Beyond The Ladder

Melody Keel
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Most of us were taught to chase the next title, until we realized the ladder was never actually leading anywhere we wanted to go. ๐๐ž๐ฒ๐จ๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฅ๐š๐๐๐ž๐ซ is a podcast for women rethinking what career success is supposed to look like.  Hosted by Melody Keel, each episode is an honest conversation about reinvention, burnout, professional leverage, and what it takes to build a life and income that doesn't depend on someone else's org chart. No hustle culture.  No perfect-on-paper stories.  Just real conversations about consulting pathways, personal brand, AI-supported leverage, and the identity work nobody prepares you for when you stop letting your job title define you. If you're standing at the edge of a career pivot whether you chose it or it chose you, this is where you figure out what's next. Let's go ๐๐ž๐ฒ๐จ๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฅ๐š๐๐๐ž๐ซ. Visit gobeyondtheladder.com to figure out what's next. ๐Ÿ”—๐ŸŒ

  1. Sep 11

    Composing Your Leadership Symphony

    ๐‘ป๐’‰๐’† ๐‘ฉ๐’‚๐’๐’‚๐’๐’„๐’† ๐’š๐’๐’– ๐’‚๐’“๐’† ๐’„๐’‰๐’‚๐’”๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ ๐’…๐’๐’†๐’” ๐’๐’๐’• ๐’†๐’™๐’Š๐’”๐’•. It's a carrot dangled in front of women, promising that if we just get the equation right, we'll finally have the life we want. ๐ˆ๐ญ ๐๐จ๐ž๐ฌ๐ง'๐ญ ๐ฆ๐š๐ญ๐ก. ๐ˆ๐ญ ๐ง๐ž๐ฏ๐ž๐ซ ๐ฐ๐š๐ฌ ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ฉ๐ฉ๐จ๐ฌ๐ž๐ ๐ญ๐จ. This episode, I sat down with my dear friend Whitnee Hawthorne, Author of ๐“๐ก๐ž ๐’๐š๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ฒ ๐–๐จ๐ซ๐ค๐ข๐ง๐  ๐Œ๐จ๐ฆ, and ๐“๐„๐ƒ๐ฑ ๐ฌ๐ฉ๐ž๐š๐ค๐ž๐ซ.  We talk about why "balance" is a myth. We also get into her ๐Ÿ• ๐ƒ๐ฌ of delegation and why burnout is usually a broken system, not a lack of grit. Some things we dig into:  โžค ๐–๐ก๐ฒ "๐›๐š๐ฅ๐š๐ง๐œ๐ž" ๐ข๐ฌ ๐š ๐ฆ๐ฒ๐ญ๐ก, ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ฐ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ฅ๐ข๐ฏ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ฅ๐ข๐ค๐ž ๐š ๐ฌ๐ฒ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ก๐จ๐ง๐ฒ ๐ฅ๐จ๐จ๐ค๐ฌ ๐ฅ๐ข๐ค๐ž ๐ข๐ง๐ฌ๐ญ๐ž๐š๐.  โžค ๐“๐ก๐ž ๐Ÿ• ๐ƒ๐ฌ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐๐ž๐ฅ๐ž๐ ๐š๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง, ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ฐ๐ก๐ฒ ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ž๐ฉ๐ฉ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐›๐š๐œ๐ค ๐ข๐ฌ ๐š ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ฉ๐ž๐ซ๐ฉ๐จ๐ฐ๐ž๐ซ.  โžค ๐–๐ก๐ฒ ๐ญ๐ž๐š๐ฆ ๐›๐ฎ๐ซ๐ง๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐š ๐๐ž๐ฌ๐ข๐ ๐ง ๐Ÿ๐ฅ๐š๐ฐ, ๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐š ๐ฉ๐ž๐ซ๐ฌ๐จ๐ง๐š๐ฅ ๐Ÿ๐š๐ข๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ž. I'm really glad you're here. With Love, Melody โค๏ธ You can catch it on : ๐Ÿ“บ LinkedIn Live ๐Ÿ“บ YouTube โ–ถ๏ธhttps://www.youtube.com/@Beyond.the.ladder

  2. Aug 28

    Stop Putting Your Passions on the Someday List

    ๐ผ'๐‘š ๐‘ ๐‘Ž๐‘ฃ๐‘–๐‘›๐‘” ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘”๐‘œ๐‘œ๐‘‘ ๐‘‘๐‘–๐‘ โ„Ž๐‘’๐‘  ๐‘“๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ ๐‘Ž ๐‘ ๐‘๐‘’๐‘๐‘–๐‘Ž๐‘™ ๐‘œ๐‘๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘ ๐‘–๐‘œ๐‘›. But what if today is the occasion? What if there is no "someday" waiting on the other side of the closet door? ๐–๐ž ๐ค๐ž๐ž๐ฉ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐›๐ž๐š๐ฎ๐ญ๐ข๐Ÿ๐ฎ๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐ซ๐š๐ฉ๐ฉ๐ž๐ ๐ฎ๐ฉ. ๐–๐ž ๐ค๐ž๐ž๐ฉ ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ฌ๐ž๐ฅ๐ฏ๐ž๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐ซ๐š๐ฉ๐ฉ๐ž๐ ๐ฎ๐ฉ ๐ญ๐จ๐จ. In this episode, I share something deeply personal, losing my dad unexpectedly, and the birthday trip we planned together that he never got to take.  I talk about what that loss taught me about time, about waiting, and about all the "good dishes" we keep saving for a day that may never come. Journal prompts for you:  โžค ๐–๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐š๐ฆ ๐ˆ ๐œ๐ซ๐š๐ฏ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ฆ๐จ๐ซ๐ž ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐ข๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฌ๐ž๐š๐ฌ๐จ๐ง? ๐‘๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ ๐จ๐ซ ๐ซ๐ž๐š๐œ๐ก? ๐’๐ญ๐š๐›๐ข๐ฅ๐ข๐ญ๐ฒ ๐จ๐ซ ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ซ๐ž๐ญ๐œ๐ก? ๐ƒ๐ž๐ฌ๐œ๐ซ๐ข๐›๐ž ๐ฐ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐œ๐ซ๐š๐ฏ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ฅ๐จ๐จ๐ค๐ฌ ๐ฅ๐ข๐ค๐ž ๐ข๐ง ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐œ๐š๐ฅ๐ž๐ง๐๐š๐ซ ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ข๐ง ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐›๐จ๐๐ฒ.  โžค ๐–๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐š๐ฆ ๐ˆ ๐š๐Ÿ๐ซ๐š๐ข๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐š๐๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ ๐ˆ ๐ฐ๐š๐ง๐ญ? ๐–๐ซ๐ข๐ญ๐ž ๐ฐ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐Ÿ๐ž๐ž๐ฅ๐ฌ ๐ญ๐จ๐จ ๐ญ๐ž๐ง๐๐ž๐ซ ๐จ๐ซ ๐ญ๐จ๐จ ๐š๐ฆ๐›๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ฎ๐ฌ. ๐˜๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐Ÿ๐ฎ๐ญ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ž ๐ฌ๐ž๐ฅ๐Ÿ ๐ฆ๐š๐ฒ ๐ญ๐ก๐š๐ง๐ค ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐š๐๐ฆ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ข๐จ๐ง.  โžค ๐–๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ฐ๐จ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ ๐ˆ ๐ฉ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ž ๐ข๐Ÿ ๐Ÿ๐ž๐š๐ซ ๐ฐ๐š๐ฌ ๐ช๐ฎ๐ข๐ž๐ญ๐ž๐ซ? ๐๐จ๐ญ ๐ ๐จ๐ง๐ž, ๐ฃ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ ๐ช๐ฎ๐ข๐ž๐ญ๐ž๐ซ. ๐–๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ฌ๐ก๐จ๐ฐ๐ฌ ๐ฎ๐ฉ ๐ฐ๐ก๐ž๐ง ๐ข๐ญ ๐๐จ๐ž๐ฌ?  โžค ๐–๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ค๐ข๐ง๐ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐ฅ๐ข๐Ÿ๐ž ๐๐จ ๐ˆ ๐ฐ๐š๐ง๐ญ ๐ฆ๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐จ๐ซ๐ค ๐ญ๐จ ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ฉ๐ฉ๐จ๐ซ๐ญ? ๐๐จ๐ญ ๐ฃ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐ฐ๐š๐ง๐ญ ๐ญ๐จ ๐›๐ฎ๐ข๐ฅ๐, ๐›๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐ฐ๐š๐ง๐ญ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐ฅ๐ข๐Ÿ๐ž ๐ญ๐จ ๐Ÿ๐ž๐ž๐ฅ ๐ฅ๐ข๐ค๐ž. I'm really glad you're here. With Love, Melody โค๏ธ You can catch it on : ๐Ÿ“บ LinkedIn Live ๐Ÿ“บ YouTube โ–ถ๏ธhttps://www.youtube.com/@Beyond.the.ladder

  3. Aug 21

    Climbing Without Losing Yourself

    "๐ผ'๐‘™๐‘™ ๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘™๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘๐‘’ ๐‘–๐‘ก ๐‘Ž๐‘™๐‘™ ๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘๐‘’ ๐ผ ๐‘”๐‘’๐‘ก ๐‘ก๐‘œ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘ก๐‘œ๐‘." That's the lie the ladder tells you. There is no top where it suddenly gets easier to put yourself first. ๐“๐ก๐ž ๐œ๐ฅ๐ข๐ฆ๐› ๐ฐ๐š๐ฌ ๐ง๐ž๐ฏ๐ž๐ซ ๐ฆ๐ž๐š๐ง๐ญ ๐ญ๐จ ๐œ๐จ๐ฌ๐ญ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ฌ๐ž๐ฅ๐Ÿ, ๐ข๐ญ'๐ฌ ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ฉ๐ฉ๐จ๐ฌ๐ž๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐›๐ž ๐ฌ๐จ๐ฆ๐ž๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐๐จ, ๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐ฌ๐จ๐ฆ๐ž๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐๐ข๐ฌ๐š๐ฉ๐ฉ๐ž๐š๐ซ ๐ข๐ง๐ญ๐จ. In this episode, I get honest about what it looks like when the career quietly becomes the center of everything. I talk about the moments I missed, the people I leaned on to cover for me, and why I no longer believe grind culture is just "the way it is."  I share why I think it's time we all stop and take real inventory: who do we love, what brings us joy, and is that actually front and center ,or have we let something else take its place? Journal prompts for you:  โžค ๐–๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐š๐ฆ ๐ˆ ๐ง๐จ ๐ฅ๐จ๐ง๐ ๐ž๐ซ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ญ๐จ ๐ฌ๐š๐œ๐ซ๐ข๐Ÿ๐ข๐œ๐ž ๐ข๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ง๐š๐ฆ๐ž ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐š๐œ๐ก๐ข๐ž๐ฏ๐ž๐ฆ๐ž๐ง๐ญ? ๐“๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐ซ๐ž๐ฌ๐ข๐ ๐ง๐š๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง, ๐ข๐ญ'๐ฌ ๐œ๐ฅ๐š๐ซ๐ข๐ญ๐ฒ ๐š๐›๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐š๐œ๐ญ๐ฎ๐š๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐ฆ๐š๐ญ๐ญ๐ž๐ซ๐ฌ.  โžค ๐–๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐๐จ๐ž๐ฌ ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐œ๐œ๐ž๐ฌ๐ฌ ๐ฆ๐ž๐š๐ง ๐ญ๐จ ๐ฆ๐ž ๐ง๐จ๐ฐ? ๐๐จ๐ญ ๐Ÿ๐ข๐ฏ๐ž ๐ฒ๐ž๐š๐ซ๐ฌ ๐š๐ ๐จ. ๐๐จ๐ฐ. ๐‹๐ž๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐๐ž๐Ÿ๐ข๐ง๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐ž๐ฏ๐จ๐ฅ๐ฏ๐ž. I'm really glad you're here. With Love,  Melody โค๏ธ ๐Ÿ”— Join our free community and get your journal copy: https://gobeyondtheladder.com/ You can catch it on : ๐Ÿ“บ LinkedIn Live ๐Ÿ“บ YouTube โ–ถ๏ธhttps://www.youtube.com/@Beyond.the.ladder

  4. Aug 14

    Becoming a consultant before it was common

    For years, my friends and colleagues said, "๐ผ ๐‘๐‘œ๐‘ข๐‘™๐‘‘ ๐‘›๐‘’๐‘ฃ๐‘’๐‘Ÿ ๐‘‘๐‘œ ๐‘คโ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘ก ๐‘ฆ๐‘œ๐‘ข ๐‘‘๐‘œ." Now those same people are calling me, asking how to do exactly that. ๐˜๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐ž๐ฑ๐ฉ๐ž๐ซ๐ญ๐ข๐ฌ๐ž ๐ข๐ฌ๐ง'๐ญ ๐ญ๐ข๐ž๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐จ๐ง๐ž ๐œ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐š๐ง๐ฒ ,๐ข๐ญ'๐ฌ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ฌ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ฉ๐š๐œ๐ค๐š๐ ๐ž, ๐›๐ซ๐š๐ง๐, ๐š๐ง๐ ๐œ๐š๐ซ๐ซ๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ๐ก ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ. In this episode, I get real about becoming a consultant before it was common โ€” 22 years in clinical research, the mentor who saw it in me before I did, and why I believe so many of us are about to need this skill whether we're ready or not. I also talk about the year I overstacked myself with clients, said yes one too many times, and ended up having a stroke at 40 โ€” and what freedom actually looks like for me now. Journal prompts for you: โžค What strengths or expertise do I consistently underestimate? โžค What would I do if money wasn't a factor and what does that tell me about my next step? I'm really glad you're here. With Love, Melody โค๏ธ ๐Ÿ”— Join our free community and get your journal copy: https://gobeyondtheladder.com/ You can catch it on : ๐Ÿ“บ LinkedIn Live ๐Ÿ“บ YouTube โ–ถ๏ธhttps://www.youtube.com/@Beyond.the.ladder

  5. Aug 7

    Jamaica Was not a Failure!

    Everyone said it was a failure. We moved to Jamaica, downsized our home, pulled our kids out of school... and months later, we moved back home. But here's what I learned: ๐–๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ฅ๐จ๐จ๐ค๐ฌ ๐ฅ๐ข๐ค๐ž ๐Ÿ๐š๐ข๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ž ๐Ÿ๐ซ๐จ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ๐ฌ๐ข๐๐ž ๐œ๐š๐ง ๐š๐œ๐ญ๐ฎ๐š๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐›๐ž ๐ซ๐ž๐๐ข๐ซ๐ž๐œ๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง, ๐ฐ๐ข๐ฌ๐๐จ๐ฆ, ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ฎ๐ง๐๐š๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ ๐ฌ๐จ๐ฆ๐ž๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ ๐ซ๐ž๐š๐ญ๐ž๐ซ. In this episode, I get real about the move, the hurricane that hit right after we landed, and why coming home wasn't defeat ,it was exactly the reset we needed. Journal prompts for you: โžค What am I learning about trust, faith, or uncertainty right now? โžค Where do I need more courage โ€” and what's my first step? Iโ€™m really glad youโ€™re here. With Love, Melody โค๏ธ ๐Ÿ”— Join our free community and get your journal copy: https://gobeyondtheladder.com/ You can catch it on : ๐Ÿ“บ LinkedIn Live ๐Ÿ“บ YouTube โ–ถ๏ธhttps://www.youtube.com/@Beyond.the.ladder

  6. 10/17/2025

    Where Does Trust Begin in a Clinical Trial?

    In clinical trials, trust isnโ€™t a soft skill itโ€™s the foundation of everything. But trust doesnโ€™t just happen between patients and sponsors.  It begins with the teams who run the trials. Without strong leadership, mentorship, and ongoing training, operational cracks erode not only team confidence but also trial credibility. In this episode, Melody Keel sits down with Cornelia Baumgartner, founder of Cetacea Clinical, to explore how mentorship, professional development, and team culture shape trust across rare disease, early-phase, and lean biotech environments. With over two decades of experience, from study nurse to strategist, Cornelia shares how clinical ops leaders can build resilient teams, embed trust at every layer, and position trials for success. What youโ€™ll learn: โ€ข Why trust starts with leaders who mentor, train, and invest in their teams โ€ข How ongoing professional development strengthens trial quality and culture โ€ข The risks of misaligned outsourcing and the need for empowered internal teams โ€ข The connection between mentorship, operational readiness, and regulatory trust โ€ข Practical steps for sponsors to embed credibility without unnecessary complexity You can catch it on : ๐Ÿ“บ LinkedIn Live ๐Ÿ“บ YouTube โ–ถ๏ธhttps://www.youtube.com/@Beyond.the.ladder

    Where Does Trust Begin in a Clinical Trial?

  7. 10/10/2025

    How Do You Turn Training into a Leadership Pipeline?

    What if your training programs didnโ€™t just meet complianceโ€”but built your next generation of leaders? In this episode, Melody Keel sits down with Celeste Brantolino, Senior Director at Exela Pharma Sciences and a 2025 Top 10 OnCon Learning & Development Professional, to explore how pharma and clinical organizations can transform training into a powerful leadership pipeline.  Drawing from her success leading scalable development programs and integrating AI-powered learning across operations, Celeste shares how smart L&D strategy drives real business impact. In this episode, youโ€™ll learn: How competency-based training can drive measurable promotion and performance outcomesWhat it takes to scale leadership development in GMP-regulated, cross-functional environmentsHow immersive tech (AI/VR) is transforming onboarding and clinical readinessWhy tying learning to culture, feedback loops, and operational systems is key to long-term successIf you're navigating high turnover, readiness gaps, or building internal talent pipelines, this conversation delivers the blueprint clinical ops leaders have been looking for. You can catch it on : ๐Ÿ“บ LinkedIn Live ๐Ÿ“บ YouTube โ–ถ๏ธhttps://www.youtube.com/@Beyond.the.ladder

    How Do You Turn Training into a Leadership Pipeline?

  8. 10/03/2025

    When Leadership Looks Like Us

    Building Representation Into the Trial  Clinical research canโ€™t scale without inclusive leadership.  In this episode, Melody sits down With Danielle S. Mitchell founder of Black Women in Clinical Research (BWICR). we go into the operational impact of building leadership that reflects the communities trials serve. We explore how representation isnโ€™t just a DEI initiative, itโ€™s a business-critical lever for retention, execution, and trust across trial ecosystems. Why lack of representation drives burnout, turnover, and underperformanceHow BWICR and Noir Research Collective are shifting the clinical leadership pipelineThe link between visibility, mentorship, and promotability in trial teamsWhy inclusive infrastructure is essential for long-term retention and qualityWhat clinical ops leaders must unlearn to create equitable, high-performing teamsThis episode is for everyone who believes that building diverse, inclusive leadership isnโ€™t just the right thing, itโ€™s what makes clinical research work better for all of us. You can catch it on : ๐Ÿ“บ LinkedIn Live ๐Ÿ“บ YouTube โ–ถ๏ธhttps://www.youtube.com/@Beyond.the.ladder

    When Leadership Looks Like Us
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About

Most of us were taught to chase the next title, until we realized the ladder was never actually leading anywhere we wanted to go. ๐๐ž๐ฒ๐จ๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฅ๐š๐๐๐ž๐ซ is a podcast for women rethinking what career success is supposed to look like.  Hosted by Melody Keel, each episode is an honest conversation about reinvention, burnout, professional leverage, and what it takes to build a life and income that doesn't depend on someone else's org chart. No hustle culture.  No perfect-on-paper stories.  Just real conversations about consulting pathways, personal brand, AI-supported leverage, and the identity work nobody prepares you for when you stop letting your job title define you. If you're standing at the edge of a career pivot whether you chose it or it chose you, this is where you figure out what's next. Let's go ๐๐ž๐ฒ๐จ๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฅ๐š๐๐๐ž๐ซ. Visit gobeyondtheladder.com to figure out what's next. ๐Ÿ”—๐ŸŒ

Information

  • Creator
    Melody Keel
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    23
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    ยฉ 2026 Beyond The Ladder
  • Show Website
    Beyond The Ladder