This Is Woman's Work with Nicole Kalil

Domestic violence doesn’t always start with a punch. It often starts quietly, with control disguised as concern, isolation disguised as love, and boundaries being chipped away so slowly that it can be hard to recognize what’s happening until the danger is very real. Denise Brown knows this in the most devastating way possible. Her sister, Nicole Brown Simpson, was murdered in 1994 after experienci...

Charisma. Some people seem to walk into a room and just have it. People lean in, listen, remember them, and want more time with them. And for those of us who are introverts? Well, it can be easy to assume we were simply left out of the charisma lottery. But what if charisma isn’t something we’re born with? What if it’s something we can actually learn? In this episode, Nicole sits down with Olivia...

We spend a whole lot of time thinking about how other people perceive us. How we communicate, present, negotiate, network, make a good impression, say the right thing at the right time. Basically, we put a lot of effort into being interesting. But what if we spent more time being interested? Because entire conversations are happening around us that have nothing to do with what anyone is actually s...

What if the problem isn’t that there aren’t enough hours in the day, but that we’re giving too many of them away? For a long time, doing more was practically a badge of honor. More meetings. More preparation. More polishing. More yeses. More proving. And while all that effort might get results, it can also leave us burnt out, resentful, and wondering why the hell we’re working this hard when techn...

“Just stay positive” might be some of the most useless advice ever given when life is falling apart. Because resilient optimism isn’t pretending everything is fine, ignoring reality, or slapping a silver lining on something that just plain sucks. It’s believing that even when we can’t control what happens, we still have agency over what we do next. Michelle Gielan is a positive psychology research...

Work isn’t exactly working for women. We have more opportunities, more impressive titles, more responsibility, and more ways to succeed than generations before us. And yet, a whole lot of successful women are exhausted, overwhelmed, underutilized, and wondering: Is this really as good as it gets? Dr. Helen Krug von Nidda is an executive coach, licensed career counselor, Stanford University instruc...

We love a comeback story. The recovery after the diagnosis. The victory after the struggle. The inspiring lesson wrapped up with a pretty bow and, preferably, some flattering lighting. But what about when you’re still in it? Allison Sweet Grant was barely 40, a mother of three, and just beginning her literary career when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Her memoir, Lump: A Memoir in Ineloquen...

Society doesn’t just tell girls who they’re supposed to be. It tells boys who they’re supposed to be too. Different rules, different consequences—but they’re still boxes asking our kids to perform who they’re supposed to be instead of discovering who they actually are. In this episode of This Is Woman’s Work, Nicole Kalil welcomes back Dr. Shefali, world-renowned clinical psychologist, multiple Ne...

What if midlife isn’t the beginning of the decline, but the beginning of something entirely new? We’ve been sold a pretty outdated life plan: learn, work, climb, achieve, retire. Preferably while raising children, maintaining friendships, exercising, drinking enough water, keeping our relationships interesting, remembering everyone’s birthdays, and figuring out what the fuck is happening to our ho...

Somewhere along the way, a lot of us got way too practical. We learned what’s realistic, reasonable, and likely to work. We became responsible adults who pay the mortgage and don’t launch every half-baked idea that hits us in the shower. Great. But what if being “realistic” is sometimes just fear with better branding? In this episode of This Is Woman’s Work, Nicole Kalil talks with Dr. Salima Bhim...

We’re living in the age of the quick fix. Three steps to happiness. One habit to eliminate anxiety. A supplement for every symptom. Enough already. Because grief is complicated. Mental health is complicated. Relationships are complicated. We are complicated. And when we reduce deeply human experiences into easy solutions, we don’t just oversimplify the problem—we risk making people believe they’re...

Women have been told for years that they need to negotiate more—but what if that isn't the real problem? In this episode, Nicole welcomes negotiation consultant, Harvard research fellow, and founder of Moon Negotiation, Joan Moon, to unpack what the research actually says about women and negotiation. Together, they challenge outdated myths, explore the impact of gender bias at the bargaining table...

Women are told to be strong, but not hard. Confident, but not intimidating. Emotional, but for the love of God, don’t be too sensitive. Apparently, there’s some magical “just right” version of womanhood—but nobody seems to have the address. In this episode of This Is Woman’s Work, Nicole Kalil talks with Dr. Sasha Hamdani, board-certified psychiatrist, mental health educator, and author of Too Sen...

Working mothers are often told they can "have it all." But what many actually hear is that they're expected to do it all—build a successful career, raise thriving children, manage a household, nurture relationships, and somehow make it all look effortless. It's no wonder so many women feel exhausted, overwhelmed, and convinced they're somehow falling short. In this episode of This Is Woman's Work,...

Guilt has become so commonplace in women's lives that many of us barely notice it anymore. It shows up when we set boundaries, ask for help, prioritize our careers, take time for ourselves, or simply admit that we can't do everything. But what if much of that guilt isn't a reflection of our values at all? What if it's the result of impossible expectations we've been conditioned to carry? In this e...

If you’re looking for some encouragement to chase your dreams, if it’s time for you to take that shot, or if you’re just looking for some energy to make it through your day, this is the episode for you! Judi Holler is a fire starter, an energy shifter, the ultimate hype woman, one of my favorite people to follow on IG, and she’s moving audiences worldwide to take massive action in their lives and...

Women are often told that working harder is the key to getting ahead. Deliver exceptional results, say yes to every opportunity, support the team, and eventually someone will notice. But for many women, that strategy doesn't lead to promotions—it leads to becoming indispensable in the very role they're trying to outgrow. In this episode of This Is Woman's Work, Nicole Kalil sits down with Patty Az...

We explore a common paradox in this episode (and I’ll be up front that this is one I’ve struggled with for most of my career) – and that is, being a likeable badass. How can we be both liked as a person and respected for our success? How do we get the recognition, negotiate for our value, and create opportunities without our peers or colleagues seeing us as cold, calculating or selfish? How do we...

Divorce is often portrayed as a battle—one that leaves everyone emotionally exhausted and financially depleted. But what if that's not the only path forward? In this episode of This Is Woman's Work, Nicole Kalil sits down with Erin Levine, founder and CEO of Hello Divorce, to challenge the common misconceptions surrounding divorce and explore what it actually takes to have a good one. After nearly...

Spiritual health isn’t about following a specific religion, meditating on a mountaintop, or taking the sacrament (unless you want to do those things). It’s about something deeper—our connection to something greater than ourselves, our capacity for faith, and the hope that carries us through life’s challenges. Dr. Lisa Miller is a New York Times bestselling author of The Spiritual Child and The Awa...

What if the goal isn't to live longer—but to live better? In a world obsessed with anti-aging hacks, longevity supplements, biohacking, and looking younger, Dr. Kerry Burnight is offering a radically different perspective. A gerontologist, educator, and author of the New York Times bestselling book JoySpan: The Art and Science of Thriving in Life's Second Half, Dr. Kerry challenges the fear-based...

Let’s drop the highlight reel for a second: entrepreneurship is hard. It’s lonely, messy, and full of moments where you wonder if you’re the only one falling apart behind the scenes. So in this episode—and a few more to come—we’re cutting through the noise and talking about what it really takes to build a successful, scalable business. Enter: Dr. Darnyelle Jervey Harmon, powerhouse CEO of Incredib...

What if the biggest thing standing between you and the life you want isn't a lack of confidence, credentials, experience, or readiness? What if it's the invisible rules you've been following without ever questioning them? In this episode of This Is Woman’s Work, Nicole sits down with Cate Hall—former Supreme Court attorney, former #1 ranked female poker player in the world, biotech founder, former...

When a powerful man says, “She’s not my type,” and a jury (actually, multiple juries) finds that man liable for sexual abuse and defamation, that’s not just a headline — that’s a masterclass in what it takes for a woman to be believed in America. In this episode, writer, journalist, and Not My Type: One Woman vs. a President author E. Jean Carroll joins Nicole to talk about truth, power, paperclip...

For generations, parents have been told that picky eating is normal, inevitable, and just part of raising kids. But what if that's not true? What if picky eating is actually a modern phenomenon—and one we've unintentionally created? In this episode, Nicole sits down with historian, professor, and author Helen Zoe Veit to explore the surprising history behind children's eating habits. Drawing from...