What would you do differently the second time around? I’m getting the chance to dig deep into this question as I prepare for my second maternity leave this fall. As my due date crawls closer, I have been thinking a lot about what my family’s lives will look like after the baby arrives. In this episode, I highlight three specific ways I’m adjusting my approach and the systemic and personal factors that affect these decisions.

How would you navigate these second-baby considerations?

• What’s changed with saving up for childcare (for me and for Americans everywhere);
• Why I’m fixating less on birth and more on what comes after;
• Where I’ve decided to focus my nesting instincts this time around.

Related Links:

• Episode 434, The Economic Imperative of Affordable Childcare - https://www.bossedup.org/podcast/episode434
• Episode 332, 5 Things to Keep In Mind When Financially Preparing For a Baby - https://www.bossedup.org/podcast/episode332
• Economic Data Underscores the Need for Significant, Sustained Investment in Child Care and Early Learning - https://www.ffyf.org/resources/2021/12/latest-economic-data-underscores-the-need-for-significant-sustained-investment-in-child-care-and-early-learning/
• Bossed Up Courage Community - https://www.facebook.com/groups/927776673968737/
• Bossed Up LinkedIn Group - https://www.linkedin.com/groups/7071888/

Initiatives to address pay gaps are spreading across the country. My home state of Colorado is a trailblazer in this quest, and people like today’s guest are spearheading policies that are changing the landscape nationwide. Louise Myrland, the VP of Programs for the Women’s Foundation of Colorado, joins me today to discuss Colorado’s historic pay transparency law, its nationwide impact, and new data showing the profound effects this groundbreaking legislation has had on the careers and lives of women in Colorado - as well as job-seekers everywhere.

Leverage Louise’s knowledge of this game-changing policy:

• Learn your rights as a job seeker;
• Discover how this legislation expands the rights of already-employed workers, too;
• Interview tips for navigating outlawed salary questions;
• The fascinating numbers behind our country’s closing gender wage gap.

Related Links:

• Learn more about The Women’s Foundation of Colorado and access many helpful resources - https://www.wfco.org
• Explore Colorado’s Equal Pay for Equal Work Act - https://cdle.colorado.gov/dlss/equal-pay-for-equal-work-act
• The Women’s Foundation of Colorado Equal Pay for Equal Work 2023 report - https://www.wfco.org/equalpay
• Learn more about Colorado’s Department of Labor and Employment - https://cdle.colorado.gov/labor-law-stats/demands-complaints-responses-and-settlements
• Press release for Equal Pay Day News - https://www.wfco.org/file/Equal-Pay-Day-News-Release-2024-updated.pdf
• Download the Bossed Up Negotiation Guide for job seekers - https://www.bossedup.org/negotiation
• Listen to episode 444, Are Pay Transparency Laws Working? - https://www.bossedup.org/podcast/episode444
• HIRED: my Job Search Accelerator - https://www.bossedup.org/gethired
• Find forms for reporting employers on equal pay rights and more here - http://bosssedup.org/takeaction
• Bossed Up Courage Community - https://www.facebook.com/groups/927776673968737/
• Bossed Up LinkedIn Group - https://www.linkedin.com/groups/7071888/

What’s the wildest thing that has happened to you at a presentation or workshop? Whether in the audience or on the stage, most of us have experienced something not going according to plan. I had my own experience with this a few weeks ago while giving a keynote in California, during which time a surprising disruption inspired the three tips I’m sharing today on how to keep calm and carry on when something goes awry.

Learn from my experience to strengthen your own public speaking skills, including:

• Why you should address what happened, not ignore it;
• What to say once the moment has passed;
• How to empower your audience and yourself to move forward.

Related Links:

• Book me to speak at your company or conference: www.emiliearies.com
• Speak Up: A Live Assertive Communication Course for Women in the Workplace - https://www.bossedup.org/speakup
• Bossed Up Courage Community - https://www.facebook.com/groups/927776673968737/
• Bossed Up LinkedIn Group - https://www.linkedin.com/groups/7071888/

How do you manage a complex pregnancy while continuing to manage your career?

Pregnancy can be complicated, and people who experienced prior reproductive challenges often anxiously wonder just how similar their next experience will be. When these stressors are piled on top of our day-to-day work challenges and the possibility of an unsupportive workplace, things get even more daunting.

I’m thrilled to share that I am currently in my second trimester (!!) after past fertility challenges, so this is a topic close to my heart. This was the perfect time to talk with Dr. Nathan Fox about the premise of his new book, and how to manage pregnancy expectations and assertively communicate with both physicians and superiors in the workplace during this time.

Dive into this discussion by learning more about:

• Embracing a joint decision-making approach to medicine that honors both doctor and patient expertise;
• Identifying the best OB/GYN for your unique health situation;
• Understanding the risk of recurrence of pregnancy complications;
• And advocating for your rights as a pregnant person in the workplace.

Related Links:

• Episode 438, The Impact of Stress Reduction on Infertility - https://bossedup.org/podcast/episode438
• Episode 414, New Rights for Pregnant Workers - https://www.bossedup.org/podcast/episode414
• Episode 346, How to Advocate for a Better Work-Life Balance as a Working Parent - https://www.bossedup.org/podcast/episode346
• Episode 311, How To Talk About Marital Status, Parental Status, And Pregnancy In The Interview - https://www.bossedup.org/podcast/episode311
• Discover more about Nathan’s Podcast - https://healthfulwoman.com
• Learn more about Nathan’s practice - https://www.mfmnyc.com/team/nathan-fox/
• Buy “The Unexpected: Navigating Pregnancy During and After Complications by Emily Oster and Dr. Nathan Fox - https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/717163/the-unexpected-by-emily-oster-and-nathan-fox-md/
• Expecting Better by Emily Oster - https://bookshop.org/p/books/expecting-better-why-the-conventional-pregnancy-wisdom-is-wrong-and-what-you-really-need-to-know-emily-oster/15735353?ean=9780143125709
• Bossed Up Courage Community - https://www.facebook.com/groups/927776673968737/
• Bossed Up LinkedIn Group - https://www.linkedin.com/groups/7071888/

How has your life been affected by a non-compete agreement? Whether you’re painfully familiar with these contract clauses, know someone who is, or just think our free market could be more free, the recent news that non-compete agreements are on their way out the door should give you a boost.

Those who have been boxed in by an employer’s non-compete agreement are absolutely not alone—they are baked into around 30 million Americans’ employment contracts. In this episode and blog post, I break down where non-competes came from, the issues they cause, and explore what a future without them might look like.

Find out what a world without non-compete agreements might look like:

• What are they are and how they constrain employees;
• The widespread impact of these contracts;
• How will these changes affect the labor market;
• How will employers protect their intellectual property from now on?

Related Links:

• Statistics from the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis - https://www.minneapolisfed.org/article/2023/new-data-on-non-compete-contracts-and-what-they-mean-for-workers
• New York Times “The Great American Labor Trap” - https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/11/opinion/ftc-noncompete-clause-rule.html
• Jon Stewart’s interview with Lina Khan - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaDTiWaYfcM
• HIRED: my Job Search Accelerator - https://www.bossedup.org/gethired
• Bossed Up Courage Community - https://www.facebook.com/groups/927776673968737/
• Bossed Up LinkedIn Group - https://www.linkedin.com/groups/7071888/

How do you move cities without totally starting over? Relocating to a new place causes can leave you feeling totally uprooted and lost. Who better than a professional community builder and networking pro to offer insight on getting back into the swing of things in a new space? Emily Merrell, is the founder of the Second Degree Society networking community and Ready Set Coach, and my guest today.

A few years ago, Emily relocated from San Francisco to Denver. She shares her thoughts on navigating such a significant life change - and doing it all as a new parent.

Take away some great tips for masterminding your next move:

• How to embrace discomfort and grow in a new place;
• Why asking people out on friend dates is a game-changer;
• How scheduling non-negotiable social experiences can help;
• The challenge of balancing networking and caring for your family.

Related Links:

• Learn more about Emily - https://www.emilymerrell.com/
• Connect with Emily on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/emilyamerrell/
• Discover Second Degree Society - https://seconddegreesociety.com/
• Check out Ready Set Coach - https://www.readysetcoachprogram.com/
• The Second Degree Podcast - https://seconddegreesociety.com/podcast-page/
• The Ready Set Coach Podcast - https://www.readysetcoachprogram.com/podcast
• Episode 456: How Connection Can Cure What Ails Us - https://www.bossedup.org/podcast/episode456
• Episode 450: Entrepreneurship vs Employment: Building a Blended Career - https://www.bossedup.org/podcast/episode450
• Level Up: a Leadership Accelerator for Women on the Rise - https://www.bossedup.org/levelup
• Bossed Up Courage Community - https://www.facebook.com/groups/927776673968737/
• Bossed Up LinkedIn Group - https://www.linkedin.com/groups/7071888/

How should you address a layoff in a job interview? This year of job market flux has seen more than 80,000 layoffs in the tech industry alone, on top of 250,000+ in 2023. These statistics highlight just how normal and not-at-all-shameful layoffs are, but that doesn’t mean living through them is easy.

In today’s episode, I have three takeaways for managing the interview question that will inevitably come up if you’re one of the hundreds of thousands of people who were unceremoniously let go in the past year and a half.

These tips serve as a reminder that the question “Tell us about why you were laid off” is a chance to focus your story on your values and use your experiences to drive home what makes you a great candidate for the opportunity before you.

Tune in to learn how to explain your layoff with pride and power:

• Why you shouldn’t skirt around the truth;
• How to normalize your experience without making it personal;
• Where to take the story so it highlights your best traits and skills.

Related Links:

• HIRED: my Job Search Accelerator - https://www.bossedup.org/gethired
• Episode 455 - How to Create a Sustainable Job Search Schedule when You’re Unemployed - https://www.bossedup.org/podcast/episode455
• Episode 453 - Prioritizing your Job Search While Holding Down a Full-Time Job - https://www.bossedup.org/podcast/episode453
• From Verdict: “New year kicks off continued tech layoffs in 2024” - https://www.verdict.co.uk/new-year-kicks-off-continued-tech-layoffs-in-2024/
• From Yahoo Finance: “Five biggest tech industry layoffs of 2024, so far” - https://finance.yahoo.com/news/five-biggest-tech-industry-layoffs-151712010.html
• Tech Layoff Tracker: https://layoffs.fyi/
• Bossed Up Courage Community - https://www.facebook.com/groups/927776673968737/
• Bossed Up LinkedIn Group - https://www.linkedin.com/groups/7071888/

In our modern world, where isolation, loneliness, and stress are at all-time highs, how do we fend off the feelings—and the medical symptoms—that plague such an outsized percentage of our species?

Journalist Julia Hotz’s new book, The Connection Cure: The Prescriptive Power of Movement, Nature, Art, Service, and Belonging, explores the phenomenon of social prescribing, a medicine-adjacent approach being adopted in the UK that sees doctors prescribing things like “sea swimming” (yes, really!) and has the potential to alleviate not only the health burdens many of us face in our daily lives but also the pressures on the medical system and the heavy costs of medical care. In this episode, I talk with Julia about what inspired her to write The Connection Cure and the incredible and surprising results of her extensive research.

Discover how social prescribing could take you from asking, “what’s wrong with me?” to “what matters to me?” instead:

• Defining and demystifying the concept of social prescribing;
• How reconnecting with how we used to live can drastically improve our health;
• Where our deep-seated misconceptions about mental health come from;
• Whether social prescribing stands a chance of taking hold in the U.S.

Related Links:

• Order Julia’s book - https://www.socialprescribing.co/
• Find Julia on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/hotzthoughts/
• Episode 172, The Healing Power of Nature - https://www.bossedup.org/podcast/episode172
• Episode 440 - The Problem with Self-Help - https://www.bossedup.org/podcast/episode440
• The Nature Fix: Why Nature Makes Us Happier, Healthier, and More Creative by Florence Williams - https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-nature-fix-why-nature-makes-us-happier-healthier-and-more-creative-florence-williams/16616779?ean=9780393355574
• How to take the news that depression has not been shown to be caused by a chemical imbalance by Dr. Joanna Moncrieff - https://joannamoncrieff.com/2022/07/24/how-to-take-the-news-that-depression-has-not-been-shown-to-be-caused-by-a-chemical-imbalance/
• Dopesick by Beth Macy - https://bookshop.org/p/books/dopesick-dealers-doctors-and-the-drug-company-that-addicted-america-beth-macy/16344771?ean=9780316551304
• Dr. Rachel Zofffness' Pain Management Workbook -https://www.amazon.com/Pain-Management-Workbook-Powerful-Mindfulness/dp/1684036445
• Bossed Up Courage Community - https://www.facebook.com/groups/927776673968737/
• Bossed Up LinkedIn Group - https://www.linkedin.com/groups/7071888/