We Are Women Unapologetically

Amber Swenor, founder of Soul Seed Strategy, has built a marketing business past seven figures, written a Wall Street Journal bestseller, and fronted a metal band for nearly two decades. In this conversation, she explores what happens when success no longer fits and how she's redefining success on her own terms through growth, joy, energy, creativity, and work that fits who she's becoming.

Amber and Jessica also discuss the self-editing beneath outward confidence, the money wounds that shaped some of her early pricing decisions, the editor feedback that helped her keep writing, and why she won't outsource her creative voice to AI.

Connect with Amber: https://amber-swenor.com

Connect with Jessica: https://jcnewbeginnings.comLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessicacumming04/

Are you doing extra work that was never officially added to your role?

Maybe you inherited responsibilities after a reorg, layoff, hiring freeze, or leadership change. Maybe people keep coming to you for answers because you know the history. Maybe your meeting load went up, your priorities did not come down, and now your frustration is starting to build.

That is where role drift becomes dangerous.

In Part 2 of the Role Drift series, Jessica Cumming breaks down how to spot the red flags of role drift, document what has changed, and prepare for a calm, strategic conversation with your manager before frustration takes over.

This episode answers questions like:

How do I talk to my manager about extra work?
How do I bring up additional responsibilities without sounding difficult?
What should I do if my job changed but my title and pay did not?
How do I document role drift?
How do I ask for role clarity after a reorg or layoff?

You will walk away with a practical role drift audit, a 60–90 day reflection framework, and language you can use to realign expectations, priorities, and success measures.

Because documenting your contribution is not creating drama. It is how you stop your work from disappearing.

Book a clarity call with Jessica

Download the Clairty In 10

Connect with Jessica on LinkedIn

Have you ever asked yourself, “Why am I doing more work without a promotion?”

Or maybe you have wondered:

“When did all of this become my job?”
“Why did my responsibilities change but my title stayed the same?”
“How do I know if this is career growth or quiet overload?”
“What do I do when I am doing more work without more pay?”

That is where role drift often begins.

In this episode of We Are Women, Unapologetically, Jessica Cumming breaks down role drift at work: what happens when your responsibilities quietly expand, but your title, pay, authority, and career path do not change with them.

Part 1 of this two-part series focuses on how to recognize role drift, how to tell the difference between real growth and quiet overload, and why high performers often become the default owners of invisible work after reorgs, layoffs, hiring freezes, leadership changes, and AI rollouts.

If your job keeps getting bigger but your career is not moving forward, this episode will help you name what is happening and start protecting your career with more clarity and strategy.

Book a clarity call with Jessica

What truth are you avoiding, and what is it costing you?

In this encore episode of We Are Women, Unapologetically, Jessica Cumming brings back a powerful conversation for anyone asking:

How do I know when something no longer fits?
How do I know when it is time to leave a job?
Why do I feel confused when I already know what I need to do?
How do I know if a friendship is draining me?
What is the cost of staying too long?
How do I make a hard decision when I am scared of what comes next?

Sometimes the issue is not confusion.

Sometimes people already know the truth. They are just afraid of what admitting it will require.

Jessica shares two personal stories: one about a role that looked good on paper but felt hollow, and one about a friendship that kept draining her energy. Both experiences taught her the same lesson: ignoring the truth does not make it disappear. It usually makes the cost higher.

This episode explores what happens when someone stays too long in a job, relationship, friendship, or version of success that no longer fits. It also speaks to the quiet cost of pretending everything is fine when the body, mind, and energy are already giving signs that something needs to change.

In this episode, listeners will learn:

Why staying too long can lead to burnout, resentment, and self-betrayal

How to recognize when a job, friendship, or relationship no longer fits

How the body often signals the truth before the mind is ready to name it

When loyalty becomes self-betrayal

Why one small act of honesty can become the first step toward a different decision

For anyone who has been saying “I’m confused,” “I don’t know what to do next,” or “I can’t make a decision,” this episode offers a stronger question:

What truth am I pretending not to know?

This encore episode is a reminder that pretending has a price, and the truth is often the first signal that something needs to change.

Download the free Clarity in 10 Guide in the show notes.

Connect with Jessica Cumming on LinkedIn for more conversations on leadership, transition, reinvention, and making clear decisions when life or work no longer fits.

Ready for deeper support? Book a call with Jessica to explore coaching, speaking, or training through JC New Beginnings.

In this 50th episode of We Are Women, Unapologetically, I’m reflecting on what change has taught me about clarity, capacity, leadership, burnout, discomfort, and starting over.

This is not a highlight reel. It is an honest conversation about what happens when something in your life has changed, but you are still trying to carry everything the old way.

Maybe you have been asking yourself why you feel different even though your life looks the same.

Maybe something that used to feel right no longer feels right, and you have not known how to explain that yet.

Maybe your capacity has changed, but you keep expecting yourself to show up the same way you always have.

Maybe the discomfort, resentment, exhaustion, or Sunday-night dread you keep pushing through is trying to tell you something.

That is what this episode is about.

Over the last 50 episodes, we have talked about career transitions, caregiving, grief, confidence, reinvention, self-trust, disappointment, leadership, burnout, and the quiet moments when we realize life no longer fits the way it used to.

In this episode, I’m sharing five lessons that keep coming back to me:

Growth often starts before you can explain it.
Your capacity changes when your life changes.
Discomfort is giving you information.
Change reveals what your life actually requires now.
Being unapologetic means telling the truth sooner.

If you are in a season where you feel proud and tired, grateful and restless, capable and overloaded, or successful and ready for something different, this episode is for you.

You do not need a whole plan to acknowledge the change.

Sometimes the first step is simply admitting that something has changed.

And that is where clarity begins.

So as you listen, sit with this question:

What has changed in my life that I have not fully acknowledged yet?

If this episode speaks to you, send it to someone who may be navigating change quietly.

And then take one next step:

Subscribe so you never miss another episode of We Are Women, Unapologetically.

Download the free Clarity in 10 Reset to pause, reflect, and begin naming what has changed.

Ready for deeper support? Book a call with me and let’s get clear together.

Connect with me on LinkedIn for more conversations on leadership, clarity, career transitions, and living unapologetically.

And if this conversation would serve your organization, women’s leadership group, ERG, conference, or retreat, invite me to speak.

Summer can change the rhythm of work fast. PTO stacks up, vacations overlap, kids are out of school, approvals take longer, and suddenly every request starts to feel urgent.

But every request does not deserve the same level of urgency.

In this episode of We Are Women, Unapologetically, Jessica Cumming breaks down how to lead through the summer season without letting urgency run the work. This is a practical leadership reset for managers, project owners, senior individual contributors, caregivers, and high performers trying to keep work moving while real-life calendars keep shifting.

You’ll learn how to sort work by what actually needs priority, progress, or a hold; how to build a coverage map before someone goes out on PTO; how to name what changes before saying yes to one more “Can we get this done before vacation?” request; and how to use a simple 10-minute summer reset to keep your team focused.

Because urgency can get your attention, but it should not be what makes the plan.

In this episode, we cover:

How summer changes workplace rhythm, priorities, and decision-making

Why every task should not receive the same level of urgency

How to sort work into priority, progress, and hold

How to plan around PTO, vacation coverage, and unavailable decision-makers

Why leaders need to name tradeoffs before saying yes to urgent requests

How to use the 10-minute summer reset with your team

What to do when the calendar starts driving the work instead of leadership guiding it

If you are leading a team, managing projects, navigating summer PTO, or trying to keep work moving without creating unnecessary pressure, this episode will help you slow the chaos, focus the work, and lead with more intention.

Subscribe to We Are Women, Unapologetically, for bold conversations about leadership, career transitions, confidence, growth, and what it really means to lead without losing yourself.

Connect with Jessica on LinkedIn

Inquire about having Jessica speak at your event

In this episode of We Are Women Unapologetically, Jessica Cumming sits down with Mary Wilcox Smith, speaker, author, entrepreneur, and parent coach, for an honest conversation about intergenerational trauma, parenting, perfectionism, resilience, and healing.

Mary shares her journey from building businesses across three continents to raising four daughters, navigating one child’s serious medical needs, and confronting how childhood trauma, grief, abuse, and loss shaped the way she moved through life and motherhood.

Together, Jessica and Mary explore how trauma is not always measured by what happens on the outside, but by what a child was able to handle at the time. They also discuss how parents can unintentionally pass down anxiety, perfectionism, and coping patterns, and how awareness can become the first step toward breaking generational cycles.

Mary also introduces her book, The Microstep Method for the Overwhelmed Parent, and explains how small, practical microsteps can help parents build connection, emotional safety, and resilience without trying to overhaul everything at once.

This episode is for anyone who has ever wondered how their past affects their parenting, confidence, relationships, or ability to let go. It is a powerful reminder that healing often begins with one honest moment, one new response, and one small step forward.

Content Note: This episode includes discussion of suicide loss, abuse, trauma, and mental health

Connect with Mary Wilcox Smith

Learn more about Mary Wilcox Smith, her parent coaching services, speaking, and resources at her website:

Website: Mary Smith Parent Coach / Mary Wilcox Smith
Book: The Microstep Method for the Overwhelmed Parent, available on Amazon, Kindle, and Audible
LinkedIn: Mary Wilcox Smith
Instagram: Mary Wilcox Smith

Connect with Jessica: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessicacumming04/

Website: https://www.jcnewbeginnings.com/speaking

Clarity in 10: https://www.jcnewbeginnings.com/clarity-in-10

In this episode of We Are Women, Unapologetically, Jessica Cumming sits down with Dana Sherwin, healthcare consultant, speaker, and stem cell transplant survivor, for a powerful conversation about patient advocacy, healthcare communication, and learning how to take an active role in your own care.Dana shares her journey from healthcare leadership to navigating a blood cancer disorder, preparing for a stem cell transplant, and discovering a renewed purpose in helping people communicate more effectively with doctors.

This conversation explores why so many patients feel unprepared for medical appointments, how to ask better questions, and why understanding your body and health history matters before a diagnosis changes everything.

Key takeaways from this episode:

• Why patient advocacy starts before you are seriously ill

• How to prepare for doctor’s appointments with better questions

• Why knowing your symptoms, health history, and body matters

• How healthcare communication can impact diagnosis, treatment, and confidence

• What Dana’s stem cell transplant recovery taught her about purpose, resilience, and self-advocacy

• Why being curious and taking care of yourself may be one of the most powerful health decisions you make.

Connect with Dana SherwinLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/desherwin/

Website: TheThinkingPatient.com

Connect with Jessica Cumming

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessicacumming04/

Website: jcnewbeginnings.com

Reorgs don’t just impact teams.
They impact the managers trying to hold everything together.

In Part 4 of this leadership mini-series, Jessica Cumming dives into the emotional and operational reality managers face after organizational change. The pressure to keep morale up, maintain productivity, answer impossible questions, and absorb the fallout without falling apart yourself.

This episode explores:
• Leadership burnout during reorgs
• The hidden weight middle managers carry
• How to lead with humanity without becoming the emotional dumping ground
• Why managers end up over-functioning or emotionally disengaging
• The downstream impact of layoffs, restructuring, and cost-cutting decisions
• Communication strategies for leading teams through uncertainty
• How to protect your energy while still protecting your people

Jessica also shares personal stories from her leadership experience at Dell Technologies, including global team transitions, organizational restructuring, and what happens when leadership decisions create ripple effects teams are forced to absorb long after the announcement is over.

If you’ve ever felt emotionally exhausted trying to lead through instability while pretending everything is “business as usual,” this conversation is for you.

Because leadership during a reorg isn’t just about keeping work moving.
It’s about staying human while everything around you changes.

🎧 Listen now and share with a leader who needs this reminder.

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The announcement is over.The org chart is updated.But this is the phase leaders almost never get coached on.Thirty days after a reorg is when the real operational problems start showing up.Priorities get blurry. Decision-making slows down. Meetings multiply. Teams hesitate. And underneath all of it is one question nobody wants to say out loud:“Okay… now what?”In Part 3 of this 4-part leadership series, Jessica Cumming breaks down what actually happens after organizational change and why so many teams struggle to regain momentum after a corporate reorg.Drawing from nearly 20 years leading through constant restructuring at Dell Technologies, Jessica shares a practical leadership playbook for rebuilding clarity, restoring ownership, and helping teams execute again without burning people out in the process.This episode covers:• The hidden leadership mistakes that stall teams after a reorg• Why “ownership fog” quietly destroys execution• How priority drift creates burnout and confusion• The operational trust leaders must rebuild after change• A practical framework for decision ownership and accountability• How to reduce meeting overload and decision paralysis• What leaders should communicate in the first 30 days after restructuring• How to restore confidence without fake positivity or corporate spinIf you’re leading through layoffs, restructuring, mergers, leadership turnover, or organizational change, this episode gives you practical strategies to stabilize your team and move forward with clarity and direction.Listen now and come back for Part 4, where the focus shifts to the leaders themselves and the emotional weight of carrying teams through constant change.Clarity in 10: https://www.jcnewbeginnings.com/clarity-in-10

Connect with Jessica on LinkedinBook Jessica to Speak