Not All Business

Heather and Blakely made a promise in Episode 1: after hearing how pole dancing changed Jamie Cole's confidence and leadership, they would try it themselves. One year later, they finally showed up at Rockstar Pole Fitness with heels in hand, seven friends beside them, and no idea what they were getting into.

The class was physically harder and emotionally more vulnerable than they expected. They talk about the strength behind pole, the difference between sensuality and sexuality, and the challenge of looking at themselves without immediately comparing their bodies or abilities to someone else's.

They also share what happened during the freestyle portion, why Heather's video landed in the hidden folder, how Blakely found one move she could own, and what slowing down can teach leaders about power and presence.

Plus, Clay reviews the footage, Heather tests a routine at home using a door, and Blakely prepares to face a bear in her backyard.

Key Takeaways:

• Why keeping a promise can still matter when it takes a year to follow through

• How Jamie Cole created a welcoming space for a vulnerable first experience

• Why pole dancing requires strength, technique, and repeated practice

• The difference between trying to look sexy and connecting with your own sensuality

• How comparison can interrupt confidence in real time

• Why looking yourself in the eyes can feel harder than learning the choreography

• How leaning into one movement that feels good can help you find your groove

• Why confidence and presence are skills you can practice

• What moving more slowly can teach leaders about power in a room

• How an uncomfortable experience can change the assumptions you carry into it

Follow Our Hosts:

• Blakely Graham on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/blakelygraham/ 

• Heather Cooper on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heathercooper.nab/ 

• Clay Carnill on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/claycarnill/ 

  
  

Follow Not All Business:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/notallbiz/ 

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/notallbusiness/ 

• Substack: https://notallbusiness.substack.com/ 

  
  

Links & Mentions:

• Charli xcx, “Camera”: https://open.spotify.com/track/5Fdj0DtH4ZhymltyN5xEv2?si=066ac60c356547ac 

• Jamie Cole on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pelirroja_poles/ 

• Rockstar Pole Fitness on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rockstarpolefitness/ 

• Revisit Episode 1 with Jamie Cole: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0ZHLd0KLYQ 

• P-Valley on Starz: https://www.starz.com/us/en/series/p-valley/46156  (Jamie's fictional recommendation for its portrayal of the women and people of color who pioneered modern pole dancing and continue to lead the art form through club culture)

• Strip Down, Rise Up on Netflix: https://www.netflix.com/title/80208242  (Jamie's documentary recommendation about pole dancing as a practice for healing and empowerment)

  
  

Pole Artists Jamie Recommends Following

• Dan Rosen Pole on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/danrosenpole/ 

• Fiyastarta on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vjsfiyastarta/ 

• Doris Arnold on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dorisarnoldpoledancer/ 

• Yung Pole Master on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yungpolemaster/ 

• Lux ATL on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lux_atl/ 

• Move with Tara on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/movewithtara/ 

• Red Ruby GoGo on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/redrubygogo/ 

• Shelastic Wolf on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shelasticwolf/ 

  
  

Submit Your Sticky Situations:

• Got a sticky situation for Not All Business? Send an email or voice recording to [email protected] or drop your question in the comments.

  
  

Thank You to Our Sponsors:

• Face Five Acne Clinic, Root-Cause Acne Care, No Harsh Prescriptions Required: https://facefiveacne.com - code NOTALLBIZ10 for 10% off your first order

• Follow Face Five Skincare: https://www.instagram.com/facefiveskincare/

• Follow Wellness with Yuki: https://www.instagram.com/wellnesswithyuki/

What happens when the business you built for freedom becomes another job you cannot escape?

Michelle Kuan, founder of MLKMEDIA, joins Heather Cooper and Blakely Graham to share how she built a fast-growing marketing agency and why she eventually had to make it smaller. She opens up about burnout, values-aligned leadership, and learning that every yes comes with a no.

Michelle also shares how strength training helped her build confidence and value what her body could do instead of trying to make it smaller.

Plus, Heather and Blakely unpack the backlash to Sydney Sweeney's sports-betting campaign.

Key Takeaways:

• Why every yes is also a no to something else

• How keeping promises to yourself builds confidence and self-trust

• Why a profitable client can still be wrong for your business

• How values make difficult business decisions clearer

• Why throwing more money at burnout rarely addresses the structure causing it

• What it can look like to shrink a business in order to save yourself

• Why returning to your original purpose can make work meaningful again

• How to separate healthy ambition from the endless chase for the next number

• Why strong leadership includes protecting your team and learning from early mistakes

• How strength training helped Michelle shift her focus from appearance to performance

  
  

Please consider sharing this episode and subscribing to the show for more of the career questions women want answered but rarely ask out loud.

Follow Our Guest:

• Michelle Kuan on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/itsmichellekuan/ 

• Michelle Kuan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelleliukuan 

• MLKMEDIA: https://mlkmedia.com/ 

  
  

Follow Not All Business:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/notallbiz/ 

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/notallbusiness/ 

• Substack: https://notallbusiness.substack.com/ 

  
  

Links & Mentions:

• MLKMEDIA: https://mlkmedia.com/  (Michelle's marketing agency for health, wellness, and fitness brands)

• Coilie, The Modern Landline: https://coilieco.com/product  (Blakely's shareable smile)

• Voicemails for Isabelle on Netflix: https://www.netflix.com/title/81716219  (Michelle's shareable smile)

• Sydney Sweeney sports-betting ad coverage: https://www.axios.com/2026/09/18/novig-sydney-sweeney-ad-backlash-women-in-sports 

• ESPN The Body Issue archive: https://www.espn.com/espn/feature/story/_/id/27400369/the-body-issue 

  
  

Submit Your Sticky Situations:

• Got a sticky situation for Not All Business? Send an email or voice recording to [email protected] or drop your question in the comments.

  
  

Thank You to Our Sponsors:

• Face Five Acne Clinic, Root-Cause Acne Care, No Harsh Prescriptions Required: https://facefiveacne.com - code NOTALLBIZ10 for 10% off your first order

• Follow Face Five Skincare: https://www.instagram.com/facefiveskincare/

• Follow Wellness with Yuki: https://www.instagram.com/wellnesswithyuki/ 

  
  

Not All Business is Sex Ed for Your Career: the honest work questions women want answered but rarely ask out loud. Hosted by Heather Cooper and Blakely Graham, alongside producer and co-host Clay Carnill, new episodes drop every Thursday covering the real stuff: workplace drama, salary negotiation, imposter syndrome, and the sticky situations nobody has a script for. Subscribe so you never miss the next conversation.

What if your best career story is the one you keep trying to hide?

Britt Hunter, leadership speaker and founder of Be The Exception Coaching, joins Heather Cooper and Blakely Graham to explain why young professionals and seasoned leaders alike need to hurry up and fail. Britt shows how mistakes build clarity and confidence when you stop protecting a perfect image and start getting honest about what you learned.

She breaks down a failure pitch that begins with a real capability, adds the setback that tested it, and turns the lesson into a memorable introduction. The conversation also explores why getting older does not automatically make us better, how small behavior rules create useful reps, and why leaders must learn to receive feedback without immediately defending themselves.

Plus, Heather checks Garth Brooks off her bucket list, the team puts its opening banter on a ten-minute timer, and everyone shares a simple source of joy worth passing along.

Key Takeaways:

• Why failure can become proof that you are coachable

• How to stop waiting until you can try something perfectly

• Why confidence comes from reps rather than age

• How to build a failure pitch using a capability, a setback, and your name

• Why specific strengths are more memorable than generic claims like “I am collaborative”

• How small, measurable rules can help change social habits

• Why leaders need to own their actions without leading with a defensive explanation

• How Britt's PIVOT framework moves accountability from facts and feelings to values and action

• Why creators should focus on the person who needs their message instead of trying to please the whole internet

• How adults can normalize mistakes without giving up authority

  
  

Please consider sharing this episode and subscribing to the show for more of the career questions women want answered but rarely ask out loud.

Follow Our Guest:

• Britt Hunter on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brittbritt-hunter 

• Britt Hunter on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/coachbhunt_/ 

• Be The Exception Coaching: https://www.betheexceptioncoaching.com/ 

  
  

Follow Not All Business:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/notallbiz/ 

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/notallbusiness/ 

• Substack: https://notallbusiness.substack.com/ 

  
  

Links & Mentions:

• Be The Exception Coaching: https://www.betheexceptioncoaching.com/ (Britt's leadership coaching, keynotes, workshops, and Own Your Adventure program)

• Britt Hunter's link hub: https://linktr.ee/BeTheExceptionCoaching  (current links for Britt's newsletter, social profiles, podcast, and ownership quiz)

• Garth Brooks: https://www.garthbrooks.com/  (mentioned during Heather's bucket-list story)

• Grizzly Rose: https://grizzlyrose.com/ (the Denver honky-tonk discussed in the opening)

• “Chaos Space Marine” by Black Country, New Road: https://open.spotify.com/track/2UEH1NjNHGsoEIr3GKLhNR?si=9cc4aa8bd1ce4ca3 

• “One Battle After Another”: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt30144839/ 

  
  

Submit Your Sticky Situations:

• Got a sticky situation for Not All Business? Send an email or voice recording to [email protected] or drop your question in the comments.

  
  

Thank You to Our Sponsors:

• Face Five Acne Clinic, Root-Cause Acne Care, No Harsh Prescriptions Required: https://facefiveacne.com - code NOTALLBIZ10 for 10% off your first order

• Follow Face Five Skincare: https://www.instagram.com/facefiveskincare/

• Follow Wellness with Yuki: https://www.instagram.com/wellnesswithyuki/ 

  
  

Not All Business is Sex Ed for Your Career: the honest work questions women want answered but rarely ask out loud. Hosted by Heather Cooper and Blakely Graham, alongside producer and co-host Clay Carnill, new episodes drop every Thursday covering the real stuff: workplace drama, salary negotiation, imposter syndrome, and the sticky situations nobody has a script for. Subscribe so you never miss the next conversation.

Why is it so easy to offer help and so uncomfortable to ask for it?

Melissa Moody, co-founder of Wednesday Women, joins Heather Cooper and Blakely Graham to explain why your career is bigger than your day job. She shows how to build a portfolio career around what matters in this season without turning your life into an endless list of obligations.

Then Melissa introduces the give and the get. She explains how to identify what you need, turn a transactional request into a relational one, remove the hedging language, and stop talking long enough for the other person to answer. Heather and Blakely also get honest about comparison, CrossFit, writing a book, and deciding what not to do.

Plus, Blakely takes us inside Olivia Rodrigo's Daisy Chain Fields festival and its lesson in how to support the next generation without disappearing.

Key Takeaways:

• Why your career portfolio includes more than the job that pays you

• How to invest in a side project without turning your life into an endless list of obligations

• Why priorities should change across different seasons of life

• How comparison can make someone else's goal feel like your failure

• Why deciding what not to do is part of building a meaningful career

• How to identify a get by looking at an opportunity or a blocker

• How to turn a transactional request into a relational ask

• Why hedging words like “just” can undo a request before anyone answers

• How asking gives someone else the opportunity to help

• Why practicing rejection can make the next ask easier

  
  

Please consider sharing this episode and subscribing to the show for more of the career questions women want answered but rarely ask out loud.

Follow Our Guest:

• Melissa Moody on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melissammoody 

• Wednesday Women: https://www.wednesdaywomen.org/ 

  
  

Follow Not All Business:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/notallbiz/ 

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/notallbusiness/ 

• Substack: https://notallbusiness.substack.com/ 

  
  

Links & Mentions:

• Wednesday Women: https://www.wednesdaywomen.org/  (the movement and executive membership community Melissa co-founded to amplify women leaders and help them support one another)

• Daisy Chain Fields: https://www.daisychainfields.com/ (Olivia Rodrigo's women-led music festival supporting organizations that serve women and girls)

• Associated Press on Daisy Chain Fields: https://apnews.com/article/aa831e6e96d6e75f315ae35633c6cd06  (reporting on the festival's $20 million raised for 10 nonprofit partners)

• Women in the Workplace 2025: https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/diversity-and-inclusion/women-in-the-workplace (the McKinsey and LeanIn.Org research discussed in the episode about ambition and career support)

  
  

Submit Your Sticky Situations:

• Got a sticky situation for Not All Business? Send an email or voice recording to [email protected] or drop your question in the comments.

  
  

Thank You to Our Sponsors:

• Face Five Acne Clinic, Root-Cause Acne Care, No Harsh Prescriptions Required: https://facefiveacne.com - code NOTALLBIZ10 for 10% off your first order

• Follow Face Five Skincare: https://www.instagram.com/facefiveskincare/

• Follow Wellness with Yuki: https://www.instagram.com/wellnesswithyuki/ 

  
  

Not All Business is Sex Ed for Your Career: the honest work questions women want answered but rarely ask out loud. Hosted by Heather Cooper and Blakely Graham, alongside producer and co-host Clay Carnill, new episodes drop every Thursday covering the real stuff: workplace drama, salary negotiation, imposter syndrome, and the sticky situations nobody has a script for. Subscribe so you never miss the next conversation.

Your highest-producing employee refuses to delegate, never comes to team day, and has become the office joke. Is she still your top performer?

In Part 2 of the Arcadia conversation, Heather Cooper and Blakely Graham bring more anonymous Sticky Situations home from the Arcadia Leadership Experience in Bozeman. They explain why individual output is not the same as leadership, why special rules for one star employee can wreck a culture, and how a manager can hold someone accountable without trying to diagnose what may be happening in her personal life.

They also help a self-employed listener caught between too much work and no work at all. The conversation moves from self-worth and breadwinner identity to practical ways to steady a business, including defining an ideal client, building recurring revenue, using slow periods to work on the business, and refusing the clients you already know you will resent.

Then Blakely answers the question she received at Arcadia: During her years as a CEO, was she actually happy? Her answer opens an honest conversation about ambition, daycare, motherhood, burnout, therapy, and why learning what you need is only the beginning. You still have to practice it.

Before the Sticky Situations, Heather and Blakely recap the conference itself: fly fishing, breathwork, a sound bath mishap, real connection without cell service, and an AI session that pushed them to confront the growing gender gap in AI work.

Key Takeaways:

• Why individual output does not automatically make someone a top performer

• How special treatment for one employee becomes a culture problem for everyone

• Why managers should address observable patterns, not diagnose an employee

• How compassion and accountability can exist at the same time

• What self-employed people can do during the slow part of a feast-or-famine cycle

• How ambition and motherhood can both be true without either one being the problem

• Why insight from therapy, a retreat, or a breakthrough still requires daily practice

• Why women should build AI literacy without giving up the human skills that matter

  
  

Please consider sharing this episode and subscribing to the show for more of the career questions women want answered but rarely ask out loud.

Follow Hosts:

• Blakely: https://www.instagram.com/blakelygraham/ 

• Heather: https://www.instagram.com/heathercooper.nab/ 

• Clay: https://www.instagram.com/claycarnill/

  
  

Follow Not All Business:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/notallbiz/ 

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/notallbusiness/ 

• Substack: https://notallbusiness.substack.com/ 

  
  

Links & Mentions:

• Arcadia Leadership Experience: https://www.arcadialeadershipexperience.com/ (the Bozeman leadership gathering where this episode’s audience questions originated)

• Brian Sowards: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-sowards-41456731b (led the “AI Backpack” session that became an open conversation about using AI as a collaborative tool) 

• LinkedIn research on women in AI hiring: https://news.linkedin.com/2026/new-linkedin-research-finds-women-account-for-just-26-percent-of-ai-hires-as-ai-jobs-surge 

• Lauren Goodell of Clustr Innovations: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauren-goodell  (helps sales teams adopt AI without losing the judgment, empathy, and human connection the technology cannot replace)

• Shannon Hawley, breathwork and sound bath facilitator: https://songandsoundhealing.com/ 

  
  

Submit Your Sticky Situations:

• Got a sticky situation for Not All Business? Send an email or voice recording to [email protected] or drop your question in the comments.

  
  

Thank You to Our Sponsors:

• Face Five Acne Clinic, Root-Cause Acne Care, No Harsh Prescriptions Required: https://facefiveacne.com - code NOTALLBIZ10 for 10% off your first order

• Follow Face Five Skincare: https://www.instagram.com/facefiveskincare/

• Follow Wellness with Yuki: https://www.instagram.com/wellnesswithyuki/ 

  
  

Not All Business is Sex Ed for Your Career. Subscribe so you never miss the next conversation.

You built the career. You reached the milestone. So why does it no longer feel like enough?

Fresh from recording Sticky Situations live at the Arcadia Leadership Experience in Bozeman (https://www.arcadialeadershipexperience.com/), Blakely Graham and Heather Cooper bring the audience’s hardest career questions home. They unpack the strange lull that can follow achievement, the difference between burnout and outgrowing a role, and how to explore a career change without pretending money and responsibilities do not matter.

Blakely and Heather share what happened after their own career exits, why purpose rarely arrives on command, and how small “one-degree decisions” (an idea from Lindsay Tjepkema, https://lindsaytjepkema.com/) can help you regain control before you make a dramatic move. They also debate quiet quitting, taking a pay cut for work you actually want, trusting your gut versus the spreadsheet, and whether it is better to coast between successes or chase the next unknown thing.

The conversation begins with a tribute to Dolly Parton: her kindness, professionalism, refusal to shrink, and extraordinary legacy.

Key Takeaways:

• Why getting everything you wanted can still leave you without purpose

• How to tell career burnout from having outgrown your role

• Why “get interested in your interests” is better than forcing a five-year plan

• How to listen to intuition without confusing it with fear or your inner critic

• How Lindsay Tjepkema’s “one-degree decisions” can move you toward a career change without rage quitting

• Why salary is only one part of a job’s real value

• The case for coasting and the case for chasing what comes next

  
  

Please consider sharing this episode & subscribing to the show for more unfiltered conversations about leadership, growth, and the messy human side of business.

Follow Hosts:

• Blakely: https://www.instagram.com/blakelygraham/ 

• Heather: https://www.instagram.com/heathercooper.nab/ 

• Clay: https://www.instagram.com/claycarnill/

  
  

Follow Not All Business:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/notallbiz/ 

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/notallbusiness/ 

• Substack: https://notallbusiness.substack.com/ 

  
  

Links & Mentions:

• Arcadia Leadership Experience: https://www.arcadialeadershipexperience.com/ (the Bozeman leadership gathering where this episode’s audience questions originated)

• Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library: https://imaginationlibrary.com/ (free, age-appropriate books for enrolled children from birth to age five through participating local programs)

• From Strength to Strength by Arthur C. Brooks: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/646134/from-strength-to-strength-by-arthur-c-brooks/ (a guide to finding purpose, meaning, and success in the second half of life)

• Jayne Robinson, “Dying At Your Desk? Why Comfort Is More Dangerous Than Failure”:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8AIomCptBE (the earlier NAB conversation about telling your real inner voice from fear-driven noise)

• Lane McLeod, “She’s Teaching Women to Buy Houses Alone: And It’s Working”: https://youtu.be/Cbmv0xwBaGs (the earlier NAB conversation about Lane’s career pivot and building wealth through homeownership)

• Sam Yarborough, “Stop Pitch Slapping and Start Connecting”: https://youtu.be/nyWpMGYTd8k (the earlier NAB conversation with Arcadia co-founder Sam Yarborough)

• Plum Village Monastery: https://plumvillage.org/

• Lindsay Tjepkema: https://lindsaytjepkema.com/ (source of the “one-degree decisions” idea discussed in the episode)

  
  

Submit Your Sticky Situations:

• Got a sticky situation for Not All Business? Send an email or voice recording to [email protected] or drop your question in the comments.

  
  

Thank You to Our Sponsors:

• Face Five Acne Clinic, Root-Cause Acne Care, No Harsh Prescriptions Required: https://facefiveacne.com - code NOTALLBIZ10 for 10% off your first order

• Follow Face Five Skincare: https://www.instagram.com/facefiveskincare/

• Follow Wellness with Yuki: https://www.instagram.com/wellnesswithyuki/

Leadership sounds exciting until you're the one who has to deliver the bad news.

What do you say when you have to fire someone and can't stop thinking about their family, bills, and future? How do you honestly review a friend whose performance is below expectations? And what happens when your boss tells you to be more assertive—after previously criticizing you for being too intense?

In this Sticky Summer episode, Heather and Blakely tackle the painful leadership situations that rarely have a perfect answer. They share what they've learned about firing with compassion, giving honest feedback, standing up for yourself without losing credibility, and knowing when taking one for the team has gone too far.

They also respond to a listener whose work was handed to a "better presenter" days before a major conference—and explain why the real failure may belong to the manager who never gave them the chance to improve.

Then Clay puts them through another rapid-fire round on bad managers, corporate buzzwords, overrated leadership advice, and the biggest lie companies tell their employees.

Key Takeaways:

• Why feeling terrible about firing someone may actually mean you belong in management

• How to keep a termination conversation short, clear, kind, and focused on the employee

• Why honest feedback is a gift—even when the person receiving it is your friend

• What to do when you're criticized for being both too passive and too intense

• How to stop calibrating your behavior to everyone else's expectations

• The difference between voluntarily taking one for the team and being afraid to defend yourself

• Why handing your presentation to someone else at the last minute is a management failure

• The biggest lie about corporate life: your workplace is not your family

  
  

Please consider sharing this episode & subscribing to the show for more of the questions women want answered but rarely ask out loud.

Follow Our Hosts:

• Blakely: https://www.instagram.com/blakelygraham

• Heather: https://www.instagram.com/heathercooper.nab

• Clay: https://www.instagram.com/claycarnill

  
  

Follow Not All Business:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/notallbiz

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/notallbusiness

• Substack: https://notallbusiness.substack.com

  
  

Submit Your Sticky Situations & Workplace Dilemmas:

• Got a sticky situation for Not All Business? Send a voice recording to [email protected] or drop your question in the comments.

  
  

Thank You to Our Sponsors:

• Face Five Acne Clinic, Root-Cause Acne Care, No Harsh Prescriptions Required: https://facefiveacne.com - code NOTALLBIZ10 for 10% off your first order

• Follow Face Five Skincare: https://www.instagram.com/facefiveskincare/

• Follow Wellness with Yuki: https://www.instagram.com/wellnesswithyuki/ 

  
  

Not All Business is Sex Ed for Your Career — the honest questions women want answered but rarely ask out loud. Hosted by Heather Cooper and Blakely Graham, alongside producer and co-host Clay Carnill, new episodes drop every Thursday covering the real stuff: workplace drama, salary negotiation, imposter syndrome, and the sticky situations nobody has a script for. Subscribe so you never miss the next conversation.

There isn't an employee handbook for the awkward parts of work.

What do you do when your boss hugs you every morning and you hate being hugged? What's the right move if your boss asks you to lie about something? And what does "business casual" even mean anymore? How can you fashion-judo a dress code to empower you at work?

This week, we're pulling together some of Heather and Blakely's best answers to the workplace questions you've sent in over the past year. They're all from past Sticky Situation episodes, and put together, they add up to something bigger: the unwritten rules nobody hands you when you start a job. Boundaries. Integrity. How you're perceived versus who you actually are. The embarrassing moments that feel career-ending in the moment and forgettable a month later. And why some of the hardest career decisions have no perfect answer.

Stick around to the end for a rapid-fire round of hot takes on office etiquette, social media, "mandatory fun," and the small workplace dilemmas that somehow become surprisingly complicated.

Key Takeaways:

• How to set a boundary with a physically affectionate boss without damaging the relationship

• Why keeping your startup private while working another job may be the smartest move

• How to think about "business casual" when the rules seem to change depending on who's judging

• Why you should never lie on someone else's behalf — even if they're your boss

• A simple way to recover after an embarrassing moment at work

• Whether you should connect with your boss on social media

• Why "mandatory fun" isn't always as fun as it sounds

• The surprising rule for deciding whether to tell someone they have food in their teeth

  
  

Please consider sharing this episode & subscribing to the show for more of the questions women want answered but rarely ask out loud.

Follow Our Hosts:

• Blakely: https://www.instagram.com/blakelygraham

• Heather: https://www.instagram.com/heathercooper.nab

• Clay: https://www.instagram.com/claycarnill

  
  

Follow Not All Business:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/notallbiz

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/notallbusiness

• Substack: https://notallbusiness.substack.com

  
  

Submit Your Sticky Situations & Workplace Dilemmas:

• Got a sticky situation for Not All Business? Send a voice recording to [email protected] or drop your question in the comments.

  
  

Thank You to Our Sponsors:

• Face Five Acne Clinic, Root-Cause Acne Care, No Harsh Prescriptions Required: https://facefiveacne.com - code NOTALLBIZ10 for 10% off your first order

• Follow Face Five Skincare: https://www.instagram.com/facefiveskincare/

• Follow Wellness with Yuki: https://www.instagram.com/wellnesswithyuki/ 

  
  

Not All Business is Sex Ed for Your Career — the honest questions women want answered but rarely ask out loud. Hosted by Heather Cooper and Blakely Graham, alongside producer and co-host Clay Carnill, new episodes drop every Thursday covering the real stuff: workplace drama, salary negotiation, imposter syndrome, and the sticky situations nobody has a script for. Subscribe so you never miss the next conversation.

Louise Allen spent over a decade in her career without telling a single coworker she'd played professional tennis. Eleven years on tour. Every Grand Slam. Ranked as high as No. 70 in the world. She kept it quiet because she was afraid of one label: the aggressive female athlete.

This week on Not All Business, Louise — now Chief Product Officer at Planview — joins Blakely and Heather to talk about why authenticity still feels risky at work, the double bind women face between being likable and being taken seriously, and the moment with a former boss she still thinks about decades later.

Key Takeaways:

• Why Hiding Parts of Yourself at Work Costs More Than It Protects

• The Seating Trick That Gets You Noticed in Any Meeting

• How to Tell If Feedback Is About Your Work or Just Your Personality

• What to Say When Someone Asks a Question They Have No Right to Ask

• Why Finding Your Voice Is a Skill You Can Practice, Not a Trait You're Born With

  
  

Please consider sharing this episode & subscribing to the show for more unfiltered conversations about leadership, growth, and the messy human side of business.

Follow Louise:

• Louise on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/louise-k-allen-5703861/ 

• Louise's writing on Inc. Magazine: https://www.inc.com/author/louise-allen

• Planview: https://www.planview.com/company/leadership/

  
  

Links & Mentions:

• EY Women Athletes Business Network study on female executives and sports (via CNBC): https://www.cnbc.com/2017/01/11/want-to-be-a-ceo-later-play-sports-now.html

  
  

Submit Your Sticky Situations:

• Got a sticky situation for Not All Business? Send a voice recording to [email protected] or drop your question in the comments.

  
  

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Not All Business is Sex Ed for Your Career — the honest questions women want answered but rarely ask out loud. Hosted by Heather Cooper and Blakely Graham, alongside producer and co-host Clay Carnill, new episodes drop every Thursday covering the real stuff: workplace drama, salary negotiation, imposter syndrome, and the sticky situations nobody has a script for. Subscribe so you never miss the next one.

Dr. Molly Ware is a cardiologist at Boulder Heart, and she's used to being one of very few women in the room. Nineteen years ago, she was the first woman in her practice group, and when she asked to work part time after having her first child, no one had ever made that request before. This week she tells us what that negotiation taught her, and why the data suggests female doctors may actually get better patient outcomes.

Then we turn it into a virtual exam room. Molly takes rapid fire questions on the health topics we all wonder about and rarely ask out loud: whether wine is actually heart healthy, whether energy drinks deserve their bad reputation, why most people should be getting a lot more exercise than they think, and the genetic cholesterol test almost nobody has heard of but everyone should ask their doctor about.

Key Takeaways:

• Why the data suggests female physicians may get better patient outcomes, and what listening has to do with it

• What changed when Molly became the first woman in her practice to ask for part-time hours

• How to actually tell the difference between indigestion and a heart symptom worth taking seriously

• Whether wine is heart healthy, or whether we just wanted that to be true

• The genetic cholesterol test almost no one gets tested for, and why your family should know their numbers too

• Why "exercise is the best medicine" isn't just a saying, according to a cardiologist

  
  

Please consider sharing this episode and subscribing to the show for more unfiltered conversations about career, health, and the messy human side of both.

Follow Dr. Ware:

• Dr. Ware on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/molly-ware-32353734/ 

• Boulder Heart (Boulder Community Health): https://www.bch.org/our-services/cardiology/

  
  

Links & Mentions:

• OpenEvidence (AI medical search tool Molly referenced): https://www.openevidence.com/

  
  

Submit Your Sticky Situations & Workplace Dilemmas:

• Got a sticky situation for Not All Business? Send a voice recording to [email protected] or drop your question in the comments.

  
  

Thank You to Our Sponsors:

• Face Five Acne Clinic, Root-Cause Acne Care, No Harsh Prescriptions Required: https://facefiveacne.com - code NOTALLBIZ10 for 10% off your first order

• Follow Face Five Skincare: https://www.instagram.com/facefiveskincare/

• Follow Wellness with Yuki: https://www.instagram.com/wellnesswithyuki/ 

  
  

Not All Business is Sex Ed for Your Career — the honest questions women want answered but rarely ask out loud. Hosted by Heather Cooper and Blakely Graham, alongside producer and co-host Clay Carnill, new episodes drop every Thursday covering the real stuff: workplace drama, salary negotiation, imposter syndrome, and the sticky situations nobody has a script for. Subscribe so you never miss the next one.