Island Woman Podcast

Strive, Be Visible, Protect Your Peace: Jackie Chambers de Freitas, Salesforce VP AI, Transformation

Caribbean women pursuing their professional goals on the global stage carry both the distinction and the burden of representation, coming from cultures where excellence is the standard.  While striving to be exceptional is vital, protecting your peace and mental health is paramount for sustainable success. Jackie Chambers de Freitas, a 20-year tech executive and current Salesforce VP of AI Delivery and Transformation, breaks down the cost and benefit of corporate leadership with Dianne Squires, founder of Dianne N Squires Consulting (DNSC), on this episode of the Island Woman podcast. --------------------- Jackie Chambers de Freitas is deliberate about using her voice and visibility as a tech leader to encourage other women to aspire to higher levels of achievement in the space. And she does so while acknowledging that the cost of leadership can be high and attention to mental health must be intentional. I soaked up her wisdom and straightforward approach in our conversation on this week’s episode. She was transparent about being mindful of her own mental health, having seen it affect members of her family. We also explored how she's applied her agile methodology philosophy to her personal life and how women over 45 can embrace inevitable shifts in their careers and the power of AI.  Timestamps 00:00 - Shaping corporate identity: Your internal Compass over External Expectations 00:08 - Introducing Jackie Chambers de Freitas  00:52 - Island Woman Podcast Intro  02:08 - 3 Survival Tips for Women Navigating the Global Corporate C-Suite  03:16 - Caribbean Heritage: Jackie’s Roots  04:54 - The Importance of Visibility as a “Unicorn” leader  07:59 - Prioritising Mental Health for Caribbean Women Striving for Excellence  08:49 - Setting Boundaries, Protecting Your Peace: Balancing the Importance and the Cost of Visibility  10:23 - Agile Philosophy and AI Transformation: Iterative Change at Speed  14:22 - Applying Agile Philosophy to Personal Life Goals  17:03 - Experiencing Joy as a Woman in STEM  (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths)  20:08 - The “Boon and Burden” of being a Unicorn  22:19 - The Strength of a Caribbean Value System for Playing Big as a Unicorn 24:20 - Jackie rates herself on the Ambition/Wellbeing Scale  28:58 - Navigating Inevitable Career Shifts in the World of AI: Leaning into Personal Brand Development for Women Over 45  31:27 - Embracing AI Skills, Broadening Career Horizons for Women Over 45  Get In Touch Follow our curated WhatsApp channel. 📲 https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Vb7lcdnEFeXrxlKuY31L --------------- Connect with Dianne LinkedIn: @Dianne N Squires  linkedin.com/in/dianne-n-squires-a2389132 [https://www.linkedin.com/in/dianne-n-squires-a2389132] Email: diannensquires@diannensquires.com [diannensquires@diannensquires.com] ------------------- Connect with Jackie Chambers de Freitas LinkedIn: @Jackie Chambers de Freitas https://www.linkedin.com/in/jackie-defreitas/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/jackie-defreitas/] ---------------------- Dianne N. Squires is a Strategic Communications leader, Founder of Dianne N Squires Consulting (DNSC), and host of the Island Woman Podcast. Through DNSC, her work centres on elevating voice, visibility and impact for Caribbean changemakers.

3 Habits to Elevate Your Voice and Build Authority

You may be the “expert” in the room, but if you practice poor communication habits, you may never be listened to or taken seriously. Island Woman and Founder of Dianne N Squires Consulting, Dianne Squires, shares 3 communication habits experts can practice daily to elevate their voice and build authority in this week’s episode of the Island Woman podcast. ------- After 16 years in marketing communications at every level, eight of those years running my own consulting practice, I know it’s the simple things done consistently that shape the voice of authority. In today’s episode, I break down three simple habits that experts can adopt to ensure their professional opinion is heard and taken seriously.  I talk about the unfortunate situation you create when you focus only on problems, and what you should do instead (hint: Do you have a pathway to a solution?). I share why it’s important to put every activity you do into the context of a broader organisational strategy. Finally, I reveal the simple “meeting math” to practice - have your 1 to 3 meeting objectives ready to go before any meeting to purposefully participate.  Timestamps 01:22 - Don’t Just Be a Problem Identifier, suggest solutions  03:25 - Couch Your Tactical Activities in the Context of the Wider Strategy  06:09 - “Meeting Math” The official website (diannesquires.com) is currently offline by intentional design as we undergo a structural brand rebuild. To bypass the public digital noise, get direct access to upcoming masterclass updates, and secure private invitations for the Rooted and Ready 90-day program or the Island Woman Authority Suite, follow our curated WhatsApp channel. 📲 https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Vb7lcdnEFeXrxlKuY31L Connect with Dianne LinkedIn: @Dianne N Squires  linkedin.com/in/dianne-n-squires-a2389132 [https://www.linkedin.com/in/dianne-n-squires-a2389132] Email: diannensquires@diannensquires.com [diannensquires@diannensquires.com] --------- Dianne N. Squires is a Strategic Communications leader, Founder of Dianne N Squires Consulting (DNSC), and host of the Island Woman Podcast. Through DNSC, her work centres on elevating voice, visibility and impact for Caribbean changemakers. Get in Touch  The official website (diannesquires.com) is currently offline by intentional design as we undergo a structural brand rebuild. To bypass the public digital noise, get direct access to upcoming masterclass updates, and secure private invitations for the Rooted and Ready 90-day program or the Island Woman Authority Suite, follow our curated WhatsApp channel. 📲 https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Vb7lcdnEFeXrxlKuY31L Connect with Dianne LinkedIn: @Dianne N Squires  linkedin.com/in/dianne-n-squires-a2389132 [https://www.linkedin.com/in/dianne-n-squires-a2389132] Email: diannensquires@diannensquires.com [diannensquires@diannensquires.com] --------- Dianne N. Squires is a Strategic Communications leader, Founder of Dianne N Squires Consulting (DNSC), and host of the Island Woman Podcast. Through DNSC, her work centres on elevating voice, visibility and impact for Caribbean changemakers.

Nothing Working in Business? Stop, Recalibrate, Build a New Chapter (I Learned This!)

True authority means knowing when to stop doing the work long enough to fix the leadership infrastructure behind it. Island Woman and Founder of Dianne N Squires Consulting, Dianne Squires shares a transparent look behind her recent "fallow season"—a necessary period of stopping, and recalibrating when the old ways of operating simply stopped working. ---------- I’m back with a new season of the podcast…finally. But it’s also a new chapter in how I manage my personal and business life. I talk about how perimenopause symptoms made me stop in my tracks; why it ended up being a good thing; and how stopping to recalibrate is like a fallow season - the necessary preparation for a new chapter.  My fallow season emphasised the point that sound leadership requires prioritising clarity over constant output. This episode is more than my personal story. It serves as a strategic blueprint for Caribbean business and leadership, exploring how regional female founders can protect their presence of mind while driving regional change and economic empowerment in the Caribbean. Key Strategic Themes * Auditing Your Presence of Mind: Personal or physical health shifts—like the transition through perimenopause—are wellness issues, but they also represent a high-stakes professional risk when severe anxiety or fatigue challenge your executive decision-making. Recognising when you have hit a limit and systematically seeking targeted expertise is the ultimate move for maintaining your strategic authority. * Decoupling Hustle from Visibility: True visibility has absolutely nothing to do with performing for the social media algorithm every day or draining your energy at endless networking mixers. It is about establishing a point of view, sharpening your core message, and targeting your visibility in the spaces that move the needle for your business. * Transitioning from Doer to Strategist: Early in a career, keeping your head down and executing works beautifully. However, scaling past a ceiling requires mastering the strategic decisions of how you show up, how you express your expertise, and how you influence others. * Anchoring to a Global-But-Regional Vision: In the Caribbean Melding a "BIG and simple" life means designing structures that respect both high-level professional ambition and regional well-being. Episode Timestamps * 00:00 – The Power of the Strategic Stop: Introduction to Season 4 and the Reality of a Fallow Season. * 02:30 – Behind the Thin Air: Navigating Technical Bottlenecks and Personal Health Crossroads. * 05:00 – Managing Professional Risk: When Severe Anxiety Disrupts Executive Decision-Making. * 05:11 – The Transparency Imperative: Why Caribbean Leaders Must Speak Up About Midlife Career Intersections. * 06:25 – Auditing the Infrastructure: Doing the Research, Finding the Right Support, and Reclaiming Your Edge. * 10:10 – The Core Business Pivot: Embracing Fractional Executive Advisory and Focused Entrepreneurship. * 8:54 – Moving Past the Execution Trap: Helping Women Founders Build Point-of-View Authority. * 14:54 – Rooted and Ready: The 90-Day Blueprint and the Island Woman Authority Suite. * 13:25 – New Chapters Loading: Accepting Advice and Rebuilding from the Ground Up The official website (diannesquires.com) is currently offline as we undergo a structural brand rebuild. To bypass the public digital noise, get direct access to upcoming masterclass updates, and secure private invitations for the Rooted and Ready 90-day program or the Island Woman Authority Suite, follow our curated WhatsApp channel. 📲 https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Vb7lcdnEFeXrxlKuY31L Connect with Dianne LinkedIn: @Dianne N Squires  linkedin.com/in/dianne-n-squires-a2389132 [https://www.linkedin.com/in/dianne-n-squires-a2389132] Email: diannensquires@diannensquires.com [diannensquires@diannensquires.com] --------- Dianne N. Squires is a Strategic Communications leader, Founder of Dianne N Squires Consulting (DNSC), and host of the Island Woman Podcast. Through DNSC, her work centres on elevating voice, visibility and impact for Caribbean changemakers.

Caribbean Women Find Your Voice II: No More Podcast Burnout

Podcasting is an excellent way for Caribbean women to find, shape, and use their voices on the global stage. But podcast burnout can come quickly without planning for expected or unexpected realities. Dianne Squires of the Island Woman Podcast and Mialisa Garnes of the Wellness & Growth Journeys Podcast, with over 70 episodes between them, talk about podcast burnout, how it happens, how to avoid it and the tech tools they use to streamline their processes.  ----------------- The Island Woman podcast is back for Season 4, and we’re kicking off with a special International Women’s Day collab episode with the Wellness & Growth Journeys podcast with my fellow Island Woman podcaster Mialisa Garnes. We’re covering “Caribbean Women Find Your Voice” using the power of podcasting in two parts. On the Island Woman podcast, we’re revealing the realities of podcast burnout and the tech we’ve been using to simplify our processes. On the Wellness and Growth Journeys Podcast channel, we talk about how we got started in podcasting, what visibility via podcasting has meant for us and how it can go beyond personal branding to be economically empowering. Start here and then head over to the Wellness & Growth Journeys podcast to get the full conversation.  ---------- ➡️Connect with Dianne Website: diannensquires.com [http://diannensquires.com] LinkedIn: @Dianne Squires Learn about the Rooted and Ready Strategic Visible Authority programme for women: https://www.diannensquires.com/rooted-and-ready-visibility-programme-for-women ----------- ➡️Follow The Wellness & Growth Journeys Podcast YouTube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLl2SAz7ot8YzCAvwONVYSZBgo1_VaVw3U&si=nDZLw5y2nKenKKio [https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLl2SAz7ot8YzCAvwONVYSZBgo1_VaVw3U&si=nDZLw5y2nKenKKio] Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/653PlFZ7LxJvZNf0Nh6crj?si=d2e22906e1604f47 [https://open.spotify.com/show/653PlFZ7LxJvZNf0Nh6crj?si=d2e22906e1604f47] ➡️Connect with Mialisa:  Instagram: @itsmialisa LinkedIn: @Mialisa Garnes ------- Where BIG ambition meets uncomplicated living and paves the way for holistic wealth and wellbeing - that’s the Island Woman Big and simple life™ philosophy. If this is your path, subscribe for more Caribbean Island stories on women in leadership, intentional living, entrepreneurship, and legacy-building.  YouTube channel link: https://youtube.com/@islandwomanpodcast?si=aopEY35yFMd9DYmf

The Truth About Work & Ageing for Caribbean Women

As many Caribbean women cross milestones of 35, 40, and 50, we start to wonder if we've outgrown the career roles we once worked hard to attain. We assess how we can continue to maximise our economic impact while protecting our wellbeing. With regional pensions under threat and the risk of noncommunicable diseases rising as we age, we have to get honest about our work, aging and our Caribbean reality.  In this episode, I’m sharing why I chose to "peel it back to the studs" and how we can all work stronger, not just harder.  Chapter Timestamps: 0:00 - The Reality of Ageing and Work in the Caribbean  2:15 - Life After 35: A New Perspective on Career  4:45 - The Truth About Pensions and Economic Stability  7:10 - Outgrowing Your Role: The "Tight Shoes" Analogy  9:30 - Maintaining Well-being & Managing Health Risks  12:15 - Upskilling: Are You Willing to Learn Something New?  15:00 - Using Your "Total Skill Range" to Earn Income  18:30 - Redefining Work I have more questions than answers, but I know this: we don't have to work until we drop. We can choose a life that allows us to execute at the highest quality while remaining whole. Let’s think through these transitions together. Join the Conversation:  If this resonated with you, please leave a comment—are you ready to learn a new skill, or think of new ways to harness your potential?