Leadership Unearthed

In this episode of Leadership Unearthed, host Chanchal Garg sits down with her cousin, Dr. Reena Gupta — a laryngologist and founder of the first Laryngologist-led private voice center in Southern California — to explore the deep connection between voice, power, and influence.

From singing in medical school choirs to caring for the world’s most celebrated voices, Dr. Gupta reveals how we physically hold our power in our throats, why we so often confuse assumption for understanding, and how true authority comes from sincerity rather than self-promotion.

Together they unpack the inner work of leadership: how to build trust that doesn’t shut off at the first letdown, how to hold high standards without crushing your team, and how asking for help is its own radical act of leadership. If you’re a woman leader or high achiever ready to stop seeing others through the lens of your own assumptions — and open up what’s possible in your closest relationships — this conversation is for you.

What You’ll Learn

* Why your voice is the physical home of your power — and what happens when we feel unsafe to speak

* How assumptions sabotage connection in the people we’re closest to, personally and professionally

* How to lead with sincerity and authority without chasing influence

* The trust trap: why it’s easy to build trust and easy to lose it, and how to let people back in

* How to hold high standards without betraying yourself or your team

* Why asking for help is one of the hardest (and most powerful) leadership moves

Timestamps

* 00:00 — Welcome & intro

* 00:56 — Dr. Gupta’s journey: from med school to building a voice center

* 02:36 — The pandemic challenge: starting a business in 2020

* 04:25 — What pulled her to the voice (and the choir conductor who changed everything)

* 07:41 — Voice, power & influence: where our expression lives in the body

* 10:54 — True expertise vs. expert communication in a digital age

* 13:57 — Leading with humanity: serving the most vulnerable hour

* 18:30 — Where she still holds back: the physician who can’t ask for help

* 21:24 — Trust in relationships: the on-off switch

* 26:12 — Holding others without self-betrayal: boundaries in leadership

* 29:32 — How we see ourselves vs. how others see us (two sides of one coin)

* 38:10 — Opening up possibility: the story we tell ourselves vs. the story that’s true

* 39:50 — Closing reflections & the butterfly effect

About the Guest

Dr. Reena Gupta is a laryngologist (voice doctor and surgeon) in Beverly Hills, CA. Her love of the voice began with singing lessons at age 11 and led her to a residency in Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery at New York University, followed by a fellowship in Laryngology/Care of the Professional Voice under Dr. Robert Sataloff.

She founded the Center for Vocal Health — the first Laryngologist-led private voice center in Southern California. Dr. Gupta is published in numerous journals and textbooks, has been invited to speak at universities and conferences locally and internationally, and is a member of prominent professional organizations such as the Pan-American Vocology Association. She volunteers locally and globally and runs educational conferences to empower professional voice users to seek the best vocal care.

Ready to reclaim your voice and lead with power, not pressure?

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We’re taught that power is something you hold. Dr. Karen Ferguson, CEO of CORA, spent her career learning it’s something you hold with — or not at all. In the premiere episode of Leadership Unearthed, host Chanchal Garg sits down with the clinical psychologist turned nonprofit CEO to excavate the difference between authority and influence, the stories we inherit about who we’re allowed to be, and what it costs when we lead from someone else’s script.

Power is a strange and slippery thing. We’re taught to want it, warned not to abuse it, and rarely taught what to do when it lands in our hands. But what happens when the person holding the power is the last one to see it?

In the premiere episode of Leadership Unearthed, host Chanchal Garg sits down with Dr. Karen Ferguson, CEO of CORA (Community Overcoming Relationship Abuse), for a conversation that refuses the easy answers. Karen has spent her career walking alongside refugees, trafficking survivors, and families rebuilding from domestic abuse — work that taught her that the abuse of power is rarely loud. It’s a slow boil. A series of small acceptances that erode what was once solid ground.

From a formative walk on a Samoan beach with a young woman named Vani, to the boardroom where she’s learned that “if you think you’re at the pinnacle, you’re not,” Karen gets radically honest about the gap between who we think we are and who the world actually sees — and what it takes to close it.

In this episode, you’ll hear:

* Why power abuse is rarely loud — and how the “slow boil” shows up in organizations, homes, and communities

* The difference between authority and influence — and why influence is the higher-percentage play

* Why “CEO Karen” walks into the room before “just Karen” does — and what that means for authentic leadership

* The power of “maybe” — one simple reframe that helps Karen challenge her own internal dialogue

* What it’s like to be stripped of your leadership mantle in a room full of strangers — and why it changed everything

* Dolly Parton’s unexpected advice for women leaders (yes, really)

KEY TOPICS & TIMESTAMPS

00:00 — Welcome to Leadership Unearthed: Why this show explores power for women leaders

02:30 — Meet Dr. Karen Ferguson: From clinical psychology to the refugee camps of American Samoa

06:45 — The moment that changed everything: Walking with Vonnie on the beach

09:15 — What fleeing war and surviving abuse teach us about the “slow creep” of power

13:40 — “If you think you’re at the pinnacle, you’re not”: The truth about CEO power (and her 15 bosses)

17:20 — Authority vs. Influence: Why influence is the higher-percentage play

22:05 — Old schemas and eighth-grade tapes: Why Karen’s brain labels things “dog” when they’re really something new

27:30 — The Aligned Leader: What happened when Karen stepped into a room where her title meant nothing

33:15 — “A tectonic plate shift”: The moment the gap between self-perception and reality finally closed

38:40 — Why leadership is a “thick raincoat” — and what happens when it’s stripped away

42:10 — Karen’s advice for high-achieving women: Find your people, and “figure out who you are and do it on purpose”

ABOUT DR. KAREN FERGUSON

Dr. Karen Ferguson is the CEO of CORA (Community Overcoming Relationship Abuse), a community-based, 49-year-old organization and the single provider of domestic violence services for San Mateo County in the Bay Area of California. Programming at CORA spans a 24-hour hotline and emergency response to safehouses, legal, and mental health services.

Prior to this position, Dr. Ferguson served as Executive Director, Northern California, within the International Rescue Committee — the largest hub of refugee resettlement offices in the US. In this role, she supported the resettlement of more than 10,000 refugees within a five-year period.

Dr. Ferguson is a licensed Clinical Psychologist, having graduated from Brown University with a BS in Psychology and earned her PhD in Clinical Psychology from Case Western Reserve University. She has spent her career in the nonprofit sector, working in behavioral health, immigration and refugee services, and intimate partner abuse — and she is a living example of what it means to lead with both strength and self-awareness.

ABOUT YOUR HOST

Chanchal Garg is an executive coach, facilitator, and award-winning author of Unearthed: The Lies We Carry and the Truths They Bury. She is an Advanced Facilitator and Executive Coach at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, where she supports the Interpersonal Dynamics (T-group) program, and has spent more than 20 years helping leaders excavate who they are beneath the inherited narratives, cultural conditioning, and relational patterns that formed them. She is the designer and facilitator of The Aligned Leader, a three-day immersive T-group retreat for women leaders.

RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

* Learn more about The Aligned Leader: Book an inquiry call

* Apply to The Aligned Leader: Start your application

* Support CORA’s mission: CORAsupport.org

* Subscribe to Chanchal on Substack: Chanchal Garg

Loved this episode? If Karen’s story sparked something in you — that quiet knowing that there’s a gap between how you see yourself and how the world experiences you — don’t let it end here.

Ready to see yourself the way others do? The Aligned Leader is a three-day immersive retreat for women leaders who are ready to move beyond the title, step out of the spotlight of expectation, and step into their most authentic, powerful selves. Space is intentionally limited, and the transformation is real.

👉 Apply today at The Aligned Leader or book a conversation with Chanchal to learn more.

And before you go: If this episode moved you, please take 30 seconds to rate, review, and subscribe to Leadership Unearthed on your favorite podcast app. Your review helps other powerful women find their way here — and helps us keep unearthing the leaders among us.

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This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chanchalunearthed.substack.com