Beth Battaglino, RN, CEO of HealthyWomen.org, joins The Power of the Ask to illustrate how health literacy and financial security are directly connected. Beth draws on more than three decades of women's health advocacy to explain why delaying care, skipping screenings, and staying quiet in the doctor's office can carry real financial consequences. She also shares how she made the boldest ask of her career, turning a hospital's about-to-close nonprofit into one of the country's leading women's health organizations.

Key takeaways from this important conversation:

• Health Literacy and Financial Security Go Hand in Hand: Women who understand their health and act early live longer, work longer, and face fewer financially devastating medical crises down the road.
• Delayed Care Has a Price Tag: Skipping preventative screenings delays diagnosis, increases treatment costs, and can derail a woman's ability to work and earn.
• Ask for the Second Opinion: A second opinion is not a betrayal of your provider. The smartest healthcare professionals encourage it, and the most empowered patients demand it.
• Know Your Numbers (All of Them): Blood pressure, cholesterol, glucose, and Lp(a) are non-negotiables. One simple blood test for Lp(a) can reveal a hidden heart risk most women don't know to ask about.
• Alignment Before the Ask: When building partnerships, Beth leads with shared values, not a wish list. That philosophy has sustained HealthyWomen for 35 years.

Important Links:

• Savvy Ladies (https://www.savvyladies.org/)
• Precious Williams' LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/precious-l-williams/)
• Lisa Zeiderman's LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisazeiderman/
• Beth Battaglino's LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/beth-battaglino-14b6165/)

Important Links for Beth:

• Healthy Women (https://www.healthywomen.org/)

About Beth Battaglino:

Beth Battaglino is the president and chief executive officer of HealthyWomen, the nation’s leading independent, nonprofit health information source for women dedicated to educating women to make informed health choices.

Beth brings a unique combination of sharp business expertise and women’s health insight to her leadership of the organization. She has worked in the healthcare industry for more than 25 years, helping to define and drive public education programs on a broad range of women’s health issues.

Beth launched and has expanded the HealthyWomen brand. As a result of her leadership, HealthyWomen was recognized as one of the top 100 women’s health websites by Oprah magazine and by Forbes, for three consecutive years. HealthyWomen now connects to millions of women across the country through its wide program distribution and innovative use of technology.

She is also a practicing nurse in maternal child health. In addition to her nursing degree, Beth holds degrees in business and public administration from Marymount University.

Leadership coach, somatic practitioner, and Café con Pam podcast host Pam Covarrubias joins The Power of the Ask to talk about what keeps high-achieving first-generation women stuck, silent, and overworked, and what it takes to break free. Pam introduces the concept of Calladita Culture, the inherited system of silence and submission that conditions women to stay small, underpay themselves, and perform for approval rather than lead from truth. She walks through her Unmute & Reclaim Method and explains why certainty, not confidence, is the real foundation of lasting change.

Pam, Lisa, and Precious explore:

• Certainty Before Confidence: Confidence without roots won't hold. When you know who you are and what you want without needing external approval, confidence follows naturally.
• How Your Body Keeps Score: If you're getting sick after every work trip or only resting when forced, your body is sending a signal. Learning to listen is the first step toward change.
• The Five Wounds of Calladita Culture: Silence, worth, power, and the other wounds underneath this system show up as both over- and underperformance. Awareness is where healing starts.
• Why Woleness-Based Leadership Starts with Self-Knowledge: The best leaders don't borrow a style. They do the inner work to understand how they lead best, then build from that place.
• One Somatic Step You Can Take Today: Place your hand on your chest, slow your exhale, and ask your body what you're carrying that's stopping you from asking for what you want.

Important Links:

• Savvy Ladies (https://www.savvyladies.org/)
• Precious Williams' LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/precious-l-williams/)
• Lisa Zeiderman's LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisazeiderman/
• Pam Covarrubias's LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/pamcovarrubias/

Important Links for Pam:

• Pam Covarrubias's Website: https://www.spreadideasmovepeople.com/

About Pam Covarrubias:

Pam Covarrubias is a leadership coach, podcast host, and somatic practitioner… but what she really does is help first-gen high-achievers break up with performance culture and lead from presence instead of proving. She is also the creator of the Unmute & Reclaim™ Method and Calladita Culture® frameworks built for women who are tired of biting their tongues, betraying their bodies, and burning out just to belong. Through her coaching and consulting work, she has partnered with big brands and organizations, helping teams and individuals lead from wholeness instead of burnout.

Through nervous system regulation, somatic healing, and cultural deconditioning, she helps women stop hustling for their worth and start leading from wholeness. And she has spent a decade using her podcast, Café con Pam, to elevate Latine voices and people of the Global Majority, dismantling the BS conditioning that keeps us playing small. Because before there’s confidence… there’s certainty. And Pam believes, certainty lives in the body.

Financial thought leader and author Manisha Thakor joins the show to share her approach to financial health and emotional wealth. With over 30 years of experience in financial services, Manisha provides a clear roadmap for dismantling the cultural pressure on women to be perfect. She discusses the core principles of her book, MoneyZen, and explores how women can reclaim their power by asking the right questions of their employers, their partners, and themselves.

You’ll hear Manisha discuss:

• The Perfection Trap: Why the societal expectation for women to be perfect prevents them from asking for raises, and how to embrace the bravery required to advocate for your worth.
• Joy-Based Spending: A practical exercise to audit expenses and identify where life energy is being drained by social obligations or costs that offer no emotional return.
• Financial Compatibility: The necessity of discussing money values early in relationships to ensure long-term alignment and stability.
• The Reality of Wealth: Why assuming net worth based on outward appearances is a mistake and how to stop comparing yourself to a curated image.

Important Links:

• Savvy Ladies (https://www.savvyladies.org/)
• Precious Williams' LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/precious-l-williams/)
• Lisa Zeiderman's LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisazeiderman/
• Manisha Thakor's LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/manishathakor/)

Important Links for Manisha:

• Manisha's Books Link: (https://moneyzen.com/my-books/)
• Money Zen Website: (https://moneyzen.com/)

About Manisha Thakor:

Manisha Thakor has worked in financial services for more than thirty years, with an emphasis on women’s economic empowerment and financial well-being.

A nationally recognized thought-leader in this space, Thakor has been featured in a wide range of publications, including the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, NPR, PBS, CNN, Real Simple, and Women’s Health. In her most recent book, Money Zen, she breaks down the personal, cultural, and societal forces that have led us to falsely believe we can never have, do, or be enough, and shows us a fresh new path toward “MoneyZen”—her joy-based approach to living a life rich in financial health and emotional wealth.