Can you truly be authentic in the workplace? How does one balance their own values and beliefs in environments that make that so hard? And... if you do need to GTFO, how do you build something that is true to your own vision?

We dig into this questions and many more with our hilarious, honest, and impressive guest, Jazmyn Lopez. Jazmyn is the founder and thought leader behind Anthelo, a consulting studio concept that delivers her mission is to help intentional entrepreneurs cut through the noise to build sustainable business growth. Her unique corporate experience blends with a no-nonsense personality and earned authority to guide ambitious leaders through the journey of expansion.

Our conversation with Jazmyn reemphasized the importance of changing your environment to meet your needs, and not the other way around. We laughed, we swore a lot, and we also discussed the challenges that we have all faced in one way or another.

Connect with Our Guest:

Anthelo Consulting Studio

Connect with Jazmyn on LinkedIn

A Note From our Hosts: We're shaking up some things and getting ready to roll into another year of O&U! In this reflection stage, we are dropping our episodes down to one per month through the end of the year. We're excited to bring you format changes and even more unfiltered content in 2025

It's been a challenging time for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, and for the professionals working in this space.

In the US, backlash and polarization has resulted in several well know organizations reducing or eliminating their DEI teams and programs. The Society of Human Resources Management recently made the decision to "rebrand" DEI despite the loud outcry from their members. Those who feel the most passionate about this work are now exploring avenues like consulting and public speaking after years of working in resource deprived corporate environments.

Regardless of how you feel about DEI, it's clear that something isn't working. However that doesn't change the fact that we all have bias, our biases can negatively impact our place of work (culturally, legally, financially, etc.), and the only way to address that is to talk about it.

This is a delicate and often controversial subject, one we wanted to look at from outside the American lens, which has resulted in what might be one of our most 'unfiltered' conversations to date.

Our guest this week is Heeral Gudka, an Equality, Diversity & Inclusion consultant in the UK who's been working with organizations since 2014.

Her 10 years of experience in EDI spans across private, public and third-sector organizations, delivering consultancy to People Teams and Executive Boards, stand-alone workshops and also curating 6 to 12 month employee learning journeys. The support she provides to senior leadership teams is an essential part of the success they have created internally in building inclusive cultures – everyone needs a safe space to talk about difficult subjects, but they also need to understand where risks lie when it comes to workforces that don't understand minimum expectations.

Heeral is a former actuary and risk professional, she is trained to coach from a trauma-informed perspective, has a diploma in counselling skills and a deep interest in philosophy and consistent thinking – the ideal blend of skills for providing this support to senior leaders.

She also wishes she could see more of the night sky, but London is her home and that just doesn't happen there!

Obvious trigger warning as we dig into some sticky conversations around trauma and identity that may be upsetting to some listeners. However, we hope our listeners will walk away with a new perspective and inspiration to be the change they want to see in their workplace.

Is DEI 'business critical'? We'll let you decide.

Resources from this episode:

To get in touch with Heeral about EDI or dark sky recommendations you can find her on LinkedIn.

Changes Coming Soon to Offline & Unfiltered!

Dear listeners, we have had so much fun bringing you unfiltered conversations and finding our home in the podcast ecosystem. We have learned so much and are committed to bringing you the best quality content. In 2025, you'll see some refinement to our format, sustained activity on the socials, and much more. To achieve these goals, we're slowing down a bit. Through the end of 2024 O&L will release one episode a month, rather than two. Don't worry, we'll be back to two episodes per month in 2025.

Thank you for your continued support. Please don't forget to like, subscribe, give us 5 stars, tell all your friends, and all that good stuff.

More to come.

How should we be treating each other on the internet?

Who is responsible for deciding what is or isn't allowed on any given platform? What happens when you hit that little "report" button? Moreover, what is it like to be the professional that might see the worst of the worst on the internet?

In today's episode, we give our listeners a view into the world of platform Trust & Safety with our guest, Alice Hunsberger. Alice is Vice President of Trust & Safety and Content Moderation at PartnerHero, with wide experience across the Trust and Safety ecosystem. She's the founder of the Trust in Tech podcast, which addresses Trust & Safety issues in tech, and writes the Trust & Safety Insider Newsletter with Everything in Moderation. Previously, Alice was VP of CX and T&S at Grindr for 3 years, and also led the CX / T&S team at OkCupid/ Match Group for 10 years. She is passionate about ethical tech policy, believing that dating apps, and indeed the whole internet, should be welcoming, equitable, and inclusive for everyone.

In our conversation, we discuss Alice's unique career journey and how she found herself battling internet bad actors for the greater good. Alice also outlines ways T&S professionals (or any professional) can safeguard their mental health, how the T&S industry is evolving, and how we can all be better stewards of the internet.

Resources Mentioned In This Episode:

Learn More about Alice and access her T&S resources here.

Read Alice's Newsletter - Everything In Moderation

Listen to Alice on the Trust In Tech Podcast

Attend TrustCon or Marketplace Risk

Learn more about Alice's current company - PartnerHero

"No brilliant jerks"

Netflix thrusted this phrase into the corporate vernacular in 2009, proudly asserting that they would not retain employees who were high performers but difficult to work with. Other companies followed suit, and the "no brilliant jerks" moniker remains a steadfast value many companies claim to adhere to in their hiring and cultural practices.

Seems like a noble but simple concept to adhere to, right?

But...

What happens when you 'brilliant jerk" is locked into a high profile, multi-million dollar contract?

What happens when your "brilliant jerk" accounts for almost 8% of your company revenue?

What happens when your "brilliant jerk" is a global superstar teetering on the edge of an epic PR implosion?

In 2022 the Rolling Stone published Inside Kanye West's Yeezy: Abrupt Firings, Alleged Nazi Inspiration, and 'Pure Chaos' The article painted a bleak and scathing portrait of what life was like for the many current and former employees working for the Yeezy brand, and how leadership seemly turned a blind eye. Similar stories would follow, and both internal and external pressure would result in Adidas dissolving their partnership with the controversial artist.

Our hosts were so captivated by this story as it unfolded, so much so that it was the inspiration for this podcast. In this episode, our hosts dive into this complicated story to ask what really happened at Adidas? How bad was it to work for the Yeezy brand? What should have been done for Adidas employees? Did Adidas choose to put profits over people?

This is a spicy conversation that had our hosts contemplating the ethics of brilliance, corporate accountability, and idol worship.

Disclaimer: Our views expressed on this episode are based on our personal opinions, experiences, and the various articles that are available publicly. We do our best to reflect events accurately, but also acknowledge that there are many sides to this complex story.

Articles Mentioned In This Episode:

Inside Kanye West’s Yeezy: Abrupt Firings, Alleged Nazi Inspiration and ‘Pure Chaos' - Cheyenne Roundtree, Rolling Stone

Kanye and Adidas: Money, Misconduct and the Price of Appeasement - Megan Twohey, New York Times

Welcome to today's episode for a unique conversation. Megan, a borderline Reddit obsessive reads Lakisha, a reddit novice, a collection of tales from one of the most popular subreddits, r/antiwork. After each story we ask ourselves;

• Do we think the story is real?
• What went wrong here?
• What advice would you give the poster?
• What could someone do in a similar circumstance?
• Should they just quit their job?

The antiwork subreddit is an online community on Reddit where users discuss issues related to work, labor, and employment. Topics often include critiques of capitalism, sharing of personal stories related to workplace struggles, advice on quitting jobs and/or finding better work-life balance. The community has gained significant attention, especially during movements like the Great Resignation, where many people started questioning the value and impact of their jobs.

Embrace internet anonymity and ponder the other side of the story in today's lighthearted episode.

On this show, our favorite conversations are the ones that result in a shift in perspective.

The ones that challenge us to put ideas and language around things we either believe strongly about, or never even considered.

So, when our guest Nick Duggan wanted to discuss the concept of Workplace Spirituality, recognizing our host's vastly different outlooks on this topic, we knew we were in for an interesting episode.

Nick has been developing people and organizations for more than 20 years, and is passionate about making work more meaningful for all. As the founder of the coaching and training firm Deeper Work, Nick partners with people-focused leaders to increase their impact through meaningful, identity-conscious leadership development and coaching. He brings to this work a successful track record of leading learning & development; diversity, equity, and inclusion; and employee communications and engagement for companies such as AppFolio, GoTo, DaVita, and the American Heart Association. Nick holds a bachelor’s degree in Communication from UC Santa Barbara and a master’s degree in Organizational Psychology from William James College, where he completed a thesis on “Engaging The Soul Within Organizations: Practical Implications of Workplace Spirituality Research.”

In one of our most interesting and honest conversations to date, we discussed the difficulties putting language around concepts like spiritualty, how we can engage with others productively when their beliefs are different or counter to our own, and what it means to find a sense of purpose in our work.

Get a bit uncomfortable, define what spirituality means to you, and decide where it fits into you own work in this introspective discussion.

Connect With Our Guest & Episode Resources

Deeper Work

Going Deeper with Nick Duggan

Check Out Nick's Recommended Reading List

Pew Research "Nones On The Rise"

People don't quit jobs, they quit bosses.

If you spend any time on TikTok, you can get lost in the sea of clever, passionate, or comedic videos of frustrated employees complaining about their bosses. While these videos are certainly entertaining, rarely do we get to hear the other side of the story. This trend grabbed the attention of our guest today, who wanted to answer the question "what is your boss thinking?"

Jane Yan is an award-winning digital innovation and business builder with over half a billion dollars in generated revenue. She has a wealth of experience, from leading small startup teams to managing large divisions in Fortune 1 companies. Her career spans various industries, including pharmaceuticals, healthcare, consumer technology, and e-commerce. Currently, she is the COO of Lunajoy Health, transforming women's mental wellness. Recently, she received the Innovation Award for New Era of Leadership, recognized by industry leaders like the ex-CEO of Pepsi. With her dual perspective as both an employee and a "boss lady," Jane shares invaluable insights into what the "boss" is thinking.

We hope employees and managers alike can gain new insights from this thoughtful and honest conversation.

Places to Find and Connect with Our Guest:

Check out Lunajoy: www.hellolunajoy.com

Connect with Jane on LinkedIn

For mentorship, coaching, or advisory inquires, send Jane an email.

Some Words from our Hosts:

We feel so lucky to have made it to episode 10! Thank you to our listeners for your words of encouragement and ongoing support. We look forward to bringing you more insightful conversations on career and culture, we're more appreciative of this experience than we could ever articulate.

Have a story to share? Looking for a spot to plant your soapbox? Have words of wisdom you think our listeners would like to hear? Looking for us to discuss a specific topic? Just want to say "Hi"? We'd love to hear from you! Email us.

What happens when you take a reluctant podcast host and exercise novice to a reformer Pilates class for "research" purposes?

You end up with two closet confessionals and an in depth discussion centered around the complex relationship many of us have with exercise. From folks who see it as a necessary evil, to those who can turn it into a successful career and community.

Our guest this week is Kiara, who is the owner of BODYROK in Santa Barbara, CA. BODYROK is a Pilates-inspired workout on a reformer machine, designed to improve energy levels and fuel your metabolism while sculpting and defining your body.

Kiara previously worked in the Silicon Valley tech scene as a Product Manager. Her passion for teaching fitness classes as a part-time BODYROK instructor in San Francisco led her to make a career shift and open her own studio in Santa Barbara a year ago.

In this episode, Kiara shares her unique journey through her career and her fitness. She also shares some valuable tips for listeners on how to incorporate exercise into their lifestyle.

They say if you do what you love, you'll never work a day in your life. We hope this episode leaves our guests pondering how they can chase their own passions, or, at least find different ways to incorporate fitness into their day to day.

Find Our Guest:

BODYROK Santa Barbara