Flex Forward

What does it take to build a successful career when the path forward isn't always clear?
In this episode of The Flex Forward Podcast, host Nic Espanet sits down with Angela Mincey, Chief Operating Officer at Airvolt, Inc., to talk about leadership, business growth, overcoming challenges, and the power of building meaningful relationships.
Angela shares her journey from growing up with very little to becoming a global business leader. With approximately 15 years of experience in global partnerships, she has learned that success often starts with seeing possibilities where others see limitations.
As COO of Airvolt, Angela helps grow a company developing innovative solutions, including advertising displays designed to help clean the air. She also shares how her passion for business strategy and helping others inspired her to launch her own consulting firm, WeScale Partnerships and Strategy Solutions.
Nic and Angela explore why lifelong learning matters, how artificial intelligence can make work easier without replacing human connection, and why strong relationships are so important in business.
Angela also opens up about the challenges she has faced as a Black woman in leadership and why she is passionate about inspiring young people to believe in their own potential.
This conversation is a reminder that where you start doesn't have to determine where you finish.

From Hollywood to AI: Reinventing Creativity with Josie Kaye
What happens when you stop waiting for someone to say yes to your ideas and start making them happen yourself?
In this episode of The Flex Forward Podcast with Nic Espanet, we meet Josie Kaye, an AI creative director and story architect who found a new way to bring her stories to life.
Josie spent years working in marketing, film, and entertainment. She made commercials, wrote scripts, and pitched TV shows in Hollywood. But even when people liked her ideas, they often said the projects were too different or too risky.
Then she found AI, and everything changed.
Josie shares how one video sent by her brother led her down a new path. She taught herself how to make AI videos, created her own short film, and began building a new career around the stories she loves to tell.
Nic and Josie also talk about why it's okay to fail, how curiosity helps us learn, and why we should all bring our inner child along when trying something new.
You'll hear how Josie is now teaching others to use AI, making creative work for brands, and building a new business with a partner.
In this episode, you'll discover:
How Josie went from Hollywood screenwriter to AI creative director.
Why AI can help people bring their creative ideas to life.
How to start learning AI, even if you're new to it.
Why trying, failing, and trying again can lead to success.
How finding the right business partner can help you grow.
Why it's never too late to take your career in a new direction.

What if one simple conversation could change your whole career?
On this episode of The Flex Forward Podcast with Nic Espanet, Nic sits down with Neka Hickmon, a global business technology and operations leader who was named one of the Top 100 Women in Finance in 2024.
Neka shares how a chance meeting in a break room at Lockheed Martin helped move her career from software development into project management and leadership. Her story shows how building relationships, staying open to change, and taking chances can lead to new opportunities.
Nic and Neka talk about the power of problem solving, why good leaders need to know when to step back, and how to explain complex ideas in ways everyone can understand.
Neka also shares how raising three children has helped her become a better leader, why technology offers more career paths than many people realize, and how setting financial goals early can help build a stronger future.
In this episode, you'll discover:
How an unexpected conversation changed Neka's career path.
Why strong relationships can open doors to new opportunities.
How to become a better problem solver and stay flexible when plans change.
Why great leaders help others grow instead of doing everything themselves.
How to communicate complex technology issues in simple terms.
What parenting can teach us about leadership and working with different personalities.
Why STEM skills matter in nearly every industry.
How early retirement savings and financial goals can support long-term success.
About Neka Hickmon
Neka Hickmon is a global business technology and operations leader with a computer science degree from Texas Tech University. She has built a career helping organizations develop safe and reliable technology solutions. Recognized as one of the Top 100 Women in Finance in 2024, Neka is passionate about leadership, mentoring, STEM education, and helping others reach their career goals.

What can happen when you stop underestimating yourself and start saying yes to opportunities?
In this episode of The Flex Forward Podcast, Nic Espanet talks with Hala Ghoson, a research pharmacist, global health advocate, and founder of the nonprofit United Voices for Global Impact.
Hala shares lessons from more than two decades in pharmacy and clinical research. She explains why healthcare professionals must continue learning as technology and AI change the field, while still protecting the human side of healthcare.
She also shares a turning point in her career: taking on the challenge of oncology pharmacy even when others warned her how difficult it would be. That decision helped open doors for years to come and taught her an important lesson—never let other people underestimate you, and more importantly, never underestimate yourself.
Hala and Nic also talk about the importance of trying new things, learning from failure, building financial stability early in life, and creating the freedom to pursue meaningful work.
Today, that freedom helps Hala serve communities around the world. Through United Voices for Global Impact, she is involved in humanitarian medical missions and projects including a feeding program supporting approximately 120 children in Malawi.
Hala’s story is a reminder that the choices you make today can shape where you are years from now—and that small efforts can create a meaningful impact.
 

What does it take to leave a career at NASA, step into the unknown, and build a new path helping business owners grow their companies?
On this episode of The Flex Forward Podcast, Nic Espanet sits down with Rick Hashop, founder and managing partner of Space Rock Capital. Rick shares a career journey that began more than 35 years ago in the space industry and eventually took him to NASA, where he trained flight controllers, became a flight controller himself, and helped develop procedures supporting the International Space Station.
But Rick’s story goes far beyond spaceflight.
He explains why he eventually made the difficult decision to leave NASA and move into business development and entrepreneurship. Today, Rick and his partners at Space Rock Capital work with business owners on growth strategies, acquisitions, government contracting opportunities, and potential paths to the public markets.
Rick also shares his perspective on venture capital, maintaining control of a growing company, building relationships with larger businesses, and the importance of finding experienced mentors.
The conversation gets personal when Rick talks about being diagnosed with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis at age two. After spending part of his childhood in a wheelchair and missing years of school, Rick says those experiences helped shape the person he became. His story offers a powerful perspective on resilience, hard work, and having the courage to make major changes.
Nic and Rick also discuss investing, real estate, creating generational wealth, paying knowledge forward, and why relationships can make such a difference in business.

What happens when getting hacked changes the direction of your career?
On this episode of The Flex Forward Podcast, Nic Espanet talks with Cecile Mengue about her unexpected journey into cybersecurity. Cecile did not grow up dreaming about computers or hacking. She studied criminal justice, planned to attend law school, and worked with juvenile court.
Then she became the victim of a cyberattack.
Instead of simply moving past the experience, Cecile wanted to understand how it happened. Her frustration became curiosity, and that curiosity eventually became a passion for cybersecurity.
Cecile went back to school, studied cybersecurity, and began building her skills through hands-on practice. She eventually worked with Fortune 500 companies, including serving as part of a hacking team at IBM.
Today, Cecile works in offensive security through CyberSeal. Her work involves thinking like an attacker and testing systems to uncover vulnerabilities before malicious hackers can find them.
Cecile and Nic also talk about what it was like to enter cybersecurity later than many of her peers. Cecile shares how she worked through the discomfort of being a beginner, practiced her skills, asked questions, and discovered a supportive cybersecurity community.
They also discuss ethical hacking, bug bounty programs, online privacy, continuous learning, and Cecile’s plans to share her knowledge as a cybersecurity speaker.
Cecile’s story is a reminder that an unexpected challenge can sometimes open the door to an entirely new path.
 

What does it take to build a career in energy while helping shape a more sustainable future?
In this episode of The Flex Forward Podcast, Nic Espanet sits down with Bunmi Bashiru, an energy professional and Executive Director of Energy Connocio. Bunmi shares how growing up in a resource-rich country without reliable access to power sparked a question that would shape her career: Where does power come from?
That question led Bunmi to study chemical engineering and build a career across several areas of the energy industry, including downstream energy, natural gas distribution, upstream operations, and sustainable energy.
Bunmi explains why she believes traditional energy and sustainability do not have to be enemies. Instead, the challenge is finding better and more sustainable ways to produce the energy the world still needs while protecting the environment for future generations.
Nic and Bunmi also talk about what it takes to grow in a competitive, male-dominated field. Bunmi shares the important role mentors have played in her career and how they helped her find direction, challenge herself, and see opportunities beyond where she was at the time.
The conversation also explores resilience. Bunmi discusses balancing motherhood and career growth, solving difficult problems on brownfield energy projects, handling the pressure and travel involved in energy operations, and learning to find a way forward when the first solution does not work.
She also shares how The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People helped shape the way she sets priorities and creates space for the different areas of her life.
Looking ahead, Bunmi is focused on expanding her consulting work and supporting energy accessibility in underserved communities. She believes access to power matters and that sustainable energy solutions can help create opportunities for more people.
Bunmi also shares her growing interest in multifamily real estate and the power of pooling resources with others to pursue larger opportunities.
 

Texas multifamily is not moving in one direction.
Nic Espanet explains why his properties in Abilene are seeing a very different market from apartments in Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston. While larger markets have dealt with more new construction, Abilene has had little new apartment supply while demand has grown from data center construction and other local projects.
Nic also shares an update on two Abilene properties that sold in September. He walks through what happens after a multifamily property closes, including how his team sets aside money for taxes, final expenses, and other possible costs before completing the remaining investor distributions.
The episode then goes inside the sale of Curry Junction, a 228-unit property purchased in September 2019. Nic explains why the team decided not to sell at the five-year mark, how the market changed during the extended hold, and what that meant for investors.
In this episode, Nic covers:
Why his Abilene properties have waiting lists• How data center construction is affecting local apartment demand• Why Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston have faced more supply pressure• What happens to investor money after a property sale closes• Why his team keeps extra cash available while a deal is being wound down• Why Curry Junction was held longer than originally planned• How a projected roughly 1.7 equity multiple became about a 2.3 equity multiple• What a $100,000 investment looked like over the life of the Curry Junction deal• Where Nic is seeing possible distressed buying opportunities next

From Prosecutor to Entrepreneur: Ty Wittenstein’s Leap of Faith
What happens when you leave a comfortable career, steady paycheck, and benefits to start a business with no clients?
On this episode of The Flex Forward Podcast, Nic Espanet sits down with Ty Wittenstein, founder of Cardenas Witt Law in Austin, Texas. Ty shares how she left a successful career as a prosecutor to build her own criminal defense law firm.
After more than a decade as a prosecutor, Ty knew she was ready for something different. She also saw a need she wanted to help fill. Spanish-speaking clients and people who were not U.S. citizens could face serious consequences from criminal cases without always understanding the process.
Ty built her firm with those clients in mind. Her team is bilingual, and communication, kindness, trust, and service are at the center of how they work.
Ty also shares what it was really like to become an entrepreneur. She talks about leaving a secure paycheck without having a single client, the fear that followed, and why taking that risk became one of the best decisions she has made.
Nic and Ty also discuss building the right team, hiring experts instead of trying to do everything yourself, using social media to grow a business, and protecting work-life balance while doing demanding work.
For Ty, success is not just about growing a law firm. It is about creating a business that can eventually operate without her being involved in every detail, giving her more freedom to pursue speaking, media, and other opportunities she enjoys.
Ty also believes in paying forward the help she received when starting her firm. She welcomes conversations with attorneys who are considering making a similar leap.
 
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The Standard of Excellence: Robin Green on Resilience, Reinvention & AI
What does it take to keep moving forward when your career, business, or life suddenly changes direction?
In this episode of The Flex Forward Podcast, Nic Espanet sits down with growth leader, author, and executive Robin Green for a conversation about excellence, resilience, leadership, relationships, and learning to reinvent yourself when life doesn't follow the plan.
Robin grew up with a unique example of excellence. His father, Lloyd Green, became one of Nashville's most recorded pedal steel guitar players. Watching his father taught Robin lessons about preparation, teamwork, and showing up ready to perform—lessons that later became part of Robin's own approach to business and leadership.
Robin shares stories from a career spanning more than 30 years, including leadership roles at Oracle, FICO, Epsilon, and other organizations. He also talks about one of the toughest moments of his career: moving his family to Austin to lead a startup shortly before the events of September 11, 2001 changed everything and the company's funding disappeared.
Instead of simply focusing on the setback, Robin explains what the experience taught him about resilience, faith, family, leadership, and doing the right thing when the decision comes at a personal cost.
Nic and Robin also explore the changing role of artificial intelligence. Robin explains why he believes technology is a tool and why keeping the human element at the center matters. He shares ideas from his book, The Intelligence Loop, and discusses how leaders can use AI to find useful signals in a world filled with information and noise.
The conversation also explores an important lesson for anyone in sales or leadership: listen before you sell. Understanding another person's problems and perspective can build relationships that last much longer than a single transaction.
Robin Green is a growth leader and Chief Revenue Officer at Occams Advisory. He is also the author of The Intelligence Loop. His career has included building partnerships, revenue engines, alliance ecosystems, go-to-market strategies, and business turnarounds.
 
------------------------------------------------------------------- Are you a successful business owner or professional with insights to share? Apply to be a guest on https://flexforwardpodcast.com/guest and share your expertise with a wide audience eager to learn about you.