Workplace Confessions: Behind Closed Doors

A horse can humble you fast, and so can the human body when you ask it to stay balanced on a moving animal.  This week on Workplace Confessions: Behind Closed Doors, we sit down with a physiotherapist who specializes in physical therapy for horse riders. She walks us from her first pony and after-school riding lessons to building a long-running private practice focused on rider biomechanics, postu...

Midnight bank remodels, vault alarms, and a run-in with eight LAPD officers are only the beginning of this anonymous guest’s work story.  This week on Workplace Confessions: Behind Closed Doors, we sit down with a career electrician and electrical contractor who started earning money in sixth grade, found his way from selling car stereos to the jobsite, and spent 45 years learning how power really...

Insurance is everywhere in our lives, yet most of us only learn how it works when something goes wrong.  This week on Workplace Confessions: Behind Closed Doors, we sit down with an anonymous guest who has done nearly every job in the insurance industry, from claims adjuster to underwriting leader to corporate trainer, and now runs her own Medicare insurance agency. What she brings is the rare ski...

You can feel the difference between wellness that’s marketed and wellness that’s lived, and Grace Van Berkum is firmly in the second camp.  This week, on Workplace Confessions: Behind Closed Doors, we talk with the founder of GLO Health Center in northern Nicaragua about what it really takes to build a detox and nutrition retreat from absolute scratch, keep it going for 10 years, and guide people...

A home birth that was nearly “not allowed” in Iowa planted a seed that never stopped growing, and our anonymous guest follows that seed all the way into a Certified Professional Midwife (CPM) apprenticeship.  Along the way, she takes a real detour, walking away from midwifery hierarchy, studying linguistics, working jobs like Starbucks and publishing, and spending years raising and homeschooling k...

One photo can change a life, and sometimes it rewires an entire career.  This week, we sat down with an anonymous C-Suite executive who started out making holiday gifts with his mom. At 23, he was thrown into management at the Four Seasons. Then he walked away to join the Peace Corps. And that's just the beginning. From there, the path gets even wilder: Guatemala, emergency response, becoming...

You think you know what teachers do all day until you hear what happens after the bell rings, after the emails pile up, and after the policies change without anyone asking the people in the room.  This week on Workplace Confessions: Behind Closed Doors, we’re joined by an anonymous high school math teacher with 18 years in California public schools, and she tells the truth about why relationships...

Your hair color is not just “light or dark” or “warm or cool.” It is a full system, and when it is wrong, you can feel it in your mirror, your closet, and your confidence. This week, we sit down with Renee Taglia, a Master Hair Colorist & Educator and Certified Color Analyst, to talk about why personal color analysis is more than a trend and how a true, customized palette can change the way yo...

Court is one of those workplaces everyone thinks they understands until you talk to someone who has actually sat inside it for 20 years. Our anonymous guest takes us from her early detour into teaching to a long career in the courthouse, including 18 years in the courtroom and a newer leadership role supervising data entry and phone intake. Along the way, we get specific about the work. We also di...

Fear shows up in every career, even when your title says “leader.” We sit down with Dr. Tonya Jackman Hampton, Ph. D. PCC, an organizational development practitioner, executive coach, and former chief human resources officer whose career runs from early teen jobs to building ethics programs, shaping workplace culture, and leading change inside major organizations. Her story is full of real turning...

Mortgage is supposed to feel like math, paperwork, and a few signatures. What happens when it also feels like a daily test of character?  We sit down with an anonymous mortgage expert whose working life runs from a paper route at 13 to two decades in the mortgage and real estate world. He breaks down what he’s building right now: a call center-based revenue engine for a regional bank that targets...

Someone finally said the quiet part out loud: burnout can make you do weird things, like faking an emergency on Zoom just to escape a meeting.  This week, we’re joined by La'Tonya ("LT") Rease Miles, author of "Smart Girl," adjunct faculty at Santa Clara University, and co-founder of non-profit My Tribe Media. She brings the kind of honesty we love: funny, sharp, and a lit...

Workplace investigations are supposed to reveal the truth, but most companies accidentally design a process that breeds silence, fear, and repeat drama. We’re joined by Patti Perez, a former employment lawyer turned HR leader and third-party investigator who has conducted thousands of workplace investigations and now trains the next generation to do the work with rigor and humanity. From quid pro...

A bartender gets pneumonia, misses work, and the message lands hard: you can give everything to a job and still be treated as disposable. That turning point sends our guest, Lady Ruby Rebel, in an unexpected direction, toward a second career as a professional dominatrix.  Ruby breaks down what people get wrong about her profession, especially the assumption that domination involves sex. She explai...

A scud missile flies over your base in broad daylight, the alarm never sounds, and you realize you might not have the extra 30 seconds you trained for. That’s one of the memories our anonymous guest shares, and it’s the kind that doesn’t fade just because you come home and put on a different uniform for work. We trace his path from a childhood job bagging groceries at a Guam commissary to an Air F...

Ever leapt through a gas station window to stop a drive-off? Our anonymous guest did—then broke barriers in the Army and now uncovers truth at work. Hear how ethics, grit, and empathy power real investigations. Listen now and tell us your wildest first job story? Send us Fan Mail Want to be interviewed? You can remain anonymous. Voice distortion now available. Email or Text us!

What happens when a natural hustler swaps a clinical career for a bold gamble on emotional intelligence and wins?  We sat down with bestselling author Travis Bradberry, Ph. D., who went from mowing lawns and running a middle-school gum hustle to building, scaling, and selling a training company rooted in EQ assessments, licensing, and repeatable programs.  He shares the parts we rarely hear: maxed...

What happens when a scientist-in-training follows a quiet tug into ministry and discovers his real work is showing up where life breaks open?  We sit down with an anonymous pastor who talks candidly about standing at the edges of joy and grief. He rejects the notion that “everything happens for a reason” and reframes comfort as presence, not ease. The conversation traces a journey from early jobs...

In this revealing episode of Workplace Confessions Behind Closed Doors, our guest shares unforgettable stories from her career, including the impact of a toxic boss, the bizarre casino culture, and the emotional toll of waiting for justice in a hostile work environment. Through candid reflections and raw honesty, listeners are invited to explore the complexities of workplace dynamics, resilience,...

In this episode, we sit down with Domina Katy Lynx to explore a career path that defies assumptions and reveals the power of reinvention. Katy shares how she moved from early success in real estate and mortgage lending to navigating financial upheaval during major economic downturns, shifts that pushed her to diversify her income and rethink what long‑term stability really means. Her journey event...

This episode of "Workplace Confessions Behind Closed Doors" features a nurse practitioner who shares candid stories and insights from her career in emergency medicine. The conversation covers the journey from a first job at Hoagie Yogi to working in the ER, the adrenaline and critical thinking required in emergency care, memorable cases (from wild injuries to bizarre patient stories), ch...

This interview takes the listener through the career journey of a political strategist. The discussion covers misconceptions about lobbying and political strategy, the roles and influence of staffers in government, the importance and challenges of unions in today's workforce, and issues surrounding undocumented workers and immigration policy. Our guest shares personal reflections on maintaini...

In this engaging episode of Workplace Confession, the hosts interview a seasoned gastroenterologist who shares his journey from being a soccer referee to practicing medicine for over 14 years. The conversation explores the process of choosing a medical specialty, the realities of working in gastroenterology, and the challenges of balancing personal well-being with a demanding career. The guest off...

In this episode of Workplace Confessions Behind Closed Doors , hosts Elsa Barbi and Dawn Andrews welcome an anonymous engineer who takes listeners on a candid journey through his career. The conversation kicks off with stories of youthful ambition and the lessons learned from a first job as a paperboy, before delving into the realities of working in the field of engineering. The guest opens up abo...

The episode features a psychologist specializing in sexual health who traces their path from early childcare work to roles in hospitals and universities before shifting from child psychology to adult and college‑aged clients. Their current practice blends individual and relational work on issues like sexual disconnection, pain, communication, ethical non‑monogamy, kink, and BDSM, emphasizing that...