Advertise on podcast: The Foundational Years

How do you design a career that aligns with your passions, protects your health, and adapts to change? This episode breaks it down. This week is a solo episode with 1/2 the hosts. Ladan, shares her journey from managing autoimmune illness at 17 to building a global career as a People & Culture strategist, career designer, and entrepreneur. Through intentional planning, skill-building, and passion-driven choices, she moved across academia, tech, nonprofits, and international leadership, including a fully funded master’s and doctoral degree. In this episode, we cover: How to design your career intentionally and stay adaptable Building skills and relationships that create real safety nets Preventing burnout while pursuing ambitious goals Why working strategically in your 20s pays off long term Perfect for ambitious professionals, students, first-generation folks, and entrepreneurs, this conversation offers practical tools to build a career that supports both success and well-being. 🎧 Listen now and start designing a career that works for you. -------- Send us a question to @emp.our or [email protected] Follow along with us on our journeys as friends and founders: @ladanoutloud @hali.jama

This is a space for honest conversations about building careers, community, and lives we’re proud of, all while we’re still figuring it out. We’re both first-gen, deeply ambitious, and learning in real time. We don’t have everything mapped out, but we’re sharing what we’re learning along the way, the wins, the missteps, and everything in between. And today, we’re starting from the beginning: how we met, our journeys, and why we decided to build EmpOUR and this podcast out loud. Takeaways: - First-gen experiences - Goals for the year - Building a community platform - Prioritizing health and wellness - Career and entrepreneurial goals - Work-life balance - Setting boundaries in the workplace Submit A Question: @emp.OUR [email protected] Socials: @ladanoutloud @hali.jama