Why Does It Feel So Wrong To Be Human At Work?

What does it actually cost to be a team of one — not just in productivity, but in your mental health, your sense of self, and your ability to do the work you were hired to do?

Jen Samuel knows that cost intimately. With over 20 years in internal communications — starting at a young, people-centric airline and spending most of that time as the only person in the room doing her job — she's lived through the burnout, the scope creep, the "be strategic but also update the website" contradiction, and the quiet weight of feeling like no one really understands what you do or what it takes.

In this episode, Pinaki and Chris welcome Jen to Between the Seasons (and to the Local Wisdom team) for a conversation about what it's really like to work alone in a field that exists to connect everyone else. They talk about how being a team of one shapes your identity over time, why the busyness-as-virtue culture makes it so hard to step back, and what it means to finally land somewhere that lets you just be human.

Bree joins in too — and her perspective as a fellow recent Local Wisdom addition brings the conversation home.

In this episode, they discuss:

• What 20+ years as a team of one in internal comms actually looks like
• How burnout builds when there's no one to hand things off to — even at a funeral
• Chris on The Tyranny of Work and the idea that busyness has become morally virtuous
• Why internal comms teams of one are being asked to be strategic advisors and postmasters at the same time — and why that math doesn't work
• The moment Jen realized other communicators felt exactly the same way (and the community that changed everything)
• Bree on what it felt like to go from isolation to a team that actually checks in
• What good looks like — at Local Wisdom, at Gallagher, and everywhere in between
• Pinaki's call to action: if you're a team of one, find your people

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Connect with Us

Pinaki Kathiari – LinkedIn  | Local Wisdom

Chris Lee – LinkedIn | Gallagher Communication

Bree Bartos – LinkedIn | Local Wisdom

Special thanks to digital communication agency Local Wisdom (www.localwisdom.com) for really believing in our mission and making this podcast possible. 

If this episode made you think differently, laugh, or even yell out loud, we want to hear about it! Connect with us on LinkedIn, and don’t forget to rate, review, and share – maybe with your work bestie… or even your boss if you're feeling bold.

We also bring these important conversations to conferences and private workshops, creating space for real, meaningful change. Take the first step at www.whydoesitfeelsowrong.com.

Last week, Bree read a Reddit story about a young creative whose best friend went to their manager and used her private insecurities against her to try to take her job. Chris and Pinaki reacted in real time. Then Bree told them: that was my story.

This week, we pick up right where we left off. Now that Chris and Pinaki know it’s Bree’s own experience, the conversation shifts — from advice to something more honest. Bree fills in what the post left out: how close she and Amy really were, how the comparison and competition showed up in their friendship long before it showed up at work, and how the whole thing ended (spoiler: COVID and a merger did some heavy lifting).

But the real reason Bree wanted to share this story isn’t the betrayal. It’s what it left behind: a deep, persistent imposter syndrome that still surfaces even after a great annual review. If someone your best friend thought you weren’t good enough, how do you fully trust yourself again?

In this episode, they discuss:

• What the post left out — how close Bree and Amy actually were
• When a friendship starts draining more energy than it gives
• Why confrontation without curiosity often makes things worse
• The difference between someone doing something to you vs. for themselves
• How imposter syndrome takes root — and why it’s so hard to pull out
• What organizations miss when they only seek competence without passion
• Competition vs. collaboration: why pitting teammates against each other backfires
• Pinaki on love, creativity, and a quote from Fist of the North Star

It’s one of the most personal conversations we’ve had on Between the Seasons. And it’s a reminder that the messiest, most human experiences at work are often the ones that shape us the most.

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Connect with Us

Pinaki Kathiari – LinkedIn  | Local Wisdom

Chris Lee – LinkedIn | Gallagher Communication

Bree Bartos – LinkedIn | Local Wisdom

Special thanks to digital communication agency Local Wisdom (www.localwisdom.com) for really believing in our mission and making this podcast possible. 

If this episode made you think differently, laugh, or even yell out loud, we want to hear about it! Connect with us on LinkedIn, and don’t forget to rate, review, and share – maybe with your work bestie… or even your boss if you're feeling bold.

We also bring these important conversations to conferences and private workshops, creating space for real, meaningful change. Take the first step at www.whydoesitfeelsowrong.com.

In this Between the Seasons episode of Why Does It Feel So Wrong to Be Human at Work?, hosts Chris Lee and Pinaki Kathiari are joined by producer Bree Bartos for a Reddit at Work reaction — or so they think.

The post: a young multimedia specialist lands her dream job, befriends a coworker named Amy, and then gets blindsided when Amy goes to their manager and says she doesn’t deserve the role. Years later, OP still carries the imposter syndrome. How do you move on from a betrayal like that? How do you trust your own abilities again?

Chris and Pinaki react in real time, unpacking the relationship dynamics, the role of managers in catching toxic team tension before it metastasizes, and why people rarely do things to you — they do things for themselves. The conversation gets personal, and then it gets really personal.

Because there’s a twist at the end.

In this episode, they discuss:

• Why creative roles carry more emotional weight — and how that creates unique vulnerabilities
• The danger of avoiding confrontation until it’s too late
• What managers should (and often don’t) do when team dynamics break down
• The difference between someone doing something to you vs. for themselves
• What it looks like when competition and friendship collide at work
• How imposter syndrome can outlast the person who planted it

This is Part 1 of 2. Tune in next week to hear the rest of the story — and find out how knowing the truth changes everything.

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Connect with Us

Pinaki Kathiari – LinkedIn  | Local Wisdom

Chris Lee – LinkedIn | Gallagher Communication

Bree Bartos – LinkedIn | Local Wisdom

Special thanks to digital communication agency Local Wisdom (www.localwisdom.com) for really believing in our mission and making this podcast possible. 

If this episode made you think differently, laugh, or even yell out loud, we want to hear about it! Connect with us on LinkedIn, and don’t forget to rate, review, and share – maybe with your work bestie… or even your boss if you're feeling bold.

We also bring these important conversations to conferences and private workshops, creating space for real, meaningful change. Take the first step at www.whydoesitfeelsowrong.com.

In this Between the Seasons episode, host Pinaki Kathiari and producer Bree Bartos are joined by Nazmul Islam — communications consultant and creator of History Meets Finance — to react in real time to a Reddit post that hits close to home.

The post: two coworkers-turned-best-friends started a podcast together. It began innocently enough, but after a rebrand, the content got raunchy — and then a coworker found it. Now they’re asking Reddit: how do you keep your podcast and your professional life separate? How do you promote something you have to keep secret?

The conversation goes deep fast. Nazmul shares his experience declaring his YouTube channel to a former employer and why transparency early is almost always better than damage control later. Bree reveals she spent two years streaming on Twitch in her “E-girl era” and told exactly no one at work. And Pinaki recalls a coworker who accidentally landed on the Yahoo homepage. Together, they work through the real factors: social media policies, conflict of interest, company culture, career risk, and what it actually means to be a whole person in a workplace that maybe only sees part of you.

Oh, and Bree finds the podcast mid-episode. The plot thickens.

In this episode, they discuss:

• When your creative life gets discovered by your workplace — now what?
• Why being upfront with your employer is almost always the smarter move
• How company type and industry shape what’s acceptable
• Social media policies, conflict of interest, and what you signed when you were hired
• Bree’s two-year Twitch era (and why she kept it secret until now)
• Faceless channels, pseudonyms, and other ways to protect your professional reputation
• When a passion project becomes a real business — and what that changes
• Nazmul’s take: check your analytics before you decide what to risk

It’s a candid, funny, and genuinely useful conversation for anyone who’s ever wondered how much of yourself you’re allowed to bring to work — and how much to keep for yourself.

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Connect with Us

Pinaki Kathiari – LinkedIn  | Local Wisdom

Chris Lee – LinkedIn | Gallagher Communication

Bree Bartos – LinkedIn | Local Wisdom

📺 Check out History Meets Finance - YouTube
Nazmul Islam - LinkedIn

Special thanks to digital communication agency Local Wisdom (www.localwisdom.com) for really believing in our mission and making this podcast possible. 

If this episode made you think differently, laugh, or even yell out loud, we want to hear about it! Connect with us on LinkedIn, and don’t forget to rate, review, and share – maybe with your work bestie… or even your boss if you're feeling bold.

We also bring these important conversations to conferences and private workshops, creating space for real, meaningful change. Take the first step at www.whydoesitfeelsowrong.com.

In this Between the Seasons episode, host Pinaki Kathiari and producer Bree Bartos welcome Nazmul Islam — communications consultant and creator of History Meets Finance — for a grounded conversation about what it really takes to make thoughtful, well-researched content.

Nazmul walks through how his research process has evolved over the years: from solo Googling, to hiring freelancers on Fiverr, to bringing on journalists for deep-dive research. He shares where AI tools like Claude and NotebookLM fit into his workflow now — and importantly, where they don’t replace human judgment.

The conversation also covers the challenge of staying consistent on a passion project when no one’s making you do it, what it’s like to look at history and finance side by side, and why media literacy and source transparency matter more than ever in a world saturated with AI-generated content.

In this episode, they discuss:

• How Nazmul built History Meets Finance from a weekend side project to 129K+ subscribers
• The role of external accountability in staying consistent on passion projects
• How the research process evolved from solo Googling to working with journalists
• Where AI (Claude, NotebookLM, ChatGPT) fits — and where it doesn’t
• Why entertainment is not the same as information
• The importance of source transparency and building trust with an audience
• Media literacy as a skill we all need to sharpen right now
• What “follow the money” reveals about how society actually works

It’s a practical, curious conversation for anyone who creates content, does research-heavy work, or is trying to figure out how to use AI without losing what makes their work worth trusting.

Check out History Meets Finance here.

Follow Nazmul on LinkedIn.

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Connect with Us

Pinaki Kathiari – LinkedIn  | Local Wisdom

Chris Lee – LinkedIn | Gallagher Communication

Bree Bartos – LinkedIn | Local Wisdom

Special thanks to digital communication agency Local Wisdom (www.localwisdom.com) for really believing in our mission and making this podcast possible. 

If this episode made you think differently, laugh, or even yell out loud, we want to hear about it! Connect with us on LinkedIn, and don’t forget to rate, review, and share – maybe with your work bestie… or even your boss if you're feeling bold.

We also bring these important conversations to conferences and private workshops, creating space for real, meaningful change. Take the first step at www.whydoesitfeelsowrong.com.

In this Between the Seasons episode, Pinaki Kathiari, Chris Lee, and producer Bree Bartos welcome back Chuck Gose and Kristin Hancock — co-founders of ICology — for part two of a conversation that had too much in it to fit into one episode.

They pick up right where they left off, exploring what it really takes to build and maintain community — and why it’s often inconvenient by design. The group digs into why some people say they want community but don’t actually follow through, the difference between self-care and isolation, and whether society is quietly retreating from the discomfort that connection requires.

Chuck makes a pointed case that saying no has been glamorized as a form of self-care and boundary-setting, while Kristin argues that confidence issues people carry into the workplace are personal development problems — not workplace problems. The conversation builds toward a deeper question: what happens to the next generation of workers who have never had to sit with rejection long enough to grow from it?

In this episode, they discuss:

• Why not everyone truly wants community — even when they say they do
• The price of community is inconvenience: what that means in practice
• How we’ve confused self-care with isolation
• Why saying no has been glamorized — and what we lose when yes disappears
• Confidence as a personal development issue, not a workplace fix
• Rejection as a career skill — and why avoiding it stunts growth
• What the next generation of workers might be missing by opting out of discomfort

It’s a candid, thought-provoking continuation that goes well beyond internal communications — into the messier, more human questions about connection, growth, and what it costs to show up.

If you’re attending Transform 2026 in Vegas, the EX Factor Summit is happening this month.
 EX Factor Summit at Transform 2026: Register Here

Chuck Gose: LinkedIn

Kristin Hancock: LinkedIn

ICology: joinicology.com — use code ICLOVE for $50 off your first year

Frequency Podcast (Chuck Gose & Jenni Field): Listen Here

Friends of Indy Animals (Indianapolis): Learn More

Connect with Us

Pinaki Kathiari – LinkedIn  | Local Wisdom

Chris Lee – LinkedIn | Gallagher Communication

Bree Bartos – LinkedIn | Local Wisdom

Special thanks to digital communication agency Local Wisdom (www.localwisdom.com) for really believing in our mission and making this podcast possible. 

If this episode made you think differently, laugh, or even yell out loud, we want to hear about it! Connect with us on LinkedIn, and don’t forget to rate, review, and share – maybe with your work bestie… or even your boss if you're feeling bold.

We also bring these important conversations to conferences and private workshops, creating space for real, meaningful change. Take the first step at www.whydoesitfeelsowrong.com.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Five years ago, Kristin Hancock sat in a hotel room in Chicago the night before the very first Camp

ICology convinced it was a failure. Twelve people had signed up. She’d wanted thirty.

That event turned out to be magic.

In this Between the Seasons episode, hosts Pinaki Kathiari and Chris Lee are joined by Chuck Gose

and Kristin Hancock, the co-founders of ICology, to mark five years of building what’s become one

of internal communications’ most genuinely human communities. Chuck started ICology as a podcast

back in 2015 looking for new voices in internal comms. Kristin built the community that surrounds it.

Together, they’ve created something that doesn’t look or feel like anything else in the profession.

The conversation covers the real story of building ICology — the individual outreach, the events

that nearly didn’t happen, the moment success looked exactly like failure, and why Chuck says you

should take it personally when people don’t show up (and why that’s actually good advice).

They also talk about what’s next: the EX Factor Summit, a new pre-conference mini-summit at

Transform 2026 in Las Vegas designed to bring internal communicators into the employee experience

conversation in a more hands-on, problem-solving way. And yes, Busta Rhymes is involved.

In this episode, they discuss:

• What Kristin and Chuck each brought to ICology — and why both were necessary

• Why building community is harder than it looks (and lonelier than you’d expect)

• The lesson from 12 people in a room that felt like failure until it didn’t

• Why Chuck says to take it personally when people don’t engage

• How individualism gets in the way of community — inside and outside of work

• Why internal comms needs to stop asking for a seat at the table and start building one

• What the EX Factor Summit is, and what attendees will walk away with

If you’re attending Transform 2026 in Vegas, the EX Factor Summit is happening this month.

Chuck Gose: LinkedIn

Kristin Hancock: LinkedIn

ICology: joinicology.com — use code ICLOVE for $50 off your first year

EX Factor Summit at Transform 2026: Register Here

Frequency Podcast (Chuck Gose & Jenni Field): Listen Here

Friends of Indy Animals (Indianapolis): Learn More

Connect with Us

Pinaki Kathiari – LinkedIn  | Local Wisdom

Chris Lee – LinkedIn | Gallagher Communication

Bree Bartos – LinkedIn | Local Wisdom

Special thanks to digital communication agency Local Wisdom (www.localwisdom.com) for really believing in our mission and making this podcast possible. 

If this episode made you think differently, laugh, or even yell out loud, we want to hear about it! Connect with us on LinkedIn, and don’t forget to rate, review, and share – maybe with your work bestie… or even your boss if you're feeling bold.

We also bring these important conversations to conferences and private workshops, creating space for real, meaningful change. Take the first step at www.whydoesitfeelsowrong.com.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Bree has a habit of bringing Pinaki the latest thing she stumbled across on the internet — and this

week, she found something that stopped her in her tracks.

A Reddit post from the r/AIBoyfriends subreddit (yes, it exists — 59,000 members strong) went viral

after a woman shared that her AI boyfriend, Casper, had proposed to her in the mountains. It was

sweet, it was earnest, and it opened up a conversation neither of them saw coming.

Because when 60,000 people are forming real emotional bonds with AI, what does that mean for the

future of work? What happens when those same people — already comfortable turning to AI for

connection — start walking into HR offices, or leading teams, or building companies?

Pinaki and Bree dig into what the post revealed: about loneliness, about human connection, about

the very real risks of replacing people with programs in the workplace. They talk about AI Pam from HR,

about what a five-year-old understands (and doesn’t) about Google, about what we give up when

we let AI fill the gaps that people used to fill.

In this episode, they discuss:

• Why people turn to AI for emotional connection — and why that makes sense

• The difference between a personal AI and an organizational one

• What gets lost when HR becomes automated

• How AI relationships are shaping expectations of real human ones

• The hidden cost of being both the user and the product

• Why mindfulness about AI use matters more than ever

It’s a conversation that started with an engagement post and ended somewhere much more human.

Connect with Us

Pinaki Kathiari – LinkedIn  | Local Wisdom

Chris Lee – LinkedIn | Gallagher Communication

Bree Bartos – LinkedIn | Local Wisdom

Special thanks to digital communication agency Local Wisdom (www.localwisdom.com) for really believing in our mission and making this podcast possible. 

If this episode made you think differently, laugh, or even yell out loud, we want to hear about it! Connect with us on LinkedIn, and don’t forget to rate, review, and share – maybe with your work bestie… or even your boss if you're feeling bold.

We also bring these important conversations to conferences and private workshops, creating space for real, meaningful change. Take the first step at www.whydoesitfeelsowrong.com.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

What happens when something you used to love suddenly feels exhausting?

In this Between the Seasons episode of Why Does It Feel So Wrong to Be Human at Work?, hosts Pinaki Kathiari and Chris Lee are joined by Rich Dome, Senior Director of Partnerships at Local Wisdom, as Bree brings a Reddit story to the table about networking burnout.

The post comes from a seasoned sales professional who once thrived at conferences but now feels drained, overwhelmed, and ready to disappear by lunchtime. The team unpacks what is really going on beneath the surface. Is it networking fatigue, startup pressure, internal politics, or a battery that has been running on empty for too long?

Rich shares his go-to strategies for approaching conferences with intention, including how to “pregame” mentally, do meaningful research ahead of time, and build relationships without leading with a sales pitch. The group also talks about trade show booth dynamics, the pressure to perform in startup environments, and why selling under stress rarely works.

They explore how to recharge when you are stuck at a multi-day event in another city, from taking intentional breaks to dividing and conquering as a team. Most importantly, they remind listeners that networking works best when it is rooted in curiosity and connection, not transactions.

In this episode, they discuss:

● Why networking burnout is often a sign of deeper exhaustion
● How startup pressure can change your relationship with sales
● The importance of charging your battery before a conference
● Researching attendees to spark real conversations
● Why leading with connection beats leading with a pitch
● How to reset mid-conference when you feel drained
● The power of teaming up so no one feels alone

If conferences have started to feel heavier than they used to, this conversation is a reminder that you are not broken. You might just need a reset.

Connect with Us

Pinaki Kathiari – LinkedIn  | Local Wisdom

Chris Lee – LinkedIn | Gallagher Communication

Bree Bartos – LinkedIn | Local Wisdom

Special thanks to digital communication agency Local Wisdom (www.localwisdom.com) for really believing in our mission and making this podcast possible. 

If this episode made you think differently, laugh, or even yell out loud, we want to hear about it! Connect with us on LinkedIn, and don’t forget to rate, review, and share – maybe with your work bestie… or even your boss if you're feeling bold.

We also bring these important conversations to conferences and private workshops, creating space for real, meaningful change. Take the first step at www.whydoesitfeelsowrong.com.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Conferences are not just about the sessions. The real magic often happens in hallway conversations, over coffee, or at the table where someone is sitting alone.

In this Between the Seasons episode of Why Does It Feel So Wrong to Be Human at Work?, hosts Pinaki Kathiari and Chris Lee are joined by Rich Dome, Senior Director of Partnerships at Local Wisdom, to talk about how to approach conferences with intention. After a busy year of events, the team reflects on what makes an experience meaningful, how to build real relationships, and why networking does not have to feel transactional.

Rich shares his “30-second rule” for finding common ground, why listening matters more than pitching, and how to leave conversations with a clear next step. The group also talks about conference anxiety, introversion, and why many of us feel intimidated walking into a room full of strangers. You are not the only one.

In this episode, they discuss:

• Why the best conference moments rarely happen on stage
• How to find common ground quickly and authentically
• Advice for introverts and anyone who feels socially anxious
• Why you should never lead with a sales pitch
• The importance of having a conference playbook
• How to turn one conversation into a long-term partnership

If you are heading to an event this year, consider this your reminder that relationships are the real ROI.

Want to see where you can connect with us in person? Check out our 2026 events calendar.

Connect with Rich Dome on LinkedIn

If you enjoyed this conversation, follow or subscribe to Why Does It Feel So Wrong to Be Human at Work? for more honest conversations about the human side of work.

Connect with Us

Pinaki Kathiari – LinkedIn  | Local Wisdom

Chris Lee – LinkedIn | Gallagher Communication

Bree Bartos – LinkedIn | Local Wisdom

Special thanks to digital communication agency Local Wisdom (www.localwisdom.com) for really believing in our mission and making this podcast possible. 

If this episode made you think differently, laugh, or even yell out loud, we want to hear about it! Connect with us on LinkedIn, and don’t forget to rate, review, and share – maybe with your work bestie… or even your boss if you're feeling bold.

We also bring these important conversations to conferences and private workshops, creating space for real, meaningful change. Take the first step at www.whydoesitfeelsowrong.com.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.