Brave Women at Work

You know I love to talk about burnout prevention. I recently was in a unique situation at work where I could tell that a fellow female colleague was at the edge of burnout. She was experiencing physical and mental symptoms, was simply not a nice person because the stress was so high, and I could tell she felt stuck in her situation. So, what did I do? I talked with my manager about it. I advocated...

When I grew up in corporate, I was taught the following: Leave your baggage at the door. Fake it until you make it. Suck it up, buttercup. As a result, as an employee and new manager, I thought you had to divorce your emotions and personal life from your work life as soon as you entered your work environment. What I have learned over time is that I was WRONG with a capital “W.” I have managed and...

As I am recording this, we are 1 week after the Thrive in ’25 Conference. Wow! Just wow! The women that attended were so powerful and wonderful to meet and get to know in-person. It was almost like an out-of-body experience to know that I helped bring this to life. And now, I am resting as much as I can. After 1 year of planning, it is wonderful to be able to know that is behind me and I can fully...

I’d like to start by giving a warm welcome back to my wiser, older sister (well, she’s not my sister, but she feels like it), Marilyn Vetter. Marilyn and I met one another a few years ago, and our stories are so similar, it’s eerie.  In Marilyn’s first chapter in Brave Women at Work: Lessons in Confidence, she talked about the question, “Why Not Me?” to a potential promotion in her career. Th...

Have you ever had a work situation that took you to your knees and required your faith that everything was going to be okay? I have. In one of my roles, my boss told me that I wasn’t the right fit for the role and that I was going on the dreaded performance improvement plan or PIP for short. I was typically the person that was helping others improve their performance, not the employee that was tol...

What is your Plan A? My Plan A was to go to college, get married, have 2 kids, and have a great career. I didn’t know that I would have post-partum anxiety and secondary infertility with my family and burnout on the path to career success.  As the cliché goes, life can throw us curveballs, and it up to us how we handle these challenges and pivot to Plan B. Plan B is always seen as the back-up...

I am so excited for my guest today, Amy Quesenberry. Amy and I met through Shelia Higgs Burkhalter and the Infuse Compassion into Companies Conference.  When we met, Amy shared her Start with Compassion model, and I was blown away. If we start with compassion with ourselves, with one another, and within companies, it truly can drive better relationships, more productivity, higher satisfaction...

On this weeks episode, Meghan Grace https://www.meghanmgrace.com https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/genz/id1377915856 https://www.amazon.com/Generation-Goes-College-Corey-Seemiller-ebook/dp/B019YNNZAA?ref_=ast_author_dp https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07K52C97N/ref=mes-dp?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_w=TPIuC&content-id=amzn1.sym.8572ac08-6096-4eb6-b32e-2c759cc3eb5b&pf_rd_p=8572ac08-6096-4eb6-b32...

I am so excited for my conversation with my guest, Amanda Kenderes. Amanda has discovered something entirely new about communication that I am pumped to share with you. It’s called Talk Types. What if the way we talk and who we are as people are intrinsically linked? If we understand our talk type and others, we can understand how to better communicate with one another, and as a result, have bette...

When we grow up, we think we have it all figured out, don’t we? We believe we should go to college, get a good job, find our perfect partner, be fit, have a good circle of friends, maybe have kids, etc. All before the age of 35. We have these insane expectations for ourselves and what our lives will be. And then, we learn. Maybe the job or career path we originally selected isn’t right for us. May...

Have you ever thought about the concept of baggage at work? I have a dear friend, Pam, that always tells me “Wherever you go, there you are.” If you don’t do the lessons, you bring everything with you from job to job or company to company. You bring your habits, patterns, and mental and emotional baggage. The question that my guest, Tamara McLemore, and I chat about today is how can we release thi...

My guest today, Tonya Herb, is welcoming me and anyone else that struggles with this, to try a new way. What if we turned to others and delegated during stressful times, and really all the time? I know, monumental for perfectionists like me. What if we engaged in kindness towards ourselves?  Tonya dives into her proprietary BIKE method and how she leverages that with the work she does with he...

Here’s a fact: For many years, I didn’t know that our money mindset has a direct relationship with how powerful we feel and how we move through our professional and personal lives. I didn’t get the connection, and I have been in financial services for over 25 years. After I dove into all things on leadership, self-improvement, and energetic management, I learned that there is a positive correlatio...

Where are my readers? Or what about aspiring readers? If you are a reader, this show is for you! When I was introduced to Melanie Bell and her work with Leaders Who Fiction, I knew she had to be on Brave Women at Work. I am a non-fiction reader and often struggle with getting into a fiction book. When I heard Melanie talk about the benefits of fiction, I knew I had to give it another try.  In...

“Take the first step in faith. You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.” — Martin Luther King Jr. If the term Brave Women at Work were in the dictionary, (why isn’t it? LOL), Robyn Malone would be part of the definition. I met Robyn through a dear friend and colleague, and we hit it off pretty quickly.  As you will learn during our show today, Robyn has done some s...

On Being a Sacred Changemaker in the Corporate World with Jayne Warrilow Summary: Welcome to the Brave Women at Work podcast. This is your host, Jen Pestikas. I’m so glad you’re here. Hello everyone! How are you doing out there? Happy Spring to everyone in the Northern Hemisphere! I am so happy that we are starting to have slightly warmer and longer days. We had snow here in my area even in March,...

When I was growing up in my career, I received my first management position because I was a hard worker and drove results as an individual competitor.  As I have risen through the corporate ranks, no one told me that leadership is an inside job. I learned that through the school of hard knocks, many bouts of Imposter Syndrome, tough feedback, and more.  This is why I wanted to talk about...

Well, I’m excited! I have a repeat guest on the podcast, Tamsen Webster. Tamsen was here the last time she wrote her first book, Find Your Red Thread, and today she is here to talk about her newest book, Say What they Can’t Unhear: The 9 Principles of Lasting Change. You know when everything is smooth sailing and you are enjoying an easy, breezy ride for a while? I know those times, and 2025 is no...

At the end of my first podcast with guest, ER nurse and author, Jenn Johnson, I asked her what I ask all guests. “What are 1 to 2 ways women can be braver at work?” Jen proceeded to tell me, “Enter your villain era.”  I stopped in my tracks. What did that mean? It means loving yourself enough to consider your needs. It means that you are drawing and holding your boundaries. It means relishing...

There is a book called Carry On, Warrior: The Power of Embracing Your Messy, Beautiful Life by Glennon Doyle.  When I think about the concept of “carrying on, warrior,” I think of Emily Zarecki. As you will hear in today’s podcast, Emily is a warrior that has endured many trials and tribulations in her life. When I met Emily, I knew she would have a story of bravery to inspire all of us that...

*TRIGGER WARNING - This episode discusses traumatic death Welcome to the Brave Women at Work podcast. This is your host, Jen Pestikas. I’m so glad you’re here. Hello everyone! How are you doing out there? Let’s talk about a topic that’s not talked about often: using our intuition at work. When you make key decisions at work, do you exclusively use data, research, and analysis? What about when you...

Today, we are chatting about shiny objective syndrome and how it hurts us. So, what is shiny object syndrome? According to Google, Shiny object syndrome (SOS) is the tendency to be distracted by new ideas or opportunities, often at the expense of current tasks. It can affect people in many contexts, including business, personal development, and relationships.  It can look like this. You are w...

Well, I have come full circle! In 2013, I started a leadership group for my corporate organization. My CEO requested that we center the first leadership group on the book, Start with Why, by Simon Sinek. And almost 12 years later, I am still obsessed with the book. The basic premise of Start with Why is that if a person or a company starts from the point of why they do what they do and they commun...

I am so excited for my guest today, Jenn Smith. Jenn and I met in a very interesting way. Jenn was listening to the Brave Women at Work Podcast, especially the show with Heather Eck. This show was just rebroadcast as the best of 2024 episode on 12/26/2024. If you haven’t listened to that one, you must go back and check it out! Jenn was intrigued by my conversation with Heather, an artist with the...

Over the years at Brave Women at Work, we have talked about our mindset, how we feel about our bodies, our family histories, and more and how these issues impact how we show up at work. Now, we are covering how our sexual past and potential wounds in this area can impact our ability to speak up, go for a promotion, believe we are worthy to get paid what we are worth, and more in the professional a...