Beyond Decadence

One month ago, I graduated from the Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center Milestone Circles program.

This week, something surreal happens.

On May 28, 2026, my photo will appear on the Nasdaq MarketSite Tower in Times Square. The same tower that has become a symbol of innovation, entrepreneurship, and bold ideas.

If you had told the younger version of me. The IT consultant commuting to pastry school over 200 times by train. The bakery owner pivoting to try to reinvent herself. The caregiver balancing life, business, burnout, and uncertainty. That one day my face would appear on the NASDAQ tower in New York City...

I probably would have called you crazy even if only in my head, given you "the look" and resumed life.

What makes this moment meaningful is not the billboard itself.

It’s what it represents:
🔥Growth
🔥Reinvention
🔥Clarity
🔥Perseverance
🔥Resilience

And the reminder that sometimes the path that makes the least sense while you are going through it, becomes the exact path maybe you were made to be on all along.

👩🏼‍💻 From technology.
🥐To pastry.
🤺To Xena Warrior Princess defending Little Mama and Papa Kemp.
🎤To interactive keynote speaking and caregiver advocate for many.
Absolutely NONE of it was linear.

But somehow, every tear, every battle, every story in each chapter mattered.

Huge congratulations to my fellow Milestone Circles graduates and entrepreneurs who are also being featured. Building something meaningful takes courage, BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goals) especially when the path forward seems like it's written in sand.

My tower moment will appear:
🗓 May 28, 2026
⏰ Time: 1:30-1:35 pm PST / 3:30-3:35 pm CST / 4:30-4:35 pm EST
📍 Nasdaq MarketSite Tower, Times Square, NYC

How to watch: Viewing 🔗 in comments

And honestly, this whole experience feels a little like my business journey itself:

Performance didn’t change. The context did.

Meaning: sometimes people only see the outcome or the pivot, without realizing the battles, caregiving, reinvention, sacrifice, and resilience happening behind the scenes.

Now if I can only remember which headshot I submitted. 😅

More to come.

I have TWO big thank you’s to Bobbie Carlton and the amazing team at Innovation Women:

1️⃣ Thank you for creating a platform that truly supports and promotes women speakers while fostering such an incredible community.
2️⃣ “Look Ma (aka Little Mama), they picked me!” 🙋🏾‍♀️

I’m honored and excited to have been selected as one of the speakers for the Innovation Women 11th Anniversary Speaker Friend-a-thon from a pool of more than 50 applicants.

Mark your calendars now! The event runs Friday, May 29th from 8:00 AM ET to 7:00 PM ET. Eleven hours. Eleven-minute lessons. Speakers, breakout rooms, giveaways, conversations, and connections happening all day long.

🪎 Hourly contests, giveaways, lessons, instant breakout rooms, special offers, and more
👫 Members and non-members are welcome to attend.

My 11-minute lesson is called:
“Performance Didn’t Change. The Context Did: How experiential storytelling changes what audiences remember, feel, and do.”

This conversation is rooted in something I’ve learned through caregiving, leadership work, and honestly… life. More accurately, when life is lifing.

We’re often making decisions about people without understanding the full context they’re carrying.

Basically, we’re making decisions based on assumptions instead of understanding the full story.

That’s also why experiential storytelling matters.

People may forget information, but they remember what an experience made them feel.

That conversation has shaped much of my recent work, including the Beyond Burnout Masterclass around caregiving, leadership, and burnout in the workplace.

🗓 Friday, May 29
⏰ My session takes place during the 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM ET Coaching Hour

Excited to share the virtual stage with this incredible community and powerhouse speakers - Lindsey Sands, Orly Zeewy, MBA, Cait Donovan, Gehan 'G' Haridy-Ardanowski, Debra Eckerling, Liz M. Lopez, Joie Seldon, M.A., Katelyn Carey- BSN, RN, Elaine Belson LCSW 🧠, Cheryl Tan, Dr. Christiane Schroeter

And yes… dessert may make an appearance. 🍰

Registration 🔗 in first comment.

What happens when leaders only see the performance changes?

☐ Are deadlines suddenly being missed?
☐ Has someone disengaged from meetings, team conversations, or social activities?
☐ Are they arriving late, leaving early, or stepping away unexpectedly?
☐ Has productivity noticeably dropped?
☐ Are they physically present, but mentally withdrawn?

🔍 What if those aren’t simply performance problems?

→ What if they’re signs that someone is silently struggling with caregiving responsibilities?
→ What if the employee who suddenly seems distracted is coordinating doctor appointments between meetings?
→ What if the team member showing up exhausted was awake most of the night caring for a parent, spouse, child, or loved one?
→ What if the “drop in performance” has nothing to do with capability at all?

Performance didn’t change. Context did.

Translated: Too often, leaders see the behavior without understanding the caregiving realities happening behind the scenes. And when assumptions replace curiosity, employees suffer silently.

That’s exactly why I created the Beyond Burnout Masterclass.

A 33-minute conversational-style masterclass with a downloadable reflection workbook designed to help caregivers and leaders better understand the hidden impact caregiving has on work, communication, burnout, and support.

Access the masterclass through the link in the comments below.

A glass of red blend felt fitting for this moment.

Because the blog is back. But with a very different focus.

Some of you may remember “Decadent Bites” from my catering and dessert shipping days. This next chapter is different.

“Beyond Burnout” was created to bring visibility to the hidden workforce of employee caregivers and the very real impact caregiving has on people, workplaces, leadership, wellness, and performance.

If you’ve been following me for a while, you already know this work is deeply personal to me.

Too many people are quietly balancing careers, caregiving, exhaustion, grief, appointments, responsibility, and life while feeling unseen in the process.

This blog is a space for those conversations.

My goal is simple:
To help caregivers feel seen, heard, supported, and less alone.

The link will be in the first comment so social media doesn’t bury the post.

Yesterday, I graduated from the Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center Milestone Circles program sponsored by Wells Fargo.

Now listen… I am goal-driven.
Color-coded to-do list.
Eight sections.
Eight different color fine-tip markers.
Checkboxes to fill in with the appropriate marker color when a task is done.

Everything in its place.

I’m an Interactive Keynote Speaker who helps leaders better support their teams when caregiving starts impacting performance.

And let me be clear… I’m self-driven.

Once I decide I’m doing something, I don’t need anyone to keep me on task.

I absolutely LOVE a good plan.

So naturally, I thought I was signing up for structure, accountability, and a nice clean path to follow.

Nope.

This program created the kind of ambiguity that demands real clarity.

🚫 No step-by-step.
🚫 No “do this next.”
🚫 No neat little checklist to check off…but a list (oh thank God) of requirements to actually graduate the program.

At first, I was like… where is the syllabus? Where are the boxes I can check? Who moved my system?

But here’s what it forced me to do:

Make decisions. Get real clarity.

Everything I wrote down as my milestone for this program sparked a 🔥 for other needed activities like…

🔥Now someone can land on my website and get it in 10 seconds.
🔥Building a real product ladder, not just one-off engagements.
🔥Scrutinizing the potential for future business from every single opportunity.

No hiding behind busy work. No confusing motion with progress.

Just decisions.

And here’s what that looks like in real time:
✅ Building a full content ecosystem.
✅ Beyond Burnout Weekly across platforms
✅ Impactful blog content.
✅ Short clips of me in action.
✅ And leveraging my speaker community the right way.

And if you know me, you know this part matters…
I didn’t abandon my color-coded list.
I just upgraded the tasks it contains.

I’m leaving this experience sharper, clearer, and a lot more focused on what actually moves the business forward.

And if I make the cut to appear on the NASDAQ tower in NYC…that’s just icing on the cake. (That’s pastry chef humor. Still no bakery or catering.)

For those who are new here:
I use dessert as a leadership tool to help leaders better support their teams.

Because performance didn’t change. The context did.

Meaning… what looks like a performance issue is often someone managing caregiving responsibilities outside of work.

When leaders don’t see it, they make assumptions, and they respond to the wrong problem. That’s where burnout, disengagement, and turnover start.

Grateful for the growth. Also, congratulations to my Milestone Circles cohort. Different businesses and paths, but the same unwavering commitment to doing the work and getting clear.

Even if it made me rewrite my color-coded to-do list with sharper purpose and focus.

More to come.

Y’all… it’s been a week.

Took $25,000 first place Tuesday night at the Nisbet Venture Fund Pitch Competition at Davidson College hosted by The Hurt Hub at Davidson.

Then turned right around and delivered a virtual session of Blending Support: Helping Employee Caregivers Thrive at Work for SHRM Lower Cape Fear Human Resources Association.

Different arena. Standards unwavering.

I’m a storyteller at heart.
When people see themselves in the story, the questions come.
I don’t ask them to hold back.
I invite them to jump in. I’ll find my way back to the slides.
And we make time at the end for any lingering questions.

No polls.
No hiding behind the chat.

We unmuted and talked.

And that’s when the real conversation started.

Caregiving. Context. The gap leaders are missing.

We’ll spin the wheel for a prize at the end.
And I’ve got something special for you when you complete the Google Form.

This isn’t a presentation. It’s an experience.

And when people actually talk, performance suddenly makes a lot more sense.

👇🏽 If you’re dealing with disengagement, retention issues, or teams that aren’t saying what’s really going on…let’s talk.

💰 1st Place. $25,000. Dermalytixs. 💰

24 hours ago, this was just a team of five Davidson College freshmen…supported by a strategist and a chemistry professor.

Tonight, we walked away with 1st place at the 12th Annual Nisbet Venture Fund Pitch Competition and $25,000.

A clear strategy.
Relentless refinement.
Feedback that shaped the message.
And a delivery that landed.

And a room at The Hurt Hub at Davidson that leaned in when it mattered most.

We are Dermalytixs: Jennet Ylyasova, Leeya Chaudhuri , Casey O'Keefe, Calvert Ross, Arya Mody, Chef Maria Kemp, and Dr. Nicole Synder.

From Infection to Detection. In Minutes.

Proud to stand beside a brilliant, multicultural, multigenerational team that showed what’s possible when different perspectives come together with one clear goal.

Dr. Nicole Synder’s scientific expertise grounded this work. And to Keith Kleeman and Dr. John Baldoni… your guidance sharpened every edge of this pitch.

Thank you Marian, Chip and Danny Nisbet for this long-standing fund.

This is just the beginning.

Most leadership training is a waste of money.

Not because it’s bad. Because it doesn’t change behavior.

Last week at Association for Talent Development - ATD (Charlotte), I proved something different.

I didn’t deliver content. I engineered an experience.

That’s experiential learning.

Not a buzzword.
It means people don’t just hear ideas. They experience something that makes those ideas stick.

I’m a French-trained pastry chef.
I used to create desserts.
Now I use that same precision, layering, and sensory design to change how leaders think, communicate, and show up.

Let me be clear:
No baking.
No catering.
No shipping desserts.
Don’t call me to place your holiday pie order.

This is leadership development.

When people experience something instead of dozing through slides and mountains of text:
• They pay attention
• They engage
• They remember
• They apply it back on the job

That’s the difference between training that feels good and training that actually works.

One attendee said: “Love your unique angle… one of the best sessions I’ve attended in a long time.”

If you’re spending money on training that isn’t sticking, you don’t have a training problem.

You have a design problem.

I fix that.

If you lead HR, L&D, or team performance and you’re serious about behavior change not just checking a box.

👇🏽Book a call if this is on your radar. The link is in the first comment.

A French-trained pastry chef turned startup strategist. Five brilliant freshmen. One venture. Real impact.

We are 2026 Nisbet Venture Fund finalists, and we’re stepping onto the stage to represent Dermalytixs at the pitch competition presented by The Hurt Hub at Davidson on April 21.

Dermalytixs is a rapid, low-cost diagnostic test strip designed for the early detection of Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection. A solution with real clinical and global impact.

For me, this moment is layered. Like an exceptional dessert.

I’ve spent years translating the weight of caregiving into experiential learning, using dessert as a leadership tool to drive behavior change. Now, I’m bringing that same strategic lens as the Internal Strategist for a multicultural, multigenerational team of five brilliant Davidson College freshmen (Jennet Ylyasova, Arya Mody, Leeya Chaudhuri, Casey O'Keefe, Calvert Ross) .

Different industries. Same throughline. Impact. Navigating networking with a purpose.

Six weeks of mentorship, pressure-testing, and refinement brought us here. Grateful for the guidance of Keith Kleeman (Class of 1997), whose guidance and support have been invaluable every step of the way.

Now it’s time to take the stage and compete for the chance at up to $32,500 in prizes.

If you’re in Davidson, come be in the room. If not, tune in virtually for free. Tickets are FREE either way you decide to attend.

Tuesday, April 21, 2026
🚪Doors open at 6:00 PM
🗣️Pitch begins at 6:30 PM
🏫C. Shaw Smith 900 Room, Alvarez College Union



Free tickets below 👇