How Vulnerability Empowers You for Success with Jessi Shuraleff

In this episode we’re joined by Jessi Shuraleff, a passionate people-first leader and incredible storyteller. She spent 13 years at Google building effective sales and marketing teams, and has worked in partnership with some of the largest global brands in the world. Jessi strongly values maintaining authentic relationships that make space for vulnerability. These values have gotten her where she is today as a leader, podcaster, and mom. Today, Jessi will open up about her own personal journey of sharing her story, including how this transformed the way she emphasizes empathy and openness in the workplace. On this episode of the Live. Love. Engage. podcast: What Jessi considers her leadership superpower. The thing that Jessi’s journey to motherhood helped her realize. The “aha” moment she had one morning during her commute. Why Jessi decided to get help, open up, and what she felt she needed to do. What sharing your story gives others permission to do. Ideas for where you can start in your own healing journey. The importance of emphasizing people-first leadership. The role empathy plays in the workplace. Real-life examples of responses to the empathetic approach at work. How to support those who struggle with vulnerability and opening up. How allowing yourself to be uncomfortable can help you grow. What Jessi’s podcast is about and why she started it. Why Jessi decided to leave Google and move on to something new. What Jessi is the most curious about right now. The role active listening plays in creating healthy spaces. Connect with Jessi Jessi’s website: www.jessishuraleff.com Jessi's podcast: This is My Truth LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessishuraleff/ Quick Links: Join the Live. Love. Engage. Community Intuitive Business Coaching The Live. Love. Engage. Book Support the Podcast with BuyMeACoffee.com Enjoying what you're hearing on Live. Love. Engage.? Subscribe on Goodpods or your favorite podcast platform, and click here to leave a 5 STAR Review. You can also watch the conversation on YouTube. TRANSCRIPT You're listening to the live love engage podcast. On today's show, how vulnerability can empower you and others to succeed. Stay tuned. I am Gloria Grace Rand, founder of the love method and author of the number one, Amazon Best seller, Live. Love. Engage. how to stop doubting yourself and start being yourself. in this podcast We share practical advice from a. Perspective on how to live fully love, deeply and engage authentically. So you can create a life and business with more impact, influence, and income. Welcome to live love, engage. Namaste and Welcome back to another addition of live love, engage. And today it's one of my favorite days because I get to interview awesome people for the show. And today is no exception. I've been learning about this woman and she is got quite the story to tell, which is also part of what her M-O is as well. So I wanna first, well, first of all, welcome Jesse Shuraleff to live love, engage. Gloria. Thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited to, to be here. Yeah, I am delighted to see you, just what exactly where our conversation gonna go today, but I know it's gonna be a good one. So let me share with those of you watching on YouTube and those of you listening just who Jesse is. She is an effective storyteller and passionate people first leader. she spent 13 and a half years at Google. Effectively building and leading strong sales and marketing teams, partnering with some of the largest global brands in the world and creating, building and maintaining relationships is at the core of who she is and authenticity, vulnerability and storytelling have been the cornerstone of her skillset to get her where she is today as a leader. A podcaster and a mom. And we'll have to talk about your podcast a little bit later on as well. I'd love to hear a little bit more about that, but I know one of the things that we wanted to focus on today was empathy. And cause you say that empathy is your leadership superpower. So how did you come to discover that, cuz I think it has something to do with your, your personal journey to get to where you are today. So can you share that with us? Yeah, of course. So I do believe empathy is, is one of our super powers that we all can possess and you know, whether we decide to lean into it or not is, is. You know, our, our choice and for me, it's interesting. And the reason why I say it's a choice is it's something that, you know, I probably leaned into a lot, but unconsciously and as I started to, you know, go through moments of my life and my own sort of journey in life, It was a choice that I started to make more consciously. And there's so many stories and moments that I can point to. But one that I typically speak to is, I was somebody who I was born into an amazing family who was so supportive. And as the children of, of baby boomers was constantly told to, you know, get a good job, go to a good college, you know, stability, financially, get the house, right. Like all of those things was. Taught to me at such a young age. And so I did all of that. I did what was expected. I got the good grades. I went to the good university. I got the job at Google and, and it was all wonderful. And, you know, I didn't have a lot of big, hard things that had happened to me in my life until I… Tried to become a mom. And it seems so silly to say sometimes, but I entered into my marriage, you know, we decided we were gonna wait to start our family. We wanted to explore the world. And then when it was time, I just assumed it would happen. Like everyone else around me, of course. And right. And it just, that just wasn't our journey. And so through, you know, several years of trying, unsuccessfully and then going through numerous infertility treatments, such as IUI and ultimately IVF, we eventually became pregnant and I was pregnant with twins and, you know, it was just such an amazing day when we got that phone call saying that like my blood test was positive and I will never remember, forget where I was. We were driving actually from Chicago to Cape Cod. We were right by Notre Dame. And so we actually stopped there and walked around as I was calling the doctor back. And it was just, you know, all of the feelings. And then I didn't have the easiest pregnancy. I had morning sickness all day, every day. And what I learned was that, you know, when you, someone going through infertility, they don't prepare you for when you become pregnant. And I sort of went into my pregnancy, assuming like I'd had such a hard go of becoming pregnant, why would anything ever be, you know, not okay during my pregnancy. And that wasn't the case for us. Our son was, was very, very sick and ultimately we had to make, what was the hardest decision that I've ever made in my life, in order to save the life of my daughter and my own life and it just was this experience where, I went inward. I really shoved things down. I didn't deal with it. In fact, I was actually on a plane for work three days after my procedure. And it just was this moment in my life where I realize how hard it was. And how often people are not talking about their, their own experiences, their own moments, where they felt alone or isolated. And I will never forget this moment. I was riding the subway in Chicago, they call it the L and I was staring at my reflection and I was looking around at all of my fellow commuters. It was a Monday morning and I looked around and I was like, no one would know, no one would know that I just went through years of infertility of sticking my bodies with needles, getting womb massages. That's legitimately a thing you need to Google it, all of this stuff. And, and then ultimately had to make this decision. And it was my moment of Aha. Like we all have these masks that we all wear and put on each day. And how many of my other fellow commuters that morning had their own stories, their own journeys. And as I started to share a little bit more about my journey, so many people told me, me too. and that was surprising to me because it wasn't that. So, you know, everyone, I talked to also had, you know, experienced infertility or lost a child, but there was always a common theme or a common thread that someone could pull through. And so that was my aha. You know, as, as we're leaning into empathy and understanding that we only see the tip of the iceberg, how do we actually create a more inclusive space for each other in conversations, both at work and at home? Well, first off my condolences on and such, such a loss and congratulations so you have, you do have a, a lovely, Oh, I'm sure she's not a baby anymore. How, how old is your daughter now? She's not, my oldest is six and then we have another IVF baby. Who's she's not baby. She's four too. oh, wow. well, that's, those are lovely ages. Oh, you should be enjoy this time because they grow up much too fast. You too. And I'm just really appreciate you sharing that. Well, number one, sharing the story with us and can you then I guess go, go continue a little bit because then obviously, I guess you, and, and just reading up a little bit about you, you decided to be able to, to that you wanted to be able to tell this story and, and, and you suggested it a little bit that you started talking with people, but you were even doing it more. What's the word I'm looking for? I guess more out there my brain is going blank today, so, okay. You know what I mean? So, so, so what happened next? Tell me that. Yeah, so, you know, again, I think of it another moment. So what actually started to spur me to talk about my, my experience was what I call my six oh three moment. So there was a moment where I was standing in our master bathroom, in our house in Chicago....