UNSHAKEABLE HER: Silence imposter syndrome, build real influence and get promoted on your terms
Doing brilliant work and still getting overlooked?
Unshakeable Her is for ambitious, capable women tired of second-guessing themselves and exhausted by navigating workplace rules nobody explains so you can grow your influence & get promoted.
Hosted by Caroline Esterson, who has spent 30 years helping thousands across hundreds of organisations uncover what is really going on and still get promoted.
This podcast offers practical, repeatable ways to build influence, confidence, and career momentum.
Each week, you’ll learn:
- How to grow your influence without becoming someone you don’t like
- The science behind imposter syndrome and what actually works to overcome it
- How to build confidence so you can stop being overlooked, and finally get the promotion you deserve
With new episodes every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, ‘Unshakeable Her’ delivers stories, strategy, and insight to help you become someone nobody can shake.
New here? Start with fan-favourite #56 or jump into Imposter Syndrome with #7
Episodes
68 episodes
#67 | 3 Smart Ways To Reclaim Headspace So You Can Lead, Influence, and Advance
What could change in your career if you had more headspace for strategic thinking, influence, and bold moves?In this episode, Caroline shifts from awareness to action with practical ways to reduce mental load and reclaim cognitive...
#66 | How Mental Load Hijacks Your Brain and Undermines Your Influence
What if the reason you cannot switch off is also affecting your ability to think strategically, lead confidently, and move toward promotion?In this episode, Caroline goes deeper into the science behind mental load and explains why...
#65 | How One Woman’s ‘Normal Morning’ Reveals a Hidden Career Cost That is Crushing Your Influence.
Could the invisible mental load you carry every day be affecting your influence at work more than you realise?In this episode, Caroline explores the hidden mental load so many women carry at home and at work, and why it does not j...
#64 | 3 Simple Ways Newly Promoted Managers Can Build Influence Fast and Quiet Imposter Syndrome
Have you been promoted into leadership and found yourself waiting to feel confident before acting like a leader?For many newly promoted managers, imposter syndrome shows up most strongly in the small everyday moments: team meeting...
#63 | Why Newly Promoted Managers Build More Influence When They Stop Pretending to Feel Confident
Have you ever been promoted into management and felt like you should sound more certain than you really feel?For many newly promoted managers, promotion does not feel empowering straight away. It can trigger imposter syndrome, a l...
#62 | Why Faking Confidence After a Promotion Damages Your Influence and Fuels Imposter Syndrome
Have you ever been promoted into management and instantly felt like everyone expected you to have all the answers.For many newly promoted managers, promotion does not feel empowering at first. It can trigger imposter syndrome, sel...
#61 | Why Quieting Imposter Syndrome Is the Key to Building Influence and Being Seen for Promotion
Do you know you’re capable, yet still find yourself holding back, second guessing your voice, or staying quiet when it matters most?In this episode, Caroline explores how imposter syndrome quietly chips away at your visibility, in...
#60 | The Career Progress Formula Most Women Need to Build Influence and Unlock Promotion
Are you doing exceptional work but still not getting the influence or career progress you expected?For many women in corporate leadership, the issue is not capability - it is visibility. This episode explores how imposter syndrome...
#59 | Why High-Performing Women Get Overlooked for Promotion When Their Influence Isn’t Visible
Have you ever watched someone else get the promotion, project, or recognition you worked for and wondered whether they were truly better, or just better seen?This episode speaks directly to women in corporate leadership who are deliverin...
#58 | The 60-Second Confidence Reset for Imposter Syndrome Before High-Stakes Career Moments
What do you do in the 60 seconds before a meeting when your confidence has dropped, and the room still needs you at your full size?This episode is for the woman who has done the preparation, knows her material, and still feels herself sh...
#57 | 3 Hidden Reasons Critical Feedback Triggers Imposter Syndrome and Weakens Influence at Work
Have you ever received one piece of feedback before a big meeting and suddenly stopped trusting your own judgment?This episode explains what is actually happening inside your brain when critical feedback lands at the worst possible momen...
#56 | The Moment Self-Trust Slips: Why Capable Women Second-Guess Themselves Under Pressure and Reduce Their Influence
Have you ever received one piece of feedback right before an important meeting and suddenly stopped trusting your own judgment?This episode, the story of Rachel and her big presentation, will feel painfully familiar if you’re a capable w...
#55 | 5 Confidence Moves at Work: The Brag Folder, Visibility, Influence and Promotion
Jocelyn told us she plays hip hop on big project launch days. Something with beats that make her feel excited. Something that pumps her up.This week's song is for her. And for every woman who has been quietly, consistently, almost accide...
#54 | 5 Career-Boosting Insights About Why Capable Women Still Struggle With Imposter Syndrome, Visibility and Promotion
On Monday, Jocelyn (VP of Global Brand & Comms, working mum, quietly extraordinary human), said two things that resonated powerfully.The first: that early in her career, she believed doing brilliant work would be enough. And then she...
#53 | She Got the Promotion, Built the Influence, Did Brilliant Work - So Why Did Imposter Syndrome Still Say “Not Enough”?
What does it look like when a woman is quietly, consistently, almost accidentally extraordinary (and genuinely the last person in any room to have noticed)?It looks like Jocelyn Lo, VP Global Brand and Comms for Seedtag.In ...
#52 | Why Boundaries Are a Leadership Skill That Build Influence and Support Promotion
Do you ever feel pressured to overdeliver, keep everyone happy, and prove yourself at work?In this episode, Caroline explores why that pressure can quietly pull capable women away from strategic, sustainable leadership. Through he...
#51 | How the Right Allies Build Influence and Open Opportunities for Promotion
Are the right people talking about your work when you’re not in the room?This episode unpacks a career truth many women discover too late: doing brilliant work is not always enough to move forward. Career momentum often comes thro...
#50 | Why Technical Expertise Won’t Build the Influence You Need for Promotion in Corporate Leadership
Are you doing brilliant work at your job but still being overlooked for bigger opportunities?This episode explores why confidence and technical expertise are not always the real differentiators in career growth. For women navigati...
#49 | Why Your Decisions Are Quietly Undermining Influence and Promoting the Wrong People
International Women’s Day can spark great conversations… and then Monday arrives and everything snaps back to “busy.”This episode is the follow-through.If you manage people, this is your practical guide to turning fairness ...
#48 | Five Surprisingly Simple Leadership Actions to Build Influence and Create Fairer Promotion Outcomes
International Women’s Day is a moment - but leadership is what happens on a random Tuesday when nobody’s watching.This episode is for managers and senior leaders who genuinely want fairer outcomes… and who are ready to stop relying on go...
#47 | 5 Tips to Build Influence and Lead Your Hybrid Team with More Confidence
Are you leading a hybrid team and quietly wondering whether you’re creating clarity or just managing chaos?Hybrid working promises flexibility, but for many leaders it often feels fragmented, messy, and harder than it should. In this epi...
#46 | Career Lessons Every Young Leader Needs to Hear to Overcome Imposter Syndrome, Build Influence and Earn Promotion
Stepping into leadership can feel exciting… and quietly overwhelming.In this reflective episode of Little Moves, Big Careers, Caroline pulls together the key lessons from four powerful career conversations - each revealing what ...
#45 | How To Build Influence, Overcome Imposter Syndrome and Prepare for Promotion by Thinking Like a Board Member
Discipline isn’t about willpower. It’s about trade-offs.In this episode of Little Moves, Big Careers, Caroline chats with Dr. Keith Dorsey about the habits that quietly shape extraordinary careers - from martial arts at six year...
#44 | Why Ego Undermines Influence, Fuels Imposter Syndrome and Delays Promotion for Great Leaders
What if leadership isn’t about having the answers at all?In this episode, I’m joined by leadership coach and former senior police leader Zoe Thompson, whose 20-year career in policing offers some of the most honest, grounde...
#43 | Why Career Setbacks Don’t Ruin Promotion (If You Build Influence and Beat Imposter Syndrome)
Careers don’t follow straight lines. They zig, they stall, they fall over… and sometimes they completely reinvent themselves.In Part 2 of my conversation with the brilliant Sonia Allen, we dig into the transferable skills that future-...