What if the pain you spent 30 years being told was in your head was silently taking over your body, and you kept outperforming everyone in the room anyway?
In this raw, honest conversation, Uma Thana and Jingjin Liu sit down with Amy Kunrojpanya, a global executive who has led teams across more than ten countries, navigated 20 years of infertility, raised three children in four years after 40, and managed all of it while traveling over 300 days a year.
Amy opens up about living with stage four endometriosis that went undiagnosed for three decades, being told repeatedly that her chronic pain was in her head, and the emergency surgery in Thailand that changed everything, just before her 40th birthday. This is a story about what it costs to wear professional armor, and what it means to finally put it down.
Amy takes us through the real price of saying yes to everything, the spine surgery she walked out of and straight onto a business flight, the maternity leaves where she never truly switched off, the boundaries she set but didn't enforce, and the moment a team member told her that her jumping in was robbing them of the chance to grow. She reflects on the difference between setting a boundary and enforcing one, why motherhood didn't dim her ambition but sharpened it, and how she learned that what got her here will not get her there. Amy also talks about how women are given feedback on style while men are given feedback on skill, and exactly what to say when your manager tells you to smile more.
In this episode you'll find:
[00:00] Introduction: Three kids in four years after 40
[03:40] What endometriosis actually is
[07:44] Outworking, outperforming: the price of never saying no
[10:31] Modern female founders rewriting the rules on boundaries
[13:09] "Setting a boundary is self-love. Enforcing it is self-respect."
[16:22] Why organizations plan for maternity cover but forget the reentry
[17:25] Traveling 300+ days a year with a newborn: the logistics of breast milk across borders
[23:54] The pull between career and family
[32:53] Practical tools for reentry
[36:52] High-performing cultures: owning your role, having honest conversations
[42:09] Transitioning from doer to leader
[44:40] Women get feedback on style. Men get feedback on skill.
[46:10] How to respond when told to "smile more"
[49:08] "The best is still ahead of me", and what that really means
Do you feel like you're working harder than everyone around you but still getting overlooked for the opportunities you deserve? Take the free Discover Your 2026 Visibility Stage assessment and find out what's actually standing between you and being seen. → https://form.jotform.com/252218729975470
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Listen on:
🎧 Apple Podcast → https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/raw-with-uma/
🎧 Spotify → https://open.spotify.com/show/1R7vwGXeHLcJLsX8HjOX4e?si=f11a165e6efd445d
Find Amy here:
LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/amykunrojpanya/
Share this episode with a woman who has ever apologized for being pregnant, hidden her pain at work, or felt like she had to choose between ambition and everything else. And if you have your own story about navigating motherhood, health, or identity in the workplace, drop it in the comments.
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#Endometriosis #WorkingMothers #WomenInLeadership #Boundaries #Infertility #Leadership #Ambition #RAWWithUma
