Can AI Really Help You Land Your Dream Job? | The Ripple Effect Podcast
The Ripple Effect Podcast with Steve Harper
Release Date: 11/09/2025
The Ripple Effect Podcast with Steve Harper
You can do everything right in your career and still find yourself staring at the ceiling at 2 am, wondering what exactly you’re building. The title sounds impressive, and the salary looks good, but somewhere along the way the thing that was supposed to give you a life started quietly taking it. The years go faster than the days, and it’s easy to look up one morning and realize the schedule you built isn’t the life you meant to have. This episode is about what you’re willing to risk to change that, and how much of your time you’re okay trading for comfort. Work-life balance sounds...
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Twenty-three years is a long time to spend earning a reputation. Michele Trongaard has one that precedes her everywhere she goes in this industry, and after sitting across from her for this conversation, I understand exactly why. Michele is stepping away from her role as a district CFO after more than two decades in public school finance, and she's doing it on her own terms, heading into a new chapter rather than just closing the book on the old one. I wanted to talk with her about what actually built that reputation, because it wasn't the budgets or the balance sheets. It was something much...
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Picture your ideal Tuesday. You come in with a clear head, a short list of things that actually matter, and a couple of hours of uninterrupted time to think strategically about where you're taking this thing. Now picture your actual Tuesday. Six fires before noon. Three decisions that landed on your desk that someone else should have made. A calendar that left no room for anything except reacting. And somewhere around four in the afternoon, the quiet feeling that you've been incredibly busy and somehow accomplished nothing. If that second picture is more familiar, this episode is for you. My...
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When was the last time you made something? A drawing, a photo, a collage, a doodle in the margin of a notebook. Something you made with your hands because something in you wanted to. Most of us have to think about it. And the longer we think, the further back the answer goes. Somewhere along the way, we handed our creative lives back. Not all at once, and not on purpose. Just gradually, between the jobs and the responsibilities and the screens and the schedules, the things we used to make got quietly set aside. And we told ourselves we’d get back to them. And then we didn’t. And eventually...
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Here's a question I want you to think about before you hit play. When was the last time you felt like the work you were doing actually mattered? Not mattered as in the numbers went up or the boss was happy. Mattered in that way where you finished a day and felt genuinely full rather than just done. Most of us have forgotten what that feels like. Or maybe we never had it to begin with. This conversation goes deep on that. My guest Joe Fusco and I got into what actually makes a company great, why people don't fit in a spreadsheet no matter how hard we try to make them, and what it really...
info_outlineThe Ripple Effect Podcast with Steve Harper
Here's a question I want you to think about before you hit play. When was the last time you felt like the work you were doing actually mattered? Not mattered as in the numbers went up or the boss was happy. Mattered in that way where you finished a day and felt genuinely full rather than just done. Most of us have forgotten what that feels like. Or maybe we never had it to begin with. This conversation goes deep on that. My guest Joe Fusco and I got into what actually makes a company great, why people don't fit in a spreadsheet no matter how hard we try to make them, and what it really means...
info_outlineThe Ripple Effect Podcast with Steve Harper
Be honest. When’s the last time you actually felt calm, not just looked calm? Because those are two very different things, and most of us have gotten so good at faking the second one that we forget what the first one even feels like. You handle the hard conversation. You keep your voice steady in the meeting that’s falling apart. You hold it together for everyone else in the room. And then later, alone in your car or lying awake at night, it all comes flooding back. That gap between performing calm and actually being calm is something my guest today has spent her entire life studying,...
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Most of us have spent years learning how to communicate better. Better words, better models, better frameworks. And yet somehow the same conflicts keep happening, the same conversations keep getting avoided, and the same people keep making the room tense the moment they walk in. Dr. Annie Campanile has a different theory about why, and it starts somewhere most leadership training never goes. Watch to learn what's actually driving workplace conflict beneath the surface, why the protective patterns you developed as a kid are probably still showing up in your leadership today, and what your...
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If you caught Part 1, you know Ileana Garcia doesn’t hold anything back. Part 2 goes even further. We start with something that still stings a little: the Wall Street Journal feature that was supposed to be a proud moment, but turned into a pile-on. Ileana walks us through what actually happened behind that headline, why the internet turned on her over it, and how she’s made peace with something her own brother calls “engagement by enragement.” From there, we get into the harder stuff nobody really talks about out loud: the anonymous accounts that stitched her videos together to mock...
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Have you ever had that moment where you realize the life you built isn’t actually the one you want anymore? Today’s guest knows that feeling better than almost anyone I’ve talked to on this show. Ileana Garcia (you probably know her as Illy in the Streets on TikTok) has spent the last few years turning her gray divorce and everything that followed into some of the most honest and funniest content out there. If you’ve ever gone through a divorce after 50, or you’re staring down starting over at 50 and wondering if you have it in you, this conversation is going to feel like sitting...
info_outlineAI career coaching is here... and it’s transforming how job seekers, entrepreneurs, and professionals grow, connect, and thrive.
I’m beyond excited to share this powerful conversation with my amazing guest, Chloe Spillane, founder of Chloe Careers and the visionary behind Chloe AI, an incredible AI career coach that’s reshaping how job seekers, professionals, and entrepreneurs navigate their careers. In this episode of The Ripple Effect Podcast, we discuss how AI in career development is changing the game for anyone looking to land that next big opportunity.
Chloe and I talk about her journey from New York’s fast-paced startup scene to building her AI-powered career guidance tool from the quiet beauty of regional Australia. We explore what it takes to create a digital twin technology experience that feels real and personal, how she’s helping people prepare for interviews with AI interview preparation tools, and why this moment marks a major shift in the future of work AI movement.
If you’ve ever wondered how to use AI for job seekers or what it really takes to merge innovation with purpose, this conversation will light a fire in you. Chloe shares how her passion for empowering others led to creating a tool that doesn’t just talk to you but listens, learns, and supports your journey at every step.
This is a story about vision, resilience, and the power of technology to amplify human connection. So grab your coffee, lean in, and join us for a conversation that will challenge you to think differently about your career, your goals, and what’s possible when you let curiosity and courage guide your path.
If you liked Chloe’s story and vision, it’s not her first time here on The Ripple Effect Podcast.
You can also watch and listen to the other episode:
CHLOE AI: https://www.chloecareers.com/ai-hub
1:1 Coaching: https://www.chloecareers.com/coaching
Ripple with Chloe Spillane
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chloespillane/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/careercoachchloe/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@careercoachchloe
Ripple with Steve Harper
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