Who We Are
We are a nurse and a teacher. Presently we are also a State Senator and a National Education Consultant. We’re friends, mentors, sisters (not to each other), have hubbies, are mothers and Mimi/Nana. We are like most women – making our way with multiple balls in the air. Eventually we landed with heady titles State Senator and Women’s Health Director Soholt and Secretary of Education Schopp, leading us to be recognized leaders not only in South Dakota but also nationally. But looking back, we did a lot of wandering around in the wilderness, wasting time and energy, to finally get there. We don’t want that for other women. We believe there is a path to becoming an incredibly strong, confident woman of influence – in a way that is smoother, takes less time and is just plain fun!
While our bios outline a laundry list of professional experiences that have defined us at points along the way, we believe it is the 80 years of lived experiences between us that make us damn dynamite. We have the luxury of a long view of who we are and how we got here. So, we asked ourselves, “What are we going to do with that – head to retirement and do what most people think that means?” We’re just NOT done yet. While others our ages are rolling up the streets, we are just getting started. And if you sat in our living rooms today, you would find two charismatic, passionate and sometimes crazy women who are a fresh voice in an old conversation.
We’ve created ten powerful high leverage practices – the Talismanic Ten! These practices are not another leadership or self help guide promising to change lives in ten easy steps. Instead they come from what we see as a wholistic view of what it takes to unlock women’s potential to influence their world.
Join us as we break down barriers, unleashing women to tap into their passions and accelerate their trajectory for influence. Because when women have influence, a better humanity emerges.
Meet Deb
Deborah “Deb” Soholt, a prominent state legislator, women’s health pioneer, award-winning registered nurse and engaging podcast/radio host, speaks nationally and internationally on issues of women’s influence, women’s health and professional development.
Read Full Bio
Deb recently left behind the corporate world to cut through the muck as a women’s influence truth-teller, harnessing her decades of hard-earned experience establishing authoritative platforms in the arenas of government, health care and business. In 2019, Deb teamed with Dr. Melody Schopp to create Influential SHE LLC, a fresh voice in an old conversation to accelerate the influence of women in the world. Deb and Mel believe that instead of constantly working harder to chase success, women should uncompromisingly embark on joyful journeys that align with their authentic selves.
As a four-term South Dakota state senator who co-chairs a National Council of State Legislatures (NCSL) health innovation task force, Deb uses her expertise to influence state and federal legislation. As a dreamer and a doer, she is known for rolling up her sleeves and tackling big issues. This is evident in having co-led statewide education funding reform that resulted in historic raises for teachers. Her diligence and leadership have improved mental health care, expanded small businesses and opened new channels for access to health care in every corner of the state. Deb introduced a groundbreaking children’s health bill that established the Center for the Prevention of Child Maltreatment, charged with ending child sexual abuse. She also earned an NCSL early childhood fellowship and was selected by the Council of State Governments to attend the prestigious Bowhay Institute for Legislative Leadership Development. Deb was part of U.S. Senator John Thune’s health care advisory group, reviewing federal health legislation and providing input on such issues as Medicare reimbursement, telehealth services and the Patient Bill of Rights.
Deb’s career has taken her from the bedside to the boardroom. In her former long-term role as women’s health director for Avera McKennan Hospital and University Health Center, a national benchmark consultation site for organizations across the country, the service she led was named one of America’s top ten best maternity units by CHILD magazine. With an organizational reputation as an “intrapreneur” she led the development of a next generation functional primary care clinic for women – the first in the nation imbedded in a health system.
Deb served on the board of directors and as education chair for Women in Balance, a national nonprofit dedicated to helping women take charge of their hormone health, which has since morphed into a program under the National University of Natural Medicine. Deb has authored journal articles on women’s health and spent six years co-hosting the weekly health information show House Calls on South Dakota Public Radio.
Deb’s resume heralds the depth of her national/international speaking engagements in women’s health and professional development in the cities of Charlotte, Fort Worth, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Las Vegas, Orlando, Portland, San Antonio, Mexico City and more. Always interested in being part of something “bigger than herself”, throughout her career Deb has served on statewide and national boards, most often in the top leadership role.
Read Less
Born January 1956, fab folks Jerome & Shirley Berg & sensational sibs Nance, Dave, Kari
First proof not a big rule follower
Best competitive girl could do pre-Title IX – Go Patriots!
RN from UND 1978. Last white cap class
Married handsome love of life Jerry
Heart-bursting creations Josh (83), Sam (87), Molly (89)
Anything water
Masters from SDSU in 90. Bedside to Boardroom gigs
Elected SD State Senator 2012, still at it
Family grows – welcome Kate, AJ, Ashley! Nana to Jake & Maya beyond joy
Meet Mel
Dr. Melody Schopp, a nationally recognized thought leader, chaired several national professional organizations, compellingly addressed audiences from Washington, D.C. to Malawi, Africa, and served as South Dakota’s top education official. But she didn’t wait for those fancy titles before showcasing her “just get it done” tenacity.
Read Full Bio
In 2000, as an innovative school teacher in the tiny, remote town of Lemmon, South Dakota (the nearest McDonald’s is 125 miles away), Melody usurped a janitor’s closet, wired an unused phone line to a modem-equipped computer lab and used her own AOL account to bring the nascent internet to elementary students. The statewide wiring of South Dakota schools exposed the innovation occurring in Lemmon, resulting in a CNN feature showcasing Melody’s lab. The coverage opened an opportunity for Melody to re-envision her career.
Now, as a women’s influence truth-teller and podcast co-host, Melody shares her vast experience and insight through Influential SHE LLC, partnering with Deb Soholt to raise a fresh voice in an old conversation about women’s influence. Melody and Deb believe that women should uncompromisingly embark on joyful professional journeys that align with their personal values rather than constantly working harder to chase success.
Melody’s journey led to the state’s capital, where she took on the positions of technology integrationist, director of accreditation and teacher quality and deputy education secretary while earning her doctorate from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, penning her dissertation on women’s leadership. She rose to education secretary in 2011, yet humbly told her neighbors when gathering her mail or cutting her grass that she was “just a secretary.” As head of the South Dakota Department of Education, Melody used her growing influence to spur the passage of legislation to boost teacher retention, created a new accountability system and built a statewide coalition of education groups, businesses, retailers and communities to successfully lobby to boost teacher salaries.
Melody served as a charter member of the School Superintendents Association’s National Women’s Leadership Consortium, a mentoring program funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation designed to bring together successful women thought leaders in the education, business and nonprofit communities. Melody and her colleagues helped identify and address barriers women face, leading her personally mentor two women aspiring to top leadership positions in K-12 education across the country.
Melody’s résumé boasts more than 50 national speaking engagements on such topics as women’s influence, education and achievement presented in the cities of Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Minneapolis, Princeton, San Diego, Baltimore and more.
In the fall of 2016, as part of her service as president of the national Council of Chief State School Officers, Melody traveled to the African country of Malawi to tour schools and share her experience. Melody also served as treasurer of the national policy organization Education Commission of the States, on the board of directors of Jobs for America’s Graduates (JAG), on the Council of Chief School Officers’ Network for Transforming Educator Preparation Task Force and on the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) State Partnership Board.
Read Less
