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Building Your Kitchen Cabinet

Have you ever wondered how some people always seem to get the promotions, the best projects, or the opportunities you didn’t even know about?

It’s easy to assume that just more talented, more confident, or better connected.

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But often there’s something else going on behind the scenes.

A small, trusted group of people they turn to when they need advice, perspective, or a connection at the right time.

Today we’re talking about how to intentionally build such a network isn’t about formal mentorship programs or networking events.

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It’s about building relationships with people who can challenge your thinking, champion your work and help you navigate big career decisions.

Today’s guest is Beth Mazza.

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She’s the author of Entrepreneur Like a Mom and Co founder of The Female Mavericks, a platform helping ambitious moms like you navigate their career on their own terms.

Beth believes that this kind of intentional support system that she caused, the kitchen cabinet, can be one of the most powerful tools for working mums juggling ambition, family, and big decisions.

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Welcome, Beth.

1:25

Speaker 2

I’m so glad to be here and I’m laughing because as you’re telling that intro this weekend, I tapped into my own kitchen cabinet so hard on something that I’m realising, ohh, I really, it’s so innate now that I use it that I didn’t even think I’m tapping in.

1:42

I just thought I was calling friends.

1:45

Speaker 1

Ohh that’s great to hear and I would love to hear the story.

So please tell us more about how intentional networking, building, or our kitchen cabinets can help working moms as they navigate their careers.

2:02

Speaker 2

Yeah, I mean it.

I I’ll tell some stories from my own life.

I’ll start with this.

I think as a working mom, we are so focused on tasks at hand, right?

We have kids and we’ve got to get them exactly where they need to go that day.

2:17

Then we have work.

We have a set of tasks that we have to make sure we’re doing.

We don’t schedule in very fairly.

We don’t schedule in time for just casual connections with people or just interesting conversations with people or just way too busy.

2:33

And I saw as I sort of moved up in business that guys were great at this.

They would go golfing, they will go get beers after work.

Like all these things that I felt like as a mom of four young kids, like who leads on a Saturday to golf for seven hours, you know?

2:51

So I think I saw a lot of instances where I think unintentionally, guys knew about jobs, guys knew about projects, they knew about new clients in ways I didn’t because I ran like hell out of that office at 501 or whatever time it was so I could get my team somewhere.

3:12

And then I had this sort of amazing moment where a woman from like my inner school network, I mean, not someone I considered a friend, not someone I ever intentionally scheduled time with just because I was so busy.

3:27

I was doing like nothing social with for small kids and she kept asking me what I did.

She kept asking me what I did and I was sort of like talked to her and then ran and got a kid.

And one day she stopped me and she said, hey, I I work for a company that needs what you do.

3:47

Would you be willing to sit down with me and we’ll talk and I’ll make it introduction.

Well she did that and it turned into this huge client and I remember thinking okay, what can I do for her?

And we ended up kind of being connected and we actually are still good friends today.

4:03

And I sort of unintentionally bumbled into my own like little network where she helped me circumvent the cross less and get through aptly with the decision maker to get the contract.

So as I slowly sort of saw that not only could someone help me, but I could help them.

4:22

And she was very kind and she introduced me to different people in her network and I did the same.

So that was sort of my first thing where I realised, okay, I can’t go play golf for seven hours, but man, the mom pick up line, that could be pretty powerful.

4:37

Or, you know, as your kids get older and you’re on the sidelines for these terrible games that you’re at 9 hours a day on a beautiful Saturday, you know, we bought them that.

So I sort of ended up there and just slowly thinking of connections and also just making sure that I was very forward and said, can I help you?

4:53

I have a connection failed.

And as I did this over the years, my business partner Victoria, who’s younger than me, was always saying to me, man, how do you know these people?

And I said it’s super unintentional, but as I was mentoring her, because she’s much more extroverted than me, had a bigger friend group, I thought, wow, she’s going to be great at this.

5:14

Sort of started talking about the roles that each of these women played and then the roles I was trying to play.

And that’s where the categories of cheerleader, connector and compensator came in and it made me sort of think really deeply about the roles that we all play for each other and that like we desperately need.

5:33

So I think as women, like we’ve got our cheerleader and network down, right?

Our best friends are like, you are amazing.

You can do this.

Don’t work.

Okay, So I always felt like I truly do.

So do same ones.

But then I thought, you know this woman who helped me out?

5:49

I realised as I got to know her, she was just an Uber connector.

She has introduced me to her CEO, she introduced me to a sales guy I wanted to hire.

She invited me to a networking event.

Everything that she was doing was just basically she thought it was innate to connect and she knew the more she connected, it would help her as well.

6:08

So I put her in that category and as my career got bigger, my business got bigger and I had these big holes of areas that I literally did not know how to do.

I was a services based consultant, ohh, PR industrial relations, so for public companies.

6:27

But something came up in our business and we had to build a software product.

I mean, I barely could use Excel, but I knew we needed this software product.

So my compensators were people who had been part of software launches and new technology.

And I mean, sometimes I just went on LinkedIn and if they were connected to a friend, I asked for a connection and I would sit with them for half an hour and I would learn something about software I didn’t know.

6:52

So I kind of ended up with these three categories.

And The funny thing is, I I use them today in my my world right now, we have a book coming out in September.

Hold on to me, girl like a mother.

And probably what is normal is we’re like fighting with the publisher over the book cover.

7:10

And so of course, I went to my whole compensator network and that’s other authors and other publishers, which a year ago I didn’t know anybody.

But in the last year, I’m just like, I’m going to find offers that we’ll talk to me so I can learn about the process.

7:26

So I swear I did it through friends or learned in I, I had no problem reaching out to someone on LinkedIn and saying, you know, mad, can I get 15 minutes of your time?

I have this one question I’m struggling with and so this weekend I went to my compensators and said I focus group them for the book cover and it was super useful.

7:48

So my, I mean a couple unintended consequences of like slowly building that kitchen cabinet because it takes a while is one.

8:00

The Power of Intentional Networking

I never feel that moment where a problem hits me and I literally have no idea what to do.

I never feel that.

I feel like instead of saying I don’t know what to do here, I literally open up my network and go, okay, who knows stuff that I don’t know about this and I start reaching out.

8:21

I’m in my 50s.

In my 20s I couldn’t do that because I didn’t know how and I didn’t have enough work so slowly.

So this.

8:29

Speaker 1

Is this is exactly where my next question lies?

I wanna know reaching out to people you don’t really know, or it’s someone your friend actually knows, that could be very intimidating.

8:45

So can you talk me through some practical ways of doing that without running for the hills?

8:52

Speaker 2

Yeah, it is super cringy.

And if you go on to femalemavericks.com founders files, those are newsletters and they’re free and they’ll always be free.

We have the actual clowns I use and they’re in the book well, but let me tell you like #1 I start with the premise that if I don’t know someone and I could have some kind of a warm intro, that would be best.

9:16

So I was trying to get a warm intro, but like, sometimes I don’t get it.

Sometimes someone says they’ll make an introduction but they don’t.

My 2 huge things are one, make sure that the person that you’re asking to help you is absolutely capable of answering your question.

9:35

Do not guess before you come to me and say, you know, I just had someone come to me and say, can you help me with that with a tech product launch and they had very specific questions.

I’m like, I am literally the last person that you would want to do that.

I will.

9:50

I have no knowledge of that whatsoever.

So number one, just make sure that whatever you’re asking that person can do that favour for you.

They have the knowledge.

If not, you wasted it.

You can never go back to them again.

And then the second is I really work on fine tuning and narrowing the ask.

10:10

So instead of saying and I’ll give you the example from this weekend.

I reached out to someone that I didn’t know as well and I said book comes out September 26.

Arguing with publisher about cover.

10:25

Two options.

May I have 5 minutes of your time?

And I was kind of amazed they picked up the phone and called me right away and, and had a really strong point of view.

So I always try and narrow it like my kids are looking for internships.

And I said you could use my network in anyway you want, but you have to have a single question to ask the person in the network.

10:45

It might just be, did you have interns last year?

Has anyone come from my university?

You know, whatever it is that they’re asking.

And then once you’ve done that, like except that only one of every five people you don’t know is going to help you, like just your number is going to be 1 and five.

11:03

That’s it.

Don’t feel rejection when four or five ignore you.

So get ready because you got to reach out a couple of times, ask in a very narrow way.

It’s super thankful and grateful.

And then I always put them on my little list where I make sure that every other week with a new contact that I did me a favour and I would like to maintain the relationship that I’m trying to reach out and give them something.

11:30

So if we’re in the same city, of course I want to take them out for a drink or invite them to an event.

But in this virtual world, we’re not.

So my secret and other people have different ones, is, you know, I love to read an interesting article.

So if I see an article, that’s kind of cool.

11:47

And unemployed.

I send them on LinkedIn the article and I say thank you so much for the 10 minutes you gave me.

It helped me so much.

This is a cool article that’s relevant because And that’s it.

I just try and figure out ways to make sure that they know if I can’t do something for them right now.

12:06

Like I’m super aware that they did me a really big favour and that I’m actively maintaining the network.

And like, you have to accept that half the people you do that with don’t care and will never talk to you again.

But within that other half is like the beginning of some curls with some really really good relationships.

12:25

So like, I accept that my hit rate is low.

I narrowly defined my ass and whether or not they respond after I do try and keep up with them.

And like one thing about women, like men are amazing, right?

Because I have a son and three daughters, my son is like, of course that guy wants to help me.

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Of course.

And you know, he, it never crosses his mind.

He’s bothering someone, right?

He will call me in the middle of a work day and he has a very serious job and he’ll be like, my buddy’s going to call you in 10 minutes because he needs help on this thing.

It never crosses his mind.

13:03

I wouldn’t want to drop everything into it.

My daughter’s to like, some of my best friends are like, no, Aunt Leslie’s busy, ugly.

No, she’s not.

You know, so I do see a difference in gender where worse maybe because we’re so busy, but we’re also like super sensitive and you know, we’ve kind of got to get over that.

13:20

We have to know that a woman will say I cannot help you right now, but tomorrow at 2:00 you can call me and that that’s an OK response.

13:29

Speaker 1

Yeah.

So I wanna know.

So for each problem or each, each scenario, it’s not the same same people in this network.

So every time it’s like someone else or it’s not like a fix.

13:45

This is the five people you need to have in your network.

13:51

Speaker 2

Yeah, so I have and what I could do is I can send it to you and you can put it in the show notes.

I have a grid and as goofy as this sounds, I keep the grid up.

I have cheerleader compensator connector and then I have my top names and some of those names switch out either because I need a different expertise or because they haven’t been responsive.

14:17

But I do sort of assign a role so that the minute that I need a connector, I’m looking at my top 10 or 12 connectors.

And the other thing I do, which is I know this sounds so cold hearted, but if someone has a been responsive, I’m crossing them out on that grid and I’m realising I have some real holes.

14:39

And actually, when I switch from when I sold my company and decided to write a book, my entire connector compensator grid related to publishing on social media was completely blank.

I did not know one person that was not my business.

14:56

I was so deep in the other areas.

So in the last 18 months, I sort of had that grid in front of me.

And as goofy as this sounds, I thought I need to have 5 authors I can call, I need to have two publishers and I need to have 5 to 10 people who really know social media, digital, around books and newsletters.

15:16

I’m not quite there yet, but I’m getting there.

I have a call after this with someone that I think could be that person.

So, and by the way, in that in this scenario, I have nothing to give them.

I have no expertise, I have nothing to give them.

15:31

So I really do work on first of all, just like gratefulness, like thank you, I’m 57.

I have no, no relationships at all.

This is super helpful.

I go back to people who have helped me and I always e-mail them and say thank you so much for connecting me with Anne Marie.

15:50

Anne Marie helped me in this way.

And I couldn’t have done it without you.

Like, that’s the most I can do right now.

So, you know, that’s what I’m doing.

And so far it’s working.

16:01

Speaker 1

Okay, that’s very interesting and very good advice.

16:05

Navigating Connections: Finding Your Network

So my next question is where do you find these people?

You mentioned LinkedIn earlier, but do you like literally seek out?

Do you do you search them on LinkedIn or Google or how do you find them?

16:19

Speaker 2

Yes OK so I’m a LinkedIn person even though I hate so much about it.

Personally I have not found that in person networking events to 1st meet someone or helpful to me.

16:35

SO I use networking events with something in person as a I’ve now talked to magic, can’t wait to meet you next week at blah, blah, blah.

So that that kind of works better because that’s more authentic to me.

I am not I as much as as my business was selling and I have been in front of so many audiences in my life.

16:54

I go into a networking group meeting and I like freeze.

Like I go to the corner and I, I don’t want to talk to anyone.

So like, that’s my personality.

If yours is different, then you got to try that.

So for LinkedIn, this is true.

I went through.

17:10

I opened up LinkedIn one day and I started Googling.

Mom authors, mum preneur authors, whatever it was, the search mechanism amendment isn’t terrible.

And from there I looked at where I had second or third network contacts.

17:30

And then I use, I mean literally it’s the simplest e-mail which you can attach in your notes of how I did that.

So that was wrong.

And then I started to comma on content that was relevant to my topic.

17:48

And then if the if I saw the cons had enough times and I thought it was interesting and I commented, I would DM the person and say, hey, we’re kind of in the same field.

I’m right in this book.

I love your stuff.

You have 10 minute.

Like half the people thought I was selling them something and never responded.

18:06

Half the people sort of got on the phone kind of wary of what I was going to say and I always kicked off the thing and said I have nothing to sell you.

I have 10 minutes where I would like to pick your brain on this topic and women are over the top hopeful when they when you take them out of that to fund their Crouch like famous authors would give me an hour.

18:28

Women were so amazing VC.

I had a woman I didn’t know at all, but she’s a woman investor in VC.

And after our conversation she said, I’ll review your book online, send it to me.

18:44

I like what you’re saying.

I think you’re right.

I mean, and by the way, in return, randomly, I was just able to introduce her to someone else in my network who’s looking for VC and assert funding in a certain field.

And I was like, ohh, you have to know Kate.

19:00

So they’re connected.

Part of it is there is like we are humble as women and we think maybe I’m just speaking for myself, but I think ohh, you’re too busy.

I think we are craving connection and if we’re moms, we’re not like, you know, going on on Friday night with a huge bunch of women cause we have kids at home who are sick.

19:22

So I’ve found like if I could connect with a woman for 15 minutes and midday, that sort of helped me mentally, made me realise that there’s other women going through this too.

And it made me feel better because I wasn’t, you know, book club sounds great, but not with my kid at, you know, I’m sure just like everyone else, I had four kids and four different sports, all travel.

19:45

Like I was not going to make the Tuesday night book club meeting.

19:48

Speaker 1

So.

19:49

Speaker 2

Never.

That also helped.

And so you forget that other women are in that situation too.

We just weren’t like 10 minutes.

Good connection.

19:57

Speaker 1

Yeah.

So I think that makes so much sense because if you reach out and you’re honest and you tell them you don’t want any, you don’t want to sell them anything, and you just literally pick their brain or you validate what they are already saying.

20:17

They are just so much more open to have these kind of conversations.

20:23

Speaker 2

And like we as the person helping, like just feel good when you help someone, right?

Like we feel great that ohh, magic can introduce this person.

Maybe it’ll help.

I get off the phone and think I that felt like a good thing.

I wanted to do that.

So there’s some psychic income in there too.

20:41

Speaker 1

Absolutely.

Yeah, because I want you to unpack the Champions, compensators and connections a little bit more for us so that people know these three categories and that moms can know when to reach out to which category.

20:59

Understanding the Roles: Cheerleaders, Connectors, and Compensators

OK, so let me start with the compensator because I think that’s the hardest for women.

One, because we don’t always have time, but two, because like we’re going to do it ourselves.

We know how to do this.

So the areas where you need a compensator for are ones that you cannot ChatGPT yourself out of.

21:21

So I’ll just give you an example in my own life, which is the book cover.

I I read a book on book design and I that gave me one opinion on a cover.

My publisher talked about some research that gave me a different opinion that I talked to my business partner and she had a third opinion.

21:42

And we, we both said at the same time, OK, we don’t know what we’re talking about.

We can’t just go off our gut.

Let’s get into our networks.

And so we ended up saying, you know, finding compensators who were either in design, they were in book design, they had published a book or they were publishers and, and we focus group them and that was super helpful.

22:03

And some we knew, but some we didn’t, which was a little cringy, but I went on LinkedIn and I did it anyways.

So I think the compensator is that area that is new to you and you’re psyched about it.

You want to do it, but you are a little intimidated and you gotta talk to some people that educate you and share their experiences enough that you’re not intimidated anymore.

22:25

That’s a super important area that I feel like women always forget because we’re sure that we can do it ourselves or we’re so damn busy we don’t know how to make the time.

Then there’s the connector.

And to me, we all know connectors, whether we call them that.

You know those women that you talk to even in your personal life who are like, go to this gym, take this class, meet this women.

22:48

You know, always when you’re talking to them, they’re always finding different ways to go at the same problem.

And and that is a I’ve sort of grown into a connector because I think it’s a really important thing, but it’s not natural to me.

So when you know you need a connector is a situation where you know, you have an idea, a solution, a thing like you, you’ve done the research, you know you’re right, you’re willing to take a bet on it, but you don’t know what that next step is.

23:21

And so an example for women in corporate could for sure be, you know, you’re super ready for a commotion.

You know there’s a job coming up and you’ve done everything in the job to prove that you’re good, which you have no idea how they’re going to pick who they’re going to pick.

23:42

You don’t know what the process is.

You don’t know if they’re talking to outside parties.

You don’t know anything.

You just know what you’re good at.

I mean, that is a great time to both go internally to executives and externally to women who have been through that before and really get them to help you figure out who in the company you could be connected to, to learn more.

24:05

It’s also for women who are entrepreneurs and they’ve got to raise some money.

You love your idea.

You know it’s the right business idea.

You have to raise a little bit of money and you have no idea how.

I mean, the connectors in the fundraising space for women are small but mighty, and they will go to bat for you.

24:24

And they’re used to getting sort of cold calls.

So on the connector side, you’ve got your idea cemented.

You know what you’re ready to do, but the next step you don’t know how to do.

And you got to meet someone who’s done it before and who can connect you with someone.

So to me, my active, I’m always actively looking for connectors and I’m always actively being a connector because when you, you know, are looking for some funding and another woman says, ohh, yeah, call Kate.

24:53

She’s funding exactly the kind of businesses that you’re on.

I mean that’s where life changing phone call the third of the cheerleaders and they know as we age that our cheerleading group changes because, you know, someone moves, someone gets a promotion, etcetera.

25:13

I just moved to a new city and so I have all my old cheerleaders who have been with me since high school and college.

But like, I want everyone to know I am actively looking for my cheerleader network right now in San Francisco.

And I just thought I am going to go to activities, I’m going to talk to people.

25:32

I’m going to put myself out there because I find if I can sit and have a cup of coffee with someone in person and talk about what’s going on and they booing me up, I do a lot better.

So that is when I am actively working on.

I’m going to be friends with friends.

25:47

My son just set me off with another mom.

He said I’m friends with her at work.

She lives in San Francisco too.

You guys will like each other.

So, you know, I take an introduction by debt and I’m always willing to spend 15 minutes and sometimes it’s only 15 minutes and sometimes it turns to two hours.

26:07

So connectors are people who are when you are ready, you are the classicist, but you don’t know what to do next.

You’re calling your connector and saying help me.

Do you know someone that compensators?

You are not sure what’s your answer is.

26:22

You have a problem.

You might know the answer, but you might be dead wrong.

So compensators are the ones that are helping you answer that.

And cheerleaders, you know, we love moms, are great cheerleaders, but sometimes we are so busy cheerleading everyone else that we don’t think to call our bestie or a new friend and say, I had the worst day.

26:44

I think I’m gonna.

I mean, the number of times during the writing of the book that I called my cheerleader group and said, this sucks.

It’s not good, I’m not good, I’m this story’s not relatable.

I’m giving up.

So I’m glad I didn’t.

I don’t think he posted at the bookshelves but.

27:02

Speaker 1

So the first two are more professional networks, and the Champions could be your personal network, your friends and family.

27:13

Speaker 2

Yes, but I would say in a corporate setting it is pretty helpful to have other people those cheerlead you because they know exactly what the situation internally, the culture is corporate.

27:26

Speaker 1

But.

27:27

Speaker 2

It also is probably helpful in a corporate situation where you’re in a meeting and you can cheerlead someone else and they can do the same.

So yeah, I think they are personal, but I think it’s your lucky enough that you’re in a cultural workplace where you could have friends and cheerleaders internally that you’ve got to use those people as well and and be that person for others too.

27:49

Speaker 1

Yeah, yeah.

I was just gonna say I’ve worked in environments where I’ve worked with incredible women in the magazine industry and in hospitality as well, where they were so supportive and I could never accomplish what I did if it wasn’t for their support and their motivation.

28:10

And I feel like so many women try to figure things out on their own, like if we stop working or operating in silos and just have a more collaborative approach and put our egos aside or stop trying to prove that we can do everything by ourselves.

28:30

It could be like the the opportunities that we are missing because we have that mindset is, is, is dire.

So what would you say?

What’s stopping us from actually being more being more helpful to each other or speaking up for each other?

28:51

Overcoming Barriers: Why Women Struggle to Support Each Other

Why do you think so many women are trying to figure it out on their own?

28:56

Speaker 2

Yeah, I I think about that a lot because I do sometimes wonder if articularly in a corporate environment if women are aren’t so great at helping each other.

I mean, I think I, I do believe #1 it is time, especially as moms or caregivers.

29:17

We, I, I’ve had, I’ve had three businesses, I sold two, been the financial breadwinner for my family my whole life.

And yet if you ask me what was the most important thing when I woke up every morning, it was never my business.

It was always caregiving to whoever needed it.

So I do think there’s some of that will adjust like that’s how we’re wired.

29:37

So I think part of its time, but I think part of it is also women have to build that habit and I think men naturally have it because they haven’t had so many things pulling them away.

29:53

So I mean this sounds crazy, but I write on my To Do List every week. 15 minutes of cheerleading because I forget when I get so busy, I forget to reach out and try and help people.

And the other thing I do, and I think we all have to do is and someone reaches out for help in anyway.

30:15

If you can’t help them write then in a workplace because you’re right in the middle of something, you have to take the next step and say this week is so terrible.

How about we have coffee Tuesday at 10:00 and I got 30 minutes and we’ll talk exactly about what we just said.

30:30

It’s super important.

I just can’t get it right now and that took me way too long to learn.

I would say I was too busy and I would think in my head I need to go back.

But now what I do is I say right at that moment, let’s schedule a time because we do get really busy and it is that most important.

30:47

I mean, I do.

I think it’s just have it in time because I think once we begin to engage with someone, like we’re all in, we want to help them.

So it’s almost like getting over that obstacle of like, I will give this 15 minutes.

I will sit.

31:03

And then whenever I hear someone, I had someone outraged to me that I didn’t know at all that I’ve heard a podcast.

And I did this with her because I just thought I do not have time right now.

I do not know this woman from Adam.

And I have to say, we schedule the time.

I said, I’ll give you 15 minutes.

31:19

That’s all I have on this right now.

I spent an hour.

I spent another hour.

I talked to her now like it was you just sort of have to get over yourself.

You’re not that busy.

It is important help someone.

And by the way, this is making our own corporate 20% of women are not going to help you.

31:34

They’re going to step on your back and I don’t know why.

And it used to really bother me and I thought I could change them, but there isn’t a you know, there is a point where you just say, okay, Yep, you’re a woman, Yep, you’re a mom, but you ain’t gonna help me.

So I’m not going to spend my time here.

31:50

I mean, I hate because I think that sounds really cold, but that has been my experience.

So I’ve.

31:55

Speaker 1

Definitely.

They are definitely situations where where it’s very cut throat, where it’s like I have to be at the top, I have to be the best.

I’m getting that corner office and I will literally jump over your body to get there.

32:12

Speaker 2

Yes.

And then we just have to like read that out because.

32:15

Speaker 1

Yeah.

32:16

Speaker 2

That’s.

32:17

Speaker 1

A very, a very interesting theory I heard about that was that it’s actually mom guilt that the certain moms feel like I’ve given up time with my family.

I don’t go to any sports matches.

I am building this career.

32:33

So I have to be the best to justify what I’ve given up for my family.

So that’s an interesting way to look at it’s actually, he said.

32:43

Speaker 2

We could all go there, right?

Like I wouldn’t, but I could see that.

I mean, they’re all our moments where I’ve felt that way for like a scratch of a second.

Ohh, I’m sorry for those people because I don’t think that’s a great way like that.

33:00

I completely.

33:01

Speaker 1

Agree.

33:02

Speaker 2

You won’t like the outcome of that.

I don’t.

33:05

Speaker 1

Yeah, I think, uh, if women work together, amazing things can happen.

33:12

Speaker 2

Ohh and I think I’ve never seen it stronger than the last couple of years.

And I work a lot with late 20s, early 30s.

Those women are setting the world on fire and they are figuring out their groups.

They are helping each other.

33:29

It is top of mind for them.

I’m super impressed with them.

So I feel very good about next sets of generations.

33:35

Speaker 1

Yeah, I must say, the younger, I’ll be 40 in four days.

So that the women, even once, the women even younger than me, they are definitely doing inspiring things.

33:51

Speaker 2

Oh yeah, I think their minds, that’s different too.

I think they don’t.

They don’t.

They’re not the only in the room.

You know, that great lean in research that’s done is all about why women leave as they get more senior.

And it’s because they’re the only, they’re the only one in the room that I felt that my entire career.

34:10

It’s different now.

It’s not different enough, but it’s a little different though.

And so you get a little bit of strength in numbers that we didn’t have.

Especially being a mom.

I would never admit that I was a mother in some of the boardrooms I was at.

I mean, nobody was.

If they were a parent, they sure didn’t talk about it.

34:28

Speaker 1

Yeah, yeah.

It’s so interesting how different generations played different roles in getting women where they want to be.

So we had the, the feminists who wanted to work and started to work.

And then I almost saw this, um, movement of moms pushing back, saying we want different rules because we work and we get, we are the caregivers.

34:56

And then there’s this next generation who just make up their own rules.

They don’t, they don’t play by the rules that were thought out for men in the 1950s.

They just pushed back.

35:09

Speaker 2

And they call Manana, and they’re not ashamed of Annies, who is an entrepreneur, One child, one on the way.

She’s just unapologetic.

She will say absolutely not.

I don’t have daycare on Friday.

I cannot do that.

I thought, Oh my God, I would never have said that.

35:27

Ohh.

I think it’s not something I think that’s always good.

35:30

Speaker 1

Yeah.

Well, it’s amazing to.

Yeah, these inspirational things happening.

And thanks so much for sharing your wisdom about the kitchen cabinet and the people we need in our careers to give us momentum.

And I am so grateful that you took time, but the time difference from the states to South Africa that we could meet and have this conversation.

35:55

Thanks so much, Beth.

35:56

Speaker 2

Ohh I loved it mate thank you so much.

35:59

Speaker 1

I love this conversation with Beth so much because challenges the idea that we have to figure out everything on our own.

Building a career, especially while raising a family, isn’t something any of us were meant to do in isolation.

36:15

And Beth’s idea of intentionally reaching out to your support network or kitchen cabinet is such a practical reminder that the right people around us can change the way we make decisions, solve problems, and move forward in our careers.

36:34

So if today’s episode resonated with you, maybe the question to ask yourself is who’s already in your kitchen cabinet and who might you want to invite in?

If you enjoyed this episode of Moments, please share it with a friend or another working mum who might need to hear it.

36:55

Remember to follow and subscribe.

And as always, thank you for being here.

See you next time.