Crash Out With Me.

Madison Butler

Crash Out With Me is the podcast where we stop pretending we have it all together and start saying the quiet parts out loud. Every episode is a little unhinged, a little honest, and a lot about burnout, work, life, and the moments where everything falls apart just enough to figure out what actually matters.

  1. Aug 6

    Hot Flashes, Cold Takes

    Send us Fan Mail Your body can change overnight and your calendar still expects you to be sharp, upbeat, and “professional.” Madison Butler is joined by HR consultant Talia Edmondson, founder of HRB Consulting, to talk about the perimenopause stack: irregular cycles, brain fog, insomnia, hot flashes, histamine reactions, and the mental health load of trying to act like nothing is happening. We get honest about how unprepared so many of us are, especially when women’s health was never discussed at home, and why saying it out loud is the first step to getting real support.  We also dig into the workplace side, because perimenopause, menopause, anemia, and hormonal shifts are not “personal problems” when they affect focus, memory, energy, and confidence at work. Talia shares how People teams and leaders can introduce practical, non-awkward conversations, build inclusive policies, and design employee benefits that meet actual needs. We cover feedback surveys, using data to win buy-in, health insurance realities like out-of-network specialists, and creative approaches to coverage when care isn’t accessible where employees live.  From there, we zoom out to the pressure cooker of diet culture, body image, GLP-1 ads, and social media, plus the very real spiral that happens when clothing sizes are inconsistent and your closet stops feeling safe. You’ll hear tactics for self-advocacy with clinicians (including asking them to document symptoms), thoughts on HRT myths and hormone replacement therapy, and a grounding question for tough days: “Are you good enough for today?” If this conversation helps, subscribe, share it with a friend who’s white-knuckling it, and leave a review so more people can find it. Work with Talia: https://www.hrnbconsulting.com/ Connect with Talia: https://www.linkedin.com/in/taliaedmundson/ Support the show

  2. Jul 31

    Being Loud Does Not Make You Right

    Send us Fan Mail The most dangerous voice at work isn’t the angriest one, it’s the confident one who’s wrong and impossible to correct. We sit down with Titara “Tara” Haynes, a People Operations leader and writer, to unpack how “loud and wrong” behavior spreads through workplaces, social media, and even the coaching and consulting world, then lands hardest on Black and brown professionals who can’t afford the fallout.  We talk about why the internet rewards certainty over accuracy, how rage bait and follower counts get mistaken for expertise, and what it looks like to opt out without spending your whole life arguing with brick walls. We also get practical about leadership accountability: the power of saying “I don’t know,” building rooms where smart people can challenge decisions, and why “soft skills” are actually the skills that keep teams healthy and businesses profitable.  Then we go straight at the grift: how to vet a coach, mentor, or consultant like you’re hiring them, what “show your work” should mean in a saturated market, and why NDAs are not an excuse for zero proof. We also name the patterns of performative allyship and weaponized tears, and how to protect your mental health when being wrong and loud becomes a career strategy for someone else.  If this hits home, share it with a friend who’s dealing with a loud-and-wrong boss, and subscribe so you don’t miss the next conversation.  After you listen, will you leave a review and tell us the loudest wrong take you’ve heard lately? Connect with T.Tara Turk-Haynes: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ttaraturkhaynes/ Work with her: https://www.equityactivations.com/ Support the show

  3. Jul 23

    Resumes That Get Interviews

    Send us Fan Mail Your resume isn’t a scrapbook of everything you’ve ever done. It’s a sales page for your work, and most of us are wasting prime space describing tasks instead of proving value.  I’m joined by Tajal (aka “caffeinated Tejal”), a longtime recruiting leader who’s reviewed hundreds of thousands of resumes, and she brings the kind of clarity that cuts through job-search panic fast. We get specific about what recruiters want to see: bullet points that show impact, not vague claims like “results-driven.” Tejal shares her CAFE framework (Cause, Action, Findings, Effect) so you can translate your skills into evidence that works for both humans and applicant tracking systems. We also call out the ATS misinformation machine, why keyword stuffing falls apart in human review, and why tricks like hidden white-font keywords are a dead end. Then we go where people usually won’t: bias and power. If you’ve ever been told to “dumb down” your title to look less intimidating, we explain why that advice is harmful and how to position senior experience with confidence. We also talk about the coaching grift, the red flags behind “guaranteed job placement,” and what to do if you can’t afford expensive resume services.  Tejal shares a free resource, getselected.app, plus guidance on LinkedIn profile optimization, employment gaps, and a five-minute approach to tailoring without burning out. If you’re tired of guessing, take these tools and rebuild your resume with proof.  Subscribe, share this with a friend who’s job searching, and leave a review so more people can find it. What’s the one resume line you wish a recruiter would finally understand? Want to try Get Selected? Try it here. Connect with Tejal.  Support the show

  4. Jul 15

    Crash Out With Me: You Do Not Owe Anyone Smaller Dreams

    Send us Fan Mail Someone asks you to “be humble,” and what they really mean is “be smaller.” That’s where this conversation starts. I’m joined by Atta Gracia Montilla, a community architect, facilitator, and leadership coach, to name the thing a lot of us feel but rarely say out loud: toxic humility, the explicit or unspoken expectation to shrink yourself, especially when you are exceptional and especially in white-dominant workplace culture. We dig into what it looks like in real life, from being questioned for visible success to being told you can’t be celebrated because it might make other people uncomfortable. We unpack how individualism and comfort politics shape leadership, why talent hoarding is so common, and what a more human-centered leadership model can be instead. Atta also shares how ancestral and Indigenous community norms treat everyone’s gifts as something to be supported, not competed with, and why celebrating yourself and others can be a form of medicine against oppressive systems. Then we zoom out to the pressure women face around beauty standards, weight, and aging, plus the internet-fueled FOMO that turns your real life into a performance. We close with practical tools: curating small moments that feel like yours, tracking your phone habits, using discernment in conflict, and building “conflict bravery” so you know when to engage and when to walk away. If you’re ready to stop dimming your light, hit play, then subscribe, share this with a friend who needs it, and leave a review so more people can find the show. follow Altagracia: https://www.linkedin.com/in/altagraciamontilla/ work with her: https://altagraciamontilla.com/services/ Support the show

  5. Jul 3

    Crash Out With Me: Privilege Is the Most Protected Class

    Send us Fan Mail DEI doesn’t fail because people “don’t get it.” It fails because the people with power won’t share it. Maddie B sits down with award-winning learning development and global talent management pro Jasmine Mosley Beale, founder of Virtue Key Consulting Group, to name what a lot of workplaces avoid saying out loud: diversity, equity, and inclusion without authority, budget, and decision rights is just PR. We talk about the difference between looking diverse and being equitable, why headline diversity numbers can hide a leadership gap, and why attrition tells the truth when culture doesn’t. Jasmine breaks down what to examine beyond the org chart, including who drives strategy, who executes it, and how the “mighty middle” can either reinforce bias or move real change. We also dig into employee resource groups, sponsorship versus mentorship, and why so many DEI roles burn out when they’re set up with titles but no leverage. Then we go where most conversations stop: performative allyship, proximity-as-credibility, getting lowballed for expertise, and the exhausting expectation that marginalized people must overperform while accepting the bare minimum. If you’re building a DEI strategy, leading HR or talent management, or interviewing a company and trying to spot the red flags early, you’ll leave with concrete questions to ask and a clearer lens for what workplace inclusion actually requires. Subscribe for more real workplace conversations, share this with a leader who needs to hear it, and leave a review with the one change you want to see at work next. Follow Jasmine: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasmine-m-beal-2190b327/ work with Jasmine: www.virtuekey.com Support the show

  6. Jun 23

    Human First, Performance Second

    Send us Fan Mail Your calendar is packed, your notifications never stop, and somehow you still feel behind. That isn’t a personal failure. It’s what happens when workplaces treat humans like machines and call it “productivity.”  We sit down with Veresh Sita, a transformation leader and founder of vasana.ai, to get honest about what thriving actually means. We talk about why money only buys happiness up to a point, and why high-quality relationships, belonging, and real connection are often the missing pieces in modern work culture. From hustle culture to hyper-independence, we unpack how “success” can quietly break the very community and recovery our nervous systems depend on.  We also get practical about the future of work with AI. Veresh shares why AI can generate answers all day long, but it cannot provide wisdom, meaning, or judgment, and why outsourcing your gut to a chatbot can damage communication and conflict skills. We dig into brain science like the amygdala and identity threat, plus a clear progression for growth: self-awareness, self-regulation, situational awareness, and situational flexibility. And we call out a hard truth for leaders: resilience has been weaponized, and well-being cannot be dumped on HR.  If you want a more human way to work that still delivers results, this one is for you. Subscribe, share this with a friend who’s burnt out, and leave a review with the boundary you’re setting this week. Join our human advantage masterclass: https://vasana.ai/vasana-types-masterclass/ Follow Veresh:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/vereshsita/ Support the show

  7. Jun 15

    Crash Out With Me: Hiring Feels Like A Humiliation Ritual

    Send us Fan Mail Layoffs are back in the headlines, but the hardest part isn’t the announcement. It’s what happens after: the endless applications, the four-round interviews that end in ghosting, and the quiet pressure to accept jobs that pay a fraction of what your experience is worth. We sit down with Taryn Talley, a marketing leader and LGBTQ2SIA advocate, to talk about the job market in 2024 with zero sugarcoating and a lot of hard-earned perspective from nearly three decades in digital marketing and design.  We get into the realities behind “just pivot” advice: how part-time consulting can leave you without healthcare, why unemployment barely touches the bills, and how age bias and DEI backlash can shape who gets seen and who gets sidelined. Taryn shares the kinds of hiring red flags she’s seeing now, from rejection without feedback to bizarre metrics like LinkedIn follower counts being treated like qualifications, plus practical ways to approach the volume problem and the ATS filter game without losing your mind.  Then we zoom out to the platform that drives so much career visibility: LinkedIn. We talk about reach dropping, why comments matter more than ever, how AI systems are changing what shows up in the feed, and what “AI slop” means for creators and job seekers trying to stand out with real work. We also touch online harassment, blocking as a safety tool, and the political reality affecting trans people navigating everyday life across state lines.  If you’re job searching, hiring, building a personal brand, or just trying to make sense of why everything feels harder, this one will land. Subscribe, share with a friend who needs it, and leave a review so more people can find the conversation. Work with Taryn: https://streamyard.com/xfv46vjrrtcc Support the show

  8. May 26

    Crash Out With Me: Be Real, That's The Strategy

    Send us Fan Mail The internet keeps handing us the same recycled “insights” with a new filter, and we’re supposed to call it community. Madison sits down with Vanessa Smithers, a narrative consultant, poet, writer, and legacy archivist, to talk about the rise of Substack, the flood of AI-generated writing, and the weird new normal where people copy paste a robot’s voice and charge real money for it. We’re not anti-AI. We’re anti-empty. If you’ve felt your feed getting louder while saying less, you’re not imagining it. We dig into what algorithms reward, especially for Black creators and anyone who gets boxed into a stereotype for views. We talk about the dopamine trap of engagement, why “authenticity” online can become a curated performance, and how to build a personal brand on LinkedIn or Instagram without letting metrics decide your worth. Vanessa shares the practices that help her stay grounded, including treating hobbies as joy instead of output and choosing what stays offline. Then we crash out about privacy and consent in public life: filming strangers at the gym, recording run clubs, documenting every trip for “content,” and the way constant consumption kills tenderness. Vanessa also breaks down why being labeled a “content creator” can feel flattening when the work is art, emotional labor, and lived experience. We close with a hard truth about equity conferences and professional events that ask marginalized speakers to work for exposure or even pay to speak, plus what it really means to value your intellectual property work with Vanessa. https://www.vanessasmithers.com/ Support the show

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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
3 Ratings

About

Crash Out With Me is the podcast where we stop pretending we have it all together and start saying the quiet parts out loud. Every episode is a little unhinged, a little honest, and a lot about burnout, work, life, and the moments where everything falls apart just enough to figure out what actually matters.

Information

  • Creator
    Madison Butler
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    16
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Crash Out With Me.
  • Show Website
    Crash Out With Me.