Work-Life Flow

In today’s episode, my guest Liz O'Donnell shares how her becoming the primary caregiver to her parents made her realize the lack of support caregivers face in the corporate space. This is how her company Working Daughters came to life.  
Liz debunks some of the myths regarding caregiving and shares her experience of how companies can properly support caregivers. Liz and I also talk about how to prepare yourself and your parents for future caregiving responsibilities. 

My contribution as an Executive Coach for high-achieving Women is to help them reach their leadership goals while balancing career & family so that they can bring their best selves to all areas of life, guilt-free. Because as women rise through the ranks, their lived experiences will inform and influence a more inclusive culture. It’s about changing the work culture one leader at a time! 

In this news, I currently have 2 openings for coaching. Book a Strategy Call with me today and find out how I can help you move forward in your career and leadership journey.

What we’re talking about…

• That it is a 60:40 gender split of women to men taking care of their parents
• Why it is important to include caregiving benefits for eldercare in companies
• How caregiving increases emotional intelligence and professional skills 
• That caregivers have to find a way to double down on self-care
• Why it is important to have conversations with your aging parents about their wishes regarding care
• That even if your parent(s) are in a care facility, you are still a caregiver 

Liz on LinkedIn
Liz on FB
Liz on Instagram

In today’s episode, my guest Jenifer Sapel and I are talking about all things investing. We chat about the common misconception that women are not financially savvy and how that has come to be. Jennifer shares that statistically speaking women get better rates of return on investment than men but often feel less confident about it.
Listen in for some best practices in financial planning and how to have the often dreaded conversations about money with your partner/spouse. 

What we’re talking about…

• How to become more confident with your financial decisions
• Why we should automate our investment accounts
• That we get to define what financial decisions are right for our families
• Statistically, women are the better investors
• Why our financial decisions are not static and can change over time
• That communication about financial goals is key to a healthy partnership 
• How to make a financial decision that mirrors our values
• That we can adjust our investments depending on the season of life we’re in
• What to do when your partner/spouse is hesitant about investing

LINKS MENTIONED

Jenifer's website
Jenifer on FB
Jenifer on LinkedIn

In today’s episode my guest Mychelle Fernandez shares how her experience as a working mom led her to start her non-profit called Working Moms Tribe. We chat about what changes moms need to see in the workplace aside from flexibility in order to feel well and be most productive. Mychelle and I explore reasons why moms often are the last ones to invest in themselves. Lastly, she shares how her V.I.B.E. framework can help working moms create a life they love.

Book a Strategy Call.

What we’re talking about…

• The importance of mental health initiatives  and emotional intelligence in the workplace
• How employers can ensure their top talent stays with them
• The kind of support working moms are looking for
• That having a mom's village is key to being successful
• How to build your family team and get support at home
• Why moms still take on most of the mental load

Your social media handles: https://www.linkedin.com/company/workingmomstribe/

https://www.Instagram.com/workingmomstribe

https://www.Facebook.com/workingmomstribe

Welcome to the Work-Life Flow podcast with a short and sweet special episode for International Women’s Day and their motto #BreakTheBias.

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As you know, this podcast has morphed and I like to say that it is part of my journey of finding who I can best serve. At the onset of the pandemic, I felt the urge to help parents create a family team and look at education through the lens of life. While my desire to serve and help was strong, I think moms were struggling so much to just get through the day, that my program felt like “another” thing to do on top of it all.

Just last week I had a client tell me that she felt like failing in life. She should be able to work, care for a high needs child and run the household. She said in tears “I see other moms do it and it makes me feel like a failure. I used to be very driven, but my child needs me so much and I don’t have extended family to help. I am burnt out.”

Lots of bias around the roles at home to be unearthed and cleared out.

While I still love to talk about family culture and believe that it is important to work-life integration, I had to ask myself where can I make the biggest impact? Who would benefit most from my coaching?

Through the pandemic nearly 2 million women have left, or shall I say had to leave, the workforce.  With all the support networks suddenly shutting down, many of us had to choose between a job or taking care of our children or elderly parents. This has set us women back decades of efforts in #Diversity and #Inclusion.

Research published DeloitteGlobal’s report, Women @ Work: A Global Outlook identifies a number of actions that employers can take to make meaningful progress when it comes to gender equality. These include embedding a truly inclusive culture, enabling a better work-life balance by going beyond policies, demonstrating a visible and measurable leadership commitment and providing meaningful development opportunities.

“Meaningful and sustained change will only come when women experience ‘everyday’ inclusive workplaces—whether virtual or in-person—where statements on the importance of gender equality are backed up by meaningful actions, and where goals are set and progress is measured,” Emma Codd, Deloitte Global Inclusion Leader says.

For me it’s all coming full-circle now with the partnerships with Leader’s Lounge and Villyge. I also earned an executive coach certificate through the Center of Executive Coaching and am now working with high-achieving Women in STEM careers to reach their leadership goals while balancing career & family, so that they can bring their best selves to all areas of life, guilt-free.

Together we can change the work culture one leader at a time!
 
In this news, I currently have 5 openings for coaching. Book a Strategy call with me today and find out how I can help you move forward in your career and leadership journey. The link is in the show notes.

Now that women are slowly joining the workforce again, they are asking for more support, more flexibility, more dialogue and are rejecting the daily bias they face. Let’s all pay attention to what they need and offer proper support.

With this, let’s raise awareness to #BreakTheBias on International Women’s day!

In today’s episode, my guest Stephanie Kessl and I chatted about the concept of Howard Gardner's Multiple Intelligences and how we can become more self-aware of ourselves. This concept can help us identify our strengths and open the way to personal and professional growth. Stephanie is the founder of a free online community called Best Vibes Village and a paid membership for those who would like to take a deeper dive into self-discovery and lifelong learning.

4 Must-Have Checklists for Kids, so They Can Get Ready on Their Own and Learn Executive Function Skills, While You Sit Back and Relax.

What we’re talking about…

• Why we need to shift towards a growth mindset
• The importance of values to guide our big (and small) decisions in life
• How to find joy in life
• Why connecting with a community-driven by curiosity is important to our growth
• That parents are the experts on their child(ren)

LINKS MENTIONED
Best Vibes Village Website
Best Vibes Village LinkedIn
Best Vibes Village Instagram

In today’s episode, my guest Angela Harders and I explore what happens when play is work or work is play.

Angela shares how she overcame the struggle of having to choose between being a great teacher and being the mom she wanted to be for her daughter. Her background in teaching made her question whether unschooling was possible, but she followed her daughter’s lead and started realizing that it was absolutely beautiful how her curiosity unfolded. This is what led her to form Peaceful Worldschoolers and an umbrella organization for families (PMA) who would like to homeschool with complete educational freedom.

Doing what she loves, she feels that her work is playing and work-life integration becomes effortless.
 
4 Must-Have Checklists for Kids, so They Can Get Ready on Their Own and Learn Executive Function Skills, While You Sit Back and Relax.

What we’re talking about…

• Why unschooling is a natural consequence of positive parenting 
• That our children are the masters of their learning and we are here to support them 
• The power of purposefully sitting back and observing our children
• Why unschooling is a journey of trusting your child
• How to look for learning in their everyday activities
• That you can be an Unschooler and choose to go to school
• How Angela’s umbrella organization might be a way for you to homeschool, even if it’s not legally allowed in your state/country yet.

LINKS MENTIONED

Peaceful Worldschoolers Website
Peaceful Worldschoolers Youtube
Peaceful Worldschoolers Instagram
Peaceful Worldschoolers Facebook

Off-Trail Learning Podcast: Kevin Currie-Knight on Self-Directed Education in College 

In today’s episode, my guest Christelle Pillot and I discuss how being a multicultural family comes with its own set of challenges but also opens the doors to redefining your values and creating your family culture. She shares her journey leaving behind a career in Engineering to become a Life & Career Coach. Her experience having to gap different expectations from French colleagues and German clients fueled her interest in helping moms go back to work after child-rearing breaks. She helps working moms live in alignment, have a fulfilling career, and enjoy family time as well.

4 Must-Have Checklists for Kids, so They Can Get Ready on Their Own and Learn Executive Function Skills, While You Sit Back and Relax.

What we’re talking about…

• How do we get to define what’s right for our families
• That motherhood levels our leadership competencies up 
• Why we should have our spouses/husbands shadow our work at home
• That communication is key for work-life balance
• How we can become more accepting of others
• That it is ok to change your career later in life
• A tool to get your family to help

LINKS MENTIONED

Christelle Pillot Website
Christelle Pillot LinkedIn
Christelle Pillot Facebook
Christelle Pillot Instagram

And just like that we’re in 2022, wait we’re already halfway through the first month of the New Year! How did that happen?!?

 …anyways, today I wanted to share a few updates about my work and the Work-Life flow podcast.

My hard work of showing up consistently and bringing real-life stories and experiences to you has gained me some incredible opportunities for collaborations. The first collaboration that I formed was with Kease International and I became a partner coach for their Leader’s Lounge membership. This means I have been preparing masterclasses for their members and offering coaching through their platform.

Then, towards the end of the year, I had been approached by Debi Yadegari (whom I had interviewed in WLF episode 14 about working parent’s diversity and inclusion needs) to become an Expert Coach for Villyge, an Employee Benefits Program. 

I am really excited for both of these opportunities to make an impact on working parents’ lives.  And if you think your company could benefit from either the Leader’s Lounge or Villyge’s program, please share about these women-led companies with your HR or DEI department. You can find links to them on my website.

I find this all very exciting and if you’ve been listening for a while, you know that one of my values is to be a lifelong learner, and as such, I decided to deepen my understanding of coaching and am currently enrolled to obtain my Executive Coach Certification. I’m in deep learning mode which may slow down my podcast output a little.

You might have heard or read about “the great resignation”. More employees are leaving companies than ever before in search of a better fit. Employees ask for more than just a good salary, they want to be part of something bigger, feel included, and do meaningful work. Right now companies are very eager to learn how to attract and keep top talent, they are open to negotiations never imagined possible before. For companies, it is high time to invest in more Emotional Intelligence and Leadership Training, but also to offer a wide range of support through employee benefit programs such as Villyge, or the Leader’s Lounge. I find this to be truly exciting and it is what I had been writing and talking about since the onset of the pandemic. This is good stuff! Positive change is happening. Now I am grateful to be able to shape a new corporate culture through my work and my collaborations.

What does this mean for the Work-Life Flow Podcast?

With me partnering more in the corporate space, this podcast will likely move away from homeschooling (although it is a topic I love) and offer more interviews with corporate leaders, and working moms rather than business owners. The tricky part about that is that it is way easier to get a guest who runs a business than a person who does not really benefit from appearing on a podcast….so bare with me as I create a guest list.

This means that the work-life flow podcast might be a little more eclectic for a while, as I want to understand the driving forces for working parents’ success, pitfalls, and well-being in the workplace and at home.

The first few interviews that I have planned are with women and men who had a break in their career due to starting a family.

With all this being said, let me know who you would like me to interview and what topics you would like to hear about. You can do this by joining my Work-Life Flow FB group, sending me a message on LinkedIn or on Instagram. I am always looking for a great guest or topic suggestions.

In today’s episode, Jennifer and I explore how to invite more music into your life even if you’ve never played an instrument. Her approach to music is all about self-care and connection-building moments by “strumming your soundtrack and serenading the world”. Her stories of professional caregivers learning songs that light up their patients, a little girl composing her own song, and many more are just beautiful reminders of letting go of perfection and playing music for fun.

We also talk about how we don’t have to become an expert in everything, but rather keep the love of learning new skills alive. So let’s be more playful in life!

4 Must-Have Checklists for Kids to build Executive Function Skills and Set Them up for Success

What we’re talking about…

• That you can play music without reading sheet music
• What it looks like to model resilience to your child
• How you could invite more music into your life
• That music can be a form of self-care and meditation
• Why learning a song that is meaningful to you or your loved ones can be the greatest gift to give
• How you can create moments of connection through music
  
  

LINKS MENTIONED

Jennifer on Instagram

Jennifer on Youtube

Jennifer Bliss/ JBliss Guitar Studio

Kerstinkirchsteiger.com

• That we should seek out people who encourage and/or challenge us
• Why some moms are trying to keep up appearances
• How to build your support system
• That more moms are struggling than we think
• Why we might feel extremely lonely even in a room full of people.
• That there is a lot of moms who are unseen, misunderstood, or even censored in their marriages

LINKS MENTIONED