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About
Episodes
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Welcome to Strong Feelings

The official occasional-ish show for feminists at work. No "leaning in" or fake productivity hacks required.

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Recent Episodes

Introducing: Thread the Needle with Donna Cleveland
Time to Do Nothing
We Are Indivisible with Leah Greenberg
The Fifth Trimester with Lauren Smith Brody
Fair Play with Eve Rodsky

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Get a monthly collection of leadership tools, self-reflection activities, and links we love. It’s a no-BS, feminist take on work, leadership, and life.

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About the Hosts

Strong Feelings is hosted by Katel LeDû and Sara Wachter-Boettcher, and made with ❤ (and snacks) in Philadelphia, PA. More about us.

On the ’Gram

Next week will be anything but business-as-usual h

Next week will be anything but business-as-usual here in the US: we’ve got the inauguration, fears of more coordinated violence, and the Senate impeachment trial, all in the shadow of a pandemic currently taking the lives of more people than ever. It’s more than any of us can possibly process—especially when most of us ALSO have to keep showing up on work calls and closing sprint tickets and presenting design work and all the rest.⠀
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So here’s what we’re asking ourselves as we prepare for next week, and we invite you to join us: what can we take off the to-do list or remove from our calendars next week? ⠀
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Which commitments aren’t actually that important?⠀
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What can we afford to give ourselves a break about?⠀
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If you manage people or have other leadership power, it’s an even more important question. What can you do to give your team more breathing room next week? Can you cancel a meeting, make something optional, push a deadline out by a few days?⠀
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Like we talked about last week, work can be a healthy diversion during tough times, but avoidance only gets us so far. We also need space to process, to feel, to just be in our bodies. Because there’s so much work to do in this country, long after the political parties in power change—work to make things more just, more equitable, more humane. And we can’t do it if we’re numb and exhausted.⠀
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So join us in lightening the load a little, before things get even heavier. Pick at least one thing, and let it go for now. Future-you will be glad you did.

Ok, y’all! The next Courageous Leadership Progra

Ok, y’all! The next Courageous Leadership Program starts three weeks from tomorrow! And I know a bunch of you have looked at the program, but not signed up yet. If that’s you, come to one of our free Q&A sessions, please! ⠀
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Thursday January 14 at 12pm ET ⠀
Thursday, January 21 at 5pm ET ⠀
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These are free, casual, totally low-pressure sessions where I’ll answer questions and give you a feel for what to expect. I will NOT be doing a big sales webinar. Because let’s be real, I hate those—and no one needs more pressure in their lives right now. ⠀
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Here’s what we’ll do instead: I’ll answer questions, and also ask a few—like where you’re feeling stuck, small, or not quite yourself. By the end of the session, my goal is that you know exactly what to expect when you sign up, AND have a head start on mapping out what courageous leadership looks like in your life. ⠀
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(What’s the Courageous Leadership Program? SO GLAD I ASKED. It’s a 6-week small-group coaching program that is all about spending less time second-guessing and spiraling into self-doubt at work, and more time speaking up for your needs, values, and ideas. It’s designed specifically for folks in tech and design, and one of the most gratifying things I’ve ever made.) ⠀
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Sign up link in bio or at bit.ly/AV-CLP

I've been thinking a lot this week about the preva

I've been thinking a lot this week about the prevalence of "softening language." We saw it all summer with "racially charged" instead of "racist." We've seen it for years with Trump—"misleading statements" instead of "lies."⠀
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And we've seen SO much of it this week, calling the violence at the US Capitol a "protest," instead of what it is: ⠀
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White supremacist violence⠀
Attempted coup⠀
Terrorism⠀
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Many of us have been taught to avoid discomfort—taught that if something feels awkward or "negative" to say out loud, then it's bad, impolite, unprofessional.⠀
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But it's not unprofessional to tell the truth, and we don't owe violence our politeness.⠀
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Softening language can be wonderful in the right context—like when giving tough, constructive feedback to someone on your team.⠀
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But if naming white supremacy, violence, and terrorism makes you uneasy, it's not the words' fault. It's that the reality of those things is painful and scary. Softening our language will not help us process those feelings—and if we don't process those feelings, we'll stay stuck in them, frozen, unable to act.⠀
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So name this what it is. It's the first step to somewhere better.

When things are uncertain or scary—like, say, a

When things are uncertain or scary—like, say, a violent white supremacist coup attempt—it can feel like there are two choices: either get sucked into the doomscroll, or distract yourself with work. Freeze up or run away. I’ve seen it this week—some friends have been up until 3am every night, panic-watching MSNBC or angry-tweeting into the void. Others have told me they’re “powering through” or “keeping their head down.”⠀
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These are normal responses, but they’re also limited ones. Doomscrolling and obsessing is a form of the freeze response—we sit panicked and powerless, waiting for the next blow. Throwing yourself into work is a form of the flight response—a way to avoid thinking about awful things and feeling painful feelings. Get stuck in either, and you’ll find yourself feeling exhausted and alone.⠀
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There are more ways to meet this moment, though. And one of the most important one is to just get back into your body, and allow yourself to feel. ⠀
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Naming and acknowledging our feelings sounds simple, but when those flight/fight/freeze responses are triggered, it’s hard to remember. ⠀
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So this Friday, give yourself a moment. Breathe deep. Hold some compassion for that scared, exhausted, angry, grieving person inside. Listen to what you need, and look for ways to connect with yourself, your power, and your purpose in this moment.

📣 Enrollment is open for the Courageous Leaders

📣 Enrollment is open for the Courageous Leadership Program! And now—yes, NOW—is the perfect time to join.⠀
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This 6-week program is all about unpacking the messages that keep you feeling stuck and teetering toward burnout, and replacing them with the skills to show up with presence—even during tough times.⠀
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In fact, this program isn’t about doing more right now. It’s about doing LESS.⠀
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Less second-guessing.⠀
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Less self-editing.⠀
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Less people-pleasing.⠀
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Imagine spending less of 2021 afraid of having an opinion, and more time saying what needs to be said. Less time worrying what everyone will think, and more time owning your ideas. Less time letting your inner critic tear you down, and more time confident in your value.⠀
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It’s absolutely possible. Last fall, 29 people joined the Courageous Leadership Program—people like UX managers, content strategists, design directors, and principal researchers. They said things like:⠀
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“The best investment I’ve made in my personal and professional life so far.”⠀
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“I no longer feel stuck in impossible situations.”⠀
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“I've entered challenging conversations more vulnerably, spoke up about my needs more honestly, and felt more confident in myself than ever before.”⠀
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I want YOU to be next. We start February 3.⠀
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Link in bio or sign up at bit.ly/AV-CLP

New Year’s often brings out a ton of self-judgem

New Year’s often brings out a ton of self-judgement and punishment—it’s all talk about quitting this or losing that. So for the first Friday of 2021, we want to ask a different question: how will you practice self-compassion this year?⠀
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How will you be kinder to that brain and body of yours?⠀
What’s one thing you want to forgive yourself for? ⠀
How will you respond when your inner critic gets harsh? ⠀
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Don’t get us wrong: self-compassion isn’t giving yourself a free pass for harmful behavior. It’s crucial to hold ourselves accountable for the impact we have on the world. But the truth is, lack of compassion for ourselves—even when we screw up—helps no one. It actually makes things worse, because it sends us down a shame spiral.⠀
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When we’re ashamed, we often shut down and get defensive, which stops us from learning and growing. We beat ourselves up and tell ourselves we’re bad people—rather than assess where we went wrong, and how we’ll handle things differently next time. We even struggle to be compassionate to others—because we’re so used to judging ourselves, we start projecting that crap onto everyone else, too. ⠀
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We definitely don’t need more of that this year. So we hope you join us in raising a glass to compassion—for ourselves, and each other. Happy new year!

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