In this episode, I'm talking about something we don't discuss nearly enough: adult friendships, friendship drift, and what happens when relationships quietly fade instead of ending in a dramatic blowup.

I share the story of a friendship that's been part of my life for nearly a decade and why I've come to accept that sometimes people grow in different directions. We talk about the difference between gratitude and obligation, how to recognize when you only have history in common, and why not every friendship needs a formal ending.

But this episode isn't just about friendships ending.

It's also about the friendships that begin from the smallest moments: a handwritten note slipped under a neighbor's door during the pandemic, a random Meetup event, a Friendsgiving invitation, and the surprising ways meaningful connections are built as adults.

In this episode we explore:

• How adult friendships evolve over time

• Friendship breakups without the drama

• Why people naturally drift apart • Making new friends as an adult

• Long-distance friendships that actually last

• Mental health, anxiety, and relationships

• Letting go of guilt when friendships change

• Why taking small social risks can lead to life-changing connections

If you've ever been navigating changing friendships, feeling disconnected from someone you once considered a close friend, wondering how to make friends as an adult, or trying to build meaningful relationships in a busy life, this episode is for you.

I'm also on a mission to grow this podcast from 63 followers to 100 followers by September 27, so if this episode resonates with you, hit Follow and share it with a friend who needs to hear it.

New episodes cover life in STEM, career growth, relationships, mental health, resilience, and figuring out adulthood one lesson at a time.

#AdultFriendships #MakingFriendsAsAnAdult #FriendshipBreakup #PersonalGrowth #MentalHealth #Relationships #LifeLessons #WomenInSTEM #SelfDevelopment #Podcast

For years, I convinced myself that stability meant compatibility. I believed that being the strong one, the logical one, and the dependable one meant I should stay, even when the relationship wasn't right.

As an engineer and woman in STEM, I spend my career solving problems, analyzing systems, and trusting data. But in my own relationship, I ignored the warning signs.

I tried fixing:

✔️ Communication issues

✔️ Emotional imbalance

✔️ Financial stress

✔️ Family dynamics

✔️ Relationship incompatibility

✔️ The constant feeling that I owed someone my future

What I finally realized was this:

You cannot engineer compatibility.

You cannot force a healthy relationship through effort alone.

And you should never stay because of guilt, obligation, or fear of disappointing someone.

In this episode of my Women in STEM podcast, I'm sharing:

✨ Why I ended my engagement

✨ The relationship red flags I stopped ignoring

✨ How people-pleasing kept me stuck

✨ What self-advocacy looks like in love

✨ Lessons every ambitious woman should hear

✨ How engineering principles helped me make one of the hardest decisions of my life

This conversation is especially for:

• Women in engineering

• Women in STEM careers

• High-achieving women

• Women navigating relationships while building their careers

• Anyone struggling with self-worth, boundaries, or people-pleasing

• Anyone questioning whether stability and compatibility are actually the same thing

And yes...I recorded this completely imperfectly.

No makeup.

No media training.

Airport delays.

Dry vacation skin.

Wild hair.

Pure chaos.

But I posted anyway.

Because the lesson isn't just about ending an engagement.

It's about choosing yourself.

If you're waiting until you're perfect to start the podcast, launch the business, leave the relationship, advocate for yourself, or share your story...you'll be waiting forever.

Your life changes the moment you start trusting yourself.

🎙 Follow for honest conversations about women in engineering, STEM careers, relationships, personal growth, confidence, leadership, self-advocacy, and navigating life as an ambitious woman.

Save this episode if you've ever struggled with relationship red flags, people pleasing, or choosing yourself.

Share it with someone who needs the reminder that compatibility matters more than comfort.

I also break down the viral Aryna Sabalenka US Open press conference moment and what it says about how the media treats female athletes.

Then we're getting into workplace culture, professional boundaries, awkward coworker interactions, women in STEM, and office survival tactics, including the fake Microsoft Teams meetings I've used to avoid unwanted conversations.

Finally, I'm sharing current music favorites from Tate McRae, Tinashe, Jhené Aiko, and Christina Aguilera, along with songs you need to add to your playlist.

If you're interested in women in engineering, workplace stories, career growth, Grey's Anatomy, Suits, pop culture, music recommendations, female empowerment, and navigating adulthood, this episode is for you.

Follow Off the Clock for weekly conversations about work, life, music, pop culture, and everything that happens when we're finally off the clock.

Kim Possible appreciation, Cristina Yang, Jessica Pearson being iconic, McDreamy vs. McSteamy debate, Aryna Sabalenka's US Open moment, Women facing double standards in sports and the workplace, Fake Teams meetings as a survival strategy, Workplace boundaries and office culture, Tate McRae recommendations, Tinashe deep cuts, Jhené Aiko favorites, Christina Aguilera's 25-year anniversary performance

Aryna: US Open Press Conference

Sports Car

Greedy

Uh Oh

Calgary

Nasty

No Broke Boys

No Broke Boys (feat. Disco Lines)

2 On

I'm Every Woman Remix (feat. TOKiMONSTA)

Sativa

Happiness Over Everything

Post to Be

Pussy Fairy

Christina Aguilera 25th Anniversary Performance

So why did I spend years convinced I wasn't good enough?

In this episode, I'm sharing the story of the ten years I spent in defense engineering, from being handed major responsibility far too early, to a career-defining meeting that left me questioning my worth, to the health crisis that finally forced me to reconsider everything.

We talk about:

• Being promoted without a pay increase and real support
• Workplace cultures that mistake criticism for mentorship
• The hidden psychology behind staying to "prove yourself"
• How imposter syndrome keeps talented people stuck
• The physical toll of chronic workplace stress
• The moment I realized I was allowed to leave
• How I ultimately reinvented my career and landed in pharma

I also reflect on Gloria Steinem's passing and the women whose work made careers like mine possible in the first place.

If you've ever stayed in a job because you felt like you had something to prove, this episode is for you.

#CareerChange #ImposterSyndrome #BurnoutRecovery #WomenInEngineering #CareerDevelopment #WorkplaceCulture #ProfessionalGrowth

In 2023, I left a government defense engineering job - working on nuclear ships, compressed air systems, and high-pressure platforms - for a role in corporate pharma, after being repeatedly promised a promotion that never came. This episode breaks down what actually happened in that final exit interview: the receipts on cost savings and team output, the double standards in pay grade and recognition, and the moment my boss's boss got emotional hearing it all laid out.

Topics covered in this episode include:

• Women in engineering and STEM workplace culture
• Government to private sector career transition (defense to pharma)
• Engineering burnout and unsustainable workloads
• Gender bias and microaggressions in male-dominated workplaces
• How to prepare for and navigate a real exit interview
• Diversity and inclusion gaps in leadership
• Career change stories in tech and engineering

If you've ever been underestimated, overworked, or stuck in an environment where "diversity" means being allowed to speak first in a meeting, this one's for you. It's a reminder that leaving a job that doesn't value you isn't failure - it's one of the smartest engineering decisions you can make.

New episodes drop Mondays & Thursdays - subscribe for more real, unfiltered stories from women navigating engineering, STEM careers, and workplace culture.

IG: @shesbeenthroughsomeshit

In this episode of Off the Clock, the lifestyle podcast about personal growth, work-life balance, career development, and life outside the office, I'm sharing a week that was part chaotic, part funny, and unexpectedly meaningful.

We talk about:

🎓 MBA Graduation & Student Life

• How graduation suddenly feels real
• Navigating the final stretch of an MBA program
• Why progress matters more than perfection

💡 Personal Growth & Perfectionism

• Learning to let go of unrealistic expectations
• Building confidence through consistency
• Embracing growth instead of chasing perfection

💧 Health & Wellness

• The migraine that forced me to listen to my body
• Simple wellness habits that made a bigger difference than expected
• Why small health changes often have the biggest impact

🐾 German Shepherd Puppy Life

• Puppy milestones and early training experiences
• A memorable 4 a.m. bonding moment
• The joys and challenges of raising a young dog

📺 TV & Streaming Recommendations

• The Netflix crime thriller that completely took over my week
• Why powerful storytelling keeps us emotionally invested
• Honest binge-watch thoughts and recommendations

If you're balancing graduate school, career goals, personal growth, wellness, or simply trying to enjoy life's messy in-between moments, this episode is for you.

Topics covered: MBA life, graduate school, personal development, perfectionism, work-life balance, career growth, wellness habits, healthy routines, puppy training, German Shepherd ownership, Netflix recommendations, productivity, and intentional living.

Follow Off the Clock for weekly conversations about career, life transitions, personal growth, wellness, and everything that happens after the workday ends.

If that sounds familiar - welcome. You're among friends.

This episode of Off the Clock is a deep, honest look at people-pleasing: why it's rarely about kindness and almost always rooted in fear - fear of rejection, fear of conflict, fear of disappointing people, fear of not being enough.

🧠 Where It Starts: We trace people-pleasing back to childhood - the quiet stories we tell ourselves at six years old that end up shaping our behavior for decades.

👩‍🎓 The "Cool Girl" Era: College, and the art of pretending to have no needs so no one can reject you for having them.

👷‍♀️ Woman in Engineering: Entering a male-dominated field where being liked and being respected get tangled together - and what tradespeople (operators, electricians, welders, pipefitters) taught me about earning real credibility through listening instead of proving.

😰 Anxiety & Appearances: The quiet exhaustion of trying to look put-together, and why authenticity is a harder - and far more rewarding - standard than being liked ever was.

In this episode:

✅ Why the fear of being disliked isn't the same as wanting to be liked

✅ How childhood shapes adult people-pleasing patterns

✅ The "cool girl" trap - abandoning your needs before anyone can reject you

✅ Earning credibility and respect as a woman in engineering

✅ What tradespeople taught me about trust and listening

✅ Why anxiety often hides behind a confident exterior

✅ The real difference between being liked and being accepted

✅ Letting go of approval-seeking to choose authenticity instead

Chapters: Intro: The Three-Word Email That Ruined Your Afternoon; The Fear of Being Disliked; Where It Started: Childhood, Family, and the Stories We Make Up; The Cool Girl Era: College and Abandoning Your Own Needs; The Engineer Version of People-Pleasing; What Tradespeople Taught Me About Respect; The Need to Belong; Anxiety and Looking Put Together; Conclusion: Being Liked vs. Being Accepted

Off the Clock is a mental health and personal growth podcast about the honest stuff so many of us live with but rarely say out loud: self-doubt, career challenges, confidence struggles, and the messy middle of growth. No perfect answers here - just a reminder that you're not navigating this alone.

New episodes weekly. If this one resonated, follow Off the Clock on Spotify and YouTube, and leave a rating or review - it genuinely helps new listeners discover the show. If there's a woman in STEM, a friend, or a coworker who needs this today, send it their way.

You do not need to be everyone's favorite person. You need to be yourself. That is more than enough.

🎧 Coming up: Switching industries & don't miss Thursday's Off the Clock bonus episode.

#PeoplePleasing #WomenInSTEM #WomenInEngineering #Authenticity #SelfWorth #PersonalGrowth #Confidence #Boundaries #ImposterSyndrome #MentalHealthPodcast #OffTheClockPodcast #SelfDoubt #CareerGrowth

In this week's Off the Clock, I'm sharing a mix of travel dreams, cozy fall favorites, wedding beauty opinions, and a few things I've been loving lately. From why Okinawa, Japan has remained at the top of my travel bucket list for years to the surprisingly simple trick that improved my homemade soup game, this episode feels like catching up with a friend.

We also get into concert memories, the country artists currently on repeat, Penn State volleyball season, and my ongoing Gilmore Girls rewatch, including the debate that refuses to die: Team Jess, Team Dean, or Team Logan?

In this episode: ✈️ Why Okinawa is still my dream destination 🍲 Butternut squash soup, sourdough bread, and cozy fall cooking 🎵 Concert memories and current country music favorites 💄 Wedding makeup and hair hot takes and choosing authenticity over trends 🏐 Penn State volleyball season thoughts and State College nostalgia 📺 Gilmore Girls rewatch conversations and favorite characters

Whether you're planning your next trip, embracing fall, navigating wedding decisions, or simply looking for a fun lifestyle podcast to unwind with, pull up a chair and join the conversation.

🎙️ New episodes every week 📸 Instagram: @shesbeenthroughsomeshit 🎥 YouTube: @shesbeenthroughsomesht

In this episode of Off the Clock, I share how failing a finance exam during my MBA became an unexpected turning point in my understanding of ambition, achievement, and self-worth.

For most of my life, I've been drawn to difficult things. From earning an engineering degree to building a technical career and pursuing an MBA while working full-time, I've often measured growth by the size of the challenge in front of me.

But one failed exam forced me to ask a difficult question:

Was I pursuing this goal because I genuinely wanted it, or because I felt obligated to prove I could do it?

We explore how perfectionism evolves as we grow older, why high achievers often confuse capability with desire, and how failure can provide valuable information instead of serving as evidence of our worth.

In This Episode

🎓 MBA Student Life

• Balancing graduate school, work, relationships, and personal responsibilities
• The finance course that challenged my assumptions about success
• Lessons learned in the final stages of an MBA journey

💡 Perfectionism & Personal Growth

• Why ambitious people struggle to walk away from difficult goals
• The difference between growth and self-punishment
• Letting go of achievement as a measure of self-worth

📈 Career & Leadership Development

• Lessons from engineering school and technical leadership
• Building confidence through setbacks
• How experiences with failure shape stronger decision-making

🔥 Failure & Resilience

• The engineering exam that nearly broke my confidence
• Why retaking a class changed the trajectory of my career
• Reframing failure as feedback instead of identity

This Episode Is For You If:

✅ You're pursuing an MBA or graduate degree

✅ You struggle with perfectionism

✅ You're a high achiever who constantly raises the bar

✅ You're navigating career growth or leadership challenges

✅ You're learning to separate self-worth from achievement

✅ You're questioning whether a goal still aligns with who you want to become

This conversation is a reminder that success isn't always about doing more, achieving more, or taking on the hardest path available.

Sometimes wisdom looks like choosing the path that's right for you.

Topics Covered: MBA student life, graduate school, perfectionism, personal growth, failure and resilience, career development, leadership growth, ambition, confidence building, self-worth, high achiever mindset, success mindset, lifelong learning, work-life balance, and professional development.

Take the hard hat off. You're Off the Clock.

But what happens when the laptop closes and the hard hat comes off?

In the very first Off the Clock bonus episode of She's Been Through Some Shit, we're talking about everything that has absolutely nothing to do with engineering and everything to do with the things I'm loving lately.

I'm sharing my honest review of Elin Hilderbrand's latest release, the TV shows currently occupying my evenings, and why I've fully entered my Ella Langley era. From comfort watches and workplace dramas to country music obsessions and hot takes on life's most important debates, this episode is a fun peek into who I am beyond my career.

We'll also play a rapid-fire round of This or That, tackling questions like:

☕ Coffee or tea? 🏨 Hotel or Airbnb? 🍷 Wine or cocktails? 🎬 Rom-com or thriller?

If you love book recommendations, TV show discussions, country music, lifestyle podcasts, and casual conversations that feel like catching up with a friend, you're in the right place.

In This Episode

✅ My review of Elin Hilderbrand's newest book

✅ What I'm currently watching, including New Girl, Ransom Canyon, and a workplace drama featuring a woman in finance

✅ Why Ella Langley has completely taken over my playlists

✅ Fun "This or That" lifestyle questions and hot takes

✅ The hobbies, entertainment, and interests that keep me busy outside of engineering

✅ A behind-the-scenes look at life beyond work

Topics Covered

• Book recommendations
• Elin Hilderbrand
• TV show recommendations
• New Girl
• Ransom Canyon
• Workplace dramas
• Country music
• Ella Langley
• Lifestyle podcast
• Women in STEM
• Work-life balance
• Entertainment reviews
• Pop culture
• Personal interests
• Off-the-clock life

This is the lighter side of the podcast. Less engineering, more books, binge-worthy shows, music discoveries, and the random opinions that don't always fit into career conversations.

📚 Got a book I should read?

📺 A show I need to watch?

🎵 A song I should add to my playlist?

Send me your recommendations. I'd love to hear them.

📸 Instagram: @shesbeenthroughsomeshit

💛 Enjoying the podcast? Follow the show so you never miss an episode. If you enjoy these conversations, leaving a rating and review is one of the best ways to support the podcast and help new listeners discover it. Thank you for being here!

If you've ever sat in a group project (or a team meeting at work) wondering how you became the only adult in the room, this episode is for you. I'm breaking down three real stories from my MBA program - plus one from corporate America - that exposed a pattern I now call Weaponized Confidence: the art of looking capable while contributing almost nothing, and letting everyone else clean up the mess.

Inside this episode:

🎯 The MIA Mystery Man - the teammate who showed up to meetings live-streaming himself driving on the highway (yes, really), and the surprising lesson about grace vs. unpaid labor.

🎯 The Weaponized Confidence Olympics - what happens when "I didn't know" turns from an accident into a management strategy, and the moment my professor said the sentence every team lead dreams of hearing.

🎯 The Dream Team - the semester everything changed, and what a genuinely functional, high-trust team actually feels like (spoiler: it's rare, and it's not an accident).

🎯 When School Becomes Real Life - why the same dynamics from your MBA cohort show up in your career, and how "convenient incompetence" quietly trains you to keep rescuing people who don't want to grow.

This isn't a men-vs-women thing, and it's not a rant. It's a real look at leadership, accountability, teamwork, and why group projects might be the single best (and most frustrating) preparation for corporate America you'll ever get - long before your first performance review.

If you've ever asked yourself, "how am I the youngest person here but somehow the adult?" — you're going to feel very seen.

Perfect for fans of career advice podcasts, MBA and business school life, leadership and management lessons, corporate storytelling, workplace culture commentary, and real talk about teamwork, accountability, and burnout.

👉 Got a chaotic group project or workplace story? Leave a comment or call the podcast voicemail at (267) 281-3633 - your story might get featured in a future episode.

🔔 Follow the podcast so you don't miss next episode's topic: what happens when the person you're supposed to learn from becomes the person you end up managing.

One of my favorite Alaska discoveries? You can rent bear spray… at a 24‑hour coffee drive‑through. Only here can you grab a latte and prep for a bear encounter. Bear spray is basically pepper spray with significantly more enthusiasm, and they even make practice versions, so you don’t learn how it works while a bear is charging at you. We practiced at home because you obviously can’t fly with the real thing.

Being here reminded me of another environment that felt hostile - except instead of bears, it was my first engineering internship.

I was nineteen. Almost every lunch break, I’d lock myself in a bathroom stall and cry - not because engineering was hard, but because the people were. On day one, my boss’s assistant, Trish, pulled me aside and said something I’ll never forget:

“Gary didn’t want to hire you. He wanted a man. He doesn’t think you’re going to amount to anything.”

Welcome to the company.

The office felt like a sitcom: poodles roaming around, a thirty‑year‑old coworker asking me out, and Gary - the owner - who believed yelling was a management strategy. He wasn’t subtle. If he had an opinion, you heard it. Usually loudly. Usually directed at women.

At nineteen, I thought maybe this was normal. Maybe every office felt like this. It took years to understand the difference between a workplace that challenges you and one that chips away at your confidence.

The bathroom became my safe place. I’d cry quietly, wipe my face, and walk back out pretending everything was fine. My dad drove me to work every morning and immediately disliked Gary. Every day I begged my parents to let me quit. Every day they said no. Later they told me they knew I was safe, the internship had an end date, and learning to work with difficult people would help me later. I didn’t appreciate that then. I do now.

The worst moment? The Excel incident. I was presenting graphs and data I understood well. Gary stopped me and said, “That’s wrong.” I explained why it wasn’t. He doubled down: “That’s not how Excel works.” When I calmly walked him through it again, he threw his hands up in front of the entire office and yelled:

“I’m not talking to her anymore! Christine doesn’t exist!”

Nobody looked surprised. That told me everything.

Near the end of the internship, Gary took us to tour a friend’s car garage. I wasn’t rude - I just wasn’t pretending to be fascinated. On the drive back he said, “You didn’t seem very grateful.” For what, exactly? After a summer of criticism, I wasn’t performing gratitude for someone who hadn’t treated me professionally.

Then came my last day. Gary called me into his office. I braced for one final lecture. Instead he said:

“You were the best intern I ever had.”

It didn’t erase the tears or the anxiety, but it taught me something: people often decide who you are before they meet you. Reality eventually rewrites their story.

That internship shaped how I lead today. People don’t forget how you make them feel. One bad manager does not get to decide whether you belong. One toxic workplace does not define your future. Sometimes the problem isn’t you. Sometimes it’s just Gary.

Youtube: @shesseensomeengineeringshit

IG: @shesbeenthroughsomeshit

Not just attractive. Attractive for an engineer.

Adjusted for major.

Rated on a curve.

At eighteen years old, entering Penn State's engineering program, I laughed it off. But beneath that comment was a message I had already started absorbing:

That women are supposed to choose between being smart and being attractive.

That confidence can be mistaken for flirting.

That visibility comes with consequences.

And that sometimes the easiest way to survive in a male-dominated environment is to become invisible.

In this episode, I'm sharing what it was like navigating engineering school, entering the workforce as a woman in STEM, and realizing how much energy I spent trying to manage other people's perceptions of me.

From hiding behind hoodies and avoiding attention to learning how to take up space without apologizing for it, this is a conversation about identity, confidence, workplace culture, and the subtle ways women learn to make themselves smaller.

We'll talk about the impossible double standards women face, the pressure to be taken seriously, and what happens when you stop editing yourself to make other people comfortable.

Most importantly, we'll talk about the freedom that comes from showing up as your full, authentic self.

In This Episode

✅ The "engineering hot" comment that stayed with me for years

✅ Growing up in a large engineering program at Penn State

✅ The stereotype that women can't be both intelligent and attractive

✅ Navigating engineering school as a woman in STEM

✅ Double standards, workplace perceptions, and professional identity

✅ Why I tried to become invisible at work

✅ How authenticity became more valuable than approval

✅ The surprising realization that hiding wasn't protecting me

✅ Confidence, self-worth, and learning to take up space

✅ Why women shouldn't have to shrink themselves to be taken seriously

Topics Covered

• Women in STEM
• Women in Engineering
• Workplace Confidence
• Career Development
• Professional Identity
• Gender Stereotypes
• Engineering School
• STEM Careers
• Authentic Leadership
• Workplace Culture
• Self-Worth
• Confidence Building
• Corporate Culture
• Personal Growth
• Female Engineers
• Taking Up Space
• Authenticity at Work
• Professional Women

If you've ever felt like you needed to make yourself smaller to fit in, this episode is for you.

Whether you're in engineering, tech, finance, healthcare, leadership, or any environment where you've felt pressure to edit parts of yourself, I hope this conversation reminds you of something important:

You don't need to choose between being competent and being yourself.

And if anyone ever calls you "engineering hot"?

You're hot.

Period.

📸 Instagram: @shesbeenthroughsomeshit

🎥 YouTube: She's Been Through Some Shit

💛 Enjoying the podcast? Follow the show so you never miss an episode. If this conversation resonated with you, leaving a rating and review helps more people discover the podcast and supports future episodes about career growth, confidence, workplace culture, and life as a woman in STEM. Thank you for being here.

This episode starts in Coronado, where I was wrapping up a long, stressful trip working on a Navy‑adjacent project. I had just accepted a corporate job offer - a huge moment for any woman in STEM trying to escape the “stable but soul‑sucking” government engineering path. My boss was on his honeymoon, so I sat with this life‑altering secret for days before finally calling him to resign. And yes, I did it while he was driving home. And yes, I regretted that immediately.

From there, the story turns into a mix of women‑in‑engineering chaos, Coronado sunsets, grilled cheese made by an older man who buttered both sides of the bread like a culinary king, and the emotional whiplash of realizing: Oh shit… I’m actually doing this.

But the real spiral started when corporate sent me the background check and drug test instructions. If you’ve ever dealt with OCD, intrusive thoughts, or high‑stakes anxiety, you already know where this is going. I had been taking non‑THC CBD oil to calm my nerves, but my brain decided to run a full internal audit: “What if it secretly has THC?” “What if the test picks up a molecule?” “What if I fail and have to go back to my defense job?” “What if I ruin my entire life because of a dropper of Whole Foods CBD?”

So naturally… I went to CVS and bought two drug tests. Because nothing says “women in STEM” like redundant validation. The pharmacist absolutely judged me. My boyfriend (now husband) absolutely questioned me. And I absolutely took both tests like I was running a personal compliance lab in my bathroom.

Spoiler: they were negative. Obviously. But the spiral wasn’t about the test - it was about the fear of going backward. The fear of staying in a job that was burning me out. The fear of losing the one chance I had to leave government engineering and step into a healthier, more aligned career.

This episode is for every woman in engineering who has ever felt trapped, overwhelmed, or terrified of making a big move. It’s for anyone who’s ever spiraled over something tiny because the bigger thing felt massive. It’s for anyone navigating STEM anxiety, career transitions, government engineering burnout, or the emotional chaos of trying to build a life that actually fits.

If you’re in your own “Oh shit… I’m actually doing this” moment - this one’s for you.

I'm sharing a very real story about the spiral that never needed to happen. A look from a coworker. Silence from my manager. A meeting invite with no agenda. Before I knew it, my brain had created an entire storyline about hidden conversations, performance concerns, workplace conflict, and everyone knowing something I didn't. I replayed months of interactions, searched for clues, and convinced myself there was a problem that didn't actually exist. The truth? None of it was real. There were no secret meetings, no workplace drama, and no conversations happening behind my back. It was simply anxiety filling in the blanks.

If you've ever struggled with workplace anxiety, overthinking, imposter syndrome, self-doubt, professional confidence, or career stress, this episode will probably feel very familiar. We'll talk about why our brains naturally try to create certainty when communication feels unclear, why silence often feels louder than words, and how easy it is to mistake assumptions for facts. Whether you're new to your career or have years of experience, workplace anxiety doesn't always disappear with time. Sometimes it simply changes shape.

As a woman working in engineering, I also talk about how these experiences show up in STEM careers, engineering workplaces, technical industries, and professional environments where communication styles can be direct, limited, or open to interpretation. If you've ever questioned whether you belong, worried about making mistakes, felt left out of conversations, or battled imposter syndrome while building your career, I hope this conversation reminds you that you're far from the only person experiencing these thoughts.

This isn't one of those episodes that tells you to "just stop overthinking." Anyone who has experienced anxiety knows it doesn't work that way. Instead, I'm sharing the mindset shift that's helping me move through these moments with a little more peace: if someone has a problem with me, they need to tell me. If Monica has a problem with me, Monica needs to tell me. If John has a problem with me, John needs to tell me. I'm no longer willing to spend hours decoding facial expressions, interpreting silence, or assuming the worst when nobody has actually communicated that there's a problem.

We'll also talk about workplace communication, career confidence, emotional resilience, managing stress at work, trusting yourself, and why learning to separate facts from assumptions can completely change the way you experience your job. It's something I'm still practicing every day, and I wanted to share the journey honestly instead of pretending I've figured it all out.

This podcast isn't just about sharing my stories - it's about building a community where we can have honest conversations about adulthood, careers, engineering, women in STEM, workplace culture, mental health, confidence, friendships, personal growth, and everything that comes with trying to build a life you're proud of. I've officially opened a voicemail line where you can call in with your own stories, workplace experiences, career questions, awkward moments, engineering challenges, adulting struggles, or topics you'd love to hear discussed on future episodes. I listen to every voicemail, and I'll be answering listener questions and featuring stories in upcoming episodes.

Today’s episode is the full, unhinged saga of my exit interview — the one where I walked in with notes, a 6–7 item list, and two years of pent‑up frustration, and walked out with my boss’s boss literally tearing up. It’s part TED Talk, part therapy session, part roast of engineering workplace culture, and a brutally honest look at what women in STEM deal with behind the scenes.

We start in 2023, when I was leaving my government defense job for corporate pharma. Management had promised me a GS‑14 promotion for doing high‑grade work on nuclear ships, compressed air systems, and high‑pressure platforms. Meanwhile, my male colleagues already held the higher grade. In the exit interview, I finally said it out loud: “You strung me along.” I laid out the cost savings, the doubled team output, the presentations to leadership — all the receipts. The honesty was robust, and Tom looked like he was experiencing a midlife crisis in real time.

Then there’s John — the Human Earthquake — a loud, chaotic peer who banged on tables like he was reenacting Wolf of Wall Street without the money or charisma. He called everyone “gents,” including me, the lead engineer. I explain how this wasn’t just annoying, but emblematic of the subtle disrespect women in engineering navigate daily. Tom nodded like he was watching his entire leadership philosophy crumble.

We dive into the diversity conversation: how leaders often “don’t see problems” because they’ve never been dismissed, harassed, or called “sweetheart” in a meeting about nuclear machinery. I tell Tom why checking in with high performers, especially women, actually matters. He tears up. Twice. I did not expect my exit interview to turn into a vulnerability workshop, but here we were.

Next comes the San Diego chaos tour: six weeks, eighteen machinery upgrades, Harbor Freight runs, nuclear‑ship breakdowns, and the moment a stakeholder threatened deployment if I didn’t finish. I froze, cried in the lowest deck of the ship, and realized how unsustainable the job had become. My boyfriend (now husband) told me, “You can quit.” And suddenly the door I thought was locked swung open.

Right before flying home, I discovered I’d been signed up for a Philly naval conference I never agreed to. I proved it. My boss ghosted me. I spiraled in my basement like a Victorian chimney sweep who’d had enough. Then I went anyway — and he didn’t even show up. It was the kind of workplace absurdity that makes you question your entire career path.

The episode ends with the final goodbye: a manager who didn’t meet with me, didn’t acknowledge anything, and didn’t do an exit interview. It was disappointing, weird, and very on brand. And it cemented the realization that I didn’t need to stay loyal to a system that wasn’t loyal to me.

This episode blends engineering burnout, workplace culture, early‑career anxiety, leadership gaps, and the specific flavor of chaos women in engineering navigate daily. If you’ve ever felt overlooked, overworked, or one Harbor Freight run away from losing it, this one’s for you. It’s a reminder that leaving isn’t failure — sometimes it’s the most powerful engineering decision you can make.

Catch you in the next episode, where we keep unlearning all the outdated career advice we never asked for but somehow absorbed anyway

This is a story about early‑career anxiety, gender dynamics, workplace chaos, emotional labor, and the moment you realize experience does not always equal professionalism. If you’re a woman in STEM, a young professional, or someone who has ever been forced into the “responsible adult” role because no one else stepped up, this episode will feel painfully familiar.

The trip begins with a simple work dinner - something that should’ve been routine. Instead, my colleague gets completely wasted and turns the evening into a confessional I never asked for. Marriage issues, regrets, personal frustrations… all unloaded onto a 23‑year‑old who was just trying to make a good impression. And when strangers in the hotel lobby comment on my appearance, he immediately agrees, making the moment even more uncomfortable. I escape to my room, hoping the next morning will reset everything.

Spoiler: it does not.

I show up at 7:30 AM sharp. He does not. After twenty minutes of waiting, the concierge calls his room. When he finally appears, it’s obvious he’s still drunk - glassy eyes, alcohol smell, miserable attitude. And suddenly I’m the one responsible for getting us to the shipyard. At 23. With no authority. No experience. And absolutely no idea how to handle a grown man who cannot handle himself.

Once we arrive, things escalate. He starts arguing with shipyard officers - loudly, aggressively, and incorrectly. I stand there, horrified, wondering how I became associated with this disaster. But I don’t report it. I don’t speak up. I don’t ask for help. Because when you’re young, you’re terrified of being labeled “difficult,” “dramatic,” or “unable to work with others.” You think staying quiet protects your career.

In reality, it just protects the person causing the problem.

Months later, someone casually asks, “Was he drunk on that last trip?” And instantly I know: everyone noticed. Of course they did. Because he was drunk. And I spiral - did I look irresponsible? Did people think I approved of his behavior? Did they think I should’ve done something?

But here’s the truth I learned too late: I wasn’t responsible for him. I wasn’t his babysitter. I wasn’t the adult in the room because I wanted to be - I became the adult because he stopped acting like one.

Why this episode matters:

This episode is for anyone who has ever:

• Been the youngest person in the room
• Dealt with an unprofessional coworker
• Carried emotional labor at work
• Felt pressured to stay quiet to “protect your career”
• Navigated gendered power dynamics
• Questioned whether you were overreacting
• Realized experience doesn’t equal maturity

If you’ve ever been forced into responsibility you didn’t sign up for, this story will hit home.

Call the podcast voicemail:

What’s the most unprofessional thing you’ve ever seen at work? What chaotic coworker story still lives rent‑free in your mind? What moment made you think, “I cannot believe this is happening”?

Leave a comment or call the podcast voicemail at (267) 281-3633and share your story. Your chaos might be featured in a future episode.

If you love stories about workplace chaos, women in engineering, early‑career survival, and the moments nobody prepares you for, follow the show so you never miss an episode.

For years, I convinced myself that stability meant compatibility. I told myself that being “the strong one,” “the logical one,” “the dependable one” meant I had to stay. I tried to fix the power imbalance, the emotional mismatch, the financial tension, the family dynamics, and the constant feeling that I owed him my future. I tried to engineer my way into a relationship that wasn’t built to last.

But engineering teaches you something powerful: when a system is failing, you don’t ignore the data. You don’t silence the alarms. You don’t pretend the imbalance isn’t real. You analyze, you evaluate, and you advocate for the solution that protects long‑term integrity - even when it’s uncomfortable.

That’s exactly what I had to do in my engagement.

In this episode, I’m sharing the moment everything became clear, the red flags I finally stopped rationalizing, and the self‑advocacy it took to walk away from a future I once thought was guaranteed. As a woman in STEM, I’ve had to speak up in rooms where my voice wasn’t always welcomed - and it turns out I needed that same confidence in my relationship.

And yes… I recorded this episode in full chaotic mode.

I hadn’t showered in 24 hours thanks to flight cancellations and airport connections.

I didn’t do my skincare on vacation and my skin was dry as hell.

I had no makeup on.

My hair part was annoying me.

My widow’s peak and cowlicks were doing whatever they wanted.

I’m not a vlogger.

I have no media training.

I’m literally an engineer with an MBA trying to figure out how to run a podcast.

And I still posted this - because everyone starts somewhere, and I don’t care. If you’re waiting to look perfect before you start, you’ll never start. If you’re waiting to feel ready before you speak up, you’ll stay stuck. If you’re waiting for permission to choose yourself, you’ll wait forever.

This episode is for anyone who has ever:

• stayed in a relationship out of guilt

• confused stability with compatibility

• felt obligated to be “the strong one”

• struggled to advocate for themselves at work or in love

• ignored red flags because they didn’t want to disappoint someone

• wanted to hear a real story from a real woman in STEM navigating life, career, and relationships

• needed a reminder that choosing yourself is not selfish - it’s necessary

If you’re a woman in engineering, a woman in STEM, or someone learning how to trust your voice, this episode will hit home. It’s messy, honest, emotional, and full of the clarity I wish I had years ago.

Hit follow to join me on this journey - more episodes are coming, and they’re only getting better from here.

#womeninengineering #womeninSTEM #engineeringlife #relationshiplessons #compatibilitymatters #selfadvocacy #choosingyourself #engagementstory #storytimepodcast #empoweredwomen #healingjourney #engineerwithanMBA #startsomewhere

This is the story of how career insecurity followed me from high school into college and well into my early engineering career. While my classmates talked about rebuilding dirt bikes and modifying engines, I was the student quietly panicking because I didn’t know which wrench was which. I didn’t grow up in a garage. I didn’t have a tinkering dad. I didn’t have a shelf of tools. And in a field where hands‑on experience is treated like a personality trait, I felt like I was already behind before I even started.

I share the moment I froze during a lab visit - the moment that convinced me I wasn’t technical enough, smart enough, or “engineer‑y” enough to belong. Surrounded by tools I didn’t recognize and equipment I’d never touched, I spiraled into engineering anxiety so intense it made me question my entire career path. It was the kind of panic that hits you in the chest, the kind that makes you feel like everyone else had a head start you somehow missed.

But this episode isn’t just about the insecurity. It’s about what came after: the slow, steady, unglamorous process of building confidence without a tinkering background. I talk about how repetition, leadership, mentorship, and showing up even when I was spiraling helped me develop what I call functional confidence - the kind that doesn’t come from childhood tinkering, but from adult perseverance. I share how I learned to ask better questions, how I built technical intuition through experience rather than upbringing, and how I stopped comparing myself to people who grew up with a wrench in their hand.

This episode explores the intersection of engineering anxiety, imposter syndrome, women in STEM, early‑career engineering, technical skill development, and the pressure to perform in male‑dominated spaces. It’s about the quiet panic of feeling behind, the fear of being exposed as “not technical enough,” and the reality that many women in engineering didn’t grow up with hands‑on experience - and still became exceptional engineers.

If you’ve ever felt intimidated by classmates who seemed more experienced, or colleagues who talk about tinkering like it’s a prerequisite for engineering success, you’re not alone. If you’ve ever felt embarrassed not knowing which tool to grab, or worried that your background wasn’t “engineering enough,” this episode will make you feel seen. And if you’ve ever convinced yourself you didn’t belong in STEM, this story will remind you that belonging isn’t built in childhood - it’s built through persistence, curiosity, and showing up even when your brain is loudly spiraling.

This episode is for women in engineering, STEM students, early‑career engineers, and anyone navigating the messy, emotional side of technical growth. It’s for the people who didn’t grow up fixing things - and still became engineers anyway.

Catch the full story, the panic, the growth, and the confidence arc in today’s episode. And remember: you don’t need a tinkering childhood to build an engineering future.

Today’s episode is about the fastest relationship I ever fell into, red flags ignored, and the difference between chemistry & compatibility.

Welcome back to She’s Been Through Some Engineering Shit with your host, Christine, where we keep unlearning all the outdated career and life advice we never asked for but absorbed anyway.

This podcast is about debugging the systems we were handed - whether that’s workplace culture, career expectations, relationships, or the beliefs we carry about success. Today, we’re doing dating root cause analysis.

It was 2020 - world shut down, everyone isolated, and time felt completely made up. Then I met this guy.

He was funny and brought lightness into an incredibly heavy year. We connected fast. A few weeks later, I found out I had a six-week work trip to San Diego.

He said, “I don’t know if I can go that long without seeing you.”

Instead of thinking, “That’s sweet,” I apparently thought, “Perfect. Let’s fast-track this relationship.”

So I invited him to come with me.

Looking back, I was making a decision based on how safe and exciting it felt—not on how well I actually knew him. But at the time, I didn’t want to be alone in a strange city during one of the strangest moments in history.

He said yes.

For six weeks, we skipped straight to relationship mode. Morning coffee, beach days, hiking, disc golf, shared dinners, swimming—we built a tiny life together, and for a little while, 2020 almost felt normal.

But vacations aren’t real life.

When you travel with someone, you're seeing them in a bubble with fewer responsibilities, less stress, and more adventure. It's easy to mistake a great experience for long-term compatibility.

Once we got home, things changed.

He started smoking more, drinking more, and slowly became someone I barely recognized.

One night after dinner in South Philly, he stumbled into traffic after drinking. A car was coming, and I pulled him back.

That was the moment I realized I shouldn’t have to save the person I’m dating from their own choices.

The relationship didn’t end that night, but it changed how I saw it.

As engineers, we’re trained to look for patterns. One issue might be a fluke. Repeated issues point to a system problem.

Relationships work the same way.

Soon after, he told me he couldn’t spend as much time with me—right when I needed support the most. Then, when my birthday came around, he could only commit to maybe an hour or two.

That’s when I realized it wasn’t about my birthday.

It wasn’t about one dinner.

It wasn’t even about the drinking.

It was about effort.

When someone wants to build a life with you, you shouldn’t feel like you’re competing for leftover time.

A few days later, I ended the relationship. No dramatic fight—just the realization that what we had in San Diego couldn’t survive real life.

The biggest lesson?

Chemistry is not compatibility.

Someone can make you laugh, make you feel seen, and create incredible memories—and still not be the right person to build a future with.

Sometimes we have to stop asking, “How good does this feel right now?” and start asking, “Will this actually work long term?”

That lesson applies to all forms of relationships.

If you’ve ever ignored red flags, confused potential with reality, or learned a lesson about boundaries, you’re not alone.

If you have a STEM story, workplace lesson, career mistake, or a moment where you finally said, “Nope. Not today,” I’d love to hear it. Call or leave a voicemail at (267) 281-3633.

Catch you in the next episode, where we keep unlearning all the outdated career and life advice we never asked for but absorbed anyway.

This isn't another podcast filledwith perfectly polished success stories or generic careeradvice. I'm an engineer by background,but this podcast is about so much more than engineering. It'sabout the people behind the job titles, the moments thatshape us, the difficult conversations, the winsno one sees, the setbacks that change everything, and much more. This podcast exists because Iknow I'm not the only one. Whether you're an engineer, aSTEM professional, a college student, an aspiring leader, someone navigatingcorporate life, a woman in technology, or someone whoenjoys authentic conversations about careers, you'll find something here that resonates.

Every episode is designed tofeel like you're sitting down for coffee with someonewho's willing to skip the buzzwords and havethe conversation we all wish happened more often.

We'll talk abouttopics like:

•Women in engineering and womenin STEM

•Leadership lessons that actually matter• Corporate life• Navigating toxic workplaces • Building confidence and overcoming imposter syndrome• Professional development and lifelong learning• Mentorship • Burnout and resilience• Career pivots and taking risks• Job interviews, exit interviews, and career transitions• Communication and executive presence• Difficult conversations at work• Entrepreneurship and building something of your own• Failure, rejection, and bouncing back• Personal growth outside of work• Relationships between career and identity• Lessons learned from real experiences - not just theory

You'll also hear from guestswith diverse backgrounds who have incredible stories to tell.Engineers. Leaders. Entrepreneurs. Executives. Creators.Professionals from different industries. People who've overcome obstacles, reinventedthemselves, challenged expectations, and discovered what success actually means to them.

Expect honest storytelling.

Expect practical advice.

Expect uncomfortable truths.

Expect laughter.

Expect conversations that aren'tedited to make life seem perfect.

Most importantly,expect authenticity.

This podcast isn't about pretending to have all the answers. It'sabout asking better questions, sharing real experiences,and helping each other navigate careers and life witha little more confidence, curiosity, and courage.

If you've ever felt like you didn't belong in the room...

If you've ever questioned yourabilities...

If you've ever left ameeting thinking, "Did that really just happen?"

If you've ever celebrated awin that nobody else understood...

If you've ever struggled tofind people talking honestly about engineering, leadership, corporatelife, or personal growth...

You're exactly who I createdthis podcast for.

If this sounds like yourkind of conversation, subscribe, follow, and join the community.New episodes feature candid ]]> https://rss.com/podcasts/shes-seen-some-engineering-sht-podcast/3015597 7f4ad61e-4021-4f85-bf5b-cc4958fec0ad 200 full Thu, 23 Jul 2026 10:06:38 GMT false Perfection]]> Welcome back to She’s Been Through Some Engineering Shit, the podcast where we unpack the career lessons that somehow never made it to our inboxes - probably because the memo went straight to spam. Today’s episode dives into the workplace truth I missed for most of my professional life: doing great work is not the strategy we were promised. Real career development - especially for women in engineering and women in STEM - comes from visibility, intentional growth, and unlearning the outdated habits we absorbed long before we ever stepped into a lab, plant, or conference room.

For years, I believed the myth: keep your head down, work hard, be reliable, and eventually someone will notice. Spoiler: no one noticed. And that’s the entire reason this podcast exists. Women in engineering do not need another “just be confident!” pep talk. If confidence alone worked, we’d have women running every boardroom in America. What we actually need is the truth - the messy, unglamorous, deeply human truth about how careers grow in environments where you’re often the only woman in the room, navigating engineering culture, unspoken rules, and expectations that were never designed with us in mind.

This episode is the honest version of career development. Not the polished LinkedIn post. Not the corporate‑approved leadership seminar. I’m talking about the awkward lessons, the accidental breakthroughs, the quiet realizations, and the strategies that actually move your career forward when you’re navigating male‑dominated engineering spaces. If you’ve ever felt like you were doing everything “right” and still not getting traction, this episode is your permission slip to rethink the entire playbook and redefine what growth looks like in STEM.

I break down how my early years in defense shaped my assumptions about what engineering careers were supposed to look like - structure, silence, staying in my lane, keeping my head down, and hoping someone noticed. Defense taught me discipline, rigor, and how to operate in environments where hierarchy was treated like gospel. But when I transitioned into corporate life, I realized I needed to completely reboot my operating system. Corporate taught me that discipline alone wasn’t going to get me promoted. I had to learn visibility - literal, physical visibility. Being seen. Being present. Being in the rooms where decisions were made, even when I didn’t feel ready.

You’ll hear how moving my desk closer to senior leaders changed my trajectory more than any certification ever did. You’ll hear how showing up, speaking up, and letting people actually see me created opportunities I didn’t even know existed. And you’ll hear the moment I led a leadership meeting and realized something that permanently lowered my anxiety: people with fancy titles are just people with laptops, mild confusion, and the same “wait, what are we doing again” energy as everyone else.

This episode is for every woman in engineering, STEM, or any male‑dominated field trying to build a career with intention - not perfection. It’s for the women who’ve been told to “just be confident,” as if confidence alone could bulldoze structural barriers. It’s for the women who’ve been doing excellent work for years and still feel invisible. It’s for the women who are ready to grow but aren’t sure what growth actually looks like in environments where they’re often the only one like them. It’s for anyone trying to navigate STEM career development, build leadership skills, and create sustainable, authentic visibility without burning out.

This is the real playbook - built from lived experience, trial and error, and the kind of honesty that actually helps people grow. No fluff. No corporate jargon. Just the truth about what it really takes to build a career as a woman in engineering and STEM.

Enjoy!