NDA: No D*cks Allowed

"I'm Fine": The Lies We Tell to Keep the Peace

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2602993/fan_mail/new] We say it constantly. To our partners, our kids, our coworkers, our friends. "I'm fine." But what are we actually saying? We're saying: my feelings are too much. My needs are inconvenient. It's easier if I just disappear a little. In this episode, we get into one of the quietest and most costly shrinking behaviors women do, swallowing their real emotions to preserve relationships, keep the peace, and avoid being labeled dramatic, difficult, or too much. Because somewhere along the way, we learned that being easy to deal with was more important than being honest about how we actually feel, what we need, and what we're afraid of. We dig into why emotional suppression becomes a survival strategy, what it costs when we abandon ourselves to manage everyone else's comfort, and why, by the time the lid finally blows off, it was never really about that one moment anyway. If you've ever held it together so long you scared yourself when you finally didn't, this one's for you.

The Making of a Mean Girl

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2602993/fan_mail/new] Mean girls don’t appear out of nowhere. They’re created inside systems that teach women there is limited space, limited approval, limited success, and limited safety available to them. In this episode, we unpack the scarcity mindset that quietly turns women against each other and explore why competition between women is often less about cruelty and more about survival, conditioning, fear, and learned self-protection. We talk about what happens when women are taught to see other women as threats instead of community, how comparison and exclusion become normalized, and why authentic vulnerability can feel dangerous in environments built on performance and scarcity. This conversation is not about excusing harmful behavior or blaming women. It’s about understanding the systems and experiences that shape it and what becomes possible when women stop guarding the door and start building bigger tables instead. Because women were never meant to do this alone.

The Waitlist for Worth

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2602993/fan_mail/new] Content Note: This episode contains a brief mention of suicidal thoughts. Listener discretion is advised.  Rachel Artise didn’t wait to feel ready, chosen, or validated. She walked into a location of The UPS Store as a part-time employee. Then she became the manager. Then the owner. In this first-ever NDA guest episode, Rachel gets honest about what it actually took to stop waiting for someone else to recognize her value and start moving like it was already true. At franchise network meetings, other owners dismissed her as “just a manager.” She didn’t try to win them over. She paid attention. She realized their behavior had nothing to do with her worth and everything to do with theirs. Then she started asking a different question: want to sell? That’s how one location became six. This is a conversation about getting off the waitlist for worth. It's about what changes when you stop looking for permission and start making moves. It's about not letting rejection be a signal to shrink but a green light for momentum.

The Good Girl Tax

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2602993/fan_mail/new] You may not get billed for it upfront, but you pay for it constantly. In this episode, we’re breaking down The Good Girl Tax: the hidden cost women carry when boundaries are weak, unclear, or nonexistent. It shows up as burnout you can’t shake, a version of success that doesn’t feel like yours, simmering resentment you don’t say out loud, and a life that feels overcommitted but under-aligned. This isn’t about blaming women for “not setting boundaries better.” It’s about naming the conditioning. Most of us were taught—explicitly or subtly—that being agreeable, accommodating, and endlessly capable is what makes us valuable. So we overextend. We say yes when we mean no. We anticipate needs before they’re spoken. And then we wonder why we’re exhausted, disconnected, and quietly angry. We’re unpacking: * What the “good girl” pattern actually looks like in real life (it’s not always obvious) * The less-talked-about costs: identity loss, decision fatigue, chronic stress * Why high performers are often the most vulnerable to this pattern * How this dynamic shows up in leadership, relationships, and day-to-day decisions If you’ve ever felt like you’re doing everything “right” but it still feels off, this is likely part of the equation. Because the truth is: the more you contort to meet expectations that were never yours, the more it costs you. And eventually, the bill comes due.

Running On Empty and Calling It Drive

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2602993/fan_mail/new] You're doing all the things you're supposed to do. The things that are supposed to make you feel fulfilled. And yet — something's still missing, and you can't quite put your finger on it. In this episode, Amanda gets real about her own experience with exactly that feeling: checking all the boxes, staying busy, keeping up with it all, and still coming up empty. We dig into how busyness can masquerade as a pursuit of fulfillment — how it mimics purpose, creates a sense of control, and keeps you just distracted enough to avoid the harder, more uncomfortable question underneath: what needs do I have that aren't being met? This is one of those episodes that might make you look at your own life a little differently — not at how much you're doing, but at what you might be using all that "doing" to avoid.