Women and Work

Leadership isn’t always about having the right title. Sometimes, it’s about learning who you are, understanding the value you bring, and having the courage to evolve. In this episode of Women and Work, Berenice Soto, Founder of BGS Evolution and a leader with 17 years of experience in healthcare, shares the experiences that shaped her approach to leadership, motherhood, healing, and purpose. As a...

Hannah Roze didn’t wait until she had every answer before making her next move. From pivoting into unfamiliar industries to building her own company, she learned that sometimes the biggest step is simply giving yourself permission to try. As the Founder and CEO of Plannerd, a wedding planning system designed to bring organization and collaboration to an overwhelming process, Hannah shares what it...

After 23 years in the corporate world, Mandy Smith realized she was ready for something different. Working in the male-dominated wine, beer and spirits industry taught her valuable lessons about leadership, resilience and hard work. But entrepreneurship showed her something corporate life couldn't: the possibility of creating a life on her own terms. Mandy shares what it was like to build a s...

You can work incredibly hard, be loyal, and deliver results—and still realize that no one knows what you want next. Julie Gartell learned this lesson throughout her 20+ year career in talent acquisition. From advocating for herself as a working mother to navigating leadership challenges and eventually losing a job she loved, she discovered that hard work alone isn't a career strategy. Julie i...

For years, we’ve been taught to see success as climbing higher. But what if your career doesn't have to follow a straight line? Shruti Rustagi has built an international career across India, Dubai, and the United States while raising two children, working in corporate strategy, and growing her own leadership coaching business. As the Founder of Compounding Leadership, she helps others shift t...

What happens when you stop accepting the traditional rules of work and start designing a career around the life you actually want? Celeste Warren spent nearly three decades in corporate America, rising to executive leadership and serving as a Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer at a Fortune 100 pharmaceutical company. Along the way, she learned to advocate for herself, challenge inequity, and cr...

When your career keeps evolving, sometimes the biggest challenge is figuring out what kind of work is truly worth building your life around. After years navigating male-dominated industries, leading large corporate teams, and adapting to completely different professional environments, Karen Ahrens eventually realized that being intellectually challenged wasn't enough. She wanted to create som...

Mary Gunther spent years building her career before becoming a business owner—and motherhood changed what she wanted from work. After having children, Mary realized she needed more control over her time. That led her to build The Social G, a marketing agency designed around the life she wanted rather than a traditional 9-to-5 structure. Today, her husband is a stay-at-home dad and primary caregive...

She spent years climbing the corporate ladder—earning promotions, leading teams, and sacrificing precious time with her family. But one honest conversation with her boss changed everything. She was told that no matter how hard she worked, she'd never be welcomed into the company's inner circle simply because she was a woman. That realization became the catalyst for building something of...

She spent years believing that becoming a mother could end the career she had worked so hard to build. In the music industry, she had already overcome sexual harassment, self-doubt, and the pressure to prove she belonged. But one honest conversation with another songwriter changed everything. In this episode of Women and Work, Tiff Randol—composer, producer, vocal artist, and co-founder of Mamas i...

Not every successful woman follows the path she imagined. Danielle Frank spent more than two decades building an impressive career—from publicist at Miramax to Director at Moët Hennessy. Along the way, she envisioned marriage, children, and a traditional family life. But when life took unexpected turns, she discovered fulfillment by embracing a different future instead of resisting it. In this epi...

Multiple kids. A full-time career. A growing ministry. When Debbie Simmons suddenly became a mom to five children overnight through adoption, she knew that surviving wasn't enough. Instead of letting the chaos take over, she built a simple system that gave every child a voice, created structure, and allowed her family to thrive—all while continuing to work full time. In this episode of Women...

Choosing between your career and your family shouldn't have to be the only option. After becoming a mother, Marla Fronczak stepped away from a demanding career because she didn't realize flexible work arrangements were even possible. She reinvented herself as a real estate appraiser to gain more control over her schedule, overcame gender bias in a male-dominated industry, and eventually...

Trying to live up to everyone else's expectations can lead you down a path that doesn't truly belong to you. For Mariaelena Morales, years of striving for perfection were rooted in a childhood where she never felt like she was enough. That drive pushed her to achieve prestigious milestones and pour everything into her career, only to eventually face burnout and realize she had been livin...

Building a successful career often means making choices you never expected—and sometimes, those choices shape your entire life. For Jeanne Sparrow, a decades-long career in television and radio brought incredible opportunities, meaningful relationships, and personal fulfillment. But along the way, she realized that demanding careers often require unconscious choices about family, relationships, an...

Facing uncertainty can feel safer than stepping into a completely new chapter. For Corinne Pierog, every major career transition required courage—from leaving a dismissive workplace, to raising two children as a single mother, building a consulting business, and eventually entering politics later in life. After years of saying no to opportunities that felt intimidating, Corinne decided to walk thr...

Disclaimer: This episode is intended for audiences 18 years and older. Balancing motherhood and a meaningful career is never easy — especially when building something deeply personal. Kristen Miele, Founder of Sex Ed Reclaimed and a certified Community Health Educator, shares her journey from public health classrooms to launching a digital curriculum that helps parents navigate important conversat...

Building a successful business, achieving financial freedom, and checking every box on the path to success should have felt like the finish line. For Heather Simco, it wasn't. After growing up in a difficult home, Heather pursued stability through teaching before helping build a thriving martial arts business with her husband. But behind the success was a battle with addiction, unresolved tra...

Trying to “do it all” can sometimes mean saying no to the opportunity you worked your whole career for. Jen Anderson spent nearly two decades building a successful career in fitness leadership while raising her family. After turning down a promotion when her children were young, she expected the opportunity would still be there when the timing was right. But when she was finally ready, the company...

Facing death as a child changes the way you see fear, uncertainty, and opportunity. After surviving two heart attacks by age 10 and being told she had less than six months to live, Hanna Bauer learned from her mother and grandmother how to keep moving forward even when the future felt terrifyingly uncertain. That experience shaped the way she approached leadership, motherhood, business, and major...

After becoming a mom, Amy Jackson realized that the career path she once said “yes” to so easily suddenly came with impossible tradeoffs. From painful work trips and mom guilt to constantly changing childcare plans, Amy shares how motherhood reshaped the way she approached ambition, leadership, and success. Instead of walking away from her career, she built a fully remote, family-friendly PR agenc...

You build a successful career, work with top executives, and then… take a pause. For DeeDee Fisher, that pause wasn’t a setback—it was part of the story. Now a consultant to C-suite leaders through her company Discover Response, DeeDee has spent over 30 years helping executives communicate more effectively. From developing curriculum for Fortune-level clients to leading in the nutraceutical indust...

Trying to do it all—and still feeling like it’s not enough—can quietly lead to burnout. After years of climbing the corporate ladder, Sophia Mikelionis hit a breaking point. The constant pressure to overperform at work while being fully present at home left her exhausted, disconnected, and questioning everything. Instead of pushing through, she made a bold decision: step away, reset, and rebuild h...

Doing everything “right” in your career but still feeling like something’s missing, you start questioning if this path is really yours. That’s exactly where Carmelina Piedra found herself—after 25 years climbing the corporate ladder, leading teams, and building a stable career. But when the pandemic hit, balancing work, homeschooling, and raising three kids as an only parent pushed her to a breaki...

Trying to build a career while raising kids shouldn’t mean choosing one over the other—but so many women feel like they have to. Trying to do both motherhood and career, you start to feel the pressure to give up one dream for the other. When that happened to Beth Mazza and Victoria Sivrais, they took two very different paths—one feeling alone in male-dominated rooms, the other refusing to believe...