Ever felt anxious about negotiating your pay? Wondered why it feels so risky when you already know you’re beyond pulling your weight at work?

Here’s the truth I see as a coach for marginalized leaders who don’t like office politics: We've been taught that asking for what we want is risky. Greedy. Aggressive. Ungracious.

But here's the thing.

Women and minorities aren't bad negotiators. We've just been sold a lie about what negotiation actually is.

In this episode, I'm sharing why I walked away from a six-figure tech career to become my own boss and an independent coach.

And I'm showing you the one mindset shift that changed everything for me and my clients. We're talking sovereignty, locus of control, and why that metaphorical tiara (as in: recognition and respect) you're waiting for? You have to put it on your own head.

Stick around. This one's foundational.

[Quick note: This is a recording of a live training we ran earlier this year called “Exit Negotiations: How to Get Better Paid So You Can Become Your Own Boss.” To stay in the loop for the next live training, take the 2-minute Leadership Archetype quiz at www.jamieleecoach.com and subscribe to the weekly newsletter.]

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What happens when the pressures of work intensify AND parenting intensifies at the same time? Senior-level mothers are caught in a two-way trap—and many are quietly burning out, believing it's a personal failure rather than a systemic one.

In this episode, I talk with Shalene Gupta, staff editor at Fast Company, about her groundbreaking investigation into how senior-level women are coping with the impossible. After putting out a call on LinkedIn, Shalene received over 100 responses—48,000 words' worth—revealing both the ingenuity and the despair of working mothers trying to have it all.

Discover the creative solutions that are actually working: job-sharing arrangements that have lasted 13 years, radical transparency about boundaries that builds trust, and companies (like Cakes) that are redesigning the workplace from the ground up. But also understand why these individual hacks aren't enough—and why the real answer requires systemic change.

If you're a working parent, an ambitious woman in corporate America, or someone who wants to understand what's really happening behind closed doors, this is a conversation you need to hear. Because as Shalene says: "It's not you. The system is broken. And it can be redesigned."

Featuring:

• Fast Company article: Corporate America is Crushing Senior-Level Mothers. Here's How They're Coping by Shalene Gupta
• The 13-year job-share that changed everything
• How transparency becomes a negotiation superpower
• Why women entrepreneurs are building their own solutions and winning
• What real support for working mothers actually looks like

SHALENE GUPTA BIO:

Shalene Gupta is a staff editor at Fast Company covering work life and leadership. Her investigative journalism on women, work, and wellness has appeared in The Atlantic, Fortune, Harvard Business Review, ESPN The Magazine, and TIME. She is co-author of The Power of Trust and author of The Cycle: Confronting the Pain of Periods and PMDD. Shalene holds an MS from Columbia Journalism School, a BA in creative writing and psychology from Johns Hopkins University, and is a Fulbright grant recipient. Her work focuses on the systemic barriers women face in corporate America—from motherhood to menopause—and the creative solutions women are building to survive (and thrive) in broken systems.

Connect with Shalene on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shalenegupta/
Connect with Jamie on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leejieunjamie/

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Everything worthwhile is on the other side of a risky conversation—especially when it comes to women’s health, birth, and career.

In this episode, I sit down with professional investor–turned–hypnobirthing educator Maria Lernerman to talk about how hypnosis, birth preparation, and self-advocacy can transform one of life’s most intense experiences into a joyful, empowering memory.

Maria shares how she navigates being a daytime asset manager and nighttime hypnobirthing educator, hypnotist, lactation counselor, and mom of three, and why talking openly about hypnosis in a buttoned-up industry was a risky (and worthwhile) career conversation.

You’ll learn what hypnobirthing actually is (beyond the woo), how it helps many parents have calmer births—often with less or no medication—and why these tools become “meta skills” you can use in high-stakes work situations, from boardrooms to hospital rooms.

Maria also offers grounded advice for women and couples planning to grow their families, including those going through IVF or navigating “high-risk” labels in the medical system.

If you care about self-advocacy, emotional regulation, and having real choices in your healthcare, this conversation will expand what you think is possible—for birthing, working, and beyond.

Timestamps

• 00:00 – Who is Jamie Lee? Introducing executive coaching, “risky conversations,” and guest Maria Lernerman
• 03:17 – Maria’s “risky conversation”: bringing hypnobirthing and hypnosis into a traditional investment career
• 09:24 – What is hypnobirthing? The Mongan Method, full-spectrum birth prep, and why partners matter
• 14:12 – How can birth be more comfortable with little or no medication? Fear, tension, relaxation, and the body’s design
• 18:08 – Maria’s own birth stories: from terrified first-time mom to hypnobirthing educator (and the Uber-driver tipping point)
• 23:12 – Self-hypnosis as a meta skill: staying grounded in chaotic hospitals, high-stakes meetings, and everyday conflict
• 26:22 – Client success stories: natural births, empowered C-sections, partners stepping up, and redefining what a “good birth” looks like
• 31:55 – Advice for women and couples (including IVF and “high risk”): choice, providers, and protecting your sense of agency

You can learn more about Maria’s work at DiscoverYourPowerBirth.com and about the Mongan Method at hypnobirthing.com.

Learn more about bespoke executive coaching with Jamie Lee at JamieLeeCoach.com and book a free hour-long consultation with Jamie here.

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• Email me at jamie@jamieleecoach.com

In this episode, I sat down with leadership coach and former HR leader Ashley Paré to pull back the curtain on the "risky conversation" that cost her a corporate role but won her ultimate freedom and self-respect. We dive into how that experience became the catalyst for her mission: helping women navigate the complex systems of corporate power to advocate for their worth—without the burnout.

We discussed:

• [09:20] The "Third Path" to Power: How to move beyond the binary of staying silent or "burning it all down" by managing your nervous system and creating safety from within.
• [10:48] The FEAR-less Framework: Ashley’s 4-step process to Feel, Evaluate, Accept, and Respond so you can take inspired action from the driver’s seat of your career.
• [14:40] Navigating the "Manager vs. HR" Dynamic: What to do when a boss claims their hands are tied by HR, and how to use that as a catalyst to seek direct information and advocacy.
• [16:00] Navigating Pay Transparency: How to use salary bands and job descriptions to your advantage when preparing for an annual review.
• [29:00] Redefining Success: Why high-achieving women are opting out of broken systems to build work lives that actually honor their freedom and ambition.

Featured:

• Connect with Ashley on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashleypare/
• Learn more about Ashley's Leadership Program here: https://ashleypare.com/
• Connect with Jamie on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leejieunjamie/
• Learn more about Jamie's Bespoke Coaching Program here: https://www.jamieleecoach.com/apply
  
  About Ashley:
  Ashley Paré is a Leadership Coach, Speaker, and the CEO & Founder of Own Your Worth® who believes you are more than enough. Her mission is to activate your highest potential and deactivate your deepest fear. She helps clients connect to their inner confidence and courage to take bold action and make big asks.
  
  About Jamie, the host of Risky Conversations podcast:
  Jamie Lee is an executive coach for smart women who don't like office politics. Jamie helps them get promoted and better paid without throwing anyone under the bus. She blends practical neuroscience with no-nonsense communication frameworks to shift the brain's approach to self-advocacy. Her unique methodology empowers gutsy women to speak up for their professional value, turning workplace friction into a catalyst for personal agency and financial reward.

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Connect with me

• Book a free hour-long consultation with me. You'll leave with your custom blueprint to confidence, and we'll ensure it's a slam-dunk fit for you before you commit to working with me 1:1.
• Connect with me on LinkedIn
• Email me at jamie@jamieleecoach.com

In this episode of Risky Conversations, I sit down with global storytelling expert Gabrielle Dolan, author of Story Intelligence: The craft of authentic storytelling made smarter with AI.

Gabrielle shares how one risky career conversation led her to leave a secure executive role at a major bank to build a global storytelling practice, eventually training leaders at the Obama Foundation.

Together, we unpack why personal, values-based stories are the most underused yet powerful tool for leadership, promotion, and influence. You’ll learn

• Practical tips to uncover your own stories,
• How to avoid sounding braggy or AI-generic, and
• How to communicate in a way that feels real, memorable, and unmistakably you.

Featured:

• Connect with Gabrielle on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabrielledolan/
• Follow Gabrielle on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gabrielledolan.1/
• Keeping It Real with Jac and Ral Podcast:
• https://podfollow.com/keeping-it-real-with-jac-and-ral
• Gabrielle's Website: https://gabrielledolan.com/
• Connect with Jamie on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leejieunjamie/
• Follow Jamie on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jamieleecoach/
• Jamie's Website: https://www.jamieleecoach.com/

Text me your thoughts on this episode!

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• Don't miss an episode, listen and subscribe via Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
• Leave me a review in Apple Podcasts.

Connect with me

• Book a free hour-long consultation with me. You'll leave with your custom blueprint to confidence, and we'll ensure it's a slam-dunk fit for you before you commit to working with me 1:1.
• Connect with me on LinkedIn
• Email me at jamie@jamieleecoach.com

Informational interviews, job interviews, and offer negotiations: these are the "risky" conversations that stand between you and a career you actually love. But what if you could de-risk these moments and catapult yourself into a new dimension of success?

That is exactly what my client, Sarah-Neel Smith, PhD, did. In this episode, Sarah-Neel pulls back the curtain on her journey from feeling "stuck" in academia to pivoting into a high-impact career in philanthropy.

By combining well-structured informational interviews with coaching to advocate for her potential, she transformed her professional life—negotiating a 7% increase on her first offer and a staggering 50% pay bump on her second.

We discuss how to build self-trust, create meaningful connections, and find the "creative sharpness" that only comes when you stop grinding and start advocating for your value.

Take the next step in your own career transition:

• Join my free training for smart women who are tired of being the over-utilized yet under-appreciated "secret weapon" in their workplaces. On May 20th: Exit Negotiations: How to Get Better Paid So You Can Be Your Own Boss
• Check out Sarah-Neel's workshop on informational interviews: Small Conversations Big Impact

Text me your thoughts on this episode!

Enjoy the show?

• Don't miss an episode, listen and subscribe via Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
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Connect with me

• Book a free hour-long consultation with me. You'll leave with your custom blueprint to confidence, and we'll ensure it's a slam-dunk fit for you before you commit to working with me 1:1.
• Connect with me on LinkedIn
• Email me at jamie@jamieleecoach.com

Many people think I'm a negotiation coach, but I'm really a practitioner of change working at the intersection of ancient Eastern philosophy and modern Western neuroscience.

The Science: Quantum physicists like David Bohm and Zen masters in the mountains agree: Everything you think is "solid" (your desk, your body, your obstacles) is actually 99.9999999% empty space. Similarly, neuroscientists like Michael Gazzaniga have found that there is no singular, fixed "I" in your brain. You are a "Society of Mind," an aggregate of different parts negotiating conflicting and inherently empty impulses in real-time.

The Philosophy: In Zen, this is encapsulated in a single character: Mu (無). It often gets translated as “empty,” but it can also reference a kind of boundlessness.

The Intersection: When you realize matter is mostly space, the "solid" walls in your mind begin to soften. You realize you are not your self-talk, the very thoughts that lie at the root of professional stress.

Instead, you are the boundless potential behind the action.

What you'll learn in this episode:

02:15 – The Humble, Good News: Why you don’t need a PhD or to become a monk to benefit from these fundamental truths

04:30 – Your "Society of Mind": How the illusion of being a fixed, singular "I" is dismantled by both modern neuroscience and ancient wisdom.

06:50 – Tyranny of Self-Talk: Getting to the root of all professional stress when external circumstances don't seem to go your way.

07:45 – The Liberation of "Mu": What becomes possible when new perspectives enable new ways of thinking, feeling, and responding to circumstance beyond our control.

09:30 – The 3 Stages of Change: A roadmap through Dissolution (of negative self-talk), Mental Rehearsal, and Embodied Brave Action.

11:00 – The Fortress of Trust: Why true trust comes from realizing your "self" is not a fragile, solid thing that can be broken.

12:15 – Creator & Masterpiece: When tangible results like getting promoted and better paid are the byproduct of accessing a deeper truth of who you really are.

To learn more about working with me 1:1, come on over to https://www.jamieleecoach.com/apply

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• Email me at jamie@jamieleecoach.com

When I sat down to record this conversation with M. Cristina Alcalde, Ph.D., ACC, last December, institutional biases hadn't yet turned as blatantly fatal as they have in the aftermath of Operation Metro Surge.

But truth be told, systemic exclusion leading to institutional violence has never been news for BIPOC and immigrants.

The endlessly "moving goalposts" is just one of many ways BIPOC professionals experience institutional bias in the workplace.

My guest Dr. Cristina Alcalde is an anthropologist, author, leadership coach, and professor of Global and Intercultural Studies at Miami University in Ohio.

In this episode, we explored:

• Beyond "Us vs. Them": Why addressing institutional whiteness isn't about attacking people, but about fixing the hidden systems that block everyone from equity.
• The "Illusion Bubble": Why the status quo feels so "natural" to some, while creating moving goalposts for high-achieving women of color.
• Feminist Curiosity: How to stop being "complicit" and start asking the risky question: "Who actually benefits from the status quo?"
• Agency in the Heavy Moments: Navigating institutional hate while holding onto our internal authority and resistance.
• Connecting the Dots: How historical exclusions—like redlining—continue to build the workplace barriers we see today.

Mentioned in this episode:

• Connect with Dr. Cristina Alcalde on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/m-cristina-alcalde-ph-d-24b71b8b/
• Dr. Cristina Alcalde's Faculty Webpage: https://miamioh.edu/profiles/cas/m-cristina-alcalde.html
• Dr. Cristina Alcalde's Website: https://www.crisalcalde.com/
• Donate to Support our St. Paul Public Schools Community Fund https://my.cheddarup.com/c/support-our-st-paul-public-schools-community/items
• Learn more about Jamie's Executive Coaching Services: https://www.jamieleecoach.com/apply

Text me your thoughts on this episode!

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• Book a free hour-long consultation with me. You'll leave with your custom blueprint to confidence, and we'll ensure it's a slam-dunk fit for you before you commit to working with me 1:1.
• Connect with me on LinkedIn
• Email me at jamie@jamieleecoach.com