Badass Leaders Podcast: Leadership, Career Growth, and Company Culture

In this episode of the Badass Leaders Podcast, Angela Gill Nelms sits down with business acceleration strategist, keynote speaker, and emotional intelligence expert Chris Salem to explore why communication is the foundation of sustainable leadership and long-term business success. Chris shares his deeply personal journey from burnout, anxiety, and seeking external validation to becoming a leading...

In this episode of the Badass Leaders Podcast, Angela Gill Nelms sits down with Brandon Smith, leadership coach, TEDx speaker, professor at Emory University, and author known as "The Workplace Therapist." Together, they explore the human side of leadership and why so many workplace challenges are rooted in psychology rather than process. Brandon shares the deeply personal story of growing up with...

In this episode of the Badass Leaders Podcast, Angela sits down with leadership expert, executive coach, and bestselling author Jim Huling, co-author of The 4 Disciplines of Execution , to explore what it really takes to build high-performing teams, execute what matters most, and create a legacy that outlasts your title. Together, they challenge outdated leadership models built on compliance and c...

In this episode of the Badass Leaders Podcast, Angela sits down with Jessica Tracy, Certified Jungian Coach, consultant, speaker, and former corporate executive, to explore the hidden cost of high performance and why so many successful leaders find themselves battling anxiety, burnout, and a lingering sense that something is missing. Jessica shares her personal journey from thriving in high-pressu...

In this special re-release of one of the most personal episodes in Badass Leaders Podcast history, Gia Ganesh takes over the host chair and turns the tables on Angela Gill Nelms. Angela opens up about the experiences that shaped her leadership philosophy, from surviving an abusive childhood and becoming a single mother, to earning an engineering degree while raising a daughter with special needs,...

In this episode of the Badass Leaders Podcast, Angela Gill Nelms sits down with Sam Smith, Co-Founder and CEO of Amissa Health, to unpack the massive gaps in women’s healthcare, the business opportunity behind menopause care, and the reality of building a startup in an industry most people still feel uncomfortable talking about. Angela and Sam dive deep into the emotional reality of entrepreneursh...

What if the biggest thing holding people back from success isn’t lack of skill — but the belief that they’re not worthy of a second chance? In this episode of the Badass Leaders Podcast, Angela Gill Nelms sits down with Bonni Pomush, CEO of Working Wardrobes, for a powerful conversation about leadership, human dignity, confidence, and the systems that help people rebuild their lives. Bonni shares...

What can fighter pilots teach us about leadership, trust, accountability, and high-performance teams? In this episode of the Badass Leaders Podcast, Angela Gill Nelms sits down with former Blue Angels pilot, Navy fighter pilot, combat commander, and Top Gun: Maverick stunt pilot Scott “Intake” Kartvedt for a conversation about elite performance under pressure and the leadership lessons that apply...

Not every client is worth keeping—and the best leaders know when to walk away. In this powerful compilation episode of the Badass Leaders Podcast, Angela Gill Nelms brings together real stories from founders, executives, and operators who made one of the hardest decisions in business: firing a client. From walking away from $30K/month in recurring revenue to cutting ties with million-dollar accoun...

What if the real reason you feel stuck isn’t your strategy, your team, or your execution—but your identity? In this episode of the Badass Leaders Podcast, Angela Gill Nelms sits down with Hilary Porta, identity and performance expert, to unpack what actually drives leadership behavior, decision-making, and long-term success. This conversation goes beyond mindset and into the subconscious patterns,...

In this episode of the Badass Leaders Podcast, Susanne Biro, executive coach to CEOs and senior leaders, shares what she’s learned after decades of working behind the scenes with some of the most successful people in the world. From navigating her own experience with depression in her twenties to advising leaders of billion-dollar organizations, Susanne reveals the hidden fears, internal pressure,...

What if the biggest threat to your career isn’t AI… but your comfort zone? In this episode of the Badass Leaders Podcast, Angela Gill Nelms sits down with Allister Frost, former Digital Marketing Strategy Leader at Microsoft, to unpack what it really takes to stay relevant in a world where change is accelerating faster than ever. After starting his career in traditional manufacturing with a mindse...

What if your leadership team isn’t actually aligned, even though everyone thinks they are? In this episode of the Badass Leaders Podcast, we sit down with Rebecca Sutherns, an imagination strategist who has spent nearly three decades working with non-profit leaders, boards, and mission-driven organizations navigating complexity, constraint, and constant change. Rebecca challenges a deeply ingraine...

What if the reason you’re not getting opportunities has nothing to do with your talent—and everything to do with your visibility? In this episode of the Badass Leaders Podcast , Angela sits down with PR expert Barrie Cohen, founder of BC Public Relations, to unpack the uncomfortable truth many leaders avoid: being great at what you do is no longer enough if no one knows you exist. Barrie shares ho...

Great leadership advice rarely comes from textbooks. More often, it comes from a single moment, a hard conversation, or a piece of feedback that changes how someone sees themselves as a leader. In this special compilation episode of the Badass Leaders Podcast, Angela Gill Nelms brings together powerful moments from past conversations with founders, executives, and leadership experts to explore the...

In this episode of the Badass Leaders Podcast , Angela Gill Nelms sits down with leadership advisor Russell Harvey to unpack the deeply human side of leadership resilience. Russell shares candid stories from his career about navigating workplace bullying, confronting people-pleasing tendencies, and learning how to assert boundaries without losing empathy. Together, they explore how strengths-based...

In this episode of the Badass Leaders Podcast , Angela Gill Nelms sits down with entrepreneur, educator, and systems thinker Alfredo Mathew III to explore a provocative idea: the American Dream was built around individual success , but the future may depend on shared prosperity and ownership . Alfredo’s journey spans public school classrooms in the South Bronx and Oakland, entrepreneurship in Sili...

What does leadership actually look like when the stakes are real and failure isn’t an option? In this episode of the Badass Leaders Podcast , physician and digital transformation leader Dr. Ekanjali Dhillon pulls back the curtain on what it really takes to deliver large-scale change inside complex healthcare systems. Drawing on her experience helping lead one of the UK’s largest electronic health...

What actually separates leaders who rise from those who quietly stall out? In this episode of the Badass Leaders Podcast, Angela sits down with Randall Thames, CEO of Inspirit Institute and former Senior Partner at Korn Ferry, to unpack the hard truth most high performers miss: talent might open the door, but discipline, consistency, and self-awareness determine how far you actually go. Randall sh...

In this powerful leadership conversation, Anne Chow joins the Badass Leaders Podcast to discuss her book Leading Bigger: The Transformative Power of Inclusion and what it truly means to lead with courage, clarity, and conviction. Drawing from more than 30 years of executive leadership experience, Anne shares how inclusive leadership drives performance, why culture is a company’s ultimate competiti...

In this episode of the Badass Leaders Podcast, host Angela Gill Nelms sits down with Catharine Young, a scientist, immigrant, and global health leader who has worked at the highest levels of government and international collaboration. Catharine shares her journey from growing up in post-apartheid South Africa to serving in the White House on the Cancer Moonshot, and now leading efforts to close th...

In this episode of the Badass Leaders Podcast, Angela Gill Nelms sits down with Nicholas Loise, founder of Sales Performance Team, to unpack what truly drives sustainable sales growth and strong leadership inside growing organizations. Drawing from decades of hands-on experience across healthcare, SaaS, education, hospitality, and services, Nick breaks down why most companies struggle with sales e...

In this episode of the Badass Leaders Podcast , Charlie Cichetti shares an honest look at leadership, sustainability, entrepreneurship, and legacy. From being laid off during the 2008 recession to co-founding multiple companies and working at the intersection of green buildings and technology, Charlie reflects on the moments that shaped his leadership philosophy. The conversation explores what sus...

What happens when growth stops shouting and intuition finally gets a voice? In this episode of the Badass Leaders Podcast , host Angela Gill Nelms sits down with serial entrepreneur, investor, and founder advisor Phil Neil for a raw, deeply human conversation about leadership, courage, and the inner work required to scale without breaking yourself or your company. Phil shares his journey from grow...

Episode 50 of the Badass Leaders Podcast marks a major milestone and the kickoff of Season Two. In this unscripted Q&A episode, host Angela Gill Nelms answers real questions submitted by listeners about leadership, burnout, trust, career pivots, and navigating uncertainty at work and in life. This episode goes beyond theory and tackles leadership as it actually shows up. Messy. Personal. Uncom...