STORYTIME with Lori

Lori Mayer
  • 4.0 (1)
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Weekly

Real people. Real stories. Real laughs. Real lessons. 🎙️ Welcome to Storytime with Lori, where we get past the titles, résumés, highlight reels and perfectly polished profiles to meet the human being underneath. Hosted by Lori Mayer, tech and sales leader, storyteller, community builder, entrepreneur, single mom and LGBTQ advocate, STORYTIME with Lori brings together CEOs, executives, entrepreneurs, athletes, creators, advocates, rising leaders and beautifully complicated humans for conversations that go where most interviews don't. We talk about leadership, career growth, women in leadership, entrepreneurship, women in tech, resilience, reinvention, personal growth, mental health, relationships, motherhood, identity, LGBTQ experiences, belonging, confidence, vulnerability, grief, recovery, second chances and starting over. Because success isn't always a straight line. Sometimes it's getting the promotion. Sometimes it's walking away. It's building a company, losing everything, coming out, raising a kid, surviving grief, changing careers, finding your voice, rebuilding after failure or finally deciding you're done shrinking yourself to make everyone else comfortable. And sometimes it's laughing at the absolute shitshow along the way. This isn't another interview podcast filled with polished answers. Lori wants the story underneath the story. What happened before the success? What did failure teach you? What happens when the person everyone calls "strong" is barely holding it together? How do women claim space in rooms that weren't built for them? What does authentic leadership actually look like when nobody's watching? How do we support the next generation coming behind us? And what could we learn from each other if we stopped pretending we had everything figured out? Some episodes explore leadership, business, entrepreneurship, sales, technology and career development with executives and industry leaders. Others dive into resilience, mental health, relationships, identity, grief, recovery, personal transformation and reinvention. You'll hear stories from women breaking barriers, LGBTQ+ voices, founders building something from nothing, athletes chasing impossible goals, parents figuring it out in real time, young people defining success differently and people who turned their hardest chapters into something meaningful. Different generations. Different backgrounds. Different journeys. One microphone. And one rule: Tell the real story. Because Storytime with Lori isn't about telling people how to live. It's about creating enough room for people to tell us how they've lived and what they learned along the way. We celebrate ambition without pretending success is effortless. We talk about resilience without romanticizing struggle. We talk about leadership without forgetting the humans being led. We believe vulnerability is powerful, representation matters and sometimes the conversation we're most afraid to have is exactly the one somebody else needs to hear. So whether you're navigating a career change, building a business, leading a team, raising humans, reinventing yourself, healing from something, chasing an outrageous dream or simply wondering what the hell comes next, pull up a chair. You belong in this conversation. We're not fighting for a seat at somebody else's table. We're making the room bigger. 🎙️ STORYTIME with Lori Real life. Real laughs. Real lessons.

  1. Oct 28

    The Talent Was Always There

    Well, I thought I knew Televerde. Turns out, I had a little more learning to do. 😂 I've worked with Televerde for years, supported its mission, and believed in the work they're doing. But when Cheryl Day from TD SYNNEX and I visited their Arizona facility, I walked away with a completely different perspective. I expected sales development and lead generation. What I experienced was a much bigger world of B2B sales strategy, demand generation, revenue growth, channel partnerships, customer experience, and some incredibly talented women who knew exactly what they were talking about. And let me tell you, these ladies impressed the hell out of me. In this episode of STORYTIME with Lori, I'm joined by Alicia Rasta, a global sales and client success leader at Televerde, for a deeply personal conversation about the women behind the business, second chances, professional development, leadership, and the power of being seen for who you are, not simply where you've been. Alicia shares what it's like to witness women develop confidence, discover their professional strengths, and grow into individuals capable of presenting sophisticated business solutions to corporate executives. We talk about accountability, resilience, second chance employment, women in technology, workforce development, and what corporate America might be missing when it comes to recognizing untapped talent. But beyond the business, we talk about something that matters just as much to me: human connection. The laughter, the friendships, the women I've had the privilege of getting to know, and the reminder that every one of us is so much more than a single chapter of our lives. Because here's the thing. We can acknowledge someone's past, respect accountability, and still recognize the extraordinary human being standing in front of us. Sometimes the person who teaches you the most is the one you never expected to learn from. ❤️ Join us for a conversation about Televerde, women in leadership, second chances, B2B sales, career transformation, and the beautifully messy business of being human. 🎙️ STORYTIME with Lori. Real life. Real laughs. Real lessons. #televerde #secondchances #womenintech #womeninleadership #workforcedevelopment

  2. Oct 23

    We Didn't Fight This Hard for a Seat Just to Guard the Damn Chair

    You ever walk into a room full of important people, impressive titles, and enough personalities to fill a small stadium, and find yourself wondering who in the hell is actually listening? Well, that's where this story begins. At table 2, of all places. 😂 I met Kristy Melton at a sales leadership summit, surrounded by some incredibly accomplished people across the technology industry. There weren't many women in the room, and Kristy and I couldn't have been more different in how we carried ourselves. I'm naturally outgoing, curious, and rarely at a loss for words. Kristy? She's taking it all in. Watching, listening, processing, and probably figuring out more about the room than the rest of us combined. Wouldn't you know it, we ended up sitting together twice. Apparently, the universe had plans for table two. What I appreciated about Kristy almost immediately was that there was no performance. No trying to impress each other, no comparing résumés, no figuring out what the other person could do for us. Just a genuine connection between two women who had spent years navigating a complex, male-dominated industry. Kristy is a solution architect in the F5 ecosystem, with a fascinating technical mind and a wonderfully refreshing way of looking at people. She's also someone who will openly admit that there was a time in her career when another woman entering the room might have felt more like competition than an opportunity for connection. THAT is where our conversation gets interesting. Because I think more of us have experienced that feeling than we're willing to admit. We work our tails off to establish ourselves, earn credibility, and get invited into rooms where we weren't always welcome. Then another talented woman walks in, and somewhere in the back of our minds, there's this little voice wondering whether there's enough room for both of us. How ridiculous is that? And yet, how human. Kristy and I talk about what it takes to outgrow that thinking, why some of the most remarkable leaders are the ones who barely say a word, and what happens when we stop treating professional relationships like some elaborate game of chess. We also wander into the generational differences playing out in today's workforce, the changing expectations of younger professionals, and what happens to genuine human connection as artificial intelligence becomes more woven into our everyday lives. Somewhere along the way, Kristy introduces me to what she calls "Coke foam conversations." You know those exchanges where there's a whole lot of fizz, plenty of noise, and absolutely nothing worth swallowing? I about died laughing because we've all been there. 😂 But what stayed with me most wasn't the humor. It was the reminder that having influence means very little if we never use it to help somebody else. Sometimes that means making an introduction, mentioning someone's name when they're not in the room, or recognizing brilliance in somebody who doesn't know how to advertise it. I didn't invite Kristy onto Storytime with Lori because she has an impressive title. I invited her because she's the kind of person who makes you think a little differently after you've spent time with her. And I happen to think we need more people like that in our lives. So pour yourself something good, pull up a chair, and join us for a conversation about the people we become, the old habits we outgrow, and what we can accomplish when we stop worrying so much about protecting our little corner of the world. Before you go, I've got a question for you. Think about the people who helped you get where you are today. Who made the introduction? Who saw something in you before you saw it yourself? And when was the last time you did that for somebody else? Maybe it's time we made a little more room at the table. #storytimewithlori #womenintech #womeninleadership #quietleadership #humanconnection

  3. Oct 16

    Showing Up as Yourself: Grief, Confidence & Starting Over with Nicole O’Brien

    What happens when you're the strong one everyone depends on, but you're quietly falling apart yourself? On this episode of STORYTIME with Lori, I'm pulling up a chair with Nicole O’Brien for a conversation that goes well beyond personal branding, LinkedIn, or the highlight reels we put out into the world. Nicole is a mother, leader, marketer, and woman who has navigated devastating family loss while continuing to show up for the people who needed her. She opens up about losing her brother, carrying grief into the workplace, stepping away from healthcare, and discovering that healing doesn't necessarily mean becoming the person you used to be. But don't worry. We're not spending 30 minutes crying into our coffee. We're also talking about '90s hip-hop, Biggie, Tupac, Taylor Swift, raising brutally honest children, the unexpected joy of finding your people on LinkedIn, and why getting older can bring a beautiful freedom from other people's opinions. In this conversation: Why authenticity feels harder than it shouldHow grief affects leadership, work, and emotional capacityWhat grieving employees actually need from their employersFinding confidence in your forties and embracing changeBuilding a personal brand without losing your personalityUsing music, humor, and storytelling to connect with peopleWhy you don't have to return to your old self to healThis isn't a five-step guide to becoming your authentic self. Thank goodness. It's an honest conversation about being a whole human being while life keeps happening. 🎙️ STORYTIME with Lori — Real people. Real stories. No polished perfection required. There's always room for one more. Explore the show: https://storytimewithlori.com/

  4. Oct 7

    HEALING WHILE WORKING ❤️‍🩹

    Riverside Hosting PostHealing While Working: The Shit We Carry That Nobody Sees ❤️‍🩹 Nobody really prepares us for healing while life keeps moving. There’s no convenient pause button for grief, disappointment, anxiety, heartbreak, family struggles, or those seasons when you simply don’t feel like yourself. The meeting is still at 9:00. Your team still needs you. The kids need dinner. The mortgage is due. Life basically says, “That sounds rough. Anyway… keep going.” 😂 And somehow, we do. Over the last few years, I’ve spent a lot of time working on myself. Therapy. Journaling. Breath work. Boundaries. Learning my triggers. Unlearning things I carried for far too long. And somewhere in all of that work, one lesson got really loud: being strong enough to carry something doesn’t mean it was ever yours to carry. That lesson shows up at work, too. High performers see a gap and fill it. Something falls, we catch it. Nobody owns it, we step in. Something catches fire? 🔥 Fine, hand me the hose. There’s pride in being that person, and sometimes it absolutely is leadership. But I’ve also learned there’s a difference between stepping up and overfunctioning, between being committed and carrying everything, and between leadership and martyrdom. Strong organizations shouldn’t depend on a handful of talented people quietly holding up the ceiling. Great leadership creates clarity, accountability and trust. It puts good people in the right places, gives them room to be great, and recognizes that being the person who can solve every problem isn’t nearly as powerful as building a team where one person doesn’t have to. And somewhere in all our conversations about performance, growth and results, we can’t forget that every person walking into work is bringing an entire life with them. Someone can be crushing their number while grieving. Leading a team while rebuilding their confidence. Sitting across from you looking completely composed while carrying something you know absolutely nothing about. That doesn’t mean lowering the bar. I believe deeply in accountability and high standards. But accountability and humanity can sit at the same table. We can expect excellence and still ask someone how they’re really doing. We can give grace without abandoning accountability. We can be ambitious and still be healing. And if you’re the one doing some healing right now, remember this: you don’t have to become some perfectly healed version of yourself before you’re allowed to succeed. You can be healing and ambitious, vulnerable and powerful, still figuring some things out and still be damn good at what you do. ❤️ So maybe the question isn’t always, “How much more can I carry?” Maybe it’s “Is all of this actually mine to carry?” That answer might change a few things. ❤️🦁 #healingwhileworking #mentalhealthatwork #leadership #workplaceculture #emotionalintelligence #executiveleadership #womeninleadership #authenticleadership #selfleadership #highperformers #workplacewellbeing #careergrowth #storytimewithlori

  5. Sep 29

    Cancer Got a Chapter. Not the Whole Damn Book. | Tara Akins

    I met Tara Akins before I knew most of her story and I am glad I did. We'd crossed paths before, but it was sitting in a box at a San Diego Wave game with our mutual friend Enzo where we actually got to know each other. And somewhere between soccer, laughing, talking about life and discovering we're both Leos—which honestly explained a few things 😂🦁—I remember thinking, I really like this woman. Not because I knew what she'd survived. I didn't. I liked her. And that's important, because Tara has one hell of a story, but I didn't want to sit down with her and spend 45 minutes talking about cancer. So we didn't. We talked about growing up in a family that showed up physically but didn't always give her the emotional safety she needed. We talked about learning to read a room, keeping everybody happy and becoming a people-pleaser before you even realize that's what you're doing. And Tara said something that I think a lot of us learn way too f*****g late: you shouldn't have to perform to earn love. Pasted text We talked about her wife. Her kids. Chosen family. Being queer. Being a mom. Working in healthcare for more than two decades and genuinely loving taking care of people. And then, yes, we talked about cancer. Tara went into the ER thinking she might have a herniated disc. She left with a completely different life. Kidney failure. Lesions throughout her bones. Multiple myeloma. Two weeks in the hospital. Treatment. Eventually a bone marrow transplant. Pasted text But here's the part that got me. She didn't really fall apart when everything was happening. She fell apart afterward. When she wasn't working. Wasn't taking care of patients. Wasn't taking care of everybody else. Wasn't being the version of Tara she'd spent years knowing how to be. She had to figure out who the hell she was when she wasn't useful. Eventually she realized: “Me being Tara is enough.” Pasted text Yeah. Sit with that one for a minute. And because Tara refuses to b******t about any of this, there's no magical post-cancer montage here either. 😂 She went to therapy. She took medication when she needed it. She struggled with her changing body. She watched the Food Network while she was nauseous and dreamed about what she could eat when she felt better. She admits she didn't suddenly start exercising like crazy or become someone who loves drinking water. Thank God. A real person. 😂 Pasted text This is #cancer, #multiplemyeloma and #cancersurvivorship, yes. But it's also marriage, #chosenfamily, motherhood, being #lgbtq, #mentalhealth, #therapy, healthcare, #peoplepleasing, boundaries, identity and trying to figure out who the f**k you are when life changes the rules without asking permission. Somewhere near the end, two Leos started talking about roaring. Turns out a roar isn't always loud. Sometimes it's letting someone take care of you. Sometimes it's saying no. Sometimes it's admitting you're not okay. And sometimes it's finally realizing you don't have to do a damn thing to earn your place here. Tara, thank you for giving me you. ❤️ 🎙️ Storytime with Lori — The Story Underneath the Story #storytimewithlori #tarakins #multiplemyeloma #cancersurvivor #lgbtq #chosenfamily #mentalhealth #womenshealth #patientadvocacy #womeninhealthcare #selfworth #boundaries #healing #podcast

  6. Sep 24

    Can dad's really have it all? We ask women, now let's ask Brad DeLee

    Can working dads really have it all? What happens to career ambition, marriage, work-life balance and success when you become a father? 🎙️🔥 In this episode of Storytime with Lori, Brad DeLee gets brutally real about fatherhood, adoption, working dads, career and family, work-life balance, marriage, leadership and what choosing family first actually looks like when you're still ambitious as hell. Brad and his wife spent two years trying to build their family through adoption. They experienced two heartbreaking adoption attempts before the call finally came about their son, Brooks. Brad describes what kept them moving through the grief as “ruthless optimism” — the willingness to open your heart again even when opening it was exactly what allowed it to get broken. ❤️ His story takes us through adoption loss, private grief, the NICU, becoming an adoptive father and finally bringing their son home. But bringing Brooks home is where this conversation really starts. What happens when you're a working dad and suddenly that conference, flight, promotion or 5 a.m. meeting has to compete with bottles, diapers, your marriage and a tiny human who couldn't care less about your calendar? 😂 Brad talks about how fatherhood changed the way he thinks about business travel, career growth and the companies he's willing to work for. He hasn't become less ambitious. He's become much more intentional about what he's ambitious for and what he's willing to sacrifice to get there. Then we flip the damn script. 😏 Women have been asked these questions forever: How are you going to balance motherhood and your career? Who stays home when the baby is sick? What happens when your partner has the more important meeting? Can you really give 100% to your career AND your family? So I asked a dad. And Brad's answer took us into a much bigger conversation about working mothers and fathers, gender bias in the workplace, modern fatherhood, men in leadership and why we continue asking women questions we rarely ask men. His answer wasn't that we should start interrogating fathers too. Maybe we should finally stop asking working parents these ridiculous questions altogether. 🔥 We also go straight at the word provider. Brad challenges something we hear constantly from successful professionals: “I'm working this hard for my family.” His response? How much of that is really about providing...and how much is ego? 👀 This episode is for working dads, working moms, adoptive parents, new parents, ambitious professionals, business leaders and anyone trying to figure out how the hell career success and family are supposed to live under the same roof. Because maybe having it all isn't actually the goal. Maybe it's knowing what deserves the most of you — and having the guts to give it that. ❤️ 🎙️ Storytime with Lori Real people. Bigger conversations. 👇 YOUR TURN: Has becoming a parent changed what success means to you, or has it changed what you're willing to sacrifice to achieve it? Drop it in the comments. I want to hear the real answer. #WorkingDads #Fatherhood #Adoption #WorkLifeBalance #WorkingParents #StorytimeWithLori #FamilyFirst #CareerAndFamily #AdoptiveParents #Leadership #Parenthood #WorkingMoms #ModernFatherhood #CareerGrowth #Marriage

  7. Sep 24

    The Human Edge: What Success Costs & What AI Can't Replace

    What did success cost you? I asked Dan Albaum that question about 12 minutes into our conversation, and that's pretty much when this stopped being an interview about leadership. ❤️ Dan is the author of The Giving Edge and The Impact Makers and the host of Market Impact Insights, so yes, we talk leadership. But we also talk about the stuff that doesn't usually make the leadership bio: ego, self-doubt, toxic people, the year Dan spent constantly traveling while his kids were young, and his wife Nikolett being the “jet fuel” that has carried him through some of the harder seasons. I also challenge Dan on the premise of his newest book. Giving sounds beautiful, but what happens when we give so much that we disappear? We talk boundaries, putting your own oxygen mask on first, and why asking for help might actually be one of the greatest gifts we can give someone else. Then we get into AI 🤖 and something Dan calls the “sea of sameness.” If AI can help all of us become more polished, productive and seemingly perfect, maybe polish isn't the advantage anymore. Maybe our weird, messy, emotional humanity is. And then there's the empty chair. I asked Dan who he'd put beside him if he could choose one person. He chose his late father, a professor, mentor and author whose books Dan grew up seeing on the shelf. His father passed away before Dan published his first book. Today, Dan's books sit beside his dad's. Yeah… we went there. ❤️ This isn't 40 minutes about how to become a better executive. It's a conversation about ambition, family, generosity, AI, confidence, regret, grace, legacy and figuring out what actually matters while we're all still here to do something about it. This is Storytime with Lori. The story underneath the story. #storytimewithlori #danalbaum #thegivingedge #servantleadership #leadership #humanleadership #ai #futureofwork #authenticleadership #storytelling

  8. Sep 10

    Stop telling me who you are, SHOW me

    I came into this episode f*****g roaring. 🦁🔥 I’m pissed off, I’m hurt, I’m disappointed, and I’m exhausted by something I’m calling human fraud: that gap between who people tell us they are and who we actually experience them to be. Tell me you’re family? Show me when it’s inconvenient. Tell me your kid comes first? Show me when parenting screws up your plans. Tell me you believe in accountability? Show me when you’re the one who f****d up. Tell me you’re a leader? Great. I don’t need another LinkedIn post or PowerPoint with somebody climbing a f*****g mountain. Show me who you are when someone challenges you, knows more than you, or tells you something your ego really doesn’t want to hear. Because here’s what I’ve realized: character gets expensive. Integrity can cost you time, money, convenience, comfort, ego and sometimes the satisfaction of being right. That’s when we find out who the f**k we really are. I go there in this one. Family. Co-parenting. Corporate America. Leadership. AI. Ego. The invisible load so many parents carry while somebody else occasionally shows up for the ribbon cutting. 😏 And yes, apparently some of us have f*****g QuickBooks for all the emotional receipts we’ve collected along the way. But then this episode did something I wasn’t necessarily planning for: it turned the mirror back on me. Because I’m hurt right now, and when I’m hurt, I see things through hurt. That doesn’t erase what somebody else did. It doesn’t make s****y behavior okay. But if I’m demanding accountability from everybody else, then Lori has to own her f*****g shit too. That brought me to the line that matters most: I don’t want somebody else’s lack of integrity to cost me mine. F**k. Maybe that’s the whole lesson. I don’t need perfect people. I f*****g love imperfect people. Give me messy. Give me “I don’t know.” Give me “I was wrong.” Give me “I got scared.” Give me “I handled that like an a*****e.” What I’m done with is the performance. I want your words and your behavior to f*****g recognize each other. 🎙️ So here’s my challenge: listen before you decide who you think this episode is about. And before you send it to the ex, boss, parent, sibling, friend or whoever immediately popped into your head, ask yourself the harder f*****g question: Where did I hear myself? Then do something about it. And if this conversation hits you somewhere uncomfortable, share it with someone brave enough to look in the mirror with you. #StorytimeWithLori #HumanFraud #Authenticity #Accountability #Integrity #Leadership #RealTalk #OwnYourShit #PersonalGrowth #Podcasting

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About

Real people. Real stories. Real laughs. Real lessons. 🎙️ Welcome to Storytime with Lori, where we get past the titles, résumés, highlight reels and perfectly polished profiles to meet the human being underneath. Hosted by Lori Mayer, tech and sales leader, storyteller, community builder, entrepreneur, single mom and LGBTQ advocate, STORYTIME with Lori brings together CEOs, executives, entrepreneurs, athletes, creators, advocates, rising leaders and beautifully complicated humans for conversations that go where most interviews don't. We talk about leadership, career growth, women in leadership, entrepreneurship, women in tech, resilience, reinvention, personal growth, mental health, relationships, motherhood, identity, LGBTQ experiences, belonging, confidence, vulnerability, grief, recovery, second chances and starting over. Because success isn't always a straight line. Sometimes it's getting the promotion. Sometimes it's walking away. It's building a company, losing everything, coming out, raising a kid, surviving grief, changing careers, finding your voice, rebuilding after failure or finally deciding you're done shrinking yourself to make everyone else comfortable. And sometimes it's laughing at the absolute shitshow along the way. This isn't another interview podcast filled with polished answers. Lori wants the story underneath the story. What happened before the success? What did failure teach you? What happens when the person everyone calls "strong" is barely holding it together? How do women claim space in rooms that weren't built for them? What does authentic leadership actually look like when nobody's watching? How do we support the next generation coming behind us? And what could we learn from each other if we stopped pretending we had everything figured out? Some episodes explore leadership, business, entrepreneurship, sales, technology and career development with executives and industry leaders. Others dive into resilience, mental health, relationships, identity, grief, recovery, personal transformation and reinvention. You'll hear stories from women breaking barriers, LGBTQ+ voices, founders building something from nothing, athletes chasing impossible goals, parents figuring it out in real time, young people defining success differently and people who turned their hardest chapters into something meaningful. Different generations. Different backgrounds. Different journeys. One microphone. And one rule: Tell the real story. Because Storytime with Lori isn't about telling people how to live. It's about creating enough room for people to tell us how they've lived and what they learned along the way. We celebrate ambition without pretending success is effortless. We talk about resilience without romanticizing struggle. We talk about leadership without forgetting the humans being led. We believe vulnerability is powerful, representation matters and sometimes the conversation we're most afraid to have is exactly the one somebody else needs to hear. So whether you're navigating a career change, building a business, leading a team, raising humans, reinventing yourself, healing from something, chasing an outrageous dream or simply wondering what the hell comes next, pull up a chair. You belong in this conversation. We're not fighting for a seat at somebody else's table. We're making the room bigger. 🎙️ STORYTIME with Lori Real life. Real laughs. Real lessons.

Information

  • Creator
    Lori Mayer
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    42
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Lori Mayer
  • Show Website
    STORYTIME with Lori