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Executive Hustle Podcast with Kirsten Yurich
The struggle is real. Busy executives strive to do their best, be their best, and leave something left for "Act II" when they get home.
This is the podcast explores the experiences and life journeys of local leaders. Each episode explores a facet of life, leadership, or learning in such a way that everyone listening walks away with at least one actionable way to level up their life.
Executive Hustle Podcast with Kirsten Yurich
When a Calling Ignites a Career with Catherine Hughes
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In the final episode for Season 2 of the Executive Hustle, I invite Catherine Hughes, a long time friend and colleague to tell her story. Imbedded are lessons for every leader, parent, and friend...
Every leader says they listen. Few actually do.
Catherine Hughes learned the difference the hard way. At nineteen, a new mom trying to calm her son through a meltdown, she was arrested and jailed for four days because not one person stopped to ask the question that would have changed everything. "How can I help?"
That question turned into her calling and subsequently, a successful career. The lessons she pulled out of a tragic and scaring event land squarely in the executive seat.
In the Season 2 Finale, Catherine and Kirsten get into what advocacy teaches leadership: why the opposite of listening isn't talking, it's knowing. How to hear someone's true self instead of the story you've already decided about them. Why "no" is a complete sentence, and why pouring from an empty cup costs you and everyone who reports to you. The burnout badge so many leaders still wear is finally losing its shine. It's time to recognize that new generations are forcing better management whether we like it or not. We need to rise to the occasion.
A story about voice, boundaries, and finding the line between doing more and being more. Come for the story and you'll realize you leave with so much more.
Catherine Hughes BIO: Catherine Hughes is a bold voice in behavioral health and disability advocacy—known for challenging the status quo and raising the standard for how we serve families. With 25 years of experience—and as the mother of a neurodivergent son—her work is both deeply personal and unapologetically driven. As a national leader at Achieving True Self, she builds systems that protect quality, demand accountability, and scale without losing sight of humanity. Through The Caffeinated Advocate, she pushes leaders to have braver conversations, think bigger, and build organizations truly worthy of the people they serve. If you care about impact, integrity, and doing this work right, you’ll want to hear what she has to say.
KIRSTEN YURICH BIO:
Kirsten is a licensed behavior analyst, speaker, author, and retired CEO who partners with business leaders to help them achieve more of what matters most to them. Kirsten’s clients are high performing CEOs, founders, and executives looking to “level up” in life and business.
Kirsten share’s her expertise in leadership, performance management, and learning with executives through coaching or consulting, peer groups, and speaking.
For more info, check out Kirsten Yurich HERE.