Have a story or inflection point to share? Tap here to message us — we’d love to hear it.

A quiet alarm in the body can be louder than any strategic plan. That’s where our conversation with Annie begins: the moment joy dimmed, restlessness rose, and an inner knowing said it was time to step away from nonprofit work and build something rooted in freedom, fairness, and love. From that leap came Love Before All, a practice that pairs self-regulation with compassion to create real, measurable change in people and the systems they live in.

We dig into the mechanics of that change. Annie walks us through how history and power shape institutions, why scarcity cultures persist, and how a relationship-first lens reframes leadership. We talk brain science in plain language: the amygdala’s threat response, somatic signals as data, and how a pause-and-breathe habit restores choice. She shares a grounding question that guides hard moments—what is the most loving thing to do now?—and a practical method for tough conversations: look for patterns, ask permission, lead with positive intent, and time it for trust.

Annie’s path from Haiti to New York adds a powerful through line of empathy and perspective-taking. That experience sharpened her ability to “put herself on a shelf,” meet others without judgment, and build bridges across difference. We connect this to culture change at scale: when individuals grow compassion from the inside out, teams regulate better, organizations collaborate more, and wellness becomes a shared priority. If belief can outrun truth, then let’s design beliefs that steady the nervous system, expand our options, and make room for facts to land.

You’ll leave with tools you can use today—how to notice somatic cues, interrupt reactivity, and deliver feedback without burning trust—as well as a bigger vision for how compassion can propagate across homes, schools, and workplaces. If you’re ready to integrate who you are with how you lead, press play, share this conversation with someone who needs it, and leave a review to help more listeners find the show.

To learn more about Annie Paraison, visit LoveBeforeAll.com

Connect with Beki on LinkedIn: Linkedin.com/in/BekiFraser
Learn more about her coaching: TheIntrovertedSkeptic.com

Learn more about 75 LEAD: FocusForGrowth.com/75LEAD

Follow Short Story Long's LinkedIn Page: Linkedin.com/showcase/shortstorylongpod

Get her book, C.O.A.C.H. Y.O.U.: The Introverted Skeptic’s Guide to Leadership - Amazon

Short Story Long is produced by Crowned Culture Media LLC

Have a story or inflection point to share? Tap here to message us — we’d love to hear it.

We revisit five leaders whose choices show how humanity shapes real decisions under pressure. Fulfillment, empowerment, grace, resilience, and agency move from ideas to habits you can use right away.

• Integrating identity with leadership choices
• Choosing fulfillment after loss and fear
• Shifting from expert to team builder
• Leaving with dignity and clear boundaries
• Treating joy as a resilience strategy
• Practicing agency and narrative fit
• Translating values into calendar and habits
• Preparing for a new season with intention

If you found this episode helpful, share it with someone who could benefit from it

Episodes mentioned:

• Starting to Shift with a What If — Holden Galusha's Story
• Aaron Wilkerson's Story: The Mindset Shift That Fueled His Promotion
• Shannon King's Story: Surviving the Fallout of Broken Corporate Promises
• From Burnout to On Purpose: Rewiring Work & Life — Chris Blount’s Story
• No More Autopilot: Claim Your Leadership Agency — Tammy Daniels’ Story

Connect with Beki on LinkedIn: Linkedin.com/in/BekiFraser
Learn more about her coaching: TheIntrovertedSkeptic.com

Learn more about 75 LEAD: FocusForGrowth.com/75LEAD

Follow Short Story Long's LinkedIn Page: Linkedin.com/showcase/shortstorylongpod

Get her book, C.O.A.C.H. Y.O.U.: The Introverted Skeptic’s Guide to Leadership - Amazon

Short Story Long is produced by Crowned Culture Media LLC

Have a story or inflection point to share? Tap here to message us — we’d love to hear it.

Uncertainty isn’t just noisy—it quietly warps how we lead. Beki digs into the hidden cost of a chaotic year: not only drained calendars and frayed nerves, but a distorted leadership identity that turns visionary thinkers into reactive firefighters. Instead of piling on more habits and rigid routines, we step back and rebuild the architecture that protects attention, steadiness, and influence when nothing else cooperates.

We start with a counterintuitive idea: reduce your surface area. If you’re reachable from every angle, your focus is rented out in fragments. Beki shows how to consolidate access points, use office hours intentionally, and set decision containers that clarify what your team owns and when to escalate. You’ll learn to stop being the bottleneck, foster real authority in others, and design meetings that make durable decisions—only when the right people, information, and power are in the room.

From there, we introduce a weekly checkpoint that takes minutes, not hours. Identify one win, one moment urgency hijacked your intent, and one place you drifted into the weeds. Then choose a single adjustment for the coming week. This small, repeatable rhythm cuts through the swirl and restores strategic posture. We also unpack why one-size-fits-all behavior systems often fail: they force leaders into someone else’s template. Instead, anchor on identity—your strengths, your values, and the signals that tell you you’re slipping—so actions flow from who you are.

Beki also shares the 75 LEAD challenge, a guided 75-day cadence designed to recenter your leadership identity in less than 20 minutes a day. It’s a steady framework for reducing noise, sharpening decisions, and growing leaders behind you, so you can reach for more strategic work without losing your footing.

If this conversation gives you a breath of space and a plan to reclaim your week, follow the show, share it with a leader who’s under pressure, and leave a review so others can find it. Your team takes its cues from you—let’s make those cues calm, clear, and intentional.

Connect with Beki on LinkedIn: Linkedin.com/in/BekiFraser
Learn more about her coaching: TheIntrovertedSkeptic.com

Learn more about 75 LEAD: FocusForGrowth.com/75LEAD

Follow Short Story Long's LinkedIn Page: Linkedin.com/showcase/shortstorylongpod

Get her book, C.O.A.C.H. Y.O.U.: The Introverted Skeptic’s Guide to Leadership - Amazon

Short Story Long is produced by Crowned Culture Media LLC

Have a story or inflection point to share? Tap here to message us — we’d love to hear it.

Start with the person, not the playbook. That simple shift runs through Beki’s journey from HR leader managing mergers and reorganizations to a coach who helps thoughtful, questioning leaders turn inner clarity into outer results. Across two candid radio conversations with hosts Jim Masters and Doug Llewellyn, we unpack why boundaries attract respect, how authenticity doesn’t require oversharing, and what it takes to move from performance to practice as a leader.

We share honest lessons from the HR front lines—how fear breeds sabotage and perfectionism—and the low-cost remedies that actually work: kindness, curiosity, and consistent expectations. Beki explains her pivot from advisory HR to true coaching through formal iPEC training, trading “agree with me” guidance for client-led discovery. You’ll hear how introverted skeptics, often quiet in meetings and late to commit, become decisive when their skepticism is treated as due diligence and their energy needs are respected. Doubt, it turns out, can be a superpower when it’s channeled into better questions and clearer decisions.

If you’re navigating a leap—manager to director, VP to executive—or simply tired of advice that tells you to be someone else, you’ll find practical ways to build resilience, communicate with precision, and design systems that fit your temperament. We talk timelines for change, the messy middle where new habits wobble, and success stories where stepping back from the weeds unlocked team accountability. We also introduce Short Story Long, Beki’s weekly podcast pairing vivid leadership stories with bite-size skill builders you can apply right away.

Listen for tools you can use today: define success behaviors, spot the patterns that block momentum, and craft communication that respects both your voice and your team’s needs. Subscribe, share with a colleague who leads quietly but powerfully, and leave a review to tell us what boundary you’re setting this week.

Connect with Beki on LinkedIn: Linkedin.com/in/BekiFraser
Learn more about her coaching: TheIntrovertedSkeptic.com

Learn more about 75 LEAD: FocusForGrowth.com/75LEAD

Follow Short Story Long's LinkedIn Page: Linkedin.com/showcase/shortstorylongpod

Get her book, C.O.A.C.H. Y.O.U.: The Introverted Skeptic’s Guide to Leadership - Amazon

Short Story Long is produced by Crowned Culture Media LLC

Have a story or inflection point to share? Tap here to message us — we’d love to hear it.

I explore gratitude as a daily leadership practice that turns ambition into belonging and presence into progress. There's a simple three-direction exercise—upward, outward, inward—to make gratitude real at work and at home.

• gratitude as a lens for work and life
• recognition as everyday noticing
• self-compassion as part of gratitude
• how leaders show gratitude through trust and time
• the shift from I to we
• a three-direction gratitude practice
• gratitude as discipline and anchor

Thank you for spending this time with me today. I'm grateful you're here, that you listen, and that you think deeply about what leadership can look like when it's human first.

Connect with Beki on LinkedIn: Linkedin.com/in/BekiFraser
Learn more about her coaching: TheIntrovertedSkeptic.com

Learn more about 75 LEAD: FocusForGrowth.com/75LEAD

Follow Short Story Long's LinkedIn Page: Linkedin.com/showcase/shortstorylongpod

Get her book, C.O.A.C.H. Y.O.U.: The Introverted Skeptic’s Guide to Leadership - Amazon

Short Story Long is produced by Crowned Culture Media LLC

Have a story or inflection point to share? Tap here to message us — we’d love to hear it.

Plans rarely survive contact with real life, and that’s where leadership truly begins. Drawing on Kaila’s leap from solopreneur to agency owner while becoming a parent, we explore how to trade grind for grace and control for connection without sacrificing results. I walk through the practical tools that help leaders stay human and effective when the ground shifts: shifting language from I to we to build ownership, setting boundaries that protect strategic focus, and designing systems that let teams share weight while keeping accountability clear.

We dig into the difference between courage and confidence, and why momentum—not certainty—creates the proof you need to keep going. You’ll learn how to use informed intuition when plans are still forming, define scope so perfectionism stops draining innovation, and create check-ins that tell you when work is truly “done enough.” We also talk about the hard, human side: asking for help when no one seems to hear you, spotting subtle cues when your team needs support, and leading with compassion that actually strengthens performance.

If your world is changing—markets shifting, teams evolving, personal priorities reordering—this conversation offers a grounded way forward. Hold vision loosely and purpose tightly. Build containers that protect attention. Step back from the noise so you can hear the orchestra and conduct with clarity. Try the one-week challenge: replace one I or me with we or us where it fits, then watch how engagement changes. If the ideas resonate, subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with someone who’s ready to lead with more presence and less pressure.

Connect with Beki on LinkedIn: Linkedin.com/in/BekiFraser
Learn more about her coaching: TheIntrovertedSkeptic.com

Learn more about 75 LEAD: FocusForGrowth.com/75LEAD

Follow Short Story Long's LinkedIn Page: Linkedin.com/showcase/shortstorylongpod

Get her book, C.O.A.C.H. Y.O.U.: The Introverted Skeptic’s Guide to Leadership - Amazon

Short Story Long is produced by Crowned Culture Media LLC

Have a story or inflection point to share? Tap here to message us — we’d love to hear it.

Ever built two babies at once—one human, one company? That’s the real-world tension Kaila brings to the mic as she shares how a leap from solo designer to agency owner collided with a surprise pregnancy, forcing her to redesign time, pricing, and identity in a matter of months. We walk through the strategic moves that made it possible: shifting from hourly to value-based pricing, rolling out subscription services for predictable revenue, and turning I into we so clients embraced the team over the individual.

What makes this story resonate isn’t just the business mechanics—it’s the heart work behind them. Kaila talks about coming back from maternity leave early because work felt familiar when motherhood felt overwhelming, and how that moment led to firm desk hours, fewer weekend replies, and healthier boundaries that actually improved delivery. She breaks down practical frameworks: scoping as a decision tool, the 50 vs. 95 percent progress check, and spotting when you’re just “tweaking the teal” with polish that doesn’t move outcomes.

We also go deep on mental health. A wave of postpartum depression, layered with grief over a friend’s passing, pushed Kaila to advocate for care until someone truly listened. Letting go of perfectionism became a business advantage—projects shipped faster, feedback loops tightened, and the team had room to do their best work. The result is a new definition of success that values connection, gentle growth, and work that fits a life, not the other way around.

If you’re navigating a big career shift, building a team, or learning to lead with grace, this conversation offers tools you can use today. Listen, share with a friend who needs it, and if it sparked something for you, subscribe and leave a review so more people can find it.

Connect with Kaila:

• Company website: Yumari.digital
• Listen to her podcast: Yumari.digital/bubpodcast
• Follow her on Instagram: Instagram.com/SachseFierce
• Connect with her on LinkedIn LinkedIn.com/in/KailaSachse

Connect with Beki on LinkedIn: Linkedin.com/in/BekiFraser
Learn more about her coaching: TheIntrovertedSkeptic.com

Learn more about 75 LEAD: FocusForGrowth.com/75LEAD

Follow Short Story Long's LinkedIn Page: Linkedin.com/showcase/shortstorylongpod

Get her book, C.O.A.C.H. Y.O.U.: The Introverted Skeptic’s Guide to Leadership - Amazon

Short Story Long is produced by Crowned Culture Media LLC

Have a story or inflection point to share? Tap here to message us — we’d love to hear it.

What if safety and fulfillment were not opposites, but partners you could design on purpose? We walk through a practical, human path from control to contribution—using a true story about shifting from programming to journalism as a lens for smarter career bets and better leadership. Rather than glorifying big leaps, we unpack how small, low‑stakes experiments reveal fit, build confidence, and protect what matters.

We get specific about the leader’s role in growth: reflecting hidden talents with clarity, lowering fear of fallout, and granting permission to try without overpromising outcomes. You will hear how to reframe “not my job” into “a small offer I can make,” and why defining success as learning beats chasing perfect results. We also tackle outcomism—the trap of judging decisions only by results—and share a simple structure for experiments: a narrow scope, a learning question, and a visible measure of progress. Along the way, we examine risk and responsibility at different life stages, how to set buffers and rollback plans, and when to trade slices of the dream for the whole pie.

If you lead people, this conversation gives you tools to turn ambition into action without burning down stability: micro experiments, honest risk mapping, and strength‑based feedback that lands. If you are navigating your own crossroads, you will learn how to write down your risk threshold, communicate it, and nudge it outward. The payoff is a shift from certainty and ego protection to impact and collective benefit—the kind that lifts teams and careers.

If this resonates, follow the show, share it with a friend who’s weighing a big decision, and leave a quick review so others can find it. Tell us: what micro experiment will you run this week?

Connect with Beki on LinkedIn: Linkedin.com/in/BekiFraser
Learn more about her coaching: TheIntrovertedSkeptic.com

Learn more about 75 LEAD: FocusForGrowth.com/75LEAD

Follow Short Story Long's LinkedIn Page: Linkedin.com/showcase/shortstorylongpod

Get her book, C.O.A.C.H. Y.O.U.: The Introverted Skeptic’s Guide to Leadership - Amazon

Short Story Long is produced by Crowned Culture Media LLC