It's about understanding the people around you.

In Part 3 of our Emotional Intelligence series, we're exploring Social Awareness—one of the most overlooked leadership skills and one of the biggest differentiators between good leaders and exceptional ones.

Because leadership is never practiced in isolation.

Every meeting, every conversation, every difficult decision involves people. And often, what's happening beneath the surface matters just as much as what's being said out loud.

In this episode, we'll explore how to become more observant, why empathy doesn't require agreement, and how understanding organizational dynamics can make you a more effective leader.

• Why social awareness is essential for leadership

• How to read the room and understand unspoken dynamics

• The difference between empathy and agreement

• Why organizational awareness matters

• Three practical ways to strengthen your social awareness

At your next meeting, spend the first five minutes observing instead of preparing your response.

What do you notice now that you wouldn't have noticed six months ago?

Because the room is always communicating.

The question is...

Are you listening?

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🎧 Subscribe, share, and join the conversation.

Because we are not just climbing careers.

We are building ladders. ✊🏾

The real test of leadership is what you do with that knowledge when emotions are running high.

In Part 2 of our Emotional Intelligence series, we're talking about self-management—the ability to regulate your emotions, respond with intention, and lead strategically under pressure.

Because leadership isn't measured when everything is going well.

It's measured when you're frustrated.

When you're overlooked.

When your ideas are ignored.

When someone challenges your expertise.

When you have every reason to react—but choose strategy instead.

In this episode, I explore why professionalism isn't the absence of emotion; it's the management of emotion. I share lessons from my own leadership journey, the importance of "the pause," and practical strategies to help you respond thoughtfully instead of reacting impulsively.

If you've ever sent an email you regretted, responded too quickly in a difficult conversation, or struggled to separate what you were feeling from what you needed to do next, this episode is for you.

• Why self-management is essential for effective leadership

• The difference between reacting emotionally and responding strategically

• Why emotions are data—not directives

• The power of the pause in high-pressure moments

• Three practical strategies to strengthen your emotional regulation

The next time you feel yourself getting frustrated, pause and ask yourself:

"What outcome am I trying to achieve?"

Because leadership isn't about pretending you don't have emotions.

It's about making sure your emotions never make your decisions for you.

🌐 Website: https://the-climb.org

📲 @JoinTheClimb

🎧 Subscribe, share, and join the conversation.

Because we are not just climbing careers.

We are building ladders. ✊🏾

Leading teams.

Managing conflict.

Influencing decisions.

Driving results.

But before any of that comes self-awareness.

And if we're honest, that's often the part we skip.

In this episode of The Climb Podcast, we're kicking off a four-part series on Emotional Intelligence by exploring the foundation of it all: self-awareness.

Because you cannot lead others effectively if you don't understand yourself.

You cannot change what you refuse to acknowledge about yourself.

We spend so much time evaluating everyone else—our managers, our coworkers, our teams, and the systems around us—that we rarely stop to ask:

Why did I react that way?

What triggers me?

What stories am I telling myself?

How do other people actually experience me?

For women of color, this conversation is especially important. Many of us have become experts at reading the room, adapting, and navigating environments that were never designed with us in mind. But somewhere along the way, we may have forgotten to read ourselves.

In this episode, I share lessons from my own leadership journey, the blind spots I had to confront, and why introspection is one of the most underrated leadership skills you'll ever develop.

Because leadership doesn't start when people begin following you.

Leadership starts when you begin understanding yourself.

• Why self-awareness is the foundation of leadership

• The difference between self-confidence and self-awareness

• How pressure reveals your true leadership patterns

• Understanding emotional triggers and internal narratives

• Why introspection requires accountability

• Three practical ways to strengthen your self-awareness

What is something about yourself that you may be avoiding acknowledging?

Sit with it.

Because growth often begins where avoidance ends.

Connect with The Climb

🌐 https://the-climb.org

📲 @JoinTheClimb

🎧 Subscribe, share, and join the conversation.

Because we are not just climbing careers.

We are building ladders. ✊🏾

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.