Summary:
In this strategic and empowering conversation, Lori sits down with Kate Haranis—a reputation and public relations strategist—to unpack what it really means to be visible in a way that feels aligned, intentional, and impactful.

Kate shares how her work centers on helping leaders “tell better stories” so their external reputation reflects their true value—not a curated or performative version of success. Drawing from her experience across nonprofits, PR agencies, and Fortune 500 companies, she breaks down how visibility isn’t about being the loudest in the room—it’s about showing up in the right rooms, with clarity and purpose.

This episode is a must-listen if you’ve ever felt stuck being “known” only within your inner circle or unsure how to step into a bigger conversation without losing authenticity. It’s not about chasing attention—it’s about building a reputation that opens doors.

If you’re ready to be seen for your real work—and leverage that visibility for growth—this episode will show you how.

🔑 Key Takeaways:

Visibility Is a Strategy—Not a Personality Trait
You don’t need to be loud, viral, or everywhere. The key is being intentional about where and how you show up.
Audience follow-up → Where am I currently visible—and is it aligned with where I want to go?

Start With What You Want to Be Known For
Before jumping into platforms or tactics, define your reputation goals and what opportunities that visibility will unlock.
Audience follow-up → What do I want people to associate with my name—and why does it matter?

Build Signature Ideas, Not Just Content
Strong reputations are built on clear, repeatable ideas that position you as a thought leader—not scattered posts.
Audience follow-up → What are 1–2 ideas I can consistently speak about and own?

Don’t Get Stuck in the “Tactics First” Trap
Jumping straight into posting or pitching without a clear narrative leads to misalignment and burnout. Strategy comes first.
Audience follow-up → Am I creating content with intention—or just to stay visible?

Your Inner Circle Isn’t Enough
Being well-known in your current environment doesn’t always translate to new opportunities. Growth requires expanding your audience.
Audience follow-up → Who needs to know about my work that currently doesn’t?

Authenticity Doesn’t Mean Staying Small
Showing up as yourself doesn’t mean playing it safe. Growth often requires stretching—but not abandoning who you are.
Audience follow-up → What would it look like to expand my visibility without feeling like I’m “performing”?

🔎 Mentioned in the Episode:

• PR Hype Girl – Kate’s platform offering tools and resources to help founders and leaders build their visibility and reputation
• LinkedIn Strategy Example – A leader leveraging LinkedIn to turn experience into a consulting business
• Women’s Health Founder Story – Using visibility to shape a broader industry conversation, not just promote a product

✨ Reflection Prompts:

• Where am I relying on being “known” instead of being visible?
• What story am I currently telling—and is it aligned with where I want to go?
• Am I choosing visibility strategically… or avoiding it altogether?

🧠 Who This Episode Is For:

• Founders and entrepreneurs ready to expand their visibility
• Corporate leaders who want to own and shape their professional narrative
• Women who want to grow their influence without sacrificing authenticity
• Professionals looking to build a reputation that creates new opportunities

 

📩 Want to Go Deeper?

Follow Lori on LinkedIn to continue the conversation
Book a Leadership Strategy Call with Lori: loripine.com
Check out Kate Haranis website: https://www.prhypegirl.com/ 

🎧 Subscribe to The Joy CEO Podcast

⭐️ Leave a review to help other heart-centered leaders find the show

📲 Share this episode with someone who’s navigating pressure and wants to do it with more grace

 

Transcript

Lori: Hello and welcome to the Joy CEO podcast. I'm your host, Lori Pine, and I have such a treat for you. We have Kate Haranis with us today and you are in for quite an interview. She is gonna talk to us all about how to uplevel your visibility with your communication and how you are showing up. So if you are new here to the podcast, welcome.

I'm so glad you found your way to me. If you are coming back, you know I love you and here we go. Let's get to it. Welcome, Kate.

Kate: Thank you so much for having me. It is a thrill to be here.

Lori: I'm so glad to have you. Now you and I have become fast and furious new friends because we are both in a community together.

The upside, which I so am enjoying.

Kate: Same, same. And I, I am extra grateful for it today because then it brought you into my orbit. And your energy, as all of your listeners know, is top-notch, contagious.

Lori: Ah, [00:01:00] thank you so much for that. It's such

Kate: a fun time to be here.

Lori: Thank you so much for that. So we've met, we've talked, and I could not wait to have you on the podcast because I feel like what you do so fits my audience and the women that I work with.

So why don't you tell everybody. What do you do?

Kate: Absolutely. So I am a reputation and public relations strategist, but no one in first grade says like, I wanna grow up to be a reputation strategist. So what does that actually mean? My, my own first grader will tell you, mommy helps people tell better stories.

That took some practice to get him to land on that, but really what I do is help people who want to show up publicly. In ways that relate to their professional life and their professional goals, and still feel very consistent with who they are in the rest of their lives, so that everything is knitted together.

And whenever they're showing [00:02:00] up in public, it's actually advancing those business goals so it fits who they are. We're never faking it, and it's actually working for you when you put the energy into showing up somewhere, however that may be from the small personal interactions to big stages and a-list publications,

Lori: oh my gosh, I love it.

So you get this authenticity that really aligns with who you are. You get to communicate it to the world in a way that just shines a light on your inner genius. That's what I'm hearing you say.

Kate: That's, that's the goal we want, I want everyone to be able to show up on purpose in ways that feel good to them.

And it's that on purpose piece that I think we, we get a little bit lost in. We have been told so many times, especially women, be authentic. Be yourself, you know, we're, we are through the hardest battles. You can, you know, be your full self. And that's, that's great and true. And it also [00:03:00] doesn't mean showing up the same way everywhere.

The way that I show up with you is myself. The way I show up with my 6-year-old is myself, Adam talked the same way in both of those places, just like I don't talk the same way that I might rate here in a boardroom. And it's that purposeful decision making and nuance that I try to help my clients with so that when they're showing up in a given space.

They're at their best for that space. For what they want to be doing.

Lori: Yes. And so how did you get into this work? Like how did this all come to be for you?

Kate: I was a kid who wanted to be an actress, and so my husband jokes that, you know, just give me a script and I just put my own name on it. Now, I've done a lot of spokesperson work over the years, but really in all seriousness, I think from a very, very young age I was.

Deeply interested in the ways that language connected people and the different ways that people could interpret the same language and even the same language, you know, in the same moment in time. And so [00:04:00] my career sort of had three chapters. I worked in fundraising and development and the nonprofit arena.

I worked in PR agencies. As I really started to narrow in more specifically on just that comms piece, I did. Sales quota aspect of fundraising myself. And then I was in-house in a Fortune 500 highly regulated company doing corporate reputation work. And sort of after each of those chapters, I felt like I was closer to something that felt right for me.

And so a few years ago, I started my own business and decided, let me draw from all three of those. Buckets of experience and sitting on all those different sides of the table to help founders and executives on teams that may not have or may not need a dedicated comms team for themselves. But who are really, and I think this is especially true with a lot of the women that you work with missing opportunities by not maximizing their reputation.

Lori: [00:05:00] Yes. I have this sense that you can see something in others that they cannot necessarily see in themselves. Is that true?

Kate: Isn't that true? I, I like to think that's true. I know that's that's definitely true for you. And I think one of the things that I take a lot of pride in with my clients and the, the leaders that I worked with over the years is one C-Suite executive said it best.

He said, you don't just make me look better. You make me better. He was bringing it all, you know, I was like, yes. Can I just get, I'm gonna add that to like, my tattoos one of these days. Really? It's, it's, I joke sometimes it's a little bit like midwifery, like you've, you've done the work. You know, I can't make a reputation for you.

Like I I I'm not here to do like Black hat Magic PR and help them squi thin air,

Lori: wave

Kate: a wand. You've done the work. But so often we either get in our own way or we are so risk averse that we don't [00:06:00] take those steps. And I think sometimes it does take somebody, you know, swimming outside of your fishbowl to look back and say, hold on a second.

Let me just replay what I heard to you. Okay. And now let me take out all of that filler. Okay. And now let's take it a step further and pair it up with what these other people over here that you really care about. Like what are they actually listening for? And when we can do those things and we see those pieces that everyone knows when it's right about themselves, when they hear it back.

Yes. It's not new.

Lori: No, no. It hits with the truth. It does.

Kate: Exactly. Exactly. We're, I'm not telling them anything they didn't already know about their own story. But to hear it streamlined,

Lori: yes.

Kate: To hear it spoken with confidence, to hear it tailored to that person over here who needs to hear it. That's, that's, uh, where the good stuff happens.

It's almost

like

Lori: you're breathing belief into them.

Kate: It's a huge part of it. I think, you know, self-talk and there are inner [00:07:00] stories. There's a reason that. I guarantee somebody listening just rolled her eyes like a little more self-talk because like Yep. We're gonna hear it until we're blue in the face.

Because it makes all the difference in the world.

Lori: It

Kate: does, and it's, it's a strategic advantage to distinguish between the discomfort of something that's new.

Lori: Mm-hmm.

Kate: And something that feels off or misaligned. Don't go after the things that feel off and misaligned. There's enough. That's true. There's enough.

That's yours. There's enough room in the world. But don't take that discomfort as a signal that something is wrong. Right.

Lori: That might be the signal that you are ready to stretch.

Kate: Exactly.

Lori: It's like go time. Yes,

Kate: exactly.

Lori: Yes. So you have this line that I think is just so tremendous. You say being known within your inner circle may not be enough to achieve your goals.

Oh, I feel like that holds some real tension. So let's talk [00:08:00] about that.

Kate: Yes. Yeah, absolutely. And I'll be clear, you know. It might be enough to achieve your goals depending on what your goals are and who's in your inner circle. You might not have to go any further, and that is fabulous, and I wish you all the best in it.

But I think for most of us, especially most of us who might identify with labels like high performing or ambitious or purpose driven, there is something about what we do that we feel can be in service of a greater. Yeah, in some way, shape, or form, and even those of us with the most dedicated cheer squad in our corner, it is not enough.

To be known by the people who already know you if you want to maximize your impact. It's just not, I am not a mathematician, but like that math, don't math.

Lori: It

Kate: does not. You have to be [00:09:00] able to reach beyond the people who already know you. And I think, and we've talked about this before, this is something that.

I wish we lived in a world where the work speaks for itself. You know, a lot of us, again, we've, we've heard that over the years or we've given that advice and we've said, keep your head down. And again, there's a time and a place for commanding a room, and there's a time and a place for listening. And visibility isn't always about being the loudest, you know, or the sparkliest, but that work that we do, and the fact that our inner circle knows about it is not a guarantee that they're gonna talk about it.

They're gonna know what we want to do with it, that we are going to ever reach that second layer of people or that third layer of people. And so I think it can be easy in this type of work to get caught up on vanity. You feel like, well, I don't wanna be vain, I don't wanna be in the spotlight. I don't need that.

Or people make me be, they love it, but it's like, that's not, you know, that's not the core of what I wanna [00:10:00] do. I don't wanna take time away from my zone of genius to chase visibility. I don't need everybody to know me. I don't need to be a household name. Well, great. Most of the folks that I work with are not household names,

Lori: right?

Kate: And there are people outside of their inner circle who needed to understand what they do and why it matters so they can do more of it. Right. That's the strategy. Exactly. That's the piece where like we wanna show up on purpose. We don't need to be everywhere, but we wanna be in the right places in the right ways.

And by the way, I happen to believe that that's possible without chasing your tail and going after a thousand other million little things in the meantime. Like it doesn't have to be a chaos game where you're chasing every little thing to get to that one big thing. It's about picking the right stepping stones along the way.

So

Lori: I love that so much, and I feel like I can relate to that so much because I am like your ideal client. I want to have impact. I [00:11:00] want to reach beyond my current inner circle and you know. Taking that inner voice that says, oh, you know, you might be a little too big for your britches. Or, who do you think you are?

Kate: Yeah.

Lori: And you know, that's a lot of ego and, and reworking that to No, no, no, no, no. I have something to say. It means something to the right person. How do I just get into that flow? Into that stream where the math is going to math exactly where the right people are going to hear about me and open the door, and that creates that ripple effect of, of, of all, of the goodness of helping the right people getting paid to help the right people giving back.

Purpose. All of it.

Magic.

Kate: Exactly. Exactly. And that's, that's the sort of magic of it all is when we can get past those, you know, limiting beliefs [00:12:00] and those stories that we tell ourselves that somehow sharing what we do, we're talking about ourselves in some way is, is, is. A moral question, which I think it feels like for a lot of women, it just, it feels, it feels wrong to focus on themselves, right?

And so either you want the word to totally speak for itself, which. It, it doesn't, unless you're building a talking robot. The work does not speak for itself. Make

Lori: it more,

Kate: people are doing that these days, but '

Lori: cause, 'cause managers and bosses and VPs are so self-absorbed, they're really just paying attention to what's on their plates.

Exactly.

Kate: Exactly.

Lori: They're not paying attention to everybody else's aren't.

Kate: We're all, we are all strapped for attention and we are all strapped for resources. Even when we appreciate something so much, if someone's not planting that seed to say, okay, you love this, now do this with it.

Lori: Yes.

Kate: We're not, you know, again, if you wanna gamble and you want to just work on serendipity and let that play out,

Lori: maybe

Kate: that's great.

Like if, if that's [00:13:00] fulfilling. I love that for you. If you have that itch though, that says, I feel like it could be more, I feel like it could be more, you're gonna have to put a little skin in that game. And I think, you know, to be able to, to get past that voice. To say no, what I'm doing is in service of something that matters to me for whatever reason.

Whether that's a deeply soul filling global mission, or whether that's because I believe in providing the best life possible for my family, and that means I gotta maximize my revenue this year. Whatever that means for you, doing the work to show up more thoughtfully on purpose. Eventually that work does start to speak for itself because you start to create a context around you and in the minds of the people that you want to engage with.

The ones who do matter most, where your name does start to come up when you're not in the room.

Lori: Yeah.

Kate: And that is, that is the force multiplier of reputation management. It's not that everything is carefully [00:14:00] controlled. I don't have a handler. I don't think that you need one either, although. My best friends would probably argue this some days.

I could use one, but, but the idea is that we're predetermining for ourselves. What matters most? What are those moments that do deserve that discomfort?

Lori: Yes.

Kate: And then how do we make the most of them when we get them?

Lori: Yes. So let's talk about a moment when you saw someone's career change because their reputation finally caught up with their actual talent and what, just like, what did that look like?

Kate: Absolutely. So one of my favorite examples is from the early days of my business and I will anonymize the details to protect the innocent, but there was a. A gentleman that I had crossed paths with earlier in my professional career, we sort of swam in similar circles, and when I launched my business, he said, you know, I've been in this company for a while.

I've been in an executive role here. I feel like I'm. Ready for [00:15:00] something new, can you help me sort of manage this transition? And he wasn't even totally sure in that moment exactly what he was after. He just knew where he was, wasn't right. Which side note, I get those calls more often from men than women.

Women like to have it all mapped out first, but that's another conversation for another day. And really, we worked together to figure out in this particular space what was his most unique. Experience, and there were a couple of different places that he'd been where other people have had that job or this job, or this job, but no one had really had all three of those.

No one had sat on all those parts of, of, you know, this industry. Certainly not at the level that he had. And then we just started talking about it. And for him it was honestly a matter of LinkedIn posts, which some people love, some people love to hate, but in his case, just starting to purposely share on LinkedIn some stories that connected those dots.

That were thoughtful, that were true, that were all him, but connecting those dots that everybody know, were kind, kind [00:16:00] of knew if you asked them, but no one had really thought about it. It started to get some attention from trade industry reporters who wanted to get a little bit more of his insight 'cause they realized he saw patterns that other people didn't see.

And within a few months he had so much interest in his specialized expertise that without planning on it, he was able to leave his executive role with a book of business booked out for a year for a consultancy. Wow. No, your mileage may vary, but

Lori: yes, of course.

Kate: And again, I can't up that, I can't make up that specialized expertise, but.

Sometimes it is genuinely as simple as connecting those dots for people. Other times it's a matter of helping your audiences understand what it is that they need to know before they can know you. Mm-hmm. So sometimes on the flip side, I'll work with founders and I was having this conversation the other day with a woman who's in an, an emerging category.

It's sort of a very [00:17:00] buzzy facet of, of women's health and. She has a solid business. It's, it's humming along, but the truth is that in this, in this niche of women's health, there's still not even a broad understanding that the need exists. It's sort of one of these women's health issues that's always been taken for granted.

And so for her business, it's not just about setting herself apart from the other fledgling competitors in the space, it's also about shaping a bigger conversation about why this issue matters and why it's. Something that we can navigate and why it's something that women deserve support on. And so by inserting herself into those wider conversations that may not even really mention her business outside of a tagline, she's shaping the bigger conversations that her customers.

Perspective ultimate customers are going to bring to even the consideration that they might need her services at some point. Because before they believe they need her [00:18:00] services, they have to believe this is an issue that matters and that somebody could help with, right? So we say, okay, we're not even gonna focus.

I'm not a sales consultant. We're gonna bring it back. And she's still one of the first primary voices in that conversation

Lori: in that space. So good. So good.

Kate: It's juicy stuff.

Lori: It's juicy. I feel like I have clients who. Have done the work. They're really good at the work they've gotten to a certain level, but they have this itch, this itch to really do more, either go higher in their corporate career or even pivot to something, you know?

Yeah. Outside of their corporate career and. They're struggling with how to show themselves, showcase what it is that they're so brilliant at. And so this conversation is just like, fills me up because I, I just feel like there's such a need.

Kate: There is, and, and I'll be honest, it's, it's hard to do for ourselves.

Lori: Oh no, [00:19:00] you, I, I'm terrible at this for, I can't do this for myself, right? You can't do this for yourself because I

Kate: people without me with this, because you need somebody to balance it off of it, to reflect back and say, yeah, no, yes. That's the thing that you take for granted about yourself might be the most exceptional thing about you.

Lori: Yes.

Kate: And you take it for granted. 'cause you've always operated that way and everyone around you is like, holy smokes, look at her now. Right,

Lori: right. You don't know that your gift is your gift. Yeah. 'cause it's your gift. And you think everybody has that, but they don't

Kate: like that's the, that's the thing I could do in my sleep in some

Lori: Yes.

Like holy, holy cow, I could never do that. Right, exactly. So yes. And it's that awareness. So what happens when like one of these AMA amazing leaders comes to you and says. I want to be more visible.

Kate: Yeah. I say, here, turn on a light. No

Lori: light switch.

Kate: Boom. And done. No, you know, I really. It's funny is the [00:20:00] longer I do this, the more I realize that everyone is different and everyone is also the same.

And so I really start, if you wanna work with me, like it or not, we, we start with those core conversations. I do not want to talk in our first conversation about sort of what, like pitch strategy you wanna go after or your, you know, your content funnels and you know that, we'll, we'll get to that. There's a time and a place for that.

But I wanna know, what do you actually want to be known for? What do you want that to do for you? And if you can't answer those two questions, you should not spend your money on a PR person yet,

Lori: right? Not yet.

Kate: Not yet. You might if, if they're willing to help tease through those questions with you and not read you over the cold for it, that's a good call.

But really understanding when someone says, like, I wanna be more visible, what does that mean? If that means I wanna convert more sales for my product, I'm probably not your gal. There's a place again, there's a place for that and I'm, I'm a believer in a [00:21:00] holistic mix of strategies, but you might be better off focusing on sales and marketing mechanisms.

Right? Right. But if, depending on what it is that you wanna do and what you wanna be known for, and what you want that to unlock for you, we can. First, articulate how that story sounds. What is the crisp telling of that story for you? I am hot. Take not a believer in elevator pitches. I think anyone's going, oh,

Lori: thank

Kate: God, thank God intense elevator pitches.

I just think they always end up sounding robotic.

Lori: They do

Kate: like, it's just really hard. It's really like when you meet someone and you can tell that they've rehearsed it and I wanna be like, I'm so proud of you for doing the work, but like you sound. Like a mannequin who learned to talk. I'm not a fan of that, but what I am a fan of is the muscle memory of connecting our own stories to the people that we're meeting or the places that we are.

Yeah. And so to really zero in like the, the gentleman that I had mentioned [00:22:00] earlier, he took for granted in a lot of ways. He, I mean, he knew it was rare that he had these. Particular mix of experiences, but he wasn't in the habit of bringing that up in conversation, nor would it be very appealing for him to say, hi, I'm Bob, and I've been here, here and here, which gives me the unique perspective, but.

But what you can do is start to say, okay, if this is what we wanna focus on, and this is what we want people to know, it does start with how we say it to ourselves and to our inner circle.

Lori: That's

Kate: that very first level. So how does that story sound? What is that core? So what that people need to care about.

From there, I'm a big believer in what I call signature ideas, and so we work together to say, okay, so once we have this one core, this thing that we know always to be true, what are our, your signature ideas that bring this to life in ways that are distinct from what other people do?

Lori: Yeah,

Kate: it does not have to be completely unique [00:23:00] unto all the world.

There is a lot out in the world. Right. But when it adds up together and when it's coming from you and it's delivered in your voice, it is unique unto all the world. And so we take that single source of truth that you want people to know. We start to articulate what are these core ideas around it? And so then I say, okay, so everything that we do needs to relate to one of these core ideas.

It doesn't mean that's the headline, it doesn't mean it's tattooed on your forehead. It means that you need to be able to tell me in one sentence or less anytime you're showing up somewhere how it's connecting to one of those core ideas. And those core ideas are all coming back to that one single source of truth.

And newsflash, we are grownups. So if something exceptional happens and you have three signature ideas and suddenly you wanna talk about a fourth because it really lights you up and something amazing and once in a lifetime came up. You get to do that,

Lori: yay.

Kate: You

Lori: get to break the rules.

Kate: I just want us to break the rules and skip over the plan on purpose because something exceptional happened [00:24:00] and not because we don't know what we want and we don't know what's valuable.

And so I find that when we start with the, that sort of core narrative and these signature ideas as a construct, then. You take the same amount of time and death and you look at the audiences, you say, of these people that I care about and who actions matter to my success, what do they need to know? Is it just a matter that they need to know these things about me?

Or in the case of the other woman I mentioned, do they maybe need to know some other things or beliefs, some other things about this issue before they're even ready to really engage with me? I'm not gonna succeed with a client who doesn't believe that PR has value. Right? Like I, I'm not, I'm also not gonna try to convert that person.

But you know, as an example, like if, if, if you're not there, you're not for me, and that's fine. So of the people that we want, what do they need to know? What can we influence? And then we start to connect the dots. And then you get into the comms. Strategy and tactics of it all where you say, okay, so this is where these people are getting their information.

This is what they're [00:25:00] looking for. This is what matters. This is where we can start to show up. This is where you can plug in here. This is where you have control over it, on your own. This is where we're gonna, I'll say take a, take a risk, not a risk of something bad happening, but a risk is not getting coverage where we're gonna pitch more media that might be earned, where people might turn us down, but we're gonna use that in other ways if they do and, and you start to piece something together that.

Not only, again, creates that ecosystem for you where the work does start to to reinforce and you get a positive sort of snowball effect, but also where again, you've pre-made a so many decisions about what matters and how you're gonna proceed, that you're not lost in the decision fatigue of it all. When it comes up, you're saying, okay, I know I might not know exactly who I'm gonna be pitching, you know, next June.

But I know what I'm gonna be talking about and I know how I'm gonna know if they matter.

Lori: Right. I think that is such an important framework because how many people just [00:26:00] wanna jump to the tactics and the strategy and the, can you get me on Oprah and can you get me on the Today Show? Right. Right. We just wanna go to that.

Right, exactly. And that's, that's where our brain fixates. But if we skip over those two very important questions that you have. What do you want people to know? So important and what will that actually do for you if people know that about you? Then if we skip that, we're, we're skipping the most important stuff.

We're skipping the part that communicates what really is our unique ability, our DNA in the whole process. Because I mean, let's be honest, there's a gajillion executive coaches, there's even people out there talking about joy, but none of them have my actual thumbprint. And it sounds like that's what you're extrapolating.

Kate: That's exactly it. And it is, it is not a sort of deeply philosophical [00:27:00] naval gazing six month activity. You know? It is the, the people that I'm working with and the like, the women you work with. They've done some things. They know what's up. It's usually a matter of a 60 minute conversation to hash these things out and say, okay, no, no, no.

We're gonna like real talk. We don't need all the background. Give it to me straight. Here's where it is. This is what I heard. Okay. Are we there? And then we're going back and forth one more round, right? It's, it's not revol, it's, it's not a revolution in your personal identity, but it is an understanding that if you skip it.

That unique thumbprint is the thing you sacrifice. It gets lost. It gets lost, and I think more so than ever in these unprecedented times, that identity capital, mm-hmm of reputation is the single greatest competitive advantage than anybody has because no one can sound quite like you.

Lori: Especially an AI bot.

Kate: [00:28:00] Especially an AI bot. You know what you are gonna sound like if you don't figure out those two core questions first, you are gonna sound like everybody else.

Lori: That's right.

Kate: Or at worst, li bot.

Lori: That's, that's so important. And so, you know, I'm thinking about my women who are in these very significant corporate roles.

Kate: Yep.

Lori: They are thinking, oh, well my work's just gonna speak for itself. What can, what can we say to them like to really stress the importance of doing this work?

Kate: Oh, my friends, you're my favorites.

So I think most of us have a shared understanding at this point that even in the most exceptionally positive corporate workplaces, at least in in the us. There is very little that we can take for granted at this point,

Lori: right?

Kate: And so all other factors aside, the reality is that at some point you're likely going to need [00:29:00] or want to make a change.

I have never once had a conversation with someone looking to either pivot into new opportunities, get onto corporate boards, realized that in that huge restructure, suddenly they weren't in fact as safe, as safe as they thought they were. Or just honestly, after 15 years felt like, gosh, I could use a different kind of challenge.

Never once in any of the conversations with those leaders, has anyone ever said to me, man, I'm so glad I waited until now to have this conversation. Like nobody has wishes. They waited to start. You are still in the driver's seat when it comes to visibility and reputation. It is not, in fact a light switch that goes.

From on to off or back again, you are in control of all the decisions you make. And so I think people fear that it would look thirsty or desperate or that it's gonna look like they need something, which again, we can have a separate conversation about how we're allowed to have needs. But if [00:30:00] you want to project ownership of your own story,

Lori: yeah,

Kate: you have to own your own story.

It can mean a lot of different things. The tactical toolbox is very vast. But if you're not making those decisions on purpose, opportunities at best will pass you by. And at worst you might find yourself boxed in. And so, and nobody wants that. That's the dark. It didn't mean like fearing. No, it's, there's so much fun in this and, and it can be fun and joyful, but it, but I really do it, it that's me.

How much potential? Potential connection, potential impact, potential wisdom shared again, especially not limited to, but especially among high powered women.

Lori: Yes,

Kate: because we are sort of afraid of how it's gonna look if we start showing up and that it's gonna have this sort of like sorority girl in a rush, pick me vibe.

And it just doesn't have [00:31:00] to, it can be on your own terms and it can be things that feel right for you.

Lori: Totally.

Kate: And you deserve to be in control of those decisions for yourself,

Lori: and it can put you in community with like-minded people who are doing similar things, who are gonna support you, you'll support them, and it will get you that visibility that really does open doors.

Kate: Exactly.

Lori: You know, I've seen it happen. There's, there was a woman I worked with at Campbell's, she left and she had to have done some of this work because before you know it, she's at every industry event she's speaking and then she became the CEO of another company. And that ha all happened in less than six years.

Kate: Yeah.

Lori: So at warp speed,

Kate: it's wild. It's really wild. There is magic

Lori: in this work.

Kate: There is magic in it. And. When you're in that moment, especially if you are as so many people find themselves lately, through no fault of their own, but sort of pushed into a, a change, [00:32:00] right? For whatever reason. As magical as it is, it is not instantaneous.

And so again, that's not fearmongering. And a lot of my clients we work with, I in sort of one shot or like three month capacities. This is not me saying go out and find yourself a, an on retainer person for the next 20 years. It is about taking the time in whatever way that means for you, even if it's like carving out an hour to really journal about it and just write down with actual words on a paper what it is that you want to be known for and what.

Small steps you can imagine taking toward that, that is so meaningful. Yes. That alone, if every woman listening did that, I guarantee would have a, a powerful ripple effect on their ecosystems and our, our collective ecosystem.

Lori: I love that so much. I love that so much. Thank you for sharing so much of the juicy details of what happens behind the scenes with you.

I feel like that was so valuable to anybody listening. Oh,

Kate: thank you for letting me

Lori: turn

Kate: out about it. I love this stuff. [00:33:00]

Lori: So good. What happens when somebody's story is off?

Kate: Insomnia, nausea.

Lori: Right, right.

Kate: I mean, I think the, the, the long and the short of it is that nothing sticks. Whatever business goals the work is tied to in the end, whatever it is, that's that answer to that question of like what they want to achieve.

It might work a little bit in the short run. It, it doesn't stick. I have never, I have never seen someone build real momentum. With a story that feels off. I think what people overthink is that, you know, for, again, for most of us in, in we'll call normal person land, you know, who are those of us who are not routinely covered in, in the news?

Just by virtue of, you know, whatever we do on a daily basis, the risk is usually not that something terrible happens. It's not that the house caves in on you. The risk is that [00:34:00] you. That sounds kinda fear mongering, but you wake up one day and you realize that you never actually got the thing done.

Lori: Right.

Kate: That you wanna make a change, that you're looking for an opportunity and you, you, it's not there. Right. And you are, I don't think it's ever, you know, too late in life to go after anything, you know, big picture. But there are things that are hard to do and you can really box yourself in.

Lori: Mm-hmm.

Kate: I think especially for people who have been in house.

In one company for a very long time. The comfort of being known, especially in a big company, it feels like a big world until you're outside of it and nobody knows what project do Remi was and how pivotal that was. Like, nobody knows. And so how do you talk and how do you relearn those skills? And so I think the, the, the biggest risk of doing things that feel off is that they don't stick, they don't get traction.

You stop. You, you [00:35:00] backslide. There is a credibility cost, and again, depending on what you're after and how far off it is. Right. You could really set yourself up for, for some damage control. But again, I think outside of sort of nefarious, like trying to fake things for anybody, but just really just trying to go with something that doesn't feel quite right or

Lori: that

Kate: you

Lori: may have outgrown,

Kate: you may exactly like, it's just if it's not true anymore and you kind of have that, I feel it right behind my belly button.

Some people feel it in their throat. There's usually a physical feeling. Someone, I feel it in your body where you're like, my

Lori: throat.

Kate: You get that feeling and it again, it doesn't have to be. That, that off means like nefarious. It's just, it's, it's not my thing anymore. Right. And if it feels like a slog, it's, again, that's, that's not the same as discomfort.

And I think when people trying to push it, it's just you're wasting a lot of time and energy. Then not only are you not making progress, but it's also pulling you away from all those other things that are the core of your work in the first place.

Lori: [00:36:00] Yes. Such a good distinction between that ick feeling and the uncomfortable feeling.

The uncomfortable feeling, trying to stretch you, that ick feeling going, eh, this just might not be right anymore.

Kate: Right.

Lori: And what is right? Yes,

Kate: exactly. And again, it doesn't have to be an earth shattering. PhD in yourself to figure out that new, what is right. It could be a conversation with a mentor when you have the courage.

'cause it does take courage to say, if you were to describe me to a stranger, truly like, what would you say?

Lori: Yes.

Kate: And then get past the first layer of adjectives when they say things like lovely and brilliant and sharp and hardworking, which could apply to. Would again, wager almost all of your listeners Yes.

Get one step further than that, you know? Yes. When they're like, oh, you have a really quirky sense of humor and an amazing way, ability to spot patterns.

Lori: Yes.

Kate: And sometimes you're kind of paranoid, but man, you have a, you have a way of guessing three steps out how that story's gonna turn out and it, you know, even though it drives me nuts, it's really solid or you know, whatever it is, it's like, get [00:37:00] to those beans.

Lori: Yes. That next layer of the onion get in

there.

Kate: Yep. The part that's

Lori: really, really juicy.

Kate: And then when you hear someone say something that you're like, oh, I, yeah,

Lori: yeah, that is me. You

Kate: know?

Lori: Oh yeah,

Kate: exactly. Then, then sit down with it on your own, then run with it. Then, you know, let your inner cheerleader out.

Lori: Yes. Uh, I love that. I love that so much. Is there anything before we wrap up that you would want to leave this audience with that we may not have covered?

Kate: I would just reinforce your reputation is so. So uniquely yours and you can do so much in your own control to make it work for you. Why would you not

Lori: so good?

Your reputation is inside your hula hoop. That is some of the language I use. You can control that part, so why wouldn't you? It could exponentially change the trajectory of where you are heading.

Kate: Exactly. Love that. Love [00:38:00] that. If you, if you don't control the part that's in your hula hoop, then what? What hope do you have for the rest of it?

Lori: That's right. That's right. So instead of being busy trying to control other people, let's control ourselves. Control what we can control and see if that can take us to the place of our dreams.

Kate: Amen.

Lori: Amen. Kate, I loved this conversation so much. Where can my listeners find you?

Kate: Well, they can find me on LinkedIn.

I am the only Kate Harrans There is H-A-R-A-N-I-S, also@harransandco.com. But I'm excited to share if I may please that as my own side project, just for fun, not for. Sales of any kind. I just launched this week pr hype girl.com, which has some resources for exactly these types of conversations for women in particular who have been told, [00:39:00] just be yourself.

But we know that it's more nuanced than that, and yet also sometimes just need like. Girlfriend who hypes you up in the college bar bathroom at last call? Like bad energy.

Lori: Yes. Yes, girl

Kate: too. I needed a place where I didn't have to speak corporate so folks can look@prhypegirl.com. Everything there is free it.

It's not a sales shtick, I promise, but it is hopefully a place to, to have a little bit more fun with these types of things. So.

Lori: I love that generosity. We will link all of that in the show notes for anybody who wants to find out more about Kate and her lovely generosity and all that she has shared with us here today.

Kate, it was such a pleasure to have you on the show. Thank you so

Kate: much. It has been such a joy to be here. Lori. Thank you so much and thank you for making my day a little more joyful.

Lori: It. My pleasure. Glad to have you.

Kate: Thanks for listening to the Joy CEO. I hope today's conversation left you feeling [00:40:00] seen, stretched, and a little more grounded in your own joy.

If

Lori: something resonated, be sure to hit subscribe. Leave a five star review and share this episode with someone walking a similar path. And if you're ready to take this work deeper, connect with me on LinkedIn or Instagram at Lori Pine. Or head over to my website, lori pine.com, to learn more about coaching retreats and how we can work together.

Because joy isn't just personal, it's powerful, and when you lead with joy, you don't just rise, you bring others with you. Until next time, keep leading with heart and don't forget to claim your joy.