Episodes

What if the part of you that doesn't take everything so seriously is actually your biggest professional strength? This week I sit down with Mary Hendra, a chief of staff, coach, and consultant who once froze when a branding expert told her, "Your brand is play." She thought it was the reason she wasn't getting promoted. It turned out to be the thing that made her a better leader. We get into why play belongs at work, how it builds presence, creativity, and the ability to let go when something is...

What does it take to start choosing your life instead of just pushing through it? In this episode I talk with Ariela Picciotto — one of my closest friends — about a path that never really went to plan. She left New York years ago to be closer to the people she loves, traded a planned move to London for an unplanned life in Paris, and eventually followed her curiosity out of the corporate world and into coaching. There was a breaking point along the way: the day she got the offer she'd been cha...

Michelle Stanek has been dancing since she was four years old. She drew a ballerina in a second-grade coloring assignment when they asked what she wanted to be when she grew up. Decades later, she is a professional pole artist, world-touring performer, national champion, and now — inventor. The path there was anything but straight. A toxic dance director who made her cry in the car at 16. A grad degree in art history. A job she loved and lost in the 2009 economy. A random Tuesday afternoon pole...

Alana Winter spent 25 years building a national video distribution business before realizing she'd built something successful without ever asking herself what she actually valued. In this episode, Alana and Maricella talk about being raised by a serial entrepreneur dad who taught her to control her destiny, the moment the business became a grind and she didn't know who she was without it, and the three-year process of figuring out her own core values, and how she helps leaders do the same in a m...

What if figuring out who you want to be doesn't start with imagining your future self — it starts with looking at your past one? In this minisode, Maricella walks through a deceptively simple exercise: scrolling through last year's photos to find the one where you look exactly how you want to feel. What she found was more layered, and more useful, than she expected. From a trip to Greece to a random Tuesday alone in her apartment, this episode gets into how the feeling behind a photo, the memor...

Host Maricella Herrera introduces a nurturing, candid conversation with Kvon Tucker, CEO and founder of Consciously, a purpose-driven coaching and consulting firm. They discuss fear, courage, and “spiritual abolitionism,” which Kvon defines as helping people release narratives and conditioning that keep them stuck and move toward liberation. Kvon shares his path from studying psychology and workplace behavior to leadership development roles at Netflix, Amazon, and Google. While at Google, he bui...

Dr. Sofia Pertuz spent 25 years in higher education before realizing the skills she'd been using her entire career — coaching, training, building systems, facilitating hard conversations — were exactly what she should be doing on her own. In this episode, Sofia and I talk about the long road from resident assistant to associate VP and dean of students, the burnout she didn't have a name for, pivoting through the nonprofit world and Billie Jean King Enterprises, and what it finally took to bet on...

Alysa Liu's gold medal at the 2026 Winter Olympics has everyone talking about joy — about following your bliss, about how the universe rewards you when you stop chasing the outcome. Maricella watched it and felt something more complicated. In this minisode, she uses three figure skaters to explore what it actually looks like to perform for yourself versus performing for something external. Alysa Liu, whose comeback is being held up as proof that joy is enough. Amber Glenn, who moved from 13th t...

In this episode of 'Sh*t I Just Quit My Job,' host Maricella Herrera dives into a candid conversation with Megan Senese, a legal marketing and business development expert who co-founded the company Stage. Maricella and Megan discuss the challenges of navigating career shifts, dealing with corporate burnout, and the importance of authenticity in business. They explore Megan's transition from the corporate legal world to entrepreneurship, the strategies she used to build her business from the grou...

In this conversation, Denis Keane shares his journey from a corporate career to entrepreneurship, highlighting the challenges and lessons learned along the way. He discusses his experiences in the nightlife and restaurant industries, the importance of people skills, and the role of adaptability in navigating the ever-changing landscape of startups and technology. Denis emphasizes the need for risk-taking and the value of understanding business fundamentals, while also reflecting on personal grow...

Two weeks before the Chicago Marathon, Maricella was terrified. Not just about the race—about what it would mean if she finished and felt destroyed, ashamed of her pace, not wanting to run again. In this deeply personal episode, she shares what it's like to show up to something hard while feeling like a fraud. She reads her raw journal entries about training anxiety, works through shame about being "too slow," and tells the story of race day—including the sign that changed everything. This isn...

In this special episode, host Maricella Herrera introduces listener calls to the podcast for the first time. She sits down with Jaqueline Oliveira-Cella to test SAFE—an AI-powered emotional awareness tool—on two real workplace scenarios submitted by listeners. SAFE is a methodology that helps people pause and reframe in high-stakes emotional moments at work and in life. The framework stands for Set intentions, Acknowledge facts vs emotions, Frame and reframe, and Execute. In this episode, Mari...

After 20 years in public child welfare, Angel Rodriguez thought she’d retire there. She was trying to revolutionize the system from the inside—building new programs, fighting bureaucracy, making change however she could. Then, at 40, an epilepsy diagnosis forced a different question: could she even keep going? In this conversation, we talk about what it’s like to go from trying to fix a broken system to realizing you first have to take care of yourself—and what it takes to start over when you t...

In this minisode, host Maricella Herrera explores the emotional aftermath of completing the Chicago Marathon and discusses the 'post-marathon blues'—a period of feeling lost and empty after achieving a big goal. She reflects on how training for the marathon served as an excuse to avoid various life decisions and commitments. As she questions her future and the direction of her career, Maricella turns to the book 'The Alchemist' by Paolo Coelho for inspiration on finding one's life purpose. She s...

This week I’m back with my first repeat guest, author, speaker, and DEI advocate Hady Mendez. We’re talking about her new book Calladita No More. The title flips the saying “calladita te ves más bonita” (you’re prettier when you’re quiet), and so does our conversation. We get into Hady’s journey from leading DEI inside corporate America to carving her own entrepreneurial path, what it really means to advocate for yourself, and why ERGs and cultural identity matter more than ever. Hady also pull...

Is your self-worth tied to the job you hold, the craft you practice, or the results you deliver? In this episode, Maricella Herrera sits down with Kira Shishkin, serial entrepreneur and founder of informed, to explore how we measure who we are through our work, why outcomes don’t always equal worth, and what happens in the messy middle of building something new. We also dive into the mental health cost of “trigger news” and how informed is rethinking the way we consume information. Key Topics:...

What if stability isn’t the goal? What if instability is actually where growth happens? This week on Sh*t I Just Quit My Job, host Maricella Herrera talks with Dr. Tarul Kode — a pharmacist turned health tech co-founder, venture partner, advisor, nonprofit leader, and mom — about what it means to stop chasing stability and instead lean into the wobble. After 15 years in the same company and 15 years in a marriage, Tarul found herself starting over. At the same time, her daughter faced a seriou...

In this minisode of Sh*t I Just Quit My Job, host Maricella Herrera shares how reading Make Time: How to Focus on What Matters Every Day by Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky sparked a question she can’t shake: Make time… for what? Juggling four “jobs,” marathon training, and an endless stream of ideas, Maricella reflects on how she’s spending her time and introduces a simple experiment to figure out what’s truly worth the effort. Listeners will hear practical takeaways from the Make Time framework, i...

In this episode of Sh*t I Just Quit My Job, host Maricella Herrera sits down with serial entrepreneur, community builder, and podcast host Raven O’Neal for a conversation about fear, consistency, and what it really takes to follow through on big ideas. They talk about how fear evolves with experience, what it looks like to walk away from a business idea even when it has real potential, and why consistency is often more powerful than inspiration. Listeners will also hear Raven reflect on her jo...

Summary In this engaging conversation, Heidi Monika Romer shares her transformative journey from aspiring actress to a dedicated community advocate and entrepreneur. She reflects on her childhood dreams, the impact of COVID-19 on her career, and the importance of community service. Heidi emphasizes the healing power of words and storytelling, leading to her creation of H.O.L.A. Books, a platform celebrating Latino and Caribbean voices. Throughout the discussion, she highlights the significance ...

In this episode of Sh*t I Just Quit My Job, host Maricella Herrera delves into the profound impact of long-term employment on personal development. Joined by Carla Siegel, a graphic designer and hospitality branding expert, they explore the journey of spending years at a single company and how it shapes one's career and life choices. Carla shares her experiences of working at Daniel Boulud's restaurant group for eight years, highlighting the growth, challenges, and eventual decision to pursue a ...

Two years after quitting her job, Maricella Herrera checks in — not with a polished reflection or a big announcement, but with a real-time look at what it means to keep showing up as the version of yourself you worked hard to reclaim. In this solo minisode, she revisits the same postmortem questions she asked at the one-year mark (what she did, what she’s proud of, what didn’t go well, and what she’s learned) — and finds the answers are harder, murkier, and maybe more honest. This is an episode...

In this conversation, Miriam Simon shares her inspiring journey from a creative child dreaming of working in New York to a successful career in transportation and HR. She discusses the challenges of balancing motherhood with her career, the importance of mentorship, and the transformative power of writing. Miriam reflects on her past traumas and the lessons learned through unlearning negative patterns, emphasizing resilience and self-love. Her story is a testament to the strength of community an...

What happens when the work you love starts to break you? In this episode of Sh*t I Just Quit My Job, Dr. Miriam Zylberglait—triple-board-certified physician, educator, and advocate—shares her journey of leaving the U.S. healthcare system in order to practice medicine with integrity and compassion. Dr. Z started her medical career in Peru and rebuilt it from the ground up when she moved to the U.S.—a testament to her passion and purpose. But despite her deep love for medicine, she found herself ...