Real Women's Work Podcast

Most of us have watched a massive cargo ship glide effortlessly into port without giving it a second thought. But before that ship reaches the dock, someone climbs from a small pilot boat onto a rope ladder hanging from the side of the moving vessel—often in darkness, rough seas, or bad weather—to help guide it safely into harbor. That person is a harbor pilot. In this episode of Good Things Happe...

Most of us read books, articles, websites, and training materials every day without ever thinking about the people behind the scenes who make them clear, consistent, and easy to understand. This week, I'm joined by freelance editor Joni McNeal , who pulls back the curtain on a profession many of us know almost nothing about. Joni explains what editors actually do (it's much more than fixing gramma...

Show Notes What does it take to walk into a room full of suffering and keep showing up? In this episode of Real Women's Work , I revisit a conversation with Carolyn Flynn, a registered nurse who spent ten years caring for critically ill children in a pediatric burn unit. What I remembered as a conversation about nursing turns out to be something much deeper: a conversation about purpose, resilienc...

What happens when the life that looks successful on paper no longer feels fulfilling on the inside? In this episode of Real Women's Work , Jen sits down with business and mindset coach Lesa Frye for an honest conversation about ambition, burnout, identity, purpose, and redefining success as women move through different seasons of life. Before becoming a coach, Lesa spent decades building a highly...

What happens when something that once felt impossible suddenly feels… normal? In this short solo episode of Real Women's Work , Jen shares a deeply personal experience attending a sold-out Professional Women's Hockey League game with her daughter — and the unexpected moment that stopped her cold: sitting in traffic outside the arena realizing all those people were there to watch women play hockey....

We talk all day long. At work. At home. With friends, colleagues, strangers. But how often are we actually communicating ? In this episode, I sit down with communication consultant Dee Dee Fisher to explore a powerful (and slightly uncomfortable) idea: many of our conversations aren't actually exchanging information at all. We're reacting. We're making assumptions. We're talking—but not connecting...

What do you say to someone who's grieving? Most of us don't know. So we send flowers. We drop off food. And then… we disappear. Today's guest, Kelly Edmondson, is here to change that. Kelly is a nurse executive, grief counselor, and founder of Timely Presence—a service created after the death of her son, Darius. Through her own experience of profound loss, she's learned something most of us never...

This episode is part of Podcasthon , a global podcasting event spotlighting meaningful causes and stories that matter. What happens when fear becomes belief—and belief becomes certainty? In this episode, I speak with Kathryn Rutkowski, president of the Rebecca Nurse Homestead, about one of the most devastating stories from the Salem witch trials. Rebecca Nurse was a 71-year-old woman, deeply respe...

What if talking about death actually helped us live better? In this episode of  Real Women's Work , Jen Keefe sits down with  Laura Cleminson , a death doula and founder of the  Pre-Dead Social Club , where people gather to talk openly about mortality, dying, and what matters most in life. Laura's work began after walking alongside her mother through the dying process. That experience opened her e...

Some people find their calling in the most unexpected places. And for Brenda Sullivan, that calling happened… in the cemetery.   In this two-part conversation, I'm joined by the fascinating, funny, wildly knowledgeable founder of The Gravestone Girls — cemetery artists and historians who are helping people all over the country reconnect with history, symbolism, mortality, and the stories literally...

Some people find their calling in the most unexpected places. And for Brenda Sullivan, that calling happened… in the cemetery. In this two-part conversation, I'm joined by the fascinating, funny, wildly knowledgeable founder of The Gravestone Girls — cemetery artists and historians who are helping people all over the country reconnect with history, symbolism, mortality, and the stories literally c...

Some places change you the moment you arrive. Alnoba is one of them. In this conversation, Wendy Peirce, Vice President of Salles, shares how her path led her to Alnoba—and why this land, this work, and this community feel so deeply alive. What begins as a leadership and team development retreat quickly reveals itself as something much more: a space where nature, spirituality, and real human conne...

We have all heard the term "Life Coach" but what does it actually mean? What does a LIfe Coach do ?  Trisha Gudka was at a dangerous point in her life. The joy was gone. As a mom of two young children the expectations and realities did not line up. This led to unhappiness and depression. She was at a critical moment. Fortunately, Trisha was able to find resources, tools, and practices that brought...

Yes, Cheryl Holling talks about what it was like to create a podcast out of thin air and bring it to a multiple award winning pocast. Yes, Cheryl talks about her exiting work as a voice talent. This conversation veers deeper. In her incredible, love-filled voice, Cheryl offers us practical inspiration on how to offer kindness to those who are having a hard time. Her experience with her two pocasts...

Not a sports fan? No worries—this episode is still absolutely for you. Sasha Graham, former Walt Disney executive and Oregon farm kid turned award-winning podcaster, joins me to talk about what it really means to live a life that feels good, positive, and meaningful. Her podcast, Sports Will Save Us All , has earned multiple awards and now sits in the top 2% of podcasts globally. I wasn't just cur...

In this episode, I step back from interviewing and instead reflect on what I learned while hosting my three-part series on the Salem witch trials. These conversations left a mark on me—deeply, unexpectedly—and today I'm sharing the insights that stayed long after the microphones were turned off.

Rebecca Nurse hauntingly accepted her fate at the gallows with little objection. She was 71 years old — frail, devout, and undeserving of the cruelty that met her. Her story is one of the saddest and most human of all the Salem Witch Trials. In this episode, we focus on one life lost amid the hysteria — and in doing so, the conversation goes somewhere I never expected. Yes, we talk about who Rebec...

Deep down, I think we all know that history matters. Yet for many of us, the way we learned it in school made it feel distant and inaccessible. It was out of context — abstract, detached from real people and real lives. But when we recall a story from the past centered on an individual, something shifts. Suddenly, we're interested. The details stop feeling like a "history lesson" and become a huma...

There is so much about the Salem With Trials that I had wrong. The more I dug in, the more I saw that all who were involved were real actual humans. They had famlies and jobs and homes and neighbors. Yet, so often when I thought of the Salem Witch Trials it was with an almost dark entertainment fascination- as though the people involved were not human at all. Rather, they were some kind of mutant...

If you've ever been to the Portsmouth Halloween Parade, you know — it's one of the most connected nights in Portsmouth. People are a little kinder to each other, more curious, quicker to laugh and accommodate. It's so, so special. And this is just the beginning. From Monster Troupe to Thriller dancers, Mrs. Ropers, and countless imaginative costumes in between, creativity shines everywhere — inspi...

Is there a little voice that nags at you? Does it grab at your shoulder and pull at your sweater and say "come here! come here! Look! This is the thing you want to try! This is the thing you want to do!" Do you want to listen to it? To go where it leads you and jump all in to try the thing that seems to exciting- the thing that feels like it's meant for you to do? Every once in a while do you thin...

Have you ever wondered who writes the articles in your favorite magazines? How do they know what to say? What makes you read it? Where do they find the courage to be vulnerable and how do they know where to draw the line? Are you yourself a writer (maybe even secretly)? Do you want writing be your work? Do you wonder how to effectively pitch a publication, how to submit, and how to get your writin...

What is it like when you get dressed in the morning? Do you walk into your closet happy and excited to put on the clothes you choose? Or do you try on three different pairs of pants, two skirts, and six tops in hopes of finding something that will cover up {insert part of your body you think poorly of here}?   Do you step each leg into your shapeware shoving in as much of your body as you possibly...

Does it happen to you, too? Forehead dripping with sweat, hear trate reaching 180, hands so clammy you cannot hold the ice cold water glass you desperately want to sip from to get rid of the cotton that somehow found its way to lining your mouth?  And then it's time for you to speak... in front of other people... and the whole world around you begins to spin... It's called Glassophobia and it's be...

Did you know that the US has a shortage of welders? Me either. But after reading a NYT article in 2009, Pa'Trice Frazier took a trip to her local school to ask if the statistics were true. Sure enough, the instructors confirmed that the US had a shortage of 150-200K welders on their hands. Pa'Trice signed up on the spot to become a welder. After becoming a certified welder, Pa'Trice spent the next...