Shameless Leadership

Happy 8th Birthday to the SMA! The show turns 8 on March 15th. To celebrate I created an episode about one of my favorite topics this year: advancing women's and mom’s thought leadership.  What does it mean to be a thought leader? You might think it requires a bunch of degrees or building a cult-like following online. Neither of these are necessary. A thought leader is someone who shares their expertise and passion with the world in a way that calls people in and inspires people to see things in a new way. Thought leaders often challenge assumptions and disrupt the status quo. While we often see thought leaders do this in highly visible ways, you can also be a thought leader in a way that is authentic to who you are. You don’t have to stand on the world’s largest stage, with the world’s largest microphone.  Women don’t tend to position themselves as thought leaders because we haven’t been socialized to believe we have a unique POV, special talents to build community around an idea, or the skills to guide people to see things from a different perspective. However, the truth is we do this #everydamnday in various capacities as moms. Moms are perfectly poised for thought leadership because we see the world in ways that others don’t - because we have had to break through barriers and smash glass ceilings to be seen, heard, held, and valued. As a result, we are smart, scrappy, creative, innovative, resilient, tenacious, efficient, and productive in ways that others are not.  So, the truth is either you already are a thought leader OR you are poised to become one starting right now.  If you choose to advance your thought leadership new and unexpected doors will open for you. Opportunities that you didn’t even know you wanted will start presenting themselves - this is literally how the Shameless Mom Academy was born 8 years ago this week! Thank you for being part of the Shameless Mom Academy whether you have listened to one episode or all 856 over the last 8 years. I appreciate you.We love the sponsors that make this show possible! You can always find all the special deals and codes for all our current sponsors on our website: https://shamelessmom.com/sponsorInterested in becoming a sponsor of the Shameless Mom Academy? Email our sales team at sales@adalystmedia.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Heidi Carlson is a Certified Master Life, Relationship, and Self-Empowerment Coach who helps women navigate complex mother-daughter dynamics.  Raised as the youngest of five children to young immigrant parents in an arranged marriage, Heidi faced unique challenges stemming from her parents’ limited life and relationship experience. Growing up in a culture that prioritized people-pleasing over self-prioritization left her without essential life skills, compounded by her parents’ struggling marriage, further complicating her understanding of a healthy relationship.  At 19, Heidi's transformative journey began with deep self-discovery and personal growth. Heidi now embodies self-compassion, prioritizes herself, communicates effectively, and maintains boundaries. Her journey also transformed her relationship with her mother. Over the years, Heidi has guided countless women on similar personal growth and healing paths. She is a respected guiding force, inspiring women to take control of their lives and mend their mother-daughter relationships.Listen in to hear Heidi share: Her experience being the youngest of 5 kids, born to immigrant parents who were married at a very young by way of an arranged marriage How her family’s circumstances suppressed her identity How her family dynamics and her trying relationship with her mom led her down a path of personal discovery  The impact of her being labeled her mom’s “Mini Me” and how that contributed to her struggles with her identity The significance of healing mother-daughter relationships to show up differently in all areas of your life How consistency played a big role in healing herself and her relationship with her mom What it feels like to shift from someone who was chronically self-sacrificial in relationships to someone who uses her voice, sets boundaries, asks for what she needs in relationships, and goes after what she wants despite other’s opinions Links mentioned: Connect with Heidi: heidicarlsoncoaching.com Email Heidi: heidi@heidicarlsoncoaching.com Heidi on LinkedIn Heidi on FB Heidi on IG We love the sponsors that make this show possible! You can always find all the special deals and codes for all our current sponsors on our website: https://shamelessmom.com/sponsorInterested in becoming a sponsor of the Shameless Mom Academy? Email our sales team at sales@adalystmedia.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This feels very surreal. But, yes, I’m going to grad school! This is a decision that seemed to come quickly out of nowhere, but it was also always right there. It feels fast, but right on time. I feel unprepared yet 100% ready. I’m so excited but also nervous. At the end of the day, it feels RIGHT. And, that feels GOOD. A big part of this decision came as I was considering that I have another 20 years (at least) to invest in my career path. I have no desire to change what I’m doing today, but I also feel like I want some grounding and intentionality as I make decisions around what I’m delightedly calling My Next 20.  As I started thinking about My Next 20, I asked myself: Where do you want to be at the end of your career? How do you want to use all the work you’ve done for the last 25 years to inform your work for the next 20 years? What decisions can you make now that will give you options and flexibility over time? How can you continue to create work opportunities for yourself that bring you purpose, meaning, and joy? In what directions are you most excited to learn and grow? Navigating these questions gave me a fairly quick and clear sense of the direction I wanted to head and helped me see that a master's degree would support this direction. In this episode, I talk more about why I’m going back to school, why I chose the program I chose, what I want to do with the degree, and how I’m combatting my inner critic as I return to studying, writing papers, and being in new and uncomfortable territory.  I hope this episode will help you also consider what you want to create for yourself over your Next 20!We love the sponsors that make this show possible! You can always find all the special deals and codes for all our current sponsors on our website: https://shamelessmom.com/sponsorInterested in becoming a sponsor of the Shameless Mom Academy? Email our sales team at sales@adalystmedia.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Nadia Davis is a mom, attorney, victims’ rights advocate, kundalini yoga instructor, and author of Home Is Within You: A Memoir of Recovery and Redemption and has a podcast of the same name. She is a survivor of trauma and abuse, a near-fatal car accident, addiction, and public shaming. Nadia has a lifetime record of passionate work and dedication to improving the lives of others. She has received numerous awards for her work, including the John F. Kennedy Jr. Service Award. Nadia works for justice in keeping moms with their kids while seeking treatment, and for more compassionate methods of treatment and restorative justice. She has a BA from UCLA and a JD from Loyola Law School.  Listen in to hear Nadia share: Her young life of seeking acceptance and assurance as the youngest of 7 children How her lack of safety as a child led to her narrow zone of tolerance as an adult How she was forced to face her childhood trauma after enduring public shaming, blackmail, and addiction  The steps she took to start healing Simple steps anyone can incorporate to start a healing practice How to build a home within that gives us the personal autonomy that is often (almost always) missing from our lives Links mentioned: Connect with Nadia: www.nadia-davis.com Nadia’s Book: Home is Within You: Transforming Shame into Power Nadia’s Podcast: Home is Within You: Transforming Shame into Power Nadia on FB Nadia on IG Nadia on TT We love the sponsors that make this show possible! You can always find all the special deals and codes for all our current sponsors on our website: https://shamelessmom.com/sponsorInterested in becoming a sponsor of the Shameless Mom Academy? Email our sales team at sales@adalystmedia.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This is one of those episodes where once I started down the rabbit hole, I couldn’t find my way back out. I was digging through research and information on motherhood, burnout and exhaustion and every piece of information led me to more info that I didn’t know I needed. At a certain point, I realized I was building list upon list for you all. This onslaught of information helped me see the pervasiveness and insidiousness of burnout and exhaustion that profoundly impact mothers.  The truth is we are all tired. Beyond tired. Most of us don’t even know it. We are walking around in a state of malaise that we see as normal. We don’t recognize who we are anymore, and we don’t have a clue how to find ourselves again. Plus, who even has time to find themselves given all the immediate and urgent tasks that fill our days, nights, and dreams (or nightmares??)In this episode, we will dig into the symptoms and causes of motherhood exhaustion and burnout. Then, we dig into solutions. What are the simple things you can do to bring you back to yourself and step away from the habits and mindsets that are creating a state of perpetual exhaustion and burnout in your life?We love the sponsors that make this show possible! You can always find all the special deals and codes for all our current sponsors on our website: https://shamelessmom.com/sponsorInterested in becoming a sponsor of the Shameless Mom Academy? Email our sales team at sales@adalystmedia.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Priya Krishnan, Chief Digital, and Transformation Officer at Bright Horizons, is an entrepreneur who founded India’s leading child care and schooling service provider with more than 150 company-owned, company-operated centers across the country. At Bright Horizons, she leads client relationships for the US, International M&A, and innovation projects. Priya joined Bright Horizons after founding and running KLAY, a high-quality childcare organization, which has grown to become India’s largest child care. She initially started the business to enable women to return to work after childbirth. She won numerous entrepreneurship recognition awards, as her startup venture expanded to 180 company-owned, company-operated centers across the country, staffed with empowered employees taking care of more than 16,000 children. Priya’s company went on to provide high-quality child care services onsite, and worked with varying workplace models to help companies create employee solutions.Priya also founded a not-for-profit school for marginalized children which has been recognized worldwide for its pedagogy and approach to blended learning. Priya has had a global career in IT consulting across Singapore, New York, and London, working with companies including Accenture, PwC, EDS, and HP. She holds a bachelor’s degree in computer engineering and has an MBA from London Business School.Listen in to hear Priya share: Her life mantra: Failing fast, failing cheap, and learning fast What inspired her work to build a childcare system in India - leading her to become a sought-after visionary and national leader in childcare Her contribution to set a national standard of 6 months maternity leave in India and a national mandate for companies to provide childcare How alignment in values has impacted her career trajectory and called her to build a career around intergenerational family systems  Why childcare is a critical component of cultural infrastructure - and how childcare is a triple bottom line impact in terms of how it positively or negatively impacts the entire society Her invitation to design work around life vs life around work Links mentioned: Listen to Priya’s Podcast: The Work-Life Equation Connect with Bright Horizons: https://www.brighthorizons.com/ Bright Horizons on IG Bright Horizons on FB Bright Horizons on LinkedIn Priya on LinkedIn Priya on Twitter/X We love the sponsors that make this show possible! You can always find all the special deals and codes for all our current sponsors on our website: https://shamelessmom.com/sponsorInterested in becoming a sponsor of the Shameless Mom Academy? Email our sales team at sales@adalystmedia.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Are you a high-five person? My husband and I spent a weekend with a couple years ago who high-fived each other all the time. After that weekend, my husband said to me, “They high-five a lot. We are just not high-five people.” Don’t get me wrong, we loved this couple. But we didn’t think we would ever share their enthusiasm for high fives.  What’s ironic now is that I’ve built an entire legacy around high-fiving women, more or less. When I think of high-fiving others it can look like a lot of things - a compliment, a congrats, a comment of support. When someone else high-fives me, literally or figuratively, it feels so good!  It takes almost nothing to be a cheerleader and champion of other women, yet it can make all the difference in the world. Think of how great it feels when someone shows up to let you know they are happy for you, impressed by you, or grateful for you. High-fives matter.  Women championing one another is a must. This is how we model to our children how women treat women. This is how we make space for other women in a world that, in many instances, doesn’t make space for women. This is how we can see others and be seen ourselves.  In this episode, I share 6 ways you can champion other women in loud & proud ways, as well as quietly. After you listen in, think about how you can immediately go champion another woman by giving her that literal or figurative high-five to let her know, “We are in this together. I got you. I see you.”We love the sponsors that make this show possible! You can always find all the special deals and codes for all our current sponsors on our website: https://shamelessmom.com/sponsorInterested in becoming a sponsor of the Shameless Mom Academy? Email our sales team at sales@adalystmedia.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Going back to school after 40 is not for the faint of heart. Dr. Vrnda 'V' Boykin knows this well returning to school in 2017 and obtaining her BS in Marketing Management, MS in Management and Leadership, Master of Business Administration, and Doctorate of Business Administration in Organizational Leadership. Dr. V’s expertise is in creating equitable work experiences for women. Dr. V established clear evidence to illustrate the importance of social support systems in tackling workplace equity through simple shifts in the social environment.Bravery is in Dr. V's bones and she is known for her commitment to innovation. Viewing education as the most effective tool in achieving equity, V utilizes her skills and knowledge to disrupt and redefine leadership training and enablement programs resulting in increased performance and profitability within the technology space.Listen in to hear Dr. V share: Her recent accomplishment of getting her PhD and becoming one 4.4% of black women with a doctoral degree Her life path from being a very young mother and stripper on food stamps who ended up in the prison system to then getting 4 degrees, including a PhD, in a mere 7 years How she used her time in prison, and how she decided to move forward from that time in her life How she sits with shame and how and why she has worked so hard to reconcile that for herself and other Black women The fine line between vulnerability and power and how dancing and stripping allowed her to step away from vulnerability and into her power The legacy she is building around creating equity and belonging in the workplace, as well as what true equity in the workplace looks like for women and moms The major caveat around the “bringing your full self to work” movement, especially for people carrying marginalized identities How providing services for women and moms benefits organizations Her tagline and call to action: stop talking about my attitude and start talking about my accomplishments Links mentioned: Connect with Dr. V: drvboykin.com V on LinkedIn We love the sponsors that make this show possible! You can always find all the special deals and codes for all our current sponsors on our website: https://shamelessmom.com/sponsorInterested in becoming a sponsor of the Shameless Mom Academy? Email our sales team at sales@adalystmedia.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You know that voice in your head that makes you doubt yourself, says nasty things to yourself, beats yourself up, compares you to others, and tells you you are not enough? That’s your inner critic. She can be a real nightmare! If you’re anything like most women I know, you probably give her way too much airplay. You hear her as she clears her throat to step up to the mic and then you listen intently as she rants about your weaknesses and shortcomings. Worst of all, you believe her.  Your inner critic keeps you quiet, small, fearful, and frustrated. Because she has been with you for so long, you likely don’t realize she has set up shop as your default voice. You may find she is the loudest voice in your head. As the loudest voice in your head, she inhibits your decision-making and action-taking. She tells you you’re not worthy, capable, qualified, or ready to do the things you want to do or say the things you want to say. She has stolen your voice and stunted your growth as a woman and a leader in the world. In this episode, I walk you through how your inner critic came to be and how she got so loud. I hope that once you see how she was born you can permit yourself to permanently kick her to the curb. She is a product of the patriarchy and she really doesn’t deserve another ounce of your precious time or energy. Sometimes, we see things we can’t unsee or hear things we can’t unhear. I think you’ll find when you learn the roots of your inner critic, you can no longer sit idly by and let her go on. Because the reality is that you are worthy, capable, qualified, and ready to do the things you want to do or say the things you want to say. She, on the other hand, is NOT. We love the sponsors that make this show possible! You can always find all the special deals and codes for all our current sponsors on our website: https://shamelessmom.com/sponsorInterested in becoming a sponsor of the Shameless Mom Academy? Email our sales team at sales@adalystmedia.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Maria Ross is a speaker, leadership trainer, author, and empathy advocate who believes cash flow, creativity, and compassion are not mutually exclusive. She’s spent decades helping forward-thinking leaders and teams connect and engage through empathy to accelerate growth and impact. Maria has authored multiple books, including her most recent, The Empathy Edge, and hosts The Empathy Edge podcast. Maria understands the power of empathy on a personal level: In 2008, shortly after launching her business, she suffered a near-fatal ruptured brain aneurysm that inspired her memoir, Rebooting My Brain. Her next book The Empathy Dilemma: How Successful Leaders Balance Performance, People, and Personal Boundaries, arrives Fall 2024.Listen in to hear Maria share: How she shifted from her work as a brand strategist to empathy expert How motherhood pushed her to really dig into bringing her empathy work into the  workplace Different examples of what empathy looks like in the workplace - and what the absence of it looks like How empathy in the workplace must be a combination of compassion + action Myths around empathy The significance of action behind your empathy - and how action can look for different people How we can (and why we should) use empathy in the overlap of our personal & professional lives What to do in an interaction with someone who is not being empathetic Links mentioned: Connect with Maria: https://www.red-slice.com Maria’s Podcast: The Empathy Edge   TedX Talk LinkedIn Instagram Threads Twitter/X Facebook Maria on YouTube Book: Roadmap for Revolutionaries We love the sponsors that make this show possible! You can always find all the special deals and codes for all our current sponsors on our website: https://shamelessmom.com/sponsorInterested in becoming a sponsor of the Shameless Mom Academy? Email our sales team at sales@adalystmedia.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices