She Takes The Lead
Start leading your next chapter with boldness and intention, one episode at a time. She Takes The Lead is a personal development podcast that cuts through the noise with raw honesty and genuine empathy for anyone ready to take on life's "left turns" head on. Hosted by Carole Podell, a no-BS New Yorker with a track record of fearless reinvention, this show is where personal growth meets professional development—without the fluff.
Drawing from her own successful pivots—from Emmy and Peabody Award-winning producer to executive leadership, to Fertility Warrior and proud single mom by choice—Carole brings her signature straight-talking warmth and transformational storytelling to help listeners navigate career shifts, relationships, self-discovery, and life’s curveballs. No sugar-coating, just hard-won insights delivered with clarity, humor, and kindness.
Why Listen?
Life transitions are messy, but they don’t have to be lonely. Whether you’re contemplating a midlife career pivot, deepening authentic relationships, or redefining success on your own terms, She Takes The Lead delivers the clarity, confidence, and kick in the ass you need to take action.
Through candid conversations and practical guidance shaped by real-world experience, Carole and her guests tackle the big questions:
💡 How do we turn challenges into opportunities for growth?
💡 What does it mean to create success and work-life balance our way?
💡 When do we trust our intuition to guide transformative change?
With refreshing authenticity and zero fluff, She Takes The Lead is your space for growth, reinvention, and breaking free from outdated rules. Expect empowering insights, tactical steps, and a whole lot of heart—because true transformation begins when we stop waiting for permission and start leading from within.
Who’s It For?
👉 High achievers redefining what success means
👉 Anyone craving real conversations about career, self-worth, and personal evolution
👉 Women navigating major life transitions
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She Takes The Lead
010: Self care is NOT selfish. Is it?
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Say you got mugged the first time you took the 1 train in NYC. Cr@p! you need to take it to get to work every day but your scared. The solution? Get over it. Move passed it. How do you do that? Pro-actively create a Restorative Experience. That’s just a fancy way of phrasing that you take it over and over again to face your fears and change your memories of it so you don’t associate it with bad things.
When I first heard the term Restorative Experience I assumed it meant you create an experience to help restore your energy or something. Like a vacation. But in this context it’s more about having a redo.
I took the kid to the Dominican Republic for some R&R. Last year, I took us to the Iberostar in Riviera Maya, Mexico which was in fact my first vacay in 5 years! Thanks childbirth and Covid!
Five years sounds like an exaggeration. (And if it doesn’t stop reading and schedule some time off stat!)
Anyway, for me, 5 years was not an exaggeration at all…So to say our trip to Mexico was loaded is an understatement.
Unfortunately, the night before we left, I had a big drama at work and was unable to let it go during the vacation. I did my best to try and make sure my kid had fun and I had a few moments where I almost decompressed a little but part of being a single mom going on vacation with only a child as your companion is you’re on duty the whole time and you have no grown-ups to talk to. No sounding board. And as a result, the whole trip was just a long dialogue with me and me in my own little head. And my own little head is hardly a place I want to be for any prolonged length of time, and just as I had a bit of distance to try to breath. The 5 days was over, and we went home and I, back to work.
So now we’re in the DR at this beautiful resort called Hotel Riu Palace Punta Cana. I’m happy to say this trip was the opposite. I was calm and felt free and clear to find my breath again. And to connect with my kid. I even got some time to record an episode of my podcast on the balcony overlooking a majestic row of for palm trees blowing in the wind.
And after all that time to ponder…I now realize something…Big reveal…I don’t do this enough. I don’t prioritize time off on behalf of my own well-being.
I know this sounds obvious but hang on.
As mothers, as caregivers and probably as women, we do a lot on behalf of someone else’s well-being. And my “self-care” has manifested in this way as well. I take care of myself specifically so I can show up for other people. And I don’t think that’s okay. I mean of course it’s partially okay. It’s a good reason. I’m 51 years old and have a 5-year-old. I want to be around for as long as humanly possible and in good shape.
But I think I’m not doing it for me enough. Because if everyone went away to do their own lives, would I continue to prioritize myself. The assumption is that it would give me more time to focus on myself. But if I’m living mostly for others, once it came time for me to focus on me, would I be motivated the same way?
Real talk.
Probably no.
Cr@p! More work to do…
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