Tezeta "Tez" Roro had everything the blueprint promised: the MBA, the six-figure salary, the recognized company name on her badge. She was so proud of that job she wore her badge to the grocery store. Then came 10:00 PM on a corporate campus, nine months pregnant, working through a capital budget crunch, and the moment she realized the structure she had spent 12 years climbing was fundamentally incompatible with the life she was actually trying to live.

What she did next took two and a half years of calculated planning, a Forbes article documenting every step, and the courage to go from a guaranteed salary to 100% commission as a first-gen immigrant with a toddler, a newborn, and a husband consulting out of state three weeks a month. Today Tez is a broker-owner, speaker, and founder of Yourtopia Realty Partners. This is her story.

What You Will Learn:

1: Why the "golden handcuffs" of a six-figure salary are often worth less than they appear once you calculate taxes, commute, stress, and lost time
2: How Tez structured a deliberate two-and-a-half-year exit strategy as a risk-averse introvert with no safety net behind her
3: The difference between mourning a corporate identity and finding confidence in a new one
4: Why she used a six-month maternity leave to test whether she could actually sustain the real estate lifestyle before fully committing
5: Practical financial strategies for leaving corporate when you have a mortgage, kids, and no trust fund
6: What it really means to define success on your own terms, and why middle schoolers gave her a standing ovation

About Tezeta Roro:

Tezeta "Tez" Roro is a broker-owner, speaker, and founder of Yourtopia Realty Partners. A first-generation Ethiopian-American with a biology degree, MBA, and 12 years in corporate operations, Tez documented her exit strategy in Forbes and has since built a brokerage and property management company simultaneously. She speaks nationally on entrepreneurship, real estate, and building a business that aligns with your values.

TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 — Introduction: The parking lot moment
01:00 — Painting the picture: 12 years inside corporate
03:00 — The risk-averse introvert and what that actually means
04:30 — The immigrant path: biology, MCATs, and the pivot to business
07:00 — The cracks appear: parenting inside a corporate structure
10:00 — The RSV hospitalisatio and the conversation that changed everything
14:00 — Nine months pregnant, 10:00 PM, hitting a deer in the parking lot
17:00 — The second maternity leave that became her launch runway
19:00 — "We get married to the top-line salary" -- the real numbers breakdown
22:00 — What to do if you have no partner safety net
24:00 — The rebuild: identity shifts, isolation, and finding the new version
28:00 — Why real estate and the ding-ding moment during her own home purchase
31:00 — The introvert-extrovert misunderstanding and entrepreneurial risk appetite
35:00 — Letting go vs. mourning: how to leave without grief
38:00 — Lightning Round
41:00 — The Last Question: advice for anyone about to bet on themselves

Connect with Tezeta Roro:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tezroro/
Forbes Article: https://www.forbes.com/sites/ellevate/2019/07/31/plotting-your-corporate-exit-strategy/

FOUNDING SPONSORS:
1: Wise Agent | https://wiseagent.com/jsquared - The all-in-one CRM that helps real estate agents manage contacts, automate follow-up, and grow their business.

2: Subi | https://www.oksubi.com/ - Your AI transaction genie. From contract to close, your work is my command.

3: The CE Shop | https://j2.theceshop.com/ Use the discount code jsquared for an additional 35% off

SUBSCRIBE to Outside the Corporate Box for new episodes every Monday.

Outside the Corporate Box is part of J Squared Podcast Productions — a premium media network built for professionals who want more than entertainment.

Jackie Phichith spent nearly two decades inside Fortune 500 boardrooms helping McDonald's, Merck, and Pfizer navigate transformation. Then she realized the framework she had been teaching organizations was the same one she needed to apply to herself. What she learned next might change how you think about the career decision you are sitting on right now.

What You'll Learn:

1: Why 70% of enterprise transformations fail and the one thing companies keep cutting that guarantees it
2: The SHINE framework: a 5-step method for moving any team through change without losing people
3: What the Midnight Rambles of Teddy Roosevelt teach us about effective leadership in 2025
4: How to do a quarterly business review on yourself when you're a founder of one
5: Why employee engagement scores are not soft data and what happens when leadership ignores them
6: The identity shift nobody talks about when you leave a corporate title behind

About Jackie Phichith:
Jackie Phichith is a change management strategist, keynote speaker, and founder of Inspiration Your Way. With nearly 20 years inside Fortune 500 companies including McDonald's, Merck, and Pfizer, she has developed the SHINE framework to help leaders and organizations move through transformation without losing their people. She now brings that expertise to a broader stage, working with executives and founders across industries.

TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 — Cold open and episode introduction
01:00 — What 20 years inside Fortune 500 companies actually looked like
03:30 — Why only 27% of employees trust their leaders to guide them through change
07:00 — The real reason companies cut training during transformations
08:30 — The moment Jackie knew she had to step outside the corporate box
13:00 — How staying comfortable becomes the biggest risk
15:00 — The identity shift of going from corporate employee to founder
20:00 — How to protect your focus as a solo founder
24:00 — Running a quarterly business review on yourself
28:00 — The Teddy Roosevelt Midnight Rambles story and what it means for CEOs
31:00 — The organizations that will be left behind by AI and rapid change
38:00 — The SHINE framework explained step by step
44:00 — Lightning Round
46:00 — The Last Question: What would you go back and tell yourself on day one?

Connect with Jackie Phichith
Guest LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacquelinephichith/

About the Show:
Outside the Corporate Box is a Monday podcast co-hosted by JMan and Jeffrey Scott Stanton. Every episode explores what happens when ambitious professionals step beyond traditional titles and build something on their own terms. Real stories about reinvention, risk, and what it actually takes to bet on yourself.

FOUNDING SPONSORS:
1: Wise Agent | https://wiseagent.com/jsquared - The all-in-one CRM that helps real estate agents manage contacts, automate follow-up, and grow their business.

2: Subi | https://www.oksubi.com/ - Your AI transaction genie. From contract to close, your work is my command.

3: The CE Shop | https://j2.theceshop.com/ Use the discount code jsquared for an additional 35% off

SUBSCRIBE to Outside the Corporate Box for new episodes every Monday.

Outside the Corporate Box is part of J Squared Podcast Productions — a premium media network built for professionals who want more than entertainment.

Lauren Dunkle Dlugosh was one of the top billing recruiters at her firm in Rochester, regularly placing $550K to $650K in fees annually. She had great colleagues, a strong reputation, and no real reason to leave. And the night before she quit, she slept perfectly.

That is what this conversation is really about. Not the business plan or the LinkedIn announcement. The moment before all of it, when everything felt right even though nothing was certain yet.

What You Will Learn:
1: What a non-solicitation agreement actually means and what it costs you when you walk away from a decade of client relationships
2: Why Lauren named her first year of entrepreneurship grief, and how that honesty made her a better founder and recruiter
3: How the golden handcuffs concept applies beyond recruiting and how to know when the cage is no longer worth it
4: What Lauren's cross-country camper van trip has to do with landing a client after she went independent
5: The one reframe that shifted everything: it was not about what she was running from, it was what she was running toward
6: Why Lauren went from being a doer at her old firm to a creator building her own

TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 — Introduction & The Hook
00:42 — Guest Introduction: Lauren Dunkle Dlugosh
01:10 — Life Before Relay: The Rochester Firm
04:22 — The Slow Burn: When Fine Stops Being Enough
05:11 — AI in Recruiting: What Lauren Wanted to Build
10:20 — Non-Solicitation Agreements Explained
12:50 — Golden Handcuffs: The Cost of Comfort
15:16 — Life With Intention: The Camper Van Trip
17:03 — The Loneliness Nobody Talks About in Year One
21:05 — Grieving a Life You Actually Loved
24:43 — Stopping Waiting for Permission
27:48 — Lightning Round
33:25 — The Last Question: What Would You Tell Yourself on Day One?
34:07 — Outro

About Lauren Dunkle Dlugosh:
Lauren Dunkle Dlugosh is the Founder and CEO of Relay Recruiting, an executive and professional search firm based in Rochester, New York. With nearly a decade of experience recruiting across nonprofit, higher education, manufacturing, energy, and the C-suite, she built her reputation as a top billing recruiter before launching independently. Her work combines deep relationship-based search with a forward-thinking approach to AI and workflow efficiency.

Connect with Lauren Dunkle Dlugosh
Guest LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurendunkle/
Website: https://www.relayrecruiting.com/

FOUNDING SPONSORS:
1: Wise Agent | https://wiseagent.com/jsquared - The all-in-one CRM that helps real estate agents manage contacts, automate follow-up, and grow their business.

2: Subi | https://www.oksubi.com/ - Your AI transaction genie. From contract to close, your work is my command.

3: The CE Shop | https://j2.theceshop.com/ Use the discount code jsquared for an additional 35% off

SUBSCRIBE to Outside the Corporate Box for new episodes every Monday.

Outside the Corporate Box is part of J Squared Podcast Productions — a premium media network built for professionals who want more than entertainment.