The Empowering Women Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

May is Mental Health Awareness Month - a time to pause and rethink how we care for ourselves and the people around us. Because the truth is, many of us are running fast… and, let’s be honest, running tired.

In this episode of the Empowering Women Podcast, Shannon sits down with workplace wellbeing expert, keynote speaker, and author Jen Fisher to explore a powerful idea: hope isn’t just a feeling—it’s a leadership skill.

Jen shaped the conversation around wellbeing as the first-ever Chief Wellbeing Officer at Deloitte, helping organizations rethink burnout, human sustainability, and what it truly means to lead people—not just manage performance.

But Jen’s work didn’t start in a boardroom. It started with her own experience navigating burnout and discovering that real hope is not passive. It’s intentional. It’s actionable. And it can transform the way we lead, work, and live.

Together, Shannon and Jen unpack why hope matters more than ever in today’s world of work, how leaders can cultivate it within their teams, and why the smallest steps forward often create the biggest change.

If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed, burned out, or unsure how to keep moving forward - this conversation the breath of fresh air you’ve been looking for.

And maybe a reminder that hope isn’t naïve. It’s strategic.

Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Kuz0wuf9NKY

💬 Gems from Jen:

“I want you to behave and lead in a way that inspires hope.”

“Do you want to be the leader of a hopeful organization or a hopeless organization?”

“Hope requires three things. It requires a goal, clarity around that goal, pathways to reach it, and the agency to actually impact change.”

“Real hope requires action.”

“Eleven years ago we weren't having these conversations in the workplace—we weren’t talking about well-being, and we certainly weren’t talking about burnout.”

“If one pathway is blocked, you can switch and say: that didn’t work, what did I learn? I’m going to move to the next pathway.”

🔗 Episode Resources & Links:

🌐 Connect with Jen Fisher

• Website 
• LinkedIn 
• Instagram

💼 Media to Explore

• TEDx Talk: The Future of Work
• The WorkWell Podcast 

📚 Books & Research Mentioned

• Hope Is the Strategy — Jen Fisher 
• Hope Theory Research — C.R. Snyder

EMPOWERING WOMEN IN INDUSTRY LINKS

Empowering Women in Industry Membership

Empowering Women in Industry Magazine

Empowering Women in Industry Website

Empowering Women in Industry Carolinas Conference

Empowering Women in Industry Virtual Events

May 6 is National Skilled Trades Day — a day dedicated to celebrating the makers, builders, and problem-solvers who quite literally shape the world around us.

In this episode of the Empowering Women Podcast, Shannon sits down with Rebecca Heustess, certified tile installer, lead tile setter at Grazzini Brothers & Company, and the 2025 Empowering Women in Industry Tradeswoman of the Year.

Rebecca’s journey into the trades didn’t begin with a master plan. It began with curiosity, grit, and a willingness to try something new. Over the years, she has worked her way from helper to lead tile setter, mentoring others along the way and becoming a powerful advocate for women entering the skilled trades.

Together, Shannon and Rebecca talk about the art and science behind tile setting, the confidence that comes with mastering a craft, and why community organizations like NAWIC and Empowering Women in Industry can transform careers.

Rebecca also shares a powerful story about allyship on the job site, the myths she’d love to bust about women in construction, and why she believes the skilled trades are one of the most rewarding career paths out there.

If you’ve ever wondered what it looks like to build a career — and a community — with your own two hands, this conversation is for you.

Watch the interview on YouTube: https://youtu.be/njTPlehwWRY

💬 Gems from Rebecca:

“Grout is her glitter”

“There’s something about tile that when it just gets in your blood, it’s in your blood. Tile people stay in it for the longevity.” 

“Once I gained the confidence in myself is really when I knew this is where I was meant to be.” 

“When I joined NAWIC, it gave me a newfound appreciation for what I actually do and the impact that I can make in this industry, being a woman in construction.” 

“It’s not a puzzle. It’s a puzzle that we have to build, cut, and then put back together.” 

“Just because I have pretty nails doesn’t mean I don’t get them dirty.” 

“If we weren’t built to do everything a man can do, we’re built to do what a man can’t do.”

🔗 Episode Resources & Links:

👷Organizations Mentioned

National Association of Women in Construction (NAWIC)
National Tile Contractors Association (NTCA)

📚 Articles

NAWIC Article

Tile Letter Article

💼 Connect with Rebecca on social media

Facebook

Instagram

LinkedIn

EMPOWERING WOMEN IN INDUSTRY LINKS

Empowering Women in Industry Membership

Empowering Women in Industry Magazine

Empowering Women in Industry Website

Empowering Women in Industry Carolinas Conference

Empowering Women in Industry Virtual Events

🔊 Description: 

What really powers manufacturing? People. 

In this Manufacturing Day episode, Shannon is joined by Ellen Sieminski, a lean expert, continuous improvement coach, and board member of the Association for Manufacturing Excellence (AME). With 25+ years in the industry, Ellen brings deep experience and fresh perspective on how women, allies, and curious leaders are shaping the future of manufacturing. 

From the shop floor to the boardroom, Ellen shares why lean is never just about process—it’s about engagement, culture, and people. 

💬 Quotes from Ellen in this episode: 

• “If you’re not engaging the people doing the work, you’re missing the point of lean.”
• “I want to be the person who brings the energy and says—let's not be afraid to try something new.”
• “Women bring a level of awareness and perspective that is essential to long-term improvement and innovation.”
• “Manufacturing doesn’t look like it did 30 years ago. And it shouldn’t.”

🔗 Episode Resources & Links: 

• AME Website: https://www.ame.org
• AME International Conference (St. Louis | Oct 6–9, 2025): AME St. Louis 2025 International Conference | Association for Manufacturing Excellence
• Books Mentioned: Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead by Sheryl Sandberg 
• Connect with Ellen on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/ellen-sieminski-364b54

🔥 Whether you're deep in manufacturing or just love a good leadership story—this episode is your reminder that excellence doesn’t start with machines… it starts with us.

Watch on YouTube

EMPOWERING WOMEN IN INDUSTRY LINKS

Empowering Women in Industry Membership

National Event - Registration Link!!

Empowering Women in Industry Magazine

Empowering Women in Industry Website

Empowering Women in Industry Virtual Events
 

Episode 8 of the Empowering Women Podcast

Guest: Ingrid Lindberg, Founder & CEO of Chief Customer Consulting

Bio: Ingrid Lindberg is the founding owner of Chief Customer Consulting. She is the first person to hold the title of CXO, or Chief Customer Experience Officer. From the early age of 14, Ingrid began working full-time at a salon; she soon worked her way into retail, and then retail management at the age of 17. Leveraging her customer service experience, she took advantage of opportunities to catapult into the world of customer experience, which was really just becoming a thing when she got into it. In our discussion, Ingrid shares her story of working her way up to executive leadership in Corporate America as a Customer Experience expert. 

Resources

Book - Words of Wisdom from Women to Watch: Career Reflections from Leaders in the Commercial Insurance Industry

Alan Cooper, Resource for User Experience

Women Rising: The Unseen Barriers (by HBR on Second Generation Bias)

Notable Quotes

"Your voice matters. Raise it. Own it. Use it."

"There's room for all of us to succeed and there's absolutely no reason why you shouldn't be on that path. If you want it, raise your voice."

"When you tell the top 10 execs they have to find someone to mentor, it has to be 5 women and 5 women... And actually putting numbers around who you're helping to lift through the organization... you're creating dissonance in the fraternity. "

"There's so much fear that drives silence."

"Corporate America has been built around the support of the fraternity, from the places where "deals are done" to the business that is done over brown liquor and cigars. The fraternity was built to help men get from one stage to another is one that seems impenetrable for women... Fraternities have built a certain kind of toxic business environment of insiders and exclusion. I questioned the assumption that I should try to join."

"When I was managing a team of all men who would invite me to lunches, but would never take me to Friday night happy hour... so I followed them once. And walked straight into the strip club that was three and a half blocks from work. And sat down with them and said,

Episode 6 of the Empowering Women Podcast

GUEST: 

Drena Howard is a Senior Environmental, Health, Safety and Sustainability professional with 15 years of experience in retail, manufacturing and warehouse, spanning cosmetics, building system services, and aerospace. Drena holds a Bachelor of Science in Biology from South Carolina State University, which is an important Historically black university, or HBCU. Drena also holds a Masters of Environmental Management and a Master of Public Health, both from Yale University. Drena is recognized as a leader in EHS as showcased by her roles with the National Association of Environmental Managers, where she is currently on the board of directors.

--

Notable Quotes and Concepts from Drena:

What do you like about being in Environmental Health & Safety

“Serious injuries can completely alter a person’s life… being able to prevent something like that from happening…so that they can have their limbs, their mobility, and can provide for themselves and their family as well as do the things they love to do on the weekends… makes my day”

 - 

Regarding how Drena would like to see the EHS profession change:

“There are a lot more people of color and women in the environmental health and safety profession, but they’re not always represented in conferences or trade events and trade shows… I would encourage organizations – if you have up and coming talent, whether they be women, people of color, LGBTQA, etc. that instead of just always sending your most senior people to the conference, send some of your more junior people. Send some of your more diverse candidates to these conferences, to these trade shows. Because it shows representation of your organization as well as it is a way to groom and develop your talent through their exposure, the things that they learn from the conference…”

-  

“I am passionate about environmental justice because if you can improve the health and quality of air, quality of water in these communities, it gives more people an opportunity to go on to advanced education because they’re not sick and missing school. And if they’re not sick and missing school, then they have more job opportunities. It creates a stronger pipeline for the future as a whole… Environmental justice is not just limited to ‘not in my back yard.’ It’s what are some of those opportunities to improve the air, the water, the basic things that people need to function and live, which then opens up so many more pathways for success. ”

 -  

“Ask for what you what. Ask about the opportunities ”

Episode 6 of the Empowering Women Podcast

GUEST: Sepi Saidi, Civil Engineer & Entrepreneur, Founding Owner of SEPI, Inc.

Sepi Saidi is a visionary leader who founded SEPI Engineering &
Construction in 2001 and has led the company to become a premier
full service civil, environmental planning, and construction
management engineering firm in the Southeast. The firm’s awards
include Fast 50 firm by Triangle Business Journal, Zweig White Hot
Firm List, Inc. 5000, and being ranked as a Top 500 Design Firm on
the Engineering News-Record’s 2017 list.

Incorporating the firm’s core values, SEPI is dedicated to providing a
unique work space and environment for its employees to plan,
design, build, and give back to the communities in which we serve.
With a dedicated passion to support organizations that align with the
health, safety, and well-being of the families in our communities,
Ms. Saidi and the firm are proud to be champions of community
service.

A Professional Engineer and alumna of North Carolina State
University, with degrees in Civil and Agricultural Engineering, Ms.
Saidi has been named by the Triangle Business Journal as the 2018
Businessperson of the Year, was recently selected as a Charlotte
Business Journal 2018 Women in Business Achievement Award
winner, and has been inducted into the North Carolina Business Hall
of Fame.

QUOTES

Episode 5 of the Empowering Women Podcast

Guest: Jackie Saling, Chemical Engineer and Remediation Community of Practice Leader at Arcadis

Jackie Saling has over seventeen years of professional experience in the environmental consulting industry and is a registered Professional Engineer in the State of Michigan. At Arcadis, Ms. Saling is lead engineer for several large accounts where she develops technical project strategy, effectively communicates complex technical concepts to clients, regulators, and stakeholders, and builds strong technical project teams to execute complex technical solutions to meet the needs of clients. Ms. Saling supports the in-situ remediation discipline at Arcadis and has led the air sparge and soil vapor extraction (AS/SVE) and in-situ chemical oxidation (ISCO) communities of practice. Through these roles, she is known as a national resource within the company to provide assistance with the evaluation of Sites for the use of in situ remedies; designing and performing field pilot tests; full scale design and implementation; and optimization of the operation of in situ remedies. In addition, Ms.Saling’s engineering-related experience includes developing feasibility studies and remedial strategies; designing and performing pilot tests; designing and installing full-scale remediation systems; troubleshooting and optimizing remedial systems; generating design specifications, remedial investigation work plans, remedial action work plans, and associated project reports; developing project budgets; and preparing cost analyses for remedial alternatives.

Discussion

• Arcadis
• Remediation
• Jackie's project that won the Arcadis pro-bono contest

Notable Jackie Quotes

"When I was just focused on being technical and going into technical leadership, I couldn't get anywhere because there was a structure and no way to move up very quickly. When I recognized that the fastest way to get where I wanted to go may not be a straight line, and that by coming much more well rounded about our business in general... it was amazing! It all came full circle and I got right where I wanted to be."

"A lot of people listening will be engineers, scientists, linear thinkers... but for your career, that might not be the fastest way to get from point A to point B."

"Something I've had to learn as a leader is the art of building a team so that I can take off my plate the things that are opportunities for others..."

"What she had been branded with as being a bad attitude was not at all a bad attitude. It was basically she commanded authority when she was in the field... it was all these traits where if it had been a man in the field, he would have been a rock star. So she was being cast off as like a problem child... I tried to make her aware of the perception. And by me being her manager, I could be her advocate... She grew to be my go to for everything."

"Just having those women to talk to, bounce ideas off of and celebrate our successes has been career and life changing for me..."

Episode 4 of the Empowering Women Podcast

Guest: Christen Wood, Wastewater Operator

Christen is currently the Operations Administrator at the County of Summit Department of Sanitary Sewer Services. She has been working in the wastewater field since 2008, first at the City of Ashtabula wastewater laboratory, then in both laboratory and operations roles for the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District. Her education includes a Master of Business Administration and a Bachelor of Science from the University of Findlay. She currently holds certifications as a Professional Operator, Wastewater Treatment Class IV; Ohio Class III Wastewater Operator; and Ohio Class II Wastewater Analyst. She is passionate about Operations Challenge competition and sharing the excitement of clean water with the world, including through the wastewater twitter community as @sewer_chic. Her achievements include OWEA Professional Wastewater Operations Award, NESOWEA Herb Hansen Award, and writing the winning WEF Fight Song: Treat the Water Right.

LinkedIn Article Mel wrote about Christen's "Career Manifesto" Advice:

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/guiding-principals-career-manifesto-mel-butcher/

Notable Christen Quotes

“The doctors of the world are very celebrated as they should be, but wastewater operators save more lives each year by protecting the waters that people are drinking and fishing and swimming in….”

“People see roads and bridges and think of infrastructure. They don’t think about the water and wastewater pipes that are running underground that may have been their hundreds of years. And worse yet, we’re facing this huge need for infrastructure because the Clean Water Act, a lot of the equipment that was put in the ground or in the plants for that reason is starting to reach its expected lifespan. Convincing people that it’s worth it to spend the money to upgrade these systems to continue to clean the water is sometimes hard if they don’t recognize that service is being provided in the first place…”

“I love challenging others and myself, I’m certainly not exempt from this; there are plenty of colleagues I have not gotten along with… I really think it’s important to find the value and worth of everyone that you work with, regardless of your own personal style.”

“She stared right at the class and she said I need to tell you this, this is important, pay attention. If you have to choose between a loud job and a stinky job, choose the stinky job and here’s why. And she proceeded to tell us that your ears will physically hear every sound coming in. So if somebody is using a jackhammer outside of your house, you will hear every time it strikes. For your nose, however, it will only  detect changes. So for example, if you walk into your house at the end of the day, you might notice it smells like your house… After 10 minutes or so, you don’t notice”

“Part of the problem in our industry is that we don’t have enough women. We also don’t have a lot of minorities. Where I’m currently working, I was the diversity program walking in the door.”

“I can speak to this through the operations challenge. I’ve found that when I was building my operations challenge team, the best people (team members) are from really different backgrounds. Having someone that’s in management and someone that’s in a union, and someone that’s black, and someone that’s a woman, and someone with sales experience, and someone that worked at Olive Garden. When you get people from all those different backgrounds coming together against a single problem, you will find the right answer...”

“If you’ve never toured a

Episode 3 of the Empowering Women Podcast

Guest: Jenny Han, Architect, Director of Design Operations at Skender

Jenny Han is a licensed Architect based in Chicago. Her specialities include design of healthcare facilities. Ms. Han also has a special interest in the intersection of space and community. She shared her story of being the daughter of immigrants and what it was like to find her path at the intersection of art and science. 

QUOTES

“It is important to me to lead, to not say “no”, even if it is something I’m fearful of”.

“If somebody else has faith I can do something, I give it a shot… That has enabled me to do things I wouldn’t normally volunteer myself for.”

“If there’s three reasons to do anything, I always say you should do it.”

“The overriding theme with golf is like anything in your career…. Just show up. Don’t be so paralyzed and afraid that you don’t even show up to your seat at the table.”

“Find mentors in all aspects of your life that fulfill different roles and needs you might have…”

Concepts and Resources Discussed

•      National Council of Architectural Registration Boards 
•      Panopticon
•      Ethnography
•      Public Housing
•      Robert Taylor Homes
•      Lean Manufacturing
•      Value Engineering

Jenny's Education

•      Cornel Architecture
•      University of Chicago

Companies & Organizations Discussed

•      Proteus Group
•      Skender
•      Young Women Warrio

Episode 2 of the Empowering Women Podcast

Renee shared her career path. She started her career in the HVACR space without any technical training. She courageously shared her experience of leaving the workforce to become a caretaker for her terminally ill father, and her experience returning after some time away. Renee has exception, heart-felt advice for women working their way up in male-dominated career spaces. It's also obvious from her talk, that she has a deep passion for diversity, and works towards improving the environment for all people in the HVACR space. 

Renee on Twitter: @ReneeJoseph15

Links to Subjects Renee Discussed

• Johnson Controls
• Burj Khalifa 
• Life of a BTU Video by Johnson Controls 
• Understanding Building Automation System
• Changing Demographics in the HVACR Industry White Paper
• Spending time with the coolest women in industry
• TRANE
• AHR
• ASHRAE
• P&L – Profit and Loss Statement in operating a business
• CRM  - Customer Relationship Management  

QUOTES

“You really have to make sure everyone has a seat at the table and that you encourage and coach out those voices so that everyone can be heard.” 

“We know statistically that teams that are more diverse are higher performing teams… we use a lot of that data to encourage bringing those diverse teams together, especially on big important projects to show how the diversity in thinking can help produce better results.”