Stop Asking For Permission: 30 Power Phrases to Start Owning Your Voice
Speak Your Mind Unapologetically Podcast
Release Date: 10/13/2025
She Was a Shy, Introverted Child Who Became a Chief Strategy Officer. The Realization That Changed Everything. (with Lisa Martinez, CSIO at Lee Health)
Speak Your Mind Unapologetically Podcast
She missed the scholarship deadline for her MBA. She asked anyway. She got it. She was the only woman in her group project cohort, a single mom with a one-year-old, living paycheck to paycheck. She told her group on day one exactly what she could do and when she was leaving. They respected it. On a business trip with a relatively new manager, she admitted mid-conversation that she wanted to move into a strategy role that didn't even exist yet. That manager became her greatest champion. That pivot launched the career that led her to become Chief Strategy and Innovation Officer at Lee Health. ...
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Every Man in the Room Ignored Her and Started the Meeting. She Interrupted. What Happened Next. (with Lisa Martinez, CSIO at Lee Health) — Part 2
Speak Your Mind Unapologetically Podcast
The Mirror Method, the WAIT Acronym, and Why "Learn Fast" Beats "Fail Fast": Lee Health CSIO Lisa Martinez on Challenging the Status Quo — Part 2 She walked into a conference room as the only woman in a room full of men in technical data roles. They introduced themselves to each other and started the meeting without acknowledging her at all. She paused, said "excuse me," stated her name, her role, and why she was there. It startled them. She was glad she did it. Because if she hadn't, she wouldn't have belonged in the conversation that followed. In Part 2 of this conversation, Lisa...
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Years of Being Called "Hardworking and Quiet." How Revolut's Head of Strategy Daisy Xia Rewrote Her Professional Brand
Speak Your Mind Unapologetically Podcast
For years, Daisy Xia's performance reviews said the same things: hardworking, great team player, result-driven, quiet. Cycle after cycle, different managers, same words. Then she realized: those were her brand hashtags, and they were never going to get her to where she wanted to go. She wanted "confident," "influential," "driven," "leadership." And nobody was going to give her those labels. She had to earn them by using her voice. Daisy is Head of Strategy and FP&A at Revolut, one of the world's fastest-growing fintechs. Originally from China, she built her career navigating the cultural...
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Be Brief, Be Bright, Be Gone: How Newell Brands VP Malvika Jhangiani Challenges Senior Leaders, Manages Type A Executives, and Turns Conflict Into Opportunity
Speak Your Mind Unapologetically Podcast
When a new business leader walked in and told Malvika Jhangiani they were going to restructure the entire segment — 60% of company revenue — in a room with just the two of them, no leaks, no one else in the room, she didn't say no. She said: "I hear you. And here's how we get to the same outcome with the right people involved." Six months after implementation, he came back and told her it was the right call. That's the ABC method — Acknowledge, Build, Challenge — and it's the framework Malvika has built her career on. As VP HR, Learning & Development at Newell Brands, she's spent...
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Your Job Title Can Evaporate Overnight. Your Internal Power Can't. Leadership Lessons from Equifax SVP Alejandra Torchia
Speak Your Mind Unapologetically Podcast
She watched a brilliant female CEO — strategic, skilled, accomplished — get pushed out of her company. And in that moment, Alejandra Torchia had a realization that changed how she thinks about her entire career: if it can happen to her, it can happen to any of us. A job title is the most fragile kind of power there is. The only power that can't be taken away is the one you build inside yourself. Alejandra is SVP of Technology, Global Infrastructure Solutions at Equifax, leading teams across multiple countries and continents. She also runs "I Am Remarkable" workshops — originally a...
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"I'm Not Responsible for How You Feel": How Melissa Dill Stood Her Ground With an Intimidating Executive and Changed Their Relationship Forever
Speak Your Mind Unapologetically Podcast
Sixteen years later, she still tells this story. She was called into the office of a 6'4" senior executive she barely knew. He sat with his back to the door and said: "You will either make me a very happy man or a very unhappy man." Something in her snapped. She replied: "I was always told I'm not responsible for how other people feel." He slowly turned his chair around with a smile on his face. That one moment became the foundation of a decade-long mentorship. Melissa Dill is Executive Director and Chief Privacy Officer at Kodiak Solutions, and she's spent her career learning, sometimes the...
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Crying at Work, Called Polarizing, Still Made It to the Top: Executive Presence Lessons with Wendy Delmolino
Speak Your Mind Unapologetically Podcast
She was called polarizing. She cried in meetings. She was written off as "the rookie." Then she spent 30 years rising through Oracle and Microsoft to become a Global Customer Success Leader for the Americas. Wendy Delmolino didn't wait to feel confident. She built the skills to project authority even when she didn't. In this episode, Wendy breaks down exactly how she did it, including the practical strategies she used to manage emotional responses at work, shake off damaging labels, and position herself for opportunities most people never even get invited to. You'll learn: A concrete...
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Socialized to Stay Silent: How Autodesk VP Mary Hope McQuiston Found Her Voice and Learned to Hold Anyone Accountable
Speak Your Mind Unapologetically Podcast
Mary Hope McQuiston grew up learning not to make waves, not to get emotional, not to rock the boat. Those lessons followed her into the boardroom. When a male colleague made a sexist comment during a high-stakes presentation, she said nothing. She couldn't even bring herself to tell her husband that night. The shame of her own silence was that heavy. That moment became the turning point. Today, Mary Hope is VP and General Manager of Autodesk's Education Business, a business she helped scale from 5 million to over 235 million users. She's learned not just to speak up for herself, but to build...
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How to Handle Pushback and Difficult Conversations at Work Without Getting Defensive
Speak Your Mind Unapologetically Podcast
Find out the real reason difficult conversations feel so hard at work, and how our mindset hurts our conversations and relationships. This episode gives you four internal switches you can flip in real time, so that you can have calm authority to fix conversations that go sideways. You'll discover what confident communicators do differently in difficult conversations. Because you don’t need to say the perfect thing. You just need to stay stable enough to say something useful in that moment so that you can keep your influence. You’ll learn how to: Stop taking pushback personally and...
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Speaking Up With Intention: A Smarter Way to Set Your Goals
Speak Your Mind Unapologetically Podcast
A new year doesn’t require a long list of aspirational, feel-good goals. It requires the right specific goals — especially when it comes to speaking up at work. In this first episode of the year, you’ll reframe goal-setting for speaking up at work — away from vague intentions like “be more confident” and toward specific, observable communication behaviors that actually change your impact, credibility, and influence at work. In this episode, we cover: Why most speaking up goals fail by February The difference between wanting to speak up and deciding when and how to speak up ...
info_outlineDo you sound like a leader, or a pleaser? Asking for permission to speak up and using apologetic language can cost you promotions, recognition, and influence. Discover 30 subtle language shifts that transforms how people see your authority.
In this episode of the Speak Your Mind Unapologetically podcast, host Ivna Curi shares easy language shifts to speak with power at work, that will instantly project and make you feel more confident. You’ll get practical tips on how to rephrase common workplace requests, updates, and disagreements to sound more assertive and influential. You’ll also get a free guide below with 30 powerful language shifts to help you implement these changes and enhance your professional presence.
What You’ll Learn
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How “permission language” quietly undermines your credibility
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Simple, powerful word swaps that make you sound confident and clear
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How to speak up without sounding aggressive — and be heard every time
🎁 Free Resource:
Download the 30 Power Shifts Guide — a free, practical cheat sheet with real-life “weak vs. powerful” word swaps for meetings, presentations, and everyday conversations.
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Replace soft, hesitant phrases with powerful, natural ones.
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Speak with clarity, conviction, and calm authority.
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Be heard without apology.
👉 Get your free guide here: https://assertiveway.aweb.page/30power
✅ Free Newsletter: https://assertiveway.com/newsletter/
✅ Take the Quiz 'Do You Speak Like a High-Impact Leader?': https://myassertiveway.outgrow.us/highimpactleader
✅ Listen on the Speak Your Mind Unapologetically podcast on Apple Itunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/speak-your-mind-unapologetically-podcast/id1623647915
✅ Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6L1myPkiJXYf5SGrublYz2
✅ Order our book, ‘Unapologetic Voice: 101 Real-World Strategies for Brave Self Advocacy & Bold Leadership’ where each strategy is also a real story:
https://www.amazon.com/Unapologetic-Voice-Real-World-Strategies-Leadership-ebook/dp/B0CW2X4WWL/
✅ Follow the show host, Ivna Curi, on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ivna-curi-mba-67083b2/
✅ Request A Customized Workshop For Your Team And Company: http://assertiveway.com/workshops
Contact me: info@assertiveway.com or ivnacuri@assertiveway.com
Contact me on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ivna-curi-mba-67083b2
✅ Chapters
00:00 Introduction: The Cost of Asking for Permission
01:03 The Power of Language: Shifting Perceptions
02:18 Practical Tips for Confident Communication
04:44 Real-Life Examples: Transforming Your Speech
07:01 Powerful Phrases for Professional Situations
11:50 Owning Your Voice: Assertiveness in Action
28:55 Conclusion: Embrace Your Unapologetic Voice