How many opportunities have you let pass because you were waiting to be noticed, chosen, or invited? In this episode of the Be S.H.E. Podcast, Heidi Schalk sits down with Janet Heins, Chief Information Security Officer at ChenMed and author of Go Ahead, Ask for It: Make Your Value Undeniable, to talk about what becomes possible when women stop waiting and start asking.

Janet has risen through the male dominated world of cybersecurity and held leadership roles at Biogen, W.L. Gore, Royal Caribbean, iHeartMedia, and Merck, often by asking for roles she had never done before. She opens up about the moment a male colleague dismissed her proactive leadership as self serving, and how she chose to keep showing up anyway, this time making her intentions clear so no one else could define them for her. Together, Janet and Heidi unpack the fear of being judged, the pull to please everyone, and why being seen and heard is an act of service, not vanity.

You’ll hear how Janet made her very first big ask, how to frame a request around the value you bring so your voice carries weight, and why a no is never the end of the story but a source of information that helps you grow. She also shares the simple reframe that helps her step into the unknown with confidence: discomfort just means there’s more to learn.

This conversation is your permission slip to stop shrinking, own your value, and ask for what you want. Find Go Ahead, Ask for It on Amazon in ebook, audiobook, and paperback, with hardcover coming soon

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

Website: https://www.janetheins.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/janetheins/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/janet.heins/

Connect with me:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heidischalkcoaching

FB Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/femaleentrepreneursandleaders

Spotlight to Scale: https://www.spotlighttoscale.com/blueprint

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heidischalkcoaching/

Ready to grow your biz: https://calendly.com/hlhgrowthsolutions/30minconnectcall

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

Connect with me:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heidischalkcoaching

FB Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/femaleentrepreneursandleaders

Spotlight to Scale: https://www.spotlighttoscale.com/blueprint

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heidischalkcoaching/

HLH Growth Solutions: https://hlhgrowthsolutions.com/

Ready to grow your biz: scalewithheidi.com

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

Connect with me:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heidischalkcoaching

FB Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/femaleentrepreneursandleaders

Spotlight to Scale: https://www.spotlighttoscale.com/blueprint

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heidischalkcoaching/

Ready to grow your biz: https://calendly.com/hlhgrowthsolutions/30minconnectcall