It's been an incredible year building Offline & Unfiltered, and we feel so so lucky to have such great fanbase and platform to have thought-provoking conversations and a lot of laughs.

That said, we need to walk our own talk. We have learned a ton this past year, and we're going to apply some of those lessons to change the podcast for the better. Some things you can expect:

• Shorter episodes! We'll be experimenting with ~45 interview driven episodes and ~20 minute advice driven episodes. We want to make our episodes easier to slot into your day.

• Season Format! We'll now do seasons rather than biweekly episodes year round. We feel this is the best way to deliver you the best quality content while also staying on top of our jobs and lives.

• Patreon! We are completely independent and want to remain ad free. We plan to set up a Patreon to help us pay for all the tools we use and support we receive, as well as working towards a bigger goal of renting recording studio space. Your support would mean the world to us.

We're also exploring marketing help, because Lakisha and Megan hate social media.

All that said, we're taking a break! We'll be back later in 2025 with our new format and more Offline & Unfiltered conversations.

Have a topic you'd love to hear us cover? Know someone who would be an interesting guest? Want to chat with us about marketing support? Want to send us positive vibes? Email us! info@offlineandunfiltered.com

Thank you for an incredible year,

Lakisha & Megan

HR veteran Sonja Smith joins us for an unfiltered conversation about one of the most complex and often frustrating aspects of work. With over 20 years of experience in HR and talent acquisition, Sonja breaks down why companies struggle with fair pay, the truth about salary ranges, and why being loyal to your employer might actually be costing you money.

We dive deep into how compensation really works behind the scenes, from the challenges of pay transparency laws to the uncomfortable reality of salary negotiations. Sonja shares invaluable insights about when (and if) you should ask for a raise, why companies often fail to adjust internal salaries to match market rates, and how both employees and employers can better navigate compensation conversations.

This episode offers practical takeaways for anyone looking to understand their worth in the workplace, advocate for themselves effectively, or better understand how compensation decisions are really made. Whether you're an employee wondering about your next salary negotiation or a manager trying to have better compensation conversations with your team, this discussion provides honest, actionable insights from someone who's seen it all.

Key topics include:

• Why compensation philosophies matter
• The impact of pay transparency laws
• How companies determine salary ranges
• The "loyalty penalty" and its effects
• Tips for discussing compensation with your manager
• Common compensation myths and misconceptions

Connect With Our Guest

Sonja Smith on LinkedIn

Atera HR

Sonja's Substack

Resources:

Comprehensive.io

Pay Transparency Laws: A State by State Guide

We're excited to welcome Kenyetta Hall back for one of our deepest conversations to date, the complexities of navigating corporate America as a black woman. Lakisha has wanted to have this conversation for sometime now, and we knew Kenyetta would be a great counterpart to this important conversation.

As a reminder for our listeners, Kenyetta is an entrepreneur and strategic consultant who specializes in helping businesses bridge the gap between vision and execution. With her company, The Katalyst HQ, she focuses on business strategy, digital product development, and leadership development, offering services like strategic planning, software development, and product management.

We covered a broad range of topics, from dealing with poor leaders to code switching, and got into spaces that may make some uncomfortable. We also laughed a ton and had a great time. Our biggest takeaway is the reminder that not every company or job may be for you, and that's ok. Go find the place that is.

As always, we have these conversations to give our listeners a new perspective and humanize the workplace. We hope folks from all background take away from valuable nuggets from this conversation.

Connect with our Guest:

Kenyetta Hall LinkedIn

The Katalyst HQ

Resources For Listeners:

The Diversity Gap: Where Good Intentions Meet True Cultural Change - Bethaney Wilkinson 

DEI Deconstructed - Lily Zhang

The Inclusive Organization - Netta Jenkins

How to Be an Ally: Actions You Can Take for a Stronger, Happier Workplace - Melinda Briana Epler 

We dig into this questions and many more with our hilarious, honest, and impressive guest, Jazmyn Lopez. Jazmyn is the founder and thought leader behind Anthelo, a consulting studio concept that delivers her mission is to help intentional entrepreneurs cut through the noise to build sustainable business growth. Her unique corporate experience blends with a no-nonsense personality and earned authority to guide ambitious leaders through the journey of expansion. 

Our conversation with Jazmyn reemphasized the importance of changing your environment to meet your needs, and not the other way around. We laughed, we swore a lot, and we also discussed the challenges that we have all faced in one way or another.

Connect with Our Guest:

Anthelo Consulting Studio

Connect with Jazmyn on LinkedIn

A Note From our Hosts: We're shaking up some things and getting ready to roll into another year of O&U! In this reflection stage, we are dropping our episodes down to one per month through the end of the year. We're excited to bring you format changes and even more unfiltered content in 2025

In the US, backlash and polarization has resulted in several well know organizations reducing or eliminating their DEI teams and programs. The Society of Human Resources Management recently made the decision to "rebrand" DEI despite the loud outcry from their members. Those who feel the most passionate about this work are now exploring avenues like consulting and public speaking after years of working in resource deprived corporate environments.

Regardless of how you feel about DEI, it's clear that something isn't working. However that doesn't change the fact that we all have bias, our biases can negatively impact our place of work (culturally, legally, financially, etc.), and the only way to address that is to talk about it.

This is a delicate and often controversial subject, one we wanted to look at from outside the American lens, which has resulted in what might be one of our most 'unfiltered' conversations to date.

Our guest this week is Heeral Gudka, an Equality, Diversity & Inclusion consultant in the UK who's been working with organizations since 2014. 

Her 10 years of experience in EDI spans across private, public and third-sector organizations, delivering consultancy to People Teams and Executive Boards, stand-alone workshops and also curating 6 to 12 month employee learning journeys. The support she provides to senior leadership teams is an essential part of the success they have created internally in building inclusive cultures – everyone needs a safe space to talk about difficult subjects, but they also need to understand where risks lie when it comes to workforces that don't understand minimum expectations.

Heeral is a former actuary and risk professional, she is trained to coach from a trauma-informed perspective, has a diploma in counselling skills and a deep interest in philosophy and consistent thinking – the ideal blend of skills for providing this support to senior leaders.

She also wishes she could see more of the night sky, but London is her home and that just doesn't happen there! 

Obvious trigger warning as we dig into some sticky conversations around trauma and identity that may be upsetting to some listeners. However, we hope our listeners will walk away with a new perspective and inspiration to be the change they want to see in their workplace.

Is DEI 'business critical'? We'll let you decide.

Resources from this episode:

To get in touch with Heeral about EDI or dark sky recommendations you can find her on LinkedIn. 

Changes Coming Soon to Offline & Unfiltered!

Dear listeners, we have had so much fun bringing you unfiltered conversations and finding our home in the podcast ecosystem. We have learned so much and are committed to bringing you the best quality content. In 2025, you'll see some refinement to our format, sustained activity on the socials, and much more. To achieve these goals, we're slowing down a bit. Through the end of 2024 O&L will release one episode a month, rather than two. Don't worry, we'll be back to two episodes per month in 2025.

Thank you for your continued support. Please don't forget to like, subscribe, give us 5 stars, tell all your friends, and all that good stuff.

More to come.

Who is responsible for deciding what is or isn't allowed on any given platform? What happens when you hit that little "report" button? Moreover, what is it like to be the professional that might see the worst of the worst on the internet?

In today's episode, we give our listeners a view into the world of platform Trust & Safety with our guest, Alice Hunsberger. Alice is Vice President of Trust & Safety and Content Moderation at PartnerHero, with wide experience across the Trust and Safety ecosystem. She's the founder of the Trust in Tech podcast, which addresses Trust & Safety issues in tech, and writes the Trust & Safety Insider Newsletter with Everything in Moderation. Previously, Alice was VP of CX and T&S at Grindr for 3 years, and also led the CX / T&S team at OkCupid/ Match Group for 10 years. She is passionate about ethical tech policy, believing that dating apps, and indeed the whole internet, should be welcoming, equitable, and inclusive for everyone.

In our conversation, we discuss Alice's unique career journey and how she found herself battling internet bad actors for the greater good. Alice also outlines ways T&S professionals (or any professional) can safeguard their mental health, how the T&S industry is evolving, and how we can all be better stewards of the internet.

Resources Mentioned In This Episode:

Learn More about Alice and access her T&S resources here.

Read Alice's Newsletter - Everything In Moderation

Listen to Alice on the Trust In Tech Podcast

Attend TrustCon or Marketplace Risk

Learn more about Alice's current company - PartnerHero

Netflix thrusted this phrase into the corporate vernacular in 2009, proudly asserting that they would not retain employees who were high performers but difficult to work with. Other companies followed suit, and the "no brilliant jerks" moniker remains a steadfast value many companies claim to adhere to in their hiring and cultural practices.

Seems like a noble but simple concept to adhere to, right?

But...

What happens when you 'brilliant jerk" is locked into a high profile, multi-million dollar contract?

What happens when your "brilliant jerk" accounts for almost 8% of your company revenue?

What happens when your "brilliant jerk" is a global superstar teetering on the edge of an epic PR implosion?

In 2022 the Rolling Stone published Inside Kanye West's Yeezy: Abrupt Firings, Alleged Nazi Inspiration, and 'Pure Chaos' The article painted a bleak and scathing portrait of what life was like for the many current and former employees working for the Yeezy brand, and how leadership seemly turned a blind eye. Similar stories would follow, and both internal and external pressure would result in Adidas dissolving their partnership with the controversial artist.

Our hosts were so captivated by this story as it unfolded, so much so that it was the inspiration for this podcast. In this episode, our hosts dive into this complicated story to ask what really happened at Adidas? How bad was it to work for the Yeezy brand? What should have been done for Adidas employees? Did Adidas choose to put profits over people?

This is a spicy conversation that had our hosts contemplating the ethics of brilliance, corporate accountability, and idol worship.

Disclaimer: Our views expressed on this episode are based on our personal opinions, experiences, and the various articles that are available publicly. We do our best to reflect events accurately, but also acknowledge that there are many sides to this complex story.

Articles Mentioned In This Episode:

Inside Kanye West’s Yeezy: Abrupt Firings, Alleged Nazi Inspiration and ‘Pure Chaos' - Cheyenne Roundtree, Rolling Stone

Kanye and Adidas: Money, Misconduct and the Price of Appeasement - Megan Twohey, New York Times

• Do we think the story is real?
• What went wrong here?
• What advice would you give the poster?
• What could someone do in a similar circumstance?
• Should they just quit their job?

The antiwork subreddit is an online community on Reddit where users discuss issues related to work, labor, and employment. Topics often include critiques of capitalism, sharing of personal stories related to workplace struggles, advice on quitting jobs and/or finding better work-life balance. The community has gained significant attention, especially during movements like the Great Resignation, where many people started questioning the value and impact of their jobs.

Embrace internet anonymity and ponder the other side of the story in today's lighthearted episode.

The ones that challenge us to put ideas and language around things we either believe strongly about, or never even considered.

So, when our guest Nick Duggan wanted to discuss the concept of Workplace Spirituality, recognizing our host's vastly different outlooks on this topic, we knew we were in for an interesting episode.

Nick has been developing people and organizations for more than 20 years, and is passionate about making work more meaningful for all. As the founder of the coaching and training firm Deeper Work, Nick partners with people-focused leaders to increase their impact through meaningful, identity-conscious leadership development and coaching. He brings to this work a successful track record of leading learning & development; diversity, equity, and inclusion; and employee communications and engagement for companies such as AppFolio, GoTo, DaVita, and the American Heart Association. Nick holds a bachelor’s degree in Communication from UC Santa Barbara and a master’s degree in Organizational Psychology from William James College, where he completed a thesis on “Engaging The Soul Within Organizations: Practical Implications of Workplace Spirituality Research.”

In one of our most interesting and honest conversations to date, we discussed the difficulties putting language around concepts like spiritualty, how we can engage with others productively when their beliefs are different or counter to our own, and what it means to find a sense of purpose in our work.

Get a bit uncomfortable, define what spirituality means to you, and decide where it fits into you own work in this introspective discussion.

Connect With Our Guest & Episode Resources

Deeper Work

Going Deeper with Nick Duggan

Check Out Nick's Recommended Reading List

Pew Research "Nones On The Rise"

If you spend any time on TikTok, you can get lost in the sea of clever, passionate, or comedic videos of frustrated employees complaining about their bosses. While these videos are certainly entertaining, rarely do we get to hear the other side of the story. This trend grabbed the attention of our guest today, who wanted to answer the question "what is your boss thinking?" 

Jane Yan is an award-winning digital innovation and business builder with over half a billion dollars in generated revenue. She has a wealth of experience, from leading small startup teams to managing large divisions in Fortune 1 companies. Her career spans various industries, including pharmaceuticals, healthcare, consumer technology, and e-commerce. Currently, she is the COO of Lunajoy Health, transforming women's mental wellness. Recently, she received the Innovation Award for New Era of Leadership, recognized by industry leaders like the ex-CEO of Pepsi. With her dual perspective as both an employee and a "boss lady," Jane shares invaluable insights into what the "boss" is thinking.

We hope employees and managers alike can gain new insights from this thoughtful and honest conversation.

Places to Find and Connect with Our Guest:

Check out Lunajoy: www.hellolunajoy.com

Connect with Jane on LinkedIn 

For mentorship, coaching, or advisory inquires, send Jane an email. 

Some Words from our Hosts:

We feel so lucky to have made it to episode 10! Thank you to our listeners for your words of encouragement and ongoing support. We look forward to bringing you more insightful conversations on career and culture, we're more appreciative of this experience than we could ever articulate.

Have a story to share? Looking for a spot to plant your soapbox? Have words of wisdom you think our listeners would like to hear? Looking for us to discuss a specific topic? Just want to say "Hi"? We'd love to hear from you! Email us.

You end up with two closet confessionals and an in depth discussion centered around the complex relationship many of us have with exercise. From folks who see it as a necessary evil, to those who can turn it into a successful career and community.

Our guest this week is Kiara, who is the owner of BODYROK in Santa Barbara, CA. BODYROK is a Pilates-inspired workout on a reformer machine, designed to improve energy levels and fuel your metabolism while sculpting and defining your body.

Kiara previously worked in the Silicon Valley tech scene as a Product Manager. Her passion for teaching fitness classes as a part-time BODYROK instructor in San Francisco led her to make a career shift and open her own studio in Santa Barbara a year ago.

In this episode, Kiara shares her unique journey through her career and her fitness. She also shares some valuable tips for listeners on how to incorporate exercise into their lifestyle.

They say if you do what you love, you'll never work a day in your life. We hope this episode leaves our guests pondering how they can chase their own passions, or, at least find different ways to incorporate fitness into their day to day.

Find Our Guest:

BODYROK Santa Barbara

What advice would you give your younger self? Would you want to? Would you want to change the way you've done something in your past? Let's dig into it on this introspective episode.

Media Mentioned In This Episode:

Mass Tech Layoffs? Just Another Day in the Corporate Blender

Boundaries, Burnout And The "Goopification" of Self Care; Ezra Klein Show

Appblock App

Why Job Hopping Is Going To Continue For The Foreseeable Future

Books Our Hosts Learned Lessons From

Work Won't Love You Back - Sarah Jaffe

No Hard Feelings - Liz Fosslien & Mollie West Duffy

Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals - Oliver Burkeman

Scattered Minds - Gabor Mate MD

Real Self-Care: A Transformative Program for Redefining Wellness (Crystals, Cleanses, and Bubble Baths Not Included) - Pooja Lakshmin MD

Emotional Intelligence 2.0 -  Travis Bradberry & Jean Greaves

On this week's episode, Lakisha and Megan welcome Lauren Lefkowitz to the show to have a deep conversation on how achievers and people pleasers can set better boundaries and begin to take their lives back.

Lauren is an Executive Coach, partnering with executives and emerging leaders who have gotten to the middle of their careers and think, this is IT? It’s fine…I guess. She works with humans who are ready to find joy, excitement, challenge, and balance in their careers...and have a personal life to love.

Lauren was an 80-hour-a-week executive, is a recovering people pleaser, and has lived with chronic illness for nearly 20 years. She was living the ‘fine is a trap’ way for years, convincing herself that working all the time and never feeling well were just part of life.

Despite these challenges, she decided to take control of her life, learn to set boundaries, create opportunities for personal choice, and relaunch her own career to find her version of success and joy. She coaches people and teams who function the way she used to – and find their own versions of amazing.

Lauren makes it comfortable to get uncomfortable, create powerful goals, and create real, sustainable career and life transformation. And! Lauren is a certified Laughter Yoga Leader, which she found time for once she realized life could be about more than work.

Learn what drinking coffee in your shower and sitting on your hands have in common in this engaging and honest conversation among 3 recovering achievers.

Learn More About Our Guest:

Visit Lauren's Website - Fine Is A Trap

Listen to Lauren's Podcast

Lauren's Linktree

Charina is an immigration attorney and a Strategy and Innovation Partner at WR Immigration, one of the world’s leading business immigration law firms. For over two decades, Charina has guided thousands of HR professionals from start-ups to Fortune 500 companies through the employment-based immigration process. In recent years, she has led the development of WRapidTM, the industry's leading immigration case management platform that streamlines global workforce management and compliance for corporate HR and global mobility teams.

In our conversation, we tackle overlooked gaps in immigration that impact young adults, what it is like to be on an employer sponsored visa in America, and how Charina, as a second generation Filipino immigrant, navigates the heaviness of her work.

Take a nuanced look into the immigration industry with us in this educational and engaging discussion.

Non-Profit Resources From This Episode:

Upwardly Global

Immigration Justice Project

Learn More About Our Guest

Read Charina's Full Bio

Connect with Charina on LinkedIn

Lakisha and Megan share their own experiences and perspectives on this crisis, and debate the strategies and ethics of meeting aggressive company goals.

On our next episode, we'll welcome an immigration expert on to the show to explore this topic even further.

If you or someone you know are aware of a minor that may be in a forced labor situation, help is out there. Consider contacting one of the organizations below:

Kids In Need of Defense

The Child Labor Coalition

Border Angels

US Department of Labor

Episode Resources:

The Daily - A New Child Labor Crisis in America 

American companies using illegal child labor 

As Migrant Children Were Put to Work, U.S. Ignored Warnings 

Tyson and Perdue Are Facing Child Labor Investigations

Alone & Exploited, Migrant Children Work Brutal Jobs Across the US 

Amid a child labor crisis, U.S. state governments are loosening regulations 

Child labor laws are under attack in states across the country 

Lawmakers target child labor laws to ease worker shortage 

USA: Investigation finds migrant children working in factories in violation of child labour laws; incl. co. responses 

Information on Minors and Employment 

Fact Sheet #43: Child Labor Provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) for Nonagricultural Occupations

History of Child Labor Laws in the United States

***

On this episode, we welcome Gabriel Gutierrez to the show. Gabriel is a Creative Developer in the Arts & Mental Health industries, as a Certified Peer Counselor, plus as an Independent Game Developer, DJ & Spoken Word Artist. He is also a WRAP Certified & "Lived Experience" Trainer + Support Group Facilitator. 

We discussed how Gabriel uses his journey and creative passion to support and empower others at work and in their daily lives. We also talked about the dangers of personal brand, breaking away from codependence, and how to take accountability.

Learn deep lessons from Spiderman and rethink the concept of perfect in this enlightening and raw conversation.

Resources & Notes From This Episode:

NAMI - National Alliance on Mental Health

SAMHSA - Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration

NCADV - National Coalition Against Domestic Violence

California Safe at Home Program

CalMSHA - California Mental Health Services Authority

Take This! - Mental Health Non-Profit

The Copeland Center

WRAP - Wellness Action Recovery Plan

Books Recommended by our Guest:

The Body Keeps The Score - Bessel van der Kolk

Stop Walking on Eggshells: Taking your Life Back when someone you care about has Borderline Personality Disorder (Third Edition) - Paul T. T. Mason and Randi Kreger

Your Brain on Art: How the Arts Transform Us - Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross

Find & Connect With Gabriel

November Reign

November Reign Youtube

Arcade House

Rklz Abandon Instagram

If you or someone you know is a victim of domestic violence, help is out there. Call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233.

Kenyetta is CEO of The Katalyst HQ where she partners with entrepreneurs and organizations to implement strategies for business sustainability, develop customized software solutions, and help product leaders and teams to build with agility.

She has over 15 years of experience working in various corporate sectors focused on business strategy, product growth, and digital transformation. In September of 2020, she was let go from her job and made a decision to bet on herself. Along this journey, she has had the opportunity to support start ups, build teams, and help other business owners really become intentional about growth. 

She is also the Social Entrepreneur in Residence and Professor in Practice for the Shuford Program, at the School of Economics within the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Reframe your definition of failure, forge your own path, and have a few laughs with our guest in this insightful conversation.

Resources and Notes From This Episode:

Research: The Average Age of a Successful Startup Founder Is 45

Book: The Four Agreements

Book: The Power of Awareness

Book: The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success

Find and Connect with Kenyetta

The Katalyst HQ 

The Agile Product Dojo

Kenyetta Hall - LinkedIn

On this episode, Lakisha and Megan discuss how the math aint mathing when it comes to Minimum Wage in America, even with California's new standard for Fast Food and Healthcare workers. They debate what the new $20 per hour requirement will mean for these industries, and share their own experiences as workers and consumers. Megan also has a pretty embarrassing Lucille Bluth moment, and Lakisha gains a new perspective on poor customer service.

Episode Notes & Resources:

California DIR - Minimum Wage Increase 2024

US Department of Labor - Federal Minimum Wage

California Pizza Huts lay off all delivery drivers ahead of minimum wage increase

Walmart, Costco and other companies rethink self-checkout

Human First Workplace Newsletter - "Bachelor's Degree Required"

Later in the episode, our hosts discuss the definition and dangers of hustle culture, and how the push to strive for more has impacted both of their careers.