In this episode of The Making of Her, we explore the hidden exhaustion that comes from emotional labor in healthcare. Women in the field aren't just tired from the work itself—they're depleted from holding the weight of others' emotions, expectations, and unspoken responsibilities.

We unpack what emotional labor truly is: the ongoing management of other people's emotional states, from calming anxious patients to maintaining team morale. This work often goes unrecognized and unassigned, yet it silently drains energy, leaving many women feeling exhausted despite their passion for care.

We discuss why this burden disproportionately falls on women, how it shows up in the body, and why traditional self-care isn't enough to reset it. Most importantly, we share a framework for reclaiming emotional sovereignty—learning to hold only what's yours, create healthy boundaries, and lead with compassion without carrying everything.

What You Will Learn:

• The difference between empathy and emotional labor

• Why women in healthcare often absorb more emotional responsibility

• How unprocessed emotional labor affects your energy, patience, and wellbeing

• Practical strategies for reclaiming emotional sovereignty and sustainable energy

About Dr. Meghna Dassani

Dr. Meghna Dassani is a high-performance strategist, biologically-driven leadership expert, and award-winning dentist who helps women stop living overwhelmed and start leading with clarity, strategy, and science.

For over two decades, she built and scaled a thriving dental practice, became a nationally recognized airway sleep expert, and trained thousands of clinicians across the world. But her deeper calling emerged in the conversations happening behind closed doors — with women doctors who were exhausted, overextended, and silently questioning whether this version of success was worth the cost.

Meghna saw a pattern:

Burnout wasn't a mindset issue.

It was a biology issue.

And leadership wasn't a personality trait — it was a learnable system.

That's when The Making of Her was born.

Today, Meghna blends neuroscience, physiology, business strategy, and real-world leadership to help women doctors and leaders operate at their highest level — without grinding themselves into the ground. Her frameworks support women in making better decisions, executing at a higher level, and reclaiming ownership of their time, energy, and results.

Through her mastermind, The Expansion Collective, her newsletter The Audacity Edit, and now The Making of Her Podcast, Meghna is on a mission to give women the tools, language, and systems to rise without burnout — and build the kind of lives they don't need a vacation from.

This isn't self-help.

This is science-backed leadership for women who are done settling.

Meghna lives in Houston with her husband and their two daughters who are her greatest reminders of legacy, courage, and possibility.

The Making of Her is where strategy meets real talk.

Where biology meets leadership.

Where women stop shrinking and start becoming the version of themselves they always knew existed.

Welcome home.

Connect with Dr. Meghna Dassani

Website: https://www.meghnadassani.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/healthysleeprevolution

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/meghna_dassani/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@meghna-dassani

In this opening episode of a new season, we speak directly to women in healthcare who are always "on". The physicians, dentists, surgeons, practice owners, and clinical leaders who carry not just clinical responsibility, but emotional and relational weight long after the day is officially over.

This episode explores why so many women in healthcare live in a constant state of internal alertness, even when nothing is technically wrong. We unpack the idea that being "on" is not a personality trait or a personal flaw. It is a nervous system response shaped by years of training, responsibility, and being rewarded for vigilance. Over time, readiness becomes internalised, teaching the body that safety comes from anticipating, scanning, and holding everything together.

In this episode, we explore:

• Why being "always on" is a trained nervous system state, not your personality

• The hidden emotional and relational labour women in healthcare carry

• Why rest alone does not deactivate vigilance

• How identity and responsibility keep the body from fully letting go

• What regulation and sustainable leadership can actually look like

If you have been feeling exhausted, wired, or unable to truly rest, nothing is wrong with you. Your body adapted to a system that asked a lot of you. And in this new season of The Making of Her, we begin building something different, together.

About Dr. Meghna Dassani

Dr. Meghna Dassani is a high-performance strategist, biologically-driven leadership expert, and award-winning dentist who helps women stop living overwhelmed and start leading with clarity, strategy, and science.

For over two decades, she built and scaled a thriving dental practice, became a nationally recognized airway sleep expert, and trained thousands of clinicians across the world. But her deeper calling emerged in the conversations happening behind closed doors — with women doctors who were exhausted, overextended, and silently questioning whether this version of success was worth the cost.

Meghna saw a pattern:

Burnout wasn't a mindset issue.

It was a biology issue.

And leadership wasn't a personality trait — it was a learnable system.

That's when The Making of Her was born.

Today, Meghna blends neuroscience, physiology, business strategy, and real-world leadership to help women doctors and leaders operate at their highest level — without grinding themselves into the ground. Her frameworks support women in making better decisions, executing at a higher level, and reclaiming ownership of their time, energy, and results.

Through her mastermind, The Expansion Collective, her newsletter The Audacity Edit, and now The Making of Her Podcast, Meghna is on a mission to give women the tools, language, and systems to rise without burnout — and build the kind of lives they don't need a vacation from.

This isn't self-help.

This is science-backed leadership for women who are done settling.

Meghna lives in Houston with her husband and their two daughters who are her greatest reminders of legacy, courage, and possibility.

The Making of Her is where strategy meets real talk.

Where biology meets leadership.

Where women stop shrinking and start becoming the version of themselves they always knew existed.

Welcome home.

Connect with Dr. Meghna Dassani

Website: https://www.meghnadassani.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/healthysleeprevolution

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/meghna_dassani/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@meghna-dassani

In this episode of The Making of Her, we unpack why boundaries feel so hard for women leaders and why guilt shows up even when the boundary is healthy, reasonable, and long overdue. This is not a conversation about productivity hacks or "just say no" scripts. It's a deeper look at the conditioning many women carry and how boundaries threaten something far more primal than time or energy: belonging.

We explore how guilt is not a personal flaw or a lack of confidence, but a social emotion rooted in attachment and survival. For many women, setting boundaries has historically come with relational consequences. As leaders, that conditioning doesn't disappear, it simply becomes more expensive. When women overextend, absorb instead of delegate, and quietly push through resentment, it's often mistaken for professionalism when it's actually self-erasure.

This episode reframes boundaries through the lens of the nervous system and leadership integrity. Boundaries are not walls, they are containers. They create clarity, predictability, and safety for both you and the people you lead. You'll learn how to expect and hold discomfort, anchor boundaries in values rather than expectations, recognize who benefits from your lack of boundaries, and shift from managing everyone else's comfort to protecting your own integrity. This is an invitation to lead from alignment, not self-sacrifice.

About Dr. Meghna Dassani

Dr. Meghna Dassani is a high-performance strategist, biologically-driven leadership expert, and award-winning dentist who helps women stop living overwhelmed and start leading with clarity, strategy, and science.

For over two decades, she built and scaled a thriving dental practice, became a nationally recognized airway sleep expert, and trained thousands of clinicians across the world. But her deeper calling emerged in the conversations happening behind closed doors — with women doctors who were exhausted, overextended, and silently questioning whether this version of success was worth the cost.

Meghna saw a pattern:

Burnout wasn't a mindset issue.

It was a biology issue.

And leadership wasn't a personality trait — it was a learnable system.

That's when The Making of Her was born.

Today, Meghna blends neuroscience, physiology, business strategy, and real-world leadership to help women doctors and leaders operate at their highest level — without grinding themselves into the ground. Her frameworks support women in making better decisions, executing at a higher level, and reclaiming ownership of their time, energy, and results.

Through her mastermind, The Expansion Collective, her newsletter The Audacity Edit, and now The Making of Her Podcast, Meghna is on a mission to give women the tools, language, and systems to rise without burnout — and build the kind of lives they don't need a vacation from.

This isn't self-help.

This is science-backed leadership for women who are done settling.

Meghna lives in Houston with her husband and their two daughters who are her greatest reminders of legacy, courage, and possibility.

The Making of Her is where strategy meets real talk.

Where biology meets leadership.

Where women stop shrinking and start becoming the version of themselves they always knew existed.

Welcome home.

Connect with Dr. Meghna Dassani

Website: https://www.meghnadassani.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/healthysleeprevolution

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/meghna_dassani/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@meghna-dassani

In this episode, we sit down with Meghna's personal trainer, Marissa Keenan, to explore how fitness directly influences leadership, discipline, and personal growth. Together, we dive into the mindset shifts required to stay consistent, overcome self-doubt, and achieve goals both inside and outside the gym.

We talk about the power of accountability, mental resilience, and why having the right support system can transform the way we show up in our careers, our bodies, and our lives. This conversation is a reminder that strength is not just physical, it is built through intention, commitment, and mindset.

About Marissa Keenan
Marissa Keenan is a professional bodybuilder in two categories, online coach, and entrepreneur. She left the 9-to-5 grind to create a life of freedom through fitness, and now she helps others do the same. Her passion is breaking self-sabotage cycles and guiding people to build both physical and mental strength through training, mindset coaching, and community. Her mission is simple: Keep Becoming. Social media links: TikTok + youtube + IG: @beefcake_keenan

Connect with Marissa Keenan
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=beefcake_keenan
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marissa_kay_keenan

About Dr. Meghna Dassani

Dr. Meghna Dassani is a high-performance strategist, biologically-driven leadership expert, and award-winning dentist who helps women stop living overwhelmed and start leading with clarity, strategy, and science.

For over two decades, she built and scaled a thriving dental practice, became a nationally recognized airway sleep expert, and trained thousands of clinicians across the world. But her deeper calling emerged in the conversations happening behind closed doors — with women doctors who were exhausted, overextended, and silently questioning whether this version of success was worth the cost.

Meghna saw a pattern:

Burnout wasn't a mindset issue.

It was a biology issue.

And leadership wasn't a personality trait — it was a learnable system.

That's when The Making of Her was born.

Today, Meghna blends neuroscience, physiology, business strategy, and real-world leadership to help women doctors and leaders operate at their highest level — without grinding themselves into the ground. Her frameworks support women in making better decisions, executing at a higher level, and reclaiming ownership of their time, energy, and results.

Through her mastermind, The Expansion Collective, her newsletter The Audacity Edit, and now The Making of Her Podcast, Meghna is on a mission to give women the tools, language, and systems to rise without burnout — and build the kind of lives they don't need a vacation from.

This isn't self-help.

This is science-backed leadership for women who are done settling.

Meghna lives in Houston with her husband and their two daughters who are her greatest reminders of legacy, courage, and possibility.

The Making of Her is where strategy meets real talk.

Where biology meets leadership.

Where women stop shrinking and start becoming the version of themselves they always knew existed.

Welcome home.

Connect with Dr. Meghna Dassani

Website: https://www.meghnadassani.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/healthysleeprevolution

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/meghna_dassani/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@meghna-dassani