Ambition 2.0

Host Amanda Goetz sits down with Cyndi Ramirez-Fulton, founder and CEO of Chillhouse and creator of Chill Tips, the best-selling press-on nails sold at Target, Walmart, CVS, Amazon, and Urban Outfitters. Cyndi grew up watching her mom, an esthetician who immigrated from Colombia, grow one salon chair into three spas. Cyndi dropped out of college twice, bartended through her early 20s, and started over as an unpaid intern in her mid-20s.

In 2017, she opened Chillhouse on New York’s Lower East Side. She kept it alive with brand partnerships when services alone couldn’t cover payroll, then turned it into a nationwide press-on nail brand during the pandemic.

After the last VC firm turned her down, KISS Beauty Group ended up acquiring Chillhouse earlier this year. Today, Cyndi walks you through how she got past self-doubt without a degree or an entrepreneur network, and explains why community will open more doors than capital in the early days.

You’ll also learn how she earned the respect of a team that didn’t believe in her at first, why founders need words of affirmation too, and how motherhood made her a sharper, faster decision-maker.

Plus, Cyndi shares what it’s like to have bosses for the first time after the acquisition, how to think like a founder inside a corporate job, and why she says ambition means being unapologetic about what you want and honest about the overtime it takes.

Whether you’re stuck in the wrong career, comparing yourself to people with the perfect resume or dreaming about building something of your own, this conversation will show you that there’s no such thing as being too late or too unqualified to start.

Key takeaways:

The best careers are often built on the thing you keep coming back to because it brings you joy, not fear or a quick buck.

Community is the most important thing you can build for a business.

Friends and family are often your best early investors.

Not having much capital can force you to be scrappy, which means finding extra revenue streams, like partnerships, early on.

If your team doesn’t respect your leadership yet, put leaders in place whose experience they do trust.

A leadership coach can help you get clear on how you want to hire, fire, and handle hard conversations.

Founders need words of affirmation too, and it’s okay to tell your team what you need from them.

Motherhood limits your time, and that can make you a sharper, faster, and more calculated decision-maker.

A “no” from investors can lead to a better opportunity, so stay open to paths you weren’t planning on.

Inside a corporate company, you can still think like a founder by leading with innovation and trusting your intuition.

Your body is often the first sign that you’re heading toward burnout, so treat it as a cue to rest and recover.

Building a personal brand gives you a sense of safety and options beyond any single business.

Time Stamps

00:00 Intro

03:05 The origin story: her mom’s spa and the idea behind Chillhouse

04:38 Feeling behind: dropping out, bartending, and starting over in her mid-20s

07:06 How to find your way out of the wrong career

08:23 Getting past self-doubt without a degree or pedigree

10:14 Why community comes first

12:01 The “I made it” moment: getting acquired

12:44 Building scrappy without VC money

14:04 Learning to lead when your team doesn’t believe in you yet

16:29 What no one tells you about being a founder

18:37 How motherhood made her a better business owner

20:30 Why she sold to KISS (and how a LinkedIn message started it)

22:54 Thinking like a founder inside a corporate job

24:18 What ambition means to her now

26:26 Spotting burnout before it hits

27:42 Rapid fire

GUEST LINKS

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

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cyndi-ramirez-fulton-744aa942/

Shop Chillhouse here: https://chillhouse.com/

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

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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

For ambitious women, learning to trust your gut is one of the most underused leadership skills, and this episode shows you exactly how to start.

Host Amanda Goetz sits down with Aycee Brown, a psychic medium, astrologer, human design expert, and author of Embody Your Magic. Aycee spent years in corporate sales, where people asked for the data behind her instincts.

Now she advises founders, CEOs, and executive teams on bringing intuition back into how they lead and make decisions. She walks you through simple ways to rebuild self-trust at work and at home, and explains how to tell whether that knot in your stomach is your intuition or your anxiety talking.

You’ll also learn how to use astrology and human design as practical tools rather than belief systems: to understand where you naturally shine, why you might feel stretched thin in a role that asks you to be good at everything, and how managers can build teams around people’s real strengths. Plus, Aycee shares the story of how she landed her book deal in 30 days, and why she says manifestation only works if you’re honest about what you actually want and willing to take action.

Whether you’re leading a team, weighing your next career move, or just tired of second-guessing yourself, this conversation will help you trust the voice you’ve been ignoring.

Timestamps

00:00 Intro

02:37 What ambition means to Aycee now

04:00 A near-death experience at four and where her intuition began

06:44 Hiding her gifts through high school and college

08:58 Does every woman have intuition?

11:31 Building intuition when your workplace demands data

13:52 Intuition vs. anxiety: How to tell the difference

16:19 Using astrology as a tool for work

19:25 What a birth chart reveals about how you lead

21:43 Timing your next move without waiting on the stars

24:43 Human design 101 and the five aura types

28:01 Manifestation, alignment, and Aycee’s book deal story

31:45 How Amanda manifested her husband

33:16 For the skeptics: these are tools, not belief systems

36:04 Why every company needs spiritual tools

38:07 Rapid fire: Astrology at work edition

40:55 Where to find Aycee

Key takeaways

Every woman has intuition, but life, family belief systems, and corporate culture teach us to stop trusting it when we can’t prove it with data.

You can rebuild self-trust through low-stakes tests, like noting how a coffee shop or meeting feels, writing it down with the date, and checking whether you were right.

Intuition is quiet, calm, and immediate, while anxiety is loud, fast, and future-paced, spinning out a domino effect of “what ifs.”

Astrology and human design are tools for self-understanding rather than belief systems, and they can show where you’ll naturally excel at work.

Instead of expecting employees to master all 20 items in a job description, leaders get better results by focusing people on the strengths they’re naturally built for.

Manifestation starts with telling the truth about what you actually want, then taking aligned action so you’re ready when the opportunity arrives.

Rushing to the next promotion often signals that you haven’t slowed down long enough to ask whether you really want it.

GUEST LINKS

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

Book: https://bookshop.org/a/116169/9780063360327

https://www.ayceebrown.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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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

In this solo episode, host Amanda Goetz answers a question from a reader that deserved a full episode of its own: "As a middle manager, I'm struggling to find the balance between managing up to my director while also managing a team that reports to me. Help."

Drawing on her experience as a two-time founder, five-time CMO, and author, Amanda breaks down one of the most underrated (and hardest) jobs in the workforce, with real, tactical advice on managing up without people-pleasing, managing down without burning out, and proving your value at a time when middle management roles are shrinking.

Hit play if you're ready to make your impact impossible to ignore!

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

Timestamps

00:00 Intro

02:25 What a middle manager actually is

04:20 Why middle managers feel so much pressure right now

05:45 The most misunderstood things about middle management

07:45 Why middle management is the hardest leadership level

10:00 Three habits of the middle managers Amanda can't afford to lose

13:55 The "great flattening" of org charts

15:50 How to be seen as strategic, not administrative

17:40 How to manage up without people-pleasing

20:15 How to build trust with leadership

21:40 Managing down without micromanaging

25:30 How much to share with your team (and the KUBA framework)

28:55 Holding people accountable without feeling like a villain

30:10 How to stay visible and get promoted

31:40 What to document as a middle manager

32:30 Outro

Key Takeaways

Send a "Managing Up Monday" email every week with your top two to three priorities, any blockers, and last week's big wins, and copy your boss. It gives leadership a regular line of sight into your team's work.

Show up to one-on-ones with problems and potential solutions, not a list of what you're working on.

Stop reporting activity and start reporting impact. "The event was amazing" says nothing to leadership. Earned media value and brand sentiment do.

Manage up without people-pleasing by asking your boss to help you rank their priorities by level of impact and level of effort.

Push back on blurry feedback. Ask for an example, or ask what exactly they're reacting to.

Skip triangulation. If you have a problem with someone on another team, go to them directly instead of through your boss.

Use KUBA to give your team a safe way to ask for context: Do you know what to do? Do you understand why? Do you believe it's the right thing? Do you have the resources to act?

Hold people accountable by agreeing on KPIs and expectations up front. It takes the emotion out of hard feedback.

Guard one to two hours a day for "offense mode," strategic work you do before meetings and your inbox take over.

Document the impact of your work, how your people are performing, your processes, the high-level strategy, and how it all rolls up to a KPI.

GUEST 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

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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 only open LinkedIn when you're job hunting (or creeping your ex's new girlfriend's profile), this episode is for you.

Amanda sits down with Catherine Fisher, VP at LinkedIn and one of the most trusted career experts out there. Catherine has built brands and led teams at eBay, Netflix and now LinkedIn. She's here to tell us what we've been getting wrong about the platform (spoiler: it's kind of a lot). The biggest mistake? Treating LinkedIn like a fire extinguisher you only grab in an emergency. Your network should be working for you long before you need it.

Maybe you're buried in applications and running on fumes. Maybe you're quietly wondering if it's time to leave. Or maybe you just haven't touched your profile since 2019 (no judgment). Either way, you'll leave with a real plan and fewer excuses. Catherine explains why "looking for a job is a full-time job" is terrible advice. She tells you which three profile fixes to make first, and how to send a cold DM people actually want to answer.

Catherine also gets real about how ambition changes over time. She scaled her ambition back when her kids were little and is now ramping up again as she's about to become an empty nester. Proof that ambition comes in seasons, and that's okay.

Key Takeaways:

Why you should be on LinkedIn all the time, not just when you're job searching.

The three profile updates that do the heavy lifting: your photo, your About section and your Experience section.

How skills-based hiring took off during COVID and why transferable skills matter more than big-name brands.

Why AI should help "around the edges" but never write your first draft.

The formula for a cold DM that gets a reply: be specific, set a time limit and offer to help.

How to beat job-search burnout by applying with a plan instead of applying to everything.

Catherine's biggest LinkedIn ick: being "humbled and honored."

Rapid fire: the Open to Work banner, Easy Apply and the worst career advice she's ever received.

00:00 Intro

04:22 What people misunderstand about LinkedIn

07:02 The first three profile fixes to make

10:08 LinkedIn do's and don'ts

11:05 Why engaging in other people's conversations matters

12:13 Should you accept every connection request?

12:29 How to write a cold DM that gets a response

15:35 How to be authentic without throwing your boss under the bus

18:08 What's changed most about job searching

20:38 AI skills vs. creative skills

21:49 How to beat job-search burnout

23:37 Why referrals are so important

26:43 Where LinkedIn is headed next

27:14 Catherine's biggest LinkedIn ick

27:32 Advice for people early in their career

28:36 Rapid fire: Open to Work, cold DMs and Easy Apply

GUEST LINKS

Connect with Catherine: https://www.linkedin.com/in/catherinefisherlinkedin/

Read the Career Companion newsletter: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/career-companion-6994037905178398720/

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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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

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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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