What does it mean to be a gutsy woman and leader?

In this episode of the Be S.H.E. Podcast, Heidi Schalk talks with leadership expert and author Sylvia LaFair about courage, curiosity, intuition, and the patterns that shape how women show up in life and leadership.

Sylvia shares the story behind her award winning book Gutsy: How Women Leaders Make Change and her upcoming book Glimmers at Work, which explores moving from triggers to glimmers and using the head, heart, and gut to make better decisions.

They discuss how childhood patterns can follow us into the workplace, including people pleasing, avoidance, and overachievement, and how recognizing those patterns can help us respond differently.

Sylvia also explains why telling the truth is different from spilling your guts, how curiosity can open unexpected doors, and why listening to your intuition can lead to meaningful change.

Sylvia Lafair, PhD, is an executive coach, leadership expert, and founder of Creative Energy Options. For more than 35 years, she has helped CEOs, senior leaders, and organizations uncover the invisible patterns that shape behavior under pressure. By integrating behavioral science, family systems theory, neuroscience, and decades of executive coaching, she developed The GLIMMERS Effect™, a practical approach that helps leaders transform automatic reactions into moments of awareness, better decisions, and lasting cultural change. Her work enables leaders to spark awareness, align teams, and ignite cultures where people and performance thrive.

To connect with our guest, click on the links below:

Website: www.ceoptions.com

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/sylvia lafair

Facebook: https://www.facebook/com/ceoptions

Facebook: https:/www.facebook.com sylvialafair

Facebook: facebook.com/groups/ thestressmastery

Instagram: sylviaLafair8

Youtube: https://www.youtube/user/sylvialafair

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Heidi Schalk sits down with Sara Connell, five time bestselling author and founder of Thought Leader Media, whose work has been featured on Oprah, The New York Times, Good Morning America, and TEDx. Sara shares how a random book grabbed in an airport changed the direction of her life, why she still feels fear every day after 20 years in business, and what she calls the "Gremlins' greatest hits" that play whenever we go for something bigger.

Sara opens up about her upcoming book, The Download: Train Your Brain, Unlock Genius, Create Miracles (Hachette, October 6, 2026), and the science behind those sudden flashes of clarity we all experience. She explains how to recognize a true download, why tracking them builds trust, and her "why try, then AI" rule for protecting creativity and critical thinking in a world where AI is becoming the default. She also gets honest about the jump from six to seven figures, the six figure setback that nearly cost her everything, and how rebuilding her business model took her from 18% to 60% profitability.

Sara Connell is a 5x Bestselling author and the founder of Thought Leader Media where she helps coaches, experts and entrepreneurs scale impact + create 6-7 figures by becoming bestselling authors and in demand/TEDx speakers. She has been featured on/in Oprah, The New York Times, Good Morning America, TODAY, Forbes, Entrepreneur and TEDx. Her upcoming book The Download; Train Your Brain. Unlock Genius. Create Miracles which helps leaders overcome cognitive overload and access clarity, creativity, and innovation in the through human intelligence in the age of AI comes out with Hachette publishing on October 6th, 2026.

To connect with our guest, click on the links below:

Substack: https://substack.com/@saraconnellthedownload

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

You Tube: https://www.youtube.com/@ThoughtLeaderMedia

Website: saraconnell.com

Email: sara.connell@gmail.com

🎁 Preorder The Download on Amazon or Barnes & Noble, then send Sara a screenshot on Instagram to receive the download tracker and bonus method. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GS7J8V2Q

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In part two of her conversation with Dr. Maria Nemeth, Heidi Schalk digs into the topic Maria is best known for: our relationship with money. Featured on Oprah and author of The Energy of Money, Maria reframes money as one of six kinds of energy we get to use in life, alongside time, physical vitality, creativity, enjoyment, and relationship.

The conversation explores why money is so emotional, why capable women still wrestle with deserving it, and how limiting beliefs are just the brain's negativity bias talking us out of leaving the metaphorical cave.

Maria shares two unforgettable client stories: Sally, who went from welfare to running her own business after starting with fifty dollars a month, and a supermarket cashier who funded a cruise once she saw how much money she was quietly leaking.

At the heart of it is Maria's definition of financial success: doing what you said you would do consistently with money, with clarity, focus, ease, and grace. She closes with practical guidance on charging your worth, taking one small sweet step today, and a Mark Twain reminder that twenty years from now you will regret what you didn't do far more than what you did.

Maria Nemeth, PhD, MCC, is the Founder and Director of the Academy for Coaching Excellence and has trained thousands of coaches around the world. An accomplished psychologist working with people in crisis, she is also a well-known expert in leadership excellence, personal/professional development, and financial empowerment. Voted one of the 50 most influential people in wealth management in the UK, her work has been featured on The Oprah Winfrey Show and Inc Magazine. Maria is the author of two highly acclaimed books: The Energy of Money, available in five languages, and its follow-up, Mastering Life’s Energies.


To connect with our guest, click on the links below:

Website: https://marianemeth.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marianemeth/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DrMariaNemeth
Instagram: @Maria Nemeth
Email: maria@marianemeth.com

Connect with me:
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FB Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/femaleentrepreneursandleaders
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🎁Spotlight to Scale: https://www.spotlighttoscale.com/blueprint
Ready to grow your biz? Schedule a call: https://calendly.com/hlhgrowthsolutions/30minconnectcall