Advertise on podcast: Unlearning in Progress

Career Series | Part 11 Purpose, passion and values are words we hear often when talking about career fulfillment. But what do they actually mean, and how do they work together? For the final episode of Season 2 and our Career Series, we sit down with Suchitra Davies-Webb, a leadership development coach, facilitator, entrepreneur and co-founder of One Degree Shift. For more than 25 years, she has worked with emerging leaders across industries, helping leaders grow from the inside out and organizations build more intentional cultures. Suchitra challenges us to think of purpose as our North Star, the enduring contribution and impact that runs through our lives, while our passions, roles and values can evolve with the seasons we're in.  Together, we explore how looking beyond your current job can reveal the through line that's been there all along. In this episode: The difference between purpose and passion, and why it mattersWhy your purpose is bigger than your current jobHow strengths, energy and values contribute to career alignmentWhat depletion can tell you about misalignmentWhy purpose needs to include something fulfilling for youHow to start uncovering your own through lineWhy getting comfortable with not knowing can be part of finding what comes nextEpisode 30, our 11th Career Series conversation and the Season 2 finale. Next up: Season 3 and an entirely new conversation about money. Connect with Suchitra https://www.suchitradw.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/suchitradw/

Career Series | Part 10 What if the person who could change the course of your career is already willing to help, but you're the one talking yourself out of asking? In this episode of our Career Series, we're joined by Alexis Meruelo, founder of Business of Her and author of Getting You Ready for Power: A Woman's Guide to Building Confidence, Community, and Career Success. Together, we unpack the beliefs that keep women from building the relationships that could help them grow.  We talk about why asking for mentorship can feel so uncomfortable, what makes a mentoring relationship actually useful, how to know when the fit isn't right, and why one mentor was never supposed to be everything. Alexis Meruelo also shares how a mentor who discouraged one of her biggest ideas ultimately shaped the kind of mentor she wanted to become.  The bigger unlearning? Mentorship isn't a box to check. It's a support system to build. Because careers have ups, downs, pivots and moments when we question everything. And we were never meant to navigate all of them alone. In this episode: Why we talk ourselves out of asking for mentorshipHow to make mentorship specific and usefulWhy your mentor network should span ages, industries and perspectivesWhen it's okay to let a mentoring relationship goHow to build your own career support team before you need it

Career Series | Part 9 What do you do when the path you planned suddenly disappears? Jaime and Angela sit down with product-development strategist, entrepreneur, and mentor Cydney Mar, whose 45+ year career has been shaped by resilience, reinvention, and a belief that we never truly start from zero. After a life-changing accident ended her career as a Canadian National figure skater, Cydney rebuilt around design, eventually selling her collections on live television across eight countries and generating more than $300 million in global sales. Decades later, a near-death illness forced another unexpected pivot, leading her to found Cydney Mar Wellness and a proudly Indigenous-owned consulting practice that now mentors product founders around the world. But this conversation isn't about titles or accomplishments. It's about how we navigate the moments when life takes an unexpected turn, how we recognize the value of the skills we've already earned, and why starting over doesn't mean starting from scratch. Together, we explore: • Recognizing the experience and strengths you already have • Moving forward when the path you planned disappears • Turning setbacks into opportunities for growth • The power of reflection, journaling, and asking for help • Building your next chapter with the skills you've carried all along Whether you're considering a career change, navigating a setback, or wondering what's next, Cydney offers a powerful reminder that every chapter of your life has prepared you for the one you're about to write. Connect with Cydney: https://www.cydneymarwellness.com/ https://www.facebook.com/cydneymarwellness/ https://www.instagram.com/cydneymarwellness

Career Series | Part 8 What if the biggest thing holding you back isn't failure itself, but what you've been taught to believe about failure? In this episode of the Career Series, we sit down with Rachel Franco, founder of Fail Smarter, to explore how our relationship with failure shapes our careers, confidence, decisions, and willingness to pursue meaningful change. Drawing from her work in innovation enablement, leadership development, and organizational transformation, Rachel shares what she observed time and again: people often leave workshops, coaching sessions, and planning meetings energized and equipped with new skills, but when it's time to take a risk, try something new, or admit something isn't working, fear takes over. Together, we unpack why so many of us see failure as something to avoid at all costs, how those beliefs become embedded through our experiences and workplaces, and what it means to build a healthier, more productive relationship with failure. Rachel also shares the principles behind her Fail Smarter Framework, a practical approach that helps individuals and teams move beyond blame, reflect more intentionally, capture lessons learned, and turn setbacks into opportunities for growth and innovation. One of the most powerful ideas from the conversation: "Failure is what I did, not who I am." Whether you're considering a career pivot, pursuing a dream you've been putting off, recovering from a setback, or simply trying to build more resilience, this episode offers a refreshing perspective: failure isn't something to fear. When approached thoughtfully, it becomes one of our greatest sources of learning, courage, and forward momentum. In This Episode We Discuss: Why fear of failure keeps us stuckHow our beliefs about failure are formedThe difference between failure and identityPsychological safety and smart risk-takingRachel's Fail Smarter FrameworkTurning reflection into learning and actionCareer pivots, experimentation, and self-trustHow to recover more quickly and confidently when things don't go as planned Connect with Rachel: https://www.fail-smarter.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachelfranco/

Career Series | Part 7 In this mid-series check-in, Angela and Jaime get vulnerable about their own career transitions and what they’re learning when there is no clear roadmap for what comes next. One year after leaving the corporate world, Jaime reflects on building a coaching business, rediscovering parts of herself outside of work, and realizing that the next chapter may look different than she expected. She opens up about missing collaboration and being part of a team, questioning what she actually wants from work, and redefining ambition so that her career fits into her life instead of her life fitting around her career. Angela shares what the first five months outside of corporate have revealed about identity, purpose and the masks we wear at work. After years of defining herself through “corporate Angela,” she’s reconnecting with a part of herself she thought she had failed at decades ago: storytelling. Together, they explore career change, purpose, identity, ambition, fear and the uncomfortable unknown between one chapter and the next. Because maybe figuring out your next career move isn't always about finding the perfect job or creating the perfect plan. Maybe it starts with asking a different question: Who am I now and what do I actually want my life to feel like?

Career Series | Part 6 You’re driven, capable, and the person people can count on. But you feel stressed, burned out, disconnected, or just generally off. In this episode of our Career Series, Jaime and Angela sit down with Lauren Golen, founder and strategic advisor, to explore the survival patterns and identities we carry into our career. From people-pleasing and perfectionism to control, overfunctioning, pushing through, and feeling like everything depends on us. These patterns aren’t necessarily weaknesses. In fact, they may be part of the reason you’ve been so successful. They can make you dependable, ambitious, hardworking, and someone who always gets the job done. But when those same patterns begin driving how you work, lead, and make career decisions, success can start to come at a cost. Lauren shares how to recognize when an old survival identity is still “running the show,” why feeling off or burned out at work may be telling us something deeper, and how we can begin letting go of the versions of ourselves we no longer need. We also explore the role of intuition in our careers: how to reconnect with your body when you’ve spent years pushing through what you feel, how to rebuild trust in yourself, and what it means to move toward your next chapter before you have the entire plan figured out. In this conversation: How survival identities like people-pleasing, control, and “if I don’t do it, it won’t get done” can fuel career success, until they start costing usWhy Lauren asks women to thank the identity they’re ready to let go of and how separating who you are from who you learned to be creates space for something newWhat it means to move from the constant hum of striving, proving, and earning your seat to leading from freedom, trust, and creative expressionHow to “feel into the vision in the dark” by trusting your intuition and taking the next step in your career even when you can’t see where it will lead If you’ve been successful in your career but lately find yourself feeling burned out, stuck, stressed, or simply like something is off, this conversation is an invitation to look beneath the job itself and ask a different question: What patterns are you still carrying and who could you become if you finally let them go? Connect with Lauren https://www.instagram.com/laurengolen/ https://substack.com/@laurengolen

Career Series | Part 5 You can change jobs, change companies, earn the promotion, or step into an entirely different chapter, and still find yourself facing the same patterns. In this episode of Unlearning in Progress, Angela and Jaime sit down with executive coach Michelle Scott to explore why career alignment isn’t only about changing what’s happening around us. Sometimes, the most important shift is the one happening within us. Michelle shares her own experience with burnout, first in the corporate world and later as a stay-at-home mom, and the realization that changing her circumstances didn’t change the patterns she carried with her. As she puts it, without doing the inner work, the pushing simply followed her into a new role. Together, they explore what it actually means to feel aligned in your career, why white space and true rest matter, how to recognize the subtle nudges telling you something needs to change, and why solving career dissatisfaction requires looking at both the external realities of work and our internal beliefs, habits, and expectations. In this conversation: * Why changing jobs doesn’t always solve what feels wrong * How our patterns can follow us from one role to the next * What career alignment actually looks and feels like * Why white space is necessary, not indulgent * How to recognize the “nudge” before it becomes a steamroller * The relationship between inner work and practical career strategy * How slowing down can help you hear your own intuition again If you’ve been wondering whether you need a new job, a new career, or simply a different way of showing up in the one you already have, this conversation might help you ask a different question. Connect with Michelle: https://michellescottcoaching.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelle-scott-coaching/ https://www.facebook.com/michellescottcoaching/ https://www.instagram.com/coachmichellescott/

Career Series | Part 4 Over the last few episodes, we've explored career crossroads, the factors that influence career growth, and how to identify work that energizes you. In this episode, we bring those concepts to life through the story of Amy Peterson, co-founder and CEO of Rebel Nell.   Amy spent years pursuing a childhood dream of working in professional baseball. After building a successful career with the Detroit Tigers, she found herself wrestling with an internal tug toward something different, one that became increasingly difficult to ignore.  Together, we explore what it feels like when your passions evolve, how to distinguish between running away from something and being called toward something new, and why passion is often what sustains us through the hardest parts of building a career or business. Amy shares her experience navigating uncertainty, identity shifts, and the decision to pursue work that felt deeply aligned with what mattered most to her.  Whether you're questioning your next move or simply feeling pulled toward something you can't quite explain, this conversation offers a thoughtful framework for understanding what that tug might be trying to tell you.  In This Episode, We Discuss: What happens when a long-held career path no longer feels aligned  How to evaluate the "internal tug" toward something new  The difference between escaping a situation and following a calling  Why passion is essential when taking a career risk  The reality that passions can evolve throughout different seasons of life  Amy's advice for anyone considering a major career shift Learn more about Rebel Nell:  Rebel Nell Instagram (@rebelnell)

Career Series | Part 3 You've updated your résumé. Scrolled through job postings. Considered a promotion, a pivot, or even a completely different path. But what if the answer isn't found in a job title at all? In Part 3 of our Career Series, Jaime introduces the Career Alignment Matrix, a practical framework designed to help you identify the work that energizes you, the growth you're excited to pursue, the responsibilities you've outgrown, and the tasks that consistently drain your energy. Through a live coaching conversation, Angela works through the exercise in real time, uncovering patterns that offer new clarity about what she wants from the next chapter of her career.  Together, they explore why career decisions become easier when you stop focusing on titles and start paying attention to the environments, activities, and experiences that bring out your best work.  If you've ever found yourself wondering,"What's next for me?" this conversation is for you. In this episode: Why career clarity often comes from patterns, not perfectly mapped-out plans How to identify what energizes you and what consistently drains you The difference between growth you choose and growth you feel pressured into pursuing Why being good at something doesn't mean you should keep doing it foreverHow work environments and team culture influence career alignmentA practical framework for designing your next career move with greater intention Whether you're considering a promotion, exploring a career pivot, or simply feeling disconnected from your current work, this episode offers a different way to think about what's next: not by chasing titles, but by finding what energizes you.

Career Series | Part 2 You've exceeded expectations. Delivered exceptional work. Said yes to every opportunity. So why does it still feel like your career isn't moving forward? In Part 2 of our Career Series, Jaime & Angela unpack one of the biggest misconceptions women are taught at work: that hard work alone leads to promotion. Together, they explore why exceptional performance isn't always enough, what leaders are actually looking for when they make promotion decisions, and why visibility, influence, and strategic leadership often matter just as much as results. They also share personal stories of missed promotions, lessons learned from leadership roles, and practical ways to build your reputation without feeling like you're bragging or becoming someone you're not. If you've ever found yourself wondering, "Why wasn't I chosen?" this conversation is for you. In this episode:Why doing more isn't always moving you forwardThe difference between performance and promotionHow to build visibility without self-promotion feeling awkwardThe leadership "game" no one teaches women to playWhy promotions are about your future potential, not just your past performancePractical ways to build influence and career momentum Whether you're aiming for your next promotion, feeling overlooked, or simply rethinking what career growth looks like, this episode offers a fresh perspective on how to stop waiting to be recognized and start positioning yourself for what's next.

Career Series | Part 1 We're back! And we're kicking off a brand-new season of Unlearning in Progress with a series on one of the biggest topics showing up in conversations everywhere: our careers. If you've ever found yourself wondering, Is this really what I want?, Should I leave?, Am I burned out?, or Why doesn't success feel the way I thought it would? then this series is for you. In the first episode of our Career Series, Angela Cope and Jaime Waterfield explore what many are calling the great career crisis, while challenging whether it's really a crisis at all. Instead, they unpack why so many women are feeling exhausted, disconnected from their work, questioning their next move, and wondering whether they should stay, leave, pivot, or start over. Together, they discuss: The hidden signs that your career may no longer be aligned with who you're becoming.How burnout, stress, and even your body can reveal when something needs to change.Why chasing titles, promotions, and external success doesn't always create fulfillment.The difference between craving relief and craving real change.How to stop looking outside yourself for career answers and begin asking better questions.This conversation is the foundation for the entire series to come. Over the next several episodes, Jaime & Angela dive deeper into feeling stuck, navigating promotions, redefining success, building meaningful careers, and creating work that feels aligned with the life you're actually trying to build. Whether you're considering a career change, feeling stuck in your current role, navigating leadership, or simply questioning what success means now, this episode offers thoughtful reflection - not quick fixes. Because sometimes the next step isn't quitting your job. Sometimes it's unlearning the story you've been told about what your career is supposed to look like.

In our Season One finale, we look back on five months, nineteen episodes, and a whole lot of unlearning. From letting go of perfectionism to finding our rhythm as co‑hosts, this season stretched us, grounded us, and reminded us why these conversations matter. We talk about what surprised us, what challenged us, and what changed us, including the moments that felt like therapy, the guests who held up a mirror, and the stories that stayed with us long after we hit “stop.” We also share the behind‑the‑scenes growth you didn’t hear: trusting our voices, releasing control, embracing collaboration, and learning to be in the being instead of the constant doing. And because we practice what we preach, we’re taking a pause, a power‑in‑the‑pause moment, before we return with Season Two. When we’re back, we’re kicking things off with a focused series on career: identity, growth, alignment, and the messy middle of figuring out what’s next. If you have topics you want us to explore or guests you’d love to hear from, send us a message on Instagram or Facebook at @unlearninginprogress. Season One was just the beginning. Season Two is going to be something special.

What happens when the very traits that helped you succeed start to work against you? In this episode of Unlearning in Progress, Julie Santiago, former Wall Street executive turned founder of We Are the Women, explores the tension between doing and being, and why so many high-achieving women feel exhausted, unfulfilled, and out of alignment, even when things look successful on the outside. Julie helps us to unpack a nuanced and frequently misunderstood topic: masculine and feminine leadership. Drawing from her own experience in high-performance corporate environments, Julie shares how many women learn to succeed by overdeveloping “doing” energy focused on output, control, and performance while suppressing equally important qualities like intuition, presence, and connection. This conversation is an invitation to reconnect with who you are beneath the achievement and to explore what becomes possible when you stop leading the way you were taught, and start leading as the woman you actually are. Connect with Julie: https://wearethewomen.com/ https://www.instagram.com/iamjuliesantiago/ https://www.facebook.com/JulieSantiago/

In this episode of Unlearning in Progress, Angela and Jaime sit down with transformational coach and guide Karen Brar for a conversation about the connection between the mind, the body, and the stories we carry through life. Together, they explore why so many of us live disconnected from ourselves, constantly operating from overthinking, achievement, survival mode, and the “thought train” of the mind. Karen shares how ancient teachings rooted in the Vedic tradition can help us better understand our nervous systems, our emotional patterns, and the whispers our bodies often give us long before burnout, anxiety, or disconnection fully take hold. The conversation dives into nervous system regulation, subconscious beliefs, corporate conditioning, self-worth, and the practice of returning to yourself in a world that constantly pulls your attention elsewhere. This episode is for anyone who has ever felt exhausted by their own thoughts, disconnected from their body, or quietly wondered: Why does life feel this hard when I’m doing everything “right”? Connect with Karen: https://anayawithin.com/

What if your body has been trying to tell you something… and you’ve just been too used to pushing through to hear it? In this episode of Unlearning in Progress, we’re joined by Dr. Carly Hunt, a sport and health psychologist, former Division I golfer, and author of Train Your Brain to Beat Chronic Pain, to explore what it means to listen when your body starts signaling that something isn’t right. Carly shares her journey through academia, high achievement, and perfectionism, and how years of overworking, people-pleasing, and ignoring her internal signals eventually showed up physically through chronic pain. What started as a whisper became impossible to ignore. Together, we unpack the science behind the “gut brain” and why intuition isn’t just a feeling, it’s information. Carly walks us through how pain functions as the brain’s alarm system, what happens when that system gets stuck on high alert, and why healing requires more than just a purely logical, problem-solving approach. We also explore how these ideas extend far beyond chronic pain to burnout, stress, and the everyday ways we override what we actually need. If you’ve ever felt disconnected from your body, dismissed your intuition, or believed that pushing harder was the answer, this conversation offers a powerful reframe: your body isn’t working against you, it may be the most honest signal you have. Learn more and connect with Carly: https://www.thinkbettergolf.com/ https://www.instagram.com/thinkbettergolf/