Designed Pause Podcast

deidrangreen
  • 5.0 (3)
  • Self-Improvement
  • Updated Weekly

Designed Pause is a space for corporate Black women who want permission to pause — not out of exhaustion, but out of intention. I’m Deidra Green, a former senior leader who has taken two intentional career breaks to create clarity, alignment, and exposure to new options. Each pause helped me design my life more intentionally — leading to entrepreneurship, senior leadership, and now a new chapter focused on thoughtful transition. This podcast is for women who are: Successful on paper but quietly questioning what’s next Considering a career break, sabbatical, or pivot Looking for planning tools, frameworks, and real-life examples Ready to listen to their own voice and design life on their terms Here, I document my own Designed Pause while sharing the tools, mentors, and mindset shifts that help make pauses intentional — not reckless. This isn’t about quitting your life. It’s about designing it. ✨ New podcasts weekly ✨ Subscribe to walk this season with me

  1. 4d ago

    Bet on Yourself: A Conversation with Kalilah Wright

    Kalilah Wright founded Mess in a Bottle in 2016 with less than $500, during one of the hardest seasons of her personal life. What followed was nearly a decade of building something remarkable — national television, major brand partnerships, and close to $10 million in revenue. And then life changed. The stakes got higher. The hustle that worked at 32 looked different at 42. And Khalilah found herself at a crossroads that a lot of entrepreneurs recognize but rarely talk about out loud. This episode is that conversation. We talk about betting on yourself when everything around you is a mess, using skills you already have in ways you never expected, what it means to protect what you have built when you have more to lose, running toward everything at once and not being attached to how it lands, and what she is building next. Kalilah also shares the resource that has shaped how she thinks about her next chapter — The 12 Week Year by Brian Moran — and drops some breaking news about what is coming up for her. This one is real. No polish. No highlight reel. Just an honest conversation about what it looks like to keep building when the road changes underneath you. Check out Mess in a Bottle: https://www.messinabottle.com/ The 12 Week Year by Brian Moran: https://amzn.to/4vfuobE Get the Designed Pause Decision Kit — 50% off with code PAUSEPOD: https://stan.store/designedpause/p/get-my-designed-pause-decision-kit-now-copy designedpause.com

    31 min

  2. May 27

    Burn It All Down: Bernadette Smith on Building a Life Led by Freedom

    Bernadette Smith has been an entrepreneur for 22 years. She didn't leave corporate to start over — she never went in. And what she built instead is a masterclass in following purpose over comfort, even when it means burning it all down and starting again. In this conversation, Bernadette and I talk about: How a Supreme Court ruling on the steps of the Massachusetts State House launched her first business What it actually felt like to walk away from six-figure weddings in New York City at the height of her success The abundance mindset work that got her through her hardest season — and why it's still a daily practice How Inclusive 360 was born directly from imposter syndrome What self-love actually has to do with professional freedom How she designed a life led by her two core values: freedom and optimism Get Inclusive 360 by Bernadette Smith: https://amzn.to/4dRfiDo You're a Badass at Making Money by Jen Sincero: https://amzn.to/4dzXlI6 You Are a Badass by Jen Sincero: https://amzn.to/499yf1o The Book of Joy by the Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu: https://amzn.to/3RQ0v37 Five Things Newsletter by Bernadette Smith: https://amzn.to/3RQ0v37 Get the Designed Pause Decision Kit — 50% off with code PAUSEPOD

    41 min

  3. May 20

    You Don’t Owe Anyone An Explanation - How to Make a Big Life Decision Without Asking for Permission

    The thing keeping most high-achieving women from making a big life decision isn’t other people’s opinions. It’s the anticipation of them. In this episode I talk about what it actually looks like to make a decision that belongs entirely to you — without asking for a panel, without defending yourself before you’re ready, and without owing anyone an explanation you didn’t agree to give. We cover: Why the imaginary audience is more dangerous than the real one How to protect a decision while it’s still forming — without being secretive The three categories of people in your life and who gets access to what, and when What to actually say when people ask — and how to say it without apologizing   Download the free Designed Pause journaling prompts: www.designedpause.com

    10 min

  4. May 13

    Finding the Audacity to Pause - A Career Break, A Pivot or Rest is Within Reach

    You know you need to stop. Your body knows it. Your sleep knows it. But you can't quite give yourself permission to do it. That's not a logistics problem. That's an audacity problem. In this episode I walk through the four things that make pausing feel impossible for high-achieving corporate professionals — and why finding the audacity to slow down is one of the most strategic things you can do. We cover: The permission problem — why you keep waiting to earn rest you were never going to be handed The identity threat — why pausing feels like disappearing, and what's actually on the other side of that fear What you're actually afraid of losing — and what I found out when I lost it anyway Why audacity is a skill, not a personality trait — and how to start practicing it today   Download the free Designed Pause journaling prompts: www.designedpause.com

    11 min

  5. May 6

    If You’re Still on the Fence About a Career Pause, Do This for the Next 7 Days

    You've been thinking about a career pause for a while. Maybe months. And you still don't know if you're actually ready — or if you're just exhausted. This episode gives you a 7-day plan to find out. Each day has one task, built around the same framework inside the Designed Pause Decision Kit: Take the Designed Pause Quiz Decode your pause type Do your financial reality inventory Map your other obligations Assess your energy and capacity Calculate your pause length Work through your 48-Hour Decision Map   Get the Designed Pause Decision Kit — 50% off with code PAUSEPOD Get the Fast Track Prompt – 50% off with code PAUSEPOD

    13 min

  6. Apr 29

    Is Living Abroad Actually Worth It?

    This is a freestyle episode — an honest, unscripted update on what life in St. Lucia actually looks like right now. Deidra shares what she's been learning about being intentional with where she is instead of waiting to get back home, the small but meaningful wins (a nail tech who changed her life, a gym she actually walks to), what's happening with her contracts, and how she genuinely feels after making this move. No sugarcoating. No romanticizing. Just the real update — including why she's not homesick, not lonely, and feels more like herself than she has in years. If you've been wondering what a designed pause actually looks like from the inside, this episode is it. Ready to design your own? Grab the free journaling prompts: www.designedpause.com

    9 min

  7. Apr 22

    What Do You Really Want? Questions for People Who Don't Know Yet

    Someone asks you what you actually want — not your next career move, not your five-year plan — and you kind of freeze. Maybe you give the polished answer. But inside there's this moment where you think... I'm not sure I know. That's not a you problem. That's what happens when you spend years getting really good at knowing what everyone else needed from you. In this episode, I'm walking you through four questions designed to help you find your way back to the answer. They're not easy questions. But they're the right ones. We cover: — Why high-achievers lose touch with what they want in the first place — Why not knowing is actually an honest starting point, not a failure — Four questions that move from the surface to something much deeper — What to do with what comes up If something lands for you in this episode, the free journaling prompts in the link below are where this work continues. Thirty prompts, no cost, built for the moment when you know something needs to change but you don't quite have the words yet. ↓ Grab the free journaling prompts www.designedpause.com And if you're ready to go further — map your opportunities, figure out what to pursue first, build an actual strategy for your pause — the Fast Track Prompt is also available on the site.

    12 min

  8. Apr 15

    The Real Cost of Staying — A Framework for What You’re Actually Spending

    Every time you think about leaving, you do the math. Salary. Benefits. What you'd have to give up. And the number stops you. That math isn't wrong. It's just incomplete. You've been calculating what you'd lose by leaving. You haven't calculated what you're spending by staying. And those are two very different numbers. In this episode, I'm walking you through a four-category framework for the full cost of staying — the one that includes everything your spreadsheet has been leaving out. We cover: — Why the financial calculation alone always makes staying look cheaper than it is — The physical costs you've normalized so completely you stopped noticing them — The identity and relationship costs that compound quietly over years — The one cost category on this list that has no recovery option This isn't about convincing you to leave. It's about making sure you're working with accurate numbers before you decide anything. If the honest accounting in this episode brought something up for you, the free journaling prompts in the link below are the right next step. Thirty prompts, no cost, built to help you get underneath the financial math and into what you're actually weighing. ↓ Grab the free journaling prompts www.designedpause.com

    10 min
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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
3 Ratings

About

Designed Pause is a space for corporate Black women who want permission to pause — not out of exhaustion, but out of intention. I’m Deidra Green, a former senior leader who has taken two intentional career breaks to create clarity, alignment, and exposure to new options. Each pause helped me design my life more intentionally — leading to entrepreneurship, senior leadership, and now a new chapter focused on thoughtful transition. This podcast is for women who are: Successful on paper but quietly questioning what’s next Considering a career break, sabbatical, or pivot Looking for planning tools, frameworks, and real-life examples Ready to listen to their own voice and design life on their terms Here, I document my own Designed Pause while sharing the tools, mentors, and mindset shifts that help make pauses intentional — not reckless. This isn’t about quitting your life. It’s about designing it. ✨ New podcasts weekly ✨ Subscribe to walk this season with me

Information

  • Creator
    deidrangreen
  • Years Active
    2K
  • Episodes
    19
  • Rating
    Clean
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    © Copyright 2026 All rights reserved.
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    Designed Pause Podcast