Ambition 2.0

When Laura Weldy was first building her coaching practice, she took a group of the most accomplished women she knew out for coffee, one by one, and asked what was standing between them and what they wanted at work. Almost every answer came back the same: “I don't have anyone advocating for me in the room.” But when she pushed further and asked what they wanted their allies to say on their behalf, nobody had an answer.

That gap—between wanting to be seen and knowing how to ask for it—became the foundation of her coaching practice and her framework, the Personal Power Code.

Today, Laura is a women's leadership coach, speaker, and podcast host who helps high-achieving mid-career women build fulfilling careers and lead authentically.

On this episode, she and Amanda get into the specific phrases that undercut women before they've made their point, the difference between an ally and a sponsor, and why "just be more confident" is some of the least useful career advice out there.

This episode is about what happens the moment you stop asking for permission to take up space and start deciding you already belong in the room.

Key takeaways:

Confidence at work is about having a clear, well-thought-out perspective, and building that perspective is most women's real growth edge.

Small qualifiers like "sorry," "just," and "this might be a dumb question" undermine your authority before you've even made your point.

Allies will back you up in a room, but sponsors are the ones who speak up for you in rooms you're not in—and you have to tell them exactly what you want before they can do that for you.

The "likability trap" hits hardest for women who lead with connection, since softening their language and over-accommodating others can feel safer than risking being disliked.

Your work cannot speak for itself: if you're not talking about your wins, nobody knows they happened.

Reframing your default language—like swapping "I could be wrong, but" for "my thought is X, and here's why"—changes how people receive you before you've said anything else.

Timestamps

0:00 Intro

0:47 What women deserve to know about taking up space

2:20 How ambition has changed for women

4:05 Why "just be more confident" doesn't work

6:00 The real reason women don't get promoted

8:10 How to find your professional point of view

11:21 The five traits that build a leadership brand

13:16 Why women hesitate to ask for what they want

17:34 Phrases confident communicators avoid

19:21 Breaking the "manufactured vulnerability" habit

22:48 Allies vs. sponsors

25:48 Reframing promotions as wins for your manager

28:43 Talking about your wins without feeling cringe

29:39 Rapid fire: better scripts for common powerless phrases

31:26 Laura's final word on confident communication

GUEST LINKS

Learn more about Laura: lauraweldy.com

Follow Laura: instagram.com/lauraweldy

Connect with Laura: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laura-weldy/

Join her retreat for women in tech: https://topshelfretreat.com/

FOLLOW THE PODCAST

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

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

Amanda Goetz: https://www.instagram.com/theamandagoetz/

https://girlboss.com/pages/ambition-2-0-podcast

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ABOUT AMBITION 2.0

Powered by Girlboss, Ambition 2.0 is a podcast where we'll be exploring what it really means to "have it all" in work, family, identity, and self… and if it's actually worth it. Each week, you'll hear from hardworking women who've walked the tightrope of ambition. They'll share their costly mistakes, lessons learned, and practical tips for how to have it all and actually love what you have.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Neha Ruch built her career in brand strategy—an MBA from Stanford, a fast climb on the corporate ladder, and a title she loved. Then she paused her career after her second child and spent the years since rebranding what a career pause actually looks like for ambitious women.

In her book, The Power Pause, Neha makes the case that stepping back from paid work isn't the opposite of ambition. It's a chapter of it. She also reframes the “stay-at-home mom” label, citing survey results showing outdated stereotypes (like apron-clad June Cleaver from Leave It to Beaver), and argues modern parenthood is more fluid with technology, networks, and involved partners.

Whether you're actively wondering, "Do I quit my job? Do I take a pause? What should I do?", or if family planning is somewhere on your radar for the next few years, or if kids aren't even part of the picture yet—this conversation is worth having early. Neha and Amanda get into how to come out the other side of a power pause with a stronger sense of self, a real community, and clarity on what's next, well before you're right in the thick of it.

Key Takeaways

A "power pause" is deliberately shifting time and energy toward family for a chapter, while still holding onto a sense of self and community.

The most common image people associate with "stay-at-home mom" (June Cleaver) versus "working mom" (Michelle Obama, Sheryl Sandberg, Beyoncé) shows just how outdated and polarized our cultural narrative around motherhood still is.

A good partner is someone who can have difficult conversations and makes you feel safe having conflict, not someone who avoids hard topics altogether.

Career pauses don't have to mean fully leaving the workforce; they can look like part-time work, consulting, freelancing, or simply deprioritizing taking on demanding projects for a season.

Tracking small wins during a pause can become a real, resume-worthy experience when you're ready to return to work.

How to know when it’s time to return to work and how to market your power pause on LinkedIn.

Working moms, stay-at-home moms, and everyone on a power pause are part of the same ecosystem, not opposing sides, and supporting each other is what actually moves the conversation forward.

Timestamps

00:00 Intro

02:07 Neha's career downshift

04:03 Dealing with judgment after pausing

06:03 The power pause framework

10:59 Why stay-at-home still feels loaded

13:09 Having money talks with your partner

17:11 Dating for shared values

21:12 Trade-offs and other options than just working or not working

24:50 Returning to work after the pause

29:57 We’re part of an ecosystem, not a divide

32:58 Rapid fire questions

GUEST LINKS

Follow Neha: https://www.instagram.com/neha_ruch/

Website: https://www.thepowerpause.com/

Read her book: https://bookshop.org/a/116169/9780593716182

FOLLOW THE PODCAST

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

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

Amanda Goetz: https://www.instagram.com/theamandagoetz/

https://girlboss.com/pages/ambition-2-0-podcast

SIGN UP

Subscribe to the Girlboss Daily newsletter: https://newsletter.girlboss.com/

For all other Girlboss links: https://linkin.bio/girlboss/

ABOUT AMBITION 2.0

Powered by Girlboss, Ambition 2.0 is a podcast where we'll be exploring what it really means to "have it all" in work, family, identity, and self… and if it's actually worth it. Each week, you'll hear from hardworking women who've walked the tightrope of ambition. They'll share their costly mistakes, lessons learned, and practical tips for how to have it all and actually love what you have.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

At 25, Hayley Paige signed the contract of a lifetime—head designer at a major bridal house, her name on the label, a fast track to becoming a household name on TLC's Say Yes to the Dress. She went on to generate over $220 million in bridal sales and dress more than 10,000 brides.

Then, in the middle of a contract renegotiation, it all fell apart. In the span of just 24 hours, a judge's ruling took away her right to use her own birth name. She couldn't use it in business, couldn't publicly identify with it, and was locked into a seven-year unpaid non-compete—all while her former company took control of the social media accounts she'd spent a decade building.

This week on Ambition 2.0, Amanda Goetz sits down with Hayley to talk about the raw, deeply emotional experience of going through a public legal battle, how she rebuilt her business from the ground up, and the red flags she now tells every young creator to watch for before they sign any contract.

Key Takeaways

Signing a contract early in your career without a lawyer can leave you exposed for years, even after you've outgrown its original terms.

Believing "if I provide enough value, anything is negotiable" is a risky mindset going into any negotiation.

Once you're operating at a high level, you set your own precedent, and that gap between your value and your original terms is where disputes start.

Watch for red-flag language like "perpetuity," worldwide rights, and broad name, image, and likeness clauses before signing anything.

Contracts should hold up to your questions; if they can't, it might not be the right opportunity.

Setting boundaries early and having difficult conversations up front creates clarity, and contracts are meant to provide clarity, not create conflict.

What happened to Hayley isn't an isolated case; the same pattern shows up across industries whenever talent operates under contracts they've outgrown.

Timestamps

00:00 Intro

07:48 How she lost the rights to her own name

11:42 Contract red flags to watch for

15:03 Reclaiming her name and starting her new business

17:52 Launching A Girl You Might Know Foundation

20:13 Hayley’s fave bridal trends + rapid-fire qs

GUEST LINKS

Follow Hayley: https://www.instagram.com/misshayleypaige/

Visit https://hayleypaige.com/

https://www.agirlyoumightknowfoundation.org/

FOLLOW THE PODCAST

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

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

Amanda Goetz: https://www.instagram.com/theamandagoetz/

https://girlboss.com/pages/ambition-2-0-podcast

SIGN UP

Subscribe to the Girlboss Daily newsletter: https://newsletter.girlboss.com/

For all other Girlboss links: https://linkin.bio/girlboss/

ABOUT AMBITION 2.0

Powered by Girlboss, Ambition 2.0 is a podcast where we'll be exploring what it really means to "have it all" in work, family, identity, and self… and if it's actually worth it. Each week, you'll hear from hardworking women who've walked the tightrope of ambition. They'll share their costly mistakes, lessons learned, and practical tips for how to have it all and actually love what you have.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you've ever caught yourself calling your side hustle "just a little passion project" while secretly wondering if it could be your next thing—this episode is your permission slip.

Amanda Goetz sits down with Stephanie Cartin and Courtney Spritzer, co-founders of Entreprenista, who quit their corporate jobs on the same day back in 2012 with zero investors, zero business plan, and one very clear number: $4,000 a month each, just to break even.

Fourteen years later, they've built a +3,500-member community, scaled an agency to eight figures in cumulative revenue, and helped women found and grow thousands of businesses.

We cover how they knew it was time to go all in, the real difference between a hobby and a business, whether (and when) to tell your boss about your side hustle, and why community (not funding) is what actually got them to seven figures.

Key takeaways

You don't need a grand plan to quit your job—you need a number: Stephanie and Courtney calculated the bare minimum they each needed to survive and used that as their revenue goal before walking away from corporate.

Stephanie's litmus test: if you're already making money, you have the start of a business. But turning a hobby into a business isn't automatically the right move.

Never burn a bridge, and give yourself a real timeline before walking away from a job (they gave themselves three months to prove it could work).

The single biggest driver of their early growth wasn't a funding round or a growth hack. It was showing up to one random networking group and actually building relationships there.

Comparing your timeline, your funding, or your exit to what you see on Instagram is a fast way to lose sight of the business you actually want to build.

Both Stephanie and Courtney say if they were starting a business today, they'd go all-in on learning AI.

Timestamps

[00:00] Intro

[05:05] The exact day they quit their corporate jobs

[08:47] How to tell a hobby apart from a real business opportunity

[10:44] The most common (and costly) mistake new founders make

[11:35] Did they set out to build Socialfly to sell it? The surprising answer

[14:49] How to spot your first "side hustle idea"—and use AI as a brainstorming partner

[17:48] Building a business while working full-time, without burning out

[20:20] Should you tell your boss about your side hustle?

[23:37] Why community (not funding) is their real superpower

[29:06] Rapid fire: tools, time-wasters, and the best (and worst) advice they've ever gotten

GUEST LINKS

Follow Entreprenista: https://www.instagram.com/entreprenistas

Join the Entreprenista League: https://www.entreprenista.com/tel-start

Follow Stephanie: https://www.instagram.com/stephjillcartin/

Follow Courtney: https://www.instagram.com/courtspritzer/

FOLLOW THE PODCAST

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

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

Amanda Goetz: https://www.instagram.com/theamandagoetz/

https://girlboss.com/pages/ambition-2-0-podcast

SIGN UP

Subscribe to the Girlboss Daily newsletter: https://newsletter.girlboss.com/

For all other Girlboss links: https://linkin.bio/girlboss/

ABOUT AMBITION 2.0

Powered by Girlboss, Ambition 2.0 is a podcast where we'll be exploring what it really means to "have it all" in work, family, identity, and self… and if it's actually worth it. Each week, you'll hear from hardworking women who've walked the tightrope of ambition. They'll share their costly mistakes, lessons learned, and practical tips for how to have it all and actually love what you have.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to our first-ever solo episode with host Amanda Goetz! With an impressive career trajectory that spans roles at big corporations, startups, and as an author, Amanda offers invaluable insights into navigating the professional world in this big-sister-style coffee chat. She pulls from her own career path (Ernst & Young → celebrity wedding planner → startup founder → The Knot → CMO at Reale Actives) to give you real, tactical advice on annual reviews, one-on-ones, burnout, job searching, and more.

Consider this your permission slip to stop white-knuckling your career on your own.

Got a question for a future episode? Send it to @girlboss or @theamandagoetz on Instagram.

00:00 Intro

01:43 Amanda’s career journey

03:46 What she'd tell herself during the hardest year of her life

04:40 Her go-to career book recommendation

05:12 How to make the most of one-on-ones with your manager

06:56 Balancing your own opinions with your team's ideas as a leader

10:04 Returning to work after a year-long maternity leave

11:22 How to prepare for your annual review

14:56 Redesigning your career mid-life

17:38 How to know when it's time to leave a job

20:25 Falling back in love with your work

22:51 How to work with someone you don't get along with

24:37 Staying organized (and sane) as a business owner

26:41 Staying motivated during a tough job search

27:36 Managing email and outreach anxiety

28:56 Getting your manager to notice how much you're doing

30:00 Balancing all the hats marketers have to wear

31:31 Outro

Key Takeaways



Use the "start, stop, continue" framework in every one-on-one—it turns feedback into something structured, not confrontational.



Build a weekly "operating rhythm," so your team always knows when to bring you ideas.



Send a "managing up Monday" email each week: top wins, focus areas, and shout-outs. Visibility trumps ability.



Before an annual review, translate your work into business terms your boss can repeat to their boss.



Career changes don't need to be justified in hindsight—just take the next step with the best info you have.



Confront conflict directly instead of triangulating through other people.



"Focus and finish": pick two priorities a day instead of running an endless to-do list.

Networking should start long before you need it—keep a running list of contacts and stay in touchGUEST LINKS

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theamandagoetz/

Book: https://bookshop.org/a/116169/9781464233258

https://www.amandagoetz.com/

FOLLOW THE PODCAST

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

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

Amanda Goetz: https://www.instagram.com/theamandagoetz/

https://girlboss.com/pages/ambition-2-0-podcast

SIGN UP

Subscribe to the Girlboss Daily newsletter: https://newsletter.girlboss.com/

For all other Girlboss links: https://linkin.bio/girlboss/

ABOUT AMBITION 2.0

Powered by Girlboss, Ambition 2.0 is a podcast where we'll be exploring what it really means to "have it all" in work, family, identity, and self… and if it's actually worth it. Each week, you'll hear from hardworking women who've walked the tightrope of ambition. They'll share their costly mistakes, lessons learned, and practical tips for how to have it all and actually love what you have.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices