10 | The High Cost of Hesitation: Career & Wealth Strategies for Ambitious Moms with Khiara Cureton

Are you holding yourself back from career growth because you’re waiting to feel “ready”?

In this episode of The Shannon Fox Show, I’m joined by Khiara Cureton, Executive Career & Wealth Coach and Founder of AncHER Co. Khiara shares how career hesitation—whether delaying a promotion, not negotiating your salary, or waiting for the “perfect” moment—could be costing you hundreds of thousands of dollars over your career.

If you’ve ever said:

👉 “I’ll go for that promotion when the timing is better.”

👉 “I’m not 100% qualified yet, so I’ll wait.”

👉 “I’m afraid to negotiate my salary.”

This episode is your wake-up call!

🎯 What You'll Learn in This Episode:

✔️ The real financial cost of waiting to negotiate your salary

✔️ How to position yourself for leadership before you feel 100% ready

✔️ The mindset shifts every career mom needs to confidently step into higher-paying roles

✔️ Practical steps to take TODAY to move your career forward without burnout

🎁 Grab Khiara’s Career & Money Action Quiz:
👉 https://www.ancHERco.com/

CONNECT WITH SHANNON:

🚀 Take the FREE Mastery Zone Discovery Quiz & uncover your career strengths!👉 https://theshannonfox.com/mastery-zone-discovery-quiz

📩 Join the Career EmpowHERment Collective (Facebook Group) for exclusive career tips and networking:
👉 https://www.facebook.com/groups/careerempowhermentcollective

🎧 New episodes drop every Tuesday! Subscribe now to fast-track your career growth.

Kat and Tanner by Twin Musicom is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Artist: http://www.twinmusicom.org/

Transcript

Intro: Welcome to the Shannon Fox show, the podcast where we empower career moms to thrive. I'm your host, Shannon Fox, a career advancement coach dedicated to helping moms like you leverage your strengths to land your dream job, secure that well-deserved raise, or finally get that promotion, all without sacrificing time with your family. 

Each week, I'll bring you actionable strategies, inspiring stories, and strength-based tools to help you align your career with your natural gifts and step into your full potential.

So, if you're ready to stop feeling stuck and start building the career and life you deserve, you're in the right place. Let's get started. 

Shannon: Hello and welcome. I'm thrilled to have Khiara Curtin with me today. Khiara is an executive career and wealth coach dedicated to helping ambitious mothers step into executive leadership, increase their earning potential, and build financial freedom without sacrificing their personal lives. 

As the founder of AncHER Co., she provides career strategy, salary negotiation coaching, and leadership development to empower women to own their ambition.

With a background in operations leadership and corporate strategy, she knows firsthand the challenges women face in breaking into executive roles, advocating for higher salaries, and balancing career success with motherhood. Her passion, helping high-achieving women stop playing small, start earning their worth, and take up space in leadership and wealth being conversations, wealth-building conversations. 

Khiara, welcome. I'm so excited to have you here. 

Khiara: Yes, thank you so much, Shannon, for having me on the show, and I absolutely love the mission of this Shannon Fox show to empower career-driven moms to thrive. 

Shannon: Thank you. Well, you love helping ambitious moms, and I think it's all right there together - step into these leadership roles and increase earnings and all that. So, what actually got you into this line of work? 

Khiara: Yeah, I'll share a quick personal story. So, I had my son in 2020, and I was in a role for about 24 months, and I really, it was more of an administrative role, and I just felt like I could be doing more, but I played it very safe because I was like, my son is young, I'm waiting for the right time, and I just started to realize that that
hesitation and that time to kind of step out and get into the next role was costing me my salary growth, career visibility.  And I did deal with, and I think most moms deal with this, that identity shift, especially probably after your first child. 

So, when I finally moved on and obtained a different role that I absolutely loved, it increased my income significantly, but I realized how much I lost in that overall process. So, that's what kind of sparked this journey.

Shannon: I love that. I agree. I think we go through so many changes, we don't realize that just becoming a mom, we're like, oh, well, we're going to have a baby, but it changes how we do work. It changes how we do life. It changes so many aspects of who we are. 

Khiara: Absolutely. Yeah, it's a lot of change at once for sure. 

Shannon: Yes, yes. So, what's one of the mistakes that you see women in the workplace make? 

Khiara: Yeah, absolutely. So, when it comes to career hesitation and how I see it holding moms back with my clients, you know, they delay going for the promotions or switching careers, and they think, I need to be 100% ready before I apply, right? 

Or it's not the right time, my kids are young, or you know what, let me just buckle down, work hard, and I'll get noticed. But reality is that studies show that women apply for promotions only when they feel 100% qualified, while men apply at just
60%, right? 

So, think about that gap there, right? And what are you missing out on? And that
hesitation costs of, you know, overall career advancement for women. And so, we also know that women are about 60% less likely to even be promoted to management than men, right?

So, career growth is really a strategy, not a waiting game. You know, I heard this on your most recent podcast, that you have to position yourself for the next role or level, even before you feel ready and have all of the requirements and titles, right?

So, that's one of the ways that I see women kind of holding themselves back when it comes to their career. And then when it comes to, you know, money, again, if they're waiting to negotiate their salary or change jobs, let's say, for example, if you hesitate to negotiate a 10k raise today, you could be missing out on 100k in a lifetime earnings, right? 

Because due to salary compounding. So, you know, I always tell women, your salary is the foundation of wealth building. So, if you don't maximize it, you're limiting your potential financial future. So, those are the two ways in career and money that I see women just kind of hesitating to take that next step. 

Shannon: Yes, yes.

And I think that that's one of the things that women don't understand as much is that even waiting like six months to ask for that 10k, how much they're truly losing out by just waiting on that. And so, I love like giving them that confidence that they need to go and ask. Because the worst they can say is no.

Khiara: Yeah. And then guess what? After that no, get some feedback and try again. 

Shannon: Exactly. 

Khiara: What do I need to do in order in your eyes to get that $10,000 promotion? Or what do I need to do to get that job that I feel that I'm prepared for? What are the next steps? And it opens up those lines of communication with your boss. It tells them that you're ready, that you want this. And so, I think that all around it's just a win-win situation. 

Yeah. I agree. It puts you on their radar. It shows them that you're interested and maybe you'll start getting some additional projects to kind of get that visibility and kind of, I hate to say it like this, but prove yourself, right? That you're like, okay, she's serious. She's interested.

How can I either reach out to some mentors or your sponsors? How can you just kind of build your career community, if you will, to help you get to the next step? 

Shannon: Yes, exactly. So, what are some other steps or first steps that maybe if someone is in a smaller role and they want to get into a larger, more executive type role, what steps would you suggest for them? 

Khiara: Sure. So, what I do with my current clients is I always want to understand baseline, right? Let's talk about the reality of where we are right here, right now.

What is that gap? What are we missing? Is it a certain skill set? Is it the visibility? Is it the support? And then, what is our end goal? So, that's kind of the framework that I take them through. And it's very personal to everyone, has kind of a little bit of a different career goal. 

I usually do work with those who feel like they've been stuck in middle management for a very long time. Because we all know, I send a lot of love to my middle management folks. Because, you know, you're kind of getting pulled from the top and you're getting pulled from the bottom as well, right? 

So, just really being very clear about where you are and where you want to get to. And then, that's where I help them create the strategies based off of, you know, their desire, their end desires, and then their lifestyle as well, too, right? 

I did a recent poll that I asked, like, would you still take an executive role if you were required to go back into office five days a week, right? And how does that impact your decision to take your next, you know, career move? And so, I take a very holistic, individual approach because everyone's needs are different.

Shannon: Absolutely. Yes, I love that. What were the results of that poll? 

Khiara: So, sadly to say, it did deter, from my audience anyway, it did deter a majority of my women from taking that additional step, which I think is insane, but that's another conversation for another day.

But I understand the real realities of it, right? Like having the flexibility for childcare. We're not even going to talk about the cost of that nowadays, you know what I mean? 

Shannon: Exactly. Yeah.

Khiara: And how that's impacted, you know, if you're sitting in a car for two hours a day, how is that impacting how you're showing up at work? What energy do you have left to give to your family at the end of the day? I mean, these are real decisions that women have to make. 

Shannon: Right. Because it's burnout is real.

And especially I feel like for our audiences who are these ambitious women that are wanting to succeed, not just in their careers, but they want to be there. They want to be present. So, what are some ways that you can give advice for something that maybe they can take action on today so that they are not reaching burnout? 

Khiara:  Absolutely. So the one thing I like to always remind people is that done is better than perfect. Right. So again, back to that, if you're waiting for a hundred percent ready for anything in life, you'll never make a move. You'll stay stuck. Right. So again, I encourage, you know, our audience to apply to those roles before you feel fully qualified and reframe it as "I don't need to be a hundred percent ready. I just need to be ready to learn". Right. So visibility matters.

We know that start positioning yourself as a leader now, speaking up in meetings, taking up leadership projects, updating your LinkedIn profile with executive level positioning. These are all things that I help mothers at AncHER do. So those are some of the things with regards to your career.

Now, when it comes to your money, I just always like giving people a quick little script to basically say, this is a starter, right? We obviously want to add some stats and some data and so forth, but you can say something as simple as, you know, given my contributions over the past year and market trends, I like to discuss adjusting my compensation to reflect, you know, the value that I bring to this company. Right. So don't let loyalty to a job cost you wealth.

Right. I'm not saying you always have to jump, but just always make the ask. Because like we said earlier, the worst that they could say is no. And then ask again. 

And so, you know, I tell people this all the time. If you haven't negotiated
your salary in the last 18 months, you can use that quick little script to get you started and just have the conversation.

Shannon: Yes. I think it's so important just that, like you said, starting that conversation, it all comes down to that. And I feel like you want to be ambitious, but women, they're just scared to ask.

And that's what you were saying earlier about the men, like they're going to whether they're prepared or whether they feel like they're ready for the job or the position, and they're just going to apply and apply and apply. And we as women typically are like, well, this one little thing out of this whole list, I'm not 100% sure I could do all of it. So I'm not going to apply.

Khiara: Unfortunately, I think we're just conditioned to do that. But I am encouraging women to step out of that, like, you know, realize it, acknowledge it, but then step outside to just make the ask.

Shannon: Yes, I love that. And when you said the do it better, I have a saying that says it's perfectly done is better than imperfectly not done or perfect. Imperfectly done is better than perfectly not done. And so I keep that on my board, because that's a reminder for me, because I, I mean, I've been in that position where I feel like, oh, I can't do it if it's not perfect.

Khiara: Right. And I've had to learn, like, it's better to get done imperfectly. And you learn and you go from there.

Shannon: So I love that. What are some other myths that you think hold women back, or mindset shifts that they should make that hold them back from, you know, getting that going that extra mile to get to that next leadership position? 

Khiara: Yeah, another thing that I kind of like to teach, if you will, is I really see that women separate their career and their money. And I really encourage people, like, don't separate your career and money, like, use your career as a tool for whatever
it is, right? If you want to get out of debt, financial freedom, which means lots of different things to different people.

You know, that thought there just create a little bit of reframing, like set your non-negotiables, right? So in your career, I need X, Y, Z. Like, I know for me, when I was in the role that I mentioned before, like, I just didn't feel challenged. Like, I was like, okay, I could do this. It's great.

It works for my kid's life. He's, you know, 10 months, 18 months, whatever. But I always knew at some point, my child was going to grow, right? Like, he's going to go to school. He's going to develop his own into his own self. And so what about me? What would I then have thereafter? 

And so I always tell people, you know, if your job does not align with your financial
goals, your career growth, and your work-life integration, like it's just time to reassess, right? So this seems kind of simple, but it's always just like, just take a pause. And just again, kind of like what I said before is, where am I at right now? What is the gap? Whether that's, you know, it's usually time, money, resources, or the things that kind of are that gap from getting us to where we want to get to, and then figure out what the end goal is, and work backwards to that, right?

And say, okay, and look, I'm not one that's like, you can do everything all at the same time. I always say, list out your list, right? And then let's prioritize so that we can focus on, you know, one or two things. I'm a big believer in like small little micro habits go a very long way versus getting overwhelmed with all the things that we have to do. Right.

Shannon: So how often do you suggest that they go back in and look at these, you know, goals and prioritize? Do you have them do a monthly, weekly, quarterly, yearly? How do you? 

Khiara: Yeah. So I think, it really just depends where you are in your journey, right? If you are truly in that middle management and you're trying to get to that executive level, I do recommend monthly. And I say that like, I know in my program, so my program is 12 months and I know people are like, oh
my gosh, that's so long.

But I'm like, remember, life happens and we're human, right? So change is not going to happen. And especially with the market, the way it is now, it's just taking a lot longer to find certain careers. And I really want women to be in careers and companies that they love and not just taking a role just because they want to have it.

So at first, the first three months we're meeting weekly, right? Like we're making, we're getting things done. And then there are tapers off to monthly. But I really just think it depends.

Like, are you already in executive role? And you're just trying to get to a higher, a president level, or if you're middle management, you're really trying to get to that first executive level that it just all requires different strategies. So it really just depends on what your goal, your overall goal is. 

Shannon: Yes, I love that. So what would you say to someone who might be listening that's like, well, this all sounds great, but I'm not really a leader or a natural leader. What would you say to someone like that? 

Khiara: I would ask them a question and say, at first I would say, well, why do you think that you're not a leader? And based off of their response, are they reading off a textbook answer of what they think a leader is? Because I promise you to all my ambitious mamas out there, you are a leader.

I just did a post about like, have you ever negotiated fruit snacks for breakfast with your toddler or organized a birthday party, a family event, like you are a leader. And that's why I really encourage women to just kind of reframe and say, okay, like, yes, we, we have leaders and usually there are males in these companies and things like that, but you are a leader. It just looks different. And that's totally okay.
Right. Diversity of thought there. And so that's kind of what I encourage to say, okay, that would be my first question, right.

In my coaching session, just like, why do you think that? Right. And then I would ask her questions. Well, you are a leader, we're all leaders. So just give me some ways, whether it's personal life, you know, career, or at work, just tell me
the ways. And then I think it just really takes helping someone kind of see that they are a leader to then kind of change the habits, the way they talk about it. Right.

So it is again, like we in motherhood, we have all these identity, all the, a lot of shifts, a lot. Yes. So it's the same thing with leadership, right? Like if you feel like you're not a leader for whatever reason, I would really try to encourage them to reframe that and say, you know what, actually, like I did lead on that one project that saved the company, you know, 2 million in revenue and so forth.

Shannon: So, right. I love that. Just starting even with what you said, like, start off with motherhood and how you're leading in that and then go to, okay, what did I do this week in my job? 

Khiara: Yes. 

Shannon: What did I do in the last month in my job that allowed me that I, I did, I did lead because I think you're right. Like we do it all the time and we don't realize it because that's just what we do.
Khiara: Yeah. We don't acknowledge it. And it's like you do this every day. Trust me.

Shannon: Right. Exactly. And so I love that. That's very practical. 

Khiara: If you don't feel like you're a leader, sit down and start thinking and journaling and writing out just the ways it could be scribbled, but just write it out on what you've been doing, because you're going to look at that piece of paper and you're going to go - "wow, I have done a lot. I have".

Shannon: Yeah, exactly. Yeah.

Khiara:  I have a very relaxed day today and we list 10 things. It's like, go get the Valentine's day gifts, you know, go get the cupcakes, go work out like, and
it's like, Whoa, you know? 

So, yes, I, it's just a simple, I'm a bullet point girl. I write it out. You know what I mean? I'm not journaling, you know, paragraphs and all of that, but I'm like, Oh, I
did this and this. And then it really helps you to see like, wow, I really am doing a lot. And hopefully that helps, acknowledge your efforts in motherhood career, you know, your wealth building, all of that.

Shannon: Absolutely. Absolutely. Well, I have enjoyed this conversation. How can our listeners connect with you to learn more about you and what you do? 

Khiara: Yeah, absolutely. This has been great. So, you know, your audience can head over to my website. It's www.ancHER, A-N-C-H-E-R co.com. (www.ancHERco.com) And there we have a wonderful money and career action
quiz that can kind of help you figure some of these things out or just get you started. And then also there, you can find my socials on Instagram and that's at T H E anchor co. 

And yeah, I look forward to connecting more with your audience and Shannon, this has been great. And I love, love, love, and I'm very passionate about, you know, the platform that you're developing for our ambitious moms.

Shannon: Well, thank you so much. Well, I have one more thing. I like our, I like to leave our listeners with an action, an action step of some sort.

So what would be the piece of one piece of advice that you would give to these career moms listening that want to step into leadership, but don't know where to start? 

Khiara: Yes, that's great. So the first thing I would ask them to just ponder kind of to our earlier conversation about just stop for a second before you go pick up the kids, before you cook dinner, before you get in that car to make that commute home. What is truly the one career or financial move that you've been hesitating on? Right.

So that's question one, and then quantify that. What is it costing you? Right. And then from there, I want you to take one action because the numbers tell all of it.
Right. And then just take one small action. Again, it could be updating your LinkedIn profile. It could be setting some time up with your boss, maybe not even to talk directly about, you know, the promotion or the negotiation of the salary right then and there, but just start to build that rapport and that connection with them. Just take one step is all that I ask. 

Shannon: I love that. I love that. So everybody, you go take one step right now. You got that.

Well, thank you, Khiara, for being here today. I really, really appreciate it. 

Khiara: Thank you.

Outro: Thanks so much for tuning into the Shannon Fox show. If you found value in today's episode, I'd love for you to subscribe, leave a review and share it with another career mom who's ready to thrive. 

Don't forget to grab your free mastery zone discovery quiz where you'll uncover your strengths and take the first step toward aligning your career with your superpowers.

You can also connect with me on Instagram at the.Shannon.fox for more tips and
inspiration. 

Until next time, remember, you're not just building a career, you're creating a life
you love. Let's make this happen.