Pretty Vocal

Stephanie Schutt

Pretty Vocal is a podcast about ambition, entrepreneurship, leadership, discipline, motherhood, identity, and the thoughts behind the decisions that build a powerful life. Hosted by Stephanie Schutt, this show is an extension of the conversations she’s become known for online — honest, thought-provoking, sometimes uncomfortable, and always direct. From building a business and using your voice online to navigating growth, standards, confidence, and self-leadership, each episode is designed to challenge the way you think and push you to become more intentional about the life you’re creating. This isn’t surface-level motivation or polished success talk. It’s real conversations for people who want more and are willing to confront what it actually requires to build it.

  1. Sep 21

    Losing 100 Pounds Taught Me Discipline. Miscarriage Taught Me Surrender.

    I grew up fat. By the time I got to college, I weighed around 238 pounds. Eventually, I lost roughly 100 pounds and I genuinely believe that experience changed the trajectory of my life in ways that had very little to do with the number on the scale. Losing that weight was one of the first times I learned what could happen when I changed my own behavior. I learned discipline, delayed gratification, consistency, and how to keep going long before anyone could see the results. I learned that confidence isn't something you magically find. Sometimes you build it by collecting evidence that you can trust yourself. And then life handed me something I couldn't outwork. After walking through four miscarriages, I had to confront a much harder truth: sometimes you can do everything right and still not get the outcome you desperately want. One experience taught me agency. The other taught me surrender. And somewhere in the tension between those two lessons is so much of the woman, and entrepreneur, I am today. In this episode, I'm talking about growing up overweight, losing and maintaining 100 pounds, the connection between discipline and self-trust, what miscarriage taught me about the limits of control, and why I believe you should still push yourself even when you're not guaranteed the outcome. Because there is a difference between accepting what isn't yours to control and leaving your own potential untouched. You don't get to control everything that happens in your life. But man, I want to know what happens when I take full responsibility for the parts that are mine.

    Losing 100 Pounds Taught Me Discipline. Miscarriage Taught Me Surrender.
  2. Aug 28

    Your Belief Has a Ceiling

    What if the people you’ve decided would never want what you have are actually the exact people you should be talking to? I came home from Portugal with one belief completely challenged: the aces aren’t hard to find. We’re often taught to look for the obvious need... the person who needs more money, hates her job, wants more flexibility, or desperately needs something to change. But what about the woman whose life is already good? The high performer. The successful one. The woman with options, influence, ambition, and a proven ability to make things happen. Success doesn’t eliminate desire. In this episode, we’re talking about the difference between scanning for pain and scanning for capacity, why “I don’t want to bother her” might actually be rejection avoidance, how to identify the gap when someone doesn’t need saving, and why your opportunity is not an inconvenience. Because people don’t just buy products or opportunities, they buy change. And sometimes the change someone wants isn’t survival. It’s expansion. Most importantly, we’re getting into conviction: becoming an evangelist for something that genuinely changed your life without believing everyone has to want it. Because you cannot attract extraordinary people while apologizing for the vehicle you’re asking them to consider. Maybe you don’t need more people. Maybe you need a bigger belief about the people already in front of you. The aces aren’t hard to find. They’re hard to see when your belief is too small to imagine them saying yes.

    Your Belief Has a Ceiling
  3. Jul 26

    Stop Trying to Find Yourself

    We've all heard the advice. "Go find yourself." But... what if you've been asking the wrong question? In this episode, I challenge one of the most common phrases in personal development and explore a different perspective on identity. What if you aren't lost? What if life isn't asking you to find yourself at all? Maybe the most defining moments of your life didn't create you—they introduced you to parts of yourself you had never been required to access before. We talk about the difference between temperament and character, why some parts of us seem deeply wired while others are forged through experience, and how labels, personality tests, and even self-awareness can quietly become limitations if we're not careful. This episode explores why: Identity isn't something you discover—it's revealed through the life you live.Some parts of you are gifts, while others are choices.Your first reaction is information, but your repeated response shapes who you're becoming.Familiar doesn't always mean authentic.Every season of life asks a different question—and your behavior is the answer.If you've ever wondered who you're becoming, questioned whether you've outgrown an old version of yourself, or felt like you're still searching for clarity, I hope this conversation gives you a different way to think about identity. Because maybe the person you've been looking for was never lost. Maybe you've just never stepped into the kind of life that would require that version of you to exist. — If this episode challenged the way you think, I'd love for you to share it with someone who's in a season of growth. And if you're enjoying Pretty Vocal, leaving a rating and review is one of the best ways to help more people discover these conversations.

    Stop Trying to Find Yourself
  4. Jul 19

    the performance of authenticity

    Everyone tells us to "just be authentic." But what if we've completely misunderstood what authenticity actually is? In this episode, Stephanie unpacks why authenticity has become one of the most overused—and performative—words on the internet. From curated vulnerability to manufactured relatability, she explores how we've started measuring authenticity by how much people reveal instead of whether their lives actually reflect what they believe. Drawing from one of the most transformative seasons of her own life, Stephanie shares what it looked like to navigate being misunderstood, losing important relationships, and discovering that clarity doesn't attract everyone—it filters everyone. If you've ever felt the pressure to soften your convictions, explain yourself endlessly, or become a version of yourself that's easier for other people to understand, this conversation will challenge the way you think about authenticity, leadership, and what it really means to find your voice. In this episode, we discuss: Why authenticity has become another performance.The difference between transparency and authenticity.Why vulnerability isn't the same as congruence.The hidden cost of living for other people's understanding.How clarity repels, attracts, and reveals the right people.Why the goal isn't to be understood by everyone—it's to live in integrity with your own convictions.If this episode resonated with you, I'd love for you to share it with a friend, leave a rating or review, and tag me on Instagram @stephanie.schutt so I can hear what stood out to you. Thanks for listening to Pretty Vocal.

    the performance of authenticity

Ratings & Reviews

4.9
out of 5
36 Ratings

About

Pretty Vocal is a podcast about ambition, entrepreneurship, leadership, discipline, motherhood, identity, and the thoughts behind the decisions that build a powerful life. Hosted by Stephanie Schutt, this show is an extension of the conversations she’s become known for online — honest, thought-provoking, sometimes uncomfortable, and always direct. From building a business and using your voice online to navigating growth, standards, confidence, and self-leadership, each episode is designed to challenge the way you think and push you to become more intentional about the life you’re creating. This isn’t surface-level motivation or polished success talk. It’s real conversations for people who want more and are willing to confront what it actually requires to build it.

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