Workplace Confessions: Behind Closed Doors

Dawn Andrews & Elsa Barbi
  • 5.0 (9)
  • Society & Culture
  • Updated Semiweekly

Hosted by best friends Dawn and Elsa, the podcast blends decades of experience across very different industries. Dawn spent 25 years as an employment lawyer investigating workplace drama from the inside out. Elsa built a long career in the beauty industry as a brand educator, with a few TV cameos along the way. Together, they’re unapologetic extroverts who meet new people everywhere—and always want to know how they got their jobs, what they love about them, what they can’t stand, and what really goes on behind closed doors. Equal parts informative and titillating, Workplace Confessions serves up all the tea while honoring the incredible, complicated, often messy work people are doing across industries and across the map.

  1. 4d ago

    Meet Bob Pacilio Author of The Revival of Molly O'Toole

    A teacher can change your writing, your courage, and the way you think, and you might not realize it until decades later.  This week, on Workplace Confessions: Behind Closed Doors, we sit down with Robert Pacilio, a longtime English teacher, legendary speech and debate coach, and self-published author, to hear how a kid from Brooklyn builds a life in education and then turns those lessons into seven books.  Along the way, we get the behind-closed-doors version of what it really takes to lead a room full of teenagers and still keep your heart open. We talk about a teaching philosophy centered on teaching to kids, not at them.  Then we go into the publishing world with the same honesty. He breaks down the myths around self-publishing, why agents often push authors toward whatever is selling, and what “getting the word out” looks like without connections.  You will also hear some unforgettable workplace moments, including a final day straight out of Dead Poets Society, a dance-based final exam built around The Great Gatsby era, and how he learned to speak to students about 9/11 with care and clarity. If you love stories about leadership, education, mentorship, self-publishing, and meaningful work, this one will stick with you. Subscribe, share with a friend who had a life-changing teacher, and leave a review so more listeners can find the show. Send us Fan Mail Want to be interviewed? You can remain anonymous. Voice distortion now available. Email or Text us!

  2. Sep 25

    Meet Jenelle Nino, the Owner of Bellini Flowers and CEO of Roses for Veterans

    This week, on Workplace Confessions: Behind Closed Doors, Jenelle Nino, owner of Bellani Floral in Valley Center, California, teaches us how flowers can change lives. When Janelle walks into a bridal shower for a friend who is terminally ill, she feels something she has not felt in years: calm, peace, and purpose. After building a career in Marriott hotel sales and then banking, she is tired of work that pays well but feels hollow, especially after losing two brothers to cancer. That one moment becomes the spark that turns a “maybe someday” dream into a real career pivot and the creation of a small business. We talk about what it is actually like to become a florist and flower shop owner. Janelle breaks down the pricing challenges everyone in the floral industry faces. She also shares the business realities that hit hard, like unpredictable months, constant hustling, and why so many florists are shifting from brick-and-mortar shops to home studios. Subscribe, rate, and share Workplace Confessions: Behind Closed Doors, and send this to a friend who is thinking about making a bold career change. What would it take for you to follow your heart? Send us Fan Mail Want to be interviewed? You can remain anonymous. Voice distortion now available. Email or Text us!

  3. Sep 18

    Meet Haren Bhakta, the Creator of the Inside Ownership Index

    This week, on Workplace Confessions: Behind Closed Doors, we interview Haren Bhakta, CFA, CEO and owner of the Inside Ownership Index ($OWN), the first index fund focused on companies with meaningful insider ownership. The premise of the index is that when major decisionmakers own a meaningful stake, they tend to act like true owners, not hired hands chasing a bonus. Haren breaks down how the S&P 500 works, why market-cap weighting can create weird outcomes around leadership transitions, and how an ownership-weighted strategy tries to reward “skin in the game.”  Along the way, he provides real examples, from General Motors after Alfred Sloan to Intel after Andy Grove. We also talk about the rare cases where greatness survives leadership change and what that says about culture and governance. You’ll also hear a truly unforgettable Wall Street moment, plus practical guidance for anyone who wants a clear framework for choosing index funds.  Subscribe, share this with a friend who talks stocks at work, and leave a review if it changed how you think about who’s really in charge. Send us Fan Mail Want to be interviewed? You can remain anonymous. Voice distortion now available. Email or Text us!

  4. Sep 11

    Meet Eric Reiners, Author of The Energy Edge

    Your job can look perfect on paper and still wreck your sleep on Sunday night.  This week, we sit down with Eric Reiners, a CTO in cybersecurity and the executive coach behind the Corporate Athlete Program, to unpack how high-stakes tech leadership actually feels when the alerts never stop. Eric walks us through a career that refuses to stay in one lane. From managing a Radio Shack, to studying yoga in Nepal, Eric moves to Silicon Valley where he rides a hypergrowth cybersecurity “rocket ship,” learns painful lessons about the transition from individual contributor to people manager, and hits a breaking point during incident response that forces a new approach to performance and recovery. He also introduces us to his new book "The Energy Edge" where he shares the secrets to feeling great, stressing less, and loving your work again.  If you want smarter leadership, better energy management, and a clearer sense of how to protect yourself online, hit play. Subscribe, leave a review, and share this with a friend who is doing too much and paying for it. Send us Fan Mail Want to be interviewed? You can remain anonymous. Voice distortion now available. Email or Text us!

  5. Sep 4

    From Opera Stages To Boardrooms With Compassionate Communication

    This week, on Workplace Confessions: Behind Closed Doors, our anonymous guest starts with a raw confession from his first paying job and reveals what he did to make amends many years later.  From there, the story takes a series of turns through our guest's work in theater and opera to teaching high school students to executive communication coaching, keynote speech writing, and helping leaders find their story.  Then we get into why so many people feel exposed when they try to sound like themselves at work. He connects voice mechanics to nonviolent communication, and he leaves us with a phrase we keep thinking about: "choose grief over grievance."  Subscribe for more anonymous workplace stories, share this with a friend who is working on their voice or their boundaries, and leave a rating or review so more listeners can find us. What part of your work self is ready to sound more like you? Send us Fan Mail Want to be interviewed? You can remain anonymous. Voice distortion now available. Email or Text us!

  6. Aug 28

    From a Career in Dance to the Wild West of Yoga

    Teaching yoga may look calm from the outside, but the career behind the mat is anything but simple.  This week on Workplace Confessions: Behind Closed Doors, we sit down with a former professional dancer turned yoga instructor who tells the real story of what it takes to build a career in the wellness industry. We talk candidly about what it takes to become a successful yoga teacher in a system with minimal regulation. She explains why many certifications are only a baseline, how continuing education becomes the real differentiator, and why teaching is as much about people skills as it is about poses.  If you’ve ever wondered about yoga instructor pay, sustainable career paths, or how teachers move from low-paying time slots to true schedule freedom, this conversation lays it out without sugarcoating. Subscribe, rate, and share Workplace Confessions: Behind Closed Doors, and tell us what job myth you want us to challenge next. Send us Fan Mail Want to be interviewed? You can remain anonymous. Voice distortion now available. Email or Text us!

  7. Aug 21

    Meet a Real Estate Agent for Ryan Serhant's Million Dollar Listing San Diego

    This week, we sit down with an anonymous San Diego real estate agent with 22 years in the trenches to talk about the real work behind buying and selling homes, including the chaos you never see on reality TV. We trace her path from a first job at a grocery store to hotel management ambitions, then the pivot into real estate to build a life without constantly relocating.  Along the way, we get candid about what makes the job rewarding and what makes it brutal. We dig into modern client behavior, from 'for sale by owner' shortcuts to relying on ChatGPT for complex home buying advice.  Then the jaw-dropper: an open escrow collapses overnight when a buyer sends a spicy photo to the seller’s neighbor. If you’ve ever wondered how agents handle irregular income, recession years, and emotional whiplash, this conversation brings the receipts. Subscribe, rate, and share Workplace Confessions Behind Closed Doors, and leave a review with the wildest workplace moment you’ve seen so we can talk about it next. Send us Fan Mail Want to be interviewed? You can remain anonymous. Voice distortion now available. Email or Text us!

  8. Aug 14

    Meet a Medium

    This week's guest spent decades in Human Resources learning how to read people, navigate conflict, and hold steady in hard conversations. Then she walked away from corporate life to do something most would never dare to. She became a medium.  Our anonymous guest shares how a simple “Is this it?” moment pushed her to explore intuition, and what finally gave her the courage to retire and build a practice helping people heal after loss. We get practical about what is actually happening when a medium communicates with those who have passed. We also talk about the emotional weight of the work, especially around suicide loss, plus the boundaries and grounding rituals she uses to reset after holding that much pain. Then we go deeper into the ways people experience signs from deceased loved ones. She breaks down the different "clairs," what it means to trust a message that sounds ridiculous at first, and why curiosity can be more useful than certainty when you’re trying to make sense of life, death, and everything in between. Subscribe, rate, and share Workplace Confessions: Behind Closed Doors, and send us your own workplace confession so we can keep telling the stories people only share behind closed doors. Send us Fan Mail Want to be interviewed? You can remain anonymous. Voice distortion now available. Email or Text us!

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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
9 Ratings

About

Hosted by best friends Dawn and Elsa, the podcast blends decades of experience across very different industries. Dawn spent 25 years as an employment lawyer investigating workplace drama from the inside out. Elsa built a long career in the beauty industry as a brand educator, with a few TV cameos along the way. Together, they’re unapologetic extroverts who meet new people everywhere—and always want to know how they got their jobs, what they love about them, what they can’t stand, and what really goes on behind closed doors. Equal parts informative and titillating, Workplace Confessions serves up all the tea while honoring the incredible, complicated, often messy work people are doing across industries and across the map.

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