Friends with Benefits

Saying Yes to Scary Things and Building a Life You Love with Brianna Doe

• Sam and Jason Yarborough • Season 3 • Episode 3

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Sometimes the biggest growth comes from saying yes to the things that scare you, even when you don’t feel ready.

This week, we’re talking with our friend Brianna Doe, founder of Verbatim, co-creator of Let Her Cook, and author of The Unapologetic Professional. You’ve seen her all over LinkedIn, but this conversation goes deeper into the story behind the posts. Brianna opens up about how burnout, fear, and self-doubt pushed her to redefine success on her own terms, and why showing up fully as yourself can change everything, personally and professionally.

We dig into how saying yes to uncomfortable opportunities built her confidence, what it really means to create a dream life instead of chasing a dream job, and how she’s learned to prioritize creative freedom, financial freedom, and joy in every decision. Brianna also shares the story behind her viral “Should I Quit My Job?” calculator, her media company Let Her Cook, and how she’s helping others do work that actually feels like them.

What you’ll learn:

  • Why fear is a sign you’re heading in the right direction
  • How to define success through creative freedom, financial freedom, and joy
  • Why authenticity is the most powerful career strategy you can have

Jump into the conversation:

(00:00) Introduction

(01:09) Brianna’s professional journey and achievements

(03:19) The importance of authenticity on LinkedIn

(07:34) Overcoming fear and embracing challenges

(13:27) Building a dream life with creative freedom, financial freedom, and joy

(26:10) The journey of writing The Unapologetic Professional

(30:57) Navigating identity and career

(36:52) Creating a career exit strategy

(40:38) Launching the Let Her Cook YouTube channel


Connect with Brianna Doe: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianna-doe/ 

Check out Brianna Doe’s work:


Check out Arcadia: https://www.BeArcadia.com  

Connect with Sam Yarborough: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sam-yarborough/ 

Connect with Jason Yarborough: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yarby/ 


Produced in partnership with Share Your Genius

https://www.shareyourgenius.com 

[00:00:00] Brianna Doe: You just have to get used to it. People are not going to agree with you. Some will be rude about it, some will be respectful. And so I’ve gotten really comfortable with having thoughtful debates on posts and content. And that’s also directly or indirectly helped me start to challenge my own perspectives, especially when it comes to the limits or limitations that I put on myself for my career.

[00:00:27] Jason Yarborough: Welcome to Friends With Benefits, a business podcast about revenue-generating partnerships — not a podcast about business time with friends. We are your co-hosting couple. I’m Jason.

[00:00:38] Sam Yarborough: And I’m Sam. Welcome to the show, friends.

[00:00:42] Jason Yarborough: Well, back to the show, friends. Today, I think we’ve got a pretty rocking show. We’ve got an unapologetically professional joining us today.

[00:00:51] Sam Yarborough: Agreed. Yes. I loved this episode. I took a lot from it. It made me feel like I can do more in my life because she gets so much done.

[00:01:02] Jason Yarborough: Yeah, it seems like it. I mean, she went through her schedule. Once she does all that she’s doing, I was tired by the end of the show just thinking about it all.

[00:01:09] Sam Yarborough: So if you’ve ever been on LinkedIn, I’d be floored if you haven’t come across today’s guest. But Brianna Doe joined us today, which we’re really excited about because she is a published author.

[00:01:21] Jason Yarborough: That’s a big one.

[00:01:22] Sam Yarborough: That is a big one.

[00:01:22] Jason Yarborough: Not many people can say that.

[00:01:24] Sam Yarborough: Yeah. She also is the founder of Verbatim, and she has a podcast, she has a newsletter, she has a YouTube show.

[00:01:33] Jason Yarborough: A really great YouTube show. I thought it was really fun, really well done. And she’s just kind of doing the things that she wants to do, which is what we’re all about here — do things you want to do in the way you want to do them.

[00:01:42] Sam Yarborough: And don’t fit into other people’s boxes, which is what today’s conversation is all about. So go follow Brianna, enjoy today’s show, friends. Thanks for being here. Alright friends, welcome back. We have a friend who has a lot of benefits today. I’m so excited to actually chat with you because I think this is — well, we met really briefly at a conference at Chili Palooza, but I’m not going to consider that a conversation. So this is the first time that we’re having a legitimate conversation.

[00:02:09] Jason Yarborough: I think we had dinner together at B2BMX two years ago.

[00:02:12] Sam Yarborough: Yeah, it was two years, and I know —

[00:02:14] Jason Yarborough: Really?

[00:02:15] Sam Yarborough: So Brianna Doe has nothing going on. She is the founder of Verbatim. She recently just launched a show and media company, let her cook. Maybe most exciting — I’ll let you decide this — but is releasing a book, is the author of The Unapologetic Professional. Her LinkedIn presence is larger than life, but I think she writes in a way that so many people are like, “Oh my God, me too.” I’m so excited to chat with her today. Brianna, welcome to the show.

[00:02:52] Brianna Doe: Thanks for having me. And that was the kindest intro I think I’ve ever heard, so I appreciate it.

[00:02:56] Sam Yarborough: All of it’s true. I didn’t do any of that. You did, so—

[00:03:00] Brianna Doe: Well, I appreciate it. And you’re right, I have nothing going on. I’m very bored. So if there are projects you want me to work on, just let me know.

[00:03:06] Jason Yarborough: I also feel like that’s the title of another good show for you — like “Brianna Doe’s Got Nothing Going On.”

[00:03:10] Brianna Doe: Be really nice.

[00:03:11] Jason Yarborough: Sounds like a sitcom series. Maybe I would do that. I’d produce that.

[00:03:17] Sam Yarborough: Just add it to the list.

[00:03:18] Jason Yarborough: Okay.

[00:03:19] Sam Yarborough: I want to just start here because I think it does kind of summarize everything that you talk about. I’m going to assume it summarizes what’s in your book, but in launching let her cook, the first line of that post was, “I’m tired of watching talented people shrink themselves to fit LinkedIn’s definition of professional.” So let’s just start there. Say more. What does this mean to you?

[00:03:46] Brianna Doe: Yeah. Well, I meant it — I am tired of it. I think you could plug in other social media platforms too — Instagram, TikTok — but I think LinkedIn is a unique platform in the sense that you’re asked to bring hints of your personal life — I guess depending on the person — but mostly your professional life and your career onto this stage or onto the social media platform. And I don’t know, I don’t know about you two, but I think it’s just so easy to get stuck in this LinkedIn bubble where you build in public and you share all your revenue numbers and you only talk about the good things that are happening or all the humble brags or whatever the case may be. Or you just don’t — you start to hide certain parts of yourself that you think maybe wouldn’t resonate with people or people would tell you, “Take that to Facebook instead.”

[00:04:34] Brianna Doe: And I think that’s the one downside of LinkedIn — that a lot of people struggle to figure out how to show up on there in a way that feels authentic to them without feeling unsafe. Because you say the wrong thing, you offend the wrong person — it could impact your career in a way that it really can’t on Instagram or another platform. I think it’s easy to shrink yourself, but I think it’s more important, especially in this day and age, to come to the platform with what makes you unique and be comfortable in that and be confident in it.

[00:05:07] Jason Yarborough: We talk a lot about bringing your whole self into the equation, into the situation, the life, work, everything that you do. It’s like we’re not a work self, we’re not a home self — we should be a fully integrated self. And we talk a lot about bringing that whole self in. So what was that moment or that impetus for you where you realized that you needed to show up in more of a whole self and be fully you — and how that led to kind of a more freely liberating experience in all the things you were doing?

[00:05:43] Brianna Doe: That’s a great question. So I would say it’s been a decade-long journey. When I first started my career, I was working and always in the office — remote work was not an option. And so being a 21st-gen Black woman in, candidly, predominantly white spaces, it doesn’t feel safe to bring your whole self. It’s a privilege you just don’t really get to have. And I spent a lot of time feeling really insecure and feeling really uncomfortable — everything: my hair, the way I spoke, the way I laughed. I just never fully felt safe enough to be authentic.

[00:06:34] Brianna Doe: And remote work really shifted that for me. When COVID happened and we had to work from home, I just had — one, you had a lot more time to think, there was nothing else to do — but I just did a lot of thinking about that. And at that point I was tired. I’d been stuck in this cycle of burnout for about eight years or so, and I could not figure out what it was. And I do think a big part of it was that kind of shrinking that you do. It does chip away at you and it does exhaust and drain you.

[00:07:04] Brianna Doe: And so by the time I started posting on LinkedIn, there was no way in hell I was going to hide who I was. I mean, one, I was sick of it, and two, I was sick of being burnt out. And when I started creating content on there, I didn’t see a lot of Black women doing that. It was a couple of years ago, and so a lot of people in general weren’t doing it, but I didn’t see a lot of people that looked like me. And it just felt like a really cool opportunity to start having those conversations and start dissecting my career. And I’ve always been a writer through and through. I love it. It’s my preferred medium. And so it felt really comfortable and safe to dissect my career in the written format or in the written word.

[00:07:35] Brianna Doe: And when I started seeing how people connected with that — “I had a similar experience” or “I had a manager like that too” — it just empowered me to keep going.

[00:07:35] Sam Yarborough: Can we go back to that version of Brianna who is deciding, okay, I’m going to put myself out there, I’m going to start? I think — I don’t want to say it’s easy to talk about it now, but hindsight’s 20/20. What were you feeling in that moment? Sure, it wasn’t just like, “Okay, here I go — wide open.”

[00:07:53] Brianna Doe: Not at all. One, it was horrifying. So like I said, I love to write, but I was used to creating content for brands. So you have that shield or whatever — using the brand voice or it’s on the brand account, or if I was ghostwriting for a CEO, it was their voice, not mine. You can hide behind it. And when I started getting on LinkedIn again for job hunting, I was staying on there longer because I was seeing more people create content and talk about what they were learning at work.

[00:08:28] Brianna Doe: And so it took a couple of months, but I kept thinking, “Okay, is there something I want to say? Do I have a voice in this?” Actually posting was terrifying. I think I worked on my post for a week. I second-guessed it the entire time. I clicked post and then immediately logged off and didn’t check it for a day. I was like, it’ll be fine — I’m going to come back and nobody’s going to have seen it except my mom. So I told her about it, but I came back to, I think, 10,000 likes or something, which was—

[00:08:50] Sam Yarborough: What?!

[00:08:52] Brianna Doe: It was not great. I was horrified — not what I expected. My DMs were blowing up and so I logged off again. I didn’t respond to anybody.

[00:09:04] Sam Yarborough: Ignore that.

[00:09:06] Brianna Doe: Ignore that. And then I think I got back on a week later and tried again.

[00:09:09] Sam Yarborough: A month later — is that what you said?

[00:09:11] Brianna Doe: No, no, no, like a week or a couple days.

[00:09:12] Sam Yarborough: Oh, okay.

[00:09:13] Brianna Doe: Yeah.

[00:09:14] Sam Yarborough: You’re taking the post and ghost to a whole new level here.

[00:09:14] Brianna Doe: I was the ultimate post-and-ghoster. But yeah, it was cool. I just wasn’t expecting anybody to see it, and so it empowered me to keep going. But that initial feeling was definitely fear.

[00:09:29] Sam Yarborough: I mean, I guess obviously that was one post — you kept going and going. Talk about what you’ve learned over the past several years and how just that initial post set you out on this journey that’s gotten you to where you are now.

[00:09:44] Brianna Doe: Yeah. When I first started posting, I assumed I would talk about marketing — what I was learning, things that were happening at work. I think I posted about marketing twice, maybe three times, and I was so bored. I do it all day. The last thing I wanted to do in my free time was analyze a marketing campaign. I was like, “This is just not working.”

[00:10:09] Brianna Doe: And so when I sat down, I just remember thinking, okay, if I could talk about anything — if I treated this like a journal — what would I talk about? And I had a colorful career. I shifted industries a million times. It took me a while to figure out what I wanted to specialize in, and I didn’t have a mentor or anything like that, which is something I’d always wanted. So I made a lot of mistakes, did a lot of things right, and I was like, “Okay, if I could talk about anything, I would want to start talking about that — analyzing and understanding my career and some of the things I went through and some of the things I learned and figuring out what I can share that will help somebody else.”

[00:10:42] Brianna Doe: And so that’s been my north star the entire time. I always try to write for 20 to 25-year-old Brianna — regardless of where this person lives or what field they’re in — what are the core fundamental elements of your career that you can learn from, that you can learn from me, so you can avoid the same pitfalls and just have a smoother journey.

[00:11:05] Jason Yarborough: I like that you take the LinkedIn approach — “What would I write if this were my journal?” Do you encourage and coach others to write in that approach, or do you encourage them to more find their voice and whatever they want to be talking about? What’s your approach to helping others find their voice or strategy in what they want to talk about that allows them to be fully themselves?

[00:11:28] Brianna Doe: Yeah, I always recommend people just start with asking themselves what they care about — and just make a full list. It can be related to work, it can be related to your personal life. Just what are the areas or things that fire you up? If you were to go grab brunch with a friend, what could you rant about — good or bad — for hours? I think that’s where the gold is. I think where people fall flat or where they get stuck is when they start trying to create content that they just think other people want to see, instead of talking about what interests them.

[00:12:03] Brianna Doe: So I always start there. And with your voice, that can be hard. I feel lucky in the sense that because I’ve been writing stories forever and I studied film and media, it just comes very naturally to me to write. It’s not the case for a lot of people, so I actually recommend if you don’t feel comfortable with it or you don’t know what to say, just get the words out. Just ramble in a Google Doc. Don’t worry about how it looks, don’t worry about posting it — but just start getting used to articulating your thoughts, getting clearer with them. You can always work on hooks and formatting later, but you’re not going to learn what your voice is until you actually start getting the words out.

[00:12:37] Sam Yarborough: I feel like that’s such a good exercise for people too, just to get out of their own way. And even if you never post it, but it just lives — it’s cathartic, honestly, to just go through that motion for nobody but yourself.

[00:12:51] Brianna Doe: Yeah, I think it is. I think it’s therapeutic. I think you’ll start to notice things that you missed, even as you’re just writing down one story. There are going to be elements of that story that you didn’t even pick up on before that you can dissect or talk about too. But if you just get stuck in your head, mulling over the same idea, you’re going to get stuck in analysis paralysis.

[00:13:11] Jason Yarborough: Love it. So I’m kind of working through this theory and timeline in my head of the “Brianna Doe Has Nothing Going On” story.

[00:13:22] Brianna Doe: Podcast launching 2026.

[00:13:24] Jason Yarborough: It seems like—

[00:13:25] Brianna Doe: Added to the list.

[00:13:27] Jason Yarborough: How did coming out of that COVID scenario and feeling that empowerment and showing up more fully and authentically as you set the course for what you’re about to do for the next three years of your career — how did that give you… did that give you the confidence you needed to begin doing the things you were about to do and the companies you were about to start, the book you were about to write, and stuff like that?

[00:13:52] Brianna Doe: One thing that I did not expect to learn from creating content on LinkedIn was how to get comfortable with being challenged — having my thoughts or perspectives challenged.

[00:14:01] Brianna Doe: And that, I would say, has probably been the most life-changing or career-changing thing for me, because you just have to get used to it. People are not going to agree with you — some will be rude about it, some will be respectful. And so I’ve gotten really comfortable with having thoughtful debates on posts and in content. And that’s also directly or indirectly helped me start to challenge my own perspectives, especially when it comes to the limits or limitations that I put on myself in my career.

[00:14:36] Brianna Doe: I’ve always wanted to write a book. I thought I would do it when I was 60 — people will take me seriously after I’ve been in corporate for 40 years.

[00:14:36] Sam Yarborough: After I’ve done—

[00:14:39] Brianna Doe: Once I’ve hit this milestone, that’s when I’ll do it. So I started challenging that perspective of, okay, I don’t want to launch my own business until I — I specifically didn’t want to do it until I hit the CMO role. I was like, before that, I won’t have the credibility or legitimacy to do it. That also wasn’t true.

[00:15:07] Brianna Doe: And so I’ve gotten really comfortable with being uncomfortable. I actually, kind of in a weird way, crave that feeling of discomfort because it’s given me an opportunity to prove myself wrong. And I do attribute a lot of that growth to LinkedIn — which does it have to do with the content I’m creating? Yes. But I think it even more so just has to do with challenging the way I’ve lived my life and approached my career, because the things that have happened because of LinkedIn are insane to me. And it never would’ve happened if I hadn’t started. And so I just remind myself of that whenever I want to try something new.

[00:15:29] Sam Yarborough: Okay, I want to just segue to this really quickly because you just posted this, and I have such girl jealousy. I’m rooting for you immensely, but also — goals. You interviewed Guy Raz. Hello? Oh my gosh.

[00:15:45] Brianna Doe: Honestly, that felt — I feel like I peaked. I am obsessed — and I told him this to his face — I said, “I’m obsessed with your podcast, kind of obsessed with you, but in a professional way.” It was probably the coolest experience.

[00:15:58] Sam Yarborough: Okay, I can only imagine. And I love how you talked about — you said these things just kept happening because you kept saying yes to scary things. You kind of just talked about this, but you learned about being comfortable with being uncomfortable. I’m sure that the bar just keeps raising. I’m sure there’s a difference between writing your first post on LinkedIn and then interviewing Guy Raz, but honestly maybe the feeling of fear is the same — it’s just directed at different things. Talk about how you overcome that now as the bar keeps raising.

[00:16:35] Brianna Doe: First of all, I love that point — maybe the fear is the same. It’s just like — I love that. Maybe we just elevate it in our own heads or amplify it. I think you just have to become kind of obsessed, in a healthy way, with proving yourself wrong.

[00:16:35] Brianna Doe: First of all, I love that point. Maybe the fear is the same. It’s just like — I love that. Maybe we just elevate it in our own heads or amplify it. I think you just have become kind of obsessed in a healthy way with proving yourself wrong. I think so many people spend so much time self rejecting. You never even give yourself the opportunity to try, which is kind of sad. Who knows how many opportunities you’ve missed out on just because you thought you couldn’t do it. And the advice I’ve always heard is face the fear and do it anyway, which — great, hard to put in practice. I still have to face the fear before I do it anyway. But one thing I’ve realized actually from getting tattoos is that the time is going to pass anyway. I can spend it doing the thing that I want to do, even if it physically hurts or makes me uncomfortable or I’m scared or those three hours can go by and I didn’t do the thing that I was scared of and I didn’t get to grow and I proved myself right. I proved that I couldn’t do it and I just don’t want to live my life that way. I don’t want to look back and think, man, maybe I would’ve crushed the interview with Guy Raz. Maybe I would’ve done a great job, but now I’ll never know and I’ll never get another opportunity or an even bigger opportunity because I didn’t put myself out there to try it out and get the feedback. 

[00:17:52] Jason Yarborough: Yeah, absolutely. One of our, I think Arcadia principles here is the do hard things or to challenge yourself. And I think it is more than just proving yourself wrong. I think to me it’s proven to yourself that you can enough. We don’t challenge ourself enough to do hard things to see what we are actually capable of. We get extraordinarily comfortable with average. We set our bar of average to a certain place that maybe feels high and we just kind of coast there. Maybe that bar of average is beyond that of other people in our circles and we feel like we’re doing good. We coast, we don’t continue to push that bar of average higher by continuing to challenge ourself and doing harder things. And so overcoming that fear as a matter of to what Sam was saying, just saying yes to those scary things, we’ll never figure out what we’re capable of or ever get to the point where we can interview a Guy Raz. And if we don’t start saying yes to the smaller or scarier things, now the more you say yes, the less scary those scary things become. 

[00:18:53] Brianna Doe: Exactly. And when Content Marketing World reached out about me doing the interview, they specifically said it’s because they’d heard me on my podcast Stop The Scroll and they like the way I interview. So saying yes to — because I said yes to starting a podcast, which I was also scared to do and because I kept saying yes and releasing new episodes, it’s all a ladder. And so I think you just have to think of every decision as it’s getting you either closer to what you want or closer to this new version of yourself or actually farther away. And I do think a lot of it boils down to curiosity as well. 

[00:19:26] Sam Yarborough: Yeah. 

[00:19:27] Brianna Doe: I think about that with the gym too. I’m really curious in how much the human body, my human body can handle. How much can I push myself? What am I actually capable of? If you’re not curious in that way, you’re never really going to grow. 

[00:19:40] Jason Yarborough: Yeah. So almost like you need to ask ourself a question, what happens if and then fill in the blank. 

[00:19:47] Sam Yarborough: Yeah. 

[00:19:47] Brianna Doe: Exactly. 

[00:19:48] Sam Yarborough: Okay. You just talked about — well first of all, you said a yes ladder and I love this. I am having a out of body experience and there’s an image in my head. I love it. So first of all, a lot of amazing things have happened for you in the last year, which is so great and we love to see it. You’ve gotten married, you’ve launched a ton of things, you’re releasing a book. You recently just said, I don’t have a dream job anymore. I have a dream life that includes work I care about. I want to know more about what this looked like for you and how really intentional this was. Like did you write down what your dream life looked like and then you reversed engineered it? Did it feel that calculated as you start to put yourself into the world and say more yeses, I want to know how you’re determining what you say yes to and what you say no to make this dream life. 

[00:20:43] Brianna Doe: Oh my gosh, I love that question also. I’m glad you ordered the book. I talked about this in there. So for me, it boils down to three main things, creative freedom, financial freedom and joy. So if an opportunity is placed in front of me and it doesn’t directly or indirectly lead to one of those or all of those options, it’s going to be a no. And that does mean I have to think longer term as well. So if I say yes to this client right now, I might not have as much creative freedom. They know exactly what they want and there’s no flexibility in there, but this account is going to lead to a new level of financial freedom that’ll help me feel more joy in my personal life. So it’s give and take with some of the opportunities, but those three pillars have really just helped guide what I can say yes to and what I say no to. 

And I will say the joy piece is the most important. I guess I’m going to turn into a therapy session. Growing up, I spent a lot of time alone. My brother and sister were always in, well, my brother was always in detention, my sister was always at track and stuff. My dad was always working and my mom was always working. And so one thing that’s always been really important to me is carving out time with my friends and my family and the people that I love. I just think that you just don’t get a lot of time with them. And so if I have to sacrifice that, that’s sacrificing a piece of my joy, so it better lead to some level of financial freedom or creative freedom that lets me experience more of that joy later on. So that’s been really big and I try to keep that in mind all the time. It can be hard, especially if I get an opportunity that sounds really great, but in the long run it’s just going to take me away from my husband for three weeks or it doesn’t pay enough to actually justify the amount of effort and time, but it looks nice. I still struggle with that decision, but for the most part I just ladder it to one of those three pillars. 

[00:22:35] Jason Yarborough: Love that. I like. We call it the algorithm or the reverse engineering of joy. Most people are trying to find what those things are that bring them joy as to where you’re just looking. I just want to be in a state of joy and peace and surround yourself with the opportunities to find the creative freedom and financial freedom in that state that you live in instead of putting yourself in a job. It’s like, okay, where can I find joy here? It’s like joy is the center of what you build around. I think there’s a lot to learn from that. And I think Sam and I have this conversation a lot around what brings us joy, what do we want to do and what are the things that make us happy? And then we’ll figure out how to make the rest of it happen and not so much get hung up on the fact that it’s got to be creative freedom and financial freedom first. That equals joy, but it’s the other way. 

[00:23:28] Brianna Doe: Exactly. And I think it can be hard. To your point, I think you bring up a good point. You have to know what actually brings you joy. You have to know yourself well, that’s a big one. And it takes time, it takes hard work. I worked on that for quite a few years, just getting down to the basics of, okay, who is Brianna? What do I enjoy? What makes me happy? What brings me peace separate from what I think should bring me peace or separate from what I think success should look like? But I’m glad I did the work. I think everybody should. 

[00:24:01] Sam Yarborough: And I think one thing that’s important to call out here is I don’t want to project on you, but I know that when I got married and or insert other life change when I had kids, those things change or maybe just shift a little bit. And it’s important to take a moment and evaluate how that affects decisions and the way that you spend your time. When Jason and I were single, it was a lot easier to say yes to travel and do all that, and now we have kids and it’s like that’s not going to work the way it used to. So that’s also an evolving conversation. It’s not like a set it and forget it for the rest of your life. 

[00:24:42] Jason Yarborough: Right. Well, I think to your point Brianna, it’s like you have to get to know yourself and any relationship you have to continue to get to know yourself. It’s like you can’t set it and forget it. Like you said, Sam, I feel like I’m constantly on a journey. It’s like learning who I am and what I bring into this relationship with myself and with that is what brings me joy now that we are parents, now that we are homeowners, entrepreneurs and all this stuff. Now it’s like the things that we’ve chased these things because that’s what we wanted in our life. That’s what we believe to bring joy is getting married, having kids starting the job. And so yeah, I think it does evolve and with that, what evolves is who I’m becoming and how I’m relating to myself. 

[00:25:27] Brianna Doe: That’s a great point. To both of your points, your career is going to evolve, your life is going to evolve. It doesn’t make sense for the way you define success, for the way you define joy and peace to stay the same. Why wouldn’t that evolve too? I was smiling when you brought up the life change of getting married. It has been an interesting one. I would just get up and travel, who’s going to ask me questions now? I go to my husband, I’m like, I think I’m going to go to New Zealand in December. He goes, okay, we’re married. We should talk about it first. This is a joint decision now. Hey, hey girl, let’s talk about it. It’s just funny how that plays out. 

[00:26:08] Jason Yarborough: Absolutely. Alright, so you, you’ve mentioned you’ve got a book coming out, your first book you love to write. So talk to us about where did the idea to write this book come from? Tell us the book title, what it’s about and where the idea came from real quick. 

[00:26:24] Brianna Doe: Yeah, so it’s called The Unapologetic Professional. It’s been a labor of love. Like I said, I just assumed I’d write a book when I was retired and had all these years of experience to talk about. But Wiley, the publisher, reached out last summer and the acquisitions editor was just like, I’ve been following you on LinkedIn. I love your content. Have you ever thought about writing a book? And I was like, I have. Yes. So we hopped on a call.  

[00:26:49] Sam Yarborough: Funny, you should ask.

[00:26:50] Brianna Doe: Right? And I actually ignored the email at first because I was like, this feels like a scam. She reached out two more times and I was like, yes, let’s hop on a call. So we hop on a call, we chat, she asks me a bunch of questions. She goes, “Okay, so let’s start working on the book proposal. I’ll send you over the information.” So I work on it. I’m still like, this isn’t going to happen, so it’ll just be good practice. I kind of work on it. It takes me three months to work on this book proposal. She’s following up, and I’m like, why are you taking this so seriously?

[00:27:18] Sam Yarborough: You’re like, I have 40 years to finish this proposal. What are you talking about?

[00:27:20] Brianna Doe: You don’t need this until I’m 70. And then we go through a couple of revisions, and then I get an email, and she’s like, “Your proposal’s been green-lit.” And I was like, oh, okay. I guess I’m writing a book. So then I panicked and didn’t write anything for three months, which I do not recommend. That was not great.

[00:27:44] Jason Yarborough: Been there.

[00:27:45] Brianna Doe: Yeah, it was not great. So originally, the book proposal was something about learning how to scale your business in the modern economy—so in this era of side gigs and side hustles, what it looks like to scale. And I had a really interesting conversation with my editor. I think I was three chapters in, and I said to her, “This just isn’t at all the book proposal. I’m not talking about scaling businesses at all.”

[00:28:11] Sam Yarborough: So what you were writing didn’t match the proposal.

[00:28:13] Brianna Doe: It did not match at all. I was like, “I’m writing about imposter syndrome right now, and then I want to write about how to redefine professionalism and success, and then maybe something about untangling your self-worth from your job title. Is that okay?” And she goes, “Yeah, that actually typically happens. You write the proposal, and then the book ends up totally different.” So she encouraged me to keep going, and that’s what it turned into.

[00:28:39] Brianna Doe: I layered in some stories and personal experiences to make sure it’s actually relatable, but it’s really just filled with frameworks—what I’ve learned about how to navigate all of that through the lens of being a non-traditional professional. So first-gen, LGBTQ+, person of color, fill in the blank—whatever it is—it does bring its unique challenges, even being a woman in corporate.

[00:29:03] Brianna Doe: So how do you practically build your career but build a career that you’re proud of and that feels fulfilling, where it doesn’t feel like you have to put a mask on every morning when you go to work, but you also don’t feel like you’re putting your livelihood at risk? You know what I mean? So I’m really proud of it. Like I said, it was a labor of love, and I really just hope that it impacts people and helps them and just helps them feel more seen.

[00:29:28] Sam Yarborough: Wow. So when’s the actual release date?

[00:29:32] Brianna Doe: November 11th.

[00:29:33] Sam Yarborough: 11/11?

[00:29:35] Brianna Doe: Yeah.

[00:29:35] Sam Yarborough: Was that on purpose?

[00:29:37] Brianna Doe: No, it was actually November 10th, but they moved it to the 11th, which works for me.

[00:29:41] Sam Yarborough: There’s some synchronicity in that, I’m sure.

[00:29:43] Brianna Doe: Yeah.

[00:29:43] Sam Yarborough: Well, first of all, congratulations. What an accomplishment. I have no doubt that it’s going to change people’s lives and worlds. What is this doing for your career? Are you going on tour? Is this opening up more opportunities for you, or are you just thrilled to have this labor of love in the market?

[00:30:02] Brianna Doe: Above anything else, it just feels really meaningful to have created this body of work that I’m proud of. I’ll always have that title for myself and that experience. I’m a published author, and I just think that’s something that eight-year-old Brianna really wanted. I’ve always wanted to write a book, so I’m just really proud of that and I’m really excited about it.

[00:30:24] Brianna Doe: I do want to focus more on speaking engagements in 2026 and beyond. Doing the interview with Guy Raz is exactly what I want to be doing. I love moderating. I love hosting. So my hope is that that helps me catapult onto larger stages in that regard. But outside of that, I just can’t wait to hear people’s feedback. I genuinely hope that people take things from the book that resonate and apply them to their careers, and I get to see that positive impact.

[00:30:54] Sam Yarborough: I mean, it’s so awesome.

[00:30:56] Brianna Doe: Thank you.

[00:30:57] Sam Yarborough: Okay, so one thing you just talked about, which is obviously going to be a through line in your book—so maybe there can be a teaser here—but you’ve talked about the mental math that we all do internally of what’s acceptable to bring to work, which parts of ourselves, which titles, all of that.

[00:31:17] Sam Yarborough: So let’s break that down for a second. Anybody who’s in that actual season and is struggling with that currently—but they’re still trying to make a paycheck and build their career—I feel like sometimes it can feel like we’re choosing between the two: my identity or my livelihood. Or, as we talked about, we totally silo the two. What advice would you give to these people to protect that identity without jeopardizing a livelihood?

[00:31:43] Brianna Doe: That’s a million-dollar question. I’ve been told I take a pragmatic approach to it. In a perfect world, you could show up exactly as you are in any office and be accepted — and that would be beautiful. And not just accepted, but celebrated and seen, embraced. But that’s just not the case. Especially in an increasingly divided environment and country, it’s just not how it is.

[00:32:11] Brianna Doe (continued): So the first thing I’ll always say, as somebody who just wanted to pursue financial stability — especially early in my career — is that if you need the paycheck, it does not make you a sellout if you just show up, work hard, get your money, and go home. I think it’s idealistic to say otherwise, to say “just quit the job.” There’s nothing wrong with being idealistic, but it’s just not reality. Things are expensive. I tried to buy eggs the other day, and it was like $97.

[00:32:34] Jason Yarborough: And 12 cents.

[00:32:35] Brianna Doe: And 12 cents! So that’s the first thing — it doesn’t make you a sellout. It’s okay. It doesn’t even really mean that you’re compromising. It just means that you’re protecting yourself and taking care of what you need to.

[00:32:51] Brianna Doe (continued): But I would also advise that while you’re collecting that paycheck and working, start to get to know yourself better. What are you looking for in a work environment? What are you not getting from the one that you’re in? From the ideal work environment, what would you be getting? And what steps could you take to move yourself closer to that new job, that new company, that new venture — whatever it may be — that will allow you to feel more you and to show up as you?

[00:33:31] Brianna Doe (continued): And I also think it’s very, very important to make sure you have community around you. Find like-minded people who make you feel supported and who you can talk to, who will encourage you. It doesn’t make it easy — collecting that paycheck is great, but it doesn’t make the in-between easier to handle. So make sure you have community, understand what you’re looking for in a work environment, and when you do start interviewing or launch a business, ask the right questions. Interview that person who’s interviewing you, and make sure it’s going to be a good fit.

[00:34:02] Sam Yarborough: Just really quick, Jay, because obviously you know about this — you know about everything — but I have said no to jobs. I was interviewing for this job that was a “should” job. It was a great title at a great company. It was going to be a definite step up. And the whole time through the interview process, I was just like, I don’t know. Basically I told the woman, “Listen, I’m a mom of two, and while I will show up and give you my best every single day, that is my number one priority. That doesn’t mean I’ll be a bad employee, but that does mean I want to go to Christmas recitals and occasionally have a kid home sick on my couch while I’m working.”

[00:34:45] Sam Yarborough (continued): And I was basically told, “Well, you’re a working mom, and that’s a choice you made. But you need to choose between the two.” And I was like — and I’m out. This is not a place for me. But to your point, I think just as a practical example, people forget that in the interview process, you are also interviewing the company.

[00:35:11] Sam Yarborough (continued): And if you’ve done the research to know what’s important to you and where your values stand, it makes those conversations so much more helpful and impactful for both parties. Because that wasn’t going to be a good fit for me, and clearly I wasn’t going to be a good fit for them. So I think that’s a really important point — just to double down. Oftentimes people are like, “Well, I’ll say whatever I can to get my foot in the door,” and then you just end up in another bad situation.

[00:35:46] Brianna Doe: Do you want your foot in that door? Is that a door you really want to go through?

[00:35:50] Jason Yarborough: Part of the economy is that people feel like desperate times mean they’ve just got to get in a door where they can. But really, I think — and I talk to a lot of people in this scenario — it’s like, have a checklist, whether it’s written down or mental. What do you want out of the next role?

[00:36:10] Jason Yarborough (continued): Whether you’re actively looking while in a job, open to work, or coming through a layoff, take the time to actually know what’s important to you. It kind of goes back to that authenticity and that fullness of self. If you find a place that allows you to be fully you, you’ll do much better work and find fulfillment there. It’s not just the job you’re taking because you need a paycheck.

[00:36:38] Jason Yarborough (continued): And I understand that may have some privilege attached to it, but it’s also like — this is how I want to operate and work, and this is where I want to be. I don’t think enough people go into their job search thinking, “These are the things I want to see within a company.”

[00:36:54] Brianna Doe: And I think too, to your point, if you are in a desperate situation — and I know people who’ve been looking for over a year — it’s also okay, like I said, to take that job and take the paycheck. But that does not negate the fact that you need to have your exit strategy. You need to have a light at the end of the tunnel, or it’s just going to drain you.

[00:37:15] Brianna Doe (continued): So if this is a job you have to be in and you just want to suck it up and deal with it, that’s totally fine. But how are you preparing to get out? How much are you saving from your paycheck as a safety net? Are you interviewing at other companies? You need to make sure you have a game plan — or you could end up there for ten years wondering why you didn’t leave.

[00:37:35] Sam Yarborough: To go further on that — I think people look at this as, “Well, it’s just a job.” But your job is your life. And if you’re spending ten years there, that’s going to have a profound impact on everything else.

[00:37:56] Sam Yarborough (continued): You posted the other day about — I’m not going to get this right, I didn’t write the name down — but you made a calculator.

[00:37:59] Brianna Doe: Yeah — Should I Quit My Job?

[00:38:00] Sam Yarborough: Yes! Tell us about this, because I loved your thought process around it. I think we idolize “just quit your job and start a company,” and yeah, that’d be great, but the reality of that for 99% of people is not high. So talk to us about this calculator and what goes on in your head.

[00:38:20] Brianna Doe: It was so fun to build. So Notion reached out and wanted to do a partnership. They were like, “We’ll work with you to make a template — what kind of template do you want to make?” And I was like, “I want to help people quit their jobs.” They were like, “Okay, amazing.”

[00:38:39] Brianna Doe (continued): Basically, the way the calculator works is you input everything you’re working on — your side hustle, your full-time job — and you get granular. How much are you pulling in per month from this? You rate your stress level with it, your peace of mind, your excitement, and your overall satisfaction within that role or venture.

[00:39:06] Brianna Doe (continued): Then it takes all that information and calculates each job or side hustle for you. So, okay — if your stress level is ten and your satisfaction is three, but you’re making the most money from this, and it’s funding your life — not saying you should quit, but you should start looking for ways to offset that income and make a plan.

[00:39:34] Brianna Doe (continued): If you have a side hustle that’s making pennies but you’re passionate about it, here’s a sample plan for scaling it. If you have a side hustle that’s on the brink of funding your life and your satisfaction is high — keep going after that. I love the name I picked, but I don’t want to tell people “just quit your job.” That’s not reality for most folks.

[00:39:58] Brianna Doe (continued): But it helps to sit down, make a plan, and actually write all this stuff out. Measure how happy you are, measure your stress levels, actually get technical about how much money you’re making. It’s easy to say, “I think I’m making money from this,” and then you quit and can’t afford your car payment next month. That’s not realistic. So get all the information out there — and then I’ll tell you if you should do it.

[00:40:28] Jason Yarborough: The next iteration of the calculator should help you make that exit plan you were talking about.

[00:40:33] Brianna Doe: Yes, exactly.

[00:40:34] Jason Yarborough: That’s hilarious. Okay, I missed that one — I’ve got to go find it. Now, speaking of finding things, I was recently — thanks to Sam — introduced to your new YouTube channel.

[00:40:45] Sam Yarborough: Cheers! Oh my gosh.

[00:40:46] Brianna Doe: Did you watch?

[00:40:48] Jason Yarborough: I did have a watch.

[00:40:49] Sam Yarborough: Cup $18.99 orange juice, girl.

[00:40:51] Brianna Doe: Okay, seriously — just because it’s organic? I was so upset.

[00:40:56] Jason Yarborough: Tell us about Let Her Cook — the YouTube channel — and what you’re doing from a media standpoint.

[00:41:01] Brianna Doe: Oh my gosh, I love it so much. So my good friend Bridget and I met on LinkedIn two or three years ago. I went out on my own, and a couple months later, she did the same. We connected over that and started having these Google Meet or Zoom chats. Slowly, wine started being brought to the calls — as it does.

[00:41:32] Brianna Doe (continued): We called them “wine sessions” — whining and wine — and we’d just talk about everything: relationships, politics, work, what’s going well with our businesses, what’s not, how we’re navigating clients, firing clients, you name it. It was all remote — she’s in Chicago, I’m in Phoenix — and we did that for about eight months, every couple weeks.

[00:41:57] Brianna Doe (continued): One day she was like, “Should we record these sometime? Should we make a podcast?” And I said, “Yeah, we could.” I had just finished the first season of Stop The Scroll, and I was like, “Candidly, I don’t know if I want to do another Zoom podcast right now.” In a perfect world, especially because of the way we talk and what we’re doing — cooking, drinking wine — I wish we could do it in person.

[00:42:25] Brianna Doe (continued): And then we said, “Well, what if we did?” What if we cooked together and recorded the show? When we first decided to do this, it was just going to be the show — no newsletter, no Instagram, nothing. We brought on a production team — and it’s Share Your Genius.

[00:42:45] Sam Yarborough: We share a production team, by the way!

[00:42:46] Brianna Doe: Do you?! Oh my gosh, aren’t they the best?

[00:42:49] Sam Yarborough: The best.

[00:42:50] Brianna Doe: It took us a while to find the right one. We talked to a few teams, and they just didn’t get us — not in a bad way, but they didn’t get what we were trying to do or why. You’d get that look — their eyes glaze over — like, “Yeah, we can record that for you.”

[00:43:08] Jason Yarborough: Like, “Why are we doing this?”

[00:43:09] Brianna Doe: Exactly. When we talked to Rachel about it, she just got it. It clicked. So I flew to Chicago — Bridget and I met for the first time in person.

[00:43:23] Sam Yarborough: For the first time? You hadn’t met in person before?

[00:43:26] Brianna Doe: No! Which — looking back — maybe we should have.

[00:43:32] Sam Yarborough: That could have gone either way.

[00:43:35] Brianna Doe: Could’ve gone really badly. But it worked! We went shopping, found that ridiculously expensive orange juice, and spent the next day recording the entire season in one day.

[00:43:46] Sam Yarborough: The full season? Wow.

[00:43:50] Jason Yarborough: That’s a lot of cooking.

[00:43:51] Brianna Doe: It was a lot of cooking. But while filming, Bridget and I went to dinner that night and said, “It just feels like more than a show.” There are so many podcasts and shows talking about the same things.

[00:44:10] Brianna Doe (continued): That’s one reason I love Friends With Benefits — you bring on dynamic guests and have real, transparent conversations. There aren’t many shows like that, especially in our space. For women and non-binary professionals, there are even fewer.

[00:44:32] Brianna Doe (continued): We wanted to create a space for honest conversations — how to fire a client who treats you badly, what to do when a client doesn’t pay, how to know when to launch a business, how to advocate for yourself. A space where people can anonymously learn and feel seen.

[00:44:56] Brianna Doe (continued): That’s really important to us. So we launched the newsletter too, giving us another outlet. The goal is to record more seasons, eventually launch more shows, produce shows for others, and create that space for them.

[00:45:00] Sam Yarborough: So great.

[00:45:01] Jason Yarborough: The media empire.

[00:45:02] Sam Yarborough: Jason and I are recovering YouTubers, so cheers. We admire it — it is no small feat.

[00:45:11] Jason Yarborough: We know the work.

[00:45:13] Brianna Doe: It’s a lot. I’ve never done YouTube before — it’s a lot.

[00:45:20] Sam Yarborough: It’s a lot, but it’s a fun medium.

[00:45:22] Jason Yarborough: It’s a commitment, to say the least.

[00:45:25] Brianna Doe: It is. And I’m relaunching my second show — Stop The Scroll — in Q1 of 2026. It’ll also be YouTube-first. It’s going to be great.

[00:45:40] Sam Yarborough: Just keep the book, just keep saying yes to scary things — it just keeps going.

[00:45:46] Jason Yarborough: Alright, to be mindful of time — this has been so great. I do have one zinger of a question to close this out. What’s a hill you’ll die on?

[00:45:56] Brianna Doe: Professionally?

[00:45:57] Sam Yarborough: Yes — or personally, if you want.

[00:46:02] Brianna Doe: Okay, a hill I’ll die on: I don’t think we as a society have an attention span problem. I think brands just churn out uninteresting content. So I don’t think it’s an attention span issue — it’s an interest span. When people ask me, “Is my caption too long? Is my LinkedIn post too long? Is my newsletter too rambly?” — if it’s good content, people will read it. So I will die on that hill.

[00:46:28] Sam Yarborough: I love that. I agree too. Alright, so clearly, as we’ve mentioned, you have nothing going on. So if people want to find you — LinkedIn, if you don’t follow her, go right now. Her content will make your day. New book launching November 11th — we’ll drop it in the show notes. Let Her Cook is on YouTube, she’s on Instagram, she’s got a newsletter, and she runs Verbatim.

[00:46:57] Brianna Doe: And I have my other newsletter, Full Plate, and This Could’ve Been an Email.

[00:46:59] Sam Yarborough: Okay, so there are lots of ways to connect with you.

[00:47:01] Brianna Doe: Yeah, I don’t like to sleep, apparently.

[00:47:07] Sam Yarborough: Thank you so much for being here and for sharing so openly with us and the world. You’re making it a better place, and I hope you know that. We appreciate you immensely.

[00:47:16] Jason Yarborough: Such a good conversation.

[00:47:17] Sam Yarborough: Thank you.

[00:47:18] Brianna Doe: It means a lot. Thanks for having me.

[00:47:20] Sam Yarborough: Alright, friends, hopefully you got as much out of today as I did. We’ll see you next time.

[00:47:25] Jason Yarborough: See y’all.