Designed Pause Podcast

Kat Kibben quit their job on a Thursday. By Monday they had given their notice. No fallback plan. No slow walk. Just a decision made in the middle of caregiving for their mother, after a manager told them they had no talent. What followed was eight years of building Three Ears Media, three years of van life across the country, two books, and a top surgery that taught them something they hadn't exp...

You have a folder. Maybe it doesn't have a label. But it's there. Career break posts. Sabbatical stories. Financial independence threads. Women who walked away and figured it out. You've been saving them for months. Maybe years. And you are still in the same place. This episode is about why inspiration without a framework doesn't move you forward — it just gives you something to do with the anxiet...

I lost someone recently. Someone close to me. And I’ve been sitting with something ever since — not just grief, but gratitude. Gratitude that when it happened, I was fully present. That my pause made it possible to show up the way I wanted to. Today I want to talk about what losing someone teaches you about the life you’re living. This episode covers six things: Grief and joy can exist at the same...

Stuck behind a desk wondering if a career pause means falling behind? In this episode, I'm breaking down 5 ways to come back from your pause more valuable than when you left. In this episode: Why a hybrid pause is the right time for skill-building (and when it's not) Remote contract, freelance, and fractional work — how to start without recreating your old workload Online certifications that actua...

Sandy Diaz Haley did not leave corporate on a whim. She left when the timing was right, the cushion was there, and nothing on the corporate side excited her anymore. And even then — it was the hardest she has ever worked. Sandy is the founder of SDH Communications and the creator of the Badass Collective, a community of 3,000 plus communications and PR professionals that started as a happy hour af...

Kalilah Wright founded Mess in a Bottle in 2016 with less than $500, during one of the hardest seasons of her personal life. What followed was nearly a decade of building something remarkable — national television, major brand partnerships, and close to $10 million in revenue. And then life changed. The stakes got higher. The hustle that worked at 32 looked different at 42. And Khalilah found hers...

Bernadette Smith has been an entrepreneur for 22 years. She didn't leave corporate to start over — she never went in. And what she built instead is a masterclass in following purpose over comfort, even when it means burning it all down and starting again. In this conversation, Bernadette and I talk about: How a Supreme Court ruling on the steps of the Massachusetts State House launched her first b...

The thing keeping most high-achieving women from making a big life decision isn’t other people’s opinions. It’s the anticipation of them. In this episode I talk about what it actually looks like to make a decision that belongs entirely to you — without asking for a panel, without defending yourself before you’re ready, and without owing anyone an explanation you didn’t agree to give. We cover: Why...

You know you need to stop. Your body knows it. Your sleep knows it. But you can't quite give yourself permission to do it. That's not a logistics problem. That's an audacity problem. In this episode I walk through the four things that make pausing feel impossible for high-achieving corporate professionals — and why finding the audacity to slow down is one of the most strategic things you can do. W...

You've been thinking about a career pause for a while. Maybe months. And you still don't know if you're actually ready — or if you're just exhausted. This episode gives you a 7-day plan to find out. Each day has one task, built around the same framework inside the Designed Pause Decision Kit: Take the Designed Pause Quiz Decode your pause type Do your financial reality inventory Map your other obl...

This is a freestyle episode — an honest, unscripted update on what life in St. Lucia actually looks like right now. Deidra shares what she's been learning about being intentional with where she is instead of waiting to get back home, the small but meaningful wins (a nail tech who changed her life, a gym she actually walks to), what's happening with her contracts, and how she genuinely feels after...

Someone asks you what you actually want — not your next career move, not your five-year plan — and you kind of freeze. Maybe you give the polished answer. But inside there's this moment where you think... I'm not sure I know. That's not a you problem. That's what happens when you spend years getting really good at knowing what everyone else needed from you. In this episode, I'm walking you through...

Every time you think about leaving, you do the math. Salary. Benefits. What you'd have to give up. And the number stops you. That math isn't wrong. It's just incomplete. You've been calculating what you'd lose by leaving. You haven't calculated what you're spending by staying. And those are two very different numbers. In this episode, I'm walking you through a four-category framework for the full...

You've been telling yourself you just need a vacation. A week off, some rest, a reset. And maybe that's true. But if you've come back from every trip feeling fine for two weeks — and then the hollow feeling returns right on schedule — that's not a rest problem. That's data. In this episode, I'm walking you through a four-question framework to help you figure out what you're actually dealing with:...

What Happens to Your Relationships When You Leave Corporate Nobody warns you about this part. You plan for the financial shift. You prepare for the identity questions. But what about the people? What actually happens to your relationships when you step away from corporate life? In this episode, I'm getting honest about one of the most unexpected parts of a designed pause — the way your connections...

She Took a Break From Her Career — And Found Herself | A Mother's Story What does it actually feel like to walk away from a career that defined you — and come out the other side with more clarity than you've ever had? In this episode, I sit down with someone who lived it: my mom. She took a designed pause before it had a name, before there was a roadmap, before anyone was telling high-achieving wo...

If you take a career pause, you’re probably going to miss some things about corporate life — and that’s normal. Missing parts of your old life does not mean you made a mistake. Often, what you’re missing is the familiarity of old patterns, not the job itself. My name is Deidra Green, and welcome to Designed Pause — a space for women who are intentionally rethinking their careers and learning how t...

Living abroad can be beautiful — but it’s not always easy. During my Designed Pause, I’ve been spending part of my time living in Saint Lucia, and while there are many upsides, I want to share some of the unexpected challenges that don’t always show up on social media. My name is Deidra Green, and welcome to Designed Pause — a space for women who want to think through lifestyle shifts and career p...

Corporate life prepares you for many things — but not everything you need for an intentional career pause. My name is Deidra Green, and welcome to Designed Pause, a space for women who are thoughtfully rethinking their careers and learning how to design what comes next with clarity and intention. In this episode, I reflect on: What corporate life prepared me for that still serves me today Why docu...

Many women worry that if they slow down, they’re somehow falling behind — behind their peers, behind a timeline, or behind the life they were “supposed” to be building. But slowing down intentionally is not the same as losing momentum. My name is Deidra Green, and welcome to Designed Pause — a space for women who are rethinking their careers, their pace, and the lives they’re designing with intent...

After money, the second biggest reason many women hesitate to take a career pause is identity. Who are you without your job title? What will people think? What will you say when someone asks, “So… what do you do?” In this episode of Designed Pause, host Deidra Green explores the deeper, often unspoken fear behind stepping away from work: the loss of external validation and the pressure to remain “...

Money is the main reason most women count themselves out of taking a career pause — and that concern is valid. My name is Deidra Green, and welcome to Designed Pause, a space for women who want to take an intentional career pause without creating unnecessary financial stress. In this video, we talk honestly about money and career breaks, including: Why money fears stop women from pausing — even wh...

What I thought a career break would be — and what it actually is — are two very different things. My name is Deidra Green, and welcome to  @DesignedPause  , a space for women who are thinking about taking an intentional career pause. In this episode, I share: Why a career break must be planned before you take it How a lack of planning can turn a pause into a new source of stress What my first care...

Taking a career break after senior leadership is not a decision I made lightly — and it’s not the first time I’ve done it. My name is Deidra Green, and this is my second intentional career pause. The first time I stepped away from corporate life was over ten years ago, and that pause led me to one of the most transformative chapters of my life — starting an esthetics business, gaining clarity abou...