This Is Woman's Work with Nicole Kalil

We love a comeback story. The recovery after the diagnosis. The victory after the struggle. The inspiring lesson wrapped up with a pretty bow and, preferably, some flattering lighting.

But what about when you’re still in it?

Allison Sweet Grant was barely 40, a mother of three, and just beginning her literary career when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Her memoir, Lump: A Memoir in Ineloquent Reflections, tells the truth about breast cancer treatment and recovery without cleaning it up for public consumption. There’s fear and hope. Gratitude and anger. Humor and grief.

In this episode, Allison and Nicole talk about the messy emotional reality of a breast cancer diagnosis, chemotherapy and cancer recovery, including the pressure to stay positive, the complicated role of caregivers, and why gratitude doesn’t cancel out grief.

We explore:

Why gratitude, grief, fear, anger, humor, and hope can all exist at once

The pressure cancer patients can feel to stay positive or find the “silver lining”

How cancer affects spouses, children, caregivers, and the entire family

Why humor and sarcasm can be powerful coping mechanisms during difficult experiences

How the need to be liked or seen as a “good patient” can keep women from asking important questions

Why bringing an advocate to medical appointments can make a difference

How fear influences major healthcare decisions — and why Allison wishes she had paused more

The ongoing fear of cancer recurrence and what it means to live in the complicated space between patient and survivor

Because the truth doesn’t need to be positive, polished, perfect, or profound to be worth telling.

Thank you to our sponsors!

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Connect with Allison:

Website: https://www.allisonsweetgrant.com/

Book: https://www.amazon.com/Lump-Reflections-Allison-Sweet-Grant-ebook/dp/B0GL1H4FJL/

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Society doesn’t just tell girls who they’re supposed to be. It tells boys who they’re supposed to be too. Different rules, different consequences—but they’re still boxes asking our kids to perform who they’re supposed to be instead of discovering who they actually are.

In this episode of This Is Woman’s Work, Nicole Kalil welcomes back Dr. Shefali, world-renowned clinical psychologist, multiple New York Times bestselling author, founder of the Conscious Parenting Movement, and author of two new books, Raising Conscious Daughters and Raising Conscious Sons.

And while there’s plenty to say about raising confident girls, this conversation spends significant time on what boys need from parents in a culture sending them increasingly confusing messages about masculinity.

They explore:

What parents are getting wrong about raising boys today

What “integrated masculinity” looks like and why boys need healthier models of manhood

How parents can help boys navigate social media, pornography, the manosphere, and toxic masculinity

Why mentorship and positive male role models matter

What boys may be seeking through video games, online communities, and bro culture

How movement, purpose, contribution, and connection can support boys’ emotional health

How to help boys experience and express anger without shaming their emotions or allowing harmful behavior

How girls are still being taught to seek approval—even when it’s packaged as empowerment

Why parents need to examine their own emotional baggage and achievement expectations

Because raising kids who know who they are—and get to decide who they become—that’s the work of a parent.

Thank you to our sponsors!

Protect your loved ones without spying on them. Go to HeyPolo.com/work or use code WORK and get 40% off your first year

Connect with Dr. Shefali:

Website: https://www.drshefali.com/raisingconscious-daughters-sons/

IG: https://www.instagram.com/doctorshefali/?hl=en

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@doctorshefali

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@doctorshefali

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What if midlife isn’t the beginning of the decline, but the beginning of something entirely new?

We’ve been sold a pretty outdated life plan: learn, work, climb, achieve, retire. Preferably while raising children, maintaining friendships, exercising, drinking enough water, keeping our relationships interesting, remembering everyone’s birthdays, and figuring out what the fuck is happening to our hormones.

Yeah. That plan could use an update.

In this episode of This Is Woman’s Work, Nicole Kalil talks with Lynda Gratton, one of the world’s leading experts on the future of work, professor of management practice at London Business School, and author of Living the Hundred Year Life: How to Build a Career That Lasts and a Life You Love.

They explore:

Why the traditional learn-work-retire model no longer fits a 100-year life

How longer lifespans are changing careers, retirement, and the future of work

Why women have been living multi-stage careers long before workplaces caught up

The eight “threads” that help create a fulfilling, sustainable life and career

Why relationships, friendship, adventure, and calm are essential to avoiding burnout

Why calm may be one of the most neglected resources in women’s lives

How to create more calm without pretending we suddenly have hours of free time

The difference between the future self you hope for, expect, and fear

Why adventure doesn’t require blowing up your life or booking a trip around the world

Why you might want to take a little piece of retirement now instead of saving all of it for someday

So if you’re asking, “What’s next for me?” maybe you don’t need the entire answer yet. Maybe you get to keep weaving, experimenting, and choosing as you go.

Thank you to our sponsors!

Protect your loved ones without spying on them. Go to HeyPolo.com/work or use code WORK and get 40% off your first year

Connect with Lynda:

Website: https://www.livingthe100yearlife.com/

Book: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Living-100-Year-Life-build-career/dp/1399432966/ref=sr_1_1

LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lynda-gratton-3b179813/

Assessment: https://www.livingthe100yearlife.com/assessment

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Somewhere along the way, a lot of us got way too practical. We learned what’s realistic, reasonable, and likely to work. We became responsible adults who pay the mortgage and don’t launch every half-baked idea that hits us in the shower.

Great. But what if being “realistic” is sometimes just fear with better branding?

In this episode of This Is Woman’s Work, Nicole Kalil talks with Dr. Salima Bhimani, moonshot architect, entrepreneur, former Alphabet Chief Strategist for Responsible Technology, CEO of 10x Responsible Tech, and author of Invent Now: The Next Leap in Moonshots.

Salima challenges the idea that innovation, AI, emerging technology, and moonshot thinking belong exclusively to Silicon Valley geniuses with billion-dollar budgets. Instead, she argues that human ingenuity exists everywhere—and that the future gets a hell of a lot more interesting when everyday people stop being passive recipients of technology and start participating in what gets built.

They explore:

What a moonshot idea actually is—and why it’s not just for tech billionaires

Why Salima believes we’re wasting enormous amounts of human genius and potential

How AI and emerging technology are lowering the barriers to innovation

Why humanity—not technology—is the real moonshot

How to stop underestimating your own ability to create change and make an impact

The importance of community and collaboration when solving complex problems

Why we tend to underestimate our own impact while wildly overestimating everyone else’s

How purpose and creativity can emerge during messy, uncertain seasons of life

Why friction, frustration, and problems may be exactly where the best ideas are hiding

What Salima calls the “third space,” where human ingenuity and technology come together

This isn’t about convincing everyone to cure cancer, build the next Google, or become an inventor. It’s about getting a little less impressed by what’s “realistic” and a lot more curious about what could be possible.

Thank you to our sponsors!

Protect your loved ones without spying on them. Go to HeyPolo.com/work or use code WORK and get 40% off your first year

Connect with Salima:

Website: https://salimabhimani.com/

Book: https://www.amazon.com/Invent-Now-Next-Leap-Moonshots/dp/1394394020

IG: https://www.instagram.com/moonshotmaven_salimabhimani/

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We’re living in the age of the quick fix. Three steps to happiness. One habit to eliminate anxiety. A supplement for every symptom. Enough already.

Because grief is complicated. Mental health is complicated. Relationships are complicated. We are complicated. And when we reduce deeply human experiences into easy solutions, we don’t just oversimplify the problem—we risk making people believe they’re the problem.

In this episode of This Is Woman’s Work, Nicole Kalil talks with Dr. Celeste Birkhofer, clinical psychologist, adjunct clinical faculty member at Stanford Medical School, and author of Beyond Quick Fixes. Together, they explore the five inner resources that support mental health, emotional resilience, healthy relationships, and personal growth—and why strengthening ourselves from the inside out matters more than finding the next hack.

They explore:

The five inner resources that create a stronger foundation for mental health and well-being

How to develop a healthy sense of self, self-esteem, agency, and self-compassion

Why coping strategies learned in childhood may no longer serve us as adults

The difference between healthy coping and patterns of over-control, avoidance, numbing, or perfectionism

Why strong relationships—and learning to tolerate disappointment and repair ruptures—are essential to well-being

How to ask for the kind of support you actually need instead of expecting people to magically know

Why self-compassion and personal growth can (and should) exist at the same time

What the “wise self” is and how to strengthen and trust that internal voice

Why professional mental health support matters when life becomes painful or overwhelming

The work isn’t to constantly fix ourselves. It’s to know ourselves, strengthen ourselves, and build the inner resources that help us meet whatever life hands us with more capacity, compassion, resilience, and trust.

Thank you to our sponsors!

Protect your loved ones without spying on them. Go to HeyPolo.com/work or use code WORK and get 40% off your first year

Connect with Celeste:

Website: https://www.celestebirkhofer.com/

Book: https://www.amazon.com/Beyond-Quick-Fixes-Ingredients-Fulfilling/dp/B0GRWSRJLK

IG: https://www.instagram.com/celestebirkhofer

FB: https://www.facebook.com/celeste.birkhofer

LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/celeste-birkhofer-phd-psyd-85525a9/

Substack: https://drcelestebirkhofer.substack.com/

Brainzmagazine: https://www.brainzmagazine.com/executive-contributor/celeste-birkhofer

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