All Episodes
Unplugged
Her Career Unplugged with Sabrina Runbeck
You're the expert in the room, and everyone knows it. So how do you go from being known for what you know to becoming an influential voice that shapes your industry? Joanne and Vimala sit down with Sabrina Runbeck, a former surgical clinician turned venture partner and strategic advisor, to unpack it. Full episode details coming soon.
with Sabrina Runbeck
Her Career Unplugged with Donna Kreisler
Joanne and Vimala sit down with Donna Kreisler. Full episode details coming soon.
with Donna Kreisler
Her Career Unplugged with Paige Wiese
Joanne and Vimala sit down with Paige Wiese. Full episode details coming soon.
with Paige Wiese
Her Career Unplugged with Shannon Baird
Joanne and Vimala sit down with Shannon Baird. Full episode details coming soon.
with Shannon Baird
Her Career Unplugged with Shellee Howard
Joanne and Vimala sit down with Shellee Howard. Full episode details coming soon.
with Shellee Howard
From Scared to Published: Why Your Story is Your Superpower (with Dr. Gabrielle Pelicci)
Ever said "I want to write a book someday" and then let it sit half-finished for years? In this episode of Her Career Unplugged, Joanne and Vimala sit down with Dr. Gabrielle Pelicci, a TEDx speaker, three-time author, book coach, ghostwriter, and founder of the Author Club, whose own memoir spent ten years "under the bed" before she finally finished it. Dr. Gabby breaks down why the first draft is supposed to be messy, how a 90-day sprint with protected time and supportive accountability gets a manuscript done, and how voice memos and transcription can help anyone (including people writing in a second language) get their stories on the page. The conversation turns to AI, AI slop, and why a great human editor is still a creative partner, before Dr. Gabby maps out a live playbook for Joanne: a book in 12 months, a TED Talk in 18, and paid keynotes in 24. If you've been sitting on a story, let this be your sign.
with Dr. Gabrielle Pelicci
When the Playbook Breaks: Erica Rivera on Rebuilding Your Career After a Layoff
What happens when you do everything right (the degrees, the promotions, the glowing reviews) and the career you built still stops feeling like yours? In this episode of Her Career Unplugged, Joanne and Vimala sit down with Erica Rivera, a career coach who spent years reading resumes inside Indeed and Google, until a November 2023 email told her she no longer worked there. Erica gets honest about the shock of that moment, why so many women internalize a layoff as a personal failure, and the "career story walkthrough" she uses to help clients separate what actually happened from the story they're telling themselves. She shares how getting rejected from job after job pushed her to finally go all in on coaching, how she moved her family abroad, and why getting comfortable being seen is now non-negotiable. A layoff is an event, not an identity, and sometimes it's the push to burn down the old playbook and write a new one.
with Erica Rivera
Success Shouldn't Erode You: Dr. Judy Wright's P.A.C.E. Method for Sustainable Success
Physician, TEDx speaker, and sustainable success strategist Dr. Judy Wright joins Joanne and Vimala to unpack what happens when burnout and a life-changing cancer diagnosis force a high achiever to rethink what success is supposed to look like. Dr. Judy breaks down her signature P.A.C.E. Method (Pause, Audit, Calibrate, Elevate) for protecting your energy without abandoning your ambition, why self-leadership isn't the same thing as self-care, and how to catch the quiet, easy-to-rationalize warning signs of burnout long before you hit real exhaustion. If you've ever found yourself managing everyone else before you manage yourself, this episode is your reminder that success should elevate your life, not erode it.
with Dr. Judy Wright
From Invisible to Award-Winning: Bry Bird's Visibility Strategy for Neurodivergent Founders
Ever feel like your work should speak for itself, but somehow no one's listening? In this episode of Her Career Unplugged, Joanne and Vimala sit down with Bry Bird (an award-winning, neurodivergent creative strategist based in Essex, England) who used to feel invisible in her industry too, until she stopped trying to blend in and started treating her personal brand like the business it actually is. Bry breaks down how she went from invisible to multiple award wins in a matter of months, why brand, website, and social media are one interconnected ecosystem rather than three separate things, how she's turned her neurodivergence into a strategic advantage, and why she keeps AI out of her creative process. If you've ever wondered whether visibility is worth the effort, or you've been quietly building without seeing results, this episode is your playbook.
with Bry Bird
No Talent Required: Building Culture, Trust, and Courage with Lynne Ghelfi
In this episode of Her Career Unplugged, Joanne and Vimala sit down with Lynne Ghelfi (a marketing director in the automotive industry, John Maxwell certified coach, and author of the upcoming book No Talent Required) to talk about what leadership actually looks like in the trenches. Lynne shares how a family financial crisis pushed her into car sales with zero experience, how selling over 250 cars in her first year (as the only woman on the floor) launched her into leadership, and how leading a team of 13 young women taught her that leadership is as much about life skills as job skills. She breaks down her book's twelve daily leadership practices (attitude, gratitude, courage, empathy, and more) all built on the premise that none of them require natural talent, just intentionality. Along the way, she shares the "face the mirror" exercise for resetting a bad moment, the Maxwell DISC method for reading how people communicate, and the deeply personal story about her mother stepping up as head of household that became the heart of her book's chapter on courage.
with Lynne Ghelfi
Career Glow Up: Betting on Yourself and Getting Off the Struggle Bus with Allison Hemmings
In this episode of Her Career Unplugged, Joanne and Vimala sit down with Allison Hemmings: the "career glow-up coach," founder of Newo Executive Solutions, and a former recruiter who sold her house, her car, and her comfort zone to build a coaching business from the beaches of Costa Rica (now Medellín, Colombia). Allison unpacks why she rebrands career coaching as a "glow up", because the traditional, one-job-for-twenty-years career is gone, and why the real problem her clients bring her often isn't the job itself, but a life with no boundaries around it. She breaks down her "career as real estate" framework for negotiating from strength instead of taking the first offer, shares the client story behind a $40,000 raise, and gets candid about the confidence gap that keeps qualified women stuck on what she calls the "struggle bus" while less-qualified men walk into interviews without a second thought.
with Alison Hemmings
The Job Search Buddy: Networking, Visibility, and Getting Seen with Jodi Gorenstein
In this episode of Her Career Unplugged, Joanne and Vimala sit down with Jodi Gorenstein (a global HR leader with 20+ years at brands like American Express, and founder of HR Super Connector) to talk about what it really takes to job search in today's market. Jodi traces her circuitous path into HR, from a college graduate who felt "lost" to a business partner sitting on executive leadership teams, and shares the moment a layoff-turned-opportunity showed her that a calculated risk can put a career into high gear. She breaks down the three-phase framework behind HR Super Connector (Get Ready, Get Seen, Land the Job) and gets tactical about why the goal is to find out about roles before they ever hit LinkedIn. From drafting your own LinkedIn testimonials to why "I left my last job two months ago" is a complete sentence, Jodi calls herself her clients' job search buddy, cheerleader, and champion, and it shows.
with Jodi Gorenstein
Show Your Worth: Engineering Your Ascent with Shelmina Babai-Abji
In this episode of Her Career Unplugged, Joanne and Vimala sit down with Shelmina Babai-Abji (bestselling author of Show Your Worth, former IBM Vice President, and founder and CEO of ShowYourWorth.ai) for a conversation packed with hard-won strategy. Shelmina traces her path from leaving home in Tanzania at 15 to becoming one of the highest-ranking women of color at IBM while raising two children alone, and breaks down the frameworks from her book that took her there: defining success on your own terms, feeding your "voice of courage" over your "voice of fear," building a leadership brand that isn't self-promotion, and knowing the difference between a mentor and a sponsor. She closes with a rapid-fire round covering the strategy most women skip, what to tell a woman passed over for a promotion, and the one thing that's stayed true across every chapter of her career.
with Shelmina Babai-Abji
Stuck or Strategic: Knowing the Difference Could Save Your Career
In this episode of Her Career Unplugged, Joanne and Vimala tackle the question every professional eventually faces: are you strategically pausing, or are you just stuck? From Vimala's story of staying at a difficult workplace long enough to leave on her own terms, to Joanne's unexpected detour through academia that actually accelerated her career, they unpack what a career "stall" really looks like, and why slowing down doesn't have to mean falling behind.
Start Before You Feel Ready: Building a Tech Startup in Your 20s with Natesha Mortimer
In this episode of Her Career Unplugged, Joanne and Vimala sit down with Natesha Mortimer (data scientist, founder of Data Swale, and self-described "Community Data Scientist") for a real, energetic conversation about building a tech startup in your 20s. Natesha shares how a chance meetup connection dragged her into entrepreneurship after COVID, why she has never really felt "ready" for anything (and why that's okay), and the raw reality of running a company solo, where your passion becomes the smallest fraction of your actual workday. From her flywheel analogy for showing up consistently to her triangle framework for avoiding burnout, Natesha brings the kind of grounded confidence that comes from being consistently the only person in the room who looks like her, and choosing not to give energy to imposter syndrome.
with Natesha Mortimer
Nobody Told Us: The Unwritten Rules of Office Politics
In this episode of Her Career Unplugged, Joanne and Vimala pull back the curtain on office politics, the unwritten rules that shape careers but nobody tells you about on day one. From informal power structures and decisions made in rooms you're not in, to navigating workplace dynamics with authenticity and strategy, this conversation is packed with real stories and hard-won lessons. Vimala shares what it felt like to be unknowingly labeled part of a workplace "mafia," and Joanne reflects on a toxic manager at Lockheed Martin and why she wishes she'd trusted her gut sooner.
Community Growth: The Career Booster That Doesn't Go on Your Resume
What if the most powerful thing you could do for your career had nothing to do with your resume? In this episode of Her Career Unplugged, Joanne and Vimala get real about community involvement: why it matters, how it's helped them land jobs without ever applying, and why so many people are doing it wrong. They share their own journeys building the AWS User Group in Orlando from zero to a full-scale game day event, and break down exactly how to get started, whether you're an introvert, a busy parent, or someone who's just never seen the point.
You're Not Ready… Do It Anyway: Career Reinvention
What happens when your career path doesn't go according to plan? In this episode of Her Career Unplugged, Joanne Skiles and Vimala Pydi sit down with Jennifer Solberg (CEO, entrepreneur, and former Army research psychologist) to talk about career pivots, entrepreneurship, and why feeling "ready" is overrated. Jennifer shares her fascinating journey from developing training technology for the U.S. Army to founding Quantum Improvements Consulting and launching a new augmented reality company, MagellanXR. Along the way, she drops honest insights about building a business, learning from failure, and why following the market matters more than following your dreams.
with Jennifer Solberg
You Belong Here: Why Imposter Syndrome Lies to You
What does imposter syndrome actually sound like? In this episode of Her Career Unplugged, we sit down with Betty Dannewitz, founder and CEO of If You Ask Betty, to talk about the voice in our heads that tells us we don't belong, and how to push back. Betty shares how she personified her imposter syndrome as a puppet named Bernie, why so many high performers experience the same self-doubt, and the small mindset shifts that can make a big difference in your career. From staying five years too long in a job because of imposter syndrome… to Googling “What is augmented reality?” after volunteering to build an innovative learning program, Betty’s story is both hilarious and incredibly relatable. If you’ve ever felt like you’re about to be “found out,” this conversation is for you.
with Betty Dannewitz
The Paths We Took (and the Ones We Didn’t
Welcome to Her Career Unplugged! In this first episode, Vimala and Joanne introduce themselves and the podcast, a space for real, unfiltered career stories from women across industries. They share the paths they took to get where they are today, the detours and dead ends along the way, and the lessons they wish they’d known at the start of their careers.