What if the very thing people assume will hold you back actually makes you better at your job?

Heidi Isern joins Monique Ritter to talk about the leadership lessons that come from motherhood, and how she learned to embrace the chaos, drop the script, and bring her full self to both career and family.

This episode dives into the emotional and professional terrain of working motherhood, what it means to lead with empathy (not ego), and how to raise kids who aren’t afraid to mess up.

Timestamps

00:00 – Intro

05:45 – Monique’s career crush & Heidi’s “writer, thinker, whiskey drinker” bio

07:30 – Did motherhood make you better at your job?

08:30 – Creative resilience and building storytelling on the fly

12:00 – Breaking the script: how motherhood fuels risk-taking

16:00 – Teaching kids to fail (and why leaders need that too)

26:00 – The moment Monique was asked if she could “give her time” to a job

31:00 – When female leaders don’t support other women

33:30 – How motherhood builds emotional intelligence

40:00 – Why you can’t outsource deep empathy

43:45 – The problem with multitasking and the case for ruthless prioritization

47:00 – Marketing = storytelling + curiosity

50:45 – What Heidi would tell herself before becoming a mom

52:30 – Where to find Heidi’s writing