Cover of Career Identity + Growth Conversations for Professional Women: Exposing the Hidden Reality

Career Identity + Growth Conversations for Professional Women: Exposing the Hidden Reality

Career Identity + Growth Conversations for Professional Women: Exposing the Hidden Reality

By: Annette Garsteck Master Professional Career Coach + Sandra Wint Trauma-Informed Leadership Coach
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Bias, burnout, self-worth, and breaking barriers are not just buzzwords — they are the lived reality of women navigating leadership, workplace dynamics, and workplace culture every single day. Women's experiences take center stage here, exploring intersectionality, identity, and the invisible forces shaping professional visibility, belonging, and psychological safety at work.

Annette Garsteck, MBA, MPCC, is the author of Own Your Career: Take Control + Accelerate Your Professional Growth, a Certified Senior Professional Résumé Writer, and a former Fortune 50 hiring leader. She guides women to take ownership of their careers, increase their visibility, expand their influence, navigate workplace dynamics with confidence, and accelerate their growth while staying true to their values.

Sandra Wint, GPCC, Human Design practitioner + Gestalt-certified coach integrating shadow work, mother wound healing, nervous system regulation, emotional safety, astrology, and frameworks like the Karpman Drama Triangle to support deep personal transformation and self-awareness. Delivering these in Women’s Circles + leadership retreats, she helps women better understand themselves, their relationships, and the systems they navigate.

Each episode goes deep into trauma-informed leadership, the unspoken rules of power for women, and the influence women already hold but are rarely given permission to use. If you are a woman in leadership, or becoming one, who is done shrinking and ready to claim her space, this is your community.

On Exposing the Hidden Reality, we cover topics such as:
Why do high-performing women stay in abusive relationships?
Why do women burn out faster than men at work?
How does gender bias show up as "culture fit" in the workplace?
How can women overcome imposter syndrome and people pleasing at work?
What are the hidden barriers women face in leadership roles?
How do working women balance personal and professional identity?

Connect with Exposing the Hidden Reality:
https://exposingthehiddenreality.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/exposingthehiddenreality
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/exposingthehiddenreality
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/exposingthehiddenreality
Copyright Annette Garsteck | Sandra Wint Career Success Economics Personal Development Relationships Social Sciences
Episodes
  • 062: Are You Helping Your Employees Grow, or Holding Them Back?

    062: Are You Helping Your Employees Grow, or Holding Them Back?
    29 Oct 2026
    What happens when your manager thinks you're too valuable to let go?

    Simone McNitt once heard that very message from a manager. Rather than accept it as the end of her growth, she developed a new career-growth framework, brought it to leadership, and ultimately earned a position she helped create.

    That story opens a bigger question about the workplaces we build. Do we see potential in people of every age? Do we help employees prepare for what comes next, or do we make them afraid to move? Simone, founder of Encore Placement, joins Sandra and Annette to explore ageism, mentorship, meaningful feedback, and the human connections that help careers move forward.

    If you lead people, manage your own career, or are considering a change, this conversation offers something worth bringing into your next workplace discussion. Join our newsletter at exploringthehiddenreality.com to be notified of the next conversation.

    Connect with Exposing the Hidden Reality:
    https://exposingthehiddenreality.com
    LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/exposingthehiddenreality
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/exposingthehiddenreality
    Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/exposingthehiddenreality

    Connect with Annette Garsteck:
    https://www.annettegarsteck.com

    Connect with Sandra Wint:
    https://www.me-her-us.com

    Photography of Sandra Wint + Annette Garsteck taken by Katie Garlock, Portrations
    Show more Show less
    33 min
  • 061: Dr. Wende Logan-Young: When Good Ideas Get Rejected at Work

    061: Dr. Wende Logan-Young: When Good Ideas Get Rejected at Work
    22 Oct 2026
    What if the answer to your idea is no, but the idea itself is not the problem?

    Dr. Wende Logan-Young saw a gap in the care that patients could receive in cases of Breast Cancer screening and Mammography. But when she could not change the established approach from inside her organization, she found another way. Her story stayed with Sandra because it points to something many of us have experienced at work: seeing what could be better and running into resistance from people who do not see the same need.

    Sandra and Annette explore the moment an idea gets turned down and suddenly feels like a rejection of you. Is it a bad idea, the wrong time, the wrong audience, or a lack of support? And what can leaders do when the answer is not yes, but they still want to open a door?

    If you have ever been told 'that's not how we do things here,' press play. You may find a different way to have the next conversation.

    Connect with Exposing the Hidden Reality:
    https://exposingthehiddenreality.com
    LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/exposingthehiddenreality
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/exposingthehiddenreality
    Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/exposingthehiddenreality

    Connect with Annette Garsteck:
    https://www.annettegarsteck.com

    Connect with Sandra Wint:
    https://www.me-her-us.com

    Photography of Sandra Wint + Annette Garsteck taken by Katie Garlock, Portrations
    Show more Show less
    32 min
  • 060: Who Will Step In? The Responsibility to Recognize, Interrupt, and Respond to Harm

    060: Who Will Step In? The Responsibility to Recognize, Interrupt, and Respond to Harm
    15 Oct 2026
    What does stepping in actually look like when someone is in danger, or when someone trusts you enough to tell you they have been harmed?

    Sometimes it looks like two students who refuse to walk past something wrong. Sometimes it looks like a stranger who sits beside someone at the hospital, without trying to take control. And sometimes it is a colleague who calmly says, “That was Sandra’s idea,” when a woman’s contribution is overlooked.

    Sandra Wint and Annette Garsteck ask what changes when responsibility moves beyond the person harmed. How do we listen without interrogating? How can bystanders intervene without escalating danger? What do leaders and mentors teach through the behavior they allow or challenge?

    This final conversation in their three-part series explores the practical choices that can help people feel supported and change what a community tolerates.

    This discussion contains sexual assault, drugging, and trauma. Please take care as you listen.

    For confidential sexual assault support in the U.S., visit https://rainn.org/.

    Join our newsletter to continue the conversation at https://www.exposingthehiddenreality.com. Access resources from the three-part series, Episodes 058 — 060 at https://www.exposingthehiddenreality.com/episode-058.

    Connect with Exposing the Hidden Reality:
    https://exposingthehiddenreality.com
    LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/exposingthehiddenreality
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/exposingthehiddenreality
    Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/exposingthehiddenreality

    Connect with Annette Garsteck:
    https://www.annettegarsteck.com

    Connect with Sandra Wint:
    https://www.me-her-us.com

    Photography of Sandra Wint + Annette Garsteck taken by Katie Garlock, Portrations
    Show more Show less
    30 min
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