This Is Woman's Work with Nicole Kalil

We talk a lot about burnout, overwhelm, and productivity — but not nearly enough about the invisible mental gymnastics happening behind the scenes. The remembering, anticipating, overthinking, emotional labor, and “just handling it” that so many women carry every single day. Not just at home, but at work too.

In this episode, Nicole sits down with Dr. Liane Davey — known as the Teamwork Doctor — to unpack the concept of “thought load” and why high-achieving women are especially vulnerable to carrying way too much of it. Liane is a New York Times bestselling author, leadership advisor to Fortune 500 companies, and author of the book Thought Load: Manage the Madness and Free Your Team to Do Great Work.

Together, they explore how over-functioning gets rewarded in workplaces, why busyness and productivity can become traps, and how to stop becoming everyone else’s emotional support system and human reminder app.

What “thought load” actually is — and why it’s draining women at work

Why high-achieving women often become the default problem-solvers for everyone else

The difference between being busy, productive, and actually impactful

How to determine what truly matters instead of trying to do everything

Why managing attention matters more than managing time

How to stop becoming the go-to person for everyone’s problems

Boundary-setting strategies that don’t require becoming cold or unavailable

Why letting go is necessary if you want to grow into leadership

Because the higher you want to climb, the more willing you have to be to let go of the roles, responsibilities, and expectations that are keeping you stuck.

Thank you to our sponsors!

Visit Upwork.com right now and post your job for free!

Families are better when they’re working together… go to myskylight.com/WOMANSWORK for $30 off your Skylight Calendar.

Become a Fora Advisor today at Foratravel.com/woman 

Connect with Liane:

Website: https://lianedavey.com/ 

Book: https://www.amazon.com/Thoughtload-Manage-Madness-Free-Great/dp/1774586517

LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lianedavey/ 

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/drlianedavey 

IG: https://www.instagram.com/lianedavey 

If you found this episode insightful, please share it with a friend, tag us on social media, and leave a review on your favorite podcast platform!

🔗 Subscribe & Review:Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | YouTube

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Somewhere along the way, most of us got completely bamboozled about what doing “great work” actually means.

It became about titles, applause, LinkedIn optics, and chasing gold stars from people who don’t even know us. Meanwhile, the work that actually lights us up? The stuff that feels like us? Yeah… that got buried under obligation, expectation, and a never-ending to-do list.

In this episode, Nicole sits down with Dr. Amanda Crowell — cognitive psychologist, TEDx speaker, and author of Great Work — to unpack why so many women are stuck doing work that looks good on paper but feels like absolute garbage in real life… and how to get back to work that actually matters.

We get into:

What “great work” actually means (hint: it has NOTHING to do with external validation)

How to identify the difference between true desire vs. insecurity-driven comparison

Why your biggest clues might come from… jealousy 

The concept of identity saboteurs — and how they keep you playing small

Why women especially struggle with choosing themselves (hello, conditioning)

Why your great work doesn’t have to be big, public, or profitable to matter

And how to finally stop waiting for the “right time” and start doing the damn thing

Because here’s the truth: The only way to know if it’s your great work… is to actually do it.

Thank you to our sponsors!

Visit Upwork.com right now and post your job for free!

Families are better when they’re working together… go to myskylight.com/WOMANSWORK for $30 off your Skylight Calendar.

Become a Fora Advisor today at Foratravel.com/woman 

Connect with Amanda:

Website: https://www.amandacrowell.com/ 

Book: https://www.amazon.com/Great-Work-2nd-Sacrificing-Everything/dp/B0F8QK73WK/ref 

LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-amanda-crowell-51188130/ 

TedEx: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWp87GXDvEk 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What happens when a woman who’s spent her entire life optimizing, producing, planning, and performing… decides to stop?

In this unfiltered solo episode, Nicole Kalil shares the real reason behind her 3-month sabbatical across Europe — and it’s about a whole lot more than travel.

Nicole opens up about the fear of untethering from productivity, the discomfort of rest, aging as a woman, solo dining anxiety, motherhood, identity, and what it means to leave behind the familiar long enough to uncover who you’re becoming next.

Because maybe the things that scare and excite us at the exact same time are the very things pointing us toward the life we actually want.

Why she’s taking an 11-week sabbatical through Europe

Turning 50 and why aging feels liberating instead of limiting

The pressure women face to stay small, young, and polished

Why slowing down can feel terrifying

The power of doing something “impractical” anyway

Rediscovering yourself by leaving the familiar behind

What envy and jealousy might actually be trying to tell you

Thank you to our sponsors!

Visit Upwork.com right now and post your job for free!

Families are better when they’re working together… go to myskylight.com/WOMANSWORK for $30 off your Skylight Calendar.

Become a Fora Advisor today at Foratravel.com/woman 

Connect with Nicole:

Subscribe to Nicole’s Substack: https://nicolekalil.substack.com/ 

Solo Adventures: A Guide for Women Travelers with Megan Grant | 265 

If you found this episode insightful, please share it with a friend, tag us on social media, and leave a review on your favorite podcast platform!

🔗 Subscribe & Review:Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | YouTube

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Let’s get one thing straight: women are not bad at negotiating. They’re doing it just as often—if not more—but getting worse outcomes. So no, the wage gap isn’t because women just need to “ask better.” That’s lazy advice… and frankly, bullshit.

In this episode, negotiation expert Attia Qureshi—founder of Atiya Qureshi Consulting, co-author of Never Settle, and trained in FBI-informed negotiation strategies—breaks down the uncomfortable truth: women are playing a game that wasn’t designed for them to win the same way men do. Same words, same ask… wildly different outcomes. And she’s not here with fluff—she’s here with strategies that actually work. 

Because here’s the deal: opting out of negotiation doesn’t protect you—it guarantees you get less.

Why women are negotiating just as much—but still losing

The double bind: too nice = weak, too assertive = “difficult”

The internal negotiation happening in your own head

Why relationships matter more than you think (yes, it’s annoying, but it’s real)

How to use data as your secret weapon without triggering defensiveness

The “we strategy” that helps women get better outcomes (even if it feels unfair)

Why over-preparing can actually screw you over

How to handle rejection and turn a “no” into a “not yet”

At the end of the day, negotiation isn’t about becoming someone you’re not. It’s about learning how to advocate for yourself in a system that doesn’t always reward you for it—and doing it anyway. Because you don’t get what you deserve. You get what you’re willing to ask for—and hold your ground on.

Thank you to our sponsors!

Visit Upwork.com right now and post your job for free!

Families are better when they’re working together… go to myskylight.com/WOMANSWORK for $30 off your Skylight Calendar.

Become a Fora Advisor today at Foratravel.com/woman 

Connect with Attia:

Website: https://www.attiaqureshi.com 

Book: https://www.amazon.com/Never-Settle-Persuasion-Negotiation-Skills/dp/1668070375 

LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/attiaq/ 

IG: https://www.instagram.com/attiaq/ 

Substack: https://substack.com/@attiaqureshi 

If you found this episode insightful, please share it with a friend, tag us on social media, and leave a review on your favorite podcast platform!

🔗 Subscribe & Review:Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | YouTube

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Leadership is supposed to be a privilege… so why does it feel like a slow burn to the ground?

In this raw, unfiltered continuation of the leadership mental health conversation, Nicole Kalil sits down again with organizational psychologist and workplace mental health expert Melissa Doman to unpack what’s really happening behind the scenes of leadership today — and why the good ones are dangerously close to walking away.

Because here’s the truth no one wants to admit: we expect leaders to be everything — strong, empathetic, decisive, available, perfect — with no room for human error. And then we wonder why burnout is skyrocketing and leadership pipelines are drying up.

This episode goes beyond surface-level advice and into the uncomfortable reality:

Leaders are human (shocking, we know)

Unrealistic expectations are breaking them

And we all play a role in either making it better… or making it worse

Melissa brings both expertise and real talk to the table — from leadership archetypes (hello, frustrated martyr) to the “sea otter” model of healthy leadership (yes, it’s a thing and yes, you want it). Together, they challenge the outdated narratives, call out toxic expectations, and offer a radically simple starting point: act like leaders are people.

Because if we don’t figure this out? The good leaders won’t stay. And what’s left… is not a future anyone wants.

Thank you to our sponsors!

Visit Upwork.com right now and post your job for free!

Families are better when they’re working together… go to myskylight.com/WOMANSWORK for $30 off your Skylight Calendar.

Become a Fora Advisor today at Foratravel.com/woman 

Connect with Melissa:

Website:https://www.melissadoman.com/

Book:https://www.amazon.com/Cornered-Office-Leadership-Mental-Health/dp/139435035X 

IG: https://www.instagram.com/thewanderingmel/

LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melissadoman1/

If you found this episode insightful, please share it with a friend, tag us on social media, and leave a review on your favorite podcast platform!

🔗 Subscribe & Review:Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | YouTube

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You hit the goal. You check the box. You reach the milestone. And instead of feeling fulfilled… you’re already onto the next thing.

Yeah — that’s the problem. 

In this episode of This Is Woman’s Work, Nicole sits down with Jess Ekstrom — founder, bestselling author, and reformed anxious achiever — to call out the toxic relationship so many high-achieving women have with motivation, success, and self-worth. And spoiler alert: it’s not a motivation problem. It’s a meaning problem.

Because somewhere along the way, ambition got tangled up with anxiety, productivity got confused with purpose, and we decided we’d finally feel good enough… later. After the next goal. The next milestone. The next arbitrary number. Sound familiar?

We cover:

The difference between anxious ambition vs. inspired ambition

How to redefine success so it actually feels like success (not just looks good on paper)

The “purpose test” that will instantly expose if you’re chasing approval or impact

Why you keep moving the goalpost — and how it’s burning you out

How comparison can either crush you… or prove what’s possible

Because here’s the uncomfortable truth: if you keep tying your worth to what’s next, you will never feel like enough — no matter how much you accomplish.

Thank you to our sponsors!

Visit Upwork.com right now and post your job for free!

Families are better when they’re working together… go to myskylight.com/WOMANSWORK for $30 off your Skylight Calendar.

Become a Fora Advisor today at Foratravel.com/woman 

Connect with Jess:

Website: https://jessekstrom.com/ 

Book:https://jessekstrom.com/makingit/ 

Workshop: https://micdropworkshop.com/ 

IG: www.instagram.com/jess_ekstrom 

FB: www.facebook.com/jessekstrom 

X: www.twitter.com/jess_ekstrom 

Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@jessekstrom 

LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jess-ekstrom-59160342/ 

If you found this episode insightful, please share it with a friend, tag us on social media, and leave a review on your favorite podcast platform!

🔗 Subscribe & Review:Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | YouTube

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Let’s get something straight: women’s healthcare is broken. But not equally broken.

In this unapologetically raw and necessary conversation, Nicole Kalil sits down with Dr. Kemi Doll — physician, gynecologic oncologist, researcher, and author of A Terrible Strength — to expose the systemic failures in gynecological care, especially for Black women.

This isn’t a “wellness trends” conversation. This is about health inequity, medical bias, reproductive injustice, and the dangerous normalization of women’s pain.

Because here’s the truth: when one group of women is dismissed, denied care, and dying at higher rates… it’s not just their problem. It’s a system-wide failure that impacts all of us.

They break down:

The systemic crisis in gynecology and why womb health is massively underfunded and under-researched

Why conditions like fibroids, endometriosis, and uterine cancer are ignored 

The dangerous myth of the “strong Black woman” and how that “strength” is costing lives

How medical bias and racism show up in real diagnoses, treatment delays, and mortality rates

The difference between real health education vs. wellness industry BS

How ALL women play a role in demanding better care 

This episode will challenge you. It might piss you off. Good. It should.

Because we don’t get to claim progress for women while some of us are still being ignored, misdiagnosed, and dying from treatable conditions.

And we don’t get to call it “woman’s work” until it works for all of us.

Thank you to our sponsors!

Visit Upwork.com right now and post your job for free!

Families are better when they’re working together… go to myskylight.com/WOMANSWORK for $30 off your Skylight Calendar.

Become a Fora Advisor today at Foratravel.com/woman 

Connect with Kemi:

Website: https://kemidoll.com/ 

Book: https://kemidoll.com/book/ 

IG: https://www.instagram.com/kemidoll 

If you found this episode insightful, please share it with a friend, tag us on social media, and leave a review on your favorite podcast platform!

🔗 Subscribe & Review:Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | YouTube

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nicole Kalil just hit a milestone most people secretly dread… her very first one-star podcast review — and instead of spiraling, she celebrated it. Yep, you read that right.

In this unfiltered, unhinged episode, Nicole breaks down why negative feedback, criticism, and even haters might actually be the clearest sign that you’re doing something right. Because if everyone likes you? You’re probably playing it way too safe.

This episode is a masterclass in confidence, self-trust, and not shrinking yourself to make other people comfortable. It’s about choosing what opinions matter, letting the noise sort itself out, and continuing to show up boldly — even when it makes people uncomfortable.

In this episode, she explores:

Why negative reviews and criticism can actually validate your impact

How to separate useful feedback from irrelevant noise

The psychology behind why people project their opinions

Why being disliked is often the cost of being authentic

How to stop seeking approval and start trusting yourself

And the kicker? Even the haters help boost the algorithm. So technically… they’re part of the marketing team now.

Thank you to our sponsors!

Visit Upwork.com right now and post your job for free!

Families are better when they’re working together… go to myskylight.com/WOMANSWORK for $30 off your Skylight Calendar.

Become a Fora Advisor today at Foratravel.com/woman 

Connect with Nicole:

Subscribe to Nicole’s Substack: https://nicolekalil.substack.com/ 

Join the Inner Circle: https://nicolekalil.myflodesk.com/newsletter 

If you found this episode insightful, please share it with a friend, tag us on social media, and leave a review on your favorite podcast platform!

🔗 Subscribe & Review:Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | YouTube

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Let’s get one thing straight: the fitness industry has sold us a lie that if you’re not drenched in sweat, tracking every step, optimizing every metric, and borderline hating your life… it “doesn’t count.” 

We’re calling bullshit.

In this episode, Nicole sits down with Dr. Milica McDowell — doctor of physical therapy, human performance expert, and co-author of Walk — to dismantle everything we’ve been taught about exercise, movement, and what it actually means to take care of our bodies.

Because walking? The thing you’ve been dismissing as “not real exercise”? It might be the most powerful, accessible, and science-backed tool for your health, longevity, and mental clarity.

In this episode, we cover:

Why walking is one of the most underrated forms of exercise for women’s health

The truth about the 10,000-step myth (and what actually matters)

How walking improves mood, creativity, and cognitive function

The shocking connection between foot health, balance, and longevity

Why your shoes might be sabotaging your body (yes, really)

The concept of “movement snacks” and how to fit walking into real life

Treadmill vs outdoor walking — what actually counts

How to build a walking habit without adding more to your already full plate

Because maybe the goal isn’t to do more, harder, faster.

Maybe the goal is to finally do what works. And that might be as simple as going for a walk.

Thank you to our sponsors!

Gusto is online payroll and benefits software built for small businesses. Try Gusto today at gusto.com/TIWW, and get three months free when you run your first payroll.

Refresh your spring wardrobe with Quince. Go to Quince.com/TIWW for free shipping and 365-day returns!

Shopify has everything all in one place, making your life easier and your business operations smoother. Sign up for your one-dollar-per-month trial today at shopify.com/tiww 

Visit Upwork.com right now and post your job for free!

Families are better when they’re working together… go to myskylight.com/WOMANSWORK for $30 off your Skylight Calendar.

Connect with Milica:

Website: https://www.milicamcdowell.com/ 

Book: https://www.amazon.com/Walk-Rediscover-Natural-Health-Longevity_One/dp/0306837536

LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-milica-mcdowell/ 

If you found this episode insightful, please share it with a friend, tag us on social media, and leave a review on your favorite podcast platform!

🔗 Subscribe & Review:Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | YouTube

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Let’s just say the quiet part out loud: work is broken.

Burnout is everywhere. People are disengaged. Leaders feel like they can’t win. Employees feel invisible. And somewhere along the way, work became more about transactions than human connection.

In this episode, Nicole Kalil sits down with Nidhi Tewari — licensed clinical social worker, Harvard Business Review Advisory Council member, Thinkers50 Radar Award recipient, and author of Working Well — to unpack what’s really going wrong at work… and what actually fixes it.

Thank god, it’s not another productivity hack. It’s attunement.

In this episode, we cover:

Why modern work culture is failing (and why it’s not entirely new)

The real reason burnout and disengagement are skyrocketing

What “attunement” is — and why it goes deeper than emotional intelligence

The 4 core skills of attunement: flexibility, reading cues, self-regulation, and collaboration

Simple ways to practice attunement at work — without adding more to your plate

Why asking instead of assuming is a leadership superpower

How workplace connection directly impacts performance, retention, and fulfillment

Because maybe the goal isn’t to care more. Maybe the goal is to show it — consistently, clearly, and in a way people can actually feel.

Thank you to our sponsors!

Gusto is online payroll and benefits software built for small businesses. Try Gusto today at gusto.com/TIWW, and get three months free when you run your first payroll.

Refresh your spring wardrobe with Quince. Go to Quince.com/TIWW for free shipping and 365-day returns!

Shopify has everything all in one place, making your life easier and your business operations smoother. Sign up for your one-dollar-per-month trial today at shopify.com/tiww 

Visit Upwork.com right now and post your job for free!

Families are better when they’re working together… go to myskylight.com/WOMANSWORK for $30 off your Skylight Calendar.

Connect with Nidhi:

Website: https://www.nidhitewari.com/  

Book: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/788782/working-well-by-nidhi-tewari

Related Podcast Episodes

If you found this episode insightful, please share it with a friend, tag us on social media, and leave a review on your favorite podcast platform!

🔗 Subscribe & Review:Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | YouTube

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices