Brave Women at Work Jen Pestikas

I have talked to many successful women in corporate, business owners, authors, speakers, doctors, lawyers, and more, but I have not talked with a socially conscious influencer. But today, I brought you Rachel Lauren. After today's conversation, I learned we can all be influencers with our platforms and voices. It's up to us to find what we are passionate about and go and do something good. Rachel's story motivated and inspired me, and I'm sure you will be, too.
 
During my chat with Rachel, we discussed:
-          She is multi-passionate and has many different professional and personal roles.
-         How she landed in her current role as Chief People Officer at Dream.org.
-         Her long history in serving marginalized groups, whether that is through prison reform, supporting diversity, equity, and inclusion, or foster-to-adoption.
-         What a conscious influencer means and how Rachel has grown her following.
-         How we can all use our voices to support one another and be conscious influencers.

Harnessing the power of managing your stress is essential to our health. But when we fall into the abyss of trauma, pain, and chronic disease, it reshapes our body and brain. In this episode, to lead us into the path to recovery and explain the value of healing the gut, Dr. Erika La Vella sits with Jennifer Pestikas. Dr. Erika brings so much wealth in today’s conversation to further understand how the Body Keeps the Score. Tune in to this episode and be a Brave Woman at Work today.
 
During my chat with Dr. Erika, we discussed:
What led her to her work of helping others heal their guts and take control of their health?What is the gut-brain axis? Why is it bi-directional? And why it's important?Symptoms of gut dysfunction and what we can do about itSugar, oh beloved sugar, how it can wreak havoc on our health, and how we can learn to manage our need for it.The role that stress plays in all of this.And how healing our gut helps us be a braver women at work.

As we inch closer to the end of 2023, are you starting to think about year-end or 2024 goals? When the leaves fall and the weather turns cold, I start turning inward and want to reflect and plan. One of the things that I always think about is my health. I thought it would be perfect timing to talk with Caitlin Spears, a coach who specializes in health and well-being. Caitlin also focuses on building the routines you need to reach your goals, which can benefit everyone, no matter your health situation. To be the best and bravest version of ourselves, we need to focus on health.
 
During my chat with Caitlin, we discussed:
The power of our failures and how they redirect us to the correct paths in our livesHow can we prevent our self-perceived failures from stopping us and keeping us stuck?How Caitlin pivoted from being on America’s Next Top Model to running a health and wellness coaching firmHow routines, both big and small, play a big part in our health and how we feel on a day-to-day basisThe difference between traditional and holistic medicine and how we can leverage both for wellnessCaitlin shares some of her routines that help her feel her best.Caitlin shares her advice for busy working women to take control of their health.

Let’s kick off our show with a quote today:

“It’s lonely at the top. 99% of people are convinced they are incapable of achieving great things, so they aim for mediocre. The level of competition is thus fiercest for ‘realistic’ goals, paradoxically making them the most competitive.” -Tim Ferriss

When I was introduced to my guest, Shilpa Kulshreshtha and her concept of murdering mediocrity, I took pause. The term even made me uncomfortable, but it stuck, and I knew that I needed to speak with Shilpa.
I started asking myself if I was living in mediocrity. Was I living in my comfort zone or really going for it in my life and career?

And what did I need to do to eliminate mediocrity in all areas of my life?

If you suspect that you may be hiding out in a comfort zone, playing second fiddle, or not taking center stage and shining your gifts and talents for all the world to see, listen in! You will gain inspiration and motivation from our conversation.

During my chat with Shilpa, we discussed:
What does mediocrity mean? What are the signs of being mediocre vs. extraordinary?How do we know if we are in the 1% or 99% as Tim Ferriss said in the above quote I shared to kick off the show?What does murdering mediocrity mean to Shilpa? Why did she decide to use the term “murdering”? It definitely stuck out to me.What are the telltale signs that we may be in a rut personally or professionally? How does Shilpa help her clients get out of these ruts?How can we take center stage in our own lives and not push ourselves to the side or act in that “support” role vs. a leadership role?What does it mean to play it full in our lives and careers? Shilpa has a book specifically on this topic called Play It Full: 7 Steps to Unlock Your Extraordinary Career.

We talk a lot about perfectionism at Brave Women at Work, and how it can truly cripple us in achieving our goals and dreams. As Brené says, there is no perfection. I often tell my daughters, “Do your best and leave the rest.” I say this so I can hopefully break the cycle of perfectionism in my family. What about you? How has perfectionism affected you, your life, or your work?
 
I met my guest, L’Oreal Thompson Payton, in an interesting way. L’Oreal is a freelance writer and an author, so I stumbled on one of her freelance pieces and was enthralled by it. I connected with her on LinkedIn and asked her if she wanted to be on the show. It just so happened that her book, Stop Waiting for Perfect, was coming out soon, so she agreed. How about that for coincidence! On top of that, L’Oreal is a Chicagoan just like me. The synergies are crazy!
 
During my chat with L’Oreal, we discussed:
●       What drove L’Oreal to write her book Stop Waiting for Perfect: Step Out of Your Comfort Zone and into Your Power?
●       How was this book her own personal lesson in not being perfect?
●       What’s a success junkie and how can this book help them?
●       Where does our lack of self-trust come from? How can we trust our dopeness?
●       How black and other women of color face different societal and cultural expectations and how we can help them succeed in all places and spaces.
●       How we can step out of our comfort zone and take our power back.
●       And what black girl magic means to L’Oreal! I’ve seen it on memes and hashtags, but I wanted to hear it firsthand from someone truly creating black girl magic!

To be a brave woman at work, you need to bring your whole self to work. This means the personal side, the professional side, the physical side, and the emotional side.
 
Today, we are going to talk about relationships, especially after divorce, with my guest Renée Bauer. Renée is passionate about helping women stand strong in their relationships, recognize red flags, determine when parting may be better than staying, and discover what comes next after divorce. This was an eye-opening conversation for me, and one that I’m sure you will benefit from, no matter what your relationship status.
 
During my chat with Renée, we discussed:
1. Why did Renée choose to be a divorce attorney to begin with?
2. What was Renée’s life and work like after her second divorce? How did it shape her purpose?
3. What motivated Renée to write the She Who Wins book? And what learnings about grit and resistance she had throughout that process?
4. How this book was her own personal lesson in not being perfect?
5. How rejection is not something to feel bad about, but something to learn and grow from?
6. How each of us have our own version of bullshit, and what to do with it.
7. How expectations can hamper our ability to grow and win at whatever we are doing.
8. And more.