Brave Career Musings Blog

In July 2022 Lufthansa delivered urine-covered luggage that was many days late. It took 21 months of resilient bravery to finally receive a full reimbursement for the costs they created for my family. It took more than 18 follow-ups - tickets,...

Human connection, also called networking, is the most important strategic approach to long-term career growth. Regardless of your function, seniority, or goals, you cannot get there alone. You need connections, insights, advice, support, and...

Each year I chose a word of year that sums up my intention for the new year. My word of the year 2023 was Unleash. It started as a full-bodied YES! that morphed into a neutral intention of 'alright' and then finally ended in an annoyed 'not for me...

I was both building a business and navigating a pandemic with small kids.

I unexpectedly met Jeff Galloway, the godfather of the run-walk method. He has also my he-didnt-know-it-but-it-is-true running coach since 1995. Following the run-walk-run method is how I got into and stayed into running. 🏃🏼‍♀️Running as a teenager...

If you leave more than two meetings a week feeling disrespected, it is time to make big changes.

Ready for a brave conversation about internalized misogyny and the perception of female leadership? If so, this Build Your Brave Career episode is for you: Confronting Internalized Misogyny: Bravely Embracing Women in Leadership. I recorded this...

I can talk about the career lessons found in The Nightmare Before Christmas for a very long time. Yet, very few people can. So, allow me to share a few key lessons: 🤦‍♀️The main character gets thrilled about a new job, specifically being Santa...

What I learned after the worst lay-off of my life.

You don't need to see someone else with your goal so that you can believe your goal is real for you.  You can choose right now to believe in you and your goal and believe it all the way into your results.  In this Celebrate BRAVE episode, Marcae...

Too many women are acting like the professional version of sleeping beauty, waiting for the professional knight in shining armor or the prince charming to swoop in for their career. It is an enormous mistake. They end up with a career that they...

I adore meeting new people. I’ve found as many opportunities to meet new people, especially in this pandemic. Of course, each time new people meet, we inevitably end up talking about our professions. When I share that I am a coach, similar...

If you are like over 85% of the employees in the world, you’ve set a goal or goals for 2022. You’ve documented it somewhere and you’ve told one or two other people.   If you are like over 90% of those people, you are going to take action for a...

Happy First Day of 2022!   My original plan was to reach out yesterday, the last day of 2021, to share who will benefit from my first ever, free and open offer to KickStart 2022 with my 5-day Build Your BRAVE course.   But after watching over 1000...

“Why are you offering this course for free?”   After I sent the email about my first-ever, open enrollment, and free 5-day KickStart 2022 Build Your BRAVE course, I was asked this question four times, once in person, once on the phone, and twice in...

How are you feeling about 2022? I’m feeling fucking jazzed. I don’t know what 2022 holds for me and my clients and that gives me a freedom and a purpose unlike any other year in my life. To celebrate -- and to bring in my 2022 word of the year...

Most of my clients start working with me because they are so tried and tired and they want better even if they don't quite believe it at the start.  Perhaps you are there – overworked, underpaid, and feeling frustrated and stuck – and want change....

Want to reach the biggest, juiciest, scariest career goal and actually enjoy the experience? There is one way and one way only: invest in yourself. Last week's #CelebrateBRAVEPodcast episode was all about how to enjoy your career. Less than 20...

Ah, man, this last week and some change. First I got sick with some not-COVID that knocked me down. And then I got my booster vaccine (dance party!) which knocked me down and whatever virus I have leapt back up. My body has had a good amount of...

When do you start looking back at your last year – evaluating what worked and what didn’t?  When do you start looking forward and refreshing your goals – who you want to become, what you want to experience, how you want to work and live? So many...

Oooooo – I just got finished watching Abby Wambach speak as part of at Northwestern Mutual’s women in tech conference.   She shared so much wisdom and inspiration and I’m sharing two absolute must-shares with you.    Abby Wambach is one of my BRAVE...

Right now tech companies all over the world have more openings and more new roles that ever, ever, ever before. They are searching for the best candidate. They are offering more salary, more benefits, more signing bonuses, and setting up more...

Whooooeeee, did this week’s Celebrate BRAVE podcast episode - Are you a woman in tech who is underpaid, overworked, and un-invested? - get some blood boiling. Numerous women in tech wrote me and posted online about how encouraging and motivating...

Being a woman in tech does not mean being unhappy, ignored, passed over, underpaid, or overworked. Sure, all of that and more have been made common. So common that we actually think that ‘just how it is.’ So we complain, we tell each other our...

Are you waiting for people to give you permission?  I see far too many women in tech waiting for permission. Permission to speak up and share your experience and expertise. Permission to be promoted. Permission to ask for a salary raise. Permission...

Gratitude: this entire email is about gratitude. I know that every time I start to reflect on what and who I am grateful for, I am surprised and heart-warmed to discover (again) there is far more than I imagine.  Last week I shared about incredible...

My word of the year 2021 is RECEIVE. I don't know what I was aiming to receive in 2021 when I chose the word. What I have received in extraordinary, suckyAF, glorious healing.    With a therapist and a coach as partners, this year has been one...

Last week I freaked the fuck out. There was sobbing and loads of swear words and my first impulse was to DELETE EVERYTHING AND HIDE.  Why?  Because my beloved podcast Celebrate BRAVE was about to hit 2,000 downloads. Huh? Yeah, I was headed into...

I did not succeed. Last weekend I ran my 6th half marathon. My goal was 3 hours. I crossed the line at 3:01:24. I did not succeed. Before you jump in and tell me how the experience was the win, that I accomplished what millions never attempt, that...

Today - August 9, 2021 - I'm celebrating two years of building my coaching practice as the international bravery coach for women in tech. I went live on Facebook and shared my biggest lessons, surprises, and feelings. The biggest and the best part...

Each day during Grace Hopper Celebration 2021, I will send out a personal email. Below is the content of Day 2. Subscribe below to get these delivered directly to your inbox. Or, better yet, sign up for my 5 day Build Your BRAVE intensive to turn...

Each day during Grace Hopper Celebration 2021, I will send out a personal email. Below is the content of Day 2. Subscribe below to get these delivered directly to your inbox. Or, better yet, sign up for my 5 day Build Your BRAVE intensive to turn...

Each day during Grace Hopper Celebration 2021, I will send out a personal email. Below is the content of Day 2. Subscribe below to get these delivered directly to your inbox. Or, better yet, sign up for my 5 day Build Your BRAVE intensive to turn...

Eagle eyes noticed that I extended my VIP BRAVE Coaching Package to six months. And, reasonably, asked the question: WHY? In one sentence: because my clients deserve transformation beyond their wildest ideas Their behavior and feedback tells me --...

What do YOU really want out of your career? I bet you’ve got a concrete answer, perhaps in terms of your title, your salary, your expertise, maybe even your impact.  But do you know WHO you want to be and HOW she feels? Too many of us don’t have a...

This week I’m out to address a misconception I hear often: that you must know where you are going – what your goal is – before you can take any action.   That is just not true.   Not only is it not true, it is a-ok when you don’t know where you are...

I recorded my latest podcast episode on January 20, 2021, also President Biden’s inauguration in the USA. I took a big risk and talked about my values, the political landscape of the USA, and also drew a thick line through dangerous sands. I knew...

What were you doing at 16? If you are like me, you were doing 16 year old stuff: goofing with friends, playing in the school band, working a part-time job, earning a drivers license. If you are like Cora Haenelt, you were giving a speech to over...

As I write to you I am in Pittsburgh. We drove across the country from our home in the Denver, Colorado area. Over three days we drove across Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, took in a little slice of West Virginia, and then coasted into...

Members of the Build Your BRAVE network were the first to get the news and it came right after a failed coup in the USA. I’ll be honest, I deliberated holding back, waiting for some dust to settle and accountability to build, before sharing the...

Brave are the courageous souls who dare step outside the predefined yellow brick road. -Kami Guildner Sure, I knew about the yellow brick road. I watched VHS (yeah, I said it). I knew within my deepest heart-of-heart that there was a yellow brick...

“Yes” is a one-word sentence and we celebrate it.   “No” is also a one-word sentence and we shrink from it.   But do we celebrate it?   No.   But here is the thing, we should celebrate no as a full and complete sentence.   No frees us up as much as...

My single birthday ask was to wake up in the mountains, looking at the mountains.   Since I live in Colorado … super simple to find a short-term rental, right?  ….. Welp. There is also: Two kiddos. Two dogs. My birthday is during Thanksgiving week....

I was weeping into my pillow, self-pity, frustration, and pain mingling together, when my phone rang. I was exhausted, dealing with internal inflammation cause by (yet another) mysterious allergic reaction.   I didn't want to answer but a name I...

Two weeks ago I had an allergic reaction to … something … my face swelled up until it was uncomfortable to open my eyes. This week my face is normal looking and my body skin is pealing from dryness and I am exhausted to the inside of each and every...

Nearly five years ago I met a woman at a time in my life I was not enjoying. I can't remember what she said, I remember how I felt.   I felt encouraged, seen, heard, strengthened by talking to her. I connected to her online and listened to her...

I am silly, silly, silly excited to share my profile published in Thrive Global!   “Choose how you spend your time and energy” with Nicole Trick Steinbach & Parveen Panwar, Mr. Activated I share: my favorite books and why they impacted me my...

Today the US is celebrating the 100th anniversary of the 19th amendment to the US Constitution that 'gave'* white women the right to vote with these words: The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the...

Today is the first day of school for both of my children. From home, my daughter will virtually meet her new teacher and my son will reconnect with his. Then later today we will walk across the street to snap the traditional first day of school...

This week - after five months of 'making it happen' - is the week of resting.   If you are among the lucky that haven't yet experienced a personal loss as a result of COVID or COVID-related deaths, there is still so much draining us. These days,...

One year ago the full-time, corporate phase of my career came to an end. One year ago the adventure of Trick Steinbach LLC took off. One year. Only one year. Already one year.   The first year of Trick Steinbach LLC has been more and less -- less...

Since I became a corporate refugee I’ve met many new people, doing new things, in new ways. And I am fascinated by them. Their why, how, backstory, ideas, connections, passions. Ah, just everything. I'm thrilled many of them are becoming...

Anyone else just utterly exhausted? And utterly exhilarated? On the same day.   Are you too experiencing anger & joy in the space of a few minutes?   Go ahead, nod your head, call out “oh yeah!,” and sigh in deep identification. No one that...

Be the first to experience the online version of my extended How to Build Your Brave workshop.   This online course is a pilot, so participants will both build their brave and provide input & feedback after the fourth session. I have led...

This weekend was spent with only my family high in the mountains of Colorado, over one hour away from the Internet connectivity. We spent our time together in some of the most valuable ways possible. We walked, made fires, talked, used vault...

I am super excited to share that starting September 2020, I will be offering a four-week, online course called "How To Build Your Brave."   Over 4 weeks you will get crystal clear on your next goal, build your unique bravery skills, step forward to...

Are you still a leader in this new set-up? Or are you just managing? Leadership right now - in this fully virtual setting - demands that folks higher in the hierarchy step more obviously into vulnerability & the possibility of screwing up. 1....

The Noble House gave me the opportunity to be a part of their global celebration for International Women's Day 2020. And I am grateful! I suggest checking out all the profiles shared, starting here. Below is my own profile with my thoughts about...

The image on this blog says: Let them judge you. Let them misunderstand you. Let them gossip about you. Their opinions aren't your problems. You stay kind, committed to love & free in your authenticity. No matter what they do or say, don't you...

This PostSecret took me for a roller coaster ride. My first response was as a parent with sadness because I want to be the sort of parent that cheers for my each of my kid's wildest dreams.  My next response was as a child and knowing that even in...

I enjoy global football ⚽️ Not so much the USA version 🏈 Recently was the USA big game. A team won (change your mascot already, fogoodnesssake) & a team loss. Two amazing, female, Latina performers owned that stage. I didn't watch it live. I...

Can promotions lead to divorce? According to an article just published by The Atlantic, the answer is yes…when the promotion is earned by the female half of a relationship. Delightful. I’ve seen how an unexpected and significant step in one...

This weekend includes Martin Luther King Jr day in the United States. It has already been a long series of various politicians, celebrities, dignitaries, and every day humans sharing messages of MLK. Most frequently are, as always, I have a dream...