Leading with Values with Rachel Formaro
About Rachel Formaro
Rachel Formaro (she/her) is the founder, CEO and a senior consultant at Blu Pagoda. With more than 25 years of broad career experience, Rachel is a top-performing communications and business management professional. She is known for her creativity, compassion, and commitment to achieving results.
While Rachel’s specialty is financial services, she also has experience with technology and consumer goods. She has assisted Fortune 500 with their business and communications challenges—particularly in the area of complex programs. Rachel has experience in both the United States and Canada and has assisted companies with initiatives in both countries, including mergers and acquisitions.
Outside of her work at Blu Pagoda, Rachel loves being a mom, wife, cook and avid reader. She stays engaged with her local community through volunteering and is a board member with the Chrysalis Foundation for Girls and Women.
Discussed this episode:
- Rachel’s relationship with feminism and how it became more intersectional
- Her journey from Corporate America to self-employment, back to Corporate America, and finally starting Blu Pagoda
- How Rachel balances her anti-capitalist beliefs with serving clients in Corporate America
- The ways Rachel is trying to buck capitalist norms inside her business
- Getting comfortable with the CEO title by redefining what it means
- The importance of enlisting experts to help you grow as a CEO
- Modeling the self-care behaviors she wants her employees to feel empowered to do
- Setting boundaries around time and not making assumptions about others’ needs
- The weight of responsibility for other people’s livelihoods
- Navigating an economic downturn without losing sight of people-first values
- Creating a legacy and owning the word “philanthropist”
- Navigating aging and ageism as a woman business owner
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