Birth2Boardroom Podcast - Empowering Women to Lead. Thrive. Succeed

Deb Kowalski & Natalie Griffiths
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Birth 2 Boardroom is an empowering podcast for women building bold careers and businesses. Host Deb Kowalski and Natalie Griffiths share candid conversations with successful women across industries, diving into real stories of growth, resilience, and leadership. Each episode delivers practical strategies for overcoming gender-specific challenges, building confidence, and scaling success—along with inspiration and community for women at every stage of their professional journey.

  1. 3d ago

    The Power of Self-Advocacy and Trusting Your Voice - Courtney Drake

    What happens when you stop waiting for someone else to tell you you're ready?In this episode of Birth2Boardroom, we sit down with Courtney Drake — a marketing and content strategist with over 15 years of experience — to talk about the power of self-advocacy, trusting your voice, and choosing how you respond to what life throws your way.Born with a congenital limb difference, Courtney has spent her life navigating assumptions from others about what she can and can't do. Instead of letting those assumptions define her, she learned to advocate for herself, trust her instincts, and keep moving forward. From a pivotal moment in high school where her mom stood up to a teacher who wanted to sideline her from chemistry class, to building a nonlinear career across multiple industries, to navigating an unexpected layoff and becoming a mother to a daughter with ADHD — Courtney's story is a masterclass in resilience and embracing what makes you different.We talk about:Why confidence comes after you speak up, not beforeThe full-circle moment of going from not wanting an IEP to advocating for one for her daughterHow ADHD can be a superpower, not a limitationWhat it means to embrace the unexpected turns in your careerA powerful love note to her younger self that will have you reaching for the tissuesHer song choice: "The Champion" by Carrie Underwood and LudacrisIf you've ever held back in a meeting because you were afraid of being wrong, or let someone else's perception shape how you see yourself, this episode is for you.Subscribe for more conversations with women who are redefining what leadership looks like.Join the movement at www.birth2boardroom.com#Birth2Boardroom #SelfAdvocacy #WomenInLeadership #Resilience #ADHD #Inclusion #WomenEmpowerment #CareerJourney #TrustYourVoice #InspiringWomen

    The Power of Self-Advocacy and Trusting Your Voice - Courtney Drake

  2. Season 1, Episode 20 Trailer

    It's Okay to Be Wrong — Speak Up Anyway - Courtney Drake - Promo

    Courtney delivers an empowering message about trusting your inner voice and not being afraid to speak up, even if you might be wrong. She shares how she's experienced the frustration of holding back an idea in a meeting only to hear someone else say the exact same thing — and the regret that follows. Her advice: people aren't always right, and that's how we learn. Putting your ideas out there can spark something in yourself or someone else that moves the conversation forward. Even if you didn't have the right answer, you were part of the conversation that led to it. It's okay to be wrong — just do it anyway.

    It's Okay to Be Wrong — Speak Up Anyway - Courtney Drake - Promo

  3. Season 1, Episode 20 Trailer

    A Love Note to Her Younger Self — Trust Your Voice - Courtney Drake - Promo

    In the most emotional moment of the episode, Courtney reads a heartfelt letter she wrote to her younger self. She reminds young Courtney to hold onto her inner voice — especially when she feels herself shrinking back. She speaks to the assumptions people will make, the importance of advocating for yourself, and how the things that make you different are the very things that will shape your resilience and the way you connect with others. Her message: keep embracing who you are, stay curious, and trust that the unexpected turns in your journey will lead you exactly where you need to go.

    A Love Note to Her Younger Self — Trust Your Voice - Courtney Drake - Promo

  4. Season 1, Episode 20 Trailer

    Born Different — Choosing Optimism Over Limitation - Courtney Drake - Promo

    Courtney introduces her story from the very beginning — born without all of her limbs fully developed, she has her left hand, her legs go down to her knees, and she doesn't have all of her right arm. She explains how being born this way means it's all she's ever known, so she never had to grieve a life she once had the way someone who loses a limb later in life might. She shares how this shaped her naturally optimistic outlook and how she's chosen to stay optimistic through life's battles. The teaser closes with her powerful guiding question: "How can I look at this as a blessing rather than a setback?"

    Born Different — Choosing Optimism Over Limitation - Courtney Drake - Promo

  5. Sep 24

    "Confidence & Courage - I Choose Me Everyday" - Elif Kose

    What if everything you believed about confidence was wrong?This week on Birth2Boardroom, we're joined by Elif Kose — a woman who arrived in the UK from Turkey at 22 with a business degree, a borrowed sewing machine, and a bicycle she bought for £10 from a car boot sale. What she built from those humble beginnings — a thriving fashion house, national media appearances, celebrity clientele — looked like the ultimate success story. But underneath the designer dresses and the accolades, something was quietly breaking.Elif opens up about the burnout that cracked her open in the best possible way, the concept of "toxic loneliness" (staying in rooms where you don't belong just to avoid being alone), and the profound realization that she had built her entire identity around being needed. She even shares a stunning admission: that her own published book, How to Build Confidence in Seven Steps, was built on a flawed premise — because confidence isn't something you construct. It's something you remember.In this deeply moving conversation, we explore:🔹 The Confidence Myth — why "fake it till you make it" and external validation will always let you down🔹 Performing vs. Pursuing Excellence — how to tell the difference (hint: if rest feels like guilt, you're performing)🔹 The Confidence Code — Elif's framework for decoding the layers of conditioning that have buried your authentic self🔹 Toxic Loneliness — the hidden cost of saying yes to rooms you were never meant for🔹 A love note to her younger self — the words she wished someone had said to the girl on the bike, and the words every woman needs to hear🔹 Her song choice, "Rise Up" by Andra Day, and why it captures everything she believes about beginning exactly where you areWhether you're a high-achiever running on empty, a woman who deflects every compliment, or someone who's forgotten who she is without the doing — this episode is your invitation to stop performing your worth and start remembering who you've always been.

    "Confidence & Courage - I Choose Me Everyday" - Elif Kose

  6. Season 1, Episode 19 Trailer

    "A Love Note to My Younger Self" - Elif Kose - Promo

    Deb asks Elif what she would say to her younger self - a young woman who had just arrived to the UK from Turkey carrying big dreams and uncertaintly. Elif reads a heartfelt letter reminding her younger self, "Youare not too much, you are not too foreign, too ambitious, too sensitive, or too different. The things that made you feel like you did not belong are the exact things that one day will building something beautiful."

    "A Love Note to My Younger Self" - Elif Kose - Promo

  7. Season 1, Episode 19 Trailer

    "Toxic Loneliness & Burnout" - Elif Kose - Promo

    Elif opens up about how burnout didn't arrive like a car crash but as small moments of awareness - realizing she was lonely in a room full of people. She calls this "toxic loneliness" and shares the story about selling an   8,000 pound wedding dress and feeling nothing, despite it being the greatest payday of her career.

    "Toxic Loneliness & Burnout" - Elif Kose - Promo

  8. Season 1, Episode 19 Trailer

    "The Confidence Myth" - Elif Kose - Promo

    Elif challenges the conventional wisdom around building confidence, admitting she was wrong to teach women to "fake it till you become it" and "dress the part." Having published a book called, "How to Build Confidence in Seven Steps," she now reveals that confidence is not something you build - it's something you remember.

    "The Confidence Myth" - Elif Kose - Promo
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Birth 2 Boardroom is an empowering podcast for women building bold careers and businesses. Host Deb Kowalski and Natalie Griffiths share candid conversations with successful women across industries, diving into real stories of growth, resilience, and leadership. Each episode delivers practical strategies for overcoming gender-specific challenges, building confidence, and scaling success—along with inspiration and community for women at every stage of their professional journey.

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