Welcome to Empowered! I’m your host and leadership coach, Sarah Moffat, and I’m thrilled to kick off Season 2 with an episode dedicated to the incredible women in leadership—those breaking barriers, navigating challenges, and embracing their unique superpowers.

In this episode, I share a personal story about finding my voice—literally and figuratively—from speaking my truth as a fearless four-year-old to overcoming moments when others tried to silence me. Along the way, I’ve learned powerful lessons about resilience, authenticity, and owning your brilliance.

This episode is packed with encouragement, practical insights, and a challenge to embrace your authentic self, no matter what. Whether you’re climbing the career ladder or blazing your own trail, this one’s for you.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

• Why it’s essential to celebrate and lift up other women in leadership.
• The importance of seeking inspiration and using obstacles to build resilience.
• A powerful reminder to stay true to yourself, even when others try to make you smaller.
• How to embrace your unique superpowers to lead authentically and effectively.

Favorite Quotes:

• “There will always be people who want to silence you. What matters is how you respond.”
• “You belong in every room you walk into, in every conversation you engage in, and on every stage where you deserve to shine.”
• “We rise higher when we rise together.”

Resources & Next Steps:

• Connect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahcmoffat/
• Email me at [email protected] for resources on coaching, consulting, and training.
• If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, share it with a friend, and leave a review!

Let’s Keep the Conversation Going:

What’s your superpower? How do you empower the women around you? Let’s talk! Connect with me on LinkedIn or send me an email—I’d love to hear from you.

What does your personal board of directors — or your inner circle — have to do with your success as a leader? A lot. In fact, most every leadership expert will tell you that a round table, leadership board, or board of directors is critical to success. No one reaches the holy grail alone. 

We weren't meant to do life alone. 
We weren't.

In this "one of our favorites yet" episode of Empowered, leadership coach, Sarah Moffat, takes us on a quest to learn how to curate our own Board of Directors, where to look for already established boards or "round tables" to join, and the kinds of "knights" to seek out.

Creating and curating your personal board of directors is a leadership development must-do for all leading ladies. And, with this episode, we issue you a challenge: Find your Round Table. Create your Board of Directors or your "kitchen cabinet." And, if you already have one, add to it and grow it!

Being part of a carefully curated inner circle of advisors and fellows is something every great leader does.

You're going to ask the same question I did: How do you do it all? Meet Kerry Wekelo - the Chief Operations Officer of Actualize Consulting, mom to two teenagers, author of two business books and several mindfulness books for children, yoga instructor, and gratitude and culture expert. Is she a #leadinglady? Uh. Yeah.

Kerry is someone you've got to know... and she's going to get real with us today. In this episode, Kerry shares  how having laser focus on what matters most, finding opportunities to Pause to Pivot to the Positive, and finding gratitude — even in the hardest situation, have been instrumental in her success... and how it can be to yours.

Kerry and I discuss how self-care is one of the most strategic things you can do for yourself, your career, your relationships, and your creativity.  She also shares about her 3 P's strategy:
"I'm pausing in a moment of gratitude, and then I'm trying to pivot to a positive possibility,  and a positive outcome."

This episode is full of practical things you can do right this second to create more space for yourself and your success. Plus, learn how resolving conflicts by starting with gratitude can change the game for you and your teams.

You can learn more about Kerry Wekelo on her LinkedIn page, or by visiting her Actualize Consulting Culture Infusion page.

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To learn more about Leading Ladies Leadership Board, individual coaching, or setting up an appointment for a free coaching strategy session, visit www.leadingladies.co. You can also email the Empowered host at [email protected].

If you loved this podcast, please make sure to give us five stars, a positive review, and share with your community using the hashtags #leadingladies and #empoweredwithsarahmoffat.

Thanks for listening!

Season 2, Episode 1: Motivation: It Doesn't Come From a Meme
Join Us: www.leadingladies.co

Get ready to be pumped up, inspired, and moved to jump out of bed declaring, "I am motivated!" In this episode, leadership coach Sarah Moffat, talks about how to pre-game your motivation and create inertia that is going to move you forward.

We always think of motivation like some undefinable external force that magically comes from a quote, clever meme, or movie. And the truth is, we can get little boosts of excitement from those things. But, at the end of the day, you create your own motivation. And when your motivation is low, there are things you can do to re-kindle it within yourself. This whole episode is packed with OOMPH and you're definitely going to be "feelin' it" by the end!

Key Takeaways:
1) Developing a pre-game routine that's a no-brainer is a great way to build inertia and motion for your motivation.
2) You choose to be empowered or disempowered.
3) Where you focus is where you're going to go.

Additional Info:
To learn more about the Leading Ladies Motivation Transformation, visit www.leadingladies.co/motivation. This is a 30-day online course that's designed to take your goals and motivation to a whole new level that will help you be exactly who you want to be: Driven. Successful. Inspired. Energized. This class has a 100% guarantee: if you take the entire course and you're not totally jazzed, motivated, and moving, you get your money back. Simple as that!

The words MOTIVATION and EMOTION come from the same root word. Crazy, right? Your brain interprets your experiences based in the framework — the mindset — you've established. So, whether an experience is positive or negative is determined, in large part, by the mood you establish for yourself. The emotion and the meaning you attach to events usually are more memorable than the actual experience (did you ever notice that?) 

Here's the thing: motivation isn't just about having the energy you need to get through your daily to do list. It's the internal process that incites action for you to move toward a certain goal. If you're having trouble with how to be motivated, it could have nothing to do with your drive your energy level or talent Instead, it could be that you have the wrong goal... or even that you're just not emotionally connected to your goal...

Learn more about motivation, the Three P's of motivation, and how to move your drive from just an idea to a strongly-held conviction that you take action on!

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To learn more about the Leading Ladies Motivation Transformation, visit www.leadingladies.co/motivation. This is a 30-day online course that's designed to take you from "meh" to "Move Out Of the Way!" This class has a 100% guarantee: if you take the entire course and you're not totally jazzed, motivated, and moving, you get your money back. Simple as that!

She's inspiring. She's authentic. She's my friend and client. And you're going to love her.

Since I started coaching and mentoring her about two years ago, Alyssa Nelson has quickly ascended her career ladder. First, accepting a new job with 50% pay increase, and then being promoted into a leadership role at that company, Alyssa is more than just an inspirational story, she's a phenomenal human being. As soon as you listen to this episode, I know you're going to love her as much as I do.

Alyssa and I met about two years ago when we got matched through a mentoring program and I was matched as her mentor. I was immediately impressed with how eager Alyssa was to take whatever next steps were necessary to grow and develop herself. There aren't a lot of people out there with that level of commitment to improvement and self-discovery. And she isn't just committed on paper, she is a take-action-woman.

When Alyssa got her new job, I got a surprise in the mail: a gift from Alyssa with a note attached that said, "Thanks for being my Susie." The gift? A perfectly pink coffee mug that says "Tits Up" on one side and a microphone on the other! (Marvelous Mrs. Maisel reference, in case you didn't know it). #titsup

Alyssa is part of the Leading Ladies group coaching, now called "The Leadership Board" — an online leadership development community for women who want to grow their careers and ascend the career ladder. She continues to soar up, up, up in her career and inspire many people.

We hope you love this episode. And if you do - please leave us a review and share this with your friends!

You can learn more about 1:1 coaching and the Leadership Board at www.leadingladies.co.

Charity is a strong, influential woman in cybersecurity (#wicys). She is a Vice President of Security and Compliance. She's a PMP. She's a CSAP. She's a CISSP. She is a mega #leadinglady and you're going to love her. She's hilarious, full of personality, and — y'all, she's been there! She's seen some stuff!

Life gives us all serious breaking points where we can choose to take massive action and grow monumentally... or not. Charity has been someone who's created her own next steps and taken massive action. She's built an amazing career from her innovation, creativity, and technical genius.

Charity tells us during today's podcast that, "It's important for everyone to realize: You have that power. You can craft yourself into whatever you want to be. You can pursue whatever path will make you happy. You make the chance to do it, and then you have to figure out what the steps are to accomplish that, and [then] put your energy behind it."

We hope you'll love today's episode! If you do, please leave us a great rating and a comment!

To learn more about Leading Ladies, you can check us out at www.leadingladies.co.

You can also learn about our incredible online membership at https://www.leadingladies.co/leadershipboard.

We're freaking out about this episode where sisters Sarah and Liz Moffat come together and talk... STRATEGY.  And while this is a weighty topic, there are plenty of sisterly laughs, shared stories, and truth bombs that will keep you hooked until the end of this episode.

Liz is a badass. There's just no better way to describe her. She's a federal law enforcement officer, mom of three, muscle-building philosopher who says that every thing she's ever had to work for in her life came hard-earned. 

You're going to love listening to her strategies for getting a room full of men to stand up and listen and her suggestions on what books to read next to summon your inner stoic.  

Let us know what you think! Please leave a review and share, share, share! 
You can follow Liz on Instagram at www.instagram.com/bellatormama.

You can learn more about Leading Ladies at www.leadingladies.co

What does your personal board of directors — or inner circle — have to do with your success as a leader? A lot. In fact, most every leadership expert will tell you that a round table, leadership board, or board of directors is critical to success. No one reaches the holy grail  alone.

We weren’t meant to do life alone. We weren’t.

In this "one of our favorites yet" episode of Empowered, leadership coach, Sarah Moffat, takes us on a quest to learn how to curate our own Board of Directors, where to look for already established boards or "round tables" to join, and the kinds of "knights" to seek out.

Creating and curating your personal board of directors is a leadership development must-do for all leading ladies. And, with this episode, we issue you a challenge: Find Your Round Table. Create your Board of Directors or your "kitchen cabinet." And, if you already have one, add to it and grow it!

Being part of a carefully curated inner circle of advisors and fellows is something every great leader does. And, if you're looking for an excellent group to join, we invite you to join the Leading Ladies Leadership Board. We meet two to three times every month and have an incredible group of women who will become your people and who will support you holistically.

To learn more about The Leadership Board, visit our website: www.leadingladies.co.

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Leading Ladies LLC offers one  free intro coaching sessions or "strategy call." To schedule yours, just email us at [email protected]. 

In this episode of Empowered with Sarah Moffat, we are joined by the delightful Mika Cross, a transformational workplace expert and strategist. We discuss how that in the past we have been left out of very important conversations that impact our work experience. In the climate we now find ourselves in, Mika shares with us a unique perspective that we don't have to go back to the way things looked like pre-pandemic. It is important to use the unique opportunity we've been given to use our voices and advocate for workplace flexibility. We don't have to go back, but rather we can move forward and create the workplace we want!

Note: The book mentioned in the podcast is called "Resilience" by Eric Greitens. Great book!

About Mika Cross
Mika Cross is best known as a federal workplace expert who has dedicated over 20 years of her life to public service. She works with government agencies, private and public sector leaders, and the workforce to help them adapt to the changing needs and demands of the modern work environment. She is driven by a vision of fostering a culture of innovation, collaboration, and inclusion for high-performing teams, working in a mix of on-site, remote or hybrid work environments.

She is a highly respected speaker, trainer, and adviser who offers practical solutions and best practices for improving employee engagement, performance, and well-being.

In March 2023, she was invited by the Government Oversight Committee to provide a Statement for the Record as part of their congressional hearing on the Nation’s Largest Employer- OPM and in December 2021, she testified as an expert witness for the Senate Hearing on the Future of Federal Work.

You can learn more about her work at www.mikacross.com