Sashai Yhukutwana has a variety of work experiences and is currently an executive assistant living with her partner and working in Johannesburg, South Africa. In this episode of The Leader Assistant Podcast, Sashai and I have a fun conversation about seeing yourself as a leader, remaining curious, and overcoming doubt. LEADERSHIP QUOTE Hard work is a prison sentence only if it does not have [...]
Jamie Vanek made the unexpected career leap from teaching to construction in 2007 and discovered a passion for project management and team leadership. In this episode of The Leader Assistant Podcast, Jamie shares her career journey and talks about dismantling the stigma around support roles, rethinking administrative structure in small businesses, and restoring respectability to the assistant role. I hope you enjoy our conversation, [...]
As an assistant, one of your highest priorities is to manage your executive's most valuable asset – their time. If you look at your role through this lens, then you'll stop viewing "calendar management" as an uninteresting part of your job. This episode features an excerpt from my audiobook, The Leader Assistant: Four Pillars of a Confident, Game-Changing Assistant. In this chapter, I cover managing [...]
As an executive assistant, your relationship with your executive should be professional, strategic, and mutually supportive. Your goal is to help them succeed, and their goal is to help you succeed. After all, if you succeed, they will. This episode features an excerpt from my audiobook, The Leader Assistant: Four Pillars of a Confident, Game-Changing Assistant. In this practical and challenging chapter, I cover how [...]
Lynn Walder utilizes her 20+ years of executive administration experience across 10 different industries to support the organizational, psychosocial & leadership learning aspects of Founder CEOs (and their Executive Leadership Teams) with their business-building journeys. In this episode of The Leader Assistant Podcast, Lynn and I chat about her career and personal experience working closely with founder CEOs. We explore topics like emotional and [...]
Andrew Reeves is the Executive Assistant to the Chief Operating Officer at Reddit. He brings over 13 years of administrative experience to the table. In this episode of The Leader Assistant Podcast, Andrew shares a bit of his career journey, talks about being a thought partner with your executive, cultivating connection in a remote work environment, and walks us through 4 pillars to leverage [...]
Cher Heard is the Client Infrastructure and Support Manager at an Investment Management Firm in Kansas City, MO. Her role is as diverse as the team of people she manages and supports. In this episode of The Leader Assistant Podcast, I talk with Cher about her story, the unique way her team of administrative support professionals is structured, how they support each other, and [...]
Kristine Valenzuela has over 20 years of experience as an executive assistant and chief of staff in several industries. In this episode of The Leader Assistant Podcast, I talk with Kristine about what makes an assistant a leader, how to identify leadership strengths, the difference between chief of staff and EA, and more. LEADERSHIP QUOTE Leadership is about making others better as a result [...]
Mom, wife, and high performer, Kate Wilkes is an executive assistant who found work she loves, with a leader who poured into her. Kate is moving out of her EA role and into a Chief People Officer role doing work she loves. In this episode of The Leader Assistant Podcast, Kate walks us through her career path from EA to Chief People Officer, shares [...]
Through her years as a fierce type-A, Monique Helstrom has sharpened her ability to take large complex problems and break them down into bite-sized, achievable nuggets which she now uses in her consulting and speaking business. This bonus episode of The Leader Assistant Podcast is from a recent Leader Assistant Zoom Chat where Monique joined us to talk about how to have tough conversations [...]