What if the part of you that doesn't take everything so seriously is actually your biggest professional strength? This week I sit down with Mary Hendra, a chief of staff, coach, and consultant who once froze when a branding expert told her, "Your brand is play." She thought it was the reason she wasn't getting promoted. It turned out to be the thing that made her a better leader. We get into why play belongs at work, how it builds presence, creativity, and the ability to let go when something isn't working, and why the smallest, quietest gestures often matter most.

We also go a lot of places I didn't expect. Mary tells me about the tugboats she loved as a kid and the metaphor she still carries from them, the semester she spent living in the Soviet Union because her sixteen-year-old heart refused to believe the people there were evil, and one gloriously disastrous team-building escape room. It's a conversation about community, about being a loud introvert who had to work at connection, and about giving yourself ten honest minutes to play so you can show up as yourself for everyone else.

About Mary Hendra:

Mary Hendra, host of the Lead with a Dash of Play podcast, fosters curiosity, compassion and play as both a mission-driven executive and solopreneur herself. Her career portfolio has ranged from leadership in County government to high school teaching, from co-leading a non-profit to guiding a tech-start-up through an accelerator. She currently serves as Education Director for Making Gay History and as Chief of Staff at a tech wellness start-up. Redefining “play” for the modern, busy adult, her workshops and cohort programs foster self-reflection and build clarity for individuals and teams, so that they can move forward with grace. Her book, Lead with a Dash of Play, is expected in 2027.

Show Notes:

00:00 Why I almost didn't make it to this episode

06:15 Tugboats, and the small things that move the big ones

09:30 Living in the Soviet Union, and what civic society takes for granted

22:00 Where the interest in play actually started

23:30 "Your brand is play," and why it stung

25:00 Play as a leadership skill we sideline

29:30 What play teaches us about letting go

36:00 Small ways to bring play in, starting with how you name your meetings

40:00 A spectacular play fail (the escape room)

46:15 One invitation to play

Links Mentioned:

Mary Hendra's podcast, Lead with a Dash of Play: https://maryhendra.com/podcast/

Playful by Cas Holman: https://casholman.com/book

IDEO Play Lab: https://www.ideo.com

LEGO Serious Play: https://www.lego.com/en-us/themes/serious-play

What does it take to start choosing your life instead of just pushing through it?

In this episode I talk with Ariela Picciotto — one of my closest friends — about a path that never really went to plan. She left New York years ago to be closer to the people she loves, traded a planned move to London for an unplanned life in Paris, and eventually followed her curiosity out of the corporate world and into coaching.

There was a breaking point along the way: the day she got the offer she'd been chasing, her body finally gave out and she landed in the ER. We talk about what that taught her — about finite time, the choices we make with it, thinking about life in seasons, and what happens when you stop measuring your years and start measuring your moments.

About Ariela Picciotto:

Ariela Picciotto is a leadership and career coach with 15 years of GTM leadership experience mostly in tech scale-ups, including as General Manager at ClassPass, where she launched and scaled France and Southern Europe into one of the top five markets globally.

After building a career that looked impressive on paper, she found herself asking: I built this, I chose it, so why does it no longer feel like me? Those are the questions her clients carry too, and the ones she now helps them answer.

She works with senior women in tech who have built successful careers and yet feel unfulfilled, stuck, or quietly wondering if this is still it. Through coaching that combines strategic career thinking with embodied leadership and inner authority, she helps them get clear on who they are becoming so their next move actually fits.

She holds an MBA from Columbia Business School and a Certificate in Professional Coaching from New Ventures West, and coaches in English, French, Italian, and Spanish.

Connect with Ariela:

• Website: https://www.arielapicciotto.com/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/arielapicciotto/

Connect with me:

• quitmyjobpod@gmail.com
• Instagram: @quitmyjobpod
• Substack: https://maricellaherrera.substack.com/

Show Notes:

00:00 Offer Day ER Wakeup

00:10 Podcast Premise Intro

00:52 Behind on Episodes

03:24 Meet Ariella

06:26 Childhood Dream Jobs

07:08 Choosing Business Path

09:40 Consulting Reality Check

11:22 Ballet Studio Role

14:34 Leaving New York

17:32 Family Time Math

20:13 ClassPass Breakthrough

23:22 Burnout and Reorg

25:30 Getting a Coach

26:41 Stress Sends Her to ER

27:52 Healing Before Day One

29:02 Why Coaching Called Her

33:26 Coaching as a Business

35:31 Rejecting Hustle Culture

38:44 Going All In on Coaching

41:29 Redefining Success

48:55 Balancing Ambition and Play

53:13 Advice to Her Past Self

Michelle Stanek has been dancing since she was four years old. She drew a ballerina in a second-grade coloring assignment when they asked what she wanted to be when she grew up. Decades later, she is a professional pole artist, world-touring performer, national champion, and now — inventor.

The path there was anything but straight. A toxic dance director who made her cry in the car at 16. A grad degree in art history. A job she loved and lost in the 2009 economy. A random Tuesday afternoon pole class a coworker dragged her to. And then — millions of views, workshops in Japan, Russia, Australia, Iceland, and a competition performance in 2012 that people still show their moms and aunts when they want to explain what pole dancing actually is.

In this conversation we get into what it really takes to make art your career (hint: the "find something you love and it never feels like work" line is, in her words, bullshit). We talk about teaching philosophy, neuroplasticity, going deeper instead of harder, and the difference between being a sellout and just trying to pay your rent. We also talk about the Stanek Spinner — the pole accessory she's been prototyping and bringing to market — and what it means to make a physical art form accessible to more bodies.

Michelle is one of those people who makes you think and laugh at the same time. This one runs long because I couldn't bring myself to cut it.

About Michelle Stanek:

Michelle Stanek is a NYC-based pole dancer, boy mom, part-time art fair producer, and newly-self-appointed entrepreneur whose motto is "I'll figure it out."

Connect with Michelle:

• Instagram: @michellestanek
• 2012 USPDF performance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ih2yztRNTFg
• Michelle on the Stanek Spinner at Pole Theatre Canada June 2025: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPwq1-pdA38

Connect with me:

• quitmyjobpod@gmail.com
• Instagram: @quitmyjobpod
• Substack: https://maricellaherrera.substack.com/

Show Notes:

00:00 - Work You Love Myth

00:23 - Show Mission Intro

00:54 - Life Updates and Substack

03:02 - Editing vs AI Debate

05:46 - Meet Michelle Stanek

09:34 - Childhood Dance Dreams

10:35 - Quitting Ballet at 16

14:05 - College and Real Job Track

16:11 - First Pole Class Spark

18:29 - Layoff to Pole Career

21:55 - Gig Economy and Income Streams

25:47 - Pole Grit and Empowerment

28:18 - Competing and Going Viral

32:02 - Why That Performance Hit

34:24 - Imposter Syndrome After Winning

37:43 - Cancer Fueled Mantra

38:56 - Winning Then World Tours

40:36 - Art Business Not Sport

41:41 - Aging And Sustainable Income

43:08 - Money Passion And Pressure

49:13 - Beyond Basic Teaching

52:07 - Building Self Directed Students

57:24 - Inventing The Spinner Platform

01:03:57 - Prototypes Patents And Process

01:05:46 - Daily Progress Mindset

01:10:01 - Advice To Younger Self

01:11:47 - Closing