This Is Woman's Work with Nicole Kalil

This podcast often explores ambition, leadership, confidence, and impact.

But sometimes? Woman’s work looks a whole lot more like survival.

Not the inspirational quote version. Not the neat-and-tidy comeback story. Not the “and then she rose” highlight reel.

This episode of This Is Woman’s Work dives into the raw, relentless, day-by-day kind of survival — the kind that asks someone to keep showing up while life is actively coming apart.

Nicole Kalil is joined by Kathy Giusti — two-time cancer survivor, healthcare entrepreneur, founder of the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation (MMRF), and author of Fatal to Fearless. After being diagnosed with multiple myeloma at 37 and given three years to live, Kathy turned her prognosis into a movement that helped transform cancer research and dramatically extend life expectancy for patients.

Yes. From terminal diagnosis to systemic change.

In This Episode, They Discuss:


What survival really looks like after a terminal cancer diagnosis


Why resilience isn’t pretty — and rarely feels brave in the moment


The difference between “fighting” cancer and running a marathon with it


How to advocate for yourself inside a broken healthcare system


Why women must step into the role of CEO of their own healthcare


The power (and responsibility) of using social media wisely for medical information


The hard truth about boundaries, burnout, and forgetting to live while trying to stay alive

Kathy shares what it meant to raise a family while preparing for death. To build a global research foundation while undergoing chemotherapy. To carry hope, fear, responsibility, and grief — all at once.

And perhaps most powerfully, she shares the regret she didn’t anticipate: that in trying to save her life (and so many others), she sometimes forgot to fully live it.

Thank you to our sponsors!

Shopify has everything all in one place, making your life easier and your business operations smoother. Sign up for your one-dollar-per-month trial today at shopify.com/tiww 

Connect with Kathy:

Website: https://www.kathygiusti.com/

Book: https://www.kathygiusti.com/book 

LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kathygiusti/

IG: https://www.instagram.com/kathy.giusti/

FB: https://www.facebook.com/KathyGiustiMMRF

Related Podcast Episodes:

161 / Survivorship and Breast Cancer with Virginia Carnesale 

156 / Cell Care with Dr. Monisha Bhanote

I’ve Got Beef With The Health & Wellness Industry | Unfiltered & Unhinged

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Let’s talk about the thing you replay over and over in your mind at 2 a.m.

The comment in the meeting. The story you shared. The truth that felt a little too honest.

Welcome to the oversharing hangover.

We’ve been taught that credibility requires polish and power lives in restraint. Keep it tight. Keep it tidy. Keep the messy parts to yourself.

But what if that’s wrong?

In this episode, Nicole sits down with Leslie John, Harvard Business School professor and author of Revealing: The Underrated Power of Oversharing, to unpack what the research actually says about vulnerability, trust, and credibility — and why saying less might be costing you more than you think.

In This Episode, We Explore:


Why oversharing can build trust


The difference between thoughtful revealing and emotional dumping


How admitting mistakes can increase credibility at work


The “Goldilocks rule” of vulnerability


How to weigh the cost of revealing vs. staying silent

The research is clear: we consistently trust people who reveal something real more than those who stay guarded.

And thoughtful vulnerability doesn’t weaken your credibility — it strengthens it

Thank you to our sponsors!

Sex is a skill. Beducated is where you learn it. Visit https://beducate.me/bg2602-womanswork and use code womanswork for 50% off the annual pass.

Shopify has everything all in one place, making your life easier and your business operations smoother. Sign up for your one-dollar-per-month trial today at shopify.com/tiww 

Connect with Leslie:

Website: https://www.lesliekjohn.com/ 

Book: https://www.amazon.com/Revealing-Underrated-Oversharing-Leslie-John/dp/0593545389

LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leslie-john-75928721/ 

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

Related Podcast Episodes:

Big Trust Energy: How to Build Self-Trust When Self-Doubt Won’t Shut Up with Dr. Shadé Zahrai | 380

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How To Tame Your Inner Critic (Without Gaslighting Yourself) with Megan Dalla-Camina | 354

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We talk a lot about dreaming bigger — but not nearly enough about what it actually costs to play it safe. Fear of failure keeps brilliant ideas stuck in our heads, careers stalled, and confidence quietly eroding.

In this episode of This Is Woman’s Work, Nicole Kalil is joined by Lorraine H. Marchand, innovation expert, Wharton professor, and author of No Fear, No Failure. Together, they unpack why failure isn’t the enemy — avoidance is. From reframing fear as data, to designing smarter experiments, to creating cultures (and inner narratives) where learning beats perfection, this conversation is a permission slip to try, fail, learn… and keep going.

If you’ve ever felt paralyzed by getting it wrong, worried about failing publicly, or trapped by environments that say they want innovation but punish mistakes — this episode is for you.

We explore:


Why fear of failure shuts down growth faster than actual failure ever could


How to reframe failure as learning (and why that changes everything)


Why women are more likely to internalize failure — and how to stop


How to test ideas without burning it all down


What “failing forward” looks like in real life (not just on LinkedIn)


How to stop being afraid of other people seeing you try

Because growth doesn’t happen without risk — and playing it safe has a cost.

Thank you to our sponsors!

Sex is a skill. Beducated is where you learn it. Visit https://beducate.me/bg2602-womanswork and use code womanswork for 50% off the annual pass.

Shopify has everything all in one place, making your life easier and your business operations smoother. Sign up for your one-dollar-per-month trial today at shopify.com/tiww 

Connect with Lorraine:

Website: https://www.lorrainemarchand.com/ 

Book: https://www.lorrainemarchand.com/no-fear-no-failure/ 

LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lorrainemarchand 

Related Podcast Episodes:

197 / Fear & Failure (Part 1) with Amy Green Smith

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VI4P - Perfectionism and Failure (Chapter 6)

If you found this episode insightful, please share it with a friend, tag us on social media, and leave a review on your favorite podcast platform!

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

Have you ever read something that felt like it was pulled straight from your own brain? That was me reading Nora McInerney’s Substack about what she calls restless life syndrome — the persistent, low-grade feeling that you’re meant to be living at least 14 different lives… and somehow squeezing them all into this one.

So naturally, I diagnosed myself. 

In this unfiltered and unhinged episode of This Is Woman’s Work, I’m sharing my own wildly impractical, slightly delusional, deeply human “restless life” list.

This isn’t a five-step plan. It’s a permission slip.

Because maybe your 12 open tabs, your urge to burn it all down, and your conviction that fulfillment is one hobby away aren’t signs that you’re broken. Maybe they’re signs that you’re awake.

If you’ve been craving reinvention, dreaming of multiple lives, or quietly wondering what else is possible beyond productivity and responsibility, this episode on restless life syndrome will hit home — and maybe light a tiny, rebellious fire.

Thank you to our sponsors!

Sex is a skill. Beducated is where you learn it. Visit https://beducate.me/bg2602-womanswork and use code womanswork for 50% off the annual pass.

Shopify has everything all in one place, making your life easier and your business operations smoother. Sign up for your one-dollar-per-month trial today at shopify.com/tiww 

Connect with Nicole:

Subscribe to Nicole’s Substack: https://nicolekalil.substack.com/ 

Join the Inner Circle: https://nicolekalil.myflodesk.com/newsletter 

Related Podcast Episode:

Yell for Help | Unfiltered & Unhinged

Ask the Damn Question | Unfiltered & Unhinged

I’ve Got Beef With The Health & Wellness Industry | Unfiltered & Unhinged

Share the Love:

If you found this episode insightful, please share it with a friend, tag us on social media, and leave a review on your favorite podcast platform!

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What if being a “good woman” isn’t actually virtuous — but conditioned? In this episode of This Is Woman’s Work, Nicole Kalil sits down with Elise Loehnen, New York Times bestselling author of On Our Best Behavior: The Price Women Pay to Be Good, to dismantle the centuries-old rules that still dictate how women are expected to behave, desire, rest, earn, and lead.

Together, they unpack how the seven deadly sins — yes, those — quietly shape modern women’s lives, ambitions, bodies, money stories, and relationships. Pride, envy, greed, sloth, lust… turns out they’ve been weaponized against women for generations, rewarding self-sacrifice and punishing visibility, appetite, and power.

This conversation goes deep — into patriarchy, good-girl conditioning, reputational harm, money shame, envy as information, and why women are often both the enforcers and the casualties of these ancient rules. If you’ve ever felt exhausted by trying to be good, likable, selfless, and low-maintenance all at once… this episode is your permission slip to stop.

Because goodness that costs you yourself isn’t goodness. It’s conditioning.

Thank you to our sponsors!

Sex is a skill. Beducated is where you learn it. Visit https://beducate.me/bg2602-womanswork and use code womanswork for 50% off the annual pass.

Shopify has everything all in one place, making your life easier and your business operations smoother. Sign up for your one-dollar-per-month trial today at shopify.com/tiww 

Connect with Elise:

Substack: eliseloehnen.substack.com 

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

Book: https://www.eliseloehnen.com/onourbestbehavior 

Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/pulling-the-thread-with-elise-loehnen/id1585015034  

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Share the Love:

If you found this episode insightful, please share it with a friend, tag us on social media, and leave a review on your favorite podcast platform!

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