Podcast thumbnail for Her Career Unplugged | Career Advice for Women, Leadership & Real Stories

Her Career Unplugged | Career Advice for Women, Leadership & Real Stories

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by Vimala Pydi and Joanne Skiles

9 episodes
Updated Daily
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Podcast Overview

Her Career Unplugged is a podcast for women navigating career growth, leadership, and professional development. Hosted by Vimala Pydi and Joanne Skiles, the show features honest conversations with women at all stages of their careers. We talk about job searching, salary negotiation, career transitions, leadership, mentorship, impostor syndrome, burnout, and the pivots and setbacks that rarely show up on a resume. No buzzwords. No highlight reels. Just real stories and practical insights for navigating your career.

Language

🇺🇲

Publishing Since

1/26/2026

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Recent Episodes

Episode thumbnail for The Job Search Buddy: Networking, Visibility, and Getting Seen with Jodi Gorenstein

July 20, 2026

The Job Search Buddy: Networking, Visibility, and Getting Seen with Jodi Gorenstein

<p>You&#39;ve been ghosted by recruiters. You&#39;ve sent fifty applications into a black hole. You&#39;ve wondered if the job market is broken or if it&#39;s just you.</p><p>This week we sit down with Jodi Gorenstein, a 20+ year HR leader who spent over a decade at American Express before launching HR Super Connector, a job search consultancy she calls her passion project. Jodi has helped clients at every level, from recent grads to C-suite executives, get seen, get interviews, and get better offers than the ones they started with.</p><p>Jodi walks us through the real mechanics of a modern job search: why a role posted on LinkedIn might already be filled, how to reach out to a stranger without sounding desperate, and why the second follow-up matters more than the first. She also gets personal about being let go from a job she loved and realizing it was the best thing that ever happened to her career.</p><p>If you&#39;ve ever felt invisible in a stack of applicants, or wondered whether networking is really worth the discomfort, this conversation is your playbook.</p><p>In this episode:</p><ul><li>How Jodi found her way into HR after a &quot;circuitous,&quot; self-doubting start</li><li>Why being laid off from American Express opened her biggest opportunity</li><li>The three phases of a job search: get ready, get seen, land the job</li><li>Why vague networking asks fail, and what to say instead</li><li>How to write your own LinkedIn testimonial request (and why it works better)</li><li>The follow-up rule that gets resumes off the pile and into the right hands</li><li>Best and worst career advice, rapid-fire style</li></ul><p><br></p><p>Follow Her Career Unplugged on Spotify, YouTube, Instagram, and LinkedIn for new episodes.</p>

Episode thumbnail for Show Your Worth: Engineering Your Ascent with Shelmina Abji

July 6, 2026

Show Your Worth: Engineering Your Ascent with Shelmina Abji

<p>She left Tanzania at 15 with no safety net and no plan B. Today she&#39;s one of the highest-ranking women of color to serve as VP at IBM.</p><p>Shelmina Abji, author of Show Your Worth and founder of ShowYourWorth.ai, joins us to break down how she built her career strategy from the ground up, and how you can too.</p><p>If you&#39;ve ever kept your head down instead of speaking up, or wondered if you need a mentor or a sponsor, this conversation will shift how you think about your own path.</p><p>We get into:</p><ul><li>Defining success on your own terms</li><li>Mentor vs. sponsor, and when you need each</li><li>Why leadership branding isn&#39;t self-promotion</li><li>The voice of fear vs. the voice of courage</li><li>The &quot;power quotient&quot; concept</li></ul><p>Follow Her Career Unplugged wherever you listen for more real talk on the gap between the polished narrative and the actual career.</p>

Episode thumbnail for Stuck or Strategic: Knowing the Difference Could Save Your Career

June 15, 2026

Stuck or Strategic: Knowing the Difference Could Save Your Career

<p>You&#39;ve been in your role for two years. You know the job, people respect you, nothing is on fire. But every few months, that little voice shows up and asks if you should be doing more by now. Is it right? Maybe. Or maybe it&#39;s just noise.</p><p>This week, we (Joanne and Vimala) get into one of the most misunderstood moments in any career journey: the pause. Not every stall is a failure. Not every plateau means you&#39;ve given up. But there&#39;s a real difference between a strategic pause and quietly coasting, and knowing which one you&#39;re in changes everything.</p><p>Joanne shares the story of taking a horizontal move right after her second son was born, when everyone, including herself, expected her to push for a VP title. Vimala talks about the season she stopped chasing promotions and chose to flex instead of hustle. And together they make the case that pausing on purpose, with intention and a timeline, is not the same as getting stuck.</p><p>If you&#39;ve ever felt behind on someone else&#39;s timeline, turned down an opportunity because the timing was wrong, or wondered whether your LinkedIn silence is a red flag, this episode is for you.</p><p>Topics covered include:</p><ul><li>What a career stall actually means (and how it changes at different life stages)</li><li>The difference between a strategic pause and coasting</li><li>Joanne&#39;s PhD pivot, 50% pay cut, and what happened when she came back to industry</li><li>How to stay relevant while you&#39;re in your pause</li><li>Rapid fire: stuck or strategic? Eight career scenarios, one honest answer each</li></ul><p>Follow Her Career Unplugged on LinkedIn and YouTube, and listen on your favorite platform.</p>

9 total episodes available

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What is Her Career Unplugged | Career Advice for Women, Leadership &amp; Real Stories?

Her Career Unplugged is a podcast for women navigating career growth, leadership, and professional development.

Hosted by Vimala Pydi and Joanne Skiles, the show features honest conversations with women at all stages of their careers. We talk about job searching, salary negotiation, career transitions, leadership, mentorship, impostor syndrome, burnout, and the pivots and setbacks that rarely show up on a resume.

No buzzwords. No highlight reels. Just real stories and practical insights for navigating your career.

How often does this podcast release new episodes?

This podcast updates daily.

Where can I listen to this podcast?

This podcast is available on 4 platforms including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and more. You can also use the RSS feed directly.

Does this podcast accept guests?

Information about guest appearances is not available.

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