Quiet Messenger: Redefining leadership & messaging for introverts & sensitive souls

Our (probably) final episode! (But don't worry. I started a new show: AuDHD Sparks .) What do we do when the way everyone else leads doesn't match how our brain works? Do we keep trying to force ourselves into their mold, or do we find our own way? Sometimes to "do it right" you actually have to do it 'wrong'. Especially when doing it right just means "how closel...

We have a tendency to underestimate quiet leaders. Or we assume anyone successful ISN'T a quiet leader. This hit home for me when my friend Ashley Looker said she wanted to come to my Gathering of Quiet Leaders. As an Empowerment Coach, Mindfulness Teacher and Journaling Expert for ambitious over-achieving humans, Ashley's got 11,000+ followers for each of her biz and podcast accounts on...

When we choose to take our work deeper and bring others into it, some inquiries arise: How do we create offerings that forward our message and mission, that are thought leadership, personified ? How do we share in ways that help people feel our offering and that light our fire and keep it burning? And when what we're creating is so potent and felt , how do we convey it CLEARLY? Recording this...

We are made up of those who came before us, and the story of our lineage (which doesn't have to be blood relatives) may hold clues for how we want to show up. Ancestral work can be a way to understand our own voices and can be healing for us and our leadership, helping us show up as fuller, more rooted versions of ourselves.  For quiet leaders, ancestral work can create a pathway back to our...

The final step in rekindling your work is to SHARE it. To be leaders and create ripple effects, we can't stay in our creative caves.  Our work needs to live out in the world in order to do its magic.   But this step doesn't just "happen" when you're someone who may rarely feel ANY nudges to share publicly.  Episode 205 of Quiet Messenger is dedicated to helping you step ou...

After a season of following the sparks of inspiration, my creative fire was rekindled. I was finally ready to create again. Exploring what this work artistically and creatively wanted to become turned into a many-month process. We often get advice but wonder how to apply it, especially as quiet leaders that don't see that many leaders out there like us. Episode 204 of Quiet Messenger is packe...

If we don't want to do business + leadership the way it's always been done, we can't keep using the same tools. Traditional planning aims for what you already know. But what if we want to end up somewhere different… and we don't yet know what that looks like ? Here's what happened on my biz sabbatical when I let following the sparks of inspiration be my method of "pla...

Think of a plant that's been in a pot that's too small for too long. It's grown as much as it can in that container. When you give that plant a bigger pot, its roots grow deeper and spread out to take up more space. Until finally you start to see fresh growth above the soil.  I was like that rootbound plant that had outgrown its pot. And going on sabbatical gave me all that fresh so...

Do you ever feel resistance to sharing and super OVER the way things are done? Uninspired and out of alignment with your work? Funky that your business hasn't caught up to your values? In the past decade, I've learned this is usually a cue that I've outgrown my current business.  In this episode, I share… A framework for rekindling fire in our work  The practical - what I put in pla...

Many of us view being consistent and reliable as a badge of honor. It's natural and inevitable in the productivity culture we live in.  But what if we redefined consistency? What if we recognized that consistency isn't a rigid thing? That it's about continuing to show up and giving yourself what you need to do that .  AND what showing up looks like might be fluid. Especially if you&...

This is for you if you're neurodivergent, suspect you are, love someone who is, or are simply ADHD-curious. For years, I suspected I was neurodivergent, that my brain worked differently than others. BUT I thought of ADHDers as bold, rash, outspoken and disorganized risk takers with overflowing energy. I, on the other hand, was a careful, shy, sensitive overthinker who ran out of steam by the...

Your way is likely not loud. It may not be shouting on a loudspeaker at a protest or posting a polarizing opinion on social media. But that doesn't mean it isn't activism.  In case the word "activism" has you thinking this isn't for you, let me remind you that as a Quiet Messenger, you're an activist.  You are speaking on behalf of a message that needs to get heard. ...

I'm back! And I'm not alone. (goes hand-in-hand with this episode) An idea that stuck in my head for months was bringing on a co-host for a season. I knew if I had a friend I was co-creating with, it would be easier to show up. I didn't realize at the time that I was employing the technique of body doubling.  Enter Kat Frogosa, past client, friend, ADHD Money Coach and fabulous co-h...

Do you ever feel like there's a certain way you need to sound to be heard online? An empath with a rebellious streak, Quiet Messenger Kat Frogosa is a natural-born nurturer with major resistance when being told to do things a certain way.  If it doesn't feel good deep down in her bones, she's not doing it . She had seen so many women — especially burned out, overwhelmed empaths — cr...

Sarah Hennessey is a Sustainability & Wellness Coach supporting self-identified female misfits who are looking for a sustainable and alternative twist on living a truly healthy life. As someone who was too shy to speak in school growing up, Sarah spent most of her life definitely not seeing herself as a Messenger. When she started her business as an adult, she felt more comfortable as a virtua...

Popping in with a quick note on my Messenger Mastermind – what it's all about, why I do it, how it supports Quiet Messengers – since we're in final enrollment for the January cohort! The Messenger Mastermind is an intimate circle of sensitive, introverted women leaders who like cozy spaces for connection, growth and processing and who want to feel solid, confident & consistent in the...

This episode might seem to contradict the last. I said message clarity isn't everything , and that what we really need is an ongoing messaging practice.  That's still true.  But also, message clarity is the foundation that messaging practice is built on.  That's why I structure my Masterminds for Quiet Messengers with core content to keep generating new layers of message clarity + c...

Ever feel like you keep getting *this* close with your messaging and then… Ugh, actually never mind, I don't know if this is right .  Or do you clarify your messaging and then lose touch with it and forget… How do I talk about this again? Is this really what people want?  Two steps forward, one step back.  Two steps forward, one step back.  That's because messaging clarity isn't a r...

A couple of years back, when the book Disrupt-Her by Miki Agrawal (powerhouse cofounder of THINX and Tushy, two startups that disrupted the taboo categories of periods and toilets) came out, I read it, thinking:  "This wasn't written for me. I'm not bold or daring or loud. I'm not a disruptor. If anything, my natural tendency is to keep the peace."  Well, through a series...

Have you felt any friction, resistance, or misalignment with social media lately? I know I have, for a few years now.  So many of us are questioning: I can't keep up. I wish I could do more. Is there something wrong with me? Look at her successful life – will I ever get there? Does anyone even care what I have to say? I want to close my account – but don't I need it to market my business...

As a sensitive leader, I can lead a 90-minute coaching call for my Messenger Mastermind and be energetically DONE.  Even though it was a fantastic, connected session that brought tears and aha moments to my clients and enlivened, inspired, and fulfilled me.   I'm intense. Focused. In that hour and a half, I was fully present and gave my 100%. I left nothing on the table.  And after, I need to...

When you're a coach, the right support is key to growing your business. And when you're a leader, the right support will help you unlock your voice and share your message with the world .  I've spent several years leading programs for quiet leaders and a decade navigating business programs, coaches, and courses as a sensitive, introverted leader in the online biz world. During that...

Have you ever noticed that there's an assumption society makes that introverts and quiet folks MUST be followers? I had an aha moment while watching Nikki Ling's TEDx talk " Quiet Confidence: Follow the Introverted Leader " where words were put to a bias that now seems so obvious.  But, you know what I've noticed?  Sensitive biz owners are actually born rule breakers. This...

If you've gotten a lot of solid, smart marketing advice from business programs BUT have been listening to your intuition and it's telling you… That some of the strategies you were given don't actually mesh for you.  That what you were being told to do felt like putting on a persona. That the copy you created from that advice doesn't really feel like you . That the guidance didn...

Often as introverts and sensitive folks in a loud, outward-focused world, we have needs that get overlooked or make us feel weak or "too much" in some way.  Whether it's a need to leave early from a social situation when we're tapped out, or to retreat to private space to ride an emotional wave, or to have less work tasks in a day to ease overwhelm and fully focus on each, thos...