yourself isn't selfish, it's smart, it's how you grow, it's how you get noticed and, more than anything, it's how you build a life and a career you actually want. Look, we can't control what's offered to us, but we can control what we ask for. So ask. You don't need to be the loudest person in the room, but you do need to be clear. So say it, write it, make a plan and go after it unapologetically, because no one is coming to rescue you, and once you start advocating for yourself, you won't need rescuing. You'll be too busy building the life you actually want. Well, that's it for today's episode. If you're enjoying the show, please consider leaving a rating and writing a review. It helps more women find us and it lets me know you're out there listening. Until then, speak up like it's your job, because it kind of is See you next week.