ADHD for Smart Ass Women with Tracy Otsuka

Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Here’s what actually does. FREE training here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/signup [https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/signup] _____ Kiersten Lyons spent most of her life being told she was too much. Too loud, too dramatic, too many feelings all at once. She was also told she wasn't enough. Not pretty enough, not the right fit, not what Hollywood was looking for. The dichotomy nearly broke her. But it also became the foundation of her story. As a working actress in LA for over a decade, with recurring roles on Grey's Anatomy and Mad Men, Kiersten kept hearing the same feedback: "You're great, we just don't know what to do with you." So she created her own work, writing and starring in her award-winning one-woman show Crushed. It was supposed to become a TV series. Then the producer ghosted her.  At 42, while advocating for her son's ADHD evaluation, she finally got her own diagnosis and suddenly all those years of rejection, of being "too much" and "not enough," made sense. She understood why she could memorize all 50 states in under 20 seconds to impress boys (it didn't work), why she felt everything so intensely, and why masking had left her exhausted for decades. Her debut memoir Crushed: The Boys That Never Liked Me Back opens with her fiancé confessing he didn't love her and had cheated at The Magic Castle while she was addressing their wedding invitations. Six months later, he won $100,000 on reality TV. Her life unraveled publicly, but the book isn't about revenge. It's about reclaiming yourself when everything falls apart.  In this conversation, Kiersten and Tracy explore pattern recognition, rejection sensitivity, and why so many creative women with ADHD end up in industries that require constant validation. They talk about the loneliness of being the eldest daughter who takes care of everyone, the grief of late diagnosis, and why acceptance, not positivity, is what allows us to heal. Resources: Website: https://www.kierstenlyons.com [https://www.kierstenlyons.com] Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kierstenlyonsroar [https://www.instagram.com/kierstenlyonsroar] TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@kiers [https://www.tiktok.com/@kierstenlyons] Send a Message: Your Name | Email | Message [https://www.buzzsprout.com/twilio/text_messages/2316437/open_sms] If this podcast helps you understand your ADHD brain, Shift helps you train it. Practice mindset work in just 10 minutes a day. Learn more at tracyotsuka.com/shift [https://tracyotsuka.com/shift] Instead of Struggling to figure out what to do next? ADHD isn’t a productivity problem. It’s an identity problem. That’s why most strategies don’t stick—they weren’t designed for how your brain actually works. Your ADHD Brain is A-OK Academy is different. It’s a patented, science-backed coaching program that helps you stop fighting your brain and start building a life that fits. 👉Learn more here [https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/aok-academy]: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/aok-academy [https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/aok-academy] Learn more by connecting with Tracy through Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/tracyotsuka/], Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/heytracyotsuka], LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/tracyotsuka/], Pinterest [https://www.pinterest.ph/adhdforsmartwomen/], or visit adhdforsmartwomen.com [https://adhdforsmartwomen.com/]. Are You Ready to Discover Your Brilliance? Order Now: https://tracyotsuka.com/book2 [https://tracyotsuka.com/book2] Visit our website: https://tracyotsuka.com [https://tracyotsuka.com]

Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Here’s what actually does. FREE training here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/signup [https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/signup] _____ Nicole Bela was brilliant at her job. She could read a room in seconds, remember every donor’s story, and raise millions for causes she believed in. But behind the polished professionalism, she was quietly unraveling. The same systems designed to do good were slowly breaking her down, and she couldn’t understand why. After being diagnosed with ADHD at 37, just after the birth of her second son, Nicole finally had the missing piece. Suddenly, the patterns made sense: the anxiety that exercise once kept in check, the brain fog after Zoom meetings, the guilt of forgetting critical details while remembering someone’s cat’s name. What began as relief quickly turned into a mission. Nicole wrote a groundbreaking article for the Association of Fundraising Professionals, “Unmasking Burnout,” connecting the dots between masking, mental health, and why so many fundraisers, especially women, are burning out. In this conversation, Nicole and Tracy unpack why the nonprofit world may be full of undiagnosed neurodivergent professionals, how the pandemic exposed the cracks in traditional workplace culture, and what leaders can do to build real belonging. Nicole also shares how unmasking her ADHD changed the way she leads, works, and parents proving that inclusion starts when we stop pretending and start asking what people truly need to thrive. Resources: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/unmaskedartstudio [https://www.instagram.com/unmaskedartstudio ] LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicole-bela-msw-cfre-a484571b [https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicole-bela-msw-cfre-a484571b ] Send a Message: Your Name | Email | Message [https://www.buzzsprout.com/twilio/text_messages/2316437/open_sms] If this podcast helps you understand your ADHD brain, Shift helps you train it. Practice mindset work in just 10 minutes a day. Learn more at tracyotsuka.com/shift [https://tracyotsuka.com/shift] Instead of Struggling to figure out what to do next? ADHD isn’t a productivity problem. It’s an identity problem. That’s why most strategies don’t stick—they weren’t designed for how your brain actually works. Your ADHD Brain is A-OK Academy is different. It’s a patented, science-backed coaching program that helps you stop fighting your brain and start building a life that fits. 👉Learn more here [https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/aok-academy]: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/aok-academy [https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/aok-academy] Learn more by connecting with Tracy through Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/tracyotsuka/], Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/heytracyotsuka], LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/tracyotsuka/], Pinterest [https://www.pinterest.ph/adhdforsmartwomen/], or visit adhdforsmartwomen.com [https://adhdforsmartwomen.com/]. Are You Ready to Discover Your Brilliance? Order Now: https://tracyotsuka.com/book2 [https://tracyotsuka.com/book2] Visit our website: https://tracyotsuka.com [https://tracyotsuka.com]

Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Here’s what actually does. FREE training here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/signup [https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/signup] _____ What happens when doing everything "right" still leaves you miserable? You start asking better questions. Shell Mendelson was a successful CEO of KidzArt, an international children's art franchise she founded, when everything fell apart. Despite looking accomplished on paper, she was disconnected, dysregulated, and drowning in work that no longer fit. At her lowest point, she found an ADHD book a therapist friend had sent years earlier, opened it, and finally understood why she'd always felt like an outcast. Diagnosed in her fifties, Shell realized the masking, hypervigilance, and constant feeling of being "off" had been ADHD all along. Now, after 35+ years as a career coach, Shell helps ADHD and neurodivergent adults stop job-hopping and start building careers that actually fit. She's the author of Unlock Your Career Path and creator of the Career Galaxy framework—a process that helps people define their must-haves in writing so they never forget what they need to thrive. In this conversation, Shell and Tracy explore why career assessments fail neurodivergent people, how DEI rollbacks are pushing ADHD professionals into hiding, the rise of workplace surveillance, and why people who need accommodations are often just in the wrong job. Shell also shares her recent move to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, where she's building a life by the beach with her two dogs—a story about reinvention, clarity, and refusing to stay somewhere that doesn't serve you, even when it looks successful from the outside. Resources: Website: www.careercoachingwithshell.com [https://www.careercoachingwithshell.com] Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CareerCoachingwithShell [https://www.facebook.com/CareerCoachingwithShell] LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yourpassiontocareer [https://www.linkedin.com/in/yourpassiontocareer/] Website: https://unlockyourcareerpath.com [https://unlockyourcareerpath.com] Send a Message: Your Name | Email | Message [https://www.buzzsprout.com/twilio/text_messages/2316437/open_sms] If this podcast helps you understand your ADHD brain, Shift helps you train it. Practice mindset work in just 10 minutes a day. Learn more at tracyotsuka.com/shift [https://tracyotsuka.com/shift] Instead of Struggling to figure out what to do next? ADHD isn’t a productivity problem. It’s an identity problem. That’s why most strategies don’t stick—they weren’t designed for how your brain actually works. Your ADHD Brain is A-OK Academy is different. It’s a patented, science-backed coaching program that helps you stop fighting your brain and start building a life that fits. 👉Learn more here [https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/aok-academy]: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/aok-academy [https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/aok-academy] Learn more by connecting with Tracy through Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/tracyotsuka/], Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/heytracyotsuka], LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/tracyotsuka/], Pinterest [https://www.pinterest.ph/adhdforsmartwomen/], or visit adhdforsmartwomen.com [https://adhdforsmartwomen.com/]. Are You Ready to Discover Your Brilliance? Order Now: https://tracyotsuka.com/book2 [https://tracyotsuka.com/book2] Visit our website: https://tracyotsuka.com [https://tracyotsuka.com]

Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Here’s what actually does. FREE training here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/signup [https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/signup] _____ Burnout was Skye Waterson's PhD companion. She'd switch majors—psychology to law to sociology—convinced each time that she just hadn't found her passion yet. The truth was simpler and more complex: she was trying to outwork her undiagnosed ADHD, and no amount of grinding harder was going to fix a brain that needed different systems entirely. By the time she finished her master's thesis, she was so burned out she couldn't even process being offered a guaranteed PhD scholarship. Instead, she worked at a bakery and took art classes until her now-husband asked the obvious question: "Wait, you did a master's? You have a scholarship? What's going on?" The ADHD diagnosis came at the perfect time—right as she was starting her PhD. Instead of seeing it as a limitation, Skye turned her academic brain toward understanding how her mind actually worked. She started researching, writing articles, and building the productivity systems that traditional advice couldn't provide. What began as survival became her calling, and eventually, her business grew so successful that her supervisors encouraged her to leave academia entirely. Now, as founder of Unconventional Organisation, Skye helps entrepreneurs, founders, and executives scale their businesses without scaling their stress. In this conversation, she and Tracy dive into why neurotypical productivity advice fails ADHD brains, how to prioritize when everything feels urgent, and Skye's game-changing approach to delegation using AI. They explore her "recipe" method for breaking down tasks, why the Pomodoro technique wasn't designed for us, and how understanding dopamine timing can revolutionize your work flow. Resources: Website: https://www.unconventionalorganisation.com [https://www.unconventionalorganisation.com ] Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/unconventionalorganisation [https://www.instagram.com/unconventionalorganisation ] LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/skye-waterson-026286204  [https://www.linkedin.com/in/skye-waterson-026286204 ] Send a Message: Your Name | Email | Message [https://www.buzzsprout.com/twilio/text_messages/2316437/open_sms] If this podcast helps you understand your ADHD brain, Shift helps you train it. Practice mindset work in just 10 minutes a day. Learn more at tracyotsuka.com/shift [https://tracyotsuka.com/shift] Instead of Struggling to figure out what to do next? ADHD isn’t a productivity problem. It’s an identity problem. That’s why most strategies don’t stick—they weren’t designed for how your brain actually works. Your ADHD Brain is A-OK Academy is different. It’s a patented, science-backed coaching program that helps you stop fighting your brain and start building a life that fits. 👉Learn more here [https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/aok-academy]: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/aok-academy [https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/aok-academy] Learn more by connecting with Tracy through Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/tracyotsuka/], Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/heytracyotsuka], LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/tracyotsuka/], Pinterest [https://www.pinterest.ph/adhdforsmartwomen/], or visit adhdforsmartwomen.com [https://adhdforsmartwomen.com/]. Are You Ready to Discover Your Brilliance? Order Now: https://tracyotsuka.com/book2 [https://tracyotsuka.com/book2] Visit our website: https://tracyotsuka.com [https://tracyotsuka.com]

Tired of ADHD strategies that don’t work? Here’s what actually does. FREE training here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/signup [https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/signup] _____ Sometimes the thing that saves you is also the thing that masks your greatest struggle. Swimming was Meg Hennessey Schofield's lifeline through college—three to four miles a day that kept her ADHD brain calm and focused. When she quit her senior year to focus on teaching, everything fell apart. The anxiety and depression that led to her diagnosis at 21 made sense in hindsight, but she pushed the ADHD piece aside. Everyone has a little ADHD, right? It wasn't until postpartum struggles led a provider to revisit that ignored diagnosis that everything changed. Two hours after taking medication, Meg saw herself clearly for the first time in years—the mental noise had quieted. Meg is a special educator with a Master's in Severe Special Education and co-creator of the SMYLE program, which blends sensory-based yoga with trauma-informed education. Her revelation about regulation didn't just change her life—it transformed her classroom. When she made subtle changes to help manage her own anxiety, her students with severe disabilities began accessing parts of their brains they hadn't reached in years. In this conversation, Meg and Tracy explore how chronic stress hijacks learning, why "acting out" is actually nervous system dysregulation, and what it looks like to start each school day with regulation instead of demands. Meg shares her coffee cup analogy for how students arrive each morning and how she teaches both kids and adults to reconnect their bodies and minds through breath and movement. Resources: Email: meghenscho@gmail.com [ meghenscho@gmail.com] Website: sensoryenhancedyoga.org [https://www.sensoryenhancedyoga.org/] LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/meg-hennessey-schofield-784449102 [https://www.linkedin.com/in/meg-hennessey-schofield-784449102] Send a Message: Your Name | Email | Message [https://www.buzzsprout.com/twilio/text_messages/2316437/open_sms] If this podcast helps you understand your ADHD brain, Shift helps you train it. Practice mindset work in just 10 minutes a day. Learn more at tracyotsuka.com/shift [https://tracyotsuka.com/shift] Instead of Struggling to figure out what to do next? ADHD isn’t a productivity problem. It’s an identity problem. That’s why most strategies don’t stick—they weren’t designed for how your brain actually works. Your ADHD Brain is A-OK Academy is different. It’s a patented, science-backed coaching program that helps you stop fighting your brain and start building a life that fits. 👉Learn more here [https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/aok-academy]: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/aok-academy [https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/aok-academy] Learn more by connecting with Tracy through Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/tracyotsuka/], Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/heytracyotsuka], LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/tracyotsuka/], Pinterest [https://www.pinterest.ph/adhdforsmartwomen/], or visit adhdforsmartwomen.com [https://adhdforsmartwomen.com/]. Are You Ready to Discover Your Brilliance? Order Now: https://tracyotsuka.com/book2 [https://tracyotsuka.com/book2] Visit our website: https://tracyotsuka.com [https://tracyotsuka.com]