Real talk for women in leadership—delivered every other Thursday. Short, story-driven notes on confidence, visibility, hard conversations, and building a career you actually want. Expect practical tools, honest takes, and the occasional “wait… I needed that” moment.
If we want stronger women leaders, we have to start earlier
|
Happy 1-year anniversary of Loud & Lifted! What started as a fun side project has turned into something much bigger. The conversations have been powerful. The guests have been incredibly impressive. And the response has been the kind of motivation that makes you want to keep going. That’s exactly why the work is growing beyond the podcast. A lot of it is starting local for me here in Harrisburg, but the vision is bigger than that. But more to come on that later! As I think about this first year, a few themes kept showing up over and over again no matter who was sitting across from me, what industry they came from, or what we thought the episode was going to be about. Build your confidence. So it really got me thinking. If these are the things women need in order to grow, lead, and thrive… why would we wait until our 20s, 30s, or 40s to start talking about them? What about the girls who are still building the foundation now? The ones in elementary school, middle school, and especially high school. The ones still figuring out whether their voice matters. Whether they should speak up. Whether they belong. Whether leadership is something they can grow into too. That is why this conversation with Sharice Johnson felt so important. With two teenage daughters, this topic is already personal for me. But this episode pushed me to think even bigger. Not just about my own girls, but about the other young women around me too. Nieces. Neighbors. My daughters’ friends. The girls who may need one more person noticing them, encouraging them, or helping them see what is possible. How are we showing up for them? How are we helping build the foundation for confidence, leadership, and community before self-doubt has a chance to settle in too deeply? That’s where this conversation goes. |
Loud & Lifted
Real talk for women in leadership—delivered every other Thursday. Short, story-driven notes on confidence, visibility, hard conversations, and building a career you actually want. Expect practical tools, honest takes, and the occasional “wait… I needed that” moment.
I have been thinking a lot about the word loud lately. Which is probably a good thing considering I named a podcast Loud & Lifted. But to be clear: I have never believed being loud means being the person who talks the most, interrupts everyone or pounds her fist on the table until people listen. That is not really the point. To me, I wanted to use the word loud in the title because being loud has always been about using your voice. Speaking up. Sharing what you think. Advocating for yourself...
I’m just going to say it. We spend a lot of time talking about the boys’ club, broken systems and all the ways men make it harder for women to succeed. And yes, all of that exists. But we are avoiding another huge part of the problem: women are tearing other women down at work. They are leaving women out of meetings. Withholding information. Spreading rumors. Questioning someone’s credibility behind her back. Smiling in her face while quietly trying to make sure she doesn’t get the...
Women aren’t simply leaving jobs. Many are reassessing how—and where—they want to work. More than 455,000 women exited the U.S. workforce during the first eight months of 2025, and 58% of those departures were voluntary. At the same time, women started 49% of new businesses in 2024—up from just 29% in 2019. Women may be leaving traditional corporate structures, but they aren’t necessarily leaving their ambition behind. They may simply be redirecting it. It’s no surprise we hear so much about...