318. Women Do the Job…But They Don’t Get Credit

I don't bring guests onto this show very often. Most weeks it's just you and me, working through leadership, one honest conversation at a time. But every so often I want to hand you a different voice, because getting to witness yourself in someone else's story is powerful in a way I can't always create alone.

This week that voice is Kate Young. Kate and I have been friends for a while, along with her cousin Carrie, and we've done a lot together in the childcare space through our ongoing "Childcare Conversations." She's spent the last 30 years in early childhood education, she's a mom of four, and she's here to talk about her new book, Authority Without Apology.

The book is about the women who are holding down entire industries — including ours — and getting zero recognition for it. Kate told me flat out: accomplished women don't need more credentials. We need to be seen for the job we're already doing. Once you see that gap, she said, you can't unsee it.

We went deep. We talked about the financial cost of never stepping into your authority, and the quieter, invisible costs underneath it — confidence, identity, the years you lose being "somebody's spouse" instead of yourself. Kate told me about her own mother, who legally owned four businesses and still couldn't call herself a business owner well into her eighties. She told me about the moment, in her forties, when a stranger recognized her by her own name — and the "wrong turn" she took right after.

This conversation got real fast. Grab your headphones for this one.

What You'll Learn:

• Why Kate believes accomplished women don't need more credentials — they need to be seen for the job they're already doing
• The story of Kate's mother, who owned four grocery stores and still wouldn't call herself a business owner
• What happened when a stranger recognized Kate by her own name — and why she now calls it the turning point she got wrong
• The real financial cost of staying invisible in your own life and leadership (and why it compounds over decades)
• Why you don't have to be an expert in something to be the right person for the job
• How Kate found meaning in the years she "lost" by reframing them as a gift to the people who needed her most

Connect With Us:

Kate’s book, Authority Without Apology: https://katewoodwardyoung.me/books/authority-without-apology

Chanie's book, This Can't Be Normal: https://thiscantbenormal.com

Join This Can't Be Normal on Substack: https://chaniewilschanski.substack.com/