Ep. 32 Pregnancy and Fertility In The Workspace feat. Blaine Heck

The Collective Corner with Elena Armijo

In her weekly Coaching Tip, Elena provides insight on what it means to be vulnerable and highlights the benefits of emotional exposure.

Blaine Heck discusses the complexities of fertility and pregnancy for women in the workplace, as well as the hurdles that must be overcome with a disability.

What does “being vulnerable” actually mean? While conventional wisdom says being vulnerable is being exposed to the potential of physical or emotional harm, Elena gives her own thoughts, using an illustration from Brene Brown. Being vulnerable is actually all about the courage it takes to step into uncertainty, experience risk and to take a chance on emotional exposure. Deeper and richer connections are the reward.

In her interview segment, Elena speaks with Blaine Heck, Senior Publicist at Nardi Media. Blaine dives deep into her experiences with pregnancy and IVF, all while juggling challenges, workload and stress at the office. Together they discuss the culture of shame around miscarriages, and the surprising healing support of social media. While being pregnant does affect the work, full transparency and an awareness of how you are showing up go a long way in helping others understand your experience, and make room for it.

Blaine also shares (and compares) her disability in the workplace, specifically dyslexia. She offers insightful advice to employers, namely, that those with disabilities are often more creative than you realize, and that the disability often gives the individual a heightened awareness elsewhere - you just need to be open-minded enough to find it.

Let’s Get Social!

Blaine on IG: https:/www.instagram.com/btodfield/?hl=en

Blaine on LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/blainetodfield/

Nardi Media: https://nardimedia.com/

Want to hear more from Elena? https://elenaarmijo.com/ and https://thec-suitecollective.com/

This podcast was produced by the following amazing team:

John Biethan, President of Imagine Podcasting

Sam De Santo, Creative Director

Rye Taylor, Podcast Design Strategist & Producer

Alan Meaney, Audio Engineer

Meg McCarley, Brand Designer & Social Media Manager

Raejan Noh, Content Writer

Jennifer Harshman, Content Writer

Aaron Boykin, Musician & Artist (Get updates about Aaron’s music via Instagram)