Unlocking Authenticity: Blair Broussard on Being Unapologetically Human, Radical Candor, and Leadership Growth

Discover the transformative power of authenticity with Blair Broussard, a communications strategist who turned "being unapologetically human" from a personal mantra into a core company value. In this illuminating conversation, Blair reveals how embracing your true self—mistakes, questions, and all—can become your greatest professional superpower.

Guest Bio:

Blair Broussard brings over 17 years of experience in communications, change management, and corporate storytelling across B2B tech, healthcare, and telecommunications. As the former Chief Operations and People Officer at Alloy Marketing, she scaled the agency from a two-person startup to a thriving team of 50. Currently serving as a Senior Consultant for Cox Communications, Blair applies her approachable style and sharp insights to tackle complex workplace dynamics with humor and humanity.

Content Sample:

- The Liberation of being "Unapologetically Human": Unlike the vague advice to "just be yourself," Blair shares how reframing authenticity as being "unapologetically human" gives you permission to make mistakes, ask questions, and bring your unique perspective to every challenge.

- Radical Candor for Leadership Growth: Discover how embracing both caring personally AND challenging directly transformed Blair's leadership style during her agency's highest growth phase.

- The Anxiety-to-Superpower Pipeline: Learn how Blair harnesses anxiety as fuel for growth and uses intentional body awareness to stay grounded during high-pressure situations.

Key Takeaways

- [00:02:00] Being "unapologetically human" means giving yourself permission to make mistakes, ask questions, and bring your authentic self to work—even when it feels vulnerable.

- [00:08:00] True leadership requires both empathy AND direct feedback. The book "Radical Candor" provides a framework for balancing "caring personally" with "challenging directly."

- [00:14:00] Regular one-on-one meetings are essential for building trust—they create space for both personal connection and honest feedback that can't happen in group settings.

- [00:25:00] Setting daily reminders to check in with your body helps prevent burnout and ensures you're speaking from authenticity rather than people-pleasing during important moments.

Memorable Quotes:

"When someone puts it in the 'unapologetically human' piece, it gives you permission to not just be yourself, but make mistakes... None of us know anything. And when I'm approaching a challenge, it just gives me that permission to be creative, and not maybe do things by the book."

"In order for praise to even mean anything, you have to be able to have the harder conversation."

"Once you get in your head and you start caring about what other people think, you're caring about them versus what you're saying. And then you screw up."

For more from Blair Broussard, you can connect with her here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/blair-broussard/

Suggestions:

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If you are looking to add talent to your public relations, marketing, communications, sales, or business development team with the best talent, check us out at paradigmstaffing.com.

Host Information:

This insightful session was hosted by Jolie Downs with Paradigm. For more in career evolution and growth, you can connect with Jolie here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joliedowns/

Ending Note:

What part of your authentic self are you holding back at work? Remember Blair's wisdom that "there's only one of you" and your authenticity is your unique gift to bring to the table. Share your thoughts on how being "unapologetically human" might transform your workplace!

Transcript

Blair Broussard transcript 

Jolie Downs: [00:00:00] Welcome to the Career Wanderlust podcast, your compass for new career horizons. Bye. Today, we are talking with Blair Broussard. Blair is a seasoned communications strategist with over 17 years of experience in communications, change management, and corporate storytelling. Her career spans leadership roles in industries like B2B tech, healthcare, telecommunications, where she has cultivated a passion for Fostering alignment, transparency, and employee engagement.

Now as the former chief operations and people officer at Alloy Marketing, Blair played a pivotal role in scaling the agency from a two person startup to a thriving team of 50. Incredible. And currently Blair serves as a senior consultant for Cox Communications. She is known for her approachable style and sharp insights.

Blair is a sought after speaker and consultant who thrives on tackling complex workplace dynamics with humor and humanity. [00:01:00] I'm really excited to learn more. Blair, thank you for joining us on the Career Wanderlust podcast. 

Blair Broussard: Thank you for having me. Excited to be here. 

Jolie Downs: Oh, I know you have a wealth of experience.

I've worked with you in the past, and I'm excited to hear what you have to share. And I love your career trajectory as well, because you've really grown with yourself, it feels like, within your career. I'm wondering if you have a favorite piece of career advice or if there's something that has helped you along your way that you could share with us and why did it help you?

Blair Broussard: It's yes, I do. I had a lot. I was thinking about this before we started recording. There's so many pieces of advice I've gotten, but this one's a little bit of a piece of advice and actually ended up becoming one of our core values. It's called being unapologetically human and right. And To be quite honest, a lot of people tell you, be yourself, you know, and you're like, okay, all right, fine, whatever.

I'll be myself. But [00:02:00] when someone puts it in the unapologetically human piece, it gives you permission to not just be yourself, but make mistakes. It gives you the permission to ask questions because guess what? None of us know anything. And so if I'm approaching a challenge it just kind of gives me that permission to be creative, and not maybe do things by the book.

And it reminds me that what I bring to the table, even though I don't know, ev everything, even though I don't have questions, even if I mess up, I am still bringing something that is authentically me. And that in, and of itself is. It's special. It's a talent. Because there's only one of me.

There's only one of you. And so, it's just a really great reminder. And way harder to put in practice than you would think in the corporate world. 

Jolie Downs: It is. It's so important. I love this advice so much. It is incredibly important. And exactly how you said it too, that putting it in that way, because we get that advice in different ways, but [00:03:00] that has this something inside that releases something in you, right?

Like, yes. No, we are all human. And unapologetically so. So this is where we all are. And I feel like what it does is it helps strip that judgment away from the things, right? Because that's where we really need to, we need to strip away the judgment and just replace it with curiosity. 

Blair Broussard: Right. I was, I was sitting in a meeting today where I had to take a deep breath and remind myself that it was okay, that I didn't know the answer.

And quite frankly, there was probably at least 10 other people on the meeting that didn't know the answer. And guess what? I was right. Everyone else thought they were the only ones that didn't understand what was going on. So. 

Jolie Downs: See? It's perfect. Now, is there any, is there anything that has helped you practice that?

Because like you said, it is harder to practice, particularly in the corporate world. Is there anything you've found that's helped you, I don't know, remind yourself of it or bring it forth in this world, [00:04:00] if you will? 

Blair Broussard: I think, I talked about this with a friend of mine a couple weeks ago. It's something I feel.

I don't know if there's, you can write it on a post it. Some people may want to put it in their calendar. It's okay to be unapologetically human. It's actually my core value, whatever that reminder needs to be. But for me, I've learned how to. Why am I feeling uncomfortable? Why am I feeling stressed out?

Why am I feeling like I don't know what to do next? It's probably because I'm not being myself. I'm not asking the questions. I'm overthinking, overanalyzing, in my head, worried about what other people think of me versus about thinking about How do I best get this job done? 

Jolie Downs: That's a lot of self awareness there, right, too.

Right? Yes, I love that. I'm applauding that. 

Blair Broussard: Listen, a lot of therapy, okay? 

Jolie Downs: Well, no, look, self awareness is a key factor for success. Let's be real. If therapy is bringing self awareness to [00:05:00] you, then you gotta, you better be thanking that. Because, A, I've, Read many studies that it's actually the number one factor for success for CEO.

So I became fascinated with it because I was reading about how it impacted leadership and how self awareness was actually like the more self aware a CEO is, the higher their success rate essentially. And And here's what's so fascinating is that's just true in life too. In fact, I asked chat GPT at the beginning of the year, um, you know, what is one thing that humans can do for themselves that will make the biggest impact on

humanity around them on the world around them. And that was chat GPT's answer was self awareness will essentially change the world. If you 

Blair Broussard: can get to yourself, 

Jolie Downs: it's going to make the biggest impact on the world around you. So 

Blair Broussard: powerful. 

Jolie Downs: Right? Yeah. So good advice. 

Blair Broussard: chat GPT just saving the world over here. [00:06:00]

Jolie Downs: I love it.

So now, what about a story? Because I love a story, and I am sure you have many. 

Blair Broussard: Oh, yeah. 

Jolie Downs: Is there anything that has had a big impact on you that you learned from that could be beneficial for us to hear about? 

Blair Broussard: There's so many things. I'm unsure where to start. I'll give you a Feel free to share 

Jolie Downs: a couple if you want to.

I'm just saying. 

Blair Broussard: Does it have to relate to this unapologetically human? Oh, 

Jolie Downs: no. Okay. Anything. 

Blair Broussard: Yeah. So, I, I do want to talk about, you know, Just we talked about leadership, so I guess this is a good segue or a good story for leadership in general. I think when you step into a leadership role, as you know, we did almost accidentally, we started an agency, there were two of us and we ended up with 50 people that wasn't necessarily.

I love that you said 

Jolie Downs: it was 

Blair Broussard: accidentally. And we were in our late twenties and, you know, we didn't know what the heck we were doing. I mean, let's be real. And I know I've, I think you may have heard this story before, Jolie, but it [00:07:00] was one of the, these moments of, Oh, we are, we're now the boss. And uh oh. No one prepares you for this.

You don't get a college course in management, unfortunately, or graduate school course in management. You have to seek it out. You have to look for other people or mentors, books, conferences, professional organizations, if you care about being a good manager. And as a lover of people and someone who had a, you know, I don't know if we need to edit this, but oh, shit moment.

Um,

I was like, Oh no, I need to learn how to be a good leader. How do I do that? My default was I'm going to be Super empathetic, because I love people, and I want them to love me, and I want them to love working here, and I want to create this, you know, warm, rah rah culture, and unfortunately, while that's part of the equation, that's not the whole equation.

And so I stumbled [00:08:00] across this book that I'm sure everyone knows, and if you know me, you're tired of hearing me talk about it, but it's called Radical Candor. Oh yeah, it's a good one. 

Jolie Downs: Yeah. 

Blair Broussard: The author's Kim Scott. She, you know, she's worked in the tech industry and our agency represented tech companies. So it only seems fitting.

And I, it's, it's kind of officially now my work Bible. It just empowered me so much at a time where our agency was in a high growth, fast paced stage where, I just didn't want to lose the culture that we had, but it also helped me to really redefine what being a great leader meant. So it didn't just mean being that empathetic person.

That's only one part of it. Caring personally is part of radical cancer, but the part you're missing is the challenging directly. Because as much as I cared for them, what I realized is I was doing everyone a disservice by not Being honest about their work product by [00:09:00] not being honest and transparent about the things that were going on within the company that may not have been all rainbows and sunshine, what to build trust and to be, authentic and unapologetically human, you have to be able to, have both of those conversations.

You want to be able to praise people and promote people and encourage people. But In order for that to even mean anything, you have to be able to have the harder conversation. 

Jolie Downs: Yeah. Yes. And 

Blair Broussard: so, radical candor sounds very simple. Caring personally. Challenging directly. But if you put it into an example of, Oh, I have a team member who their writing is not great.

Well, that's not great because guess what? We're in a PR, you know, content marketing engine. And, and so I would be doing them a disservice if I just rewrote their information and it got to the point where I had to make a hard decision and [00:10:00] terminate that person because they weren't doing their job when they would come to me and be incredibly surprised by that termination because I never gave them a chance to improve.

Jolie Downs: And 

Blair Broussard: so that's a very small example. 

Jolie Downs: Such a good, this is such a good topic though. I mean, so. In that radical candor, because this is something that I know a lot of people struggle with. Look, I mean, I struggle with it myself, 

Blair Broussard: too. Everyone 

Jolie Downs: does. I mean, so I would love to know, is there, I mean, is there advice that you got from this book that helped you tackle these types of things, or even like in those first conversations when you had them?

Is there any advice that you would give? 

Blair Broussard: How to implement radical candor. There's, there's a lot. I think the biggest question I always get when we have these conversations is how, how do I build trust? Because I can give, I think people get nervous when they have to give this feedback, right?

If it's not positive, they get very nervous. Some people overcompensate and brush by the feedback and kind of deliver it in a shit [00:11:00] sandwich. And that doesn't really, Hit home, some people become what the book calls obnoxious, aggressive, which it's, it's almost like not wanting to deal with the emotion of giving the hard feedback to you all of a sudden become angry and mean.

Right, right. 

Jolie Downs: And 

Blair Broussard: guess what? You can scare people into doing things, but that is not sustainable. They'll, they'll be scared of you for maybe a week, a month, and then they'll either quit or they'll just stop listening to you. 

Jolie Downs: You don't want them calling Jolie. 

Blair Broussard: They call you. Oh my gosh, exactly. That's what happens.

I don't know. Maybe it is good for you, but, but, but I do think it's. It's being honest with yourself that no one's perfect. We all have to have these conversations. In fact, your employee should want to have these conversations with you because you're always learning. You're always improving. There's always room for growth.

So you build a trust by. [00:12:00] letting them give you feedback first and taking that feedback in stride and making changes and making adjustments. You give that feedback, but being honest about what's going on, whether it's positive or not, you give them that feedback by being very honest why they didn't get the promotion, right?

I know a lot of times that is a huge conversation. No one wants to have with people and listen, some of this takes some time. I actually saw, And I go on a tangent. So I saw a snippet of an interview on TikTok. I forgot which CEO it was, but it was, you know, fortune 500, company where he said, one on ones aren't effective.

And I thought, 

Jolie Downs: interesting. 

Blair Broussard: That is the worst advice ever. Yeah. How do you build trust from your team? They were coming, your one on ones are meant to help build trust. Your one on ones are to help give information you [00:13:00] don't want to give in front of. Constructive criticism you never want to give in front of others, right?

His point was, I think the point of his story was, you don't want to have one on ones because they're not productive. Because there's normally like three or four other people that should be in the room to have these discussions. But I think he's looking at it all wrong. You don't want to have one on ones with someone who's not your direct report.

Okay, fine. That's a different discussion, but to build that trust between manager and employee, it's imperative to implementing radical candor. 

Jolie Downs: I completely agree. And, the one on one is, is how you, like you said, it's how you build that connection. It ups the whole E Q of it all.

I mean, that advice. It's, it's completely counter intuitive to everything that I've learned through successful leadership , and how to thrive really, not only in life, but in business. So, um, yeah, I disagree. 

Blair Broussard: Same. I was, I was appalled. But yeah, I guess going back to your [00:14:00]original question, it's like, how do you, how do you implement this?

It's a struggle. I think one on ones are the, you know, starter and, and building that trust through success the discussions and not just, okay, what are you working on? That's not what these are to have an impactful one. You need to be asking about their personal life for a little while. You need to, you really want to learn to, to get to know someone on a different level.

And that can be really hard if, you know, you have nothing in common. You know, if, if you like me, I'm a single woman who's 40. So if I'm working with someone who's. You know, has children and is also a woman with and married like we need to find ways to connect. There are tons of ways Yes, yes, but it can't be that easy like water cooler talk like how's the weather?

How are your kids because? It needs to go beyond that and the only way to get there is to have these conversations 

Jolie Downs: It is you know, and even like having these types of conversations about feedback. It helps it helps reform those Those different, not true beliefs that we might carry [00:15:00] about it, right?

Cause it, it, you know, for me, I mean, just listening to this, to our conversation right now, it's reinforcing that, that belief that actually it is benefit. It is, it's actually doing someone a favor. Cause I do, I, I struggle with the negative feedback. I absolutely struggle with it, but giving negative feedback.

Is a favor, and I need to keep reminding myself that, that by not sharing that with people, I'm oftentimes robbing them from the opportunity of making themselves better, of, of, especially when you give feedback , in a, not in a mean, spiteful way, but in a way of trying to lift someone up and help them be better, when feedback is given in that way, it is much easier for someone to process it and then do something with it and actually move forward and try to be better with it.

Blair Broussard: Yeah, because you can also have people who have a personality like myself who this is something, you know, I need to work on, but constantly wanting the feedback because they're scared someone is too scared to give it right. They may have had a boss in the past who just wasn't direct with them, but then slap them with [00:16:00] something at the a year in review that they weren't expecting, you know, happened to me.

So it's this fear that's come into my life of like, What am I doing wrong? Am I doing something wrong? So, you know, that's, that's unneeded anxiety, but yes, having that open dialogue. 

Jolie Downs: Right. No, I completely, I completely agree with that. This is a really great conversation. I love this. It actually helps me with a number of things.

So now what about a challenge? Have you had any big, we've all had challenges. Is there a big challenge that you faced in your career that That you were able to overcome that you're willing to share with us and how did you overcome it? 

Blair Broussard: Yeah, I kind of like I was thinking about this too before we started recording I would say There I have made a lot of different career jumps.

You know, I went from being Someone who graduated in mass communication, who got a [00:17:00]job during, you know, right out during the great recession of the early aughts, and marketing and rough, rough, like, Oh, marketing, this can't be that different and hard. And then the conversation was, well, you're the only millennial in the corporate office here, social media, figure it out.

So, and, and so while that was. Looking in hindsight, that was really exciting and it gave me a platform and it opened so many doors for me that I would have never expected because in high school I would have never, social media didn't exist. I feel really old saying that, but it didn't. And I would have never known to say when I grow up, I want to be a social media manager, right?

That didn't exist. And so just there's, it's just. It's been very scary and challenging to say I didn't go to school to be a doctor and became a doctor. I went to school for this kind of esoteric, like, broad [00:18:00] practice of marketing, mass comm, etc. And it's just been this winding road of, okay, now I'm a social media expert.

Okay. Now I am helping to start this agency. I am a PR marketing integrated communications mastermind. And I hate to say the term fake it till you make it. Cause I wish that was, it was different, but I'll be honest. I think that might be it for me personally, because I felt like such a fraud so often. And we can talk about women and having, you know, imposter syndrome as well.

But. I just felt like I'm constantly reinventing and evolving and learning and pushing and it's been, it's continuing now, you know, I've, we've, the agency was acquired. I left after a year of transition and I am continuing that transition now and entering a new world. You know, consulting and working with Cox [00:19:00] communications, like you mentioned at the top of this podcast and really

taking on change management in a way more formal and strategic way than I ever have before. And so here we are again, you know, and during the time tenure at the agency, moving from a practitioner who was executing and marketing to an operations and human resources executive. And so it was, it's just been constant.

And so everything. It has been fun and exciting and also a challenge and it's just been a fake it till you make it kind of mindset. 

Jolie Downs: Yeah. I, I love it personally. It is one of the key aspects of thriving in life. I mean, there are a lot of people who will talk negatively about the fake it till you make it, but honestly, I've studied this, you know, and I've studied the successful people and what have, fake it till you make it has a lot of truth to it.

It really is, our growth is on the other side of our, our comfortable [00:20:00] nature. So, I mean, we have to get into an uncomfortable area in order to grow, in order to be, and an uncomfortable area is always an area that we don't know. We, you know, we have to fake it till we make it. It's, it's a part of the process.

And really. When you go in and the fake it till you make it, and when you do it, and you just, even when you don't know what you're doing, but you go in and you do it, and you keep your head up, and you keep your shoulders back, and you just pretend like you have the confidence, even when you don't, it tricks your brain into believing so, it tricks your body into continuing to move, and you know what, that's how we come to know it.

Blair Broussard: Right. It's an interesting concept that's very closely related to being unapologetically human. And I think that's. That's how I got there, right? It, you know, and if saying, I don't know everything, I'm not perfect. And I finally figured out at this time in my life, many people, no one else does really no one else does.

Jolie Downs: No, seriously. Oh, that's what I mean. The new CEOs, they're absolutely a brand new CEOs, absolutely sitting in their office, having [00:21:00] that imposter syndrome, pulling out the fake it till you make it. I don't want anyone to know. I don't know what I'm doing. I'm sure. I'm figuring it out. We're all, I mean, any new position we go in, if we've not done it before, we're going to have to spend some time figuring it out and faking it till we make it.

And yes, it's a really important conversation. Like you mentioned the imposter syndrome because we all do have that. It's a topic I'm actually very passionate about because I, I used to think that it was like special to me, you know, that, that no one else did. I would look around me and I just thought that everyone

just had it together that they just were so confident. And I was the only one that had this crippling anxiety or, or a belief that I, you know, it wasn't enough to do this or it wasn't, you know, the right, but no, we all actually feel that way. 

Blair Broussard: I know. And that's so powerful. That is, yeah, it's human and that's so powerful.

And, you know, one of the other things that one of my friends mentioned to me recently was. You know, you just kind of [00:22:00] always show up and that was maybe one of the best compliments ever because, yeah, I really, and she meant it in a very flattering way. Yes. You just, even if you're scared, even if you don't know what you're doing, you still go and do it.

And that's a 

Jolie Downs: great compliment. 

Blair Broussard: That's cool. And I'm like, it is scary. Thank you for acknowledging. 

Jolie Downs: I mean, that, yes, that is, that's how we, we, We win in life. That's how we experience new things. That's how we grow. That's how we succeed is definitely showing up and doing that. So that is a, that is one of the best compliments.

I love it. Yeah. Really, really good. I mean, now, is there anything on this topic? Is there anything that you have found helps you with your imposter syndrome when you're in that new moment? Is there anything that helps you with the fake it till you make it that you could share? Just out of curiosity. That we didn't already discuss.

Blair Broussard: I'd say extreme anxiety, which is not a good thing. I mean, I'll be very real. I'm an incredibly anxious person. [00:23:00] Unfortunately for me, it's something I'm working on. Um, I think, unfortunately it's helped me. I don't want it to help me for the rest of my career. These are all like incredibly terrible interview answers.

Jolie Downs: You know, one of my podcast guests, um, said, how did she put it? She, I'm not going to use the right word, but it was something like harnessed anxiety or sharpen it, like basically turning her anxiety into superpower, essentially, you know, um, you know, which I think is what a lot of us. So, what we're trying to do is we, what's important is we learn how to deal with it as far as like a mental health way.

I mean, at least I, I, I have a lot of tools that I've learned. Um, of course, a lot of them came later on in life. I will be honest. In the past, past five years, I've really had a lot of growth around some of these tools to help with it. But it is, it's learning how to harness it and then, and then use that to, to move you forward in the right ways.

Blair Broussard: No, that's a great way to put it. Harnessed anxiety. I'll use that moving forward. I [00:24:00] do think of course, like having a community surround you that, that you can, you know, talk to night or day vent to whatever that looks like, whether it's family or friends or whomever colleagues. I've had a really strong community I've built, just to support me when I need it.

Especially over the last few years, I've come to really. Really recognize that's imperative for, for me, to move forward. And I guess the, the third thing is going to be what I think maybe I mentioned in ties to unapologetically human, which is kind of learning to listen to my body. 

Jolie Downs: Ooh, really good one.

Oh, that's something we really forget to do so often. I know, I mean, that's something I also have learned more recently. How do you do that ever? There's a lot of people that haven't even thought about this or struggle with it. Is there anything that you would say to those types of people?

Blair Broussard: Yes, I'd say well for me I was so burnt out. I didn't even [00:25:00] realize I wasn't paying attention to my body and the signals it was giving me and You know, that's step one is just being aware that your body, your body does give you signals. Right. I wasn't paying attention. Step two is it's going to take you a while to figure out how to listen to yourself.

And so I was setting alarms like a couple of times a day to just force myself to check in. And some people might put a calendar reminder. Some people might, you know have some way to in start and end the day that really like removes them from work too but I do think that's really especially in the last like I said a couple years helped me.

 Really good Remember, the most important things are, and, and not overreact and overanalyze. I do feel like once you get in your head, and I think I said this a little earlier, so sorry for repeating myself, but once you get in your head and you start caring about what other people think, you're caring about [00:26:00] them versus what you're saying.

And Then you screw up and, and I've been, and to me, if I don't have those resets during the middle of the day and I go into a big presentation and I get in my head, I'm saying what I think they want to hear versus what I know matters and what I know is true, then that screws it all up.

So I don't want to do that anymore. I've done that a lot in my career. 

Jolie Downs: Mm, this is, this like was really good, because I know that's the, again, that's something I also have been working on, it's a process, and it is, I love the reminders that, I got a little tingles when you said that, it's like, I think I need those, I need reminders, I'm going 

Blair Broussard: Yeah, they're, they're helpful.

Little affirmations on your phone that pop up with a reminder. 

Jolie Downs: I'm a big fan of the affirmations. I'm, I'm not going to lie. I find them to be very, very helpful. In fact, I've done it with my, I, I put things on my kids mirrors that have stayed there for years. They, they wash their mirrors, but leave.

You know, so we all, we all need them. We all need those [00:27:00] reminders. I love 

Blair Broussard: affirmation. I love that you do that for your kids. That's so sweet. 

Jolie Downs: So now, wait, did you start a podcast? I, I felt like I read something about that. 

Blair Broussard: I did. I started a podcast, I think maybe six months ago, five or six months ago. It's called

corporate culture shock with Blair and it is a micro, I call it a micro podcast. It's about 10 minutes an episode. And we talk about things like this on there actually. So you'll have to come on and talk a little bit with me too, for 10 minutes about a specific topic of your, of your choosing. And that's everywhere.

Jolie Downs: Everyone, people can find it. 

Blair Broussard: for saying that it's streaming only on Spotify right now. So you can, you can find it there. 

Jolie Downs: Okay. Perfect. And then, I always love to ask, you already mentioned something, so we may not have anything here, but just in case you have something else, because I love the feeding your mind.

I love that you talked about Radical candor. Is there anything else that you feed your mind with in a positive way, that you find benefits you and that could benefit [00:28:00] others as well? 

Blair Broussard: I mean, to get really woo woo here, um, I science 

Jolie Downs: behind woo woo, people, okay? You can say woo woo, but the science is now backing it.

Blair Broussard: And this, I know science backs this, but I do meditate. I try to meditate every morning for like 15 minutes, right? When I wake up. So good. It really, I really feel the difference when I don't do it versus when I do it and how my day goes. After that. 

Jolie Downs: And, and really, it's, it's a cumulative thing. I was just saying this the other day, I, I was just feeling a lot more anxious and stressed about things and that, and I specifically said it's like, I haven't meditated in a week.

Mm hmm. It's been, it's probably been a week and a half actually, just because of all the different holidays and things and normally I do it every morning and I had gotten out of it because it had been go, go, go and I could absolutely feel it in my body, I could feel it in my mind. It was, it is so beneficial on so many levels.

I literally am like, ah, this is why I feel this way. I really need to go meditate. [00:29:00]

Blair Broussard: And if you have a hard time doing it in silence, I actually use like some sort of just any kind of guidance they have on YouTube, right? Yes. 

Jolie Downs: No, those are my favorite. I love a guided meditation because for people and I actually talk about this with a guest that Just recently came out, exactly that because I struggle with the silence and a lot of people will give up because they're like, Oh, I don't want to sit there in silence or I don't want to, I'm struggling with the breathing or what have you.

And I find that the guided meditations are just a great way to start the meditation process and make a huge difference. It harnesses your brain in the right way, right? It gives you, it gives your brain that beautiful guidance to start the day off in the right way. It's something we all need. I am a big fan.

Where do you, like, is there something that you would suggest for someone who's never started? Is there someone, is there one that you would suggest on YouTube to go check out? 

Blair Broussard: I don't have a great recommendation. Actually, I don't know if anyone listens to Joe Dispenza, but he has like this 15 minute morning meditation that is just great.[00:30:00]

So that's who I listen to, but yeah, he 

Jolie Downs: is good at like each 

Blair Broussard: his own. I know the calm app has been a lot of people's go to, so 

Jolie Downs: yeah, I really, um, Vishen Lakhyani has this six phase meditation, essentially it's 20 minutes, but it's a six phase meditation that walks you through six different phases of, so you, so basically you feel, connection to the world, you feel love, you feel forgiveness, you think about your perfect day, you think about your perfect future, and you know, it has like all these, so it's really nice.

I need to try that. It's a great way to start the day. Yeah. Yeah. Alright. Okay. This has been great. Thank you so much, Blair. I love, I mean, it's been such a great conversation all around. Before you go, I'm gonna, I'm gonna just throw out a random question to you because I love to hear what people have to say.

What are you sure of in life? 

Blair Broussard: Am I sure of in life? Ooh, this is a great question. I am sure that I don't know everything and will not know everything as long as I live. That's 

Jolie Downs: a great answer. It's such a hard [00:31:00] question. I love to hear what people come up with, because what are you sure of? 

Blair Broussard: I'll never know it all.

Jolie Downs: Yeah. Blair, thank you so much for joining us. I really appreciate it. 

Blair Broussard: Oh, thank you for having me. This was so fun. 

Jolie Downs: It was. Thank you for joining us on the Career Wanderlust Podcast. If you find value in learning from others, give us a like and subscribe. If you're looking to grow your communications, marketing, public relations, email us at or sales and biz dev team with the best talent and quickly.

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