Beyond Decadence

Beyond Burnout LIVE: Hidden Challenges Affecting Your Workforce

Your top performers may be caregiving on the clock.

On Thursday, June 25, I'm hosting a complimentary private preview event and inviting a limited number of guests to experience it firsthand.

Since pivoting from pastry chef to interactive keynote speaker, people have asked me the same question:

"How does a pastry chef use dessert as part of a keynote presentation?"

This is your chance to find out.

Burnout is visible. Caregiving often isn't.

What if one of your top performers is balancing a second job as a caregiver?

Using a real-world employee caregiving scenario, you'll get a behind-the-scenes look at how storytelling, experiential learning, and a pre-made dessert can help leaders move beyond assumptions and better understand what employees may be carrying behind the scenes.

If you lead people, support employees, influence workplace culture, or want to better understand what may be happening behind changes in employee performance, this event is for you.

Registration is complimentary, but space is limited.
[Event Link 👇🏾]

Still smiling. 😊

A few days ago, my photo appeared on the Nasdaq Marketsite Tower in Times Square. Thank you Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center, Wells Fargo, and Circles for the amazing 12-week program that made this epic moment possible.

It's a fun milestone, but what means the most is all of the support, encouragement, comments, texts, phone calls, and messages I received from so many of you.

Thank you for celebrating this moment with me.

If you're newer here, you may not realize this journey started many years ago, and it has been anything but a straight line. I've been an IT consultant, a non-traditional pastry school student, a pastry chef, a bakery owner, an entrepreneur, a family caregiver, and now a speaker and advocate helping organizations better support employee caregivers.

Now all those gray hairs make sense. 😊

This photo represents more than a few seconds on a tower.

It represents perseverance, courage, resilience, growth, and more than a few pivots along the way.

I'm incredibly grateful for every person who has encouraged me, challenged me, referred me, prayed for me, hired me, mentored me, collaborated with me, or simply cheered me on from the sidelines.

Thank you for being part of the journey.

The tower moment was pretty darn cool, but the best part is the people who helped me get there. 💜

(That's me at the very top! Now I know which headshot I used.)

One month ago, I graduated from the Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center Milestone Circles program.

This week, something surreal happens.

On May 28, 2026, my photo will appear on the Nasdaq MarketSite Tower in Times Square. The same tower that has become a symbol of innovation, entrepreneurship, and bold ideas.

If you had told the younger version of me. The IT consultant commuting to pastry school over 200 times by train. The bakery owner pivoting to try to reinvent herself. The caregiver balancing life, business, burnout, and uncertainty. That one day my face would appear on the NASDAQ tower in New York City...

I probably would have called you crazy even if only in my head, given you "the look" and resumed life.

What makes this moment meaningful is not the billboard itself.

It’s what it represents:
🔥Growth
🔥Reinvention
🔥Clarity
🔥Perseverance
🔥Resilience

And the reminder that sometimes the path that makes the least sense while you are going through it, becomes the exact path maybe you were made to be on all along.

👩🏼‍💻 From technology.
🥐To pastry.
🤺To Xena Warrior Princess defending Little Mama and Papa Kemp.
🎤To interactive keynote speaking and caregiver advocate for many.
Absolutely NONE of it was linear.

But somehow, every tear, every battle, every story in each chapter mattered.

Huge congratulations to my fellow Milestone Circles graduates and entrepreneurs who are also being featured. Building something meaningful takes courage, BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goals) especially when the path forward seems like it's written in sand.

My tower moment will appear:
🗓 May 28, 2026
⏰ Time: 1:30-1:35 pm PST / 3:30-3:35 pm CST / 4:30-4:35 pm EST
📍 Nasdaq MarketSite Tower, Times Square, NYC

How to watch: Viewing 🔗 in comments

And honestly, this whole experience feels a little like my business journey itself:

Performance didn’t change. The context did.

Meaning: sometimes people only see the outcome or the pivot, without realizing the battles, caregiving, reinvention, sacrifice, and resilience happening behind the scenes.

Now if I can only remember which headshot I submitted. 😅

More to come.

I have TWO big thank you’s to Bobbie Carlton and the amazing team at Innovation Women:

1️⃣ Thank you for creating a platform that truly supports and promotes women speakers while fostering such an incredible community.
2️⃣ “Look Ma (aka Little Mama), they picked me!” 🙋🏾‍♀️

I’m honored and excited to have been selected as one of the speakers for the Innovation Women 11th Anniversary Speaker Friend-a-thon from a pool of more than 50 applicants.

Mark your calendars now! The event runs Friday, May 29th from 8:00 AM ET to 7:00 PM ET. Eleven hours. Eleven-minute lessons. Speakers, breakout rooms, giveaways, conversations, and connections happening all day long.

🪎 Hourly contests, giveaways, lessons, instant breakout rooms, special offers, and more
👫 Members and non-members are welcome to attend.

My 11-minute lesson is called:
“Performance Didn’t Change. The Context Did: How experiential storytelling changes what audiences remember, feel, and do.”

This conversation is rooted in something I’ve learned through caregiving, leadership work, and honestly… life. More accurately, when life is lifing.

We’re often making decisions about people without understanding the full context they’re carrying.

Basically, we’re making decisions based on assumptions instead of understanding the full story.

That’s also why experiential storytelling matters.

People may forget information, but they remember what an experience made them feel.

That conversation has shaped much of my recent work, including the Beyond Burnout Masterclass around caregiving, leadership, and burnout in the workplace.

🗓 Friday, May 29
⏰ My session takes place during the 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM ET Coaching Hour

Excited to share the virtual stage with this incredible community and powerhouse speakers - Lindsey Sands, Orly Zeewy, MBA, Cait Donovan, Gehan 'G' Haridy-Ardanowski, Debra Eckerling, Liz M. Lopez, Joie Seldon, M.A., Katelyn Carey- BSN, RN, Elaine Belson LCSW 🧠, Cheryl Tan, Dr. Christiane Schroeter

And yes… dessert may make an appearance. 🍰

Registration 🔗 in first comment.

What happens when leaders only see the performance changes?

☐ Are deadlines suddenly being missed?
☐ Has someone disengaged from meetings, team conversations, or social activities?
☐ Are they arriving late, leaving early, or stepping away unexpectedly?
☐ Has productivity noticeably dropped?
☐ Are they physically present, but mentally withdrawn?

🔍 What if those aren’t simply performance problems?

→ What if they’re signs that someone is silently struggling with caregiving responsibilities?
→ What if the employee who suddenly seems distracted is coordinating doctor appointments between meetings?
→ What if the team member showing up exhausted was awake most of the night caring for a parent, spouse, child, or loved one?
→ What if the “drop in performance” has nothing to do with capability at all?

Performance didn’t change. Context did.

Translated: Too often, leaders see the behavior without understanding the caregiving realities happening behind the scenes. And when assumptions replace curiosity, employees suffer silently.

That’s exactly why I created the Beyond Burnout Masterclass.

A 33-minute conversational-style masterclass with a downloadable reflection workbook designed to help caregivers and leaders better understand the hidden impact caregiving has on work, communication, burnout, and support.

Access the masterclass through the link in the comments below.