Stop Pushing. What Your Body, the Seasons, and Your Ancestors Are Telling You: Callia Hargrove

What happens when the job title you worked years for stops fitting — and you realize you've become the label, not the person? Callia Hargrove is a brand strategist, marketer, educator, and passionate advocate for change, and the founder of Backstory, the inclusive brand strategy consultancy she launched in 2020.Before that, she spent years developing inclusive marketing and impact initiatives at Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren, and Teen Vogue. But when it was time to leave that world behind, she faced something no resume could prepare her for: a full identity reckoning.Callia is a textbook Capricorn, a 1/3 projector in human design, and someone who — without a resume in sight — describes herself as a seer. Someone always seeking to understand. Her journey from hustle culture burnout to seasonal living, energy management, and trusting her own body's wisdom is one that will feel deeply familiar to any woman approaching 40 who is done pushing and ready to feel genuinely aligned.In this conversation, Cath and Callia explore what it truly means to stop forcing and start trusting, the intelligence of the body when a path stops fitting, and why no community — not even women approaching 40 — is a monolith.What we explore in this episode:The difference between forcing connection and trusting flow — and what human design (specifically being a 1/3 projector) taught Callia about when to push and when to pauseLeaving "Callia from Teen Vogue" behind — and the identity reckoning that came with itThe seasonal map: how Callia uses the rhythms of Chinese medicine, astrology, and her own body to structure her work and her lifeThe points system — an alternative to hustle culture's productivity myth that will change how you think about your energy (stay till the end)Being a participant, not a passenger, in the building of your own lifeWhy there is no monolith of women at any age — and why that's exactly the point of this podcastWhat her grandfather's mural in St. Albans, Queens has to do with all of itThe healing balm of storytelling — especially nowBooks mentioned:When Things Fall Apart — Pema Chödrön You Can Heal Your Life — Louise Hay Acts of Faith: Meditations for the People of Color — Iyanla Vanzant Connect with Callia: calliahargrove.comMentioned in this episode:Episode 5 with Alison — https://the40portal.substack.com/p/and-now-its-like-this-on-the-grief?r=6l5p5w Episode 6 with Francesca Choy-Kee Damico — https://the40portal.substack.com/p/were-not-late-were-right-on-time?r=6l5p5w The June 17–19 Women's Retreat — https://www.the40portal.com/retreat