What Rules!?: A career podcast for women of color

Do you avoid discomfort at work? Human Resources exec Lashanna “Sha” Farley reveals why feeling uncomfortable is, actually, good for your career. We chat with Sha about her career pivot to non-profit after working in corporate America for 20-plus years at some of the biggest companies, including  Walmart, Pfizer and Sam’s Club. Sha tells us about the tough decision to leave and how her faith...

Multicultural women are often “double onlys” in the workplace, meaning they are the only woman AND person of color in the room. This burden is mainly due to the “broken rung.” In our special three-part series, we've been tackling how managers, employees and organizations can fix the “broken rung,” the biggest obstacle that prevents women from climbing the corporate ladder. Even worse, it dispropor...

Want to slay your next work meeting? Monique Lanaux, Chief Talent & Diversity Officer at Albertsons Companies, shares what you can do before, during and after a meeting to be seen and be heard—and get ahead. “Meetings are like a sport,” says Monique, who’s Caribbean American. “So, you have to start strong and finish strong.” We also chat about the rubber balls vs glass balls we all juggle with...

Women face their biggest hurdle to becoming leaders at the very first step up the corporate ladder. Known as the “broken rung,” this obstacle prevents women from reaching even the most entry-level management roles. Worse yet, it disproportionately affects multicultural women.  In a special three-part series, we tackle how managers, employees and organizations can fix the broken rung by breaki...

It’s Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month and we are happy to chat with Thear Suzuki, Global Client Service Partner at EY, one of the largest professional services networks in the world. Ten years ago, Thear started her transformation from living in “survival mode” as a refugee from Cambodia and having “this limiting belief that I was lesser than other people,” she says. With the hel...

"Jefa" means boss in Spanish and today, we chat with Viviana Maldonado, creator of The Jefa Life, a platform that encourages Latinas to be the boss of their careers and lives. Viviana recalls the big bold move she made when she left her Nebraska home to go to college, leaving her family behind. She then moved to Los Angeles by herself and built relationships to get ahead.  Viviana tells us ho...

Ask yourself this question the next time someone says you can't do something: Is this a roadblock? "We are all wired to just do what we're told, but sometimes, we need to think about who's making those rules," says Nicole Todd, Vice President of Human Resources for Blackstone, one of the largest private equity firms in the world.  Nicole, a Black American, shares how she found mentors and spo...

Get the inside scoop on how multicultural women leaders are strategic with their next career move from executive coach Kanchan Prinsloo, CEO of KaPri Consulting. As a South Asian woman, Kanchan explains how your culture, like being raised by immigrants, is an advantage that can help you change course quicker with your career and without hesitation. "As women of culture, we really need to honor our...

Coca-Cola Company SVP Tanika Cabral shares how her motto, “Learn, Lead, create a Legacy and Leave,” can help you advance your career. Tanika, a Black executive who grew up in a Brooklyn housing project, has climbed the ladder to become Senior Vice President of Customer Leadership at The Coca-Cola Company. She reminds us that part of knowing what you want is knowing what you DON’T want. Tanika also...

We're back with a new season and new co-host! Join us as we welcome Courtney Copelin, an accountability and mindset coach, to the What Rules!? podcast. Using her psychology background, Courtney will bring a wellness perspective to each episode to help you speak, lead and execute better in your career. She'll also ask the bold questions you want to know from our guests! So, get ready for a new seas...

Get ready for a new season of brave chats and amazing advice on how to outsmart the game to advance your career from top multicultural executives at some of the biggest companies in the U.S. Connect with us on our social media: Instagram , Facebook , Twitter and LinkedIn Join our LinkedIn community where we discuss rule-breaking strategies for multicultural women. More from Alisa Manjarrez: Instag...

​While we work on our re-launch (coming soon!), catch up with us in this special episode. Hosts Alisa Manjarrez and Dr. Merary Simeon chat about the rules they're breaking lately and Dr. Merary's new book! Connect with us on social media: Instagram and LinkedIn More from Alisa Manjarrez: Instagram and LinkedIn More from Dr. Merary Simeon: Instagram and LinkedIn Learn more at www.whatrulespodcast.c...

It's our 2022 Summer Series finale, yay! As we gear up for a new season of empowering stories, we thought it best to send our summer off with a look back at what we've learned along the way. As much as we'd all like to forget it, reflecting on the past is essential to planning our future. Listen as Alisa, Rosa, and Merary wrap the year (originally recorded in Dec 2020) with 5 questions meant to pu...

Next up in our 2022 Summer Series is an amazing conversation we had early last year with Nadia De Ala. Have you ever felt that being a woman of color has prevented you from getting paid what you're worth? That feeling is exactly why leadership and negotiation coach, Nadia De Ala, has made it her life's mission to get women of color hella rich. Listen as she shares her story and three things she's...

Part 2 of our Summer Series is an amazing conversation with Alisa, Rosa, and Dr. Merary about working with what you've got to create what you want to see in the world. Enjoy! ——— If someone handed you a brick and asked you to come back in an hour with a product, what would you make of it? How do you innovate with little more than a single block with which to build? How do you put aside all the rul...

Hello, Rulebreakers! We're hard at work behind the scenes on some new ideas for Color Forward and that means looking back at some of our favorite moments from the past two years. In lieu of new content, we thought we'd share those moments with all of you, along with our thoughts about why these conversations still resonate so much. If you missed these episodes when they first aired (and even if yo...

What happens when the story being told is not your own? When the advice being given is not only unhelpful but dangerous? Join Rosa, Alisa, and Dr. Merary this week as they discuss the issue of advice that misses the mark on intersectionality with Dr. Carey Yazeed. Dr. Carey Yazeed’s viral blog post, “ The Dangers of Courage Culture and Why Brene Brown Isn’t For Black Folk ”, discussed the issue of...

We're back with another round of insights on owning your achievements. It's SO important that we couldn't fit it all into a single episode. Listen as Rosa and Dr. Merary chat with Head of Federal Government Business for Siemens, Brandy Gonzales Henson, about owning the narrative on your achievements. If you don't do it, no one else will. "I don't like the fake it til you make it rule... because it...

Working toward a goal is important, but what happens when you reach that goal is equally important! Stopping to reflect on our achievements gives us an opportunity to really see how brightly we are shining. In this episode, Alisa, Rosa, and Dr. Merary spend time reflecting on their greatest achievements and discuss why taking a moment to cheer yourself on is not only a good practice but psychologi...

It’s International Women’s Day! Alisa and Dr. Merary are joined by return guest, CEO and Strategic Advisor Vanessa Santos, to discuss how breaking the rules can help pave the road to living an intentional life. “I am like an abstract painting. Not everyone gets me, but once they do, they can totally see my beauty. They see my worth and I can live in that and own that and not care what other people...

“Intersectionality”, coined by professor Kimberlé Crenshaw in 1989, refers to the ways all aspects of our identity intersect and interact. Join the whole What Rules team as they dive into what intersectionality means to them and how understanding your unique identities can help create opportunities for yourself and your community. “Take a look at yourself, take a&nbsp...

We’re paving our own way, we’re breaking the rules... but what about finances? Isn't it time to start demystifying the financial landscape of entrepreneurship and to shake up untrue beliefs about debt financing? In this episode, Alisa and Dr. Merary are joined by Virtual CFO and CPA, Christina Sjahli who breaks down financial topics from borrowing responsibly to forecasting cash flow, getting cand...

So often we are taught that life is the main road, with little room for detours. This can really get us stuck living a life we think we should be living versus a life of unique fulfillment and curiosity. So how can we do the work of building confidence to pursue more? How can we build a life that is an authentic representation of all the things we love? Tune in to be inspired as Alisa and Dr. Jani...

Rose Aviles returns to the show for an update on the mess she was dealing with back in episode 54. Spoiler... it's still messy but she's still amazing.  ––– Join our LinkedIn group! More from Rose Aviles: LinkedIn More from Rosa Santos: LinkedIn More from Dr. Merary Simeon: MerarySimeon.com More from Alisa Manjarrez: The Happy Cactus Get transcripts and more at colorforward.com

Our obsession with rule-breaking is nothing new. Before podcasting was even a thing, we were out there breaking rules to get ahead in our careers, breaking rules that stemmed from our past, breaking rules that others had for us, and we're finally here. We're rule-breakers... and so are you. So... what's next? As we move into a new year full of broken rules and big dreams, Alisa, Rosa, and Dr. Mera...