The Joy CEO - Blog
🎧 Listen to Episode 3: The Soft Skills That Shape Strong Leaders with Dr. Susan Dean
When Dr. Susan Dean talks about leadership, you don’t just hear theory. You feel lived experience.
She’s stood in the sweltering heat picking bad blueberries off...
🎧 Listen to Episode 2: What I’d Tell My 25-Year-Old Self About Career, Control & Joy
If I could go back and talk to my 25-year-old self—the one with fear in her chest and ambition on her back—I wouldn’t give her a checklist.
I’d give her permiss...
I was 12 years old.
Fifth grade.
And someone suggested I skip a grade.
It felt like a big deal.
A recognition of something inside me—potential, readiness, maybe even brilliance.
But my mother said no.
She had her reasons, and in hindsight, they were good ones:
I was young for my grade.
The social reperc...
Over the past several months, I’ve been speaking inside some of the world’s most recognizable brands —from Harvard, to Fortune 500 companies like Kraft Heinz, Campbells, Haleon and Outback Steakhouse—talking to executives who are carrying tremendous responsibility. These are people who have checked ...
Last week, I had a full-circle moment.
I was invited to speak to a team at Campbell’s—a company that shaped so much of my corporate journey. I spent three years there, building brands, leading teams, and even co-creating a mentoring program that’s still going strong, serving six hundred associates....
If I’m being honest, I’ve wanted to launch a podcast for a long time.
But I hesitated.
The usual voices crept in—What if no one listens? Can I really do this? Aren’t there already a million podcasts out there?
And then one day, I got clear:
If even one person hears an episode that shifts somethin...
Somewhere along the way, we got the message that speaking up was dangerous.
Not overtly, of course. No one stood at a podium and said, “Be quiet if you want to be taken seriously.” But we learned through subtle glances, passed-over promotions, and the hush that follows when a woman says what everyo...
There’s a difference between momentum and a milestone.
One keeps you moving.
The other stops you in your tracks—and changes you.
That’s what a loud win feels like.
It’s not just something that happens to you.
It’s something that rewrites you.
I just returned from speaking at Harvard.
(Even typ...
You’re a high achiever.
You move fast. You carry a lot. You lead like it’s second nature.
And still, you often wonder:
“What did I even do this month?”
That’s not because you’re unfocused. It’s because when you’re operating at your level—when excellence is your norm—you rarely pause to recognize...
There’s a rhythm to your life. The life of a high-achieving woman who gets. it. done.
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You move fast. You deliver results. You don’t miss a beat.
But lately? It’s starting to feel more like a loop than a life.
From the outside, it looks like success. And to be fair, it is. You’ve built a career mo...
Put Me In, Coach—I'm SO Ready to Bloom
I played sports from middle school all the way through college.
I practiced. I prepared. I ran. I sprinted. I played hard. I rested.
And then I did it all over again.
(sounds a lot like corporate life, doesn’t it?)
I was beat up and bruised—but I loved the gam...
There’s just something about spring, isn’t there?
Almost every winter I think it’s going to stay forever. The cold, gray, wintry mix. And then one day, it’s warmer and the trees are budding and the tulips start blooming. And I think, oh yes, here you are spring, right on time and so very needed.
T...
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