Nobody Trained Us for This Kind of Chaos

Nobody Trained Us for This Kind of Chaos

Guest: Alana Cheeks-Lomax | Co-Founder & CEO, Untold Impact WHAT DOES IT REALLY MEAN TO LEAD THROUGH CHAOS? The chaos leaders are feeling right now often isn't accidental. The workforce is shifting, the table is changing, and most leaders are navigating the noise without ever really having been prepared for what this looks like. On this episode of Motivation N'at, Natalie Bulger sits down with Alana Cheeks-Lomax — Co-Founder and CEO of Untold Impact, former Global Head of Inclusion & Diversity at Cash App, and diversity executive at Microsoft — for a conversation about leadership burnout, generational workforce shifts, the DEI rollback, the AI reckoning, and what it actually takes to stay grounded when everything around you is on fire. Alana brings over 15 years of experience at the intersection of business strategy, people operations, and social impact. She is also the host of the Office Hours Black Girl podcast, now in its third season and recently picked up by a national distributor. KEY TAKEAWAYS * Leadership burnout is real and widespread — leaders have been managing compounding crises since 2020, and many are overwhelmed and afraid to make mistakes. * Staying grounded in your core values is the most important leadership tool right now — returning to what you founded your work on is what keeps you from second-guessing every decision. * The workforce is experiencing a multi-generational identity shift — younger generations are uncoupling their identity from their job title, and companies that don't adapt will lose talent fast. * Accountability is the leadership norm most overdue for a reset — fear of being wrong makes it harder to hold the mirror, and that ripples across the entire organization. * High performance and high quality are not the same thing — fast output is not automatically good output, and leaders need to be intentional about the difference. CONNECT WITH ALANA CHEEKS-LOMAX 🌐 Website: www.alanacheekslomax.com 💼 LinkedIn: Alana Cheeks-Lomax 📸 Instagram: @acheekslomax 🎙️ Podcast: @OfficeHoursBlackGirlPodcast 🏢 Untold Impact: @untoldimpact_ FOLLOW NATALIE & MOTIVATION N'AT 📸 Instagram: @Sincerely__Natalie 🎙️ YouTube: @motivation-nat-pod ---------------------------------------- MOTIVATION N'AT — Hot Mess to High Potential® The podcast where real life gets talked about, hosted by Natalie Bulger. New episodes every Sunday.

Stop Kicking Yourself: Careers Change | Guest - Lis Doggett

Your career has been telling you something for a while now. The question is whether you're listening. Lis Doggett, career coach and founder of Hanai Career Solutions, joined me for this honest discussion which handed out some tough pills to swallow. We get into: 🔷 Why burnout isn't about how many hours you're working 🔷 The difference between running from a job and moving toward something 🔷 How to know when leaving is the answer — and when it isn't 🔷 What it actually means to separate your mission from your job title 🔷 The sunk cost trap that keeps people stuck longer than they should be 🔷 Why your next chapter doesn't erase what you built in the last one If you've ever stayed somewhere past the point of it making sense, OR left before you were ready, OR just quietly wondered what you're actually building toward, then you might want to stick it out through this whole episode. 📩 Want Lis's free Burnout Prevention Weekly Planning Sheet? Email hello@hanaicareers.com [hello@hanaicareers.com] to grab it. 🌐 Lis's website: www.hanaicareers.com [www.hanaicareers.com] 📱 Instagram: @lisdoggett [https://www.instagram.com/lisdoggett] 💼 LinkedIn: lisdoggett [https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisdoggett/] 📘 Facebook: @hanaicareers [https://www.facebook.com/HanaiCareers/] 📲 Follow me: Instagram: @Sincerely__Natalie [https://www.instagram.com/sincerely__natalie/] MOTIVATION N'AT — Hot Mess to High Potential® The podcast where real life gets talked about, hosted by Natalie Bulger. New episodes every Sunday.

A Place to Come as You Are | Guest - Gabbi Myers

Gabbi Myers built Bella Day Spa around three words on her mission statement, come as you are, and spent ten years making sure every person who walked through the door actually believed it. Gabbi and I had a rapid fire chat where we pulled apart all of the layers of spa ownership and about the services offered as spas and salons. We cover🔹 The stigma around trade school and why her staff out-earns most college grads🔹 Why a good consultation isn't a courtesy — it's the whole service🔹 Building a team in a high-turnover industry without losing the people who matter🔹 What unexpected events can take, give back and why one pushed her into a bigger building🔹 The pressure AI photos are putting on stylists and estheticians 🔹 The importance of turning away clients rather than risk injuring them You should always be able to feel yourself, even in industries surrounded by beauty standards. 📩 Connect with Bella Day Spa: bellaspaandbeauty.com📱 Instagram & Facebook: @bellaspaandbeauty MOTIVATION N'AT — Hot Mess to High Potential®The podcast where real life gets talked about, hosted by Natalie Bulger. New episodes every Sunday.

Creating Confidence through Clarity | Guest - Sara Ann Todd, DHA

What actually separates a confident leader from a cocky one? Dr. Sara Ann Todd says it comes down to one, main thing: clarity. Sara Ann, founder is the CEO of Leadership Investments and a certified coach with over 22 years across the military, federal government, and private sector. We connected after both leaving the federal government and our discussion allowed us to look back and what we say during recent years as well as to look forward in how we can learn from what we were a part of. We get into:🔹The real difference between confidence and cockiness in leadership🔹Why self-awareness is a practice, not a personality trait🔹 What vulnerable leadership actually looks like versus emotional spillover🔹How to lead with integrity when the people above you aren't🔹What to do when you can't walk away from a misaligned environment If you've ever walked into a room wondering whether you belong there, or watched someone lead from fear and wondered how they still have followers, this episode might help to shed a little light on it all. MOTIVATION N'AT — Hot Mess to High Potential®The podcast where real life gets talked about, hosted by Natalie Bulger. New episodes every Sunday. 📩 Connect with Sara Ann: saraanntodd@leadershipinvestments.biz [saraanntodd@leadershipinvestments.biz]🌐 Website: www.leadershipinvestments.biz [http://www.leadershipinvestments.biz]💼 LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/sara-ann-todd [linkedin.com/in/sara-ann-todd] 📲 Follow me:Instagram: @Sincerely__NatalieYouTube: @motivation-nat-pod

The Messy Beautiful Work of Healing Together | Guest - Kristy Joy Weidner, LCSW, CCTP-1

Healing isn't one therapist, one yoga class, one breakthrough moment. It's messy, it's layered, and it is absolutely not meant to be done alone. I sat down with Kristy Joy Weidner, licensed clinical social worker, trauma specialist, mindfulness teacher, and founder of two Pittsburgh spaces built around exactly that idea to talk about what community really looks like as a part of our healing journey. We get into:🔹What community actually means and why it has nothing to do with geography🔹The real cost of accessing mental health support and what to do when the system fails you🔹Why therapy is simply finding patterns and then practicing living differently🔹Nervous system responses: fight, flight, freeze, fawn, and flop and what they actually look like in your daily life🔹 How Pittsburgh is still more divided than people want to admit and what that means for healing spaces🔹Why the helpers are exhausted and what a real reset looks like🔹Letting go of what no longer serves you and trusting that something new comes in Kristy has spent her career building spaces where people can finally exhale and it's evident throughout our discussion. I hope you'll stick around to listen to the whole episode. MOTIVATION N'AT — Hot Mess to High Potential®The podcast where real life gets talked about, hosted by Natalie Bulger. New episodes every Sunday. 📩 Connect with Kristy Joy Weidner:Instagram: @injoymeditation [https://www.instagram.com/injoymeditation/]Instagram: @village_therapy [https://www.instagram.com/village_therapy/]Website: villagetherapy.org [villagetherapy.org]