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Just Laura, a cup of coffee, and a whole lot of life lately. ☕️

This week on Wait… What’s Next?, we're having a little girl talk. Without a guest or even a big agenda, I bring to you just four life updates and a few things I've been learning along the way.

First, I'm talking about my latest Sephora adventure and attempting to pull off a whole new no-makeup makeup look for "my best friend's wedding" which you can read about on my Substack. Am I a makeup artist? Absolutely not. Are we winging it? Absolutely.

Then I'm getting into the great in-between of job searching. The agony of interviewing, the anxiety of the waiting game, the endless uncertainty, and learning how to keep enjoying your life when your next career move is still up in the air.

There's also a little long-distance relationship update as I navigate closing the gap with the love of my life while making sure I'm still present for the life happening right in front of me.

And finally, I'm officially hard-launching my Pilates era. I've basically moved into my Pilates studio over the past couple of weeks, started another successful relationship with my reformer (it's going well), been loving hot mat Pilates, and still keeping the foundation with two days of weights, all while evolving my workout routine as we enter the fall season. So, it is official. I am a Pilates girly through and through.

A little beauty, a little career talk, a little drama in love, and a lot of life I am still figuring out.

One thing I've realized is that you must keep loving and living your life to the fullest, wherever you are, while working on the next chapter. No more yearning, just doing it (Nike).

If any of these pillars resonate, leave me a comment and let's continue the convo. Even though life throws little pieces of chaos your way here and there, we don't necessarily have to do it alone.

So pull up a chair. Sip your Americano. And let's talk. ☕️

New episodes of Wait… What’s Next? Every Thursday.

Fun Resources Mentioned on the Episode:

Pilates Studio

New Substack where I will be writing more

Sephora

Page Lorenze Makeup look minute 28

Youtube Channel

Relevant Episodes:

The Job Search Rebrand

Skin Care Routine

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Wait... What's Next?

Support the Show: Buy Us a Cafeisto

Host: Laura Alba
Co-Host: Amanda Brilhante
Executive Producer: Lauren Atkinson

Instagram: @waitwhatsnextpod, @lauraalbaz & @amandakbril

Email: waitwhatsnextpod@gmail.com

Connect with us :)

What if you stopped treating your job search like a numbers game and started treating it like a marketing campaign?

This week, Laura and Amanda are talking careers, job searching, career pivots, and one of the biggest Wait… What’s Next? questions of all: how do you position yourself for where you want to go when your experience only shows where you’ve been?

Laura is navigating her own next career move while getting more and more messages asking for help with resumes, LinkedIn, positioning, and breaking into new roles. Amanda has navigated career changes of her own. So instead of giving you another list of job search hacks, they’re looking at the entire process differently.

Think about it.

You are the product.
Your ideal companies are the audience.
Your resume and LinkedIn are the messaging.
Networking, applications, referrals, and your personal brand are the distribution.
The interview is the conversion.

But before any of that works, you need to answer a much bigger question:

What do you actually want to be hired to do next?

Laura and Amanda talk about getting clear on your next move, positioning transferable skills, telling a better career story, using LinkedIn intentionally, networking, dealing with rejection, pivoting industries, and separating a job search strategy that isn’t working from the belief that you aren’t good enough.

You’re not just looking for another job. You’re deciding what you want your next chapter to look like.

Pull up a chair. Sip your Americano. And breathe. ☕️ We got you!

News Episode Every Week!

Relatable Episodes:

Leaving Your Dream Job Can Be The Best Decision

The Journal Of A CMO

Resources for What's Next ☕️

A little something extra to help you put this conversation into action!

LinkedIn Learning is a great resource for exploring new skills, strengthening your professional profile, and building confidence as you prepare for your next career move.

Whether you're actively job searching, considering a career pivot, or simply figuring out what you want next, remember that investing in yourself is part of the process.

Have a career resource you swear by? Share it with us on Instagram @waitwhatsnextpod. We'd love to keep building this resource list with our community. 🤍

Resources are shared for informational purposes. This is not a sponsored recommendation.

Support the show

Wait... What's Next?

Support the Show: Buy Us a Cafeisto

Host: Laura Alba
Co-Host: Amanda Brilhante
Executive Producer: Lauren Atkinson

Instagram: @waitwhatsnextpod, @lauraalbaz & @amandakbril

Email: waitwhatsnextpod@gmail.com

Connect with us :)

This week, Laura sits down with Lauren Atkinson, the newest member behind the scenes of Wait… What’s Next?, helping shape the production and strategy of the podcast, for a very personal conversation about love, finding your person, and the woman you become along the way.

Before Lauren met her future husband, there was a season of soul-searching. In this episode, she opens up about that chapter, how they met, what made this relationship feel different, what seven years together taught her about love, and the moment she realized she was ready for marriage.

And then there’s the wedding.

After seven years together, Lauren decided to plan the entire ceremony and event in less than six months. Now, with 30 days to go, Laura is getting ALL the details. The planning, the pressure, the excitement, the decisions, and what it feels like to stand on the edge of such a huge new chapter.

But underneath the wedding countdown is a bigger conversation:

How do you know when you’ve found your person? And how much of finding the right relationship begins with knowing yourself?

Whether you’re single, dating, wondering if you’ve met the one, in a long-term relationship, newly engaged, or thinking about your own next chapter, pull up a chair for this one. ☕️

Even when you find your person, it isn’t the end of the story.

It’s the beginning of a whole new what’s next. 🎙️

Support the show

Wait... What's Next?

Support the Show: Buy Us a Cafeisto

Host: Laura Alba
Co-Host: Amanda Brilhante
Executive Producer: Lauren Atkinson

Instagram: @waitwhatsnextpod, @lauraalbaz & @amandakbril

Email: waitwhatsnextpod@gmail.com

Connect with us :)

You can do everything “right.” Eat well. Exercise. Go to your appointments. Take care of yourself. And then one unexpected conversation with a doctor can make everything else feel very small.

This week, Amanda opens up about a recent health scare after receiving unexpected news following a mammogram, and Laura shares an earlier experience of her own that brought up many of the same feelings.

This isn't an episode about having all the medical answers. It's about what it feels like when you're waiting for them.

We talk openly about the fear that comes with unexpected testing, the thoughts that run through your head while you're waiting for results, advocating for your own health, asking questions, navigating additional testing, and how technology is changing the way we understand and manage our health.

But more than anything, this conversation is about perspective.

Health scares have a way of reaching beyond age, lifestyle, or how “healthy” you consider yourself. They can make the things you were worried about yesterday suddenly feel a lot less important and remind you just how much we take an ordinary day for granted.

Waking up. Feeling good. Calling someone you love. Going to work. Moving your body. Living another completely normal day.

Sometimes the ordinary things are the blessing.

If you've ever sat in a doctor's office waiting for an answer, gotten an unexpected result, supported someone you love through a health scare, or simply been reminded that your health isn't something to take for granted, this conversation is for you.

Pull up a chair. This is a vulnerable one.

Episodes drop every Thursday

Related Episodes:
Eat, Pray, Log Off: The Story of a Corporate Soul Reset

Fear, Anxiety, and the Emotional Side of Growing Up

Support the show

Wait... What's Next?

Support the Show: Buy Us a Cafeisto

Host: Laura Alba
Co-Host: Amanda Brilhante
Executive Producer: Lauren Atkinson

Instagram: @waitwhatsnextpod, @lauraalbaz & @amandakbril

Email: waitwhatsnextpod@gmail.com

Connect with us :)

Nine years ago, Laura and Amanda walked out of the house where they spent their senior year of college with absolutely no idea what the next decade would hold.

This summer, Laura walked back in.

The house looked almost exactly the same. But this time, a new group of UCSB seniors was living there, standing at the beginning of the same transition Laura and Amanda once faced: graduation, the real world, careers, dating, big decisions, and the terrifying but exciting question of what’s next?

In this episode, Laura and Amanda talk about life after college and what they wish they could tell their 22-year-old selves. They unpack the pressure to have a plan, making your first real adult decisions, keeping your options open, dating in your 20s, trusting your vision without becoming attached to one version of how your life should unfold, and learning to enjoy the process while you’re still in it.

Because nine years later, Laura realized something else.

Going back wasn’t only about seeing how far she’d come. It was a reminder to stop moving the finish line.

When you’re constantly trying to grow, achieve, optimize, and figure out your next move, it’s easy to forget that you’re currently living inside a life a younger version of you once couldn’t even imagine.

If you’re in your early 20s, terrified because you don’t know what’s next, or you’re ten years out of college and still wondering if you’re doing enough, this conversation is for you.

Keep the vision. Stay open to the plot twists. Trust the process.

And please, enjoy it while it’s happening.

Because chances are, you’re doing better than you think.

New episodes of Wait… What’s Next? Every Thursday.

Support the show

Wait... What's Next?

Support the Show: Buy Us a Cafeisto

Host: Laura Alba
Co-Host: Amanda Brilhante
Executive Producer: Lauren Atkinson

Instagram: @waitwhatsnextpod, @lauraalbaz & @amandakbril

Email: waitwhatsnextpod@gmail.com

Connect with us :)

Hot Girl Summer may be out, but Rich Life Summer is officially in.

And no, we're not talking about money.

In this week's episode, Laura and Amanda dive into a transition that doesn't get talked about enough: growing out of your 20s while still feeling very much young.

Somewhere along the way, the trends, habits, fashion choices, and weekend plans that once felt exciting start feeling a little less... appealing. Not because we're getting old, but because we're evolving.

This episode is for all of our fellow in-betweeners who have ever looked around and wondered if they're the only ones who no longer want to wear the trendiest outfit, stay out until 2 a.m., or chase every new thing social media tells them they should care about.

Together, we discuss:

• The fashion trends we've officially retired - crop tops (cough)
• Why being cold for an outfit is no longer an option
• The activities and habits we've outgrown
• Why slowing down feels surprisingly good
• The pressure of keeping up with trends and timelines
• What a "rich life" actually means to us
• Why deeper connections are replacing surface-level experiences

This isn't a serious episode. It's a fun, honest conversation about growing up, evolving, and realizing that maybe the best parts of life aren't the loudest ones.

So grab your coffee, get comfortable, and join us for a conversation about style, friendships, joy, and the subtle transition of becoming more yourself.

New episodes every Thursday.

Support the show

Wait... What's Next?

Support the Show: Buy Us a Cafeisto

Host: Laura Alba
Co-Host: Amanda Brilhante
Executive Producer: Lauren Atkinson

Instagram: @waitwhatsnextpod, @lauraalbaz & @amandakbril

Email: waitwhatsnextpod@gmail.com

Connect with us :)

You got the new job. You moved across the country. You ended the relationship.

You started over. So... why does it still hurt?

We spend so much time talking about making the big decision that we rarely talk about what comes next. The quiet moments after the excitement fades. When the boxes are unpacked, the routine begins, and you find yourself grieving a version of your life you thought you were ready to leave behind.

In this episode, Laura and Amanda explore the emotional aftermath of change and why gratitude and grief can exist at the same time.

They talk about what it means to say goodbye to an old version of yourself while making room for the person you're becoming. They also dive into the experiences they believe are worth having before committing to a serious relationship, the dreams that deserve space, and why honoring your own journey ultimately makes you a better partner.

Laura shares why traveling has become a non-negotiable after spending fifteen years unable to leave the United States as an immigrant. Amanda opens up about the importance of getting certain experiences "out of your system" before settling down. Together, they discover that while the reasons may be different, the lesson is the same:

Sometimes freedom begins the moment you choose courage over fear.

This episode is for all of you navigating a move, a career change, a breakup, or simply becoming someone new. It is a reminder that you don't have to let go of your past to embrace your future.

You can miss what was. Love what is. And still be excited for what's next.

New episodes out every Thursday. Share with us your in-between

Relevant Episodes:

Say yes to the scary decision

why leaving your dream job can be the best change

Human design: Guest speaker on rebuilding yourself

Support the show

Wait... What's Next?

Support the Show: Buy Us a Cafeisto

Host: Laura Alba
Co-Host: Amanda Brilhante
Executive Producer: Lauren Atkinson

Instagram: @waitwhatsnextpod, @lauraalbaz & @amandakbril

Email: waitwhatsnextpod@gmail.com

Connect with us :)

Buying your first home is supposed to be one of the happiest moments of your life.

So why does nobody talk about how emotional it actually is?

This week, this inbetweeners sit down with the realtor who helped Laura buy her very first condo, Marylene Notarianni, to unpack one of the biggest transitions of adulthood. With more than 14 years of experience guiding buyers and sellers through life's biggest milestones, Marylene shares a perspective that completely changed the way we think about homeownership.

Buying a home isn't just about the numbers.

It's about navigating uncertainty, trusting your instincts, letting go of fear, and making one of the biggest decisions of your life.

Together, we discuss:

• Why buying your first home is an emotional journey, not just a financial one
• The myths that keep people from taking the first step
• How to know if homeownership is truly your next chapter
• The pressure of feeling "behind" when everyone around you seems to be buying
• The realities of renting vs. buying
• The questions every first-time homebuyer is too embarrassed to ask
• Why there isn't one right timeline for building your life

This is for anyone dreaming about buying your first home, wondering if it's the right move, or simply trying to figure out what your next chapter looks like.

New episodes every Thursday.

Support the show

Wait... What's Next?

Support the Show: Buy Us a Cafeisto

Host: Laura Alba
Co-Host: Amanda Brilhante
Executive Producer: Lauren Atkinson

Instagram: @waitwhatsnextpod, @lauraalbaz & @amandakbril

Email: waitwhatsnextpod@gmail.com