Hi Career Mamas,
November was all about building your Reputation Capital. Understanding how you’re perceived, shaping the story you want told, and taking intentional steps to make your impact visible. As many of you prepare for performance reviews, this month’s work helped you advocate for yourself with more clarity and confidence.
💬 Monthly Slack roundup
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Staying grounded through tough seasons: Mariel Gilbert shared a deeply challenging few months of family health emergencies and work stress, and asked for support on how to stay centered and receptive during difficult feedback conversations.
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Tips for clearing your head during intense work season: Sophia Zelov shared that back-to-back offsites have left her mentally drained and asked for advice on resetting. Members suggested focusing on priorities, dropping non-essentials, and carving out small moments of rest.
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Balancing work and identity as a new mom: Joan Gwizdak opened up about how hard it’s been to feel like herself again as a new mom. She shared the tension between wanting to grow at work and wanting to be fully present at home. She asked the group when they began to feel their footing return and how they navigated this early, emotional season.
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Navigating partner accountability at home: Srilakshmi Karupakala asked for advice on how to keep her partner accountable for tasks he commits to, without taking on the extra load herself or burning out in the process.
More threads from this month…
Family costumes for Halloween 2025
First weeks of motherhood - tips & suggestions
Investing in ease at home - splurges that are worth it
Tips to keep baby warm during winter nights
When kids think cleaning is cool
Getting through Hand, Foot, and Mouth disease with your little one
CRM tools for tracking your consulting network
Newsletter recommendations
December: Lead with Priorities
Become the leader who focuses on what truly matters, communicates trade-offs with conviction, and stops silently absorbing work. In December, you’ll learn a simple, strategic prioritization method and use it to get explicit, promotable alignment with your manager while creating a sustainable workload instead of always hustling.
Up next: December events, challenge, Circle prompt, and Kajabi updates.
🗣️ Events
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Coaching call: 12/10 11am-12pm PT (optional)
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Circle: 12/11 & 12/12
🎥 Resources
- Strategic Prioritization: Do Less, Deliver More - a 10 minute video lesson in Kajabi designed to help you simplify your plate, focus on what truly moves the needle, and free up your energy.
🎯 Challenge for December: Prioritize for Impact
December piles on expectations: end-of-year deadlines, holiday logistics, and the pressure to “handle it all.” The No More “I’ll Just Handle It” challenge helps you lead with prioritization, strategically protect your bandwidth, and stop absorbing work that isn’t yours.
📆 Week 1 Challenge (December 1st week): Run the Priority Test
📆 Week 2 Challenge (December 8th week): Manager Alignment
📆 Week 3 Challenge (December 15th week): Unsubscribe to an Expectation
📆 Week 4 Challenge (December 22nd week): Prioritize You
Look out for MJ’s Slack on Monday (12/1) to kick off our challenge.
✍️ Circle prompt for December
The expectations you carry at work and at home shape your workload, your identity, and your reputation. Taking on too much can blur your impact, dilute your focus, and leave the wrong story being told in manager conversations and performance calibration rooms. The Circle will help you identify the expectations you need to unsubscribe from, what is keeping you tied to them, and how to reprioritize in a way that strengthens your leadership story.
Prompt Discussion
1. What is one task or project at work or at home that you are realizing you are doing out of expectation rather than true priority?
This might be something you have always owned, something you took on to be helpful, gendered expectation that you should own it, or work that worry would quietly disappear if you stopped doing it.
2. What is actually holding you back from dropping, deferring, or renegotiating this expectation?
Is it guilt, fear of disappointing someone, concern about how you will be perceived in reviews, pressure to prove you can still handle everything, or something else?
3. What is one action you can take this month to reprioritize in a way that better supports your goals, and what will success look like?
This might include dropping the task, renegotiating with your manager, delegating at home, or making your focus visible during this review window.
🌟 Member Spotlight
Congrats to Sam on landing a full-time role in ad tech doing work she loves plus a big salary bump, and a company that supports working parents! Even better, her new manager is already working with her on a plan to help her hit the ground running, build visibility, and grow into the promotion she deserves.
Sam shared her gratitude for the Career Mama community, from job search support to encouragement along the way. We’re celebrating you, Sam!
This month was about making your impact visible. In December, we’ll support you in protecting your time and energy with clear priorities and boundaries to help you close the year with clarity and calm.
Happy Thanksgiving! 🦃 We’re thankful to be on this journey! Hope you get to enjoy good food, family time, and rest!
Cheers,
Shivani & team
