This Is Woman's Work with Nicole Kalil

If you’ve ever wondered how some people build businesses that last—this episode is your blueprint.

Nicole sits down with Neri Karra-Silliman (author, advisor, entrepreneur, and Oxford entrepreneurship expert) to unpack what immigrant entrepreneurs can teach all of us about confidence, courage, resilience, and creating businesses that thrive for generations—even when you’re not starting with privilege, connections, or a trust fund.

Why immigrant-founded businesses often endure longer—and why nobody’s been asking the right questions

The difference between an entrepreneur and a pioneer (hint: pioneers build what didn’t exist before)

How companies like WhatsApp and Duolingo started with impact-first problems 

The 8 principles of business longevity inspired by immigrant entrepreneurs, including:

Cross-cultural bridging (innovation happens when you live in more than one world)

Community as currency (relationships are the wealth)

“Frying in your own oil” (aka self-sufficiency before outside money makes you lazy)

Shared values over growth-at-all-costsRejection as fuel (“no” is the beginning of negotiation)

Luck as a skill (recognizing moments and playing your hand)

Faith as the foundation for risk, reinvention, and resilience

And the most overlooked glue of all: kindness

Immigrants aren’t the problem—they’re the blueprint. This conversation will change how you think about risk, reinvention, and what it really takes to build something that lasts (with profit and purpose).

Thank you to our sponsors!

Sex is a skill. Beducated is where you learn it. Visit https://beducate.me/pd2550-womanswork and use code womanswork for 50% off the annual pass.

Connect with Neri:

Website: https://www.nerikarrasillaman.com/

Book: https://www.amazon.com/Pioneers-Principles-Longevity-Immigrant-Entrepreneurs/dp/1394304056/ref= 

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Fun and work in the same sentence? For most of us, that’s a “does not compute” moment… and that’s exactly why this conversation matters.

Workplace culture expert Bree Groff (author of Today Was Fun: A Book About Work. Seriously.) breaks down why we’ve been trained to treat joy like it’s “unprofessional,” why busyness is murdering brilliance, and how to start building workplaces (and workdays) that are actually fit for human life.

In this episode, we get into:

Why “hard” doesn’t automatically mean “valuable” (and why we need to stop romanticizing suffering)

The two toxic extremes:

“Work is called work for a reason” (aka: misery cosplay)

“Do what you love and you’ll never work a day” (aka: burnout bait)

Bree’s “third way”: work can be a nice way to spend our time on the planet—not a daily punishment

Why people don’t buy your work because you suffered—they buy it because it creates value (pain is optional)

The “infinite workday” problem: nonstop meetings, constant interruptions, and zero space to think

Why brilliance requires spaciousness: “do nothing” time, thinking time, walking time, shower-epiphany time

How conformity kills creativity (and why “professionalism” can be a creativity straightjacket)

The case against delayed gratification when it turns into: “I’ll live later” (spoiler: later is not guaranteed)

Wrap-up: Work doesn’t have to be miserable to be meaningful—and if your job demands your whole life in exchange for a paycheck, that’s not ambition… that’s a bad deal wearing a blazer.

Thank you to our sponsors!

Sex is a skill. Beducated is where you learn it. Visit https://beducate.me/pd2550-womanswork and use code womanswork for 50% off the annual pass.

Connect with Bree:

Website: https://www.breegroff.com/home 

Book: https://www.breegroff.com/book 

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Women’s bodies get endlessly analyzed from the outside… while our internal health gets treated like an optional group project nobody studied for. Cool cool cool.

In this episode of This Is Woman’s Work, Nicole Kalil goes deep on the perimenopause/menopause mess: the years of brain fog, 3 a.m. wake-ups, mood swings, weight gain, and the medical equivalent of a shrug. Enter Dr. Sarah Daccarett, hormone specialist and aging expert, to explain why so many women are confused, dismissed, and exhausted—and why hormone replacement therapy (HRT) should be viewed as foundational health support, not a “last resort once you’re fully miserable.”

Why most women (including doctors) are confused about perimenopause + HRT—and why that’s not your fault

The “natural” misconception: why Sarah argues HRT can be more natural than the supplement aisle

Why waiting for hot flashes is like waiting for your car to explode before you change the oil

Hormones as the “CEO of the body”: brain, bones, metabolism, sleep, libido, digestion—ALL of it

The real problem with “just fix your gut / cortisol / diet” advice when your hormones are the actual root issue

PCOS, insulin resistance, and why “just lose weight” advice can be straight-up useless

Why hormone testing can be wildly unreliable—and why symptoms still matter

Medical gaslighting: how women lose trust in themselves when the system keeps minimizing them

If you’ve been white-knuckling your way through perimenopause symptoms, you’re not weak—you’re under-supported. Better info + better care isn’t “extra,” it’s the bare minimum.

Thank you to our sponsors!

Get 20% off your first order at curehydration.com/WOMANSWORK with code WOMANSWORK — and if you get a post-purchase survey, mention you heard about Cure here to help support the show! 

Sex is a skill. Beducated is where you learn it. Visit https://beducate.me/pd2550-womanswork and use code womanswork for 50% off the annual pass.

Connect with Sarah:

Website: www.innerbalance.com

$50 off Discount code: PODCASTDRSARAH

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If you’ve ever waited to “feel confident” before you take the leap… congratulations, you’ve been scammed by your own brain. In this episode of This Is Woman’s Work, Nicole Kalil goes full confidence-nerd (with the occasional rant) with Dr. Shadé Zahrai—behavioral researcher, peak performance educator, and author of Big Trust—to expose what confidence actually is, why self-doubt doesn’t disappear, and how to build real self-trust that holds up when life gets messy.

Why confidence isn’t the opposite of self-doubt (and why that myth keeps you stuck)

The thing you actually need first: self-trust / Big Trust—backing yourself before the outcome is guaranteed

How “failure” can build confidence if you stop making it mean you are a failure

The self-image trap (including a wild scar study that proves your brain will invent reality if you let it)

The Four A’s of Big Trust: Acceptance, Agency, Autonomy, Adaptability (aka the internal upgrades your confidence has been begging for)

The 4 Inner Deceivers (and the bonus villain):

The Classic Judge (never impressed, always loud)

The Misguided Protector (aka fear dressed up as “logic”)

The Ringmaster (grind culture’s toxic BFF)

The Neglector (everyone else first… until you break)

The Victimizer (outsourcing your power like it’s a hobby)

If self-doubt is showing up, it doesn’t mean you’re broken—it means you’re human and doing something that matters. Build Big Trust, take the step anyway, and let confidence catch up like it always does.

Thank you to our sponsors!

Get 20% off your first order at curehydration.com/WOMANSWORK with code WOMANSWORK — and if you get a post-purchase survey, mention you heard about Cure here to help support the show! 

Sex is a skill. Beducated is where you learn it. Visit https://beducate.me/pd2550-womanswork and use code womanswork for 50% off the annual pass.

Connect with Shadé :

Website: https://www.shadezahrai.com/ 

Book: https://www.shadezahrai.com/bigtrust?utm_source=chatgpt.com 

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

LI: https://th.linkedin.com/in/shadezahrai?trk=public_post_feed-actor-name 

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@shadezahrai?lang=en 

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/shadezahrai 

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!

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We need to talk about asking for help — and not the polite, over-explained, apologetic version most of us were taught.

In this unfiltered and slightly unhinged mini-episode of This Is Woman’s Work, Nicole Kalil shares a courtside lesson she learned from a group of middle school girls playing basketball — and honestly, they’re doing teamwork, boundaries, and support better than most adults.

When these girls get caught on defense, they don’t spiral, minimize, or pretend they’ve got it handled. They yell “HELP! HELP! HELP!” loudly, clearly, and without shame — fully expecting their teammates to show up. And guess what? They do.

No judgment. No scorekeeping. No martyrdom.

This episode is a reminder that burnout isn’t a badge of honor, doing it all alone isn’t strength, and asking for help early is one of the smartest, strongest things you can do. Because life, love, leadership — it’s all a team sport.

And around here? We answer when someone yells for help. That’s woman’s work.

Thank you to our sponsors!

Sex is a skill. Beducated is where you learn it. Visit https://beducate.me/pd2550-womanswork and use code womanswork for 50% off the annual pass.

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!

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Food isn’t just food anymore — it’s guilt, pressure, decision fatigue, and a never-ending group project you didn’t sign up for. In this episode of This Is Woman’s Work, Nicole Kalil sits down with Jenn Lueke (Jen Eats Good) to talk about meal planning, meal prep, grocery shopping on a budget, and how to stop feeding your family like it’s your unpaid side hustle.

Jenn breaks down a simple, realistic system that helps you waste less food, spend less money, and reclaim your weeknights — without turning Sunday into a six-hour kitchen hostage situation or expecting Pinterest-level perfection.

Why most women have a complicated relationship with food (and why it’s not a personal failing)

How to meal plan in 20–30 minutes and save yourself hours of midweek chaos

The pantry–fridge–freezer inventory that stops you from buying your 18th jar of salsa

“Partial prep” for people who hate meal prep

Component cooking so you don’t hate your lunches by Wednesday

Low-stress strategies for picky eaters

How to actually use a cookbook instead of admiring it like kitchen décor

Friday: Inventory + pick meals + grocery list

Weekend: Grocery run + 30–90 minutes of prep

Weeknights: Less thinking, more eating

Because when dinner stops requiring constant brainpower, you get your time, energy, and patience back. And that’s the real win — not perfection, just a system that works for your life instead of draining it.

Thank you to our sponsors!

Get 20% off your first order at curehydration.com/WOMANSWORK with code WOMANSWORK — and if you get a post-purchase survey, mention you heard about Cure here to help support the show! 

Sex is a skill. Beducated is where you learn it. Visit https://beducate.me/pd2550-womanswork and use code womanswork for 50% off the annual pass.

Connect with Jenn:

Website: https://jenneatsgoood.com/

Cookbook: https://jenneatsgoood.com/cookbook/  

Substack: https://jenneatsgoood.substack.com/subscribe 

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!

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Leadership is already messy. Add culture, identity, power dynamics, and a workplace that rewards sameness… and suddenly you’re not leading—you’re surviving. In this episode, Nicole talks with Aiko Bethea, founder of RARE Coaching & Consulting, about what actually creates diversity (spoiler: it’s not a checkbox) and why diversity is the outcome of great leadership.

We get into:

Why “diversity” isn’t a skill set (and why treating it like one makes you a worse leader)

Power-sharing vs. power-hoarding and how that impacts belonging, equity, and performance

The real reason leadership advice feels like a chaotic buffet of contradictions

How to measure leadership impact beyond “we hit the number” (because people aren’t spreadsheets)

Why leaders making mistakes feels riskier than ever—and why ownership is still the right move

The “punching a ghost” feeling when reality is being rewritten in real time 

What it means to be a well leader: aligned, accountable, humane—not perfect

Because the goal isn’t to lead like the “stereotypical old-school leader.” The goal is to lead like your full self—and create workplaces where more people can do the same.

Thank you to our sponsors!

Get 20% off your first order at curehydration.com/WOMANSWORK with code WOMANSWORK — and if you get a post-purchase survey, mention you heard about Cure here to help support the show! 

Sex is a skill. Beducated is where you learn it. Visit https://beducate.me/pd2550-womanswork and use code womanswork for 50% off the annual pass.

Connect with Aiko:

Website: https://www.rarecoaching.net/ 

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

Invite to join RARE community  -  https://www.rarecoaching.net/membership/

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!

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Manifesting has been turned into a social media vending machine: think it, post it, get it. Spoiler alert: the universe is not Uber Eats.

In this episode, Nicole goes full curious skeptic with Colette Baron-Reid, internationally respected intuitive, oracle expert, and bestselling author—to reclaim manifesting from influencer fluff and bring it back to what it actually is: alignment over attachment, being over chasing, partnership over control.

This is not about “good vibes only” or visualizing a yacht and waiting for it to dock. It’s about who you’re becoming, how you’re showing up, and what you’re rehearsing every single day—consciously or not.

Why performative spirituality cheapens real intuition (and why it feels so off)

The truth bomb: you don’t manifest what you want—you manifest what you are

Why attachment to outcomes kills trust, joy, and momentum

How curiosity + gratitude open the door to synchronicity

The science behind perception, focus, and your brain’s internal “sorting system”

Colette’s Art of Manifesting practice: a meditative drawing method using circles and flowy lines to rewire patterns and co-create with intention

Destiny vs. free will—and why it’s not either/or

Why manifesting doesn’t eliminate pain or challenge, but can radically transform how you experience your life

Bottom line: manifesting isn’t a magic trick—it’s a practice. You don’t get to control the universe, but you do get to control how you show up, what you rehearse, and what you’re available for… and that’s where the real power (and real transformation) lives.

Thank you to our sponsors!

Get 20% off your first order at curehydration.com/WOMANSWORK with code WOMANSWORK — and if you get a post-purchase survey, mention you heard about Cure here to help support the show! 

Sex is a skill. Beducated is where you learn it. Visit https://beducate.me/pd2550-womanswork and use code womanswork for 50% off the annual pass.

Connect with Colette:

Website: https://www.colettebaronreid.com 

Book: https://www.amazon.com/Art-Manifesting-Meditative-Drawing-Practice/dp/1401997856/ref= 

FB: https://www.facebook.com/colettebaronreid 

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

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/ColetteBaronReid/featured 

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!

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In this episode of This Is Woman’s Work, Nicole sits down with Tamala Floyd - psychotherapist, Internal Family Systems (IFS) Lead Trainer, author, and longtime guide for healing trauma and inherited burdens—to break down what “parts work” actually is (spoiler: you’re not broken, you’re multidimensional). Tamala explains how our protector parts (critic, caretaker, people-pleaser) form to keep our wounded parts safe—and how real healing starts when you stop silencing them and start listening.

What Internal Family Systems (IFS) is—and why “having parts” is normal, not dysfunctional

The difference between Self (your calm, grounded core) and parts (your protective strategies)

How to unblend from parts so you’re not being driven by fear, approval-seeking, or old survival roles

What it looks like to heal wounded parts through witnessing, compassion, and unburdening

A practical workaround if talking to your parts feels “too weird” (drawing, objects, externalizing)

Healing isn’t about becoming one perfect, polished “whole” person. It’s about becoming the leader of your internal system—with your parts on the bus, but not driving the bus.

Thank you to our sponsors!

Get 20% off your first order at curehydration.com/WOMANSWORK with code WOMANSWORK — and if you get a post-purchase survey, mention you heard about Cure here to help support the show! 

Sex is a skill. Beducated is where you learn it. Visit https://beducate.me/pd2550-womanswork and use code womanswork for 50% off the annual pass.

Connect with Tamala:

Website: https://tamalafloyd.com/about/ 

Book:https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/748042/listening-when-parts-speak-by-tamala-floyd-lcsw/?utm_source=chatgpt.com 

The Living Ancestor Retreat: https://mailchi.mp/tamalafloyd.com/listeningwhenpartsspeakretreat-17566020 

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!

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Six years. 375 episodes. Nearly 2 million downloads in 2025 alone. This episode is a sweaty, unfiltered victory lap — celebrating what worked, what stretched us, what scared the hell out of us, and what clearly mattered most to you, the listener.

Every year, we look at the numbers and let you decide. These aren’t just popular episodes — they’re a reflection of what women were wrestling with, questioning, building, and boldly reimagining in 2025. From spiritual health to entrepreneurship, belief, boundaries, death, defiance, and codependency — this list tells a story.

If you’re new here, welcome — any one of these episodes is a great place to start. If you’ve been here a while, this is your reminder to go back and re-listen. Trust me — they hit differently the second time.

🏆 The Top 6 Most-Listened-To Episodes of 2025

#6 – How Is Your Spiritual Health? with Dr. Lisa Miller | Episode 287 A grounded, research-backed conversation about spirituality that isn’t preachy, dogmatic, or exclusionary — even when the audio wasn’t perfect. Proof that meaningful content beats perfection every time. Connect with Lisa

#5 – How to Defy Expectations with Dr. Sunita Sah | Episode 271 Defiance reframed as values-driven courage, not rebellion for rebellion’s sake. For every woman who’s been conditioned to comply, accommodate, and stay quiet — this one hit hard. Connect with Sunita

#4 – How to Have a Good Death with Suzanne B O’Brien, RN | Episode 292 A calm, compassionate, no-BS conversation about death — and why planning for the end can actually help you live better now. Heavy topic. Powerful impact. Connect with Suzanne

#3 – The Hard Truths of Entrepreneurship with Dr. Darnyelle Jervey Harmon  | Episode 313Entrepreneurship without the hustle porn. Honest, funny, deeply validating — even if you’re not building a business. Also: yes, sand-in-the-crotch made the list. Connect with Darnyelle

#2 – What Does a Woman Have to Do to Be Believed? Sexual Assault, Accountability & Double Standards with E. Jean Carroll | Episode 363 

Human, sharp, and unexpectedly funny. A conversation about power, credibility, money, belief, and backbone — without turning it into a political shouting match. Connect with E. Jean

#1 – High-Functioning Codependency: When Being the Strong One Is Slowly Killing You with Terri Cole | Episode 341 This episode didn’t just perform — it changed people. Including me. If you’ve ever been “the capable one,” “the reliable one,” or “the one who handles everything,” this is your wake-up call. Connect with Terri

Thank you to our sponsors!

Get 20% off your first order at curehydration.com/WOMANSWORK with code WOMANSWORK — and if you get a post-purchase survey, mention you heard about Cure here to help support the show! 

Sex is a skill. Beducated is where you learn it. Visit https://beducate.me/pd2550-womanswork and use code womanswork for 50% off the annual pass.

JOIN NICOLE’S COMMUNITY & GET HER WEEKLY EMAIL! - 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!

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