Be the CEO of your Confidence with Rebecca Black

What if the internet already showed us exactly what AI is about to do - and most of us missed the warning? Seema Alexander did not miss it. Her parents ran the first Indian vegetarian restaurant in DC. Muhammad Ali ate there. It grew to multiple locations. And then the internet happened, and they were so focused on running the business that they never saw it coming. Seema connected those dots years later - and decided she was not going to let the same thing happen to the next generation of business leaders. This is the conversation she has been building toward for four years.SUMMARY & GUEST INTROY'all know that Erica is obsessed with AI. So when she gets to sit down with someone who has been living and breathing this space from the business side - not the tech side, not the theory side, but the actual how do you rewire a real company side - she nerds out. Seema Alexander spent over two decades helping CEOs and founders grow at the intersection of brand, innovation, and community. She saw AI coming before most people were paying attention, went all in, and built Disruptive AI - a strategy and development studio helping companies rethink, reimagine, and rewire for the era we are already living in. She hosts The AI CEO Podcast, co-chairs DC Startup and Tech Week, and her keynote 'Why AI Is Bigger Than the Internet' has been delivered on stages across the country and internationally. Her mission is to equip one million CEOs with the fluency, strategy, and confidence to lead boldly into the AI era - and she is building a conference around it: AI BusinessCon, March 2-3, 2027, in the DC metro area.INSIDE THE EPISODEThe Aha, Oh Sh*t Moment. Seema calls it her 'aha, oh sh*t moment' - the day she was advising an early agentic AI company, listening to a cinematographer describe cutting his six-month storyboard process down to a click of a button, and realized: this is not about automation. This is rewiring the way business gets done. And this is the weakest the technology will ever be.AI BusinessCon: The Conference for Business Leaders, Not Builders. Most AI conferences are built for CTOs and developers. Seema is building one for the C-suite, founders, and investors who need to understand what is happening without needing a computer science degree to follow it. AI BusinessCon, March 2-3, 2027, DC metro area. Two days: big picture reality check, then practical and tactical. Come out knowing what to do next.Women and AI: Conviction Is the Strategy. Do women face an AI gap? Seema's answer is sharp: yes, there is a gender divide in most tech spaces. But the play for women is not to wait for permission. Pick your lane, go deep in it, stay on top of it, and own your conviction. Women connect dots differently - and that is exactly what this moment needs.The Great Business Rewiring: Rethink, Reimagine, Rewire. Seema's framework is not a PowerPoint. It is a three-stage process: rethink (build real fluency, understand AI like Lego pieces), reimagine (design what your business could look like with a layer of intelligence, proprietary data, and agents marketing to agents), and rewire (actually do the work). And do not AI-enable a broken workflow - fix the workflow first.Your Proprietary Data Is the New Moat. The models are commoditizing. What is not commoditizing is what you uniquely know about your customers, your industry, and your operations. Seema breaks down why proprietary data and domain expertise are the real competitive advantage - and why 'we use AI' is not a differentiator.My Parents' Restaurant and the Rise of the Internet. The most personal moment in the conversation. Seema's parents ran the first Indian vegetarian restaurant in DC - Muhammad Ali ate there. It grew to multiple locations. And then the internet happened. They were operators. They were not watching the technology. And they lost nearly everything. This is the story behind everything Seema is building.Go Deep, Go Fast, Go Quick. Seema's advice to her pre-AI self - and to every woman listening who has been putting off getting serious about this. The more you know, the more impact, profit, and community. Do not be afraid to talk. This stuff is moving fast. Go deep, go fast, go quick.RESOURCES & LINKSAI BusinessCon (March 2-3, 2027, DC Metro): https://businesscon.ai/Disruptive AI: https://getdisruptive.ai/Seema Alexander Speaker Site: https://seemaalexander.com/The AI CEO Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-ai-ceo-with-seema-alexander/id1676444315Seema on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/seemaalexander/ ERICA'S RESOURCES & LINKSStart small with me inside HER Jumpstart:https://her-collective.mn.co/plans/1985289?bundle_token=60b2c61d62213cdbd16d437cdc0e4204&utm_source=manual🤖 Grab your copy of THE AI GAP: https://amzn.to/3OAXAdL📚 Get my first book, Glass Ceilings and Sticky Floors: https://amzn.to/4uvjbE5💼 Follow me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericarooney/📸 Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ericaandersonrooney/🎵 Check out my TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ericaandersonrooney

What if the pay gap is not just something happening to women out there in the abstract - but something happening to you, right now, in the salary band your company set before you even walked in the door? Meghan Pierce has the data. Philadelphia women are more educated than their male counterparts. They are in the workforce in strong numbers. And in some industries, they are earning less than they were before. The headline number looks like progress. The real numbers, broken down by race, by industry, by education level, tell a different story. This episode is about both: what the data actually says and what you can do about it today.SUMMARY & GUEST INTROIf you have ever wondered whether the pay gap is actually real, or whether it applies to someone as educated and accomplished as you, Meghan Pierce has been waiting to answer that question. She is the first-ever President and CEO of the Forum of Executive Women, a Philadelphia-based organization with more than 600 senior women leaders that has been doing this work since 1977. She came to the role from the League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania, before that from policy work at New York City Hall and some of the country's most respected law firms. Every year, the Forum publishes two reports that are the only Philadelphia-specific research of their kind: the Women in Leadership Report, tracking female representation in the C-suite and boardroom, and the Pay Equity Report, which examines the gender pay gap by industry, education level, and race. This is not headline data. These are the numbers most people never see - and Meghan is here to make sure you cannot look away.INSIDE THE EPISODEThe Pay Gap Is Getting Worse - and Not for Who You Think. The overall gap is slowly closing for white women. But for women of color, it is widening. And in specific industries across Philadelphia - and nationally - it is moving in the wrong direction entirely. Meghan breaks down what the data actually shows and why the headline number is not the number you should be looking at.More Degrees. Less Pay. Women are taking on more student debt to get higher degrees and not seeing it translate into higher income. The education fix is not fixing the pay gap. Meghan explains why - and what actually does.What Erica Saw From Inside HR. As a Chief People Officer, Erica had access to the pay data most employees never see. She shares what she actually found - the RIF lists where every name was a woman, the salary band game, the moment she realized that 'that girl only asked for 80K, let's offer 75' was happening in real time - and what it taught her about how the gap gets built in from day one.The Sponsor vs. the Mentor. A mentor gives you advice. A sponsor says your name in rooms when you are not there. Meghan breaks down the difference, why having a sponsor is one of the most powerful things you can do to close your own pay gap, and what it actually takes to get one (hint: it is not asking for one).Women Are Afraid to Use AI at Work. And They're Not Wrong. Meghan's Forum has been tracking this: women are afraid to use AI at work for fear of getting in trouble. Erica confirms the data backs them up - men are more encouraged to experiment, women are judged more harshly when they do. And if the skills gap that creates compounds over time, the AI gap and the pay gap become the same gap.Nine Women CEOs Out of 100. That was the most Philadelphia had ever had in a single year. Not double digits. Nine. Meghan explains the structural, social, and policy barriers that keep women out of the top jobs - paid family leave, caretaking responsibilities, and the boards that keep picking people who look like the people who picked them.You Have Everything You Need Right Now. Meghan's advice to her younger self. Erica's response: what is meant for you will not miss you, girl. The close of this episode is the thing women need to hear when imposter syndrome is loudest.RESOURCES & LINKSForum of Executive Women: https://www.foew.com/Pay Equity Report: https://www.foew.com/pay-equity-reportWomen in Leadership Report: https://www.foew.com/women-in-leadershipMeghan Pierce on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/meghanpierce/Philadelphia Citizen Article - Philadelphia Women, Still Underpaid: https://thephiladelphiacitizen.org/guest-commentary-philadelphia-women-pay-equity/ ERICA'S RESOURCES & LINKSStart small with me inside HER Jumpstart:https://her-collective.mn.co/plans/1985289?bundle_token=60b2c61d62213cdbd16d437cdc0e4204&utm_source=manual🤖 Grab your copy of THE AI GAP: https://amzn.to/3OAXAdL📚 Get my first book, Glass Ceilings and Sticky Floors: https://amzn.to/4uvjbE5💼 Follow me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericarooney/📸 Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ericaandersonrooney/🎵 Check out my TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ericaandersonrooney

What if the thing that is going to change your career is not the next certification, the next platform, or the next viral moment - but getting ruthlessly honest about what you actually are? Ashley Stahl had tear gas in her eyes in Istanbul when she got the email inviting her to give a TEDx talk. She had never given a speech in her life. She propped her iPhone against a bathroom mirror, recorded herself talking, and called it a speaking reel. She got the gig. And what followed is one of the most honest frameworks for personal branding, career clarity, and trusting your own gifts that this show has ever featured.SUMMARY & GUEST INTROIf you have been trying to build your brand by showing up everywhere and it is slowly draining the life out of you, Ashley Stahl has a different instruction. She started her career in counterterrorism under the Obama Administration, gave her very first speech ever on the TEDxBerkeley stage, and went from no speaker reel to a coaching waitlist overnight. Her second TEDx talk got 8,000 views in its first year and then two million the next - for no identifiable reason other than it was exactly what she had to say. She is the bestselling author of You Turn: Get Unstuck, Discover Your Direction, and Design Your Dream Career, the founder of Wise Whisper Agency - which has helped clients generate over 30 million YouTube views from TEDx talks alone - and she is here to tell you that the internet rewards specificity, not volume. Pick your island. Say what you have to say. Say it loud. Then let it carry you.INSIDE THE EPISODEShe Had Tear Gas in Her Eyes When She Got the TEDx Email. Ashley was sitting in a government protest in Taksim Square in Istanbul when her friend texted: 'Hey, I got you a TEDx talk.' She had never spoken publicly in her life. She googled 'speaking reel,' filmed herself on an iPhone in a bathroom, and sent it in. She got the gig. This is what saying yes before you are ready actually looks like.You Don't Find Your Purpose. You Come Upon It. Most people treat purpose like a destination. Ashley says it is a calibration. The people who really figure it out do not have linear careers. They have been in the experiment. They have used every chapter as a vehicle to get clearer on their gifts - even when the chapter looked completely wrong from the outside.The Personal Brand Island Framework. The internet is not one place. It is islands - TEDx, podcasting, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, Substack. Most people try to build on all of them at once and burn out producing content they do not believe in. Ashley's instruction: pick one island, master it for a year, build a workflow, and move to the next one only when you are ready.Your Money Follows Your Gift. Ashley knows she is a writer. All her money is word money. If you look at where your income is actually coming from, it will tell you more about your real skillset than any assessment ever could. Pick platforms that let your gift lead, not platforms that require a gift you do not have.8,000 Views. Then Two Million. Ashley's second TEDx got almost no traction in year one. She knew it was her best work. She did not change a thing. Year two: two million views. The lesson is not about the algorithm. It is about consistency and commitment being almost impossible to sustain if you do not actually believe in what you are saying.Your Intuition Can Only See 0.01% of What Is Real. Humans see 0.0035% of the electromagnetic spectrum. We cannot see radio waves, microwaves, infrared, X-rays, gamma. And yet most of us make all our decisions based on what we can prove with our 0.01% eyeballs. Ashley makes the case that intuition is not woo. It is an intelligence system. And ignoring it is as absurd as insisting radio waves do not exist because you cannot see them.If You're Walking Through Hell, Keep Walking. Churchill. Don't change your postal code for your bad feelings. Ashley's entire framework for getting through the hard chapters of life and career is this: sit in the feeling, extract the lesson, and keep moving. Victim mode is an alarm - a signal to get curious, not to stay stuck.RESOURCES & LINKSWise Whisper Agency: https://wisewhisperagency.com/Book: You Turn: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1950665690Ashley on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashleystahl/Ashley on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ashleystahl/ ERICA'S RESOURCES & LINKSStart small with me inside HER Jumpstart:https://her-collective.mn.co/plans/1985289?bundle_token=60b2c61d62213cdbd16d437cdc0e4204&utm_source=manual🤖 Grab your copy of THE AI GAP: https://amzn.to/3OAXAdL📚 Get my first book, Glass Ceilings and Sticky Floors: https://amzn.to/4uvjbE5💼 Follow me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericarooney/📸 Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ericaandersonrooney/🎵 Check out my TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ericaandersonrooney

What if the most damaging thing that ever happened to you was not the dramatic moment - the affair, the rehab call, the divorce papers - but the slow, invisible erosion of yourself that happened so gradually you did not even notice until you were already gone? Dana Killion spent 25 years in a marriage to a high-functioning alcoholic who also had a secret sexual life. She did not collapse. She did not run. She did the work of trying to understand, trying to rebuild, and eventually trying to save herself. And then she wrote about all of it - so no woman ever has to go through it alone again.SUMMARY & GUEST INTROIf you have ever set yourself aside for someone else's pain and looked up one day to find you had completely disappeared - Dana Killion wrote this episode for you. She is the author of Where the Shadows Dance and the upcoming Becoming Unbreakable: A Big Sister's Guide to Trauma, out September 2026. A former apparel industry executive who turned to writing first as escape and then as purpose, Dana has survived the collapse of a long marriage, the loss of both parents, a cross-country reinvention, and the death of her eldest son. She now works as what she calls a trauma big sister - not a therapist, not a coach, but someone who has been through it and will hold your hand while you find your way through too. This one is going to stay with people.INSIDE THE EPISODEHe Got Sober. She Got Broken. The line on Dana's website that stops everyone cold - and the one Erica starts with. When your entire life is organized around keeping someone else alive, you disappear. Dana breaks down how that happens, why it happens below the surface of awareness, and what it feels like to suddenly see yourself clearly for the first time in years.The Secret Life She Did Not Know About. While her husband was in rehab finally taking his sobriety seriously, Dana learned he had also been living a secret sexual life - a large number of partners she had never known about. She walks through what it is like when the ground shifts under 25 years of memory all at once.This Is Trauma Too. Most people think of trauma as a sudden, acute event. Chronic, quiet, invisible trauma - the kind that comes from decades of loving someone who is slowly destroying themselves - does not look the same. Dana took years to name what had happened to her as trauma. She gives every woman listening permission to do the same.I Will Not Let This Man Destroy Me. Lying in bed night after night, Dana repeated this to herself until it became the foundation of everything she built next. Determination that looked like stubbornness. A refusal to become one of the women she had seen who never recovered. This is the turning point.Why Am I Staying? Not a one-time question. A daily one. Dana filed for divorce and yanked the papers. She ran out the door and came back. She makes the case that none of this is failure - it is the non-linear, painful, honest work of a woman trying to figure out who she is and what she can live with.Each Trauma Built the Tools for the Next. Dana lost her son three years ago. It was the most recent of the traumas and the most devastating. But she found herself handling it with what she describes as more ease than she expected - because every previous loss had quietly built something in her. That is the thesis of Becoming Unbreakable.RESOURCES & LINKSPre-order Becoming Unbreakable (Sept 2026): https://amzn.to/4f7x9XTWhere the Shadows Dance (memoir): https://www.danakillion.com/Dana Killion Website: https://www.danakillion.com/Dana on Substack: https://danakillion.substack.com/LinkedIn: Dana Killion: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dana-killion-936214263/ ERICA'S RESOURCES & LINKSStart small with me inside HER Jumpstart:https://her-collective.mn.co/plans/1985289?bundle_token=60b2c61d62213cdbd16d437cdc0e4204&utm_source=manual🤖 Grab your copy of THE AI GAP: https://amzn.to/3OAXAdL📚 Get my first book, Glass Ceilings and Sticky Floors: https://amzn.to/4uvjbE5💼 Follow me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericarooney/📸 Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ericaandersonrooney/🎵 Check out my TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ericaandersonrooney

What if the hardest thing you have ever been through is not something that happened to you - but something that was always going to make you? Sara Schulting Kranz was blindsided by divorce, betrayal, single motherhood, and the complete collapse of the life she had built. She was 40, across the country from her family, with no career, no clear path, and three boys watching her figure it out. She did not go around it. She developed a five-stage framework for walking through it - and has since used it with Fortune 500 executives, professional athletes, and a blind female para-athlete she guided rim to rim in 24 hours. This episode is about what it actually takes to get through the thing that looks like it is going to break you.SUMMARY & GUEST INTROIf you are standing at the edge of a change you did not choose - a divorce, a career collapse, a loss, a life that no longer fits - Sara Schulting Kranz has walked the canyon you are looking into. She is a bestselling author, keynote speaker, certified executive coach, and elite adventurer who has spent 32 years building and living her five-stage framework for navigating change. Her book is called Walk Through This. Her tagline is 'The way out is forward.' And in this episode, she brings the full weight of her own story and her decades of work guiding others to help you understand exactly where you are in the change process - and what to do next.INSIDE THE EPISODEThe Labor Day Weekend That Changed Everything. Sara was beyond rock bottom. She had moments of wanting to end her life. Her friends took her to Sequoia National Park, a friend put rocks in her pack, and she climbed to an outcropping of rock, looked out at the valley below, and felt completely disconnected from the problems she had been carrying for a year. That was the moment everything shifted - from 'I am a victim' to 'I am going to thrive on the other side of this.'What We Fear Is Our Greatest Success. Stage one of Sara's framework is approaching the change - and the biggest resistance most people feel is not actually to the difficulty ahead. It is to the success that might be waiting for them. Sara breaks down why that is, what it looks like, and why courage is the only thing that develops confidence.Blame as a Form of Control. In stage two - descending into the change - blame shows up almost every time. Sara explains why: when everything feels out of control, blame gives people the illusion of getting some control back. The move out of blame and into ownership is where the real transformation begins.The Three Types of People Going Through Change. The wait and seer. The resistor. And the let's goer. Sara shares why high-achieving women are constantly assumed to be let's goers - and why that assumption is one of the most costly ones made about us. You cannot pour from an empty cup. Taking care of yourself is not optional. It is the only real leadership move.Every Time She Does the Hard, It Gives Her Permission to Do the Other Hard. Sara sold her house and 98% of her possessions in 2017. She went from 4,200 square feet to 800. She has spent at least seven nights alone in the wilderness every year since. She hiked the John Muir Trail for 22 days in 2020. Not because she had to - but because choosing the hard thing on purpose builds the resilience to face the hard things that choose you.With My Last Breath. Sara's mother was her best friend. She died in 2022. They used to talk about regret. When Sara thinks about what matters, it always comes back to one thing: when I take my last breath, I want to know I lived it my way. This is the question she leaves every listener with.RESOURCES & LINKSBook: Walk Through This - Sara Schulting Kranz: https://saraschultingkranz.com/Sara Schulting Kranz Website: https://saraschultingkranz.com/Email Sara: [email protected]: Sara Schulting Kranz: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sara-schulting-kranz/ ERICA'S RESOURCES & LINKSStart small with me inside HER Jumpstart:https://her-collective.mn.co/plans/1985289?bundle_token=60b2c61d62213cdbd16d437cdc0e4204&utm_source=manual🤖 Grab your copy of THE AI GAP: https://amzn.to/3OAXAdL📚 Get my first book, Glass Ceilings and Sticky Floors: https://amzn.to/4uvjbE5💼 Follow me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericarooney/📸 Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ericaandersonrooney/🎵 Check out my TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ericaandersonrooney

What if the number you've been too scared to say out loud is exactly the number you should be asking for? A few years ago, Erica was hunched over her phone on her back porch about to ask for $100,000 more than she was currently making. Her hands were sweating. Her chest was tight. And a voice in her head kept saying don't push it, don't be greedy, don't blow this. She said the number anyway. And she got it. This is the full story - the research, the mindset work, and the exact words she used.ABOUT THIS EPISODEThis is the episode Erica gets asked about more than anything else - and she has never done a full breakdown of it until now. Not just the strategy (though the strategy is here, in detail), but the sticky floor that almost kept her from making the ask in the first place. She walks through the entire SNAP method applied to her own salary negotiation, shares the Harvard Business Review data that would have saved her weeks of stomach aches, and reveals the AI-powered negotiation toolkit she built inside HER Collective so no woman ever has to guess at this again. Whether you have a job offer sitting in front of you, a promotion conversation coming up, or a review in a few weeks - this one is for you.INSIDE THE EPISODEThe $100,000 Ask. What Erica was feeling in her body when she sat down to make the ask, why she almost talked herself out of it, and what finally made her say the number out loud. Including the three seconds of silence that felt like three years.Gratitude as a Cage. The sticky floor that almost cost her the negotiation wasn't lack of confidence. It was being so grateful for the opportunity that she was ready to accept whatever kept the door open. She breaks down why this pattern shows up in so many of the women she coaches - and how to name it before it costs you.The Harvard Data Point That Changes Everything. Negotiation is very unlikely to actually cost you the offer. The rescinded offer, the burned bridge - it's a story women tell themselves. The data says otherwise, and knowing this changes how you walk into every conversation.How to Research Your Number. Real market data is not a salary aggregator. Erica walks through the four variables that actually matter (role, company size, industry, geography) and explains why most people only use one or two of them - and why that gap is costing them.Translate Scope Into Business Impact. The move most people miss. She didn't walk in with a list of responsibilities. She walked in with the dollar value of what she was about to own - turnover cost, cost per hire, benefit spend - and handed her future boss the business case he needed to fight for her.The SNAP Method Applied to Salary. Stop and notice what your body is telling you. Name the sticky floor underneath the fear. Ask and answer the honest questions (including: what actually happens if they say no?). Pivot from protecting the offer to making the case.The HER Collective Negotiation Toolkit. The AI-powered tool Erica built so that the compensation analysis she did as a CPO is now available to every woman - not just the ones who spent a decade in HR. It analyzes role, scope, industry, geography, and company size and gives you a number backed by real market data. ERICA'S RESOURCES & LINKSStart small with me inside HER Jumpstart:https://her-collective.mn.co/plans/1985289?bundle_token=60b2c61d62213cdbd16d437cdc0e4204&utm_source=manual🤖 Grab your copy of THE AI GAP: https://amzn.to/3OAXAdL📚 Get my first book, Glass Ceilings and Sticky Floors: https://amzn.to/4uvjbE5💼 Follow me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericarooney/📸 Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ericaandersonrooney/🎵 Check out my TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ericaandersonrooney

WHAT IFWhat if the business idea you keep talking yourself out of is the one that changes everything? In 2013, Jessica Rhodes was a brand-new mom who just wanted to stay home with her baby. She had no business experience, no sales background, and a $35,000 salary she needed to replace. She started by clicking links on her dad's website every Saturday morning. Twelve years later, she is the CEO of the world's first podcast booking agency, with over 30,000 interviews booked and $13 million in career revenue. She did not set out to build a $13 million company. She set out to stay home. The rest followed.SUMMARY & GUEST INTROIf you have been sitting on an idea that feels too small, too unproven, or too outside the norm to take seriously, Jessica Rhodes is the case study you need to hear. She is the founder and CEO of Interview Connections, the world's first and leading podcast booking agency. She started it from her living room as a stay-at-home mom with her father as her first client, in a niche that did not yet exist. Today, Interview Connections has booked over 30,000 podcast interviews and generated $13 million in career revenue. She is also the author of Interview Connections: How to Rock the Podcast From Both Sides of the Mic, and the creator of Monetize the Mic, a program that teaches entrepreneurs how to turn podcast guesting into a real revenue strategy - not just a PR move. In this episode, she breaks down exactly how she got there, and gives every woman listening a practical roadmap for using podcast guesting to build her brand, her authority, and her business.INSIDE THE EPISODEShe Just Wanted to Stay Home. Jessica had no big ambitions when she started. She wanted to be a stay-at-home mom and replace her $35,000 salary. She started by clicking links on her father's website. That mindset - start with your why, not your goal - is the thing that made everything else possible.The Step Back That Was Actually a Slingshot. She left a six-year nonprofit career where she was running her own office to become a virtual assistant. It felt like a demotion. It turned out to be the smartest move she ever made. Jessica breaks down why sometimes the most significant growth starts with swallowing your pride and doing the humble work first.She Invented the Industry. In 2013, podcast booking agencies did not exist. Jessica did not know that was a problem to solve - she just started doing the work for her dad, realized it was something other people needed, and built a company around it. This is what spotting an opportunity actually looks like from the inside.Why Every Woman in Corporate Needs a Personal Brand. You do not need to own a business to benefit from podcast guesting. Jessica shares the story of a client who built a side hustle brand through podcast appearances - and her boss heard her and said: 'Oh my God, that's you.' Being on podcasts is a visibility strategy, a networking strategy, and a career advancement strategy all at once.The Podcast Pitch That Goes Straight to the Delete Bucket. Jessica books podcasts for a living and also hosts her own show. She shares exactly what makes a pitch land and what gets it deleted immediately - including the one AI mistake that is tanking pitches right now.How to Monetize the Mic. Podcast guesting is not a PR strategy. It is a revenue strategy - if you use it correctly. Jessica walks through the full framework: why, messaging, storytelling, call to action, and consistency. She explains why going quiet for even a few months can send your entire pipeline into decline.RESOURCES & LINKSInterview Connections: https://interviewconnections.com/Monetize the Mic: https://interviewconnections.com/get-started/Free Podcast Guesting Masterclass: https://interviewconnections.com/masterclass-2026/Jessica Rhodes on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessica-rhodes-interviewconnections/ ERICA'S RESOURCES & LINKSStart small with me inside HER Jumpstart:https://her-collective.mn.co/plans/1985289?bundle_token=60b2c61d62213cdbd16d437cdc0e4204&utm_source=manual🤖 Grab your copy of THE AI GAP: https://amzn.to/3OAXAdL📚 Get my first book, Glass Ceilings and Sticky Floors: https://amzn.to/4uvjbE5💼 Follow me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericarooney/📸 Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ericaandersonrooney/🎵 Check out my TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ericaandersonrooney

What if the story you have been keeping to yourself - the one that feels too messy, too personal, too much - is exactly the thing that would make someone else feel less alone? Shari Foos has spent her career building spaces where women write their truth, share it with strangers, and walk out feeling seen for the first time in years. She calls it the Narrative Method. What she is really doing is fighting the epidemic of loneliness one story at a time.SUMMARY & GUEST INTROIf you have been surrounded by colleagues, partners, and friends your entire career and still felt profoundly unseen - you are not broken, and you are not alone. That specific kind of loneliness has a name, and it has a cure. Shari Foos spent decades building it. She is a Columbia University-trained narrative medicine expert, marriage and family therapist, former punk rock singer and TV writer, and the founder of the Narrative Method - a nonprofit running free online salons where women write honestly, share without judgment, and walk out feeling seen for the first time in years. Her work has been featured in Shondaland, The Huffington Post, Women's Health, and Real Simple. In this conversation, she makes the case that the story you have been keeping to yourself is not too much. It is exactly the thing that will make someone else feel less alone.INSIDE THE EPISODEThe Cult of Culture. Social media, marketing, and the constant noise of what we are supposed to want, look like, and be. Shari names the force that has been quietly shaming women into conforming - and explains why the antidote is not more willpower. It is honest expression.Why Small Talk Is Making Us Lonelier. When you skip the surface and go straight to what actually makes someone tick, something shifts. Shari breaks down why depth creates real connection, why women in corporate America are starving for it, and what gets in the way.The Night She Went Looking for Herself. At sixteen, Shari walked through her neighborhood alone in the middle of the night. Not because anything was wrong. Because she was trying to find herself. The police brought her home. The next morning she gathered her family and said: 'I wasn't on drugs. I was looking for myself.' That moment became the foundation for everything she built.We Are So Quick to Blame Ourselves. The patterns that held you back were not character flaws. They were survival responses to circumstances you didn't choose. Shari makes the case for empathy toward your younger self - and explains why that compassion is not softness. It is the beginning of real growth.You Can't Go Wrong When You Follow Your Passions. Shari gave up a career she loved. It felt like loss. What she could not know at the time was that everything she learned - about performance, about storytelling, about what it means to hold a room - would become the exact foundation of her most meaningful work. The path does not always look like what you imagined. It still leads somewhere.The Narrative Method: What It Is and How to Try It. Free online salons, writing prompts drawn from 12 core concepts, a community from across the country and beyond. Shari walks through how it works, what happens when women who have been writing for their jobs finally get to write for themselves, and why the prompt 'what part of yourself longs to be expressed' is a question worth sitting with.RESOURCES & LINKSThe Narrative Method: https://www.thenarrativemethod.org/ ERICA'S RESOURCES & LINKSStart small with me inside HER Jumpstart:https://her-collective.mn.co/plans/1985289?bundle_token=60b2c61d62213cdbd16d437cdc0e4204&utm_source=manual🤖 Grab your copy of THE AI GAP: https://amzn.to/3OAXAdL📚 Get my first book, Glass Ceilings and Sticky Floors: https://amzn.to/4uvjbE5💼 Follow me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericarooney/📸 Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ericaandersonrooney/🎵 Check out my TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ericaandersonrooney

WHAT IFWhat if the very humility you were raised to wear like a badge of honor is the exact thing quietly capping your career? What if showing up, speaking up, and being seen isn't bragging. That's the whole game. Siri Swahari spent two decades unlearning that lesson, and now she's built an entire movement to make sure other women don't have to figure it out alone.SUMMARY & GUEST INTROSiri Swahari moved to the US at 23 with no network, no roadmap, and no one in her corner. She built her entire career from scratch, volunteer work at a Colorado Springs library to VP at one of the world's largest IT and business consulting firms. Along the way, she founded Women Executive Circle, a community of senior women leaders now active in 12 states and growing. I needed to have this conversation. Her message is one every woman in corporate America needs to hear right now: you were not taught to show up, speak up, and be seen. That ends today.INSIDE THE EPISODEThe Humility Trap. Siri grew up in India being told that announcing her achievements, even being class topper, was bragging. She breaks down the deep unlearning it took to realize that staying invisible when you're already delivering value isn't humility. It's counterproductive.Imposter Syndrome Is a Growth Signal. Siri reframes the thing most women dread: if you're feeling imposter syndrome, you're doing something new, something uncomfortable, something that means you're growing. She shares how a career rotation into an entirely unfamiliar business function transformed how she leads. She coaches others through it now.You Can't Be an NPC in Your Own Career. Siri borrows her son's gaming acronym. NPC, non-playing character. It's what happens when talented women stay silent and expect growth anyway. Advocacy, visibility, and speaking up aren't optional extras. They're the game itself.What Bad Leaders Teach You. Siri and Erica both share how their worst leadership experiences became their most formative ones: the bosses who didn't credit their work, the environments that made people feel disposable, and how those moments became the North Star for the leaders they chose to become.The Origin Story of Women Executive Circle. What started as a small lunch group in Raleigh, born out of a Christmas party that required 100 attendees to happen, became a 12-state community of senior women leaders. Siri tells the full story, including the parking lot moment that made her text her WhatsApp group that Thursday night and say: the world needs this. Let's go.The WEC Framework: Wins, Evolving, Challenges. Siri walks through the rose/bud/thorn icebreaker she adapted into WEC's signature framework. Going around a table and asking 'what's actually going on in your life' unlocks something no traditional networking event ever could. It's the reason a leader who hadn't gotten out of bed in three days showed up to happy hour. She left with a plan.Representation Is the Work. After a women-in-AI event, Brown women lined up to ask Siri how she was so comfortable speaking in public. Not the VP title, not the promotions. That moment is what drives her. Because you can't be what you can't see, and Siri is committed to being visible so others know it's possible.RESOURCES & LINKSWomen Executive Circle: https://www.linkedin.com/company/women-executives-circle/LinkedIn: Siri Swahari: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sirishaswahari/ ERICA'S RESOURCES & LINKSStart small with me inside HER Jumpstart:https://her-collective.mn.co/plans/1985289?bundle_token=60b2c61d62213cdbd16d437cdc0e4204&utm_source=manual🤖 Grab your copy of THE AI GAP: https://amzn.to/3OAXAdL📚 Get my first book, Glass Ceilings and Sticky Floors: https://amzn.to/4uvjbE5💼 Follow me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericarooney/📸 Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ericaandersonrooney/🎵 Check out my TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ericaandersonrooney

Have you ever held back from saying something you know, teaching something you have lived, or going for the thing you want - because a voice whispered that you haven't earned the right yet? Not the ordinary self-doubt. The deeper kind. The one that says your story isn't painful enough, your struggle wasn't dramatic enough, and other people are allowed to lead, but you have to wait until you've suffered the right way first. That belief has a name. It's the qualification myth - and this episode is about taking it apart.ABOUT THIS EPISODEI got a piece of feedback recently that stung. Not because it was cruel, but because it pointed straight at something she knows a lot of high-achieving women quietly carry: the belief that authority has to be earned through visible suffering. In this solo episode, she breaks down the qualification myth - where it comes from, how it shows up in your job right now, why it hits women harder than men, and the three things that actually qualify you to teach, lead, and take up space. None of them require you to have hit rock bottom first.INSIDE THE EPISODEThe Qualification Myth, Defined. The belief that you are only allowed to teach what has nearly destroyed you - that your authority comes from how much you have bled, not from what you actually know. Let's name it, define it, and trace it back to where it starts.Why It Hits Women Differently. Men teach from theory and are handed authority based on confidence. Women are asked to prove it - to be both wildly accomplished and deeply humble at the same time. The invisible tax is real, and it is costing you bandwidth every single day.The Promotion You Didn't Go For. Women apply for a role when they have closed every qualification gap. Men apply when they meet about half. The gap is not competence - it's permission. Men give it to themselves. We wait to earn it.Pre-Discounting in Real Time. Every time you open with 'I'm not really an expert, but...' or 'it might be obvious...' you are handing the room a script for doubting you. You are paying the qualification tax before anyone even asks for it.You Cannot Suffer Your Way Into Everyone's Approval. There is no amount of pain that earns you universal permission. Some people have already decided what your story should look like, and your actual life is never going to match the version living inside their head.The Three Things That Actually Qualify You. You have lived it. You have done the work to understand it. And what you know can move one person one step forward. That is it. That has always been it. Full stop.The SNAP Method in Real Time. I walk through how she used her own framework to process the feedback - stop, name the sticky floor, ask if the thought is true and helpful, and pivot. Not to pretend it didn't sting, but to decide not to sit in it. ERICA'S RESOURCES & LINKSStart small with me inside HER Jumpstart:https://her-collective.mn.co/plans/1985289?bundle_token=60b2c61d62213cdbd16d437cdc0e4204&utm_source=manual🤖 Grab your copy of THE AI GAP: https://amzn.to/3OAXAdL📚 Get my first book, Glass Ceilings and Sticky Floors: https://amzn.to/4uvjbE5💼 Follow me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericarooney/📸 Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ericaandersonrooney/🎵 Check out my TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ericaandersonrooney