

Shameless Leadership
Sara Dean
Welcome to Shameless Leadership! This show is for women, transgender people, non-binary folks, and allies who are committed to advancing their leadership and the leadership of those around them. In this space, we believe everyone deserves to feel seen, heard, valued, and supported. Our mission is to help you foster these feelings within your own circles of influence to build trust, psychological safety, and a culture of belonging.In each episode, we dive into essential topics impacting women in leadership - everything from shutting down your inner critic and imposter syndrome to overcoming perfectionism to using your voice in new ways to advocate for yourself, your ideas, and other folks carrying marginalized identities. You'll hear practical tips, effective strategies, and inspiring stories that will not only enhance your leadership skills but also broaden your perspective to become a more confident, thoughtful, and empathetic leader.Our stories come from people carrying identities who are often underrepresented, underestimated, and excluded. By sharing their experiences, we aim to provide you with invaluable lessons that will transform your leadership journey. We are thrilled to have you join this community of Shameless Leaders who are actively creating a world where everyone, regardless of gender, can intentionally lead through a more curious, compassionate, and inclusive lens.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Jan 22, 2020 • 59min
408: Casey McGuire Davidson: On Giving Up Wine To Gain Clarity and Connection
Casey McGuire Davidson is a certified life coach, the founder of Hello Someday Coaching and creator of the “Sober Girl’s Guide To Quitting Drinking, 30 Tips To Help Get You Through Your First 30 Days”.She works with busy, successful women who want to reevaluate their relationship with alcohol, quit drinking, and create lives they love without their nightly glass (or bottle) of wine.She’s also a wife, a mom, a practical dreamer, recovering corporate ladder climber, retired people-pleaser and ex-red wine drinker, who's been known to crawl into bed at 9 pm and whisper "Don't worry...you're still a badass" to herself.Casey and I met at an event recently when she approached me as a fan of the SMA. We immediately hit it off and the second she told me that she works with moms who are reevaluating their relationship with alcohol I knew she had to come on the show. So many moms have a silent struggle with alcohol. I think it’s one of the most under talked about issues of motherhood. And that is not ok.Listen in to hear Casey share:
How she relied on wine to manage her emotional and mental health
What pushed her to attempt 100 days of sobriety
What red wine represented for her and her fear of giving up something she loved so much
How to view giving up alcohol as a positive powerful choice vs sad consequence
The best question to ask yourself if you’re thinking about giving up drinking
The pros and cons of different sobriety programs and why she believes some are better than others for women
Links mentioned:
Join us at Shameless Mom Con 2020
Connect with Casey: Hello Someday Coaching
Free Sober Girl’s Guide To Quitting Drinking: Sobriety Starter Kit
Casey on Facebook: Hello Someday
Casey on Instagram: Casey Mdavidson
Thank you to our sponsors:
FamilyAlbum: Please find FamilyAlbum on your favorite app store, or by searching for FamilyAlbum on the web. And remember FamilyAlbum is all one word.
Magic Spoon: Go to magicspoon.com/SMA to grab a variety pack and try it today! And be sure to use our promo code SMA at checkout to get free shipping.
Lola: Get organic cotton tampons and other hygiene products delivered right to your door. To get 30% off your first order, go to mylola.com and use the code SHAMELESS30 when you subscribe.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Jan 20, 2020 • 41min
407: 3 Things I Tried To Quit In 2019 - Not All Successfully
In 2019 I set out to quit 3 things that were no longer serving me. Not only were these three things no longer serving me, they were sucking precious time and energy to the point I could no longer ignore their negative impact on my life.It would be cute and fun and just oh-so-perfect if I could have sat down to record this episode and shout from the rooftops, “I DID IT! I QUIT THESE THINGS THAT WERE NO LONGER SERVING ME!” But I didn’t. I had varying degrees of “success” in the quitting of each thing. I put success in quotes because we tend to gauge success in really black & white terms and one of the best lessons I’ve learned over the last couple years (as someone who really likes to keep things black & white), is that often the magic is in the gray. We think “success” lives in the black & white. But true success is in the gray - where you have the power to shift your perspective #everydamnday in order to find wins, gain growth, and feel the magic even when you haven’t found the “success” you were initially looking for.Listen in to learn with me as I share my “success” and my SUCCESS of kinda quitting three things that were no longer serving me.Links mentioned:Join us at Shameless Mom Con 2020Thank you to our sponsors:
Native: For 20% off your first purchase, visit nativedeodorant.com and use promo code shameless at checkout.
Zola: Sign up at www.ZOLA.com/shameless today to get your FREE personalized paper sample. Then use code SAVE50 to get 50% off your save the dates!
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Jan 15, 2020 • 50min
406: Kaitlyn Gresham: Supporting Entrepreneurial Moms in Developing Countries
Kaitlyn Gresham is a Shameless Mom and the founder and Executive Director of Under the Same Tree - a non-profit organization that is preventing the effects of poverty through economic empowerment - equipping families affected by extreme poverty around the world to build their own income sources. They offer the opportunity for their supporters to match with a family served by their programs, to build meaningful relationships and the tangible opportunity to see the impact that is being made.Kaitlyn was born in Southern California and now lives in Saint Louis, Missouri with her husband, David, and daughter Valeria, who joined their family via adoption from Nicaragua in 2017. She has a Master’s degree in International Relations with a Graduate Certificate in Nonprofit Leadership, and she loves fish tacos, hiking, and sunshine.I was introduced to Kaitlyn through her nonprofit and immediately wanted to interview, as well as support her amazing cause. I am so excited to share Kaitlyn’s message and mission!Listen in to hear Kaitlyn share:
How she knew from a very young age that she wanted to grow her family through adoption
How she and her husband decided to adopt from the hardest to match adoptee list
The limiting factors of opportunities for women and their babies in developing nations
How her nonprofit provides opportunities for women in developing nations to start their own businesses and make their own money to create financial stability for their families as well provide economic growth in the local communities
The beauty and power of women invest in others when they have any extra resources
How she connects women entrepreneurs in the US to women in Kenya, Uganda, and Haiti
Links mentioned:Connect with Kaitlyn: Under The Same TreeMentorship CollectiveKaitlyn on FacebookKaitlyn on InstagramThank you to our sponsors:
Blinkist: Go to Blinkist.com/SHAMELESS try it FREE for 7 days AND save 25% off your new subscription.
Hylands: For more information about Hylands, visit: https://www.hylands.com/products/hylands-earache-drops
Grove Collaborative: Make your laundry more sustainable this new year. For a limited time, when my listeners go to Grove.co/SHAMELESS you’ll get a FREE THREE PIECE set from Grove so you can start reducing your plastic waste. Plus, you’ll get free shipping AND a free 60-day VIP trial! Check out Grove and our special offer at Grove.co/SHAMELESS.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Jan 13, 2020 • 47min
405: Finding & Fine Tuning Alignment In The New Year
When you are “in alignment” your thoughts, feelings, words, and actions are all supportive of each other. You feel a sense of ease knowing there is congruence between your heads, hearts, and actions.Alignment feels good - and powerful. Alignment allows us to feel stable and confident and even eager about our days, in spite of the daily hiccups that inevitably get thrown our way.When we are out of alignment, things feel quite different. We feel uneasy. We struggle in our relationships. We feel lost and unsure of our own sense of self and even our own self-worth. We tend to get sick more. We feel foggy and uninspired. We succumb to numbing behaviors like more alcohol, more sugar, more mindless social media scrolling, more TV binging.Being out of alignment does not feel good. It feels disempowering, sometimes even crippling.I want you to kick off this year with a conscientiousness around how congruent your thoughts, feelings, and motions are with your actions. Listen in to learn if you’re in alignment and how to get in alignment/stay in alignment in 2020!Links Mentioned:Join us at Shameless Mom Con 2020
Thank you to our sponsors:
Third Love: To find the perfect fitting bra and get 15% off your first purchase got to www.thirdlove.com/shameless
FamilyAlbum: Please find FamilyAlbum on your favorite app store, or by searching for FamilyAlbum on the web. And remember FamilyAlbum is all one word.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Jan 8, 2020 • 56min
404: Casey O'Roarty: Joyful Courage & Parenting Teens
Casey O’Roarty, Med, is a facilitator of personal growth and development. Her work encourages parents to discover the purpose of their journey, while also providing them with tools and a shift of mindset that allows them to deepen their relationships with themselves and their families. As a Positive Discipline Trainer since 2007 and certified coach, Casey has led countless groups through workshops and classes that have left them feeling empowered and excited about parenting. She also offers an engaging podcast, live and online classes, and individual coaching at Joyful Courage. Her first book, Joyful Courage: Calming the Drama and Taking Control of YOUR Parenting Journey launched May 20th, 2019. Casey lives in the Pacific Northwest with greatest teachers – her husband, and two teenage kids.Casey and I have been running in parallel universe’s for the last couple years. I knew she was someone I wanted to connect with - and had a sense we would hit it off BIG TIME. Spoiler alert: we hit it off BIG TIME. Listen in and laugh along with us!Listen in to hear Casey share:
How she lives and leads and makes sh*t happen as an unapologetic extrovert
The basic human need of connection and mattering and how it relates to Positive Discipline Parenting
The truth about your kids living in a reactive state
How to find the courage to be imperfect
How to move from the role of pilot to co-pilot when parenting teens
Managing your own narrative vs your teen’s narrative
Links Mentioned:
2020 Plan & Prep Pajama Party
Connect with Casey: Joyful Courage
Podcast: Joyful Courage
Live and Love with Joyful Courage FB group
Joyful Courage for Parents of Teens group
FB Page: Joyful Courage
IG Page: Joyful Courage
Casey’s adolescent mental health summit: Joyful Courage
Thank you to our sponsors:
Betabrand: Right now, our listeners can get 20% off their first order when you go to betabrand.com/shameless (shameless must be lowercase).
care of: For 25% off your first order of personalized care/of vitamins, visit www.takecareof.com and enter the code SHAMELESS at checkout.
Magic Spoon: Go to magicspoon.com/SMA to grab a variety pack and try it today! And be sure to use our promo code SMA at checkout to get free shipping.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Jan 6, 2020 • 39min
403: How To Pick The BEST Theme Words For 2020
Not gonna lie….For years I thought this whole notion of picking theme words for the year was too “woo woo” for me. I didn’t see the point. At all.But then, a few years ago, I heard a colleague talking about her words for the year: Space & Grace. And suddenly I was like, “I NEED THOSE WORDS IN MY LIFE #everydamnday!!!”This was at a time in my life that I felt I had NO space and NO grace. I was overwhelmed, living in a lot of unknowns, and burning the candle at both ends - with no end in sight. So, I borrowed these two little words - Space & Grace - for the year. They mattered. They helped me shift my perspective on my situation. They gave me hope and encouragement and strength during a phase of life where I felt I had very little control.Ever since then, I have chosen words for the year. These words gift me intention and clarity focus. They create a filter through which I can make decisions for the year. They remind me who I am becoming. Listen in to hear how choosing theme words for the year might help you (a ton), how to go about picking the best words for your current life and dreams, and how to give yourself just enough space & grace to patiently let the right words come to you so they can have maximum impact on your year.Links mentioned:2020 Plan & Prep Pajama PartyThank you to our sponsors:
FamilyAlbum: Please find FamilyAlbum on your favorite app store, or by searching for FamilyAlbum on the web. And remember FamilyAlbum is all one word.
Openfit: Right now, my listeners get a 14-day FREE trial membership to OPENFIT when you text SHAMELESS to 505050.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Jan 1, 2020 • 55min
402: Dana Pake: Embracing The Detours With A Player's Mentality
Dana Pake is a Seattle-based Shameless Mom to two daughters, Ellie (10) and Holland (7). A recovering people pleaser and perfectionist, she's a work-in-progress learning to savor the present and the impermanence of life with light-hearted flexibility. She's a lot like you. Working every day to be the best version of herself while simultaneously breaking the mold of her roles as wife, mom, daughter, sister, and employee.Everyone has a story. Hers is punctuated by turning hardships into gifts. From her parent's divorce, living on her own since she was a senior in high school, weathering her father's suicide at age 19, outrunning Hurricane Maria and helping her husband through a difficult health episode, Dana has learned to metabolize hardship for inward and upward growth.When she's not spending her days creating in real-life moments and human interactions that matter at events as an experience designer, you can find her planning her next trip to parts unknown (whether that's exploring new corners of the world with her family or discovering new versions of herself).Listen in to hear Dana share:
The impact of her parents divorce and how she became a parental figure to her sister at age 8
The impact of losing her father to suicide at age 19
How she and her family narrowly escaped Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico and set off on a year-long nomadic adventure with her husband and two young daughters
How she’s used work to hide, escape, and avoid pain, grief and growth - and how it’s caught up with her
Her family motto: embrace the detours
The power of the victim vs player mentality
How owning her resilience informs her personal and professional decisions today
Links Mentioned:
2020 Plan & Prep Pajama Party
Find Dana onTwitter
Find Dana on LinkedIN
Thank you to our sponsors:
Talkspace: To match with your perfect therapist for a fraction of the price of traditional therapy, go to talkspace.com, Make sure to use the code SHAMELESS to get $100 off your first month and show your support for the show.
Best Fiends: Download FREE on the Apple App Store or Google Play.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Dec 30, 2019 • 24min
401: Do Not Let This Lie Damage The End Of 2019
Your social media feed is probably full of posts touting how awful 2019 has been. People who look back on a year of losses and defeat, eager to close the door and start over. I get it to some extent. And also… I think you are doing yourself a MASSIVE disservice if this is the attitude you choose to close the door on 2019 with. You did a lot this year.You did hard things. You did big things.You did brave things.You learned. You grew. You prospered. Sometimes you fell. And you got back up.You cleaned your wounds. You kept going.You are stronger for everything you endured this year.You are better for all the times you fell.You are tougher for all the times you ugly cried.This was a year of lessons and learning that will serve you WELL in 2020. And a lot of great things happened all over the world this year. You don’t get to see that when you track the traditional US news cycle.Listen to hear all the ways 2019 ROCKED in big ways and small. There will be some surprises in this episode for sure. I hope they inspire you to love your year and feel LIT UP about starting a new one.I am proud of all the hard things you did this year. I SEE YOU. Congrats on your growth in 2019. Links Mentioned:
2020 Plan & Prep Pajama Party
Bored Panda article: I’m Honestly Fed Up With All The Bad News, So I Illustrated 50 Of The Best Ones From 2019
Thank you to our sponsor:
Stitch Fix Kids: Get started today at StitchFix.com/KIDS/shameless to try Stitch Fix and get an extra 25% off when you keep everything in your box! And as a bonus, Stitch Fix will waive their $20 styling fee when you use this show’s special URL! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Dec 25, 2019 • 47min
400: Ali Levine: Stripped, PPD, and Peace In The Pause
Born and raised in New York, Ali Levine has worked for some of the biggest names in the Fashion industry including Fragments, Coach, Talbots and Target as part of development and design. Ali relocated to Los Angeles, California where she fell head over heels in love with wardrobe styling. She is an expert when it comes to creating looks for her celebrity clients. From red carpet appearances, music videos to world tours, Ali a unique thumbprint that displays her talent as a Fashion stylist.Ali's New York persona took the limelight, when she recently appeared with her husband on Bravo's hit show, "Stripped." As a TV correspondent, she's covered red carpet events for Celebrity Page TV and makes regular appearance promoting herself as a brand. Ali's vibrant personality lights up the red carpet and tv appearance. After Ali's recent birth of her daughter Amelia, Ali has transitioned to mompreneur and mommy influencer across the board.Listen in to hear Ali share:
Why confidence is your greatest accessory and how to step into your confidence when you’re really not feeling it
Her philosophy around “there is peace in the pause” especially when life feels chaotic
Her (NAKED) experience on the Bravo show Stripped
How being on Stripped prepared her for her traumatic birth experience and postpartum depression
The specific steps she took to work through postpartum depression
Her use of CBD in her postpartum depression recovery
How PPD prepared her for all that comes with motherhood
Links mentioned:
2020 Plan & Prep Pajama Party
Podcast: Striptd Down with Ali Levine
Connect with Ali
Ali on Instagram
Thank you to our sponsor:
Literati: For a limited time, go to Literatibooks.com and use promo code SHAMELESS for $20 off your first box. Plus, kids three and up get a special blacklight pen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Dec 23, 2019 • 38min
399: The 4 Biggest Gifts Of 400 Episodes
This is the week!!On Christmas day, the SMA will celebrate 400 episodes.DAMN.That’s not a small milestone.I have learned so much on this journey and I thought it would be fun to share some of the vulnerable behind the scenes moments with you. Listen in to hear:The top 4 gifts I’ve gleaned over 400 episodesThe guests that I’ve been most nervous forA few of my most vulnerable moments on the showThe parts that have looked awesome on social media, while being far less glamorous behind the scenesI love sharing the show with you all. And I love sharing BTS. I think it’s alllll super important. I can’t thank you enough for walking beside me on this journey. It just keeps getting better and that is in LARGE part because of YOU.Love, love, love… SaraLinks mentioned:2020 Plan & Prep Pajama PartyThank you to our sponsors:
Hylands: For more information about Hylands, visit:
https://www.hylands.com/products/hylands-earache-drops
Zola: Sign up at www.ZOLA.com/shameless today to get your FREE personalized paper sample. Then use code SAVE50 to get 50% off your save the dates!
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices


