Tutum Talk with Cara Nance

What if the most important leadership work isn’t about what you do… but who you understand yourself to be?

In Ep 28 of Tutum Talk, Cara sits down with Annah Elizabeth, healing specialist and creator of a holistic framework for understanding the different parts of who we are, to explore the deeper layers of self-leadership.

Together, they unpack how self-awareness shapes the way we lead, relate, and navigate both conflict and connection in our personal and professional lives.

This conversation moves beyond surface-level leadership strategies and into something more human — the patterns, experiences, and internal dynamics that quietly influence how we show up every day.

If you’ve ever felt the tension between getting things done and being fully present… or found yourself navigating conflict that feels deeper than the moment… this episode offers a thoughtful, grounded way to understand what’s really at play.

Because leadership doesn’t start with others.
It starts within.

✨ Show Notes

In this episode, Cara and Annah Elizabeth explore the inner work of leadership and how understanding yourself can transform the way you lead others.

They discuss the importance of self-leadership, the different parts of who we are that shape our behaviors and decisions, and how unprocessed experiences can show up in moments of conflict.

This conversation is especially relevant for leaders who are:

•  Navigating team dynamics or interpersonal conflict 
•  Feeling the pull between productivity and presence 
•  Seeking a more grounded, self-aware approach to leadership 
•  Curious about the deeper patterns influencing how they show up 

💡 In this episode, you’ll learn:

•  Why self-leadership is the foundation of effective leadership 
•  How different parts of your identity influence your leadership style 
•  A new way to understand conflict through a more compassionate lens 
•  The connection between unresolved experiences and present-day reactions 
•  How increasing self-awareness can improve both leadership and relationships 

🎙️ About Annah Elizabeth

Annah Elizabeth is a healing specialist with over 20 years of experience supporting individuals and organizations in navigating life’s challenges with greater clarity and self-understanding. Her work focuses on helping people understand the different parts of themselves so they can reduce conflict, deepen relationships, and lead more authentically.

Learn more about Annah here: https://www.annahelizabeth.com
Follow Annah here:

• https://www.facebook.com/AnnahElizabethHealGrief/
• https://www.instagram.com/annahelizabethheals/
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/annah-elizabeth/
• https://www.youtube.com/@AnnahElizabethHeals

🌱 Reflection

As you listen, consider:

Where might deeper self-understanding shift the way you lead or relate to others?

✨ Let’s Connect

If this conversation resonates and you’re ready to explore your own leadership more deeply, I’d love to support you.

You can learn more about coaching or connect with me here:
 https://www.tutumleadershipcoaching.com/

About Tutum Talk:

Tutum Talk with Cara Nance is a podcast for leaders who lead with heart - even when they doubt themselves. Through honest conversations about presence, intuition, courage, and connection, Cara helps listeners build leadership rooted in humanity, not perfection.

Music provided by Music_Unlimited

What happens when something you hoped for… doesn’t happen?

In this solo episode of Tutum Talk, Cara explores the quiet, often unspoken experience of navigating disappointment—when a role, relationship, or opportunity you believed would unfold… doesn’t.

Instead of rushing to “move on,” this conversation creates space to pause, reflect, and gently reconnect with yourself in the unknown.

Cara shares a grounded perspective on grief that isn’t always visible, the disorientation of losing a path you thought you were on, and how to begin moving forward—softly, and with intention.

This episode is an invitation to trust that even when life doesn’t go as planned, something is still unfolding with you.

And that what you’re looking for… may be looking for you, too.

✨ With a special note of care for those honoring Passover and Easter—seasons that hold both release and renewal.

📝 Show Notes

In this episode, Cara explores:

•  The “quiet grief” of losing something that never fully came to be 
•  Why disappointment can feel disorienting—not just painful 
•  The loss of identity and certainty when a path disappears 
•  How to move forward without forcing clarity or rushing the process 
•  What it means to lead yourself through uncertainty with compassion 
•  The power of staying curious when doors close 
•  Trusting that new possibilities may already be waiting for you 

🌿 Key Takeaways

•  You are allowed to grieve what didn’t happen 
•  You are not defined by missed opportunities or outcomes 
•  Moving forward doesn’t have to be fast—it can be soft and intentional 
•  Clarity often comes after we allow ourselves to pause 
•  When one door closes, others may already be open—you just can’t see them yet 
•  Staying curious can open paths you didn’t know existed 

💬 Reflection Questions

•  What am I grieving that I haven’t fully acknowledged yet? 
•  Who am I without the thing I thought would happen? 
•  What feels supportive or grounding for me right now? 
•  Where might life be inviting me to stay curious instead of certain? 

🔗 Ways to Connect

If this episode resonated with you and you’re navigating a season of transition, uncertainty, or rebuilding…

Cara offers one-on-one coaching as a space to slow down, reflect, and move forward in a way that feels grounded and aligned.

✨ Learn more + connect: https://www.tutumleadershipcoaching.com/
✨ Schedule a conversation: https://calendly.com/tutumleadershipcoaching/let-s-connect

About Tutum Talk:

Tutum Talk with Cara Nance is a podcast for leaders who lead with heart - even when they doubt themselves. Through honest conversations about presence, intuition, courage, and connection, Cara helps listeners build leadership rooted in humanity, not perfection.

Music provided by Music_Unlimited

What happens when the leader who holds everything together… starts running on empty?

In this episode of Tutum Talk, Cara sits down with leadership and career coach Erin Treacy to explore the quiet reality of burnout — the kind that doesn’t always look like breaking down, but instead looks like continuing to show up while your body is signaling something needs to change.

Together, they unpack what it means to lead when your capacity is real — not infinite.

This conversation offers a grounded look at:

•  emotional steadiness under pressure 
•  the hidden cost of over-functioning in people-first leadership 
•  why clarity and communication are essential to sustainable leadership 
•  and how letting go can actually create more trust, growth, and time 

Erin shares insights from her own leadership journey across hospitality, media, and nonprofit spaces, along with practical ways leaders can begin to listen to their own limits — before those limits force a stop.

If you’ve been carrying more than your share, this episode is an invitation to pause, reflect, and consider a different way of leading.

🔑 Key Takeaways

•  Burnout doesn’t always look dramatic — it often shows up as quiet exhaustion while continuing to perform 
•  Emotional steadiness is a leadership skill that can be practiced, not something you either have or don’t 
•  Over-functioning for your team can unintentionally limit their growth and ownership 
•  Investing time upfront with your team can create clarity that saves time later 
•  Listening to your body is not a weakness — it’s leadership data 
•  Letting go and setting boundaries can strengthen trust, not diminish it 

🌿 Reflection Questions

•  Where am I continuing to carry something that may not actually be mine to hold? 
•  What signals has my body been sending that I’ve been pushing past? 
•  What would it look like to lead from steadiness instead of urgency this week? 

👤 About Erin Treacy

Erin Treacy is a leadership and career coach who helps growing leaders and business owners build strong teams without burning themselves out. With more than two decades of leadership experience across hospitality, media, and nonprofit sectors, Erin brings a practical, real-world approach to people-first leadership.

Rooted in her experience growing up in a family business in Appalachia, Erin’s work centers on emotional steadiness, clear communication, and building sustainable leadership practices that support both business growth and personal well-being.

🔗 Learn more: https://www.coacherintreacy.com/

💛 Connect with Cara

If this conversation resonated and you’re feeling the weight of leadership right now, you don’t have to carry it alone.

Cara offers one-on-one coaching for leaders who want to build stronger, more connected teams while leading in a way that feels sustainable and aligned.

✨ Learn more or connect: https://www.tutumleadershipcoaching.com/

About Tutum Talk:

Tutum Talk with Cara Nance is a podcast for leaders who lead with heart - even when they doubt themselves. Through honest conversations about presence, intuition, courage, and connection, Cara helps listeners build leadership rooted in humanity, not perfection.

Music provided by Music_Unlimited

What does it look like to believe in a vision before it becomes real?

In this special Podcasthon episode of Tutum Talk, Cara Nance highlights Hope Renovations — a North Carolina nonprofit creating safer homes for older adults while opening doors for women and gender expansive folks entering the skilled trades.

Cara shares a personal reflection on meeting founder Nora Spencer in 2019 — before the organization physically existed — and the experience of watching that vision grow into a thriving, community-centered nonprofit.

This episode explores leadership through a different lens:
not as authority or visibility, but as persistence, care, and a deep commitment to meeting real human needs.

✨ If you’ve ever felt called to build something meaningful — or wondered what it takes to stay committed to a vision over time — this conversation offers a grounded and hopeful perspective.

📝 Show Notes

This week, Tutum Talk is proud to participate in Podcasthon — a global initiative where podcasters dedicate an episode to highlighting nonprofits making a meaningful impact in their communities.

In this episode, Cara spotlights Hope Renovations, an organization working at the intersection of housing stability and workforce development.

Hope Renovations:
 • Provides accessibility home repairs so older adults can remain safely in their homes
 • Trains women and gender-expansive individuals for careers in the skilled trades
 • Creates pathways to economic opportunity while strengthening local communities

Cara reflects on:
 • Meeting founder Nora Spencer before the nonprofit launched
 • The leadership required to bring a vision to life over time
 • The power of practical solutions that restore dignity and independence
 • Why mission-driven leadership belongs alongside traditional definitions of innovation

The episode also celebrates Nora Spencer’s recognition on the Inc. Female Founders 500 (2026) — a powerful acknowledgment of the impact nonprofit leaders are making across the country.

🌱 Key Takeaways

• Leadership often begins long before anything is visible
 • Community-centered solutions can address multiple needs at once
 • Small, practical changes can have life-changing impact
 • Persistence is one of the most important leadership traits
 • Mission-driven work is innovative work

💭 Reflection Question

Where in your community might someone be quietly building something that is making a difference?

🔗 Learn More + Support

Take a few minutes to learn more about Hope Renovations and the work they are doing:

🌐 https://www.hoperenovations.org

🎧 About Tutum Talk

Tutum Talk is a leadership podcast exploring what it means to lead with clarity, care, and connection.

Hosted by Cara Nance, Gallup Certified Strengths Coach and leadership facilitator, each episode offers reflections and conversations designed to support leaders in building healthier, more connected teams.

Music provided by Music_Unlimited

What happens when the path forward requires turning inward?

In this episode of Tutum Talk, Cara Nance sits down with Mary Jacobs, founder of The Tao of Oneness, Reiki Master, and Ordained Minister of Self-Ascension, for a thoughtful conversation about the journey back to your authentic self.

Mary shares her personal path into spiritual healing, including the transformative experiences that led her to study indigenous healing traditions and energy work. Through her work today, she helps people reconnect with their truth, regulate their nervous systems, and live with deeper intention and alignment.

Together, Cara and Mary explore the quiet inner work that shapes how we show up in life and leadership - including emotional integrity, spiritual awareness, and the importance of supportive community.

If you’ve ever felt the pull to realign with yourself or wondered how inner healing influences the way we lead and live, this conversation offers a gentle invitation to listen more closely to that inner voice.

In This Episode, We Explore

• What it means to reconnect with your authentic self
• Mary’s personal journey into energy work and spiritual healing
• How practices like Reiki can support emotional and energetic balance
• The role of nervous system regulation in personal transformation
• Why community and shared spaces for healing matter
• How inner alignment shapes the way we show up in life and leadership

About Mary Jacobs

Mary Jacobs is the founder of The Tao of Oneness, a space devoted to healing, self-awareness, and spiritual alignment.

As a Quantum Avesa and Reiki Master and Ordained Minister of Self-Ascension, Mary supports individuals through intuitive life coaching, energy work, and sacred self-care experiences designed to help people reconnect with their truth and live with deeper authenticity.

Her work blends practical transformation with spiritual wisdom, honoring both the human experience and the soul’s journey.

Learn more about Mary and her work: www.taoofoneness.com

Connect with Tutum Talk

Tutum Talk explores the human side of leadership - the self-awareness, courage, and connection that allow us to lead with authenticity.

Hosted by Cara Nance, Gallup Certified Strengths Coach and founder of Tutum Leadership Coaching, the podcast offers thoughtful conversations for leaders who want to grow from the inside out.

Learn more about Cara’s leadership coaching and facilitation work: Tutum Leadership Coaching

Reflection Question

Where in your life might you be feeling the quiet invitation to reconnect with your authentic self?

About Tutum Talk:

Tutum Talk with Cara Nance is a podcast for leaders who lead with heart - even when they doubt themselves. Through honest conversations about presence, intuition, courage, and connection, Cara helps listeners build leadership rooted in humanity, not perfection.

Music provided by Music_Unlimited

You’re in the seat.
The title is official.
People are looking to you for direction.

And quietly… you’re wondering if you’re actually qualified to lead.

In this episode of Tutum Talk, Cara Nance explores what it means to lead while doubting yourself. If you’ve ever replayed a decision before bed, questioned whether you belong in the room, or worried that you’re about to be “found out,” this conversation is for you.

Doubt doesn’t disqualify you from leadership. In many cases, it’s a sign that you understand the weight of influence.

Cara breaks down the three common types of leadership doubt, how unexamined doubt can quietly impact your team, and the practical shifts that help you move from performance-based leadership to steady, values-aligned presence.

If you care deeply about your people and want to lead with clarity — even when you don’t feel completely confident — this episode will remind you that you’re not alone.

And that becoming a leader is different than pretending to be one.

Show Notes

In This Episode, We Explore:

• Why self-doubt is often a responsibility signal — not a red flag
• The three types of leadership doubt: skill doubt, belonging doubt, and identity doubt
• How unexamined doubt can lead to over-functioning, micromanaging, and burnout
• The shift from “Am I good enough?” to “What does this moment need?”
• Practical anchors for leading steadily, even when uncertainty is present
• How reflective leadership builds resilience and psychological safety

Key Takeaways

✨ Doubt does not disqualify you — it often signals care and awareness.
 ✨ Leadership is presence, not performance.
 ✨ When you shift your focus from self-evaluation to situational awareness, steadiness grows.
 ✨ Unnamed doubt can quietly shape team culture — but examined doubt strengthens it.
 ✨ You don’t have to eliminate uncertainty to lead well.

Reflection Questions

Consider journaling on one of these prompts this week:

• What type of leadership doubt shows up most for me — skill, belonging, or identity?
• When doubt surfaces, how do I typically respond?
• What would shift if I asked, “What does this moment need from me?” instead of “Am I doing this right?”
• Where might over-functioning be connected to unexamined fear?

Work With Cara

If this episode resonated, you don’t have to navigate leadership alone.

Cara Nance is a Gallup-Certified Strengths Coach and leadership facilitator who helps emotionally intelligent leaders bring calm to chaos, build psychological safety, and strengthen team connection.

Through 1:1 executive coaching and leadership team facilitation, Cara creates reflective spaces where leaders can examine doubt, build clarity, and lead with grounded confidence.

If you’re ready to lead with steadiness — even in uncertainty — reach out to explore one-on-one coaching.
Learn more at: www.tutumleadershipcoaching.com

About Tutum Talk:

Tutum Talk with Cara Nance is a podcast for leaders who lead with heart - even when they doubt themselves. Through honest conversations about presence, intuition, courage, and connection, Cara helps listeners build leadership rooted in humanity, not perfection.

Music provided by Music_Unlimited

You were tapped for leadership because you’re capable, steady, and trusted.

So why does it feel like you’re secretly one misstep away from being “found out”?

In this episode of Tutum Talk, Cara explores the hidden experience of newly elevated leaders — the ones who look calm on the outside but quietly question themselves on the inside.

If you’ve ever wondered:

• “Are they sure they picked the right person?”
• “Why does everyone else seem more confident than me?”
• “How do I lead when no one actually taught me how?”

This conversation is for you.

Cara unpacks the gap between being promoted and being developed, the internal spiral so many thoughtful leaders experience, and what actually builds sustainable leadership confidence.

This isn’t about faking it until you make it.

It’s about building alignment, integration, and steady self-trust — one decision at a time.

If you're navigating imposter syndrome, first-time leadership, or the quiet loneliness of holding responsibility for others, this episode will remind you:

You’re not behind.
You’re becoming.

Show Notes

In This Episode, We Explore:

• The “promotion gap” — why technical excellence doesn’t automatically translate to leadership confidence
• The hidden anxiety of high-capacity, emotionally intelligent leaders
• Why imposter syndrome often signals care, not incompetence
• The difference between loud confidence and quiet alignment
• What actually builds sustainable leadership confidence
• Why you don’t need to become someone else to lead well

Who This Episode Is For:

• First-time leaders
• Newly promoted managers
• High-potential professionals navigating leadership anxiety
• Emotionally intelligent leaders who care deeply about their teams
• Anyone asking, “Am I doing this right?”

Key Takeaway

Leadership confidence is not bestowed the day you receive the title.

It’s built — through self-awareness, reflection, support, and integration.

You were tapped for a reason.
Now it’s time to grow into the role without losing yourself in the process.

Work With Cara

If this episode resonated, Cara offers one-on-one leadership coaching for thoughtful, high-capacity leaders who want steadiness and clarity behind the scenes.

You don’t have to navigate leadership alone.

Learn more at: www.tutumleadershipcoaching.com

About Tutum Talk:

Tutum Talk with Cara Nance is a podcast for leaders who lead with heart - even when they doubt themselves. Through honest conversations about presence, intuition, courage, and connection, Cara helps listeners build leadership rooted in humanity, not perfection.

Music provided by Music_Unlimited

Episode Description

In a time when “wellness” has become a workplace buzzword, are we actually addressing what helps people feel well?

In this episode of Tutum Talk, Cara Nance is joined by industrial-organizational psychologist Dr. Jesse Erdheim and leadership development expert Zoë Dehmer for a candid conversation about The Wellness Gap at Work — the disconnect between what organizations think employees need and what truly creates sustainable well-being.

Together, they explore:

• Why perks and programs often miss the deeper issue
• The tension between efficiency and humanity
• How the pandemic shifted workplace culture — and where we may be sliding backward
• The role of leadership modeling in creating real psychological safety
• What healthy vs. unhealthy workplace cultures actually look like

This conversation moves beyond surface-level solutions and into the structural, relational, and leadership behaviors that shape daily experience at work.

Because wellness isn’t created in the HR portal.
It’s created in how we lead, listen, and design our cultures.

If you’re a leader who wants your people to do more than survive — this episode is for you.

Connect with Zoë Dehmer, MPS, ACC at https://www.zoedehmer.com/

Connect with Jesse Erdheim, Ph.D. at https://www.jesseerdheim.com/

Connect with Cara Nance, M.Ed. at https://www.tutumleadershipcoaching.com/

• 6 in 6 Mastermind info here

About Tutum Talk:

Tutum Talk with Cara Nance is a podcast for leaders who lead with heart - even when they doubt themselves. Through honest conversations about presence, intuition, courage, and connection, Cara helps listeners build leadership rooted in humanity, not perfection.

Music provided by Music_Unlimited

Podcast Episode Description

You’re not a finished product, and neither are your people.

In a culture that pressures leaders to “arrive,” to project certainty, and to have all the answers, it can feel unsettling to admit you’re still learning. Still evolving. Still becoming.

But what if leadership was never meant to be a destination?

In this episode of Tutum Talk, Cara explores the quiet myth of the “finished leader,” the cost of demanding arrival from ourselves and our teams, and what shifts when we lead with curiosity instead of control.

If you’ve ever wondered whether you’re doing leadership “right,” this conversation will remind you: growth is not a liability, it’s a strength.

✨ And if you’re craving space to reflect, slow down, and lead from alignment, registration for the 6 in 6 Mastermind is open now.

Show Notes 

Leadership Isn’t a Finish Line

Many leaders carry a silent pressure to have it all figured out.

To appear decisive.
To project confidence.
To lead without hesitation.

But leadership is not a performance — it’s a practice.

In this episode, Cara invites leaders to release the myth of arrival and embrace leadership as an ongoing process of becoming.

In This Episode, We Explore:

• The myth of the “finished leader” and why it quietly undermines trust
• Why becoming is not instability — it’s integrity
• How psychological safety grows when leaders model reflection
• The hidden cost of demanding certainty from ourselves and others
• What leadership sounds like when curiosity replaces control
• How to create space for growth without sacrificing steadiness

Why This Conversation Matters

When leaders feel pressured to appear “done,” teams feel it too.

Fear increases.
Creativity shrinks.
Burnout grows.

But when leaders allow themselves to evolve — openly and thoughtfully — they give their teams permission to do the same.

Leadership that leaves room for becoming creates:

• deeper trust
• healthier communication
• stronger retention
• more resilient cultures

A Space for Your Own Becoming

If this episode resonates, the 6 in 6 Mastermind was created for leaders exactly in this season.

For those who:

• pour into everyone else
• carry responsibility quietly
• sense they are evolving but haven’t had space to reflect

The 6 in 6 Mastermind is a six-week experience designed to slow leadership down — to create room for clarity, recalibration, and grounded growth.

Early bird pricing is available for the spring session, and group pricing is offered as well.

You don’t need to have it all figured out to belong here.

You just need to be willing to stay present to who you’re becoming.

Ready to Go Deeper?

If you’re navigating a season of transition, growth, or quiet recalibration in your leadership, I’d love to support you.

Explore the 6 in 6 Mastermind or schedule a one-on-one coaching conversation at:
👉 tutumleadershipcoaching.com

You are not behind.
You are becoming.

About Tutum Talk:

Tutum Talk with Cara Nance is a podcast for leaders who lead with heart - even when they doubt themselves. Through honest conversations about presence, intuition, courage, and connection, Cara helps listeners build leadership rooted in humanity, not perfection.

Music provided by Music_Unlimited

Episode Description

You messed up.
Or maybe they did.
Either way — repair is part of real leadership.

In this episode of Tutum Talk, Cara explores the quiet, often unseen work of repair — what it means to return after rupture with courage instead of ego. Whether you’re navigating a misstep of your own or addressing harm that came from someone else, this conversation offers a grounded, human approach to rebuilding trust, integrity, and connection.

Because leadership isn’t about never getting it wrong.
It’s about what you do next.

Show Notes

Repair is rarely loud.
It doesn’t come with applause or recognition.
But it shapes culture, trust, and belonging more than almost anything else.

In this episode, we explore:

• Why repair is a leadership skill — not a failure
• What meaningful repair sounds like when you miss the mark
• How leaders can address harm without defensiveness or avoidance
• When repair requires boundaries rather than reconciliation
• Why quiet, consistent repair builds psychological safety over time

This conversation is for leaders who care deeply — about their people, their impact, and the integrity of how they lead.

A Gentle Invitation

If this episode stirred something — a conversation you’ve been avoiding, a repair you’re carrying, or a leadership season that feels tender — you don’t have to navigate that alone.

✨ The 6 in 6 Mastermind is open for registration now.
✨ Early bird pricing is available for the spring session through March 15th.
✨ This six-week, small-group experience offers space to pause, reflect, and resource yourself alongside other thoughtful leaders.

And if one-on-one coaching feels like the right next step, you’re always invited into that conversation as well.

Schedule time with me using this link.

Leadership doesn’t require perfection.
It asks for presence.
And sometimes, leadership looks like coming back to the table — quietly, courageously, and with care.

About Tutum Talk:

Tutum Talk with Cara Nance is a podcast for leaders who lead with heart - even when they doubt themselves. Through honest conversations about presence, intuition, courage, and connection, Cara helps listeners build leadership rooted in humanity, not perfection.

Music provided by Music_Unlimited