School of Self-Worth

Do you stay up until midnight prepping for a meeting, then hold back your best idea because you’re not 100% sure it’s ready? Have you ever wondered if you just need more confidence, more recognition, or even a different personality to be seen as a leader? In this episode, I share the real block I see in so many high-achieving Asian American women: the belief that you have to know everything before...

Do you work like you’re paying back a debt nobody ever asked you to pay? If you’ve ever thought, “I already have more than my parents ever did, so I shouldn’t ask for more,” this episode is for you. This week, I’m taking Asian guilt in a direction we haven’t gone before on the School of Self-Worth: the guilt that comes from gratitude. It’s the kind that keeps you working through evenings and weeke...

In this episode of School of Self Worth, I talk with Cloe Zeng, Chief Growth Officer at the Gottman Institute and former senior leader at Microsoft. If you're the reliable one, the one who gets it done, and you still find out about high-impact decisions that affect you after they're made, this conversation is for you. Cloe was raised to believe her work would speak for itself, and what s...

Today, I’m talking about one of the biggest career myths many Asian American women grow up believing: your work will speak for itself. And honestly, it’s not bad advice. It probably helped you get pretty far. You worked hard. You delivered. You followed through. You became the person people could count on. But at a certain point, that strategy can stop working. You can have the title, the experien...

As soon as you get feedback, do you find you’re in a reactive cycle? Instead of taking it as something to put into place, you’re thinking about what it says about you. Maybe I'm not as good as I thought I was. Maybe I screwed this up. Maybe they don't trust me anymore. So you might replay it, analyze what your performance for the next 24 hours, or beat yourself up. For many Asian America...

Welcome back to the School of Self-Worth! In this episode, I sit down with Neeta Bhushan, host of The Brave Table and author of That Sucked, Now What? , for a powerful conversation about what happens when the patterns that once helped you survive and succeed start getting in the way of becoming the person, leader and human you’re meant to be. As the daughter of immigrant parents from India and the...

What happens when you’re already in the room where decisions are being made, but your voice still isn’t carrying the weight your experience warrants? In this episode, I’m breaking down an all-too-common experience for Asian American women in leadership: being in the room, delivering results, managing teams, and carrying significant responsibility, while still feeling like their perspective isn’t f...

 Today, I dive into the MAIN thing blocking Asian-American women from getting a true seat at the table. And you do not want to miss what we talk about, because it’s NOT about your old stand-by, working harder. In fact, when you learn the details about this block, it can help you actually work LESS. Once you identify your personal block , and often we need some help to figure out exactly what it is...

Have you ever struggled with critical feedback at work, despite your track record of success and hard work? That’s what Gloria Bui was facing when she joined the Seen as a Leader course. Like so many high-performing Asian-American women, she was used to accolades and being seen as excellent, but she felt blocked about how to move to the next level at work.  Through the course, Gloria learned to st...

 Ever have that moment in a big meeting where you share your innovative idea … and it doesn’t land? And it’s happened more than once, despite your years of experience and knowing your stuff backward and forward. Today, we’re unpacking what’s REALLY going on before you even share your idea — and why being seen as reliable and hard‑working doesn’t always translate into being heard. For many Asian-Am...

In this episode, Nicole explores one of the most overlooked leadership dynamics affecting high-achieving Asian American women: the subtle ways we unintentionally give away our authority at work. If you've ever wondered why you're trusted with important projects but still overlooked for leadership opportunities, this conversation is for you. Nicole breaks down the hidden moments where aut...

Today on the School of Self-Worth, I’m sitting down with the remarkable Christine Chang, a celebrity photographer, author and now filmmaker, as she celebrates her debut short film, Making Space . In this conversation, we delve more deeply into how her Asian-American upbringing impacted her sense of self and how it affected her in her relationships and dating.  Throughout our conversation, she poin...

In this episode, I dig into why talented, high-achieving women, especially Asian American women, are often overlooked as leaders at work. Here’s the truth — it’s not really about confidence, communication skills, or how much you prepare, even though that’s the advice you might have gotten before. The real challenge shows up in those micro moments moments when you are caught off guard — like when a...

 You’re the one everyone relies on. You deliver. You solve problems. You hold everything together. So why are you still being overlooked? In this episode, Nicole breaks down the hidden dynamic keeping so many high-performing Asian American women stuck: becoming the invisible backbone at work. If you’ve ever been told to “be more strategic” or watched others get promoted ahead of you despite your r...

What happens when you stop letting your work define you?  In this deeply honest conversation, Nicole sits down with her longtime client, Jenny Zhang—a leader in the oncology and biotech space—whose career once demanded nearly everything from her. When Jenny first started working with Nicole, she was working 18 to 20 hour days, constantly navigating high-stakes decisions and the impact on patients’...

We chose to bring this popular episode back because the patterns it speaks to don’t just disappear, they resurface in new seasons. As many of you are stepping into bigger leadership roles or simply having more nuanced conversations at work, the instinct to over-explain can quietly dilute your authority, especially when the stakes feel high. This episode is a timely reset. If you’ve recently found...

You’re doing great work. You’re getting positive feedback. So why are you still being passed over? In this episode, Nicole unpacks a pattern she sees in high-performing Asian American women who are praised behind the scenes but overlooked when it actually counts. You may be surprised by how your cultural conditioning has held you back.  This isn’t about working harder. It’s about how you’re showin...

What does equity actually look like in everyday life—and how do we begin dismantling the systems we’re all swimming in? In this powerful conversation, Nicole sits down with equity educator and former public defender Pooja Kothari to explore the deep connections between self-awareness, systemic oppression, and personal responsibility. Drawing on her years defending marginalized clients in Brooklyn’...

 If you set big goals in January and you’re already feeling unsteady about them, this episode is for you. In today’s powerful episode, Nicole introduces a transformative reframe: You are always on a hero’s journey. The question is — are you the one choosing it? Drawing from her own experience as a new mother with a bold, world-changing mission, Nicole shares what it looks like to pursue massive dr...

There are moments in the year that naturally invite recalibration — in our careers, relationships, and how we show up for ourselves. If you’ve been feeling the pull to tighten your boundaries or honor your worth more deeply, this episode is the perfect one to revisit. We’re bringing back this powerful conversation on the three things Nicole no longer compromises on when it comes to self-worth. THE...

How do you find yourself again after walking away from the career that once defined you? In the latest addition to our Alumni Series, I sit down with transformational leadership coach Laura Saldivar Luna, founder of Piñata Possible. After leaving her C-suite role at Teach For America, Laura found herself in unfamiliar territory: no title, no roadmap, and no idea what was next. She knew she had a d...

A new year invites possibility, but only if you make space to step into it. In this episode of School of Self-Worth, Nicole Tsong shares the developmental theme she’s carrying into 2026 and the deeper reflection that led her there. After a year marked by transformation, Nicole explores what happens after a dream comes true, and why continuing to dream is an act of self-worth. This conversation is...

What if slowing down, asking for help, and surrendering control are actually the keys to unlocking your next level in 2026?  In this deeply personal and expansive year-in-review episode, Nicole reflects on the six most transformative lessons she learned in 2025—a year marked by profound change and identity shifts. This episode is for you if you are a high-achieving Asian American woman who is used...

Have you been considering a pivot from a corporate job to pursue a dream?  I’m thrilled to introduce you today to my client, Kim Moy, a YCC and Mastermind alumni. Kim spent years in a corporate job but knew she was being called to something else. Her biggest block was that she didn’t know how to get there. In this episode, Kim shares her journey of how receiving support was instrumental in helping...

 Did you know that Asian American women make up less than 3% of leadership in corporate America? Those numbers aren’t about ability—they signal something deeper influencing visibility, leadership, and self-worth. In this episode of the School of Self-Worth, Nicole Tsong gets personal and practical about one surprising thing making the “visibility” problem worse: judgment. After years of feeling in...