HER Extraordinary LIFE By Design

Hosted by Leslie Gaudet

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210

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Aug 2026

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About the show

Welcome to HER Extraordinary LIFE By Design, where we celebrate women who are shaping their lives one extraordinary day at a time. Join your host Leslie Gaudet, Self-Care Coach, International Best-Selling Author, and Motivational Speaker, as she invites inspiring women from various walks of life to share their personal journeys and the pivotal moments that influenced their lives. Tune in to discover practical advice, inspiring stories, and actionable strategies that will empower you to design your own extraordinary life. Each episode provides valuable insights from women who have successfully navigated their personal and professional journeys. From overcoming personal challenges to building successful businesses and making a social impact, each episode features diverse stories that showcase the resilience and creativity of women from all walks of life. Subscribe to HER Extraordinary LIFE By Design today and join our community of empowered women. Don’t miss an episode as we explore the extraordinary lives and achievements of women making a difference. Follow us on social media for updates and exclusive content.

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60 recent

August 16, 202633 min

Cass Uk: Prevention Is the Most Powerful Strategy Nobody Talks About

Join Leslie Gaudet and Cass Uk, award-winning entrepreneur, former NHS Registered Nurse, author, speaker, and Founder and CEO of Tolicious, for a bold and deeply personal conversation about what it truly takes to build a purpose-driven life and business without burning yourself out in the process.  Cass's journey is anything but ordinary. After years working as a registered nurse across Nigeria, Dominica, and the UK, she survived a life-threatening postpartum recovery, left the security of her nursing career, and built Tolicious from the ground up while working full time — eventually becoming the first Black female founder to secure Spark Funding through the North East Accelerator Programme. Her mission is clear: self-care is not selfish. It’s survival.  In this episode, Cass opens up about what she witnessed in her nursing career that made prevention feel urgent rather than optional, what surviving a life-threatening postpartum experience revealed to her about her body and her purpose, and what it truly required of her to leave a secure career and build something meaningful from scratch. You’ll also hear why she believes every woman needs to stop waiting for permission and start claiming the life she actually wants.   If you have been building something extraordinary while quietly running on empty — this conversation is going to speak directly to you.  ******************************************************************** Connect with me: https://linktr.ee/herextraordinarylifebydesign leslie@herextraordinarylifebydesign.com  ******************************************************************** Monthly Gathering: I built the space — a place where women can show up without the filter, without the performance, and without wondering whether being seen is going to cost them something. No faces. No names. No titles. Just voices and honest conversation. We have already held our first gathering and it was exactly what I hoped it would be. If you want to join us for the next one, send me an email with the words "I'm in for Monthly Gathering" and I will make sure you are on the list. Email: leslie@herextraordinarylifebydesign.co ******************************************************************** Here’s how you can connect with Cass UK.  Business & Speaking: https://cassukonline.com Wellness Brand: https://www.tolicious.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cassuk Instagram (Personal): https://www.instagram.com/cassukonline TikTok (Personal): https://www.tiktok.com/@cassukonline Facebook (Personal): https://www.facebook.com/cassukonline Tolicious: https://www.tolicious.com Instagram (Tolicious): https://www.instagram.com/toliciousbrand LinkedIn (Tolicious): https://www.linkedin.com/company/tolicious Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

August 15, 202629 min

Burnout Hides in the Ordinary — The Footprints We Keep Explaining Away

Burnout doesn’t always arrive with a dramatic collapse. Sometimes it shows up in the ordinary things you keep explaining away. The sleep that hasn’t been great lately. The irritability you blame on a busy week. The work you normally enjoy that suddenly feels heavier. The Sunday afternoon feeling that starts before the weekend is even over. In this solo episode, Self-Care Strategist Leslie Gaudet explores burnout, chronic stress, energy, capacity, and the patterns high-performing women can miss because they’re still functioning, still delivering, and still getting things done. Because every footprint can have a perfectly reasonable explanation. But what happens when you stop looking at each one separately and start looking at the trail? If you’ve been telling yourself you’re just tired, just busy, just distracted, or that things will settle down soon, this conversation may help you notice what your own patterns have been trying to tell you. The question isn’t simply whether you’re burned out. It’s: What have you been explaining away because each thing, on its own, didn’t seem important enough to pay attention to? ******************************************************************** Connect with me: https://linktr.ee/herextraordinarylifebydesign leslie@herextraordinarylifebydesign.com  ******************************************************************** Monthly Gathering: I built the space — a place where women can show up without the filter, without the performance, and without wondering whether being seen is going to cost them something. No faces. No names. No titles. Just voices and honest conversation. We have already held our first gathering and it was exactly what I hoped it would be. If you want to join us for the next one, send me an email with the words "I'm in for Monthly Gathering" and I will make sure you are on the list. Email: leslie@herextraordinarylifebydesign.co Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

August 9, 202638 min

Lauren Golen: The Pattern Underneath the Performance

Join Leslie Gaudet and Lauren Golen, embodiment teacher, breath-based practitioner, and coach to founders and women leaders, for a deeply honest and powerful conversation about what is really running everything underneath decades of high performance, and what becomes possible when a woman finally learns to listen to her body before her mind catches up.  With thirty years of body and breath-based practice and her own experience leading through real consequence, Lauren works at the intersection of embodiment, discernment, and faith. She doesn’t add better frameworks on top of existing patterns. She goes underneath them to the place where the real work has always been waiting.  In this episode, Lauren opens up about the pattern that keeps showing up underneath even the most accomplished women's lives that no strategy has ever been able to touch, why high-achieving women become so skilled at normalizing what is actually unsustainable, and what it truly means to listen to your body before your mind has caught up. You will also hear how to begin distinguishing between what is yours to carry and what never was, what happens when a woman finally feels safe enough to stop performing and just be, and what freedom actually looks like for a woman who has spent decades succeeding her way to the top.  If you have ever felt successful and somehow still not free, this conversation will help you understand why. And where to start. ******************************************************************** Connect with me: https://linktr.ee/herextraordinarylifebydesign leslie@herextraordinarylifebydesign.com ******************************************************************** Monthly Gathering: I built the space I have been sitting on for a while now — a place where women can show up without the filter, without the performance, and without wondering whether being seen is going to cost them something. No faces. No names. No titles. Just voices and honest conversation. We have already held our first gathering and it was exactly what I hoped it would be. If you want to join us for the next one, send me an email with the words "I'm in for Monthly Gathering" and I will make sure you are on the list. Email: leslie@herextraordinarylifebydesign.co ******************************************************************** Here’s how you can connect with Lauren Golen. https://substack.com/@laurengolen Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

August 8, 202624 min

What Happens When “Just This Week” Becomes Every Week?

Some weeks are genuinely busy. But what happens when “I just need to get through this week” becomes the sentence you keep repeating every week? In this solo episode, Leslie talks about burnout, chronic stress, energy management, capacity, and the hidden cost of constantly pushing through. She shares what she noticed during one particularly full week—the rearranging, the overworking, the instinct to make everything fit, and the realization that being capable can become the reason we keep asking more from ourselves. For high-performing women who are used to handling a lot, the early signs of burnout don’t always look like falling apart. Sometimes you’re still working, meeting deadlines, answering emails, and getting everything done while exhaustion, irritability, mental overload, and lack of presence are becoming part of your normal week. This isn’t about never working hard. It’s about recognizing when a busy season has become a pattern and when pushing through is starting to affect your energy, wellbeing, work, relationships, and quality of life. Because the real question may not be: Can I handle it? It may be: What’s it costing me to keep proving that I can? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

August 2, 202644 min

Rena Duell: The Business Coach Who Learned the Hard Way and Now Teaches Women a Better Way

Join Leslie Gaudet and Rena Duell, business coach at One TEAM Partners and 25-year entrepreneur, for a refreshingly honest conversation about what burnout really costs — and what becomes possible when a woman finally decides to build her business and her life differently. Rena knows this journey from the inside out. After years of juggling leadership, motherhood, and constant demands, she hit a breaking point that impacted her health and forced her to completely rethink how she was living and working. That breakdown became her breakthrough and today she is the coach she wished she had back then. In this episode, Rena opens up about what hitting that wall actually looked like for her and the moment she knew something had to fundamentally change, why she believes you are the ceiling of your own business's success and what it truly takes to grow past it, and how her three-pillar approach of Awareness, Structure, and Habit creates sustainable results that stick long after the coaching ends. If you have been running on empty and telling yourself this is just the price of building something — this conversation is going to show you there is another way. ******************************************************************** Connect with me: https://linktr.ee/herextraordinarylifebydesign leslie@herextraordinarylifebydesign.com ******************************************************************** Monthly Gathering: I built the space I have been sitting on for a while now — a place where women can show up without the filter, without the performance, and without wondering whether being seen is going to cost them something. No faces. No names. No titles. Just voices and honest conversation. We have already held our first gathering and it was exactly what I hoped it would be. If you want to join us for the next one, send me an email with the words "I'm in for Monthly Gathering" and I will make sure you are on the list. Email: leslie@herextraordinarylifebydesign.co ******************************************************************** Here’s how you can connect with Rena Duell.  oneteampartners.com https://www.instagram.com/coach__rena/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/rena-duell/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

August 1, 202646 min

Who Gets to Decide Who You Become Next?

There are moments when the woman everyone sees and the evidence you can point to don’t seem to tell the same story. You speak with confidence. People trust what you know. You have created something real. And privately, you wonder: Am I becoming this woman, or am I pretending to be her? In this deeply honest episode, Leslie explores the tension between an established identity with decades of proof and an emerging one still being built. She speaks openly about business, revenue, time, the pressure to have arrived by now, and what it means to become someone different before the evidence feels undeniable. This is not a conversation about defeating imposter syndrome. It is a reflection on what is true, what remains unfinished, and who gets to decide when you have enough proof to claim the woman you are becoming. ******************************************************************** Connect with me: https://linktr.ee/herextraordinarylifebydesign leslie@herextraordinarylifebydesign.com  ******************************************************************** Monthly Gathering: I built the space — a place where women can show up without the filter, without the performance, and without wondering whether being seen is going to cost them something. No faces. No names. No titles. Just voices and honest conversation. We have already held our first gathering and it was exactly what I hoped it would be. If you want to join us for the next one, send me an email with the words "I'm in for Monthly Gathering" and I will make sure you are on the list. Email: leslie@herextraordinarylifebydesign.co Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

July 26, 202645 min

Jacqueline T. Hill: The EMOTE Method - Profit Strategy for Women Playing the Long Game

Join Leslie Gaudet and Jacqueline T. Hill, strategic marketing advisor and fractional CMO, for a refreshingly direct conversation about what it truly means to build a business that doesn’t just make money — but keeps it. Jacqueline brings a rare perspective to this conversation — 17 years as an educator and Principal combined with nearly three decades in marketing. Where most focus on generating more leads, she focuses on what happens after the lead converts. Her work centers on profit margins, client retention, and the internal systems that determine whether a business grows sustainably or constantly chases its own tail. In this episode, Jacqueline breaks down why so many businesses are quietly leaking revenue without realizing it, what it takes to shift from hustle-driven to profit-first, and how her EMOTE Method™ identifies exactly where a business is losing money — before prescribing how to fix it. If you have been working hard but still feel like you are chasing rather than building — this one is for you. ******************************************************************** Connect with me: https://linktr.ee/herextraordinarylifebydesign leslie@herextraordinarylifebydesign.com ******************************************************************** Monthly Gathering: I built the space I have been sitting on for a while now — a place where women can show up without the filter, without the performance, and without wondering whether being seen is going to cost them something. No faces. No names. No titles. Just voices and honest conversation. We have already held our first gathering and it was exactly what I hoped it would be. If you want to join us for the next one, send me an email with the words "I'm in for Monthly Gathering" and I will make sure you are on the list. Email: leslie@herextraordinarylifebydesign.co ******************************************************************** Here’s how you can connect with Jacqueline T. Hill. www.thelivingacts.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacqueline-t-hillbiz/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

July 25, 202611 min

How Do We Decide, When Life Asks Different Questions

Balance. Alignment. They're two words we hear all the time. We chase them, talk about them, and often measure ourselves against them. But what if we've never stopped to ask what they actually mean? In this episode, Leslie explores why our definition of a balanced and aligned life isn't meant to stay the same forever. As we grow and move through different seasons, the questions life asks of us begin to change—and perhaps our definitions should, too. This isn't an episode about finding the perfect balance. It's an invitation to pause, reflect, and consider whether the life you're building still fits the woman you're becoming. ******************************************************************** Connect with me: https://linktr.ee/herextraordinarylifebydesign leslie@herextraordinarylifebydesign.com  ******************************************************************** Monthly Gathering: I built the space — a place where women can show up without the filter, without the performance, and without wondering whether being seen is going to cost them something. No faces. No names. No titles. Just voices and honest conversation. We have already held our first gathering and it was exactly what I hoped it would be. If you want to join us for the next one, send me an email with the words "I'm in for Monthly Gathering" and I will make sure you are on the list. Email: leslie@herextraordinarylifebydesign.co Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

July 19, 202637 min

Carolyn Jahnke: Protect What You’re Building (Legal Strategy for Women Playing the Long Game)

Join Leslie Gaudet and Carolyn Jahnke, Founding Attorney and CEO of Athena Legal Solutions, for a refreshingly honest and empowering conversation about what it truly means to build a woman-owned business on a foundation that is not just successful but genuinely protected, sustainable, and built to last. With more than 20 years of experience inside nonprofits, startups, and corporate organizations, Carolyn brings a perspective to legal strategy that most attorneys simply cannot offer — one that is grounded in the real-world realities of running and growing a business rather than the fear-based messaging that keeps so many women entrepreneurs avoiding legal conversations altogether. In this episode, Carolyn opens up about what led her to found Athena Legal Solutions and why she built it specifically for women entrepreneurs, what it truly means to have a long-term legal partner rather than a reactive one, and why she believes strong legal foundations are not about restriction or perfection but about creating freedom and real options for the future. If you have been building something meaningful but have been avoiding the legal side of your business because it feels overwhelming or not urgent enough yet — this conversation is going to change the way you think about what it means to truly protect what you are creating. ******************************************************************** Connect with me: https://linktr.ee/herextraordinarylifebydesign leslie@herextraordinarylifebydesign.com ******************************************************************** Monthly Gathering: I built the space I have been sitting on for a while now — a place where women can show up without the filter, without the performance, and without wondering whether being seen is going to cost them something. No faces. No names. No titles. Just voices and honest conversation. We are having our first gathering on Thursday, July 23rd, 2026 at 12 pm EDT and have a few spots still open if you’d like to join us. Send me a quick email and I’ll send you the link to register. If you can’t make it this time and you want to join us for future gatherings, send me an email with the words "I'm in for Monthly Gathering" and I will make sure to reach out to you for the next one. Email: leslie@herextraordinarylifebydesign.co ******************************************************************** Here’s how you can connect with Carolyn Jahnke. https://athenalegalsolutionsllc.com/ Schedule a Consult: https://cozycal.com/athena-legal-solutions/f/initial-consultations Phone Number: (608) 293-4574 Email: carolyn@athenalegalsolutionsllc.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AthenaLegalSolutions Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/athena_legal/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/athena-legal-solutions-llc/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

July 17, 202623 min

Why Capable Women Choose the Anonymous Filter

What happens when a capable woman can tell the truth only after removing her name? In this episode, Leslie reflects on the growing number of intelligent, accomplished women using the anonymous filter to share what they’re carrying. Not because they don’t know how to speak, lead, or make decisions, but because they understand exactly what their name, role, reputation, and relationships may ask them to consider before they say what is true. This conversation explores the tension between being known and being honest, why a written post can’t always carry what a human voice can, and why Leslie created the Faceless and Nameless Gatherings as a space where your voice can enter before your title does. No face. No name. No title. Just you. If you’ve ever needed to remove your identity before you could say what was true, this conversation is for you. Your voice deserves somewhere to land before your name, role, or reputation decides how much of it is safe to share. something — this conversation is going to show you there is another way. ******************************************************************** Connect with me: https://linktr.ee/herextraordinarylifebydesign leslie@herextraordinarylifebydesign.com ******************************************************************** Monthly Gathering: I built the space I have been sitting on for a while now — a place where women can show up without the filter, without the performance, and without wondering whether being seen is going to cost them something. No faces. No names. No titles. Just voices and honest conversation. We are having our first gathering on Thursday, July 23rd, 2026 at 12 pm EDT. If you want to join us for future gatherings, send me an email with the words "I'm in for Monthly Gathering" and I will make sure to reach out to you for the next one. Email: leslie@herextraordinarylifebydesign.co Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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