Fearless Career Moves with Richa Bansal

Richa Bansal

How do I overcome imposter syndrome? How do I stand out in a competitive job market? How do I manage a demanding career with little ones at home? Am I too late to make a career change? If you've asked yourself any of these questions, you're in the right place. Fearless Career Moves is a practical, workshop-style podcast for ambitious women who are redefining success and building careers and lives they love on their own terms. Your host, Richa Bansal, is a career coach and brown immigrant mom who spent over a decade at Schlumberger and Amazon and has seen firsthand the challenges women face while rising through corporate North America. She landed five promotions in ten years, graduated top of her MBA class while working full-time and expecting her first child, transitioned into a multi-six-figure tech role without traditional tech experience, self-petitioned for her EB1A green card, and built a thriving coaching business — all while working full-time. Whether you want to advance into leadership, find a role that pays your worth, or pivot into something entirely new, this show delivers expert interviews, battle-tested strategies, and the real behind-the-scenes of a working mom's career, so you can ditch imposter syndrome for good and make your own fearless moves. Women can have it all. We're here to show you how. Subscribe so you never miss an episode.

  1. 3d ago

    How Women Can Build a Personal Brand That Opens Career Doors with Divyaa Ravishankar

    A personal brand is not vanity. It is how people remember a woman when she is not in the room. In this episode of Fearless Career Moves, Richa Bansal sits down with Divyaa Ravishankar, a strategy and growth professional with global experience across healthcare, life sciences, and in vitro diagnostics, to talk about building a personal brand on LinkedIn without shrinking into one box. Together, they explore why many women hesitate to post on LinkedIn, how employers can misunderstand visibility, and why a personal brand is really a professional image at scale. The conversation also covers how women can start posting before they feel ready, use LinkedIn to show expertise, build thought leadership with a point of view, connect personal brand to values, strengthen articulation, and rethink self-promotion as a way to grow impact. For ambitious women who want to be known for more than a job title, this episode is a practical reminder that visibility is not about vanity. It is about credibility, opportunity, and owning the full range of what they bring to the table. Start listening and ask yourself where you might be hiding behind your job title, waiting to feel ready to post, or shrinking your voice into one box. Tune in to the full episode of How Women Can Build a LinkedIn Personal Brand That Opens Career Doors with Divyaa Ravishankar  Divyaa Ravishankar is a strategy and growth professional with over twelve years of global experience across healthcare, life sciences, and in vitro diagnostics. She advises product and commercial leaders on market entry, portfolio strategy, and competitive positioning, bringing a hypothesis-driven, data-backed approach to problems spanning next-generation sequencing, point-of-care testing, genetic testing, flow cytometry, and digital pathology. Divyaa partners closely with R&D, marketing, and commercial teams to shape decisions across hospitals, reference labs, and decentralized care models, distilling complex scientific and market insights into clear, executive-level narratives that drive alignment and speed.   Connect with Divyaa Ravishankar: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/divyaa-ravishankar-7a6a951b/   Richa Bansal is the founder of Pinkcareers and host of the Fearless Career Moves Podcast. Through her signature program, The Fearless Hire, she helps ambitious women cut through the noise, clarify what they actually want, and step into high-impact leadership roles on their own terms.   Apply to The Fearless Hire at rise.pinkcareers.com/application-tfh, the career accelerator that's helped women in tech land $300k+ leadership offers.    Website: https://www.pinkcareers.com/ LinkedIn (Richa): https://www.linkedin.com/in/richabansal10/ Instagram (Richa): https://www.instagram.com/careersbyrichabansal/ #FearlessCareerMoves #Pinkcareers #CareerGrowth #PersonalBranding #WomenInLeadership

  2. Aug 11

    Stop Waiting for Permission: How Women Can Speak Up & Advocate for Themselves with Dr. Jean Latting

    Confidence is not something women can simply command into place. In this episode of Fearless Career Moves, Richa Bansal sits down with Dr. Jean Kantambu Latting, organizational consultant, leadership coach, Professor Emerita, and President of Leading Consciously, to talk about what it really takes for women to speak up, hold their ground, and put themselves first. Together, they unpack why the advice to "just be more confident" misses the deeper issue of worthiness, and why many women are still carrying old messages about being good, quiet, helpful, and easy to work with. The conversation also covers Dr. Jean's Conscious Change framework, including conscious influence, conscious agility, and you first. Richa and Dr. Jean discuss how women can balance warmth and competence, lead through influence when they do not have authority, use difference as an advantage, rewrite old stories, listen to what the body is signaling, and make small behavioral changes that support stronger boundaries and more authentic leadership. Start listening and ask yourself where you might be waiting for permission to ask, speak up, set a boundary, or put yourself first. Tune in to the full episode of How To Speak Up, Hold Your Ground, And Put Yourself First with Dr. Jean Latting   Dr. Jean K. Latting is an organizational consultant, leadership coach, and author with over thirty-five years of experience in private and public sector organizations. She is President of Leading Consciously and Professor Emerita of Leadership and Change at the University of Houston's Graduate College of Social Work, where she held the endowed Jean Kantambu Latting Professorship. Dr. Latting is the co-author of Reframing Change: How to Deal with Workplace Dynamics, Influence Others, and Bring People Together to Initiate Positive Change, and has published over twenty-five book chapters and articles on organizational behavior, cultural competence, and change. She holds a Doctorate in Public Health from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a Master's in Social Work from Columbia University.    Connect with Dr. Jean Latting: Visit Leading Consciously: https://www.leadingconsciously.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeanlattingconsultant/ X: https://x.com/jeanlatting   Richa Bansal is the founder of Pinkcareers and host of the Fearless Career Moves Podcast. Through her signature program, The Fearless Hire, she helps ambitious women cut through the noise, clarify what they actually want, and step into high-impact leadership roles on their own terms.   Website: https://www.pinkcareers.com/ LinkedIn (Richa): https://www.linkedin.com/in/richabansal10/ The Fearless Hire: https://www.pinkcareers.com/ Instagram (Richa): https://www.instagram.com/careersbyrichabansal/   #FearlessCareerMoves #Pinkcareers #CareerGrowth #CareerConfidence #WomenInLeadership

  3. Aug 4

    Every Role Is a First Time: Rebuilding Career Confidence After a Layoff with Rathi Gnanasekaran

    Fearless is not built by waiting until every step feels safe. In this episode of Fearless Career Moves, Richa Bansal sits down with Rathi Gnanasekaran, a senior technical program manager, startup operator, entrepreneur, and former Fearless Hire client, to talk about reinvention, immigrant resilience, career confidence, and learning to take the next step before every answer is clear. Rathi shares how moving from India to Bahrain, then to Canada as a young international student, shaped the way she approaches risk, uncertainty, and first-time roles. The conversation also covers what happens when a high-performing woman suddenly has to rebuild confidence after a layoff, why persistence matters in a difficult job market, and how community can change the actions someone takes. Richa and Rathi also talk about why leadership, job searching, and promotion conversations are all sales conversations, and how Rathi turned a career pause into the beginning of Lentl, her crunchy lentil seasoning brand. For women who are trying to pivot, recover their confidence, or take a new kind of risk, this episode is a practical reminder that confidence is built through action, not certainty. Start listening and ask yourself where you might be waiting to feel fully ready. Tune in to the full episode of Every Role Is a First Time: Rebuilding Career Confidence After a Layoff with Rathi Gnanasekaran   Rathi Gnanasekaran is an accomplished Senior Technical Program Manager with deep expertise in program management, portfolio management, and engineering operations. She has worked across high-growth B2B FinTech startups and enterprise SaaS environments, leading complex initiatives in AI/ML, cloud infrastructure migration, scalable SDLC processes, and engineering operations. She is also the founder of Lentl, a crunchy lentil seasoning brand inspired by South Indian podi.   Shop Rati's crunchy lentil seasoning blends at www.lentl.co, with free shipping on orders over thirty dollars.    Know more about Lantl: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lentl.co Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lentl.co Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/07eigfs2a9c8m12xyi1ri2x3v31m3t/lentl-crunchy-lentil-seasoning/?invite_code=c8429693c7d84fb1bc264203b9c885ee&sender=1086001035052674329   Connect with Rathi: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rathi-gnanasekaran-41377bb/   Richa Bansal is the founder of Pinkcareers and host of the Fearless Career Moves Podcast. Through her signature program, The Fearless Hire, she helps ambitious women cut through the noise, clarify what they actually want, and step into high-impact leadership roles on their own terms.   Apply to The Fearless Hire at rise.pinkcareers.com/application-tfh, the career accelerator that's helped women in tech land $300k+ leadership offers.    Website: https://www.pinkcareers.com/ LinkedIn (Richa): https://www.linkedin.com/in/richabansal10/ Instagram (Richa): https://www.instagram.com/careersbyrichabansal/ #FearlessCareerMoves #WomenInLeadership #CareerConfidence #CareerGrowth #CareerReinvention

  4. Jul 28

    How to Build Executive Presence in High-Stakes Conversations

    Executive presence is not just how someone sounds in the room. It starts with whether they have given themselves permission to be there. In this episode of Fearless Career Moves, Richa Bansal sits down with Colin Boyd, communication and business coach, author of One Presentation Away, and host of The Expert Edge Podcast, for a practical conversation on executive presence, storytelling, and taking up space in high-stakes rooms. Colin explains why presence begins with being present, how grounding changes the way someone shows up, and why the best communicators do not rush to prove themselves. They also talk about the communication shifts ambitious women need in interviews, promotion conversations, presentations, and senior leadership rooms, from using stories and case studies to show expertise, to slowing down, using body language with intention, handling dominant personalities, and deciding not to wait for someone else to "knight" them as a leader. Start listening and ask yourself whether you've truly given yourself permission to take up space. Tune in to the full episode of How to Build Executive Presence in High-Stakes Conversations with Colin Boyd.  Colin Boyd is a communication and business coach who helps experts, coaches, and speakers sell and command the stage on virtual and live platforms. He is the author of One Presentation Away: Become an Irresistible Speaker and Convert More Clients, published by Wiley, distilling over 17 years of experience as a professional speaker and coach. Colin also hosts The Expert Edge Podcast, where he explores influence, persuasion, and communication with leading industry experts, and created The Conversion Story Formula™, a framework for connecting with audiences and filling programs through storytelling.  Grab Colin's book, One Presentation Away, on Amazon [https://www.amazon.com/One-Presentation-Away-Irresistible-Speaker/dp/1394324316] his step-by-step framework for becoming an irresistible speaker who connects, captivates, and converts without feeling salesy.  Connect with Colin Boyd: Website: https://colinboyd.co/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/colinboyd/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/colinboyd/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/colinboydglobal/ Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/colinboydcoach1 X: https://x.com/colingboyd Richa Bansal is the founder of Pinkcareers and host of the Fearless Career Moves Podcast. Through her signature program, The Fearless Hire, she helps ambitious women cut through the noise, clarify what they actually want, and step into high-impact leadership roles on their own terms. Website: https://www.pinkcareers.com/ LinkedIn (Richa): https://www.linkedin.com/in/richabansal10/ Apply for The Fearless Hire: https://rise.pinkcareers.com/application-tfh Instagram (Richa): https://www.instagram.com/careersbyrichabansal/ #FearlessCareerMoves #ExecutivePresence #WomenInLeadership #CommunicationSkills #LeadershipPresence #CareerGrowth #OwnTheRoom #TakeUpSpace #SpeakWithConfidence #CareerConfidence

  5. Jul 21

    How to Ace Your Next Job Interview Using the SOARR Storytelling Framework

    The strongest interview answers do not just explain what happened. They show why the problem mattered and why the candidate was the leader who could solve it. In this solo episode of Fearless Career Moves, Richa Bansal breaks down her SOARR storytelling framework for answering behavioral interview questions, especially for women targeting senior IC, manager, staff, director, VP, and other leadership roles. She explains why the popular STAR technique can fall short, how it can lead candidates to over-explain details, bury the real business challenge, and miss the opportunity to show leadership maturity. Richa walks through each part of SOARR: Situation, Obstacle, Actions, Results, and Reflection. She shows how candidates can organize their stories with stronger business context, clearer stakes, measurable impact, and a reflection that demonstrates maturity. This episode is especially useful for ambitious women preparing for interviews, internal promotions, networking conversations, resume updates, and salary negotiations. Start listening and ask yourself whether your interview stories are showing what you did, or why it mattered. Tune in to the full episode of Fearless Career Moves: How to Ace Your Next Job Interview Using the Proprietary SOARR Storytelling Framework   Richa Bansal is the founder of Pinkcareers and host of the Fearless Career Moves Podcast. Through her signature program, The Fearless Hire, she helps ambitious women cut through the noise, clarify what they actually want, and step into high-impact leadership roles on their own terms.   Website: https://www.pinkcareers.com/ LinkedIn (Richa): https://www.linkedin.com/in/richabansal10/ The Fearless Hire: https://rise.pinkcareers.com/application-tfh Instagram (Richa): https://www.instagram.com/careersbyrichabansal/ #FearlessCareerMoves #InterviewTips #JobSearch #CareerGrowth #CareerConfidence #WomenInLeadership #BehavioralInterview #SOARRMethod

  6. Jul 14

    Motherhood Is Not A Step Down: Owning Your Ambition After Becoming A Mom with Nikita Kawdiya

    Motherhood should not be treated as a reason for ambitious women to shrink. In this episode of Fearless Career Moves, Richa Bansal sits down with Nikita Kawdiya, a product leader and former Fearless Hire client, to talk about ambition after motherhood, self-promotion, leadership language, support systems, and getting comfortable talking about the business impact behind your work. Nikita shares what it felt like to be told she might need to take a step down after becoming a mother, why she refused to let that define her next move, and how she learned to own the big numbers behind her product leadership. The conversation also covers how women can stop reducing their work to task lists, start connecting their impact to dollars and outcomes, negotiate with more confidence, and replace default apologies with stronger language. For women who are tired of being capable but under-credited, this episode is a practical reminder that owning your value is not bragging. It is leadership. Start listening and ask yourself where you might be underselling your own impact. Tune in to the full episode of Motherhood Is Not A Step Down: Owning Your Ambition After Becoming A Mom with Nikita Kawdiya   Nikita Kawdiya is a Director of Product with 16+ years of experience leading CX-driven transformations, defining product vision, leading high-performing teams, and managing $20M+ annual budgets across Fortune 100 FinTech and Digital Banking organisations, including Prudential Financial and Citibank. She has led 0 to 1 product launches, scaled platforms to 1M users, and delivered measurable customer and business impact across mobile, web, B2C, B2B, and B2B2C SaaS environments.   Connect with Nikita: Li: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikitakawdiya/ Richa Bansal is the founder of Pinkcareers and host of the Fearless Career Moves Podcast. Through her signature program, The Fearless Hire, she helps ambitious women cut through the noise, clarify what they actually want, and step into high-impact leadership roles on their own terms.   Website: https://www.pinkcareers.com/ LinkedIn (Richa): https://www.linkedin.com/in/richabansal10/ The Fearless Hire: https://www.pinkcareers.com/ Instagram (Richa): https://www.instagram.com/careersbyrichabansal/   #FearlessCareerMoves #WomenInLeadership #CareerConfidence #WorkingMoms #SelfAdvocacy

  7. Jul 7

    Why High-Performing Women Still Get Overlooked For Promotion

    High-performing women are often told they are doing great, but doing great is not always what gets them promoted. In this solo episode of Fearless Career Moves, Richa Bansal breaks down why ambitious women in tech can have the experience, education, expertise, and strong performance reviews, and still get overlooked for promotion. She explains why hard work often leads to more work instead of more power, why promotion decisions are grounded in business impact, and why a direct manager liking someone is not the same as having the right sponsors in the room. Richa also shares tactical ways to stop waiting for recognition and start building a stronger promotion case. From creating an impact tracker to using the SOARR storytelling formula, connecting work to leadership priorities, and knowing market worth before it is needed, this episode gives ambitious women practical tools to be seen as ready for the next level.   Start listening and ask yourself whether your work is being seen as leadership-ready work. Tune in to the full episode of Why High-Performing Women Still Get Overlooked For Promotion.   Richa Bansal is the founder of Pinkcareers and host of the Fearless Career Moves Podcast. Through her signature program, The Fearless Hire, she helps ambitious women cut through the noise, clarify what they actually want, and step into high-impact leadership roles on their own terms.   Website: https://www.pinkcareers.com/ LinkedIn (Richa): https://www.linkedin.com/in/richabansal10/ The Fearless Hire: https://www.pinkcareers.com/ Instagram (Richa): https://www.instagram.com/careersbyrichabansal/   #FearlessCareerMoves #WomenInLeadership #CareerGrowth #CareerOwnership #KnowYourWorth

  8. Jun 30

    How Product Managers Can Stay Relevant in the AI Era with Aakash Gupta

    AI is changing product management fast, but not every PM needs to panic, pivot, or chase the same role. In this episode of Fearless Career Moves, I sit down with Aakash Gupta, also known as the AIPM guy, to talk about what product managers actually need to do to stay relevant as AI changes the role. Aakash is a product and growth leader who has led teams at thredUP, Affirm, and Apollo.io, and he now writes Product Growth and AI by Aakash, hosts The Growth Podcast, and helps product managers break into AI PM. We get practical about what AI PM really means, why every PM needs to understand both AI productivity and AI feature building, and how to build credible AI experience even when your current product does not have AI work. Aakash breaks down courses, certificates, side projects, candidate market fit, niche positioning, LinkedIn strategy, and how to show proof in interviews instead of relying on polished talking points. Start listening and ask yourself where your next career move needs more strategy, more proof, and less panic. Tune in to the full episode of How Product Managers Can Stay Relevant in the AI Era. Aakash Gupta is a product and growth leader who has led growth and product work at thredUP, Affirm, and Apollo.io. He writes Product Growth, hosts The Growth Podcast, and runs Land a PM Job, a live cohort for product managers looking to break into AI PM and future-proof their careers. If you're a product manager ready to make that move, connect with him on LinkedIn or follow his newsletter at product-growth.com for practical advice on building AI skills and shipping real product value.  Richa Bansal is the founder of Pinkcareers and host of the Fearless Career Moves Podcast. Through her signature program, The Fearless Hire, she helps ambitious women cut through the noise, clarify what they actually want, and step into high-impact leadership roles on their own terms.   Website: https://www.pinkcareers.com/ LinkedIn (Richa): https://www.linkedin.com/in/richabansal10/ The Fearless Hire: https://www.pinkcareers.com/ Instagram (Richa): https://www.instagram.com/careersbyrichabansal/   #FearlessCareerMoves #ProductManagement #AIProductManagement #WomenInTech #CareerGrowth

Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
11 Ratings

About

How do I overcome imposter syndrome? How do I stand out in a competitive job market? How do I manage a demanding career with little ones at home? Am I too late to make a career change? If you've asked yourself any of these questions, you're in the right place. Fearless Career Moves is a practical, workshop-style podcast for ambitious women who are redefining success and building careers and lives they love on their own terms. Your host, Richa Bansal, is a career coach and brown immigrant mom who spent over a decade at Schlumberger and Amazon and has seen firsthand the challenges women face while rising through corporate North America. She landed five promotions in ten years, graduated top of her MBA class while working full-time and expecting her first child, transitioned into a multi-six-figure tech role without traditional tech experience, self-petitioned for her EB1A green card, and built a thriving coaching business — all while working full-time. Whether you want to advance into leadership, find a role that pays your worth, or pivot into something entirely new, this show delivers expert interviews, battle-tested strategies, and the real behind-the-scenes of a working mom's career, so you can ditch imposter syndrome for good and make your own fearless moves. Women can have it all. We're here to show you how. Subscribe so you never miss an episode.