Listen in as host Meg McKeen welcomes Brett McKenzie for a conversation about care - the caring we do for others and the caring we often need ourselves. We talk about boundaries and burnout - and how it feels to take off the mask we often wear and let others in – and sometimes down – when advocating for ourselves. Brett is a heartfelt storyteller and shares so much of her own beautiful story with us here.

Brett McKenzie began her career as a political media operative in Washington, D.C., with early chapters of her story written in journalism and the wine industry before she transitioned into insurance in 2009 - all while navigating chronic health challenges and raising a family. Brett has worked across globally recognized insurance carriers and insurtechs, in marketing and PR, sales, underwriting, and distribution strategy. Today, Brett is an independent consultant helping bold insurance brands and leaders clarify their voice, sharpen their strategy, and show up with confidence in our rapidly changing industry.

To learn more about this podcast, and the work Meg McKeen does to support insurance professionals, visit Adjunct Advisors. To receive To Taking the Risk, the monthly newsletter Meg curates, including updates on her #digitalnomad adventures, subscribe here.

Love the podcast? To show your support, consider leaving a positive review here, sharing this episode with a friend, or making a financial contribution here. Thank you for listening!

Listen in as host Meg McKeen welcomes Emma Corcoran for a conversation about career paths - and how they change as our priorities and our plans change, too. Emma is wrapping up her first year as an independent consultant in the insurance industry and shares more about her new definition of *busy,* how she's measuring success today, and together we unpack the notion of "doing your time" - in a role or organization - and how we can support the next generation of women in insurance who are joining us.  

Emma Corcoran is the founder of EC Consulting LLC, through which she helps leadership teams navigate complex challenges and make clearer, more confident decisions together. She blends design thinking with a human‑centered facilitation approach to bring alignment, clarity, and momentum to every room she leads. She's also a proud mom of two daughters, one very loved dog, and an advocate for elevating women in insurance.

To learn more about this podcast, and the work Meg McKeen does to support insurance professionals, visit Adjunct Advisors. To receive To Taking the Risk, the monthly newsletter Meg curates, including updates on her #digitalnomad adventures, subscribe here.

Love the podcast? To show your support, consider leaving a positive review here, sharing this episode with a friend, or making a financial contribution here. Thank you for listening!

Listen in as host Meg McKeen welcomes Amora Wood to the podcast for a candid conversation about the range of emotions that come up when we choose to share our lives - and selves - with the world through social media. We'll talk about the boundaries we set, the very common reluctance to get started, and how we navigate the joy of the relationships we've built through the socials - and the haters that are out there, too.

Amora Wood is a VP with over 20 years of sales experience and a deep commitment to collaboration over competition. She believes integrity is the foundation of every client relationship and finds true joy in helping others succeed. Passionate about creating meaningful connections and innovative solutions, Amora focuses on building trust and fostering growth in every interaction.

• Connect with Amora on LinkedIn
• Join in the fun on February 25th when you share your #DayInTheLife! Learn more here
• Sit at the {virtual} table with Saya and me on February 26th; register here
• Join Meg for the Bound & Determined℠ Restorative Retreat, coming up in Michigan in November 2026
• Have a question for Meg? You can send that to her here.

To learn more about this podcast, and the work Meg McKeen does to support insurance professionals, visit Adjunct Advisors. To receive To Taking the Risk, the monthly newsletter Meg curates, including updates on her #digitalnomad adventures, subscribe here.

Love the podcast? To show your support, consider leaving a positive review here, sharing this episode with a friend, or making a financial contribution here. Thank you for listening!

Listen in as host Meg McKeen welcomes Debbie Brcka for a candid conversation about her upcoming retirement - after more than 45 years in the insurance industry. In this conversation, we talk about Debbie’s decision to retire – the why now, the how, and the permission she didn’t know she needed. We talk about what’s ahead for Debbie in this new chapter and Debbie shares so much wisdom - spend the time – take the trip – say yes, say no - with us. 

Deborah began her career in real estate before pivoting to insurance in 1978, when she and her husband opened a scratch agency after he was injured in the line of duty. Following their divorce, she continued to build her career independently, serving in marketing and sales roles with regional carriers and ultimately rising to SVP at Bankers Insurance. After more than four decades in the industry, she’s now in her dream role with the Risk & Insurance Education Alliance, where she channels her passion into mentoring and developing future leaders.

• Keep up with Debbie on LinkedIn
• Join Meg for the Bound & Determined℠ Restorative Retreat, coming up in Michigan in November 2026
• Makes plans to be in Wichita with Kansas Association of Insurance Agents in February or in Napa with Independent Insurance Agents of California in March
• Have a question for Meg? You can send that to her here.

To learn more about this podcast, and the work Meg McKeen does to support insurance professionals, visit Adjunct Advisors. To receive To Taking the Risk, the monthly newsletter Meg curates, including updates on her #digitalnomad adventures, subscribe here.

Love the podcast? To show your support, consider leaving a positive review here, sharing this episode with a friend, or making a financial contribution here. Thank you for listening!

Host Meg McKeen welcomes Julie Webb for a timely conversation about our values: Where do they come from? How do they change as we change? And what happens when the way we’re showing up at work no longer aligns with the way we’re showing up in our heart? Or in the world? Julie shares more about her experience ending her corporate chapter and building her own consulting firm - including the upside of the risk we don't talk about loudly enough.

Julie Webb has two decades of diverse insurance industry experience holding various leadership positions during that time. Most recently, she was the Principal at MPB Insurance, a scratch independent agency she started in March of 2020 (yes that March!). Prior to that, she was the Regional Vice President for a large agency network with responsibility for the Mid-Atlantic territory. She began her insurance career with GEICO in a Leadership Development Program where she ultimately built and led a regional sales and service call center in Buffalo, New York. Julie holds both her CIC and CPCU designations and is a proud graduate of the University of Pittsburgh where she studied business.

A strong advocate for professional women, Julie led the Women’s Leadership Network at MPB and founded a local chapter of the Women’s Business League to provide a space for professional women to network and grow together. In addition to this, she serves as the Board Chair for Big Brothers Big Sisters of South-Central PA and enjoys volunteering with Girl Scouts, Girls on the Run, and Junior Achievement. In these roles, she’s committed to helping younger generations reach their full potential (and sprinkling a little bit of insurance awareness on top, too!).

It's her advocacy work that led her to found JMW Collective, a leadership consulting practice focused first on professional women. Through group and individual coaching, workshops, and speaking engagements, Julie is on a mission to empower organizations and leaders to design thriving businesses that are profitable, inclusive, and resilient for generations to come.

Julie enjoys facilitating mastermind groups through MyNetwork and teaching the CIC Agency Management course through the Risk & Insurance Education Alliance.

When she’s not helping professionals with their leadership style, she enjoys styling women in beautiful cabi clothes.

• Connect with Julie on LinkedIn
• Learn more about JMW Collective and cabi
• Have a question for Meg? You can send that to her here.

To learn more about this podcast, and the work Meg McKeen does to support insurance professionals, visit Adjunct Advisors. To receive To Taking the Risk, the monthly newsletter Meg curates, including updates on her #digitalnomad adventures, subscribe here.

Love the podcast? To show your support, consider leaving a positive review here, sharing this episode with a friend, or making a financial contribution here. Thank you for listening!

Listen as Meg narrates a recent social media post, sharing her thoughts on a new year and the pressure that it can bring.

Read Meg's original post on LinkedIn here.

To learn more about this podcast, and the work Meg McKeen does to support insurance professionals, visit Adjunct Advisors. To receive To Taking the Risk, the monthly newsletter Meg curates, including updates on her #digitalnomad adventures, subscribe here.

Love the podcast? To show your support, consider leaving a positive review here, sharing this episode with a friend, or making a financial contribution here. Thank you for listening!

Host Meg McKeen welcomes Chelsy Bell Carpenter for a frank - and timely - conversation about burnout. Chelsy shares her own burnout story, including the moment everything shifted for her, and the range of emotions and the reality she experienced in the aftermath. Listen as we talk about how illogical it feels to be both grateful the work you’re doing and also itchy - for something that looks different. That feels different. We talk about seasons of high stress – we are IN it right now – and Chelsy shares three small, simple tweaks that can lead to big shifts. No bubble bath required.

In Chelsy's words: My mission is to help high-performing professionals build careers rooted in clarity, purpose, and sustainability. I equip individuals and organizations with real-world strategies (that work, because I have personally tested them!) and science-backed tools to regulate the nervous system, strengthen communication, and create disciplines that support long-term success. In a society conditioned to burnout - I believe drive and well-being can and should coexist. Follow along for tips that I use to stay grounded and living with purpose! 

• Connect with Chelsy on LinkedIn
• Visit Chelsy's website
• Learn more and join the waitlist for Chelsy's inaugural workshop, Built to Last
• Stay in the know as future plans for the next Bound & Determined℠ retreats take shape here
• Have a question for Meg? You can send that to her here.

To learn more about this podcast, and the work Meg McKeen does to support insurance professionals, visit Adjunct Advisors. To receive To Taking the Risk, the monthly newsletter Meg curates, including updates on her #digitalnomad adventures, subscribe here.

Love the podcast? To show your support, consider leaving a positive review here, sharing this episode with a friend, or making a financial contribution here. Thank you for listening!

In this special live experience, host Meg McKeen welcomes consultant and industry icon Deb Smallwood to the podcast, where Deb shares more about her own leadership journey, and how she's supporting women navigating their own leadership today through her SELFPOWERMENT framework. If, out of frustration or hope or despair you've ever asked yourself the question "Why Not Me?" this conversation is for you.

Deb Smallwood is a trailblazing executive and visionary leader on a mission to empower women to become SelfPowered—to embrace their authentic human-being, unlock their inner powers, and thrive in the business world.

With a distinguished career in insurance and technology, including transformative leadership roles at Liberty Mutual, KPMG, TowerGroup, ICW Group, and as Founder/CEO of Strategy Meets Action (SMA), Deb has consistently broken barriers and redefined what’s possible for women in the insurance and tech industries.

After successfully leading SMA through its growth and ultimate sale, Deb turned her focus to her true passion: empowering women to rise above all barriers and become SelfPowered. She founded SelfPowerment, creating a platform centered around her upcoming SelfPowerment book with its formal framework, complemented by mastermind workshops, research studies, and a self-assessment tool—all designed to provide actionable strategies for high-performing women in their personal and professional development, with or without corporate sponsorship.

As a teacher and advocate of SelfPowerment, Deb continues to give back to the business world as a motivational keynote speaker, mentor to rising women executives, and advisor to women-led tech startups.

Deb inspires women to embrace their freedom to thrive authentically, confidently, and intentionally in the business and tech world, while championing a future generation of SelfPowered Women!

• Connect with Deb on LinkedIn
• Learn more about SELFPOWERMENT - and take the self-assessment while you're there!
• Stay in the know as future plans for the next Bound & Determined℠ retreats take shape here
• Have a question for Meg? You can send that to her here.

To learn more about this podcast, and the work Meg McKeen does to support insurance professionals, visit Adjunct Advisors. To receive To Taking the Risk, the monthly newsletter Meg curates, including updates on her #digitalnomad adventures, subscribe here.

Love the podcast? To show your support, consider leaving a positive review here, sharing this episode with a friend, or making a financial contribution here. Thank you for listening!

In this special crossover experience, Bound & Determined℠ host Meg McKeen and Megan Bell of InsHER, come together for an open, honest conversation about purpose, community, and the power of sharing women's stories. With deep respect for one another’s work, we reflect on what it means to create space for women in the insurance industry, why collaboration matters more than ever, and how podcasting has transformed the way they show up as leaders, listeners, and women.

Megan Bell leads marketing, communications, and customer experience at Falvey Insurance Group, bringing over eight years of industry expertise and a dynamic background in consumer-packaged goods. She is the creator of Women at the Helm and InsHER, both award-nominated initiatives amplifying women’s voices in insurance. A 2025 RISE LEAD Award finalist and recipient of the 2024 ACORD Women’s Insurance Advancement Award, Megan is a recognized industry leader committed to equity, mentorship, and inclusion. She serves on multiple boards and committees, including IMCA, IICF, and RISE, and holds a B.A. in English Communications and Spanish from Emmanuel College.

• Connect with Megan on LinkedIn
• Listen to InsHER on your favorite listening platform here
• InsHER was recognized by Insurance Insiders Honors 2025 with two awards: Women in Insurance and the Progress Award. Learn more about these honors here.

To learn more about this podcast, and the work Meg McKeen does to support insurance professionals, visit Adjunct Advisors. To receive To Taking the Risk, the monthly newsletter Meg curates, including updates on her #digitalnomad adventures, subscribe here.

Love the podcast? To show your support, consider leaving a positive review here, sharing this episode with a friend, or making a financial contribution here. Thank you for listening!

Skylar Romines joins host Meg McKeen for a conversation recorded during an intimate gathering of women in insurance in Irvine, California, on the Bound & Determined℠ Live in 2025 tour. Skylar reflects on the uncertainty, growth, and knowing that started with the choice she made to redefine her most essential relationships - with work and career, with those closest to her, and with herself. Thanks for being with me in Irvine, Skylar!

Skylar is the founder and owner of ATW Advisors, an insurance consulting firm specializing in working with commercial real estate owners and developers. Acting as an owner’s rep, ATW guides clients through the risk management and insurance procurement process to ensure optimal coverage and cost efficiency. Prior to launching ATW, Skylar spent 17 years as an insurance broker, gaining deep expertise in the industry. She is also the author of So She Did: Stories, Stats & Strategies to Help Women Win; a book that explores the experiences of and aims to give guidance to women in male dominated industries.

Bound & Determined℠ Live in 2025 is presented by RISE: Empowering Women in Insurance™ by Liberty Mutual, a program dedicated to bringing women in insurance together through connection, education, recognition, insights and allyship. Join us in the RISE LinkedIn Community today.

• Connect with Skylar on LinkedIn
• Learn more about the ways Sklyar can support your business through ATW Advisors
• Grab your copy of So She Did: Stories, Stats & Strategies to Help Women Win
• This gathering was hosted at Hera Hub Irvine in Irvine, California, a flexible work and meeting space created with women in mind.
• The Bound & Determined℠ Live in 2025 tour has ended. If you'd like to collaborate with Meg to plan a gathering for women in insurance in your community, message Meg here.
• Have a question for Meg? Submit it here and she may answer it on a future episode.

To learn more about this podcast, and the work Meg McKeen does to support insurance professionals, visit Adjunct Advisors. To receive To Taking the Risk, the monthly newsletter Meg curates, including updates on her #digitalnomad adventures, subscribe here.

Love the podcast? To show your support, consider leaving a positive review here, sharing this episode with a friend, or making a financial contribution here. Thank you for listening!