Your Job Is Not Worth Your Health with Carrie of Hey Work Friend

Your Job Is Not Worth Your Health with Carrie of Hey Work Friend

Women in leadership are often praised for being helpful, dependable, and willing to take on more. Until “more” turns into burnout. In this episode of Loud & Lifted, Betsy sits down with Carrie of Hey Work Friend, an HR professional turned workplace truth-teller who helps employees navigate boundaries, toxic bosses, burnout, and the conversations we all wish came with a script. Carrie brings the inside scoop from years in corporate HR, and she does not sugarcoat it: HR is not your friend, toxic bosses often do not change, and working yourself into the ground will not protect you from layoffs, bad leadership, or burnout. And this conversation gets real. Carrie shares how she worked seven days a week out of fear, pushed through pain, ignored her own health, and eventually developed an autoimmune disorder — only to be laid off while on medical leave. It is the kind of story too many high-achieving women know in some version: giving everything to a job that was never going to give everything back. She explains: ▪ Why boundaries feel so hard at work — especially for high achievers and women ▪ The “fawn response” and why people-pleasing can feel automatic ▪ How to say no without over-explaining or sounding difficult ▪ What to do when your boss texts after hours ▪ Why HR should be approached with facts, documentation, and clear evidence ▪ How toxic bosses impact your mental and physical health ▪ Why work has to be viewed as a transaction — not a test of loyalty This episode is a wake-up call for anyone who has been answering emails at night, absorbing everyone else’s chaos, saying yes out of fear, or confusing burnout with commitment. Being good at your job should not cost you your health. Chapters 01:18 Meet Carrie: HR, toxic bosses, and workplace boundaries0 2:11 Why boundaries feel so hard at work 03:10 Burnout is not a personal failure0 4:03 The fawn response and people-pleasing at work0 4:59 Why women struggle with boundaries differently 08:10 Why setting boundaries takes practice0 8:50 How to push back with your boss0 9:22 The 3-step script for saying no professionally 10:48 Why saying no can reflect well on 11:40 Setting boundaries around after-hours texts and emails 14:38 How to communicate evening boundaries clearly 15:17 When a boss ignores your boundaries 17:37 Toxic bosses and when to go to HR 19:20 Why documentation matters before escalating 21:21 Setting boundaries with coworkers 22:21 How to say no without damaging the relationship 24:12 The power of a warm no 25:17 When to involve your manager 27:14 How to recover when you fumble a boundary 29:28 What happens when you ignore your limits 31:46 Carrie’s personal burnout story 34:50 Why sacrificing everything for work is not worth it Links Hey Work Friend [https://heyworkfriend.com/] Hey Work Friend on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/heyworkfriend/]

Hard Work Isn't Enough: 4 Career Truths to Act On This Week With Roxy Couse

You were sold a plan: do great work, stay dependable, don't make noise, and someone will notice. It doesn't work that way — and the conversation with Roxy Couse named exactly why. In this Quick Lift, Betsy pulls the four sharpest truths from that episode and gets honest about what each one looks like from inside the rooms where promotion decisions actually get made: why hard work is the price of admission and not the strategy, why being invisible keeps you out of the conversation no matter how good you are, why your manager can't be your whole career, and why you genuinely cannot outwork a bad boss. Each truth comes with one move you can make this week — not a worksheet, not ten habits, just one. Because awareness doesn't change anything. The first move does. For the woman who's done everything right and is still wondering why she feels stuck. Links Full Episode [https://www.loudandliftedpodcast.com/corporate-hard-truths-why-hard-work-isnt-enough-with-roxy-couse/] Connect with Roxy [https://roxycouse.com/]

Corporate Hard Truths: Why Hard Work Isn’t Enough with Roxy Couse

Roxy Couse has built a platform by saying the quiet parts of corporate life out loud. The career lies. The unspoken rules. The bad bosses. The pressure to be "authentic" at work while still somehow being polished, agreeable, visible, strategic, collaborative, ambitious, and not "too much." Cute little list, right? In this episode of Loud & Lifted, Roxy brings her signature mix of corporate hard truths, workplace humor, and practical career strategy to a conversation about what it really takes to get ahead — without losing yourself in the process. Her message is clear: hard work alone will not save your career. We talk about why performance doesn't automatically lead to promotion, why visibility matters more than most women want to admit, and why personal branding isn't just an online thing — it's how people understand your value before you're even in the room. Roxy gets into the hard truth about bad bosses, why you can't outwork one, workplace mean girls, career ownership, and why "no one is coming to save you" isn't harsh — it's freeing. And in the back half, it gets personal: Roxy shares how she built her own business on the side of a corporate job, the 3 a.m. note she wrote giving herself six months to get out, and what it took to actually bet on herself. It's the rare career conversation that names the hard stuff honestly — and still ends somewhere hopeful. This one's for the overachievers, people-pleasers, eldest daughters, and high-performing women who have done everything "right" and are still wondering why they feel stuck. You'll learn * Why hard work often gets you more work — not more opportunity * The real cost of being invisible in your career * How to build visibility without feeling fake * Why speaking to your impact isn't bragging — and who's actually in the room when it counts * Why you can't outwork a bad boss — and what staying too long really costs * How personal branding becomes career protection * How to start building something of your own — before you're ready Roxy's hard truth: your career is personal. And if you don't take ownership of it, someone else will decide what happens next. Chapters 00:00 Welcome Roxy Couse 00:31 The hard truth women are sold at work 02:54 The cost of being invisible 04:24 Visibility does not mean being extroverted 09:26 How to talk about your wins without bragging 11:53 When your manager is not respected 13:47 No one is coming to save your career 18:11 Why you cannot outwork a bad boss 20:56 There is no girls’ club 25:45 Building something that is yours 29:00 Betting on yourself when you are risk-averse 32:15 Why starting before you are ready matters 32:50 Where to connect with Roxy Links https://roxycouse.com/ [https://roxycouse.com/] https://www.instagram.com/roxycouse/ [https://www.instagram.com/roxycouse/] https://www.tiktok.com/@roxycouse [https://www.tiktok.com/@roxycouse]

The Day a Truck Took Her Strength — and How She Got It Back

Rachel Druckenmiller was out for a run when she was hit by a truck. The crash fractured her spine — and it fractured something harder to see: her trust in her own body. This Quick Lift pulls the biggest lessons from that conversation. It's not a fitness episode, and it's definitely not about working out to look a certain way. It's about what happens when movement becomes the way you come back to yourself. After the accident, Rachel felt weak, scared, and disconnected. What rebuilt her wasn't a mindset shift or a magic moment of clarity. It was lifting. It was consistency. It was support. It was borrowing belief from someone else until she could believe in herself again. Three takeaways we break down: ▪ Confidence isn't a feeling — it's self-trust, and self-trust is built by keeping promises to yourself ▪ Strength changes how you show up — in a room, in a hard conversation, in your own life ▪ You don't rebuild alone — and the people who tell you that you do are wrong Confidence doesn't come from thinking harder. It comes from doing the thing. Keeping the promise. Taking the walk. Lifting the weight. Asking for help. One rep at a time.

How Lifting Helped Rebuild Confidence After Trauma

Rachel Druckenmiller is known for helping people get unmuted — to stop holding back, use their voice, and show up more fully in their lives and work. But this conversation takes a different path. Six years ago, Rachel was hit by a truck while out for a run and suffered a spinal fracture. In the months and years that followed, she had to rebuild her relationship with her body, her confidence, and her sense of trust in herself. She was presenting about hope and resilience while wearing a back brace, managing pain, navigating isolation during the pandemic, and privately wondering if she would ever feel strong again. What changed wasn’t a quick mindset shift. It was movement. Showing up consistently. Borrowing belief from people who could see her strength before she could fully feel it herself. Rachel shares how lifting helped her repair the mind-body connection, rebuild confidence, and move from feeling powerless to feeling strong, capable, and fully alive again. This is not a conversation about fitness for appearance. It’s about fitness as evidence. Evidence that your body can be trusted. Evidence that you can do hard things. Evidence that confidence is built one promise, one rep, one brave step at a time. We cover: ▪ What people didn’t see behind the scenes of her resilience ▪ How trauma impacted her mind-body connection ▪ Why lifting became a path back to strength and self-trust ▪ The connection between physical strength and confidence ▪ How confidence ripples into leadership, presence, voice, and opportunity ▪ Why asking for help is not weakness — it’s part of rebuilding ▪ What it really means to get unmuted from the inside out Chapters 00:00 Introduction: Rachel Druckenmiller’s Story of Resilience 01:45 The Day Rachel Was Hit by a Truck 06:14 Recovery, Pain, and Learning to Move Again 07:41 What People Didn’t See Behind the Scenes 09:42 Showing Up When You Don’t Feel Strong 11:08 How Lifting Became the Turning Point 12:28 Borrowing Someone Else’s Belief 14:52 Rebuilding the Mind-Body Connection 15:54 Trauma, PTSD, and Feeling Powerless 17:52 How Strength Training Restored Confidence 19:26 Why You Don’t Need a Crisis to Rebuild 20:40 How Confidence Started Showing Up Outside the Gym 22:36 Main Character Energy and Walking Into Rooms Differently 25:23 Why Feeling Good Isn’t Vanity 26:13 How Getting Strong Changed What “Unmuted” Means 30:20 Why No One Rebuilds Alone 32:14 The Cost of Trying to Do Everything Alone 36:18 The First Step When You Feel Stuck 37:58 “If It Were Just Right, What Would It Look Like?” 39:31 Borrowing Belief and Building Accountability 40:03 Visualizing What Becomes Possible Links Rachel Druckenmiller [https://www.racheldruckenmiller.com/]