As I am recording this, we are 1 week after the Thrive in ’25 Conference. Wow! Just wow! The women that attended were so powerful and wonderful to meet and get to know in-person. It was almost like an out-of-body experience to know that I helped bring this to life. And now, I am resting as much as I can. After 1 year of planning, it is wonderful to be able to know that is behind me and I can fully ease into summer and slower days and making fun memories with my family. So, what are we talking ab...
Jul 10, 2025•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 239
I’d like to start by giving a warm welcome back to my wiser, older sister (well, she’s not my sister, but she feels like it), Marilyn Vetter. Marilyn and I met one another a few years ago, and our stories are so similar, it’s eerie. In Marilyn’s first chapter in Brave Women at Work: Lessons in Confidence, she talked about the question, “Why Not Me?” to a potential promotion in her career. That question stopped me in my tracks and had me wondering if I took a moment to ask, “Why not me?” to oppor...
Jul 03, 2025•49 min•Ep. 238
Have you ever had a work situation that took you to your knees and required your faith that everything was going to be okay? I have. In one of my roles, my boss told me that I wasn’t the right fit for the role and that I was going on the dreaded performance improvement plan or PIP for short. I was typically the person that was helping others improve their performance, not the employee that was told my performance wasn’t measuring up to expectations. When my boss provided me that news, I felt lik...
Jun 26, 2025•59 min•Ep. 237
What is your Plan A? My Plan A was to go to college, get married, have 2 kids, and have a great career. I didn’t know that I would have post-partum anxiety and secondary infertility with my family and burnout on the path to career success. As the cliché goes, life can throw us curveballs, and it up to us how we handle these challenges and pivot to Plan B. Plan B is always seen as the back-up plan or the plan that isn’t as good as Plan A. As I get older and farther along in my life and career, I ...
Jun 19, 2025•49 min•Ep. 236
I am so excited for my guest today, Amy Quesenberry. Amy and I met through Shelia Higgs Burkhalter and the Infuse Compassion into Companies Conference. When we met, Amy shared her Start with Compassion model, and I was blown away. If we start with compassion with ourselves, with one another, and within companies, it truly can drive better relationships, more productivity, higher satisfaction, happiness, and so much more. As a recovering perfectionist, starting with compassion is easy to understa...
Jun 12, 2025•56 min•Ep. 235
On this weeks episode, Meghan Grace https://www.meghanmgrace.com https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/genz/id1377915856 https://www.amazon.com/Generation-Goes-College-Corey-Seemiller-ebook/dp/B019YNNZAA?ref_=ast_author_dp https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07K52C97N/ref=mes-dp?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_w=TPIuC&content-id=amzn1.sym.8572ac08-6096-4eb6-b32e-2c759cc3eb5b&pf_rd_p=8572ac08-6096-4eb6-b32e-2c759cc3eb5b&pf_rd_r=45RW287DPDEC2QRG3ZMQ&pd_rd_wg=Z91Kx&pd_rd_r=91bbc826-603f-4a8b-94...
Jun 05, 2025•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 234
I am so excited for my conversation with my guest, Amanda Kenderes. Amanda has discovered something entirely new about communication that I am pumped to share with you. It’s called Talk Types. What if the way we talk and who we are as people are intrinsically linked? If we understand our talk type and others, we can understand how to better communicate with one another, and as a result, have better personal and professional relationships. During the podcast today, Amanda and I chatted about: Why...
May 29, 2025•59 min•Ep. 233
When we grow up, we think we have it all figured out, don’t we? We believe we should go to college, get a good job, find our perfect partner, be fit, have a good circle of friends, maybe have kids, etc. All before the age of 35. We have these insane expectations for ourselves and what our lives will be. And then, we learn. Maybe the job or career path we originally selected isn’t right for us. Maybe we find ourselves without a partner or kids. Maybe life faced us with health challenges. Whatever...
May 22, 2025•52 min•Ep. 232
Have you ever thought about the concept of baggage at work? I have a dear friend, Pam, that always tells me “Wherever you go, there you are.” If you don’t do the lessons, you bring everything with you from job to job or company to company. You bring your habits, patterns, and mental and emotional baggage. The question that my guest, Tamara McLemore, and I chat about today is how can we release this baggage so we can take control of our careers? During my conversation with Tamara, we chatted abou...
May 15, 2025•56 min•Ep. 231
My guest today, Tonya Herb, is welcoming me and anyone else that struggles with this, to try a new way. What if we turned to others and delegated during stressful times, and really all the time? I know, monumental for perfectionists like me. What if we engaged in kindness towards ourselves? Tonya dives into her proprietary BIKE method and how she leverages that with the work she does with her clients. During my conversation with Tonya, we chatted about: Tonya’s walk with perfectionism and how an...
May 08, 2025•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 230
Here’s a fact: For many years, I didn’t know that our money mindset has a direct relationship with how powerful we feel and how we move through our professional and personal lives. I didn’t get the connection, and I have been in financial services for over 25 years. After I dove into all things on leadership, self-improvement, and energetic management, I learned that there is a positive correlation between our money, speaking up, and the energy associated with feeling powerful as a woman. If we ...
May 01, 2025•52 min•Ep. 229
Where are my readers? Or what about aspiring readers? If you are a reader, this show is for you! When I was introduced to Melanie Bell and her work with Leaders Who Fiction, I knew she had to be on Brave Women at Work. I am a non-fiction reader and often struggle with getting into a fiction book. When I heard Melanie talk about the benefits of fiction, I knew I had to give it another try. In addition, according to an article in Inc, “How Reading Fiction Can Make You a Better Leader,” “There’s a ...
Apr 24, 2025•39 min•Ep. 228
“Take the first step in faith. You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.” — Martin Luther King Jr. If the term Brave Women at Work were in the dictionary, (why isn’t it? LOL), Robyn Malone would be part of the definition. I met Robyn through a dear friend and colleague, and we hit it off pretty quickly. As you will learn during our show today, Robyn has done some scary things, including: Following her heart and leaving her established community in New York City to be w...
Apr 17, 2025•57 min•Ep. 227
On Being a Sacred Changemaker in the Corporate World with Jayne Warrilow Summary: Welcome to the Brave Women at Work podcast. This is your host, Jen Pestikas. I’m so glad you’re here. Hello everyone! How are you doing out there? Happy Spring to everyone in the Northern Hemisphere! I am so happy that we are starting to have slightly warmer and longer days. We had snow here in my area even in March, so fingers crossed that we are done with that business. Well, if you didn’t listen to one of the Ja...
Apr 10, 2025•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 226
When I was growing up in my career, I received my first management position because I was a hard worker and drove results as an individual competitor. As I have risen through the corporate ranks, no one told me that leadership is an inside job. I learned that through the school of hard knocks, many bouts of Imposter Syndrome, tough feedback, and more. This is why I wanted to talk about this very topic with my guest today, Dana Maor. Dana knows firsthand the importance of looking within to determ...
Apr 03, 2025•47 min•Ep. 225
Well, I’m excited! I have a repeat guest on the podcast, Tamsen Webster. Tamsen was here the last time she wrote her first book, Find Your Red Thread, and today she is here to talk about her newest book, Say What they Can’t Unhear: The 9 Principles of Lasting Change. You know when everything is smooth sailing and you are enjoying an easy, breezy ride for a while? I know those times, and 2025 is not one of them for me. I am in a period of significant change professionally, so I was excited to tal...
Mar 27, 2025•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 224
At the end of my first podcast with guest, ER nurse and author, Jenn Johnson, I asked her what I ask all guests. “What are 1 to 2 ways women can be braver at work?” Jen proceeded to tell me, “Enter your villain era.” I stopped in my tracks. What did that mean? It means loving yourself enough to consider your needs. It means that you are drawing and holding your boundaries. It means relishing in self-care. It means putting yourself first. I have to say that I felt guilty easing into this concept....
Mar 20, 2025•49 min•Ep. 223
There is a book called Carry On, Warrior: The Power of Embracing Your Messy, Beautiful Life by Glennon Doyle. When I think about the concept of “carrying on, warrior,” I think of Emily Zarecki. As you will hear in today’s podcast, Emily is a warrior that has endured many trials and tribulations in her life. When I met Emily, I knew she would have a story of bravery to inspire all of us that we can do hard things. During my conversation with Emily, we chatted about: How the passing of her mom and...
Mar 13, 2025•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 222
*TRIGGER WARNING - This episode discusses traumatic death Welcome to the Brave Women at Work podcast. This is your host, Jen Pestikas. I’m so glad you’re here. Hello everyone! How are you doing out there? Let’s talk about a topic that’s not talked about often: using our intuition at work. When you make key decisions at work, do you exclusively use data, research, and analysis? What about when you hire someone? Do you sole rely on a hiring assessment? Or do you use your gut or intuition too? For ...
Mar 06, 2025•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 221
Today, we are chatting about shiny objective syndrome and how it hurts us. So, what is shiny object syndrome? According to Google, Shiny object syndrome (SOS) is the tendency to be distracted by new ideas or opportunities, often at the expense of current tasks. It can affect people in many contexts, including business, personal development, and relationships. It can look like this. You are working on a project and get another idea that is even better than what you are working on. You decide to p...
Feb 27, 2025•30 min•Ep. 220
Well, I have come full circle! In 2013, I started a leadership group for my corporate organization. My CEO requested that we center the first leadership group on the book, Start with Why, by Simon Sinek. And almost 12 years later, I am still obsessed with the book. The basic premise of Start with Why is that if a person or a company starts from the point of why they do what they do and they communicate that clearly, the how and what (aka the operations or tactical pieces) will come. It all start...
Feb 20, 2025•47 min•Ep. 219
I am so excited for my guest today, Jenn Smith. Jenn and I met in a very interesting way. Jenn was listening to the Brave Women at Work Podcast, especially the show with Heather Eck. This show was just rebroadcast as the best of 2024 episode on 12/26/2024. If you haven’t listened to that one, you must go back and check it out! Jenn was intrigued by my conversation with Heather, an artist with the amazing story of owning her gift of synesthesia, or the mixing of the senses. Heather is a former HR...
Feb 13, 2025•45 min•Ep. 218
Over the years at Brave Women at Work, we have talked about our mindset, how we feel about our bodies, our family histories, and more and how these issues impact how we show up at work. Now, we are covering how our sexual past and potential wounds in this area can impact our ability to speak up, go for a promotion, believe we are worthy to get paid what we are worth, and more in the professional arena. At first, before Jaitara Jayde, my guest and I, hit record today, I wondered if this subject w...
Feb 06, 2025•55 min•Ep. 217
My guest today - Patty Altman has over 30 years of corporate experience, and brings a wealth of knowledge, vulnerability, and fun to our conversation. Patty has an extensive work experience in the consumer and shopper insights field, starting her career in 1993 as a Sr Project Manager at NPD. Patty then worked at IRI as a Vice President, leading a team in selling and delivering syndicated and custom panel research projects. At Ipsos Connect, she held roles as Vice President and Senior Vice Presi...
Jan 30, 2025•56 min•Ep. 216
Please join me in welcoming Andrea Sampson to today's episode! Andrea is the mastermind behind Talk Boutique and the Thought Leader Academy, joins us to unravel the profound impact of storytelling in leadership. Learn how Andrea's extensive background in advertising and her passion for simplifying complex ideas through TEDx Toronto have equipped her to guide visionaries in sharing groundbreaking work. Her journey emphasizes the transformative power of introspection and adaptability in building a...
Jan 23, 2025•57 min•Ep. 215
I cannot wait to discuss with you this week how Nicole has helped me change how I approach my day to day. So let's meet this transformational retreat leader and energy coach, Nicole Smith-Levay, returns to illuminate the power of somatics and breathwork in both professional and personal spheres. Together, we discuss the journey of reconnecting our minds and bodies, a path that has profoundly influenced my own productivity and clarity. Nicole introduces the innovative Forward Momentum program, de...
Jan 16, 2025•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 214
On today's episode I am excited to have award-winning author and TEDx speaker Jennifer Mrozek-Sukalo redefine swagger, transforming it from its traditional association with arrogance to a beacon of self-confidence and authenticity. Her insights encourage us to let go of perfectionism and past mistakes, making room for vulnerability as a powerful leadership tool. Jennifer’s personal journey, combined with my background in behavioral change and leadership consulting, offers valuable lessons on ove...
Jan 09, 2025•52 min•Ep. 213
Happy New Year! As we start 2025, I have two interesting topics to share with you during this solo episode. First, why should you consider a Word of the Year Practice? In the first portion of the show, I share how to find your word of the year and the benefits of doing this. Second, I reflect on the name of the podcast, Brave Women at Work, and the interesting juxtaposition the podcast name has between the male and female pieces of ourselves. During the show, I share the definitions of brave and...
Jan 02, 2025•29 min•Ep. 212
Happy Holidays! Let me start by saying that I hope you have a wonderful holiday with your family and friends. As we end the year, I also wish you much love, health and happiness in the New Year. This week, I am replaying one of my favorite episodes from Brave Women at Work. This week, I would love for you to learn (or re-learn) about the power of color with Heather Eck . I met Heather via a podcast placement agency. The magic of podcasting is that you can make amazing connections simply by chatt...
Dec 26, 2024•55 min•Ep. 211
As we get closer to the end of the year, we typically think about our New Year’s Resolutions. One resolution that ends up on many people’s lists is to get out of debt and save more money. What we don’t often talk about is the powerful connection between our wealth and our health. Like my guest today, Krissina Wise , we may take our health for granted in the pursuit of wealth and not even know we are doing it. Krisstina spent between $250,000 and $500,000 getting her health back after a major hea...
Dec 19, 2024•58 min•Ep. 210