On the Cultivating the Lovely podcast this week, MacKenzie Koppa talks with Sasha K. Shillcut, M. D. about her new book Between Grit and Grace: The Art of Being Feminine and Formidable. Sasha is a cardiac anesthesiologist, a wife, a mother of 4 and founder of Brave Enough, a community for female professionals. This conversation is for ALL women, not just those who work in or out of the home, so regardless of your season of life, we hope you will get something out of this episode!

• Why Sasha started Brave Enough and her goals for helping women be their true selves
• MacKenzie’s perspective as a work at home and stay at home mom
• Why “leadership backlash” happens when women speak up and assert themselves
• Sasha pushes back on the idea that women are hardest on each other
• Our struggles as women in different arenas are actually remarkably similar
• Recognizing our deep need for friendship no matter what season we are in
• God has made us unique, so we don’t need to fall into the comparison trap

When you become brave enough to step into your own identity, the women around you oftentimes start to compare.

• How the Brave Enough community grew out of Sasha’s own need to recover her femininity and find a tribe
• Learning to be both bold and gracious
• How Sasha made time to write a book while being a doctor and a wife and mother
• The importance of knowing yourself and your uniqueness
• Sasha’s advice for unplugging and being in solitude
• Cautions against having a martyr mentality
• Being a good model for your kids of taking care of yourself
• A typical day in Sasha’s life

Sasha: enjoying using her brand new massage chair for some relaxation

MacKenzie: taking her kids and some friends bowling at the start of the weekend

Between Grit and Grace

Alli Worthington

Jen Hatmaker

How I Built This

Legally Blonde

You can find Dr. Shillcut on her website becomebraveenough.com and listen to her podcast, The Brave Enough Show. You can also follow her on Instagram, Pinterest, and Twitter.

You can find MacKenzie Koppa on Instagram, Facebook, and the CTL Facebook Group, of course! Join us on Patreon at Patreon.com/CultivatingtheLovely.

CTL is brought to you by Plan to Eat meal planning service. Visit PlanToEat.com/LOVELY to start your free 60-day trial instead of the normal 30-day trial.

This week’s episode of CTL is brought to you by Wickbox. Get $10 off your first box, go to Wickbox.co and use coupon code LOVELY at checkout.

This week’s episode of CTL is brought to you by BetterHelp private online counseling. Visit BetterHelp.com/LOVELY for 10% OFF your first month of counseling.

We have all kinds of exciting things going on in the Patreon group. Head over to Patreon.com/cultivatingthelovely to check it out and join in the goodness!