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#186 | Imposter Syndrome, the Funding Gap, and Building the STEMinist Summit w/ AJ Lauer (Founder @Thriving Ibis Leadership Solutions)
Published 4 weeks, 1 day ago
Description
▶︎ #186 | Imposter Syndrome, the Funding Gap, and Building the STEMinist Summit w/ AJ Lauer (Founder @Thriving Ibis Leadership Solutions) {Part 2}
In this episode of the Leman Tech Leadership Podcast, Alex reunites with Dr. AJ Lauer, founder of Thriving Ibis Leadership Solutions and author of "My Monster Mungo: A Story About Imposter Syndrome," for part two of their conversation. Since they last spoke, AJ broke her ankle, spent two months out of commission, and used the forced pause to realign her business around the work she cares about most: coaching and imposter syndrome.
What makes this conversation stand out is the range of perspectives on imposter syndrome the two of them bring together: from women who never felt it at all, to the research showing it often comes down to whether someone has an innate sense of "this is who I am," to AJ’s observation that it frequently is not about lacking answers but about not knowing what questions to ask in the first place.
Alex and AJ also tackle a harder, more structural conversation: female founders still receive a small fraction of available funding, and both agree the fix is not only systemic, it is also about community, visibility, and accountability. That conversation is what led the two of them to launch the STEMinist Summit together (October 15-16, 2026): two days of talks, workshops, and curated networking with speakers from companies including Intel, NVIDIA, and NASA, built around real, generation-spanning STEM stories rather than polished LinkedIn versions of them.
If you have ever felt like you do not belong in the room, or you are building something and looking for your people, this episode (and the summit it introduces) is for you.
STEMinist Summit: https://steministsummit.com/
✉︎ FOLLOW AJ ON: ⤵︎
LinkedIn: AJ Lauer, STEM Leadership Advisor
Thriving Ibis Leadership Solutions: thrivingibis.com
✉︎ FOLLOW ME ON: ⤵︎
LinkedIn: @aleksandralemanska
TikTok: @aleksandra_lemanska
X: @lemanskills
Get the Book! https://fromcodetopeople.lemanskills.com/
Startup Community Poznan: @startup-community-poznan-scp
www.lemanskills.com
Join Leadership Pulse! https://lemanskills.com/pulse/
In this episode of the Leman Tech Leadership Podcast, Alex reunites with Dr. AJ Lauer, founder of Thriving Ibis Leadership Solutions and author of "My Monster Mungo: A Story About Imposter Syndrome," for part two of their conversation. Since they last spoke, AJ broke her ankle, spent two months out of commission, and used the forced pause to realign her business around the work she cares about most: coaching and imposter syndrome.
What makes this conversation stand out is the range of perspectives on imposter syndrome the two of them bring together: from women who never felt it at all, to the research showing it often comes down to whether someone has an innate sense of "this is who I am," to AJ’s observation that it frequently is not about lacking answers but about not knowing what questions to ask in the first place.
Alex and AJ also tackle a harder, more structural conversation: female founders still receive a small fraction of available funding, and both agree the fix is not only systemic, it is also about community, visibility, and accountability. That conversation is what led the two of them to launch the STEMinist Summit together (October 15-16, 2026): two days of talks, workshops, and curated networking with speakers from companies including Intel, NVIDIA, and NASA, built around real, generation-spanning STEM stories rather than polished LinkedIn versions of them.
If you have ever felt like you do not belong in the room, or you are building something and looking for your people, this episode (and the summit it introduces) is for you.
STEMinist Summit: https://steministsummit.com/
✉︎ FOLLOW AJ ON: ⤵︎
LinkedIn: AJ Lauer, STEM Leadership Advisor
Thriving Ibis Leadership Solutions: thrivingibis.com
✉︎ FOLLOW ME ON: ⤵︎
LinkedIn: @aleksandralemanska
TikTok: @aleksandra_lemanska
X: @lemanskills
Get the Book! https://fromcodetopeople.lemanskills.com/
Startup Community Poznan: @startup-community-poznan-scp
www.lemanskills.com
Join Leadership Pulse! https://lemanskills.com/pulse/