You can work hard, mean well, and be excellent at what you do—and people can still walk away with a perception of you that's quietly shaping your opportunities. In this episode, Felicia tackles one of her favorite (and most uncomfortable) topics: the gap between your intentions and your impact.

Because here's the hard truth in leadership: people don't respond to your intentions. They respond to how they experience you. And for women of color navigating spaces where our leadership is evaluated differently, perception isn't always fair, accurate, or true—but it influences trust, credibility, sponsorship, and opportunity all the same.

Felicia opens up about the feedback that held her back early in her career (the "work, work, work" robot who never stopped at the water cooler), unpacks the dangerous perception gap between how you see yourself and how others experience you, and makes the case that real growth requires introspection—the willingness to ask, "What role am I playing in this?"

In this episode, we cover:

• Why your intentions don't equal your impact—and why that's not a failure
• The "perception gap": collaborative vs. indecisive, direct vs. harsh, humble vs. unconfident
• Your "hallway file" (aka leadership brand) and why peers shape it just as much as leadership
• The myths that keep women stuck: "My work speaks for itself," "They know my heart," "If it's not true, it doesn't matter"
• How introspection helps you separate what's bias and projection from what's actually yours to own

Three shifts to manage perception with intention:

1. Stop asking what you're sending—start asking what's being received. Communication isn't complete when you speak; it's complete when understanding happens.
2. Audit your leadership brand. Ask three people you trust: "When you think of me, what are the first three words that come to mind?"—and be brave enough to listen.
3. Be intentional about your narrative. If you don't tell your story, someone else will.

Your Reflection Challenge: Before the next episode, ask three people one simple question: "What is it like to work with me?" Don't defend it. Don't explain it. Just listen. Because awareness is where growth begins.

You can't control every perception—but you can be intentional about the one you're creating.

If this resonated, share it with a woman who's wrestling with perception at work, and leave a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen.

Remember: we're not just climbing careers. We're building ladders for the sisters coming behind us.

🔗 Connect with The Climb

The Climb is a leadership and professional development organization dedicated to helping women of color navigate the workplace, increase visibility, build confidence, and grow into leadership and managerial roles.

Through leadership development programs, community, coaching, and honest conversations, we help women move from executing work to influencing outcomes.

🌐 Website: https://the-climb.org 📺 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@JoinTheClimb2024 💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/97178217 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jointheclimb 📘 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JoinTheClimb1

For years, we've told women to get a seat at the table.

Get the degree.

Build the expertise.

Work hard.

Earn the opportunity.

But what happens after you get there?

What happens when you're sitting in the room, listening to the conversation, and realizing that attendance and influence are not the same thing?

In this episode of The Climb Podcast, Felicia Smith explores one of the most overlooked leadership lessons for women of color: learning how to move from being present in the room to becoming part of the conversation that shapes outcomes.

Because leadership isn't just about access.

It's about contribution.

It's about influence.

It's about understanding when to speak, what to say, and how to bring value in ways that move conversations—and organizations—forward.

Drawing from her own experience navigating executive spaces, Felicia shares the realization that simply showing up isn't enough. The goal isn't airtime. The goal is influence.

If you've ever left a meeting feeling like no one noticed you were there, struggled to find the right moment to speak, or watched someone else receive credit for an idea you were thinking, this episode is for you.

• Why attendance and influence are not the same thing

• The hidden difference between being present in a room and shaping outcomes

• Why technical expertise alone doesn't translate into executive influence

• How women of color unintentionally make themselves invisible in leadership spaces

• The three levels of meeting participation: Attendance, Participation, and Influence

• A practical framework to help you contribute strategically in every meeting

• Why leadership is measured by contribution, not presence

🌐 Website: https://the-climb.org

📺 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@JoinTheClimb2024

💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/97178217

📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jointheclimb

📘 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JoinTheClimb1

Share it with a woman who has earned her seat at the table but is still figuring out how to use her voice once she's there.

Because leadership isn't measured by attendance.

It's measured by contribution.

It's measured by influence.

It's measured by whether your presence changes the conversation.

And that's a skill we can all learn.

Because we are not just climbing careers.

We are building ladders.

The conversations women of color have quietly been carrying for years… finally said out loud.

We talked about burnout.

Visibility.

Leadership.

Career stagnation.

Communication.

Identity.

And what it really means to grow as a woman of color inside systems that were never fully designed for us.

For this Season 6 finale, we pulled together the moments that hit the hardest—the truths, lessons, and conversations women told me they needed the most.

Because throughout this season, one thing became clear:

Some of the advice many of us have followed for years…

is also the thing quietly slowing our careers down.

• Why working hard is not always enough to move forward

• The difference between access and advancement

• Why visibility and positioning matter more than many women realize

• The emotional toll of constantly proving yourself

• How burnout quietly catches up to high-performing women

• Why leadership requires a different strategy at every level

• The realities women of color navigate in workplaces every day

00:00 – The Career Advice Quietly Holding You Back

01:04 – Welcome to the Best of Season Six

02:29 – Nobody Taught Us How Power Works

04:15 – The Cost of Constantly Proving Yourself

07:35 – Survival vs. Identity: Who Am I Becoming?

11:09 – The Truth About Leadership, Burnout & Growth

13:20 – Visibility, Positioning & The Broken Rung

17:40 – Why Dependability Isn’t Enough

22:05 – From Execution to Leadership

27:18 – Burnout, Career Gaps & Reinvention

31:42 – The Lessons Women Needed Most

36:15 – We Are Not Just Climbing Careers

38:02 – Closing Reflection + Season Seven

🌍 Website: https://the-climb.org

📺 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@JoinTheClimb2024

💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/97178217

📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jointheclimb

📘 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JoinTheClimb1

Subscribe. Share it. Send it to another woman trying to figure out how to move forward.

Because leadership isn’t just about climbing.

It’s about learning how to navigate rooms, sustain yourself, and build ladders for others along the way

What if the advice you’ve been following is the very thing slowing your career down?

You’ve been working hard. Saying yes. Being dependable. Keeping your head down.

And on the surface — that sounds exactly right.

But in the Season 6 finale of The Climb Podcast, Felicia Smith delivers the honest conversation most people won’t have with you: the advice that got you here is incomplete. And if you don’t recognize that, you can spend years doing everything right — and still feel completely stuck.

The rules shift when you move to the next level.

And this episode gives you the three shifts that actually move you forward.

✨ What You Will Learn

• Why high performers are not always the ones who get promoted
• The difference between advice that gets you access vs. advice that drives advancement
• Why dependability alone will never make you look like a leader
• Shift 1: How to move from effort to visibility — and why your work needs a voice track
• Shift 2: The difference between an intentional yes and a career-stalling yes
• Shift 3: Why execution mode keeps you stuck — and how to move into positioning
• The question you should be asking yourself right now about where you are in your career

⏱️ Chapters

00:00 – Cold Open: What If the Advice You’re Following Is Holding You Back?

01:00 – Welcome to The Climb Podcast

03:00 – Season 6, Episode 10: Bringing It All Together

05:30 – Somebody Should Have Told Me: When Doing Everything Right Isn’t Enough

09:00 – Why Dependability ≠ Leadership

13:30 – Truth Is: That Advice Was Designed for Access, Not Advancement

18:00 – Why Hard Work Alone Won’t Get You Promoted

21:30 – The Three Shifts That Actually Move You Forward

22:00 – Shift 1: From Effort to Visibility

27:45 – Shift 2: From Yes to Intentional Yes

33:10 – Shift 3: From Execution to Positioning

39:00 – Final Thought: Different Level, Different Strategy

42:00 – Season 6 Wrap + What’s Coming in Season 7

🔗 Stay Connected with The Climb

🌐 https://the-climb.org

📲 @JoinTheClimb

📣 If This Episode Resonated

Share it with a woman who is working hard and doing all the things — but not seeing the results she deserves.

Because we are not just climbing careers — we are building ladders.

Something planned.

Something intentional.

Something we can easily explain.

But the reality is different.

“What we found… women lost their jobs.”

And now many are navigating something they didn’t expect—

figuring out how to move forward while carrying the weight of a gap they didn’t plan.

In this episode of The Climb Podcast, Felicia Smith sits down with resume expert Karriema Calhoun to break down how to:

✔️ Reframe your experience

✔️ Position your value

✔️ And confidently tell your story—without feeling like you’ve lost momentum

• Why career gaps are more common—and more complex—than we admit

• How to explain a gap without making it your identity

• What recruiters are really looking for (and how fast they decide)

• Why confidence shows up on your resume

• The biggest mistakes hurting your chances (Canva + AI misuse)

• How to leverage volunteer work, entrepreneurship, and training

• When to use a functional resume vs. traditional format

• Why your resume must speak before you do

00:00 – The Truth About Career Gaps

02:00 – Welcome + Episode Setup

05:00 – What’s Really Happening in the Job Market

08:00 – Why It’s Taking Longer to Get Hired

11:00 – The 8-Second Resume Rule

15:00 – Confidence (or Lack of It) on Your Resume

19:00 – Resume Mistakes That Cost You Opportunities

23:00 – Should You Include a Gap?

27:00 – Entrepreneurship + Resume Red Flags

31:00 – Functional Resume Strategy

36:00 – Why Canva Resumes Don’t Work

40:00 – The Truth About ChatGPT + Resumes

45:00 – How to Reframe Your Experience

49:00 – Using Cover Letters to Stand Out

53:00 – Final Thought: The Gap Is Not You

Send this to someone navigating a gap right now.

Because this moment?

It’s not the end of your story.

At some point, being everything became the cost of being included.

And for many women of color, busyness stopped being a schedule problem — and became a survival strategy.

In this episode of The Climb Podcast, Felicia Smith takes an honest look at how we got here, what it’s really costing us, and what it looks like to stop performing busyness and start leading with intention.

Because your legacy will not be how busy you were.

It will be the impact you made.

What You Will Learn

• Why busyness became a badge of honor — and why that’s a trap
• The three hidden costs of busyness: the meeting tax, the worthiness trap, and the leadership gap
• Why saying yes to everything can feel like survival — even when it’s costing you
• How to audit your calendar as a reflection of what you’ve been taught matters
• How to define the work that only YOU can do
• Why protecting one hour of focused time can change how you lead
• How to stop performing busyness and start leading with intention

⏱️ Chapters

00:00 – Welcome to the Her Climb Podcast

02:00 – The Forbes Article That Started This Conversation

05:30 – How Busyness Became a Badge of Honor

08:45 – Somebody Should Have Told Me: I Said Yes to Everything

13:00 – Truth Is: Busyness Is Costing You More Than Your Time

15:20 – The Meeting Tax

18:40 – The Worthiness Trap

22:10 – The Leadership Gap

25:30 – Another Rung Mended: 3 Ways to Reclaim Your Time

27:00 – Step 1: Audit Your Calendar

32:15 – Step 2: Define Your Real Work

37:40 – Step 3: Block One Hour

42:00 – Final Thought: Stop Performing Busyness, Start Leading with Intention

🔗 Stay Connected with The Climb

🌐 https://the-climb.org

📲 @JoinTheClimb

📣 If This Episode Resonated

Share it with a woman who needs permission to slow down and lead differently.

Because we are not just climbing careers — we are building ladders.

I said what I thought needed to be said.

And after I said it — I could immediately tell it didn’t land.

No engagement. No follow-up. Barely an acknowledgment that I had said something.

Sound familiar?

In this episode of the Her Climb Podcast, Felicia Smith gets into the communication gap nobody warns you about — the space between what you said and what the room actually heard.

Because getting to the table is one thing.

What you say once you’re there? That shapes everything.

Studies show women of color are three to four times more likely to experience dismissive behaviors in the workplace. Not because we’re unprepared — but because of how our voice is received.

That means we cannot afford to wing it. Your voice has to carry weight. And that requires intention.

In this episode, Felicia introduces the Table Talk Framework — a practical three-part approach to making sure your message lands every time you open your mouth in a leadership space.

✨ What You Will Learn

• Why over-communicating is not the same as effective communication
• The difference between speaking and actually contributing
• The Table Talk Framework: when to speak, how to speak, and what to say
• Why clarity builds confidence — and confidence builds credibility
• How to lead with the headline and stop burying your message
• Why presence is not about volume — it’s about alignment
• 5 practical tools you can use at your very next meeting

⏱️ Chapters

00:00 – Cold Open: When My Words Didn’t Land

01:15 – Welcome to the Her Climb Podcast

02:30 – Last Week’s Episode Recap: You’re at the Table

04:45 – The Stakes Are Higher for Women of Color

07:00 – Today’s Topic: What Did You Say? How to Get Your Point Across

09:10 – Somebody Should Have Told Me: The Story Behind the Episode

13:30 – Truth Is: Over-Communicating Is Not Effective Communication

17:45 – Introducing the Table Talk Framework

19:00 – Pillar 1: Know When to Speak

23:30 – Pillar 2: Know How to Speak

29:00 – Pillar 3: Know What to Say

34:15 – Another Rung Mended: 5 Practical Tools for Your Next Meeting

41:00 – Final Thought: What Do You Want Them to Remember?

🔗 Stay Connected with The Climb

🌐 https://the-climb.org

📲 @JoinTheClimb

📣 If This Episode Resonated

Share it with a woman who’s been in the room but struggling to get her message to land.

Because we are not just climbing careers — we are building ladders.

So many women are told to “get a seat at the table.”

But what no one talks about is what happens next.

In this episode of The Climb Podcast, Felicia Smith breaks down the reality of what it means to not just be invited into the room—but to navigate, influence, and lead once you’re there.

Because the truth is…

You can know your job—and still not understand the room.

And that’s the gap no one prepares you for.

• Why being “good at your job” is not enough at leadership tables

• The difference between being present vs. being influential

• The unwritten rules that shape decision-making in leadership spaces

• Why the loudest voice is not always the most powerful

• How to read the room (what’s said—and what’s not)

• The role of relationships, context, and preparation

• How to show up with confidence and intentionality

00:00 – The First Time I Realized I Didn’t Understand the Room

01:15 – Welcome to The Climb Podcast

02:30 – You Belong at the Table… But Now What?

05:10 – The Reality No One Teaches You About Leadership Rooms

08:45 – Feeling Unprepared (Even When You’re Qualified)

12:20 – The Truth: Every Table Has Rules

16:05 – Influence vs. Volume

20:40 – Reading the Room: What’s Not Being Said

25:10 – Why Context Matters More Than You Think

29:30 – There Is No Universal Playbook

33:00 – How to Show Up Powerfully (5 Strategies)

41:20 – Why “You Belong” Isn’t the Full Story

45:10 – Final Thoughts: Learn the Table, Then Lead

🌐 https://the-climb.org

📲 @JoinTheClimb

Share it with a woman who just stepped into a new room.

Because we are not just climbing careers—

we are building ladders.

What if the next level of your leadership isn’t about doing more…

but about learning how to pause?

In this episode of The Climb Podcast, Felicia Smith sits down with Elandria Charles to unpack a truth most high-achieving women struggle to accept:

Rest is not a reward. It’s a requirement.

From burnout and overproduction to reclaiming your time and energy, this conversation challenges the belief that constant motion equals progress—and introduces the idea that strategic pause is a leadership skill.

If you’ve ever felt exhausted, disconnected, or like you’re pushing through instead of moving forward…

this episode is for you.

What You’ll Learn

• Why burnout is often a system issue—not a personal failure

• How the pressure to constantly produce disconnects you from yourself

• What “sabbatical moments” look like in your everyday life

• Practical ways to reclaim your time, energy, and boundaries

• How to use your calendar as a tool for alignment—not just obligation

• Why strategic pause leads to clearer thinking, better decisions, and stronger leadership

Key Moments

00:00 – You Are Not What You Produce

00:49 – Welcome to The Climb Podcast

01:50 – Meet Elandria Charles

03:19 – Redefining What a Sabbatical Really Means

05:38 – The System Was Designed to Burn You Out

06:48 – Recognizing Burnout Before It Breaks You

08:30 – Why Rest Feels So Hard (Especially for Black Women)

10:01 – Daily Practices to Create Pause in Your Life

12:17 – Taking Control of Your Calendar

14:13 – Planning Rest Intentionally

16:29 – What Happens When You Don’t Pause

19:28 – The Framework: Rest, Remember, Recast, Realize

21:38 – What to Do Right Now

23:24 – You Deserve Rest

25:12 – Making Rest a Habit

25:38 – How to Connect with Elandria

25:55 – Final Thoughts: Keep Climbing + Keep Pausing

Connect with Our Guest

Elandria Charles

LinkedIn: Elandria Jackson Charles

Instagram: @restclarityjoy

🔗 Stay Connected with The Climb

🌐 Website: https://the-climb.org

📲 Instagram & LinkedIn: @JoinTheClimb

📣 Loved This Episode?

If this conversation resonated with you:

• Subscribe to The Climb Podcast

• Share this episode with another woman who needs this message

• Leave a review—it helps more women find this space

Final Thought

You don’t have to wait until you burn out to give yourself permission to pause.

You don’t have to earn rest.

And you don’t have to climb at the cost of yourself.

The most strategic move you can make might be to pause—on purpose.

What happens when you finally achieve the thing you worked so hard for… and it no longer feels the same?

In this episode of The Climb Podcast, I’m talking about a truth most people don’t prepare you for:

Sometimes the dream you’ve been chasing has already finished.

And instead of feeling fulfilled, you’re left asking—now what?

This isn’t failure.

This is evolution.

We break down what it looks like when your purpose begins to shift, how to recognize the signs, and why outgrowing a role, identity, or goal is not something to fear—it’s something to honor.

Because growth will always ask you a different question:

• Why achieving your “dream” doesn’t always bring the fulfillment you expected

• How to recognize the signs that your purpose is evolving

• The danger of tying your identity to a role or title

• Why high-achieving women of color feel pressure to hold on—even when it’s time to move

• How to release the need for a perfect plan and move forward anyway

• Why outgrowing a role isn’t failure—it’s growth

🌐 https://the-climb.org

📲 YouTube & Social: https://www.youtube.com/@JoinTheClimb2024

📩 Join the community: @JoinTheClimb

🎧 Follow & Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@JoinTheClimb2024