Today we're joined by guest Adam Forbes, the original Corporate Escapologist. He's here to talk to us about the possibilities beyond corporate and valuing the breadth of experience that corporate roles have given us. Adam spent 25 years working happily and successfully within the four walls of major corporates in marketing strategy, business development, and finance, ducking and weaving within energy retail, government, and consulting.
Connecting With Our Nervous System - with Jacqui Bishop
We’re joined by guest, Jacqui Bishop, a renewable energy real estate attorney, and nervous system informed leadership facilitator. Jacqui hosts the Thriving Leader interview series which provides tools for professional women to reconnect with pleasure. She’s also the author of the upcoming book, Melted in which she shares her epic journey of awakening after decades of chronic stress.
In this exciting and insightful episode, we discuss the ways in which we can shake loose from the enduring state of fight-or-flight that permeates our working days, to reconnect with our more creative, joyful and present natural state. Jacqui shares her very practical 4 step process for how to shift from an activated nervous system to a receptive one. Whether you’re spending your days on an offshore oil rig, or wearing scrubs in an operating room, or dealing with continual microaggressions and stressors in a high-pressure office job, this will be a valuable listen.
Small Town Pride - with Liz Kovarsky
We’re wrapping up our four-part June Pride series this week with a short and sweet episode as we close out the month’s festivities and celebration.
We’re joined by Liz Kovarsky, Director of the Working Communities Challenge Initiative with the Midcoast Youth Center. She discusses her efforts in organizing the first annual Pride celebration in the bucolic shipbuilding town Bath, Maine. From ideation to reality - it’s a heartwarming story of community collaboration, engagement, and support.
Two Piers Pride 2023 - Part II
We're back for part-two of our two-part episode about Pride. Two Piers Advisory Board members Gene Valentin and Jason Gray rejoin us to discuss Pride in terms of intersectionality, identity, labels, and “cancel culture.” We also touch on some recent developments that have occurred in between recording part-one and part-two.
This is a two-part episode as part of our Pride Series this month. If you didn’t catch part-one, you can find it here.
Two Piers Pride 2023 - Part I
We're joined by two of our Advisory Board members: Gene Valentin and Jason Gray, who share their lived experiences and insights regarding Pride: what it means to them, where Pride has lost its shine, and how individuals and companies can be more effective allies. This is a fairly unusual episode for us. It's more of a panel discussion than an interview, and it's pretty raw and unfiltered.
This is a two-part episode as part of our Pride Series this month, so stay tuned for part-two next week!
A Conversation with Dr. Steve Yacovelli - The Gay Leadership Dude
We're kicking off our June 2023 Pride series with Dr. Steve Yacovelli, aka The Gay Leadership Dude. Steve is an expert in diversity and inclusion, change management, and leadership both in and outside of the workplace whose not-so-hidden agenda is to make the world a bit more inclusive for us all.
He’s worked internally for folks like The Walt Disney Company, IBM, Tupperware Brands, and several universities before starting his own consulting firm, TopDog Learning Group in 2008.
In this episode, Steve talks about ways that leaders, (and by leaders, he means all of us), can be more inclusive, and he explores the benefits of inclusion and the costs of organizations not getting it right. Steve also shares an actionable framework for tackling silent collusion.
Asian Heritage Month with Scientist Noushin Mir, Ph.D.
In this bonus episode to close out Asian Heritage Month, we're joined by Senior Scientist, Noushin Mir, Ph.D., who discusses her personal and professional journey with us and shares her insights and experiences along the way.
Noushin's story begins in Iran where she was an Associate Professor of Chemistry, and continues in the US where she now works in the private sector and continues to publish research. In this episode, we delve into the world of identity and authenticity, and what happens when our options for living authentically are narrowed. Noushin shares with us the internal and external challenges she faced both before and after moving to the US and her vision for a society in which individuals can express themselves authentically and feel included in their community. She discusses her Persian heritage and common misconceptions about what is included in the term "Asian." We also explore how workplace groups such as BRGs/ERGs can be effective.
Thank you to Noushin for sharing her deeply personal story with openness, candor, and authenticity.
The Compassion Code with Laura Jack
Leadership coach Laura Jack joins us to discuss compassionate communication and how it relates to leadership as well as diversity, equity and inclusion. As a keynote speaker and trainer, compassionate communication and leadership coach, international best-selling author and founder of the Compassion Code Academy, Laura equips conscious leaders with compassionate communication and coaching skills so they can lead from the heart without losing their authority, efficiency, or effectiveness. She provides in-depth training for individuals and organizations who want to create a culture of compassion and leave a legacy of love for future generations.
This episode delves deep and explores weighty topics such as grief, loss, and trauma - topics that make many of us uneasy, especially when wearing our leadership hats. We discuss some of the myths around grief and healing, and how we can show up for those in our lives who are struggling, whether in our teams, our families, or ourselves.
The Evolving World of Staffing and Recruitment with Erik Schwartz
We're joined by guest Erik Schwartz - CEO of PeopleSERVE, Inc., an IT placement firm, and Hirelytics, Inc., a recruitment analytics firm. Erik is passionate about leveraging technology to further diversity, equity and inclusion in the recruitment and hiring processes. He shares his professional insights with us, as well as his personal story of challenge and growth as an autistic leader and entrepreneur. This episode is both inspirational and practical. It is full of useful information about how teams and organizations can remove barriers between diverse talent pools and their employment opportunities, as well as the importance of Autism Acceptance and embracing the vibrant neurodiversity of our modern workforce.
Adaptability with Coach Robbie Leigh
In this episode, a friend of Two Piers, Robbie Leigh, joins us. Robbie is an empowerment coach who helps introverted, highly sensitives own their strengths and step into their power. Together, we explore the concept of adaptability. This trait, so often revered as a strength and skill, can also present its challenges in terms of identity and sustainability. Join us to explore this fascinating concept and determine how you plan to engage with adaptability.
Reflecting on Community and Women's History Month
It's that time of year! Women's History Month and International Women's Day are upon us. This episode, our founder and host, Erica, discusses the tension between image and impact as companies lean into Women's History Month marketing. She also discusses her personal reflections on female-centered community in light of a recent visit to Texas and the work that Two Piers has been doing. While this episode tackles some weighty systemic issues, it's also a candid and earnest account of the personal challenges, reflections and growth of our founder.
The Success Wound with Brooke Taylor
This episode, we’re joined by Brooke Taylor, a Transformational Career Coach for female leaders, organizational consultant and speaker, and former Marketing Lead at Google.
Brooke discusses the phenomenon of the "Success Wound," a concept she identified and coined, which is the pain high-achievers experience when they mistake their success for their self-worth. We talk about what success means to us, how to recognize and heal the success wound, and how to live within our purpose and our passion. It’s a great episode filled with candor, humility and lots of incredible insights.
The Power of Journaling with GG Renee Hill
This episode, we're joined by author, creative coach and facilitator GG Renee Hill, who shares with us the power of journaling. In this conversation with GG, we explore how journaling can be incorporated into our lives and what types of benefits it brings, from self awareness to productivity to healing. This powerful practice can help us connect to our inner values, or navigate challenging situations. It can also help us develop our skills in communicating and relating to others.
Inclusion, Belonging and Safety Performance - with Dr Fawaz K Bitar
Veterans Day with Colonel Angela Reber
This Friday, November 11th is Veterans Day in the United States. This national holiday honors those who have served in our country's armed forces, and was originally recognized in 1918 to mark the armistice that ended World War I. This year, we have Colonel Angela Reber joining us to discuss ways that organizations can support veterans who are transitioning into the civilian workforce, or who are currently part of the workforce.
Hispanic Heritage Month
Introverts, Extroverts and Ambiverts - Living and Working Together!
In this episode, host Erica D'Eramo, a self-proclaimed introvert, is joined by guests Maryellen Roberson and Melissa Olivadoti, an extrovert and ambivert, respectively. We discuss the definitions of these concepts, as well as what they mean to us in our daily lived experiences. We also touch on the value of self-awareness and the benefits and costs of flexing beyond your comfort zone, particularly for leaders with a diversity of energy types on their teams. We close the episode by busting some myths and providing some recommendations.
Books that we mention in this episode are "The Introvert Advantage: How Quiet People Can Thrive in an Extrovert World" by Marti Olsen Laney Psy.D., and "Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking" by Susan Cain.
The Summer Associate Episode
This week, we're joined by two of our summer associates, who discuss their experiences searching and applying for internships, as well as some of the pitfalls and challenges they've faced along the way. If you haven't applied for an internship lately, rest assured that the world has changed. Along with their personal experiences, we also discuss some of the common red flags to look out for when searching for summer work experience, as well as the broader implications for companies that require extensive experience of their internship applicants. This is a great episode for anyone who will be applying for internships, or whose college-aged children will be. It's also an informative discussion for anyone looking to offer college students summer experience.
Nontraditional Career Paths
This episode, we're joined by guest Jason Gray, an HR professional with a nontraditional career path. Not only is Jason the Director of HR at his company, he's also an avid poultry and bee keeper, and a fellow member of the LGBTQIA community, (not to mention a fellow Nittany Lion). In this episode, we discuss the importance of diversifying our sources of fulfillment and pursuing a variety of life experiences. We also explore the value in recruiting candidates with nontraditional career paths who bring additional perspectives and talent beyond the status quo, and how we can access these talent pools. This is an extra long episode with loads of great insights and lots of humor to boot!
Sources of Professional Support with Jada Harris
So, we'll be talking about some of the various sources of support out there for professional endeavors, kind of for personal support, the more formal types of support and some of the informal types. So that'll cover, you know, what each of them are, how they differ, what types of situations you might use for these various roles and the importance of having different people in each of these elements. We'll also talk about some of those alternatives to the formal sources of support. And we're looking forward to all of the insights that Jada has to lend. So, join us for the next episode of season three.