Confidently You: Women in Leadership · Rebecca Malotke-Meslin & Lynne Macziewski

Vulnerability & Inclusivity

·46 min·3 clips

Cheryl links vulnerability to admitting “I can no longer be kidding myself about I’ve got it all together.”

The podcast opens with Rebecca Malachy-Meslin and Lynn Macheskey introducing Confidently You and their own school-leadership backgrounds. Rebecca talks about work in enrollment management, financial aid, marketing, and communications, while Lynn brings more than 20 years in independent schools and her current role as head of school at the Baldwin School. They welcome Cheryl Schenck for a conversation centered on leadership, inclusion, and confidence. Cheryl’s point is straightforward: when a leader has positional power, it matters who is being asked to hold stress, emotion, or unfinished work. She pushes back on the idea that people should absorb those things without consent. Leaders, she argues, should be the resource for others. The episode then moves to a specific example from the other day. A morning equity, inclusion, compassionate leadership, and organizational design mini retreat had been scheduled just before a large admissions event the next day. On paper, the calendar worked. In practice, it left almost no room to shift from one mode of work to another. Cheryl realizes she has time only in the technical sense. What she does not have is enough space to reset. Then the office printer stops cooperating. The printer is even nicknamed Richard. For a moment, the scene is funny, and then it feels very familiar to anyone who has tried to hold a complicated day together. A colleague from college counseling checks on her after hearing the frustration in the copy area. Cheryl waves the help off, says she is fine, and heads out for a walk. That walk gives her a way to work the stress out of her system and process the morning instead of passing it on to someone else. The hosts keep the tone warm and supportive as they draw the larger leadership lesson from the story. By the end, the conversation lands on a simple invitation: own your leadership, stay honest about what you are carrying, and let inclusion shape the way you move through the day.

As heard by us

A grounded leadership conversation about confidence, power, and the pressure that shapes how women lead.

This episode offers a steady leadership conversation from Confidently You, the Women in Leadership podcast from the Enrollment Management Association.

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Why you'd press play

For when you want a women-in-leadership conversation that treats confidence, boundaries, and stress as part of the job.

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