Her Career Unplugged | Career Advice for Women, Leadership & Real Stories – Details, episodes & analysis

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Her Career Unplugged | Career Advice for Women, Leadership & Real Stories

Vimala Pydi and Joanne Skiles

Business

Frequency: 1 episode/19d. Total Eps: 14

Her Career Unplugged is a podcast for women navigating career growth, leadership, and professional development. Hosted by Vimala Pydi and Joanne Skiles, the show features honest conversations with women at all stages of their careers. We talk about job searching, salary negotiation, career transitions, leadership, mentorship, impostor syndrome, burnout, and the pivots and setbacks that rarely show up on a resume. No buzzwords. No highlight reels. Just real stories and practical insights for navigating your career.

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Data updated on 29/09/2026

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https://hercareerunplugged.com/episodes/ep-014
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https://ericariveracoaching.com/
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https://ericariveracoaching.com
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https://www.youtube.com/@hercareerunplugged
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https://www.linkedin.com/in/erica-rivera-recruiter/
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Score global : 52%

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When the Playbook Breaks: Rebuilding Your Career After a Layoff

Season 1 · Episode 14

Monday, September 28, 2026 • Duration 37:46

What happens when you do everything right and the career you built still stops feeling like yours?

Joanne and Vimala talk with career coach Erica Rivera, who spent years reading resumes inside Indeed and Google until a November 2023 layoff email changed everything. Erica explains why women so often treat a layoff as a personal failure, and shares the "career story walkthrough" she uses to separate what actually happened from the story you're telling yourself.

In this episode:• The moment the playbook broke, and handing the layoff email to her husband to read• Why "I'm the problem" is the wrong story• Taking inventory of your skills in a job market reshaped by AI• How rejection pushed Erica to go all in on coaching and move her family abroad• A laid-off tech professional whose hand-drawn vegetable cards are now sold in eight Colorado stores• Fear of rejection, and the interviews Joanne and Vimala once skipped• Getting comfortable being seen on LinkedIn, at your own pace• Rapid fire: the worst career advice, "burn down the lane," and the resume myths that need to die

A layoff is an event, not an identity.

Connect with Erica: https://ericariveracoaching.com | https://www.linkedin.com/in/erica-rivera-recruiter/

Show notes: https://hercareerunplugged.com/episodes/ep-014Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@hercareerunpluggedInstagram: @hercareerunplugged

Enjoying the show? Follow and leave a rating. It helps more women find us.

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Success Shouldn't Erode You: Dr. Judy Wright's P.A.C.E. Method for Sustainable Success

Monday, September 14, 2026 • Duration 32:55

Success shouldn't cost you your health. Dr. Judy Wright, physician, TEDx speaker, and sustainable success strategist, joins Joanne and Vimala to unpack her P.A.C.E. method: Pause, Audit, Calibrate, Elevate. After burning out multiple times and facing a cancer diagnosis, Dr. Judy stopped asking "why is this job so hard" and started asking "how did I get here again." This episode digs into self-leadership vs. self-care, why saying no more makes your yeses count, and how high-achieving women can build success that's actually built to last. Rapid-fire round included.

Stay Unplugged.

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From Invisible to Award-Winning: Bry Bird's Visibility Strategy for Neurodivergent Founders

Season 1 · Episode 12

Monday, August 31, 2026 • Duration 37:00

Ever feel like your work should speak for itself, but somehow no one's listening? Bry Bird used to feel invisible in her industry too, until she stopped trying to blend in and started treating her personal brand like the business it actually is. Now she's an award-winning creative strategist based in Essex, England, with press features and a client roster to match; and she did it in a matter of months, not years.

If you've ever wondered whether visibility is worth the effort, or you've been quietly building without seeing results, this episode is your playbook.

In this episode, we cover:

Why Bry stopped hiding her neurodivergence and how it became her competitive advantage
The three-part ecosystem (brand, website, social) that judges and clients actually notice
What award judges are really evaluating when they choose who to invest in
How to tell if your content is working even when engagement looks quiet
Why rest and mental health days are a business investment, not a luxury

Connect with Bry: hithisisbry.com | @hithisisbry on Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, and Substack

Follow Her Career Unplugged on Spotify, YouTube, and Apple Podcasts so you never miss an episode. New conversations drop every two weeks.

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No Talent Required: Building Culture, Trust, and Courage with Lynne Ghelfi

Season 1 · Episode 11

Monday, August 17, 2026 • Duration 25:16

Lynne Ghelfi built a career in one of the most male-dominated industries out there, the automotive world, going from stay-at-home mom to top-three car salesperson to marketing director in under two years. Now a John Maxwell certified coach, she's writing "No Talent Required: The Twelve Leadership Practices That Drive Culture, Trust, and Productivity."

In this episode, Lynne breaks down why leadership isn't a title, it's a mindset. We talk personality styles (the Maxwell DISC method), the "face the mirror" practice for resetting your attitude, and the story about her mom that taught her real courage in leadership. Plus: her biggest career risk, her leadership superpower, and the one sentence she'd put on a billboard for every woman in automotive.

If you've ever doubted whether you're "leader material," this one's for you.

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Career Glow Up: Betting on Yourself and Getting Off the Struggle Bus with Allison Hemmings

Season 1 · Episode 10

Monday, August 3, 2026 • Duration 39:45

You've stayed in a job way past its expiration date. You've told yourself "this is just how it is." This episode is for you.

Joanne and Vimala sit down with Allison Hemmings, the Career Glow-Up Coach and founder of Newo Executive Solutions. Allison built a community of over 22,000 executive women, coached thousands into six-figure negotiations, and then sold her house, her car, and her comfort zone to move to Costa Rica. She talks about losing both her parents within a year, her mom's last words to "live your life," and why she couldn't bring her old business with her when she started over.

If you've ever stayed somewhere because it felt safer than starting over, this conversation will hit close to home.

In this episode:

Why comfort zones are the biggest thing holding women back mid-career
The "career as real estate" framework for negotiating what you're actually worth
Why loyalty to a company rarely gets returned
Grief, reinvention, and deciding to live without limitations
Getting off the struggle bus for good

Follow Her Career Unplugged on Spotify, YouTube, Instagram, and LinkedIn for new episodes.

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The Job Search Buddy: Networking, Visibility, and Getting Seen with Jodi Gorenstein

Season 1 · Episode 9

Monday, July 20, 2026 • Duration 36:01

You've been ghosted by recruiters. You've sent fifty applications into a black hole. You've wondered if the job market is broken or if it's just you.

This week we sit down with Jodi Gorenstein, a 20+ year HR leader who spent over a decade at American Express before launching HR Super Connector, a job search consultancy she calls her passion project. Jodi has helped clients at every level, from recent grads to C-suite executives, get seen, get interviews, and get better offers than the ones they started with.

Jodi walks us through the real mechanics of a modern job search: why a role posted on LinkedIn might already be filled, how to reach out to a stranger without sounding desperate, and why the second follow-up matters more than the first. She also gets personal about being let go from a job she loved and realizing it was the best thing that ever happened to her career.

If you've ever felt invisible in a stack of applicants, or wondered whether networking is really worth the discomfort, this conversation is your playbook.

In this episode:

How Jodi found her way into HR after a "circuitous," self-doubting start
Why being laid off from American Express opened her biggest opportunity
The three phases of a job search: get ready, get seen, land the job
Why vague networking asks fail, and what to say instead
How to write your own LinkedIn testimonial request (and why it works better)
The follow-up rule that gets resumes off the pile and into the right hands
Best and worst career advice, rapid-fire style

Follow Her Career Unplugged on Spotify, YouTube, Instagram, and LinkedIn for new episodes.

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Show Your Worth: Engineering Your Ascent with Shelmina Abji

Season 1 · Episode 8

Monday, July 6, 2026 • Duration 53:09

She left Tanzania at 15 with no safety net and no plan B. Today she's one of the highest-ranking women of color to serve as VP at IBM.

Shelmina Abji, author of Show Your Worth and founder of ShowYourWorth.ai, joins us to break down how she built her career strategy from the ground up, and how you can too.

If you've ever kept your head down instead of speaking up, or wondered if you need a mentor or a sponsor, this conversation will shift how you think about your own path.

We get into:

Defining success on your own terms
Mentor vs. sponsor, and when you need each
Why leadership branding isn't self-promotion
The voice of fear vs. the voice of courage
The "power quotient" concept

Follow Her Career Unplugged wherever you listen for more real talk on the gap between the polished narrative and the actual career.

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Stuck or Strategic: Knowing the Difference Could Save Your Career

Season 1 · Episode 7

Monday, June 15, 2026 • Duration 27:12

You've been in your role for two years. You know the job, people respect you, nothing is on fire. But every few months, that little voice shows up and asks if you should be doing more by now. Is it right? Maybe. Or maybe it's just noise.

This week, we (Joanne and Vimala) get into one of the most misunderstood moments in any career journey: the pause. Not every stall is a failure. Not every plateau means you've given up. But there's a real difference between a strategic pause and quietly coasting, and knowing which one you're in changes everything.

Joanne shares the story of taking a horizontal move right after her second son was born, when everyone, including herself, expected her to push for a VP title. Vimala talks about the season she stopped chasing promotions and chose to flex instead of hustle. And together they make the case that pausing on purpose, with intention and a timeline, is not the same as getting stuck.

If you've ever felt behind on someone else's timeline, turned down an opportunity because the timing was wrong, or wondered whether your LinkedIn silence is a red flag, this episode is for you.

Topics covered include:

What a career stall actually means (and how it changes at different life stages)
The difference between a strategic pause and coasting
Joanne's PhD pivot, 50% pay cut, and what happened when she came back to industry
How to stay relevant while you're in your pause
Rapid fire: stuck or strategic? Eight career scenarios, one honest answer each

Follow Her Career Unplugged on LinkedIn and YouTube, and listen on your favorite platform.

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Start Before You Feel Ready: Building a Tech Startup in Your 20s with Natesha Mortimer

Season 1 · Episode 6

Monday, June 1, 2026 • Duration 24:28

There is no roadmap for when you decide to build something from scratch. But there are lessons that actually shape you as a founder, and they show up long before you ever write a business plan.

In this episode of Her Career Unplugged, we sit down with Natesha Mortimer, Georgia Tech grad student, data entrepreneur, and founder of Data Swale, for a conversation about what building a company in your 20s actually looks like when you strip away the Instagram version. We talk about the moment you realize a need keeps finding you, why the "be your own boss" dream glosses over the part where you are also your own accountant, marketer, and calendar manager, and how showing up before you feel ready is often the only move that works.

Natesha shares why she refuses to give energy to imposter syndrome, how she built a support system that followed her out of corporate into entrepreneurship, and the flywheel framework she uses to turn community into opportunity over time. She also gets real about burnout, and the triangle she draws in her planner to make sure career ambition does not quietly swallow everything else.

If you have ever talked yourself out of starting something because the timing was not right, wondered how young founders actually build their networks, or felt like the only person in the room who had not figured it out yet, this one is for you.

In this episode:

Why starting before you feel ready is not reckless, it is the whole strategy
What entrepreneurship actually looks like when the social media filter comes off
How to build genuine community that opens doors without feeling transactional
The triangle method for staying grounded when you are chasing big goals
Why refusing to give energy to imposter syndrome is itself a practice

Follow Her Career Unplugged on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube. New episodes weekly.

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Nobody Told Us: The Unwritten Rules of Office Politics

Season 1 · Episode 5

Monday, May 18, 2026 • Duration 29:05

Nobody handed you a guide to office politics on your first day. But those unwritten rules? They were already shaping your career before you even knew the game existed.

In this episode of Her Career Unplugged, we pull back the curtain on the workplace dynamics nobody warns you about: the decisions made in rooms you are not in, the informal power structures that run alongside the org chart, and the moment you realize you are part of the politics, whether you opted in or not.

Vimala shares a raw, personal story about being labeled part of a workplace "mafia" in a group she actively disliked. Joanne opens up about her early days at Lockheed Martin, a boss who drove every woman off the team, and the advice she wishes she had taken before finally walking out. Together, we break down how to read the room, when to go to your boss's boss, when to find a mentor, and when the only smart move is to leave on your own terms.

If you have ever felt blindsided by workplace dynamics, wondered why the most excellent people get passed over, or found yourself in a political situation you did not choose, this episode is for you.

In this episode:

Why being excellent at your job is not the same as being seen for it
The "party planning committee" rule and what it really means
How to navigate office politics without losing yourself or your reputation
Why how you leave a job matters as much as how you show up

Follow Her Career Unplugged on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube. New episodes weekly.

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Her Career Unplugged | Career Advice for Women, Leadership & Real Stories – Details, episodes & analysis

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Her Career Unplugged | Career Advice for Women, Leadership &amp; Real Stories – Details, episodes & analysis

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Her Career Unplugged | Career Advice for Women, Leadership & Real Stories – Details, episodes & analysis