Hello Moxie

Host: Nicole Donnelly
Guest: Natasha Golinsky – Founder of On Purpose Projects, Founder of Never Launch on a Friday, Host of the Never Launch on a Friday podcast…and the Agency Owner Who's Never Written a Line of Code

In this honest episode of Hello Moxie, Nicole sits down with Natasha Golinsky, the "quintessential accidental agency owner", to explore what it takes to lead when you're not the skills expert in the room, and why waiting to feel ready keeps so many capable people stuck.

Natasha's story is unexpected, She has run a full-stack web development agency since 2015 without ever building a website herself, growing it from a single freelance hire into a contractor team where, in a decade, only one person has left. She opens up about earning loyalty instead of demanding it, handing over the business she built during breast cancer treatment, and what it really means to step into fear and do it scared. This conversation is candid, funny, practical, and ultimately hopeful.

Together, Nicole and Natasha explore:

- The management style behind a contractor team where only one person has left in 10 years: earning loyalty instead of expecting it, backing people when mistakes happen, and never micromanaging

- How to improve management skills by hiring for your weaknesses instead of fixing them, from testing candidates for reliability in the small things to the hire she'd put off for a decade, made five weeks before cancer surgery, who now runs her agency

- How to handle management challenges like her agency's worst quarter in 11 years, when her bookkeeper thought the accounting software was broken, and why shortening your recovery time matters more than avoiding the setback

Natasha is a powerful example of what it looks like to live the Moxie Method in full bloom: from Sprout to Shine.

Key Takeaways:

- Waiting to feel ready? There is no ready. Every step is scary, and confidence comes from moving, not before it.
- Afraid of taking a visible risk and failing? Natasha built a team culture where it's safe to stretch, safe to say "I don't know," and safe to turn down work you can't do well.
- Telling yourself you're not cut out for this? Everyone who looks successful is thinking the same thing. The real skill is shortening your recovery time after a setback.
- Second-guessing whether you need to be the expert to lead? Hire for your weaknesses, trust people with the outcome, and let the people doing the work set the scope.

Connect with Natasha Golinsky

- Website: https://neverlaunchonafriday.pro/
- Agency: https://onpurposeprojects.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natashagolinsky/

Natasha is currently promoting The Root Cause Reset — an eight-week private, one-on-one program for high-achieving women who want to find and heal the root causes keeping them stuck.

Join the Community

Become a member to stay up to date on the latest and greatest from Hello Moxie, plus get access to exclusive bonus content from our guests with every episode:
https://hellomoxie.us/member-registration/

Share your thoughts and questions

If this episode moved you, we'd love for you to pass it along to a friend who needs to hear it — and if you've got 30 seconds, leaving a review helps way more women find their way to these conversations. It genuinely matters more than you'd think.

Learn More About Hello Moxie

• Website: Women Empowerment & Inspiring Stories | Hello Moxie
• Connect with Nicole: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicole-donnelly-dmg/ 
• Follow us on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/hello-moxie-us 

Share your thoughts and questions

If this episode moved you, we'd love for you to pass it along to a friend who needs to hear it — and if you've got 30 seconds, leaving a review helps way more women find their way to these conversations. It genuinely matters more than you'd think.

Learn More About Hello Moxie

• Website: Women Empowerment & Inspiring Stories | Hello Moxie
• Connect with Nicole: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicole-donnelly-dmg/ 
• Follow us on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/hello-moxie-us 

Say hello Moxie. 💜

Host: Nicole Donnelly
Guest: Sarah Thelen – AI Founder, Entrepreneurship, Former Banking Professional, Nontechnical AI Founder

In this honest episode of Hello Moxie, Nicole sits down with Sarah Thelen, a nontechnical AI founder, to explore career reinvention, self-trust, and how to overcome self-doubt when you're taking a risk before you have everything figured out.

Sarah's story is unexpected. After starting her career in banking and finance, she moved into AI without a technical background and eventually began building Alfons AI, a Europe-based Human-in-the-Loop AI training and evaluation company helping organizations build safer, more reliable, and production-ready AI systems. She opens up about leaving the traditional career path, entering an unfamiliar industry, learning to lead without having all the answers, and what it really means to step into fear. This conversation is candid, practical, and encouraging, and ultimately hopeful.

🔥 Together, Nicole and Sarah explore:

• Sarah's transition from banking and finance into the AI industry
• Building Alfons AI as a nontechnical founder alongside a technical co-founder
• Learning to take risks and make decisions before everything is perfectly figured out
• Leading and managing hundreds of people while developing confidence in her own leadership

Sarah is a powerful example of what it looks like to live the Moxie Method in full bloom: from Seed to Sprout.

🌟 Key Takeaways:

• How to overcome self-doubt when you're entering an industry where you don't have the traditional credentials or technical expertise
• How building self-trust can help you make career decisions before you feel completely ready
• How experimentation and learning through failure can strengthen your confidence when navigating uncertainty
• Why taking a career risk can mean creating your own path instead of waiting for the perfect opportunity to appear

Connect with Sarah Thelen:

• Website: https://alfons.ai/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-thelen-232a69165/

Mentioned in the Episode:

• Alfons AI: https://alfons.ai/
• The Moxie Method: https://hellomoxie.us/

If this episode moved you, please share it with a friend—and leave a review to help more women reclaim their voice and shine.

Join the Community

Become a member to stay up to date on the latest and greatest from Hello Moxie, plus get access to exclusive bonus content from our guests with every episode:
https://hellomoxie.us/member-registration/

Share your thoughts and questions

If this episode moved you, we'd love for you to pass it along to a friend who needs to hear it — and if you've got 30 seconds, leaving a review helps way more women find their way to these conversations. It genuinely matters more than you'd think.

Learn More About Hello Moxie

• Website: Women Empowerment & Inspiring Stories | Hello Moxie
• Connect with Nicole: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicole-donnelly-dmg/ 
• Follow us on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/hello-moxie-us 

Say hello Moxie. 💜

What if the thing keeping you from moving forward isn’t a lack of answers, but spending too much time trying to find the right answer?

In this episode of Hello Moxie, Nicole sits down with Melissa, founder of Focal Point Consulting and a certified business and executive coach, to talk about making decisions, building confidence, and turning big, complex challenges into actionable next steps.

Rooted in her framework of Clarity, Curiosity, and Conviction, Melissa helps people move out of the cycle of rumination and into meaningful action. She shares how asking better questions, understanding your own voice, and taking small steps can help you navigate uncertainty and create momentum.

Melissa also challenges us to think differently about personal growth: “If you are 1% better today, what would that unlock for you tomorrow?”

In this episode, you'll learn:

• How to move from overthinking a decision to taking decisive action
• Why clarity, curiosity, and conviction are essential for navigating change
• How to break down big, complex problems into manageable next steps
• Why finding and using your authentic voice matters in leadership
• How self-advocacy can help you create new opportunities
• The power of asking one question deeper
• Why networking and relationships can accelerate your career
• How small, consistent changes can create meaningful momentum
• What it means to embrace your own version of “moxie”

About Melissa

Melissa is the founder of Focal Point Consulting and a certified business and executive coach. Her coaching approach is rooted in Clarity, Curiosity, and Conviction, helping clients navigate complex decisions, build confidence, and take action toward meaningful change. She encourages people to focus on progress over perfection by asking: “If you are 1% better today, what would that unlock for you tomorrow?”

Connect with Melissa

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melissa-sierra/
Website: https://melissasierra.focalpointcoaching.com/

Share your thoughts and questions

If this episode moved you, we'd love for you to pass it along to a friend who needs to hear it — and if you've got 30 seconds, leaving a review helps way more women find their way to these conversations. It genuinely matters more than you'd think.

Learn More About Hello Moxie

• Website: Women Empowerment & Inspiring Stories | Hello Moxie
• Connect with Nicole: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicole-donnelly-dmg/ 
• Follow us on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/hello-moxie-us 

Say hello Moxie. 💜

Host: Nicole Donnelly
Guest: Deborah Traficante – Former VP of US Sales at Cisco Systems, Sales…and one of the first women to help build the internet from the inside

In this honest, no-BS episode of Hello Moxie, Nicole sits down with Deborah Traficante, a Cisco sales pioneer, mentor, and straight-talking leadership veteran, to explore what it actually takes to lead — and be believed — in rooms that weren't built for you.

Deborah's story is hard-won — she joined Cisco in 1990 as one of the first two women hired into a 40-person global sales team, back when most people had never heard of the internet, let alone bet their career on it. She opens up about being underestimated at every rank, the double standards she navigated for decades, and what it really means to step into fear and speak up when the room is 95% men. This conversation is direct, funny, and ultimately empowering.

🔥Together, Nicole and Deborah explore:

• How Deborah broke into Cisco's internet sales division and spent a year earning credibility with buyers who saw her as "an empty suit"
• The moment a VP told the sales team to wear khakis and bring their wives — and how Deborah responded on the spot
• Why an HR mentor telling her "white males are going to hire white males, so it's your job" became her mission
• The leadership lesson that changed how she led as she rose the ranks: less control, more influence

Deborah is a powerful example of what it looks like to live the Moxie Method in full bloom: from Step Into Fear to Shine.

🌟Key Takeaways:

• Confidence isn't a mindset trick — it's built through competence and preparation, especially when you're the one who has to prove it twice
• Being underestimated doesn't require a comeback line to survive it — sometimes success is the only response you need
• If you're one of the only women in the room, mentoring the next one isn't optional — it's the legacy that outlasts the title
• Real leadership means trading control for influence, and learning to let go of the reins as you rise

Connect with Deborah Traficante:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/deborah-traficante-3377762a/ 

Mentioned in the Episode:

• The Moxie Method: https://hellomoxie.us/embracing-change-for-personal-growth/ 

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Share your thoughts and questions

If this episode moved you, we'd love for you to pass it along to a friend who needs to hear it — and if you've got 30 seconds, leaving a review helps way more women find their way to these conversations. It genuinely matters more than you'd think.

Learn More About Hello Moxie

• Website: Women Empowerment & Inspiring Stories | Hello Moxie
• Connect with Nicole: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicole-donnelly-dmg/ 
• Follow us on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/hello-moxie-us 

Say hello Moxie. 💜

In this episode, we sit down with Trish Barber—founder of Three Ways Digital, author of Why Women Pivot, and President-Elect of Women in Technology—to discuss career change, professional growth, networking, leadership, and how to stay relevant in a rapidly changing world.

With more than 30 years of experience spanning technology, media, marketing, and entrepreneurship, Trish shares the lessons she's learned from building businesses, navigating career pivots, and helping professionals create opportunities through relationships, adaptability, and lifelong learning.

Whether you're considering a career change, recovering from a setback, exploring new opportunities, or looking for practical career advice, this conversation offers valuable insights on how to make confident career decisions and build a future-ready career.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Career change advice and navigating major career transitions
• Why career pivots are becoming increasingly common
• Transferable skills and professional reinvention
• Networking fundamentals and relationship-building strategies
• Leadership development and career growth
• Women in technology and creating opportunities for advancement
• Upskilling, adaptability, and the future of work
• Mentorship, sponsorship, and building a strong professional network

About Trish Barber:

Trish Barber is the founder of Three Ways Digital, author of Why Women Pivot, and President-Elect of Women in Technology. She is a seasoned business leader with more than three decades of experience helping organizations grow through innovation, digital transformation, marketing strategy, and leadership development.

If you're navigating a career change, exploring a new direction, or looking for practical networking tips and leadership insights, this episode is for you.

#CareerChange #CareerAdvice #CareerPivot #NetworkingTips #LeadershipDevelopment #WomenInTech #ProfessionalGrowth #CareerDevelopment #Networking #FutureOfWork

Share your thoughts and questions

If this episode moved you, we'd love for you to pass it along to a friend who needs to hear it — and if you've got 30 seconds, leaving a review helps way more women find their way to these conversations. It genuinely matters more than you'd think.

Learn More About Hello Moxie

• Website: Women Empowerment & Inspiring Stories | Hello Moxie
• Connect with Nicole: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicole-donnelly-dmg/ 
• Follow us on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/hello-moxie-us 

Say hello Moxie. 💜

Host: Nicole Donnelly
Guest: Karen Ann Bulluck, Author of the Ascending Ladders Series, Executive Leader, Speaker

What do 30 years in the boardroom, a fear of heights, and downhill skiing terrified out of your mind have in common? They're all part of Karen Ann Bulluck's story of learning to trust herself. In this episode of Hello Moxie, Karen Ann shares how three decades of climbing the corporate ladder — and the moments she almost lost herself doing it — became the foundation for a trilogy of novels, and a mission to help women lead with more humanity and less performance.

From programming teams she couldn't actually code for, to becoming an Executive Vice President and Board Member, Karen Ann takes us through the inner conflicts that come with power: the isolation of leading, the gap between personal values and corporate demands, and the fear that shows up every time you're asked to do something new. This episode is packed with wisdom on somatic awareness, self-trust, and why the best leadership advice she ever got sounds nothing like a leadership book.

You'll laugh, you'll get a little emotional, and you'll probably start paying attention to what your hands are doing the next time you're in a hard conversation.

🌟 What You'll Learn

• Karen Ann's "moxie moment" — leaving a 30-year corporate career to write business fiction that tells the truth
• The difference between real fear and fear of something new — and how to tell them apart
• Why somatic awareness (yes, even doing the dishes) is a leadership skill, not a wellness trend
• How mutual mentorship works, and why your mentor doesn't need to outrank you
• What to do when your gut and your organization's expectations don't agree
• Why she believes leadership isn't about leadership skills — it's about being a better human being

✨ Karen Ann's Moxie Highlights

• Spent 30 years in corporate IT leadership before leaving to write full time
• Turned her own struggle with self-trust into a trilogy of novels that give women permission to feel the mess
• Reframes fear as a normal, universal signal — not a personal failing
• Emphasizes grounding and stillness as tools any woman can use in two minutes, not two hours

📚 About Karen Ann Bulluck
 Karen Ann is the bestselling author of the Ascending Ladders Series — Discovering Power, Pursuing Truth, and Embracing Trust — and a former Executive Vice President and Board Member at AM Best. After three decades in corporate leadership, she left to write business fiction exploring integrity, trust, and humanity in the workplace. She's a Certified Professional Coach, a Positive Intelligence Mastery graduate, and now mentors women through the Hello Moxie program.

🔗 Connect with Karen Ann Bulluck

• 🌐 Website: https://daringtotranscend.com/ 
• 💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karenannbulluck/
• 📚 Get her latest book- Embracing Trust: https://daringtotranscend.com/embracing-trust/ 

🧠 Favorite Quote
 "Leadership isn't necessarily about leadership skills. Leadership is about being a better human being."

Share your thoughts and questions

Join the Community

Become a member and stay up to date on the latest and greatest from Hello Moxie, plus get access to exclusive bonus content from our guests with every episode: https://hellomoxie.us/member-registration/

Share your thoughts and questions

If this episode moved you, we'd love for you to pass it along to a friend who needs to hear it — and if you've got 30 seconds, leaving a review helps way more women find their way to these conversations. It genuinely matters more than you'd think.

Learn More About Hello Moxie

• Website: Women Empowerment & Inspiring Stories | Hello Moxie
• Connect with Nicole: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicole-donnelly-dmg/ 
• Follow us on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/hello-moxie-us 

Say hello Moxie. 💜

Host: Nicole Donnelly
Guest: Marta Fernandez, HR Generalist and Podcast Host of "HR, Are You Listening?"

What does a $4 ice cream cone have to do with privilege? For Marta Fernandez, everything. In this raw, unscripted episode of Hello Moxie, Marta shares the moment she realized she couldn't enjoy that ice cream cone without reckoning with the fact that her neighbor didn't have clean water — and how that single, uncomfortable thought became a lifelong practice she now calls checking your privilege.

Marta grew up moving between two worlds in Nicaragua — raised with privilege, but constantly crossing into a very different reality through her mother's private school, which welcomed students regardless of what their families could pay. That upbringing forced her to confront questions most of us spend our whole lives avoiding: How do you hold onto joy when someone else is struggling right in front of you? How do you stop being "the spending machine" for friends who assume you'll always cover the gap? And how do you build humility when people define you by your family's name instead of your own?

This isn't a conversation about frameworks or five-step plans. It's a real, unfiltered exploration of guilt, gratitude, boundaries, and the quiet values — empathy, humility, critical thinking — that shape who we become long before we ever set foot in a workplace.

🌟 What You'll Learn

• The "ice cream cone" moment that changed how Marta sees privilege
• How to set a boundary with people who expect you to always give more
• Why gratitude and guilt can coexist — and how to hold both without shrinking
• Why ignorance has nothing to do with how educated you are
• How to redefine ambition on your own terms, whether that's building a business or staying home

✨ Marta's Moxie Highlights

• Learned to say no to being "the spending machine" for her friend group — and to define herself by who she is, not her family's name
• Holds both privilege and proximity to hardship, and refuses to look away from either
• Champions humility and service as daily practices, not abstract ideals
• Believes ambition has no single definition — and that choosing family can be just as courageous as building an empire

💬 Favorite Quote 

"Ignorance doesn't stop because you're well educated."

📚 About Marta Fernandez

 Marta is a bilingual HR Generalist with a Master's in Human Resources Management from Georgetown University, and the host of the podcast "HR, Are You Listening?", where she explores workplace lessons through storytelling.

📧 Connect with Marta

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marta-fernandez-/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hrareyoulistening/ 
• HR, Are You Listening?: https://open.spotify.com/show/015g8jepbpq7yNaXnwbubd 

Share your thoughts and questions

Join the Community Become a member and to stay up to date on the latest and greatest from Hello Moxie, plus get access to exclusive bonus content from our guests with every episode https://hellomoxie.us/member-registration/

Share your thoughts and questions

If this episode moved you, we'd love for you to pass it along to a friend who needs to hear it — and if you've got 30 seconds, leaving a review helps way more women find their way to these conversations. It genuinely matters more than you'd think.

Learn More About Hello Moxie

• Website: Women Empowerment & Inspiring Stories | Hello Moxie
• Connect with Nicole: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicole-donnelly-dmg/ 
• Follow us on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/hello-moxie-us 

Say hello Moxie. 💜

Host: Nicole Donnelly

Guest: Rachel Spekman — Career Clarity Coach, Therapist, and Founder of Made for More Coaching

What if the stress you're feeling at work isn't burnout — and the fact that you've been calling it that is exactly why nothing has changed?

For Rachel Spekman, a career clarity coach and licensed therapist who spent years in the startup world before rebuilding her career from scratch, the answer starts with one honest question: what percent happy are you, really? Because if your answer is somewhere around 30% — you're not alone. And you're not broken. But you do need to tell yourself the truth.

In this episode of Hello Moxie, Rachel shares what she's learned from helping 100+ high-performing professionals stop performing happiness at work — and start building careers that actually fit who they are.

🌟 Rachel and Nicole dive into:

• Why depression and anxiety at work are almost always a values problem — not a personal failing
• The good hard vs. bad hard framework: the single question that tells you whether your stress is building you or breaking you
• The three emotional blocks keeping smart women stuck — and the one nobody talks about
• What Rachel asks every new client that most people can't answer honestly
• Why the people closest to you might be the thing keeping you most stuck
• How to know whether you need to leave, pivot internally, or just stop hiding under the covers

Rachel also shares the woman who inspires her most — her mom — a deaf woman who scuba dives at 72, redirects groups of 14 people down sewer canals without blinking, and has built her entire life on her own terms. A living example of what it looks like to stop caring what people think and start caring about your own quality of life.

This episode is for you if:

• You've been telling yourself you're just burned out — but something still feels off
• You're successful on paper and quietly miserable in practice
• You're ready to stop performing okayness and finally tell yourself the truth about where you are

This is the work underneath the work. Not another framework for performing better — but the conversation that helps you come back to who you actually are. It's the Moxie Method in action: from Stillness to Spark, from Spark to speaking your truth out loud.

💡 Memorable Quote

"It would have been hard for me to stay. But it was really hard to leave — and let go of the security of it, the prestige, the reputation of it all." — Rachel Spekman

✨ About Rachel Spekman

Rachel Spekman is a career clarity coach and licensed therapist who helps high-performing professionals trade soul-sucking careers for soul-aligned work — without sacrificing their income. After three pivots of her own, including leaving a venture capital-facing career to earn her MSW and build a private practice, she founded Made for More Coaching, where she's helped 100+ clients stop dreading Mondays and start building careers that fit who they actually are.

📬 Connect with Rachel

• Website: madeformorecoach.com
• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/rachelspekman

Share your thoughts and questions

If this episode moved you, we'd love for you to pass it along to a friend who needs to hear it — and if you've got 30 seconds, leaving a review helps way more women find their way to these conversations. It genuinely matters more than you'd think.

Learn More About Hello Moxie

• Website: Women Empowerment & Inspiring Stories | Hello Moxie
• Connect with Nicole: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicole-donnelly-dmg/ 
• Follow us on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/hello-moxie-us 

Say hello Moxie. 💜

Host: Nicole Donnelly | Guest: 'Tine Zekis, TEDx Speaker, Software Engineer, Author & Founder of Getting Black Women Paid

What do a math classroom, a coding bootcamp, and tripling your salary in under five years have in common? They're all part of 'Tine Zekis's story — and she's here to make sure it becomes yours too.

In this powerhouse episode of Hello Moxie, 'Tine breaks down why women — especially Black women — are conditioned to be grateful instead of fairly paid, and what it actually looks like to unlearn that in real time. From her unexpected pivot out of teaching to becoming a software engineer, negotiating her way to $148K when she was aiming for $120K, and building a coaching business rooted in economic justice, 'Tine delivers the kind of straight-talking, strategy-backed wisdom the ICA has been searching for — and couldn't find anywhere else.

This isn't a confidence episode. It's a playbook — and it maps directly onto every stage of the Moxie Method. Because the work 'Tine does — helping women get Rooted in their worth, Spark their self-trust back to life, find the courage to Speak in the rooms that matter, and ultimately Shine as the kind of leader who lifts others — isn't separate from the Hello Moxie framework. It is the framework, lived out loud.

This is what Stage 4 looks like. Taking the bold risk you've been circling. Asking for the number. Staying in your body when the room goes quiet. Doing it anyway.

🌟 What You'll Learn

• Why it's not imposter syndrome — it's imposter systems, and why that distinction is the first step to getting Rooted
• The salary negotiation reframe that turns confrontation into collaboration — and gives you back your Spark
• How 'Tine went from aiming for $120K to walking away with $148K, and what she did differently
• Why women are taught to be grateful instead of fairly paid — and how breaking that conditioning is an act of Courage
• What to ask in a job interview to find out if a company actually values women before you ever walk in the door
• How isolation at work quietly erodes your confidence and your compensation — and what community does instead
• Why "know your worth" might actually be bad advice — and what to replace it with so you can finally Speak and Shine

✨ 'Tine's Moxie Highlights

• Tripled her teaching salary in under five years through strategic career moves and relentless negotiation
• Named what the rest of us have been feeling but couldn't articulate: imposter systems, not imposter syndrome
• Built Getting Black Women Paid from a speaking business into a full coaching practice — while working full-time as a software engineer
• Delivered a TEDx Talk challenging the foundational premise of how women are taught to think about their own worth
• Wrote the book — literally — on overcoming imposter syndrome at work for Black women

📚 About 'Tine Zekis

'Tine Zekis is a TEDx speaker, software engineer, author, and founder and CEO of Getting Black Women Paid — a coaching practice built on one simple premise: Black women deserve to be paid what they're worth, and she's going to make sure they know how to get there. A former high school math teacher who taught herself to code in her late twenties, 'Tine more than tripled her salary in under five years through strategic career moves and salary negotiation, then turned those lessons into a movement. She's the author of Overcoming Imposter Syndrome at Work: The Black Woman's Guide to Conquer Perfectionism, Stop Overthinking & Thrive in Your Career, host of the Getting Black Women Paid Podcast, and currently works as a Full Stack Engineer III at Calendly.

🔗 Connect with 'Tine Zekis

• 🎙 Podcast- Getting Black Women Paid Podcast
• 📖 Book- Overcoming Imposter Syndrome at Work
• 💼 LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/tinezekis

🧠 Favorite Quote

"Courage is not the absence of fear — it's the doing it anyway. Moxie is audacity. Having the audacity to ask for more, to show up as yourself."

Share your thoughts and questions

Join the Community — Become a member to stay up to date on the latest from Hello Moxie, plus get access to exclusive bonus content from our guests with every episode: hellomoxie.us/member-registration

Share your thoughts and questions

If this episode moved you, we'd love for you to pass it along to a friend who needs to hear it — and if you've got 30 seconds, leaving a review helps way more women find their way to these conversations. It genuinely matters more than you'd think.

Learn More About Hello Moxie

• Website: Women Empowerment & Inspiring Stories | Hello Moxie
• Connect with Nicole: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicole-donnelly-dmg/ 
• Follow us on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/hello-moxie-us 

Say hello Moxie. 💜

Host: Nicole Donnelly

Guest: Rupali Kumbhani — Global Executive in Digital Transformation, AI Strategy Leader, and Champion of Human-Centered Leadership

In this powerful and reframing episode, host Nicole Donnelly is joined by Rupali Kumbhani, a global executive who has spent two decades leading digital transformation across real estate tech, healthcare tech, and fintech. Rupali is the woman C-suite leaders bring in when AI strategy is on the table — and her thesis on this episode is that most of them are getting it wrong.

Rupali shares the boardroom moment that defines her approach: a CEO asked her which AI tool to buy, and she told him the question was wrong. The conversation explores what it actually takes to lead in the AI era — not by chasing tools, but by asking better questions, prioritizing ruthlessly, and trusting the skills women have been undervalued for the past thirty years.

🌟 Rupali and Nicole dive into:

• The real question every leader should ask before adopting AI
• Why "10 priorities" guarantees failure (and what to do instead)
• How women's empathy, cultural intelligence, and active listening become the differentiators in the AI era
• The difference between AI panic and AI strategy
• Calling out systemic bias from positions of power
• Rupali also honors three women who shaped how she shows up in rooms that weren't built for her — Mary Kom, the six-time world boxing champion from Manipur; Sudha Murthy, the engineer-philanthropist who modeled how to redirect bias mid-conversation; and her mother, whose phrase "if you have a will, you will find a way" is the foundation underneath everything she does.
• This episode will reframe the AI conversation, validate what you have been feeling in your workplace, and remind you that the skills you have been told are "soft" are the skills that determine who leads what comes next.

🔥 Highlights

• 🤖 AI is not tool-focused: the strategic reframe every leader needs
• 💬 The boardroom moment when Rupali called out a CEO mid-meeting
• 📋 Why "high priorities" cannot be a list of ten
• 🌱 The skills women have been undervalued for are about to be revalued
• 🚀 Mary Kom, Sudha Murthy, and Rupali's mother — three women, three lessons in resilience
• 💡 "AI is not replacing human. AI is an enhancer of human." — Rupali on the human side of digital transformation

💼 About Rupali Kumbhani

Rupali is a global executive leading digital strategic transformation across real estate tech, healthcare tech, and fintech. With over two decades of experience driving change through COVID, political shifts, and now the AI scramble, she has built governance models for AI adoption, parallel training programs for employees, and a personal framework for sustainable leadership. She is a member of the Executive Club of Chicago and a passionate advocate for human-centered AI.

📬 Connect with Rupali

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rupalikumbhani/

💬 Memorable Quote

"Don't keep 10 as your high priorities. You are asking for failure."

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Wherever you are in your career — whether you are surviving AI panic, leading a team through transformation, or rebuilding what success means after burnout — this episode will hand you the language and the framework to do the work differently. The system was not built for you. The skills you already have are exactly what this era requires.

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