This Is Woman's Work with Nicole Kalil

If you’ve ever wondered how some people build businesses that last—this episode is your blueprint.

Nicole sits down with Neri Karra-Silliman (author, advisor, entrepreneur, and Oxford entrepreneurship expert) to unpack what immigrant entrepreneurs can teach all of us about confidence, courage, resilience, and creating businesses that thrive for generations—even when you’re not starting with privilege, connections, or a trust fund.

In this episode, we get into:


Why immigrant-founded businesses often endure longer—and why nobody’s been asking the right questions


The difference between an entrepreneur and a pioneer (hint: pioneers build what didn’t exist before)


How companies like WhatsApp and Duolingo started with impact-first problems 


The 8 principles of business longevity inspired by immigrant entrepreneurs, including:


Cross-cultural bridging (innovation happens when you live in more than one world)


Community as currency (relationships are the wealth)


“Frying in your own oil” (aka self-sufficiency before outside money makes you lazy)


Shared values over growth-at-all-costsRejection as fuel (“no” is the beginning of negotiation)


Luck as a skill (recognizing moments and playing your hand)


Faith as the foundation for risk, reinvention, and resilience


And the most overlooked glue of all: kindness

Immigrants aren’t the problem—they’re the blueprint. This conversation will change how you think about risk, reinvention, and what it really takes to build something that lasts (with profit and purpose).

Thank you to our sponsors!

Sex is a skill. Beducated is where you learn it. Visit https://beducate.me/pd2550-womanswork and use code womanswork for 50% off the annual pass.

Connect with Neri:

Website: https://www.nerikarrasillaman.com/

Book: https://www.amazon.com/Pioneers-Principles-Longevity-Immigrant-Entrepreneurs/dp/1394304056/ref= 

Related Podcast Episodes

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Fun and work in the same sentence? For most of us, that’s a “does not compute” moment… and that’s exactly why this conversation matters.

Workplace culture expert Bree Groff (author of Today Was Fun: A Book About Work. Seriously.) breaks down why we’ve been trained to treat joy like it’s “unprofessional,” why busyness is murdering brilliance, and how to start building workplaces (and workdays) that are actually fit for human life.

In this episode, we get into:


Why “hard” doesn’t automatically mean “valuable” (and why we need to stop romanticizing suffering)


The two toxic extremes:


“Work is called work for a reason” (aka: misery cosplay)


“Do what you love and you’ll never work a day” (aka: burnout bait)


Bree’s “third way”: work can be a nice way to spend our time on the planet—not a daily punishment


Why people don’t buy your work because you suffered—they buy it because it creates value (pain is optional)


The “infinite workday” problem: nonstop meetings, constant interruptions, and zero space to think


Why brilliance requires spaciousness: “do nothing” time, thinking time, walking time, shower-epiphany time


How conformity kills creativity (and why “professionalism” can be a creativity straightjacket)


The case against delayed gratification when it turns into: “I’ll live later” (spoiler: later is not guaranteed)

Wrap-up: Work doesn’t have to be miserable to be meaningful—and if your job demands your whole life in exchange for a paycheck, that’s not ambition… that’s a bad deal wearing a blazer.

Thank you to our sponsors!

Sex is a skill. Beducated is where you learn it. Visit https://beducate.me/pd2550-womanswork and use code womanswork for 50% off the annual pass.

Connect with Bree:

Website: https://www.breegroff.com/home 

Book: https://www.breegroff.com/book 

Related Podcast Episodes

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The Ambition Trap with Amina AITai | 309

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Women’s bodies get endlessly analyzed from the outside… while our internal health gets treated like an optional group project nobody studied for. Cool cool cool.

In this episode of This Is Woman’s Work, Nicole Kalil goes deep on the perimenopause/menopause mess: the years of brain fog, 3 a.m. wake-ups, mood swings, weight gain, and the medical equivalent of a shrug. Enter Dr. Sarah Daccarett, hormone specialist and aging expert, to explain why so many women are confused, dismissed, and exhausted—and why hormone replacement therapy (HRT) should be viewed as foundational health support, not a “last resort once you’re fully miserable.”

What We Cover


Why most women (including doctors) are confused about perimenopause + HRT—and why that’s not your fault


The “natural” misconception: why Sarah argues HRT can be more natural than the supplement aisle


Why waiting for hot flashes is like waiting for your car to explode before you change the oil


Hormones as the “CEO of the body”: brain, bones, metabolism, sleep, libido, digestion—ALL of it


The real problem with “just fix your gut / cortisol / diet” advice when your hormones are the actual root issue


PCOS, insulin resistance, and why “just lose weight” advice can be straight-up useless


Why hormone testing can be wildly unreliable—and why symptoms still matter


Medical gaslighting: how women lose trust in themselves when the system keeps minimizing them

If you’ve been white-knuckling your way through perimenopause symptoms, you’re not weak—you’re under-supported. Better info + better care isn’t “extra,” it’s the bare minimum.

Thank you to our sponsors!

Get 20% off your first order at curehydration.com/WOMANSWORK with code WOMANSWORK — and if you get a post-purchase survey, mention you heard about Cure here to help support the show! 

Sex is a skill. Beducated is where you learn it. Visit https://beducate.me/pd2550-womanswork and use code womanswork for 50% off the annual pass.

Connect with Sarah:

Website: www.innerbalance.com

$50 off Discount code: PODCASTDRSARAH

Related Podcast Episodes:


Don’t Let Your Doctor Kill You: The New Hormone Solution with Dr. Erika Schwartz | 305 

Endometriosis & Women’s Health with Somer Baburek | 238 


Floored: Why Our Pelvic Floor Health Matters with Dr. Sara Reardon I 314

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If you’ve ever waited to “feel confident” before you take the leap… congratulations, you’ve been scammed by your own brain. In this episode of This Is Woman’s Work, Nicole Kalil goes full confidence-nerd (with the occasional rant) with Dr. Shadé Zahrai—behavioral researcher, peak performance educator, and author of Big Trust—to expose what confidence actually is, why self-doubt doesn’t disappear, and how to build real self-trust that holds up when life gets messy.

What we get into:


Why confidence isn’t the opposite of self-doubt (and why that myth keeps you stuck)


The thing you actually need first: self-trust / Big Trust—backing yourself before the outcome is guaranteed


How “failure” can build confidence if you stop making it mean you are a failure


The self-image trap (including a wild scar study that proves your brain will invent reality if you let it)


The Four A’s of Big Trust: Acceptance, Agency, Autonomy, Adaptability (aka the internal upgrades your confidence has been begging for)


The 4 Inner Deceivers (and the bonus villain):


The Classic Judge (never impressed, always loud)


The Misguided Protector (aka fear dressed up as “logic”)


The Ringmaster (grind culture’s toxic BFF)


The Neglector (everyone else first… until you break)


The Victimizer (outsourcing your power like it’s a hobby)

If self-doubt is showing up, it doesn’t mean you’re broken—it means you’re human and doing something that matters. Build Big Trust, take the step anyway, and let confidence catch up like it always does.

Thank you to our sponsors!

Get 20% off your first order at curehydration.com/WOMANSWORK with code WOMANSWORK — and if you get a post-purchase survey, mention you heard about Cure here to help support the show! 

Sex is a skill. Beducated is where you learn it. Visit https://beducate.me/pd2550-womanswork and use code womanswork for 50% off the annual pass.

Connect with Shadé :

Website: https://www.shadezahrai.com/ 

Book: https://www.shadezahrai.com/bigtrust?utm_source=chatgpt.com 

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

LI: https://th.linkedin.com/in/shadezahrai?trk=public_post_feed-actor-name 

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@shadezahrai?lang=en 

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/shadezahrai 

Related Podcast Episodes:

VI4P – What Confidence Is, What It Isn’t, and Why It Matters (Chapter 1) | 168 

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

Confidence Isn’t Born, It’s Built — Lessons from the Cockpit to Real Life with Michelle “MACE” Curran | 343

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We need to talk about asking for help — and not the polite, over-explained, apologetic version most of us were taught.

In this unfiltered and slightly unhinged mini-episode of This Is Woman’s Work, Nicole Kalil shares a courtside lesson she learned from a group of middle school girls playing basketball — and honestly, they’re doing teamwork, boundaries, and support better than most adults.

When these girls get caught on defense, they don’t spiral, minimize, or pretend they’ve got it handled. They yell “HELP! HELP! HELP!” loudly, clearly, and without shame — fully expecting their teammates to show up. And guess what? They do.

No judgment. No scorekeeping. No martyrdom.

This episode is a reminder that burnout isn’t a badge of honor, doing it all alone isn’t strength, and asking for help early is one of the smartest, strongest things you can do. Because life, love, leadership — it’s all a team sport.

And around here? We answer when someone yells for help. That’s woman’s work.

Thank you to our sponsors!

Sex is a skill. Beducated is where you learn it. Visit https://beducate.me/pd2550-womanswork and use code womanswork for 50% off the annual pass.

Connect with Nicole:

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

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

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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