Unapologetically Badass Podcast 🎙️
I’m Renee Carbone-Fleming — Multi-6-Fig Entrepreneur, Empowerment Coach & your unapologetic hype girl. This is where women 40+ come for real talk on business, building your f*it fund, dating after divorce, empty nesting, travel, and life’s bold new chapters. Some weeks it’s just us, other times I bring powerhouse guests to spill wisdom & laughs. Grab your glass, fix your crown, and let’s do life Unapologetically Badass. 👑
✨ Connect with your host: https://badassqueen.co
Episode 99~ The High-Achiever's Trap: Looking Successful While Secretly Struggling with Heather Simc
From the outside, Heather Simco had the life many women dream about.
She built successful businesses, trained elite athletes, earned the title of Mrs. New York, and looked like she had everything figured out.
But behind the scenes, she was battling perfectionism, body image struggles, addiction, burnout, and the crushing pressure to keep performing.
In this powerful episode of Unapologetically Badass, Heather shares the story of getting sober in 2014 and the deeper healing that followed—not just from addiction, but from the beliefs that convinced her she had to earn her worth through achievement.
Today, as founder of Balanced Boss Babes, Heather helps high-achieving women recognize when "having it all together" is actually costing them too much—and teaches them how to build success without sacrificing themselves.
In this episode, we discuss:
✨ Why high-performing women are especially vulnerable to burnout
✨ The hidden link between perfectionism and self-sabotage
✨ Recovery beyond addiction—healing your identity
✨ Learning to rest without guilt
✨ Building confidence without constant achievement
✨ Creating a successful life that actually feels good to live
If you've ever looked successful on the outside while quietly struggling on the inside...
This conversation is for you.
www.heathersimco.com (http://www.heathersimco.com/)
22 Sept 2026
Episode 98~ She Doesn't Need More Confidence. She Needs Her Authority Back with Kate Woodward Young
She's the one everyone calls when something needs to be fixed, organized, carried through, or solved. She has the experience, the credentials, the 30-year track record. And yet, somehow she's still waiting to be invited into the decision.Sound familiar? Then this episode is for you.Today I'm sitting down with Kate Woodward Young speaker, author, ICF-certified decision support coach, and host of the top-ranked Childcare Conversations podcast on the day her new book, Authority Without Apology: When Your Responsibility Has Outgrown Your Title, launches into the world.Kate has spent more than 30 years watching the same pattern play out across business, education, nonprofits, and families: the woman everyone depends on is not always the woman people recognize as the authority. And she is done with it.In this conversation, we get into:◆ Why work, authority, and recognition are three completely different things and what happens when accomplished women collapse them into one◆ The difference between being needed and being powerful (and why one doesn't automatically become the other)◆ Why telling women to "speak up" and "lean in" misses the actual problem◆ How Kate's own reinvention rebuilding solo after decades in a co-brand shaped everything in this book◆ What it actually looks like to put your expertise in the room where decisions get madeThis episode drops on September 25 the launch date of Authority Without Apology and a date that now carries an unexpected connection to Dolly Parton, 9 to 5, and the larger cultural conversation about women and work that we are all still very much in the middle of.If you are the woman who keeps getting more responsibility without more recognition this one is for you.Grab the book at: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0HJFW9F8G?lv=shuf&bestFormat=true&social_share=cm_sw_r_ffobk_cso_cp_mwn_dp_SXTFQ9SA1ECN01Q36XMJ&channelId=704&ref_=cm_sw_r_ffobk_cso_cp_mwn_dp_SXTFQ9SA1ECN01Q36XMJ&plpRedirect=mhFallbackConnect with Kate: https://katewoodwardyoung.me/
15 Sept 2026
Episode 97~ The Year You Start Saying YES to Yourself, with Paula Mathias
How many times have you said "yes"… when everything inside you wanted to say "no"?In this episode of Unapologetically Badass, I sit down with author, speaker, and creator of The YES Test™, Paula Mathias, to talk about one of the biggest traps women fall into: saying yes out of guilt, obligation, habit, or fear of disappointing others.After building a successful career in tech, raising three children, and becoming the person everyone relied on, Paula realized she'd stopped asking herself one important question:"What do I actually want?"That realization changed everything.At 50, she reinvented her career, wrote her first book, and developed The YES Test™—a practical framework that helps women make decisions aligned with their values instead of their people-pleasing.In this episode, we discuss:✔ Why women say yes when they mean no✔ Breaking free from guilt and obligation✔ Reinventing your life after 50✔ Setting boundaries without feeling selfish✔ Making decisions with confidence✔ Choosing yourself without apologyIf you've ever felt stretched too thin, overwhelmed, or like you're living everyone else's priorities instead of your own...This episode is your permission slip.
Who has been a guest on Unapologetically Badass
Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.
Harriet Bratt
Kerry Damiano
Sharon Pfeiffer
Bekah Berger
Cynthia Bentzen-Mercer
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
YouTube views
78,414
Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025
Apple Podcasts (US)
4.3 / 5
6 ratings
Spotify
5.0 / 5
5 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 63 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
84
Social presence
0
YouTube
76
Engagement
31
Contact Unapologetically Badass
Guest appearances
Books guests
Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.
Questions about Unapologetically Badass
Who hosts Unapologetically Badass?
Renee Carbone Fleming and Sierra Whitener and Renee host the show. Published by Renee Carbone Fleming.
How often do new episodes come out?
The show publishes weekly, based on its RSS feed.
Does Unapologetically Badass take guests?
Yes. Guests have been identified in episode analyses.
Host of Unapologetically Badass?
Claim your podcast to manage its listing and keep your show details accurate.
Pod Engine is an independent podcast discovery and analytics service and is not affiliated with or endorsed by this podcast. Artwork and show content belong to their owners. Full legal notice.
Explore this show Podcast research with Pod Engine
