Shameless Leadership

Pauline Cheung is a women’s leadership speaker and coach on a mission to show professional women how to trust their voices and create professional and personal success – without conceding to people-pleasing and perfectionism.Despite 12+ years as an international executive working with Fortune 500 C-suite and senior-level leaders in the areas of strategy, marketing, and business development, Pauline comes from humble beginnings. She knows how challenging it is to step into the unknown and navigate the fear of failure and judgment. Her deep compassion for women wrestling with similar desires and demons helps her coaching clients and audience members break out of their fears and step into full visibility as their unique and brilliant selves.Listen in to hear Pauline share: How she had to juggle work with motherhood as her child needed extra medical attention How she’s working on harmonizing her work and home life - and why the concept of harmonizing is more full of ease than seeking “work life balance” Why time is currency and the value of time - sometimes over money How she grew up with the message, “It’s not safe to be me”, as a Chinese girl growing up in England How she found safety by making others happy - and the costs of making others happy How she recognized the truth about fear and stopped letting it preventing her from going after the things she wanted (even if she didn’t know how she would actually get them) Her journey from corporate to culinary school to coaching other women The 3 specific ways women stay in their own way, preventing them from taking a stand in their life What belonging actually looks & feels like, and how to own who you are to create a more confident sense of belonging How we can overcome the constant internal battle of being “too much” and “not enough” at the same time Links mentioned: Connect with Pauline Get Pauline’s Confidence Guide: 5 Ways to Practice Stepping Out of Your Comfort Zone and into Greater Confidence Thank you to our sponsors: Gemmist: Go to Gemmist.com to get your personalized recommendation and enter SHAMELESS at checkout for 20% off and free 2-day shipping. Hello Fresh: Go to HelloFresh.com/shameless12 and use code shameless12 for 12 free meals, including free shipping! Talkspace: To match with your perfect therapist for a fraction of the price of traditional therapy, go to talkspace.com, Make sure to use the code SHAMELESS to get $100 off your first month and show your support for the show.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Earlier this year I received two mental health diagnoses. One did not surprise me at all, but the second did. I have been processing and thinking through the gift of diagnosis a lot over the last few months. Yes, the gift of diagnosis. Receiving these diagnoses was more affirming and validating than I ever could have imagined. Instead of feeling plagued by some parts of myself that have been bewildering since I was very young, I now feel stronger and more connected to who I truly am and WHY I am who I truly am. What a relief! My mental health diagnoses are not my weaknesses, they are my superpowers. Because of them I am more compassionate, more empathetic, more conscientious, more thoughtful, more intentional, more talented in unique ways, more creative, more adaptable to things others can’t adapt to, more capable in ways others aren’t, and more sensitive to the world and other people in so many ways that make me a better citizen.So, ye, I am delighted by my diagnoses - and everything that comes with them. Including medication.May is Mental Health Awareness Month. I am sharing my story with you because mental health diagnoses are not something to be ashamed of. And mental health diagnoses are not uncommon - which I learned quickly as I shared my story with friends over the last few months and had so many of them quickly reply “me too.”My hope is that this episode provides light and hope for anyone who might be struggling to see all their gifts right now. You are not alone. Links mentioned: Join my free business training: 3 Essential Building Blocks To Growing A Successful Business National Alliance on Mental Illness Helpline: 800-950-6264 Depression Crisis Text Line: Text CONNECT to 741741 National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 800-273-8255   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Trudi Lebron is an entrepreneur, coach, consultant, podcaster, and speaker working with social impact leaders, and transformative coaches who want to increase the impact of their efforts. Trudi is the creator and head coach of BeABoss a personal and professional development program for Millennial Women of Color, works with entrepreneurs to help them start social impact businesses, and supports social impact executives with leadership coaching, strategic planning, and creating systems and practices to bring alignment between your personal values and the way you work.I asked Trudi to come on the show because I knew her story around motherhood as well as the deep impact of her professional work. I have been dying to interview her for a couple years now - and I can tell you this conversation was worth the wait!Listen in to hear Trudi share: Her experience of dropping out of high school and becoming a teen mom to two babies by age 16 How her traits of being stubborn and making her own rules served her well as a very young mom - and now as she has paved her way to multiple layers of success in education and business How she can see the privilege she carried as a teen mom and why seeing all our layers of privilege is so important How attaining her GED all on her own was the most impactful lesson of her life How the welfare system tried to make her choose between food stamps and getting her college education - and how the system is designed to keep people in the margins down How her experience as a Latina teen mom fueled her entire career How she constantly chose to capitalize on her strengths in order to build success How she uses discernment around her role as a mother to Black sons vs business consultant to lead conversations around her justice, diversity, equity & inclusion work How she was able to listen to the urgent needs of her industry to show up & serve in a completely transformational way in 2020 Why we need to move from consumption of race education to taking action toward equity Links mentioned: Join my free business training: 3 Essential Building Blocks To Growing A Successful Business Connect with Trudi Attend Trudi’s May event, Show Up & Serve Trudi’s podcast: Business Remixed Trudi’s podcast with Weeze Doran: That’s Not How That Works Trudi on Instagram Thank you to our sponsors: Ana Luisa: Go treat yourself and your loved ones and use my code SHAMELESS to get 10% off at https://www.analuisa.com/shameless.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

I’m not going to pretend that boundaries are easy. They are tricky and sticky and often intimidating. But boundaries are also the KEY to liberating our time and energy and mental space. Telling you to simply “have better boundaries” is not helpful. It’s like telling a worry wart to “just stop worrying.” So, instead of telling you to have better boundaries, I’m going to give you three actionable steps you can take to start building better and more brave boundaries. I want you to have more time, energy, and mental space for YOU, as well as for the things and people who deserve the best parts of you.Listen in to learn 3 steps you can take to build braver boundaries #everydamnday.As you implement these over time, you’ll find that you feel increased ease and power throughout your days and within your relationships. This will feel totally liberating, my friend!Link mentioned:Join my free business training: 3 Essential Building Blocks To Growing A Successful Business   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Alison Tedford is an author, marketing consultant, and mom from Abbotsford, BC, Canada. Her work has been published on AlJazeera, CBC, Upworthy, and Today's Parent, and her debut book, Chronic Profit, is being released by Self Counsel Press in April 2021.I have been following Alison online for a couple years now. She has always stood out to me as a leader and a truth teller. She speaks up to share her perspective even when it’s not comfortable. She is sassy and smart as a whip as she shares her experiences living as an entrepreneurial, Indigenious single mom with a disability. I deeply appreciate Alison’s work and her voice and I’m so honored to have her here with us for this conversation.Listen in to hear Alison share: All the layers of her identity as an entrepreneurial, Indigenous mom with a disability and why she has chosen to share her stories The assumptions people have made about her identities The importance of inclusivity from the top down in organizations How her disability has shaped her parenting How she models asking for help to preserve her energy for the places she can have most impact How she shares her Indigenous culture with her son How pain management can be a full time job Links mentioned: Join my free business training:, 3 Essential Building Blocks To Growing A Successful Business Connect with Alison Get Alison’s book: Chronic Profit Alison on Instagram Alison on Twitter Alison on Facebook Thank you to our sponsors: Cubo Ai: Go to getcubo.com and use my code “SHAMELESS “for "$10 off your purchase. Songfinch: Visit songfinch.com and use promo code SHAMELESS this week for $20 off the perfect gift!   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

I don’t want to squash your dreaming. Dreaming is beautiful and powerful and necessary. But…Sometimes our dreams can be intimidating. We see them out there and they look inviting and delicious - and also terrifying. I want to run a marathon - but how do I go from running 3 miles to running 26.2 miles?I want to write a book - but how do I write an opening paragraph, let alone 300 pages?I want to go back to school - but how do I find the time and money to commit to 2 more years of education?Too often we hold our dreams as long term (seemingly impossible) visions with no action plan. We put off the doing required to achieve our dreams because we don’t know where to start. We don’t know what the first step should be - and all the first steps we can think of feel like massive scary leaps. And massive scary leaps sound hard. So, we decide to just wait…And often - too often - the dream dies.In this episode, we will talk about how to move from dreaming to doing by taking specific small action steps to get started moving in the direction of your dreams.Are you ready to GET STARTED???Link mentioned:Join my free business training: 3 Essential Building Blocks To Growing A Successful Business   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Jessica's superpower is making brain science accessible and entertaining for children and adults alike. She is living this out as a clinical supervisor, nationally known speaker, author, and Shameless Mom of 3. She is also the founder and director of the training and resource platform BraveBrains.This is Jessica’s second time on the show. I was so excited to have her back because talking to her about brain science is so incredibly helpful and insightful. Learning from Jessica makes me a better woman, leader, and mom. Listen in to hear Jessica share: How our stories lead us to shame spirals and keep us in shame spirals How our shame spirals are more dramatically triggered while parenting in a pandemic Why she is calling her sons “explorers” to appreciate and honor the ways their brains are differently wired How to engage your “upstairs brain” to stay hopeful in hard times and shift your stories and narratives How we can help our kids shift their stories and narratives, especially around worry and shame Why she wrote What’s Inside Your Backpack? about a little girl’s worry and shame - and why she released it during the pandemic Why she opted to frame her story around a little girl who has an unsafe parent How and why she considered multiple layers of inclusivity when writing her book and having it illustrated How to introduce your kids about the “both/and” philosophy in order to foster hope and resiliency Links mentioned: Join my business training workshop on May 11th, 3 Essential Building Blocks To Growing A Successful Business Connect with Jessica and order What’s Inside Your Backpack Jessica on Instagram Jessica on Facebook Jessica on Twitter Thank you to our sponsors: Bulldog Online Yoga: Head to bulldogonline.com and use promo code SHAMELESS for a 30 day free trial and 50% off your next month! Cubo Ai: Go to https://bit.ly/3wPkIYf and use my code “SHAMELESS” for a discount off your order. Hello Fresh: Go to HelloFresh.com/shameless12 and use code shameless12 for 12 free meals, including free shipping! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Perhaps you’ve noticed that with changing times have come changing needs, changing goals, and changing desires. With that, perhaps you notice you’re saying YES to new things - and NO to new things.Some of my yeses and no’s and have definitely shifted over the last year. In fact, I find myself saying yes to some things I thought I would never say yes to. Funny wildly unusual circumstances paired with a cultural uprising will make you rethink almost everything.As you make space for new yeses, you’ll notice you’ll also be required to say no to new things in order to make space for those yeses. This is a process of discernment that requires you look closely at your core values so you can understand why each yes and each no is important to you right now.Listen in to hear 9 things I’m saying yes to right now. It’s my hope that this may inspire your YESES (and no’s!) Links Mentioned: Join my business training workshop on May 11th, 3 Essential Building Blocks To Growing A Successful Business: shamelessmom.com/business SMA Ep 455: 3 Steps To Create Core Values You Can Confidently Commit To   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Maya Luque is a strategist. She helps businesses craft smart, perceptive ways of communicating. The focus of her work is to help businesses build strong, long-lasting relationships with their customers. She has an M.F.A. and has created over 100 sculptures and installations. Her background as an artist helps her guide people towards an emotion; to help them feel connected. Art is great for strategy because art history is full of telling and re-inventing stories, themes, emotions. Maya has a passion for observing the ever-shifting puzzle of trends, human nature, and people. Maya is also the author of The Heart Of The Matter: EMDR Through An Adoptee's Eyes. She shared her book with me on social media asking if I would be interested in sharing it with my audience. I immediately knew I didn’t only want to share the book, I wanted to share Maya’s voice and entire story. I asked Maya if she would be up for this interview. I’m so honored that she said yes. Her book and her story are so important.Listen in to hear Maya share: Her journey of being abandoned outside a police station in China during their One Child Policy to living her first 11 months in a Chinese orphanage to being adopted by a single mom in the US The lasting impact of her abandonment and how that trauma impacted her ability to cope as a child How she vacillated between extreme perfectionism and testing her mom to see if she would always really love her Her lifelong patterns of trying to prove her worth How she got started in EMDR therapy What EMDR is and how it helped her recover from her trauma How EMDR allowed her to finally find herself lovable Why she wrote The Heart of the Matter in a really approachable way so all ages could use it as a tool Links mentioned: Maya’s Book: The Heart Of The Matter: EMDR Through An Adoptee's Eyes Connect with Maya Maya on Instagram Color for Charity Coloring Book Thank you to our sponsors: Talkspace: To match with your perfect therapist for a fraction of the price of traditional therapy, go to talkspace.com, Make sure to use the code SHAMELESS to get $100 off your first month and show your support for the show. Cubo Ai: Go to getcubo.com and use my code “SHAMELESS “for a discount off your order.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Ever since I read Michelle Obama’s book two years ago, I have been obsessed with this notion of becoming. We are always becoming. There is no way around it. Sometimes we are becoming more the person we know we want to be. Other times not so much. Sometimes we are becoming a person we did not want to be. Maybe even a person we feared we would be one day. What we must remind ourselves everyday is that WE GET TO CHOOSE. You have many times each day where you make choices that take you closer to or further from the person you want to become. This is comforting because at any time you can course correct. Make a crappy decision at 10 am? No worries. You can make a better one at 10:02. While that sounds super simple and maybe even annoyingly idealistic, it’s true. What matters most is your trend of becoming over time. So, what is your trend? And is it heading in the direction you want it to?I have a task for you. As you listen to this episode, you will gain clarity on who you want to become and HOW to become her. Listen in and do the task. Then let me know, how are you becoming?Links mentioned: Last day to register for the Shameless Mom Con Collective SMA Episode 325: Michelle Obama’s 4 Secrets to a Successful Marriage Book: Hood Feminism by Mikki Kendall   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices