The Defiant Career | Professional Growth & Career Advice

Dr. Qaali Hussein | Career Strategy & Leadership Coach
  • 5.0 (101)
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The Defiant Career delivers expert career advice and strategies for professional growth, especially for women facing gender, racial, and/or religious discrimination. Host Dr. Qaali Hussein, a double-board-certified trauma surgeon, mom of six, and Founder of Defiance Academy, shares interviews and hard-won lessons from women leaders who have navigated career pivots and broken barriers. This podcast offers actionable insights for overcoming burnout, hostile workplaces, and bias, empowering listeners to redefine their career path with confidence. The Defiant Career is the evolution of the Professional Muslim Women Podcast (2019–2022). The original archive of 33 guest interviews remains available — the research that contributed to the strategy you'll hear taught here.

  1. 1d ago

    S3E3 Toxic Work Environment: 5 Things to Stop Doing

    Every piece of advice about a toxic work environment tells you the same thing: shrink, cope, keep your head down, and get out. That is survival. It's not a strategy. And while you're surviving, the environment keeps costing you your health, your confidence, and your wealth. This week I talk with Muna, a Black Muslim woman engineer who lived through it. Her field is different from mine, but the machine underneath was identical: a workplace that was never built for her, that drained her and then made her doubt herself for noticing. Her story is proof this isn't a medicine problem or an engineering problem. It's a strategy problem. Together we name the 5 things to stop doing in a toxic work environment. None of them are about making yourself smaller. They're about seeing clearly what you're walking into and equipping yourself, because you cannot out-excel a system that was never built for you. If your job is breaking you right now, hear this: you're not the problem. The strategy you were handed is. There's another way to move, and I call it the Defiant Career Strategy. Two invitations: Take the 2-minute quiz to see what your workplace is costing you → What's really going on at work? Join The Strategy Room inside Defiance Academy → The Strategy Room Have a question? The best ones become full episodes → SUBMIT A QUESTION Dr. Qaali Hussein is a double board-certified trauma surgeon, mom of six, and founder of Defiance Academy. New episodes every other week.

    1h 5m
  2. S3E2: "I Don't Do Race": Why High Achieving Women of Color Walk Away From Careers They Spent Years Building

    Jun 22

    S3E2: "I Don't Do Race": Why High Achieving Women of Color Walk Away From Careers They Spent Years Building

    I had a patient bleeding to death at two in the morning while my team ignored my orders. So I went to a women in medicine conference looking for help on how to lead through it. The keynote speaker, a diversity expert, had just named every gap women face. I asked her about mine. She said, "I don't do race," ended the Q and A, and walked away. Fifteen women followed me out of that room. Every one of them asked the same thing: did she give you an answer? Women of color from every specialty in that building had come looking for the exact same solution, and not one of us got it. This is the episode about what happens when the rooms built to help you have nothing for you. I name the three reasons high-achieving women of color leave careers they spent years building. I take apart the advice that gets handed to us, the advice that quietly makes everything worse. And I tell you what I did instead of quitting. Two invitations: Take the Career Diagnostic Join The Strategy Room Have a question? The best ones become full episodes →The Defiant Career Dr. Qaali Hussein is a double board-certified trauma surgeon, mom of six, and founder of Defiance Academy. New episodes every other week.

    16 min
  3. S3E1 The Defiant Career Begins: Why Working Twice as Hard Keeps Failing Ambitious Women

    Jun 11

    S3E1 The Defiant Career Begins: Why Working Twice as Hard Keeps Failing Ambitious Women

    For three years, I interviewed accomplished women on this show — surgeons, founders, lawyers, executives. Different fields, different decades, different lives. And every one of them had been handed the same advice: work twice as hard, prove yourself, earn your seat, and figure out the rest of your life on the side. They all paid the same price — burnout, exhaustion, and no guarantee that success was even waiting at the end. I know, because I'm one of them. After 15 years of becoming a double-board-certified trauma surgeon, raising six kids, and following every rule, I almost walked away from medicine. This episode is the relaunch. New name, new mission, new question I want every ambitious woman to start asking. The Professional Muslim Women Podcast is now The Defiant Career — same feed, no need to resubscribe. In this episode: the advice nobody named, why "work twice as hard" was never built for you to win, and the image of the broken ladder you won't be able to unsee. Two invitations: Take the Career Diagnostic Join The Strategy Room Subscribe so you don't miss an episode. Have a question? The best ones become full episodes → SUBMIT QUESTION HERE Dr. Qaali Hussein is a double-board-certified trauma surgeon, mom of six, and founder of Defiance Academy. New episodes every other week.

    16 min
  4. S2E9 Accustomed to Limitations

    11/11/2022

    S2E9 Accustomed to Limitations

    Holding onto limiting ideas and beliefs while trying to break with social norms and standards can be challenging.  It's important for us to question and interrogate why we have these beliefs and examine how they limit us from expanding our horizons.  Join us at the Defiant Women's Leadership Conference on January 21, 2023 in Phoenix, Arizona ➡️ https://www.eventbrite.com/e/defiant-womens-leadership-conference-tickets-408409191887  Check out Defiance Academy for more information.  https://www.defianceacademy.com/

    13 min
  5. S2E8 The Importance of Leadership Skills in Pursuing Your Career and Life Goals

    09/14/2022

    S2E8 The Importance of Leadership Skills in Pursuing Your Career and Life Goals

    In the pursuit of careers, especially in the STEM fields, one of the biggest gaps in professional development is the lack of leadership training during the early parts of the journey.  While these skills are important in helping you to advance in your career, they're also relevant in helping you overcome obstacles, negotiate changes both at work and in your personal life, and prioritize your goals.  In this episode, we discuss this gap and the ways in which Defiance Academy is hoping to bridge it for the next generation.   Check out Defiance Academy for more information.  https://www.defianceacademy.com/

    16 min
  6. S2E7 Beyond A Seat At The Table - Deqa Mohamed

    08/30/2022

    S2E7 Beyond A Seat At The Table - Deqa Mohamed

    Deqa is a premed student passionate about pursuing surgery. She's a first-generation student who lost her father at a young age and was was raised by a single mother.  As a Black Muslim woman, she found it difficult to identify with the mentors she was presented with at networking events.  Now as an alumna of the Taking UP Space Course, Deqa's mindset is transformed. Listen as she shares her journey thus far and how a mindset shift impacted her ability to dream big.  Got questions on life and career goals? Submit them at the link below and tune into the Mentoring Moments segment for in-depth discussions. Check out Defiance Academy for more information.  https://www.defianceacademy.com/

    25 min
  7. S2E6 The value of calculated risks - Dr. Sondos Al Sad

    08/23/2022

    S2E6 The value of calculated risks - Dr. Sondos Al Sad

    In a society that teaches you to be risk averse, can taking calculated risks in your personal and career goals be the key to overcoming obstacles? In this episode, Dr. Sondos Al Sad and I dig deep into what it means to be a Muslim woman navigating life and career while maintaining your faith and values and how calculated risks pay off.  You can reach Dr. Al Sad on Twitter @SadSondos  Got questions on life and career goals? Submit them at the link below and tune into the Mentoring Moments segment for in-depth discussions. Check out Defiance Academy for more information.  https://www.defianceacademy.com/

    54 min
  8. S2E5 Mentoring Moments - Becoming a surgeon

    08/16/2022

    S2E5 Mentoring Moments - Becoming a surgeon

    Our first Mentoring Moments segment! In this episode, I answer the question  "How do you become a surgeon?" I outline the process from high school, college, medical school, all the way to fellowship.   Check out Defiance Academy for more information.  https://www.defianceacademy.com/

    21 min
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5
out of 5
101 Ratings

About

The Defiant Career delivers expert career advice and strategies for professional growth, especially for women facing gender, racial, and/or religious discrimination. Host Dr. Qaali Hussein, a double-board-certified trauma surgeon, mom of six, and Founder of Defiance Academy, shares interviews and hard-won lessons from women leaders who have navigated career pivots and broken barriers. This podcast offers actionable insights for overcoming burnout, hostile workplaces, and bias, empowering listeners to redefine their career path with confidence. The Defiant Career is the evolution of the Professional Muslim Women Podcast (2019–2022). The original archive of 33 guest interviews remains available — the research that contributed to the strategy you'll hear taught here.

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