What if the problem isn’t your talent, it’s your visibility?

In this Elevate 360 Summit episode, Melissa sits down with Dr. Michelle Flemmings — emergency medicine physician, former Chief Medical Officer at Cerner and Oracle Health, health tech advisor, founder of Working While Female, and executive coach for women in male-dominated industries.

After three decades inside healthcare and Big Tech, Dr. Michelle has seen exactly how invisible workplace barriers silence women, minimize their expertise, and label them as “too much” the moment they speak up. Now, she’s on a mission to help women go from best kept secret to undeniable — commanding rooms, driving decisions, and being recognized for the value they already bring.

In this conversation, she and Melissa get real about power dynamics in the boardroom, interrupting with intention, using allies strategically, choosing yourself after a long corporate career, and stepping into the “trapeze moment” where you let go of who you were to become who you’re called to be.

If you’ve ever felt talked over, overlooked, or under-titled despite your receipts, this episode is going to hit home.

Takeaways

• Corporate environments operate inside unspoken rules and invisible barriers — especially for women and women of color in male-dominated industries.
• Being “the best kept secret” at work keeps you stuck; visibility is a leadership skill, not an accident.
• Silence is often interpreted as consent, which means staying quiet reinforces the very dynamics you’re frustrated by.
• Small, tactical shifts — like arriving early, choosing where you sit, and what you wear — can immediately increase your presence in any room.
• Referencing others’ data and ideas, then strategically building on them, positions you as prepared, credible, and worth listening to.
• Interruptions are a power play; calmly reclaiming the floor (“The floor is mine now”) reinforces boundaries and authority without losing your composure.
• Allies matter: briefing supportive colleagues ahead of time can help shut down repeat interrupters and shift the room’s energy in your favor.
• Choosing yourself after a long corporate career often comes from recognizing that the system no longer lets you serve at the level of impact you’re called to.
• “Working while female” in tech and healthcare can feel like swimming in red water — which makes mentorship, strategy, and community critical for survival and advancement.
• Growth requires letting go of the past version of you; that “trapeze moment” between who you were and who you’re becoming is scary and sacred — and necessary.

Topics discussed in this episode:

women in leadership

executive presence

visibility & influence

interrupting with intention

boardroom dynamics

empowerment

corporate transition

self-leadership

entrepreneurship

Elevate 360

LinkedIn™

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Connect with Dr. Michelle

▶ Book a Complimentary Breakthrough Session: https://calendly.com/drmichelleflemmings/

▶ LInkedIn™: www.linkedin.com/in/michelleflemmingsmd/

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