Looks Like Work

Chaos as a Compass with Linda Du

Guest Bio
Linda Du is the founder of Moola Money, a FinTech startup providing financial guidance for millennials. A British-Chinese first-generation immigrant with an engineering degree from Cambridge and MBA from Yale, Linda spent 4.5 years at McKinsey advising global banks before leaving to build her own ventures. Her international journey spans London, Dubai, Berlin, and Silicon Valley, bringing a unique global perspective to democratizing financial literacy. She also runs Okta Investment, applying over a decade of retail investing experience.
Episode Summary
Linda shares her journey from McKinsey consultant to FinTech founder, driven by an embrace of chaos and the "outsider advantage." We explore how being perpetually foreign shaped her ability to navigate uncertainty, why Germany's Industry 2.0 mindset struggles in today's volatile world, and how undiagnosed ADHD led to burnout but ultimately revealed her entrepreneurial superpowers. Linda reveals why even high-earning professionals struggle with personal finance and how transparency—not complexity—is the key to financial empowerment.
Key Takeaways
The Outsider Advantage: Being perpetually foreign gives you permission to shape your own identity and break cultural norms—a superpower for founders
Chaos Over Control: In a world of infinite unknowns, the ability to navigate chaos beats trying to control outcomes
De-risking vs Control: Instead of trying to control everything, focus on reducing risk while maintaining flexibility
Purpose + Lifestyle: Sustainable work comes from both caring about what you do AND designing a lifestyle that supports your neurodivergence
Financial Transparency: People's finances are often better than they imagine—they just need clarity, not more complexity
Memorable Quotes
"I embraced the fact that I would always be an outsider. And there's actually a lot of incredible power in that because people can't really expect you to fit into cultural norms."
"Risk equals reward, but it's about how do you be smart in taking that risk?"
"I see so much opportunity for international collaboration... but I feel like we're going in another direction where countries and states are starting to say, let's do things our way."
"If you didn't have to work for a living, what would you do with your time?"
Resources Mentioned
Pierre Bourdieu's forms of capital (economic, cultural, social)
Maslow's hierarchy of needs
China Plus One investment strategy
Stanford investor education program
Moola Money: [Website link]
Gravitas - 1:1 accelerator for biz owners stepping into their founder era
The Curiosity Lab - Strategy sessions for leaders by Chedva
You’re Gonna Want to Sit Down for This - bi-weekly email packed with lessons and free tools
Chedva's newsletter - Weekly musings and questions
Reflection Questions
How might being an "outsider" in your industry actually be your biggest advantage?
Where in your life are you trying to control outcomes instead of de-risking?
What would you do with your time if money wasn't a factor?
 

The Performance Paradox with Yewande Faloyin

Guest Bio
Yewande Faloyin is the founder of Otito Leadership and a certified executive coach specializing in energy leadership and performance optimization. With a unique background spanning software development at IBM and Morgan Stanley, management consulting at McKinsey, and hedge fund advisory, Yewande brings a holistic approach to leadership development. After experiencing severe burnout, she discovered coaching and became certified in energy leadership, helping leaders move from burnout cycles to sustainable peak performance.
Episode Summary
In this powerful conversation, Yewande shares her unconventional journey from tech to leadership coaching, driven by a pattern of boredom that led to continuous evolution. We explore the dangerous myth of "pushing through" in high-achievement cultures and why traditional resilience might be keeping us stuck. Yewande introduces her revolutionary framework that moves beyond burnout recovery to true performance optimization - where rest becomes a strategic tool and integration of mind, body, and spirit drives sustainable success.
Key Takeaways
Boredom as a Compass: What seems like restlessness might actually be your internal guidance system pointing you toward your next evolution
The Performance Paradox: True high performance isn't about pushing harder - it's about mastery orientation over outcome orientation
Integration Over Separation: The greatest transformations happen when we stop compartmentalizing and start integrating all aspects of ourselves - technical and creative, strategic and intuitive
Quality Over Compliance: Going through the motions of self-care (yoga, sleep, nutrition) means nothing if the energy behind them is angry or resentful
Rest as Performance Enhancement: Athletes rest 75% of the time - why do knowledge workers think they can perform while running on empty?
Memorable Quotes
"If it's your calling, it'll keep calling."
"I often say that rest is your only legal performance enhancer."
"You could choose to rest, I could choose to rest, and yours could be effective and mine might not be because of the how."
"No one else's answer makes any difference whatsoever. It's all about you and what's important to you. And that's okay to switch it every single day."
Resources Mentioned
Energy Leadership certification (IPEC)
Website: [Otito Leadership website]
Yewande on LinkedIn
Gravitas - 1:1 accelerator for biz owners stepping into their founder era
The Curiosity Lab - Strategy sessions for leaders by Chedva
You’re Gonna Want to Sit Down for This - bi-weekly email packed with lessons and free tools
Chedva's newsletter - Weekly musings and questions
Reflection Questions
Where in your life are you "ticking boxes" without addressing the quality or energy behind your actions?
What would change if you viewed rest as a performance tool rather than a weakness?
How might boredom be guiding you toward your next evolution?

From AI Research to Alternative Healing (with Palveshey Tariq)

 In this transformative conversation, Palveshey Tariq—founder of Alternative Coaching Methods—shares her journey from quantum physics and AI research to guiding others through plant medicine ceremonies. After collecting all the accolades in STEM but feeling empty inside, a suic*de attempt led to a two-year journey of meditating 4-8 hours daily and completely rewiring her relationship with herself. What started as reaching for psilocybin mushrooms as an escape became five hours of taking ownership of her role in her own suffering. The conversation explores how we trade our authentic selves for conditional love starting in childhood, why observing our behavior (internally and externally) changes everything, and how fear drives most of our achievements until we learn to operate from integrity instead. Palveshey reveals her morning routine, why "discipline is the highest form of self-respect," and how asking "How do you know it's true?" can dismantle an entire belief system.
Key Topics:
From quantum physics to consciousness: the observer effect applied internally
Why high achievement doesn't equal high performance (vitality and balance)
Trading authenticity for love: "I am who I think you think I am"
A psilocybin ceremony that wasn't an escape but a mirror
The body screaming what the mind ignores: menstrual pain as communication
Morning routine as self-respect: meditation, walking, yoga, reading, then clients
 
Notable Quotes:
"Plant medicines shed light on all the dark areas and assign you homework, but you still have to go home and do the work."
"There's a fine line between owning your shit and being full of it."
"In order to become a graceful master, we need to look like a foolish beginner."
"In order for a spiritual awakening to happen, there has to be a mental breakdown."
"Creation and contribution are the antidotes for comparison and criticism".
Palveshey's Powerful Question: "How do you know it's true?"—And the crucial follow-up: "What's truer?"
 
Key Lessons:
Our subconscious starts believing love is conditional around age 2-3
The difference between religion and spirituality/devotion
Integration is the most important part of plant medicine work
Your body whispers before it screams—listen early
Four motivators: fear, desire, duty, or love—know which drives you
Turn "why me?" into "watch me"
Right and wrong are illusions—feel what's right in the moment
Resources Mentioned:
Alternative Coaching Methods 
The Diamond Cutter (and other books mentioned on this season - affiliate links)
No Bullshit Spirituality newsletter - one hard truth, one simple turnaround
LinkedIn for Palveshey's writings
Gravitas - 1:1 accelertaors for biz owners stepping into their founder era
The Curiosity Lab - Strategy sessions for leaders by Chedva
You’re Gonna Want to Sit Down for This - bi-weekly email packed with lessons and free tools
Chedva's newsletter - Weekly musings and questions

Finding Heart in Hard News (with Yonat Friling - Frühling)

In this deeply moving conversation, Yonat Friling - Frühling—Senior Field Producer at Fox News with 20 years in the field—shares her journey from a tiny desert community in Israel to the Oval Office and war zones around the world. Starting with a child's determination to witness history firsthand after watching the Berlin Wall fall on TV, Yonat built a career that puts her at the center of breaking news. The conversation explores how she fought gender barriers to get into the field, why she called every field crew member to apologize after her first day on location, and what it means to carry the weight of covering tragedies like October 7th. Yonat opens up about breaking the "shields" journalists build around themselves, the importance of vulnerability in a profession that demands toughness, and how she's learning that having your dream job doesn't mean sacrificing your dream life.
Key Topics:
"I want to be THERE"—watching the Berlin Wall fall at age 9
Why everyone in the control room should spend a day in the field
Covering October 7th and losing friends on both sides
Breaking the shame barrier around journalists' mental health
The fragility of life: from Morocco's earthquake to Gaza's war
Finding ways to have both your dream job AND dream life
Notable Quotes:
"If you assume that you already have the no, you already lost. So have the no and try to work around it."
"I want to be there...in the front seat of history"—at age 9 watching the Berlin Wall fall
"The first day I was out in the field...I called all the people I used to work with and apologized."
"You're not the tiny child from Sde Boker...standing behind the president in the Oval Office"
"When you try to bury down [your pain], the toll is even greater because you lose so much of yourself."
"Even the most devastating days of your life can be a stepping stone for moving forward."
 
Yonat's Powerful Questions:
"Was it a good day?"—Asked daily, finding at least three good things
"Is there something that I haven't asked that I should have?"—The magic happens after the interview ends
Key Lessons:
The "no" is just the starting point—work around it
Everyone thinks about failures; rewire your brain to think about successes
Mental health is just health—there's no shame in seeking help
You can build shields to protect yourself, but they also keep people away
Being afraid in dangerous situations is healthy—everyone should be asked
Progress for women in journalism: yes, but not enough
Resources Mentioned:
Yonat on Fox News—20 years as Senior Field Producer
Yonat’s Linkedin
Brené Brown's work on vulnerability
Gravitas - 1:1 accelertaors for biz owners stepping into their founder era
The Curiosity Lab - Strategy sessions for leaders by Chedva
You’re Gonna Want to Sit Down for This - bi-weekly email packed with lessons and free tools
Chedva's newsletter - Weekly musings and questions

Building a Business That Supports Your Life (with Jasz Joseph)

In this energizing conversation, Jasz Joseph—founder of Jasz Rae Digital and HubSpot CRM consultant—shares how burnout from tracking billable hours in 0.25 increments led her to build a business centered on time freedom and travel. After calling her CEO to quit and having him become her second client, Jasz has spent four and a half years creating systems that allow her LinkedIn posts, newsletters, and sales campaigns to run while she's exploring coffee shops in Mexico City. The conversation dives into the trap of tying identity to business success, why "business should be boring" might be the best advice she's received, and how asking "why not?" can uncover the people-pleasing tendencies that hold us back. Jasz reveals how she's learned to sit in the discomfort of slow seasons and trust that busy times will return—all while refusing to track a single billable hour.
Key Topics:
Why efficient people get penalized in the billable hours model
Building systems that work while you're at the beach (or in Mexico City coffee shops)
The identity trap: when business struggles feel like personal failure
Learning to sit in slow seasons without panicking
The eldest daughter to entrepreneur pipeline (it's real)
Travel as a business priority: working from everywhere
Finding excitement outside the business when it becomes "rinse and repeat"
Notable Quotes:
"I caught myself one day folding laundry, and I said to myself, 'That took 0.25 of an hour.' And I was like, this is crazy"
"Business should be boring. That's when you know you've kind of made it"
"My LinkedIn posts are going out, my newsletter is going out, my sales outreach campaigns are going out, and I don't have to move a muscle"
"I was like, 'What's next for us?' Revenue was lower...and because my business was so wrapped up in my identity, I took that so personally"
"Sometimes your flowery is bigger and sometimes your flowery is too small and you need more of it"
"We live in a society that is uncomfortable with quiet, with stillness"
"It's one of the cool things about getting older—you start to collect all of these like, 'Wait, I did that' or 'Wait, I can do that'"
Jasz's Powerful Question: "Why not?"—Often followed by "What's the worst thing that could happen?" to uncover the people-pleasing tendencies and fears that hold us back.
Resources Mentioned:
Jasz Rae Digital - HubSpot CRM consulting
Christina Langdon - Chedva's former coach - on Looks Like Work
 
Key Lessons:
Automation should give you time back, not enable more hustle
Your business being your whole identity makes failures feel personal
Slow seasons are for nourishment, not panic
Gateway questions help you approach big, scary decisions
The evidence of your resilience already exists—you just need to collect it
Travel and business integration creates a life of genuine freedom
Retry
Claude can make mistakes.
Please double-check responses.

From Family Business to Serial Founder (with Ellen Hockley)

 In this open and vulnerable conversation, Ellen Hockley—three-time founder and consultant—shares her winding path from shredding paper at her family's real estate business to building (and closing) multiple ventures of her own. After launching one of the first eco-friendly event planning companies in NYC, Ellen navigated the collapse of the events industry during COVID while simultaneously starting a sustainable maternity activewear brand—the same week her first son was born. The conversation explores the emotional weight of closing a business, the lessons learned from "fucking up" your books, and why managing 100 employees was never going to be her path. Ellen reveals how each venture taught her something crucial about herself, from discovering she doesn't actually like retail to learning that scarcity creates urgency in time management.
Key Topics:
Growing up in entrepreneurship: from paper shredder to potential successor
Building one of NYC's first sustainable event planning companies
The waste crisis in events: when raising money for education means dumping platters of food
Pandemic pivot: closing events while opening an apparel business (with a newborn)
The reality of overlapping businesses during COVID lockdowns
Why product-based businesses are nothing like service businesses
Why closing a business takes over a year (emotionally and practically)
Building boundaries: no credit cards, no employees, meetings only 9-noon
Notable Quotes:
"I had two babies in the same week"—on starting Evergreen the week her son was born
"My husband was like, 'You need to find a hobby.' I'm pretty sure he meant sourdough, not start a new business"
"I joke that I now have an MBA, both from what I learned, but also what I spent"
"To somebody on a podcast recently, they said 'You're just sowing your seeds.' And I was like, that is exactly what I'm doing"
"Something there failed, but it wasn't a failure. There were many successes"
"The fact that you can deal with things and that you're brave and strong doesn't mean you want to put yourself in a position to deal with it"
 
Ellen's Powerful Question: "Why are you driven to do this?"—A question she believes every entrepreneur must be able to answer, or it's time for a deeper conversation about why you're here.
Resources Mentioned:
Ellen Hockley Consulting - Current venture
Chedva on Ellen and Kat’s podcast - Good Ideas + Bad Decisions
Ellen’s Linkedin
SNL pandemic psychic skit
 
Key Lessons:
Service-based vs. product-based businesses require completely different skills
Interview your bookkeeper about their specific experience (Shopify ≠ service business)
Build from your scars: know what risks you will and won't take again
Closing a business is both physical and emotional work
Every failed venture teaches you what kind of founder you want to be next

Tech Cycles, Masculine BS, Career Choices (with Hannit Cohen)

 In this candid conversation between old friends and former co-founders, Hannit Cohen—VP R&D at Easy and Chedva's past CTO at Emerj—shares her journey through tech's boom-bust cycles from the late '90s and ever since. From starting as a programmer in the Israeli army to becoming one of the few female CTOs in tech, Hannit discusses the strategic choices that shaped her career, including the difficult decision to step back from deep tech to raise her three children. They explore what it truly means to build diverse teams (Hannit's current team is 50% women), the importance of creating psychologically safe work environments, and why asking "What do you want to be when you grow up?" never gets old. The conversation touches on the harsh realities of raising money as female co-founders, the myth of work-life balance, and why the best managers plan for their employees' careers beyond the current company.
Key Topics:
Navigating tech's cyclical nature through multiple boom-bust cycles
Strategic career planning: From programmer to CTO by 35
The difficult choice between high-level tech roles and family time
Building truly diverse teams
The evolution (or lack thereof) of workplace culture for women in tech
Why "unlimited vacation days" is the greatest scam in tech
The challenges of being self-employed when you love coding but hate business
Raising money as female co-founders doing "soft" social good work
Creating psychological safety and shutting down inappropriate workplace behavior
Mentoring as the most enjoyable part of leadership
Notable Quotes:
"You don't have to have a wonderful idea to succeed. You need to have a decent idea... What matters more than that is the execution on all bases."
"At the time, programming was a world of the youngs... You knew for sure that your only way to have a career in this world will be to become an executive."
"The higher you get, the percentage [of women] goes down a lot."
"You don't have to live with this masculine bullshit around you."
"When I look at my job, I think that's a very crucial part of it, to look at my people and tell, okay, they're working here now, but it's only a step."
Hannit's Powerful Question: "What do you want to do when you grow up?" (Asked to herself and her team members at every stage of their careers)
Resources Mentioned:
Hannit Cohen on LinkedIn
Emerj - The startup Chedva and Hannit co-founded
The Curiosity Lab - Strategy sessions for leaders by Chedva
Chedva's newsletter - Weekly musings and questions

The Body as Home: Movement, Language, and Questions (with Liza Futerman)

In this profound conversation, Liza Futerman, a somatic educator, practitioner, and artist, shares her journey from Soviet Russia to Israel, her academic journey pursuing advanced degrees at Oxford and Toronto, and how movement and language became her twin resources for navigating identity, loss, and healing. Liza's life took an unexpected turn when her mother was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's. This led her back to movement through contact improvisation, particularly mixed-abilities dance, where she discovered new ways of understanding leadership, disability, and what it means to be human. The conversation explores how major life disruptions - from immigration to divorce to witnessing war in one's neighborhood - can reconnect us to our bodies and reshape our relationship with uncertainty.
Key Topics:
Immigration and identity: Finding home between Russian, Hebrew, and English
The body-mind split and the journey toward integration
Using photography and narrative to communicate with a parent with Alzheimer's
Contact improvisation as a path to healing trauma and anxiety
Mixed-abilities dance and the intersection of visible and invisible disabilities
Somatic approaches to grief, money, and taboo subjects
Leadership as a question rather than certainty
How major life events force us to reconsider our relationship with control
The nervous system's response to crisis and the importance of discharge
Academic competition versus embodied learning environments
Notable Quotes:
"As opposed to Russian and Hebrew, my self did not exist in English. And so I could shape it the way I wanted."
"Whatever is hard, whatever is challenging can be done easier, can be done in a more gentle way."
"If something is hard, it means that it's not getting the right support."
"I came to this class and we were invited to lie on the floor. And it was just like an answer to all of my prayers."
"All of a sudden I was dancing in the studio with people with wheelchairs... And that made me feel human again."
Liza's Powerful Questions:
"How should a human be?" (from Kelly Rodriguez)
"How to ask questions?"
"What support do I need and how to ask for that support and where to ask the support from?"
Resources Mentioned:
Liza's website
Liza’s TEDx talk about dementia
"What We All Long For" by Dionne Brand
"Maus" by Art Spiegelman
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Fitting Out - Reclaiming Unprofessionalism (with Myriam Hadnes)

 In this deeply reflective conversation, Myriam Hadnes, facilitator, podcaster, and founder of Workshops Work, joins Chedva to explore the intersection of facilitation, belonging, and authenticity. Growing up with an Israeli father and German mother in Germany, then living across continents, Myriam embodies the intercultural perspective she brings to her work. They discuss how facilitators often begin as children trying to make everyone feel included, the tension between belonging and authenticity, and why corporate "professionalism" might be the cage we need to break free from. Myriam shares her journey from discovering she's a facilitator while reading Priya Parker's book to writing her own choose-your-own-adventure book about unprofessionalism—because sometimes the most professional thing you can do is be human.
Key Topics:
Facilitators as the observing, sensitive children who make everyone get along
The physical reaction to exclusion and the urge to include everyone
Creating psychological safety in multicultural corporate teams
The tension between belonging and authenticity (Gabor Maté)
Why "going through the motions" of emotions can heal
Remote work and the lost art of kitchen gossip
Unprofessionalism as reclaiming our humanity at work
The difference between fixing ourselves and accepting ourselves
How modeling comfort gives others permission to be authentic
Why corporate professionalism no longer fits our times
Notable Quotes:
"I think we very early unconsciously start facilitating our families. We are often the children... observing, very sensitive to what's going on, very sensitive to what's not outspoken."
"I have this inner urge to include everyone, to listen to people, to not teach them and tell them, but help them develop their own thinking."
"What they very quickly realize is what they need is a little bit more compassion to themselves and to each other."
"The most disarming moment is to feel seen. Not the superficial kind of hello and tap on the shoulder... but really feeling seen and heard."
"If we can see it, we can do it."
"We've forgotten that the world of work is not about being professional. It's about being human."
"If we continuously feel like we're not good enough... we'll start pretending just to cover it up... And then we'll end up as imposters pretending that we are someone who we're not."
Myriam's Powerful Question: "What would you do if you were not afraid?"
Resources Mentioned:
Workshops.work - Myriam's boutique agency
"The Art of Gathering" by Priya Parker
Gabor Maté's work on belonging vs. authenticity
The Curiosity Lab - Concentrated strategy container
Chedva's newsletter - Weekly musings and questions
 

The Equality Myth (with Dr. Orit Kamir)

 In this powerful conversation, Dr. Orit Kamir—feminist scholar, human rights researcher, and initiator of Israel's sexual harassment prevention law—joins Chedva to explore how narratives shape our reality and why feminism requires constant vigilance. Orit shares her journey from believing in Israel's "equality myth" to becoming blacklisted for her feminist advocacy, and how she foresaw the current regression in women's rights. They discuss the insidious power of patriarchal storytelling, from biblical Eve to modern "tradwife" content, and why doing feminism "for show" can eventually manifest real change. The conversation touches on the importance of reclaiming our terminology, maintaining hard-won habits of equality, and understanding that women's rights are human rights—especially when both are under attack.
Key Topics:
The "equality myth" and feminist awakening in different cultures
Being secretly blacklisted for feminist advocacy—and the relief of vindication
How narratives, language, and images shape patriarchal reality
The Donna Reed to "tradwife" pipeline—why old patterns keep returning
Sexual harassment law in Israel—30 years of progress and pushback
Why "going through the motions" can lead to real cultural change
COVID and war as moments that expose underlying patriarchy
The extreme right's talent for co-opting feminist language
Reclaiming feminism, learning, and our right to ideology
Why universalism matters—feminism as part of human rights
Notable Quotes:
"I was brought up into the equality myth... that sexual inequality was something that belonged elsewhere. It was a part of other cultures, but certainly not mine."
"We live through narratives... What we see and what we remember, what we recall and what we understand are stories."
"Denial is not my strength. So when I saw this, I understood what it meant."
"We do not learn from the experience of previous generations. And so we have to repeat their mistakes over and over again."
"Habits are important... These habits are what creates reality."
"You can't be a feminist if you're a racist. You can't be a feminist if you want to abuse people economically."
Orit's Powerful Question: "If something is meaningful when I do it for others, is it not just as meaningful when I do it for myself?"
Resources Mentioned:
Dr. Orit Kamir's website (in English and Hebrew)
Dr Kamir’s new book (Hebrew)
Dr Kamir’s latest book in English
The Israeli sexual harassment prevention law of 1998
Professor Catharine MacKinnon
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