Welcome to Boss Leap, the podcast showcasing stories of women who have made significant career and personal pivots. Join your hosts Dr. Sylvia Morris and Dr. Angela Walker in exploring the inspiring experiences of real-life individuals who faced the risks and embraced their fears to propel themselves toward growth and success. In this pilot episode, Dr. Sylvia and Dr. Angela share how they conceptualized this podcast to empower women from all over on taking intentional action and staying authentic at all times.
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Boss Leap: A Journey of Intentional Action
Starting Boss Leap
How did we come to this moment and have a podcast called Boss Leap?
I think it’s just all been really organic. We met in the nineties. We are med school buddies and have been friends since that time. We started a book many years ago, and that came to fruition, THE GAME PLAN: A Woman’s Guide to Becoming a Doctor and Living a Life in Medicine. Really, actually, before the book was finally published, we started talking about podcasting. I think it came just organically from our love of talking about issues, women’s issues, women’s stories, things that we love to listen to, whether it be in the news, television, podcasting, and things that we would love to share or that we would love to be a part of sharing, other people’s stories.
That was, what, four years ago? 2020? When we look at notes, many notes, about podcasting. Finally, after the book was published, and this year, celebrating the one-year anniversary, we finally got it together and said, “Hey, let’s do this.”
Certainly, during the pandemic, although we were busy working, there was a moment to figure out, “How do we want to move forward and proceed?” Luckily, the book, we were able to self-publish, a year ago, but it came after about a decade of hard work. We started, from my recollection, thinking about the things that we wish were out in the public sphere around women, definitely career women, and just stories that are not told. You don’t hear about women physicians or professionals who are doing interesting things and who have made pivots, pivots, and leaps in their career, both professionally and personally. We wanted to add our voice and elevate stories for women who are just doing phenomenal things and who are making that Boss Leap.
Words of Wisdom
I’m so grateful that we actually have been able to start. Along this journey, any words of wisdom or advice as we’re moving forward in this process?
I think we just have to continue to be authentic. You helped me to remember to not let the perfect be the enemy of the good because I’m a planner. I want to write it out and outline it and line everything up. I want to get started. You helped me to remember to take that leap. We know that everything will work out for the best, for our greatest and highest good in the end. What about you? Any thoughts as we embark on this endeavor?
Yeah, I think exactly what you said. Over the years, and certainly over the last several years of making career pivots, it has become very apparent that you cannot wait for the perfect. That’s how we are wired, and many women who are career-oriented, certainly in our career of medicine, tend to want all the facts first, which is what you would want when taking care of a patient. There are times when you have to move with the facts that you have in order to make a change in someone else’s life.
Take the leap. We know everything will work out for the best and the greatest good in the end. Share on XWe certainly are at that point in our careers where we know we have a lot of knowledge, we have a lot of experience, and we certainly, over the years, have talked to so many women who have stories that have inspired us in all different facets of our lives. What better way to share that than through a podcast? I think this will be fun. I think it will obviously continue our friendship and working together. I’ve learned that we work well together, it’s a yin and yang. You are very much organized, and that helps me. We’re both very inspired to do well for others. I think this will be a fun journey.
I think so too. I can’t wait for us to have great conversations. We have a list of potential guests lined up. For those who are listening, don’t be surprised if perhaps YouTube may be one of those guests. Please answer our emails. We are ready to take that leap as podcasters. We are making the Boss Leap, and we hope that you enjoy it and that you will buy our book, THE GAME PLAN: A Woman’s Guide to Becoming a Doctor and Living a Life in Medicine, available on Amazon, and subscribe to our podcast, Boss Leap.
Nicely said. I think you said it all.
Defining Boss Leap
I think so too. Is that a good enough teaser? We talked about why now. How do you define Boss Leap, or are we going to get to that as we evolve in our podcast journey?
No, I think we can say it, and then if we.
What can we find?
Boss Leap came from many iterations of a title. We feel like we want to empower those boss women. We can put whatever word you want after boss. Those women that we know and those that we don’t know, have just made really powerful, courageous moves in their lives, family life, and career life, that have propelled them forward. We know that, as fellow sisters, we take inspiration in our lives to do some of the same things. Being a boss is not necessarily being over someone, but just being courageous enough to make those moves in your life that will continue to propel you forward and help you fulfill your purpose.
Leap is the other part of actually putting the moves in place to put that courage into action. You can have all the courage that you want, but unless you actually move upon it, unless you actually take the steps and leap out there on faith, then they tend to be nothing but dreams that are never fulfilled. I think Boss Leap, Sylvia, you had the leap and I had the boss, and it just, in the midst of throwing out probably hundreds of titles, that was the one that we landed on. It just has, yeah, it has, I think, impacted us both, and we feel like it’s a good synopsis of what we want to share and how we want to share other women’s stories of making their own boss leaps.
It’s certainly, I think, where we are in our lives. When we think about Boss Leap, I think of a boss. When people say, “You’re not the boss of me,” but I’m the boss of me, meaning I personally determine how I move forward in life. You’re so right when we talk about that. If we’re just talking about it or planning it, or saying we’re going to do X, Y, or Z, but there’s no intentionality behind that, there’s no faith without action or faith without works. We need to figure out, well, how are we going to move forward and be intentional and live our best lives.
The leaping, I had a, let’s say, we’ll call her a career coach. The word for this year, for me, for 2024, was leaping. I just wrote it down, and we were talking about it. I was like, oh, okay. As we talked about the hundreds of names for our podcast, I looked down on a sticky note, I like sticky notes, they’re all over my desk area, and the word leaping.
You’d sent something about the boss and I can’t remember, and then we just added leaping and leap and it organically came together. I was super excited about Boss Leap and it certainly has stuck. I also think of lily pads. One of our, hopefully our future guests, Terry Reda, Dr. Reda. She talked about each one of my career moves as going from a lily pad to a lily pad. The frog leaps from one lily pad to the next, and you leave that other lily pad behind because it no longer serves you. That’s where you were. You’re moving on to the next. You don’t stay the frog doesn’t stay rooted to one lily pad. He, she, they move from lily pad to lily pad. We are leaping forward. That’s how I think of Boss Leap.
When we start talking, you just learn. I didn’t know that part of it. The imagery in my head is beautiful.
Thank you.
Going from one station to the next. It doesn’t mean where you left was anything bad or didn’t serve you well, but it’s time to move on to the next station, the next lily pad. I think that’s what we’re doing in our lives and in our careers. Hopefully, everybody hopes to leave, maybe not everybody, but I think most of us in the world want to leave a positive impact on others. I strongly feel like this format will help us to do that and bring us fulfillment and joy at the same time. We’ll make that boss leap together.
Closing Words
I guess we have told everyone how we got to Boss Leap, and we are hopeful and prayerful that everyone tunes in to Boss Leap. We’re going to say thank you in advance for taking the leap with us.
I looked at our notes from the very beginning. We’re going to wish that everyone will say to themselves, “May you be well,” and say to others, “May you be well.” That’s our wish for all of those that are reading. May you be well.
May you be well. That’s fantastic. We have to figure out how we’re going to address each other. Is it Dr. Walker? Is it Angela? They can edit this part out. Angela, may you be well until the next time we speak.
May you be well, Sylvia.