Episode 10
Ep.010 The LeadHer Shift Podcast Re-Launch: Inner Awareness and the New Era of Women’s Leadership
Welcome to the LeadHer Shift podcast, where host Alian Ollivierre creates a safe, honest space for bold women building power, presence, and purpose from the inside out. In this deeply personal kickoff to a new season, Alian opens up about the defining moments of her last five years—including her journey through motherhood, professional pivots, and inner transformation. She shares how the LeadHer Shift movement was born from her own search for authentic leadership, and how reclaiming her voice became not just a personal revival, but an invitation for all women to step into clarity, courage, and conviction.
This episode explores the messy, sometimes isolating process of identity shifts, the power of inner awareness, and the transition from performative confidence to fully embodied leadership. Alian highlights that true authority and presence begin with the work within—and invites listeners to join her and a community of trailblazing women for strategies, stories, and support as they navigate their own leadership journeys. If you’ve ever felt invisible, doubted your ambition, or wondered if your leadership truly matters, this episode is for you. You’re not alone, and your story is ready to be heard.
1. Introduction to the LeadHer Shift Podcast
- Welcome message and purpose of the podcast
- Emphasis on a safe space for bold women building power, presence, and purpose
- Introduction of the host, Alian Ollivierre
- Setting the stage for a deeply personal episode and a new era of the podcast
2. Alian’s Personal Story and Defining Moments
- Sharing of deeply personal experiences from the last five years
- The feeling of urgency to share her gifts and reconnect with listeners
- The concept of “shift” and how her experiences may mirror those of the audience
3. Challenges with Visibility and Self-Expression
- Owning credentials and titles but feeling her voice was not fully her own
- Experiences of shrinking in rooms and hesitating to take up space
- Specific example from a United Nations meeting: withholding critical questions and experiencing self-doubt
4. The Concept of Inner Permission and Capacity
- Recognizing the difference between capability and capacity
- Acknowledging a lack of inner permission to hold space and be fully present
5. Major Life Changes and Their Impact on Identity
- Shifts occurring in 2020: the global pandemic and the birth of her child
- Transition into motherhood: joy, grief, and isolation
- Navigating the emotional complexities and identity questions of being a new mother
6. The Loss and Realignment of Ambition
- Unexpected loss of ambition and redefining success in simple terms
- The struggle with self-doubt, feeling unworthy, and the erosion of former passions
7. The Process of Rebuilding and Self-Discovery
- Rebuilding herself, piece by piece, after intense life changes
- Using metaphors like “clearing the bush” to describe the process of self-renewal
- Questioning, “Who am I becoming?” versus trying to reclaim her past self
8. Emergence of a New Version of Self
- Separating and honoring various roles: mother, wife, daughter, leader
- Development of a stronger, more grounded, and intentional self
- Deepening spirituality and clarity of purpose
9. The Birth and Purpose of the LeadHer Shift Podcast
- Launching the podcast in 2020 as an act of reclamation and alignment
- The transformation of the podcast from a space for shared perspectives to a declaration of leadership
10. The LeadHer Shift Framework: From Inner Awareness to Outer Authority
- Realization that inner work is foundational to authentic leadership
- Defining inner awareness: knowing your worth and truth before external validation
- Understanding outer authority as the public manifestation of inner work
11. Authentic Leadership Versus Performative Confidence
- The distinction between performative confidence and truly owning confidence
- Teaching a formula for moving from inner awareness to outer authority
- Sharing an example of her team succeeding independently as evidence of true leadership impact
12. Preview of Upcoming Podcast Content and Community
- Plans for bringing powerful female leaders, founders, and creatives onto the show
- Topics to be covered: mindset, identity, visibility, power, and authentic leadership
- Commitment to delivering actionable strategies and reminders of women’s intrinsic power
13. Invitation to Listeners
- Encouragement for women experiencing doubt, confusion, or identity shifts
- Assurance that they are not alone and their leadership matters
- Call to share the episode and connect via the podcast’s website
Transcript
Welcome to the Lead Her Shift
Speaker:podcast. This is what I like to call a
Speaker:safe space. A space for bold women
Speaker:building their power, presence, and purpose
Speaker:from the inside out. A space where we
Speaker:explore what it means to lead with clarity,
Speaker:courage, and conviction. So
Speaker:wherever you are in the world, hey.
Speaker:I'm your host, Alyane Oliver, and I am super honored
Speaker:that you're tuning in today. Now today,
Speaker:I want to share something deeply personal.
Speaker:I'll share and delve into a few of my defining moments
Speaker:over the last particularly five years and a little
Speaker:bit about how the lead her shift
Speaker:was birthed. And I really feel a sense of urgency
Speaker:to share my gift with all of you. So this episode
Speaker:is not just the start of a new season. It's the
Speaker:reconnection with everyone who has been listening,
Speaker:is a reckoning, and more than that, is
Speaker:really a revival. It's the beginning of a new
Speaker:era. An era shaped by
Speaker:alignment, authenticity
Speaker:and inner power. Honestly,
Speaker:it's really the story behind my shift. And maybe I
Speaker:don't know, it mirrors yours.
Speaker:She always knew she had something to
Speaker:say. And for a while, she did. She
Speaker:stood up. She spoke. She
Speaker:even created spaces where others could stand up
Speaker:and speak too. But every time she
Speaker:entered a room, she shrank.
Speaker:She hesitated. Just a little.
Speaker:Just enough not to take
Speaker:up too much space. She
Speaker:didn't want to be too loud or even
Speaker:too noticeable. I know this woman
Speaker:very, very well because I was her.
Speaker:I had the title. I had the degrees from
Speaker:the law to my master's in international relations. I had
Speaker:the experience from corporate to the United
Speaker:Nations. I had the receipts, the projects I
Speaker:completed, all the tasks that worked really
Speaker:well and built that level of credibility. But,
Speaker:my voice, I did not
Speaker:feel fully it did not feel fully mine
Speaker:yet. This was
Speaker:still something missing.
Speaker:And sometimes even when I said the right
Speaker:things or so I thought,
Speaker:I'd still walk away second guessing myself.
Speaker:Imagine you're saying the right things,
Speaker:sometimes at the right time, in the right moments, with
Speaker:the right audience. But, then you walk away
Speaker:and you replay every conversation, every
Speaker:response, every decision you made, every hesitation, every facial
Speaker:expression that occurred in every moment.
Speaker:And I will never forget, I vividly remember
Speaker:one evening leaving a meeting
Speaker:with some of my colleagues at the United Nations.
Speaker:And it was that moment where
Speaker:we had a powerful meeting. It was about a particular
Speaker:project that we were about to execute.
Speaker:And yet, in the meeting itself, I didn't want
Speaker:to ask the kind of questions to bring
Speaker:alarm to some of the challenges or the risks that might
Speaker:happen as part of this project. And I
Speaker:said nothing. I wasn't as bold as I thought I
Speaker:was being. I asked some questions, but just
Speaker:enough. Just enough questions
Speaker:to be seen as having an input into the project.
Speaker:Just enough input that it didn't feel
Speaker:like I was just cruising through the meeting. Right?
Speaker:But then leaving the meeting,
Speaker:I kinda started to beat myself up, if I'm honest. And started to
Speaker:say to myself, well, why didn't you say this? This would have
Speaker:been an important point to me at this point. Because what
Speaker:if this occurs as a result of you not saying this?
Speaker:And it wasn't about my capability or even
Speaker:me needing more credentials. It was about
Speaker:capacity. I wasn't giving myself the
Speaker:inner permission to hold space.
Speaker:I hadn't given myself that permission. You
Speaker:see? So now, let's trap back
Speaker:to five years ago.
Speaker:It's 2020. We just
Speaker:all rang in a brand new
Speaker:decade. We celebrated. We.
Speaker:It was that moment of anew that
Speaker:everyone really focused
Speaker:in on during the beginning stages. Right?
Speaker:Then, everything changed. When the
Speaker:world shut down, so did I.
Speaker:So did the version of me I had spent
Speaker:years carefully building, especially in my profession.
Speaker:And at the same time, I had a
Speaker:new chapter. A new chapter in the book and in
Speaker:my journey had opened. I became a
Speaker:mother. And it's so beautiful to say that out
Speaker:loud. Motherhood was and still
Speaker:is beautiful. My pregnancy was smooth.
Speaker:I had wanted I always tell others I would be
Speaker:pregnant all you know, consistently because my
Speaker:pregnancy was great.
Speaker:The delivery experience, however, was an experience.
Speaker:If you know, you know. And I was
Speaker:so full of joy. Love. My heart
Speaker:was honestly is the biggest I feel like I've ever felt
Speaker:my heart feeling. My heart was filled with
Speaker:new meaning of what life was about.
Speaker:Honestly, a lot of shifts happened as a result of
Speaker:just that birthing experience.
Speaker:But it also brought grief. The
Speaker:kind of grief that I don't think we really, as women,
Speaker:are prepared for, no one tells us about,
Speaker:and there are no conversations, communities, at least that
Speaker:I know of, where this level of grief is shared.
Speaker:The kind where you lose yourself
Speaker:quietly in a lonely,
Speaker:dark mindset space.
Speaker:Honestly, where although there have
Speaker:been a myriad,
Speaker:millions of people who have gone through these same experiences,
Speaker:you still feel super isolated and alone.
Speaker:Right? I honestly remember maybe two
Speaker:days or so. Oh,
Speaker:no. It was the night,
Speaker:the evening we brought home our
Speaker:daughter. And
Speaker:or rather the evening when the doctor said,
Speaker:okay. You everything looks fine. You know? Mommy's good.
Speaker:All vitals are clear. Baby is fine to go.
Speaker:You are released from the hospital. And I feel
Speaker:like in that moment, my heart was like, well,
Speaker:so the nurses are coming with us?
Speaker:This is my first time being a mother. Like, what do you mean? Like, you
Speaker:want me to leave after two days? Like, I don't understand. And
Speaker:it was the moment getting home that
Speaker:really stood out because in that quiet
Speaker:moment, I laid my daughter down
Speaker:and I watched her sleeping. And I sat on the
Speaker:bed still in pain, you know, still a lot
Speaker:of worry, still a lot of things going on in my head.
Speaker:And all all I could think is, like,
Speaker:so no one is coming like, no one is coming to save us.
Speaker:Like, we are in this together. Like,
Speaker:just remember. Right? But in those moments, it was
Speaker:feeling like I don't know I don't know who I
Speaker:am. I know I am a mother. I just
Speaker:gave birth. Like, that's what the world tells me my
Speaker:title looks like. But am I? Or,
Speaker:you know, what kind of leader am I now?
Speaker:Like, am I sup like, what am I supposed to do? I
Speaker:have an entire small human
Speaker:here that I have to pay close attention to.
Speaker:Make sure she's sleeping well. Make sure she gets up.
Speaker:Make sure she's fed. Make sure she's clean. And
Speaker:the list goes on. And then I sit
Speaker:and I wonder, but am I still a leader if I
Speaker:don't recognize who I am anymore?
Speaker:That was a serious question I had to ask myself.
Speaker:And, at the same time, silly upon looking back.
Speaker:You know? I didn't expect how much I would lose
Speaker:pieces of who I was,
Speaker:quite honestly. There was even that, like,
Speaker:quiet erosion of my ambition. Like, I
Speaker:I I feel like I lost all sights of ambition.
Speaker:Ambition? That is wild. Like, I
Speaker:no longer cared to push, you know.
Speaker:And, success for me, if
Speaker:I'm honest, was just being able to take a daily shower.
Speaker:Again, if you know, you know, you know. So it's those
Speaker:moments like the Zoom calls on mute, the long
Speaker:days of diapers, baby crying, you know, this
Speaker:small being needing you, mommy, for
Speaker:food, comfort, nourishment, love, care,
Speaker:attention. You you have to teach. You have to clean. You
Speaker:is is a being that is
Speaker:literally helpless, needing everything out of
Speaker:you that you don't even feel like you have to give.
Speaker:And don't talk about the doubt. And slowly I
Speaker:began to drift from the
Speaker:woman I was. I was actually no longer the woman I was but of course
Speaker:in those moments I didn't recognize it.
Speaker:I wasn't quite sure of myself anymore.
Speaker:And, I really in those moments
Speaker:truthfully felt unworthy.
Speaker:But what I thought was losing my passion upon
Speaker:hindsight was actually a massive
Speaker:overhaul and realignment. Because I
Speaker:started over time to rebuild
Speaker:piece by piece. And what I thought was
Speaker:loss was actually a clearing.
Speaker:Is you know, when you think about it, you know,
Speaker:there's all this bush. If you know, you know. If you
Speaker:if you live in a a island, you know
Speaker:there's all this bush. Right? And you're trying to
Speaker:chart, trying to change a cart road
Speaker:into a paved a paved road. But you gotta
Speaker:do the clearing first. Right? In order to see the other side,
Speaker:in order to know if this is the path that
Speaker:that could be paved. And that's essentially what it kinda
Speaker:was for me. And instead of trying to
Speaker:become who I used to be, I had to ask
Speaker:myself, who am I becoming? Who am I
Speaker:becoming now? Because
Speaker:I couldn't identify with past Allianne
Speaker:and at the same time, the road wasn't clear enough for
Speaker:me to
Speaker:honoring my roles, my separate
Speaker:roles. So, at first, I had to separate
Speaker:wife from mother, from daughter, from
Speaker:boss. Right? From manager and
Speaker:leader. I had to separate those roles
Speaker:to start to debush debush my
Speaker:mind in in a way, right? And, somewhere in
Speaker:the process of doing that, something new
Speaker:began to emerge. I was
Speaker:stronger. I am more grounded
Speaker:now. There's a version of myself that's more
Speaker:spiritual. My faith holds me
Speaker:closer than it ever did before. I'm way more
Speaker:intentional, way more confident,
Speaker:more connected to what really matters. I
Speaker:even started a podcast in 2020. That's when Delete
Speaker:Her Shift was born. And, at first, it was
Speaker:just a podcast. Just a space to
Speaker:share thoughts. Just a space to hear
Speaker:perspectives. And now I realize looking back,
Speaker:it was really a declaration.
Speaker:It was really a declaration. Me reclaiming my
Speaker:leadership was utilized in the form of the
Speaker:creation of the podcast. And at the time, I didn't even
Speaker:know it was part of my own alignment.
Speaker:But now I see it extremely clearly. It was the beginning
Speaker:of something way deeper for me. Because,
Speaker:after recording the first episode,
Speaker:I honestly felt I never felt
Speaker:so alive. So, let me start with the with the fact
Speaker:that I was for the first time in
Speaker:quite some time, I was having real
Speaker:and meaningful adult conversations.
Speaker:Right? And, aside
Speaker:from that, it really felt like a moment
Speaker:of relief. I felt so comfortable
Speaker:sharing perspectives, asking questions,
Speaker:hearing thoughts from leaders all
Speaker:around the world,
Speaker:and even sharing new perspectives that helped to frame
Speaker:what the leadership really was all about. So
Speaker:without fully real realizing it, to be quite honest with you,
Speaker:a framework for the leadership was created.
Speaker:That was the shift. So, from
Speaker:inner awareness to outer authority that realization
Speaker:changed everything
Speaker:for me. Everything.
Speaker:Because, in those moments of filming and in
Speaker:those moments of connecting, I realize
Speaker:that if I don't understand who I am
Speaker:inwardly, I can't
Speaker:portray, and really
Speaker:exude what I want outwardly.
Speaker:Because for me, I discovered that inner awareness is
Speaker:knowing your worth
Speaker:before the world validates it.
Speaker:It's about knowing who you are long before the world
Speaker:claps for you. It's listening
Speaker:to the truth of your story and note
Speaker:I said the truth. Not what
Speaker:is true, but what is the
Speaker:truth. And, letting that truth
Speaker:lead you. Right?
Speaker:If you don't understand your strengths and your
Speaker:values, your inner awareness is weak
Speaker:and it's being clear about who
Speaker:you are before anyone else.
Speaker:It starts basically with you.
Speaker:And if you want to show up authentically or in an
Speaker:authentic way, in any way shape or form,
Speaker:you kinda have no choice but to discover your inner
Speaker:awareness. But once you
Speaker:do, the outer authority
Speaker:just exists. That's when leadership becomes
Speaker:felt. Not the title,
Speaker:not the, the dictating to,
Speaker:not the ordering of, the leadership
Speaker:that others feel is truly felt.
Speaker:Felt. Your presence is felt. Your
Speaker:values are felt. The strength that
Speaker:others would like to embody as a leader
Speaker:is felt from you because you are clear,
Speaker:you are focused, and you are absolutely
Speaker:understanding of who you are and what your worth
Speaker:is. And outer authority is what happens when the inner
Speaker:work shows up publicly. It shows
Speaker:up publicly Because once you start to
Speaker:exist in your ins, in your inner
Speaker:self,
Speaker:it kinda it it kinda exudes on its own. You don't
Speaker:even have to say anything. When your presence speaks
Speaker:before you do, that's when you know.
Speaker:But also, it's when the room shifts when you
Speaker:speak. It's the influence that isn't
Speaker:forced, is just embodied.
Speaker:You don't have to force your influence. When you
Speaker:lead with grace and hold space for others
Speaker:and influence without authority,
Speaker:your outer authority is just doing what it's
Speaker:supposed to do. And believe you me, the shift is
Speaker:real. From invisible to impactful,
Speaker:from qualified to commanding, from performing
Speaker:confidence to owning it.
Speaker:Most persons out here are performing confidence.
Speaker:They're performative.
Speaker:They're doing the things you think confidence looks like and
Speaker:not truly owning what confidence is for them.
Speaker:This is the formula I now teach. Because it's the
Speaker:one I had to live through quite honestly. It
Speaker:was in 2024 when
Speaker:I realized my
Speaker:presence is being felt and I'm not even in the room.
Speaker:When my team held an event and from
Speaker:start to finish, they showed up.
Speaker:They showed up. And, they delivered.
Speaker:So much so, I wasn't in the room. I had
Speaker:just my son was just born. My second
Speaker:child was just born. And,
Speaker:the event was like two months after that.
Speaker:And, oh sorry, no, a month after I gave
Speaker:birth. And
Speaker:in those moments, I realized that
Speaker:it was a moment that surprised even
Speaker:me about my outer authority showing up
Speaker:even when I wasn't in the room. Because my team delivered to
Speaker:the point where others even felt I
Speaker:had a hand in it and I didn't. I
Speaker:may have guided. I may have supported. I may have answered questions,
Speaker:but my team did the thing. And that in
Speaker:itself showed me how influence, how powerful influence
Speaker:can truly be when you are very clear about
Speaker:yourself, so much so that your team
Speaker:starts to embody a lot of those things. So listen.
Speaker:You see, this season, I want to bring you
Speaker:into rooms filled with powerful women
Speaker:who've done their own shifting, both in life and leadership.
Speaker:You will hear from leaders, founders, creatives,
Speaker:women just like you navigating identity shifts,
Speaker:visibility shifts, and even legacy.
Speaker:You'll get strategies to move from performing
Speaker:leadership to embodying it because we in we don't
Speaker:want performative actions no longer.
Speaker:We'll talk mindset. We'll talk identity,
Speaker:visibility. We'll even talk about
Speaker:power and what the true meaning of power
Speaker:is. And I'll be
Speaker:here in between these conversations with
Speaker:women sharing tools,
Speaker:truths, and reminding you of your power.
Speaker:Because it doesn't start outside of you. It
Speaker:starts within you. It begins with inner
Speaker:clarity, inner conviction, and inner
Speaker:shifts. And I'm extremely
Speaker:excited for this next season and this next chapter in
Speaker:your life. You may not know it yet, but
Speaker:your leadership is happening as I speak.
Speaker:Now, this episode
Speaker:is just for you because you are the woman
Speaker:who may be confused about your ambition. You may be the
Speaker:woman who is having a
Speaker:defining moment right now but you aren't aware of it.
Speaker:You may be the woman who think you're confident but there's a lot of doubting
Speaker:questions you ask yourself. What if
Speaker:you have a lot of of questions that is currently
Speaker:shifting your mindset or
Speaker:having it remain stagnant? You
Speaker:have a network around you, but maybe it's
Speaker:not the best network that could help you
Speaker:to be your best and most authentic self.
Speaker:I want you to keep listening in. The lead her
Speaker:shift is to help you to determine what
Speaker:the authenticity is gonna look like, is to help you
Speaker:lead your best life and lead in
Speaker:any space and room you enter.
Speaker:This is for you.
Speaker:Now, if this episode spoke to you,
Speaker:share it. Don't keep it a secret. Don't gatekeep.
Speaker:Send it to that woman who you know needs to hear.
Speaker:You are not alone. And your
Speaker:leadership still matters. I'll repeat that.
Speaker:You are not alone and your leadership
Speaker:matters. And wherever
Speaker:you listen, please subscribe to the Lead Her Shift
Speaker:podcast or head on over to our website,
Speaker:theleadhershift.com to connect with us there.
Speaker:This movement is about more than just leadership.
Speaker:It's about building something better. I'd
Speaker:I'd love to hear your story because your voice matters,
Speaker:you know. Because the world is ready for your
Speaker:authority. The question is,
Speaker:are you?
