Communities and Leadership Resources Designed to Help Women Thrive
Jess Galica is the Founder and Executive Coach of Reclaim Your Career. Her business has a blog and a podcast where women help each other pursue bold, authentic lives through personal anecdotes. Motherhood inspired Jess to interview more than 150 successful, high-performing career women; these stories are found in her upcoming book, Reclaim Your Career: Stories of Women Letting Go to Get Ahead.
Jess is also a speaker, tech leader, and executive coach for high-achieving women in the tech and business worlds who desire career reinvention. She honed her chops in the tech world with her MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management. Her education and expertise in the corporate world have led her to consult for Bain & Company and work for Fortune 500 companies such as Apple, Siemens, and other startups.
Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:
Why Reclaim Your Career advocates for women to utilize resources in support of working women to reach their career goals
Books and resources available for career moms that are near and dear to Jess Galica
Using various resources to change corporate systems by resetting women’s mindsets
Jess reflects and explains the benefits of using an executive coach
How to bring joy into your life and career
Why it’s more than OK for women to be bold in their lives and careers
How to create financial empowerment
Jess offers advice on how to reenergize after giving so much of yourself
In this episode…
Do you crave a different career path but don’t know how to transition? Do you desire a career change but are unsure of what that change is? Do you struggle with “doing” and ”having it all” yet still feel lost? Career women carry the burden of giving their all in the corporate world as wives and mothers, only to be depleted regarding their personal needs and wants.
Jess Galica founded Reclaim Your Career to champion the success of women. She understands that women have the right to change their minds and seek new career paths. As an executive coach, Jess has helped hundreds of women with career reinvention. However, Jess toils with balancing her career, life, and mommy-hood.
In this episode of Reclaim Your Career, Dr. Jeremy Weisz of Rise25 interviews Jess Galica, Founder and Executive Coach of Reclaim Your Career. In this sit-down talk, she reflects on her struggles as a “boss” woman. She discusses corporate systems that force women to be silent and passive to get ahead and why it needs to change. Finally, Jess passionately discusses curated books and communities aimed at uplifting highly-successful working moms and women to live the bold and joyous lives they deserve.
Resources mentioned in this episode:
Pay Up: The Future of Women and Work (and Why It's Different Than You Think) by Reshma Saujani
Radical Candor: Be a Kick-Ass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity by Kim Scott
Find Your Unicorn Space: Reclaim Your Creative Life in a Too-Busy World by Eve Rodsky
Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well-Lived, Joyful Life by Bill Burnett
Sponsor for this episode...
This episode is brought to you by Reclaim Your Career.
At Reclaim Your Career, we know that for women, figuring out how to thrive in your career is harder than it’s ever been before. Even the most high-performing women, who do everything “right,” can wake up feeling lost.
That’s why we support women by helping them manage, reinvent, and accelerate their careers through coaching and strategic advice.
These days we hear from women leaders all the time: it feels impossible to balance work and life. You’re not alone! But, we’re here to tell you that it’s not only possible — it’s within your reach.
So, if you’re ready to do things differently and redefine the traditional success narrative, head to reclaimyourcareer.co to get started.
If you want to learn even more, check out our founder’s book about life-changing career moves for women. (If you don’t see it yet, it will be there soon!)
Episode Transcript
Intro 0:02
Welcome to the Reclaim Your Career podcast, where we talk with experts and real women about how to achieve executive careers, balance motherhood, and fight for equity at work. Now let's get started.
Jess Galica 0:19
Successful executives and the people who help women navigate work and life. I have Dr. Jeremy Weisz of Rise25 here who has done thousands of interviews with successful entrepreneurs and CEOs. And we have flipped the script today and he will be interviewing me. Past guests on the podcast include Mallory Contois, who talked about founding the Old Girls' Club, and Emily Levada on what it takes to get into the C-Suite in tech. And this episode is brought to you by Reclaim Your Career where we know that figuring out how to thrive at work is harder than it's ever been before. From personal experience and from the women I work with. I know that even the most high performing women who are doing everything right can still wake up feeling lost. And that's why we support women and companies with executive coaching, career coaching, and strategic advisory to help women level up at work and reach new goals. You can learn more and check out the book at reclaimyourcareer.co.
Jeremy Weisz 1:08
Jess, I'm excited because we're going to be talking about some of the top resources in books for women leaders. Listen, I have two daughters, my wife, a lot of my colleagues and friends who are women leaders I want this is an episode I am excited to share with them because this is our resources and books that are near and dear to your heart. So I want to start off with maybe some specifically for working moms.
Jess Galica 1:37
Yeah, there's so many resources for working moms. And I think it depends on what sort of problem working moms are trying to solve. Right? And I think there are some moms that are just looking for community and trying to find other women and working moms who are experiencing the same thing that they are. And one of my favorite communities for working moms is Mother Honestly, it's run by a woman called Blessing Adesiyan and it's a great online community of resources, writing tips, it also has a motherboard of experts that you can engage with and even book a phone call with to get advice. So there's lots of communities for working moms like that. But Mother Honestly is one of the favorites that I've seen. So that's a great one for community building. But then I get the question from a lot of moms who have chosen to either take pauses in their career, or they're thinking about slowing down their career or maybe going part time. And they're really trying to figure out some of these things around returning to work or finding flexible part-time work. And there are a ton of return to work and part-time flexible programs for moms out there. It feels like more and more are popping up every day. But the handful that I hear the most and really respect the team are The Mom Project, Mom Up, Reach Higher, and Bus Stop Mamas. And all of these organizations kind of play a different role in a different niche in terms of helping women, whether they've left the workforce and are trying to get back in or just making decisions about how to balance it all. And then the last one that comes to mind is more of a an at home one right and it's a just one individual resource, which is a lot of times moms have this tremendous amount of guilt leaving their children at home and heading into the office. And I've got a friend and former classmate from MIT Sloan, who has published this incredible book called Mommy Goes to Work. It's not only incredible, because it's a great topic. But truly the book has, is just so loved by kids. So the author, Jossy Lee took a very human centered design approach in designing this book, and had over 100 iterations finding the right words and pictures and images that would be truly engaging to kids. So I am not lying when I say I read this all the time with my daughter. It's a fantastic book. And it's just a small, a small way, I think, for moms to start to feel better about leaving the home heading into their office, and you know, providing that experience for their kids as well.
Jeremy Weisz 4:06
So this is a children's book?
Jess Galica 4:07
It is a children's book. Yep! Mommy Goes to Work. So...
Jeremy Weisz 4:10
Well, you just sold a copy? I'm gonna definitely buy it. Yeah, I love it.
Jess Galica 4:15
It's truly great. I, it truly is one of the most engaging books that my daughter, who's almost two, has read. And I've heard that from a lot of parents with kids of different ages.
Jeremy Weisz 4:26
I love it. Awesome. Thank you. So on the topic of changing corporate systems, what are some of the resources you recommend?
Jess Galica 4:34
Yeah, I love that we're getting more books and more thinkers that are looking at the system. Historically, I feel like we have had many books and resources that have talked about how to fix individual women. And now I think we're really seeing more attention being placed on "hey, these systems need to change" so that women can thrive in them. And the best example that I pushed these days is Pay Up by Reshma Saujani. And you know, she really talks about the, what she calls "the big lie of corporate feminism," that a lot of the generation of women, especially those who are really coming up and growing their careers right now, we're told this lie of "you can have it all." And now we're kind of waking up to this reality that this idea of having it all really just means doing it all. And that instead of trying to manically make everything work and ultimately fail, really, we need to be looking at the systems, those are companies, those are governments, to be able to set up the working world for women to even have a chance at winning. So, so I love that one. That's the one that I would say, is my number one resource for people who are thinking about, "hey, what do we have to do about the systems around us to make this viable for parents?"
Jeremy Weisz 5:46
And there's another one in that I know that that you love as well.
Jess Galica 5:51
Yeah, another one, you know, that has some similarities is Radical Candor by Kim Scott. And, you know, there's lots of thinking on this one, but really, the idea that I love about it is just this idea of letting go these lessons that we teach girls or learn when we are girls around kind of being polite, being well behaved, you know, staying within the lines, checking all the boxes. I like that that message within the book that, hey, we've got to adopt some new strategies, breakout of this idea of of these lessons that we teach girls, which are really outdated. And I think the harmful for those girls who grow up to become women who need to succeed out in the workforce.
Jeremy Weisz 6:30
For you, Jess, when you are in the corporate world, and, how do you set those things aside that you learn from a young age, like things like that, that may not serve you in a certain instance, in the in the business setting? I'm not saying we shouldn't all be polite. We should. But you know, something that maybe wouldn't serve you in the business setting that that you learned?
Jess Galica 6:52
Yeah, I think there's two things. Most of my career, I have operated in very male-dominated environments. So that spent the startup world, the tech world, the management consulting world. And what you notice in male dominated environments is you can see that there are some things that maybe I do or are my natural instinct that I'm not seeing the men that I work with do. Right? Now, that can become this kind of foil for you to see that, hmm, the way that I've been doing it, or the way that I've been told to do, it doesn't seem like the only way that that exists out there. And boys and men have been playing this different game. And so that kind of invites this opportunity to reflect and think about it. Now, the tricky part is, is there are different rules for women and men in the workforce. So the way that men can communicate is different than the way that women can communicate, for example. So and this is this has different implications to for women of color, right? So you know, white women get the message to, well, speak up more, right? You know, women of color, black women get the message that, you know, you're speaking up too much, you're being too bold, you're being too bossy. And so it's just really delicate balance, too, to be able to figure out, okay, what are kind of the biases that I'm coming with. But then what are the rules and realities of the game that I need to live by in order to protect myself and be able to thrive here. So it's really, really tricky. And that work is such a huge tax that women and especially women of color, have to pay just existing in the workforce, right? Thinking about all of these things, in addition to just showing up at work and doing your job. For me, personally, what's been the most helpful has been having an executive coach for me and my own career, because I think that person is someone who is an objective third party, and is also your champion, their end goal is making you successful, and they're able to kind of provide you with that bespoke point of view. And that bespoke advice for "Okay. In your situation, knowing who you are, knowing your strengths, your weaknesses, and also knowing the environment of your company culture, what is the right game plan?" Because it often there isn't one size fits all for how women can kind of break down these expectations and narratives that have been told us told to us. It really is we do have to come up with a very individual contextualized strategy.
Jeremy Weisz 9:16
I love that. Thank you. I'm so also on the topic of figuring out what you want to do, and bringing joy into your career. What are some of the resources on that topic?
Jess Galica 9:29
This topic is the number one topic I get when I speak with women or work with women. The number one thing I hear from women is, "Well, I think I want to make a change. Something doesn't feel right in my career, but I don't know what I want." I can't tell you. I mean, I hear that from almost everyone. And what is always true what I can always confidently say to those women is you know a lot more about what you want, then you're telling yourself. Now the problem is oftentimes these truths about our career and what we really want out of life have been buried really deep down inside of us. And we've been listening instead to kind of narratives from culture about what a good career looks like, or what it looks like to be a good mom and how we combine you know those two together if you are a working mom. So there's two resources that I love and that I really recommend when women are kind of starting out and trying to figure out okay, well, where should I go. And the first is the book Find Your Unicorn Space by Eve Rodsky. Eve is also the author of Fair Play, but Unicorn Space is her second book. And it's all about this idea that women need to be adding activities that give them joy in their life. Right? Now, we're so good at having our to-do lists, doing our job, coming home, doing our second shift, helping with the kids, everything, right? And what happens very often is women are leaving no space at all for this unicorn space. Those are the activities and the things in your life that you do, just to do them, they bring you joy, they bring you fun, right? And they also help you to reconnect and figure out this idea of like, "Well, who am I?" And, "What do I really want to be doing?" And, "What does bring me energy?" Now this doesn't mean that if you know your unicorn space is pottery that you're going to become, you know, a professional potter, right? But it does kind of reconnect you to that sense of energy, and in and of itself can help bring you a lot more satisfaction in your life and your career. So I love that notion from Eve around, find your unicorn space, tap back into those authentic things that bring you joy. And then a second resource that I recommend is a book called Designing your Life And it's written by two Stanford authors: Bill Burnett and Dave Evans. And it's gotten a it's a book, but also an accompanying kind of workbook or worksheets. And this is all about bringing the principles of design into our careers. So the idea is that, you know, many people kind of are on cruise control when it comes to their careers. But really, there are many true design principles that we can be using to make sure that we build and optimize this product, this career that we build. And so the book is really about being intentional and purposeful, when you're building your career, just like you would be when you're designing or building, you know, any product that we use in other parts of our life. So I'd love those two Unicorn Space and then Designing your Life.
Jeremy Weisz 12:26
I mean, like you're talking about, obviously, this is great for women leaders, but this is good for any leaders.
Jess Galica 12:31
Yeah, absolutely. Yep, I totally agree. You know, especially Designing Your Life does not have a gender lens to it. Right? This is a book that is published for anyone pursuing a career. And I think Unicorn Space is relevant for everyone. But it is written with women at the heart of the book, because I think women are the ones that are most likely to sacrifice, or get into an operating model where they don't have the time and space to prioritize those, those unicorn activities, so applicable to everyone, but very much needed by women.
Jeremy Weisz 13:11
And then on the topic just of encouraging women to get bold, what are some of the recommendations?
Jess Galica 13:16
Yeah, there's two that I love. And the first is We Should All Be Millionaires. And that's written, a book written by Rachel Rodgers, and her company Hello Seven. And I love this book. The premise of it, I think the overall spirit of it, is this really simple message, which is that women should be unapologetic about pursuing wealth and pursuing financial freedom. And I think historically, there is sometimes this narrative that, you know, women shouldn't be pursuing careers for money, you shouldn't be trying to amass great wealth. Right? You know, we tend to feel a bit more comfortable with women even, you know, succeeding in like a nonprofit or doing charity work, right? We think of these heavy hitting industries, you know, like finance or banking or a tech, you know, as, as a sort of more male-suited industries. I think getting more financial power in the hands of women is one of the most empowering and kind of revolutionary acts. And that's a message that rings really true and Rachel's book as well. So, I love this, this book for the simple idea that yeah, we should all be millionaires, and there should be no shame in women pursuing careers that give them financial power and financial freedom. And then the second book that I love, is by Jen Sincero, and it's called You Are a Badass - How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life. And I also like this for the big idea, or the big spirit that I think is behind this book. And it's the idea that, you know, we actually can get a lot of power from just a mindset shift, and this mindset shift being instead of constantly worrying or assuming or expecting that "Hey, what if this fails?" Right? "What if I make a change and it all goes wrong?" That just shifting your mindset to also, in addition, think about and wonder and consider and expect that, hey, maybe this could wildly succeed, that that can be really, really powerful. And you know, I'm not a big person all about sort of, you know, manifestation will get you to your goals, right? But I do think there really is this, there is this power in that first step of manifestation of just inviting the possibility because what it does is it gives women the encouragement and in the invitation to set bigger goals for themselves. And when women set those bigger goals, they don't magically happen, because you throw it out there. But when those goals are bigger, you have something more ambitious to work towards. And I think that's when the magic can happen when women are really believing in themselves, and setting out to go after, you know, as the book says: write these really badass, big, impressive, really life-changing goals for women in their careers.
Jeremy Weisz 16:05
And just, you know, the most successful people, I think it's fair to say out there in whatever industry have coaches, they've even have specific coaches, or certain aspects of their life. So I'd love to hear from them your perspective, what's been a mindset shift that you had, because of your executive coach, and it could be maybe in the beginning could be at any point that you had that mindset shift?
Jess Galica 16:32
Oh, so I mean, so many mindset shifts, I think that I think there's, there's one that kind of, I've come to on my own just investing in a coach. And then I'd say, there's two that I've gotten from coaches that I've worked with, but the one that I've really formed is that, you know, having an executive coach, on the one hand is a luxury, but really, the better way to think about it is it's a strategic investment. Right? And, you know, especially for women, when we think about our careers, it's the biggest asset is for anyone, it's the biggest asset of your life, the biggest financial asset of your life, right? Your income over decades, that is the biggest financial asset that you will probably ever have. And when we think about financial assets, we're really comfortable thinking about, Okay, I have to invest in them, right, I have to steward these I have to really think strategically about them. And I think that mindset is important to bring into your career, that yes, executive coaches, you know, and especially good ones are, you know, they are a meaningful financial investment. But you're usually recouping that return on your investment in spades, right? So I think that was a huge mindset shift for me, personally, when I worked with my first coaches is, you know, hey, I really believe that this is going to accelerate my career, and that I will look back and the money I've invested will have been made, you know, hopefully five, 10, however, 100 times times over. So there's that one, but then I think the the two lessons that I've really learned from working with, with coaches, one has been this concept of long term planning, you know, I'm someone who is sort of like a type-A, I like getting things done, I'd like getting them done quickly. And I think I've learned from my coach that the more that I can long-term plan, the better it is for my career. And actually, that that reduces a lot of stress. Because I'm no longer worried about racing to get something done in the next six months. I really have this long-term vision that allows for much more flexibility in terms of the pace and the urgency, with which I need to meet my goals. So that's a favorite lesson for sure. And then I think a second one, from an early coach who I worked with was around when we think about our careers, myself included, we tend to be very up in our heads and very rational and, and kind of analytical, but also taking into account that there's often really big physical views when it comes to decision making, and thinking about our careers. So if you're feeling extremely anxious about something, or you know, even when you talk about something, your voice gets higher, because you're excited and energetic. There are some of these physical and behavioral cues that can help give us really good data and information, especially for people who are maybe feeling a little bit lost or unsure about what they want. That's really good data and really good leading indicators for the choices and decisions that you might make.
Jeremy Weisz 19:28
Love it. There's there's two I want to discuss also, which is kind of under the financial realm, and also personal-life realm. And so maybe start with some of the financial resources.
Jess Galica 19:38
Yeah, well, I think there's this whole movement, you know, just like we see with Rachel Rodgers and We Should All Be Millionaires have really female empowerment, but specifically around financial security and burning power. And so I love looking at Ellevest for example, which was founded by Sally Krawcheck and is a, you know, portfolio with, uh, that that helps women specifically to invest in manage their money. And, you know, I've worked with one of the financial planners there, Cameron Rogers. And I also love all of these, you know, kind of brands and platforms that are emerging that we see across social, that are helping us spread these messages, too. So there's one, Tori Dunlap, who runs Her First 100K. And then I also love the platform Girls That Invest. So those are a few, there's many that are out there. But I think they are part of this broader movement, again, that women should have no shame in pursuing financial freedom. And in fact, that's one of the most important elements to give you choice in your career and in your life.
Jeremy Weisz 20:43
And then on the personal front, personal life, right?
Jess Galica 20:46
Yeah, you know, I'm always looking for little life hacks, right? And I think that's true of all women, and especially all working moms. So a few that I love: a clothing rental company called Armoire that started by one of my classmates at MIT Sloan, Ambika Singh, and they're based out of Seattle, but they've had grown this great national business that allows all women to, to rent clothing in a really efficient and fun way. And they've got a fantastic brand. So, um, because not the CEO, she's the Chief Boss Lady, which I love. So that's a great resource to check out. And I also love some of the brands that are coming out around for new moms around breastfeeding and feeding your children in a way that feels so healthy and safe and a good decision. And so one of the brands that I love is Bobbie, which is a formula company, it's B-O-B-B-I-E, and there's couple brands coming out like Bobbie, but Bobbie does a great job of making women feel really empowered. And all parents feel really empowered about the decisions that they make, feeding their children. And have in mind that sometimes, you know, this notion that when women are making decisions about work and caring for their their kids, that formula can be a fantastic decision mentally, physically in terms of your career ambition. And so I just love the work that they're doing and the the marketing and messaging that they have to working moms as well. And then a small local one that I love, or, or more local one is actually a Pilates instructor based out of Boston. And her name is Kara Duval. I think she's just got this great platform, and is helping to kind of redefine the way that women have relationships with fitness. And instead of it becoming this, you know, sort of crazy thing about fitting into some, you know, sort of ideal body format, right, that it's more about sustaining healthy activity and movement for life. So, I love her positioning as well. So those are three kind of personal life, life hack, bucket category, ones that I always like to share.
Jeremy Weisz 23:00
And just for you, you mentioned Unicorn Space, which you know, is talks about how do you re enter energize yourself? What do you do to help re energize yourself? I figured you mentioned Pilates. So maybe that's one of them?
Jess Galica 23:13
Yeah, I think that's part of it. I mean, there's, there's a lot of different things, right, that that I think about, I think one is just making time for myself and getting physically away from my responsibilities, right? So that means, you know, going for walks, and turning my phone off, not even bringing it with me, you know, really finding that time where I'm truly unavailable. And I'm truly, you know, you know, sometimes literally, like separated from my daughter or separated from their family. So I really know that that space is mine, and there won't be any interruptions. And then, you know, for me, part of that, too, is as a new parent, and especially during, I became a new parent, you know, right around the time that COVID broke out. And so it's really hard to distinguish between the two, but like, my social life has disappeared since becoming a mom. Right? And that's been exacerbated with COVID, too. But I think recently, that's really been something that I've been thinking about that, you know, in dedicating more time to that, that it's not just this, you know, nice to have, but hey, this really is important for for me to maintain these relationships that I really value and also just to have some fun and have a release. So I think for me, those are the two things that I'm I'm working on.
Jeremy Weisz 24:30
A night out with friends?
Jess Galica 24:31
Exactly. Yeah. Exactly.
Jeremy Weisz 24:34
And I know, um, you know, there's other resources out there that you've researched and looked at, in Forbes. I don't know if you want to mention that one as well, for people to check out?
Jess Galica 24:45
Yeah, sure. I mean, there's always new great resources and books coming out. And so I always look for people that are kind of aggregating all of these great resources, and one that I've seen was on Forbes, and article rounding up the best business books for women. This was rounded up in written by a woman named Serenity Gibbons. So I use that as a resource that I send out to it's a list of, again, business books for women, and includes some of the ones that I've talked about today, but also a handful more that I think are great resources and might be interesting, depending on what's on women's minds.
Jeremy Weisz 25:16
Just first of all, thank you and why don't we just mention your book again? Where can they check it out? And where can they check out your website and information?
Jess Galica 25:25
Yeah, so the book my book is being published in January 2023, with Fast Company Press, and the book is all about women and career changing, but really not even if you're considering a career change. It's also just about how to reclaim control of your career trajectory, and make really proactive, strategic decisions about where you want to head that leads you to a much more authentic and fulfilling career. So you can learn more about the book on the website, reclaimyourcareer.co. It will be getting retitled but the the unofficial title right now is Reclaim Your Career: Stories of Women Letting Go to Get Ahead.
Outro 26:06
Thanks for listening to the Reclaim Your Career podcast. We hope you not only enjoyed listening, but are inspired to take action when it comes to your personal career and life. Be sure to click "subscribe" to get future episodes and we'll see you the next time.
