Everything Life Coaching: The Positive Psychology and Science Behind Coaching · Lumia Coach Training

Speak Up, Stand Out: How One Defense Industry Leader Found Her Coaching Voice (ft. Carly)

·37 min·2 clips

Carly argues coaching women in defense could shift culture all the way to leadership representation.

1. Everything Life Coaching features Noelle Cordeaux and Carly on how a defense industry engineer is finding her coaching voice. 2. Noelle Cordeaux is the host, CEO of Lumia, and Carly is a current signature-program student whose retreat moment sparked the conversation. 3. The episode asks how a 25-year defense industry veteran can pivot toward coaching women who struggle to speak up in male-dominated workplaces. 4. Carly says she has led large teams, spoken to government and military officials, and handled technical issues like product roadmaps and system-of-systems integration. 5. She also says she freezes when asked to talk about herself, even though public speaking has never been a problem in engineering settings. 6. Noelle points to Lumia’s Philadelphia retreat, where Carly stood up and clearly named who she was and who she wanted to help. 7. Carly says the defense industry is extremely male dominated and that dominating conversations can make it hard to get a word in edgewise. 8. She says she advanced by brute force rather than mentoring, coaching, or guidance, and wants to change that for the next wave of mid-career women. 9. Carly describes defense work as a place where people 'keep secrets for a living' and may spend eight or nine hours a day in a dark room with no windows or cell phones. 10. She says that environment can make people feel closed off, even though they are still human and want connection. 11. Carly says the main shift is learning that it is okay to speak up imperfectly because credibility comes from showing up before the moment passes. 12. Noelle links that idea to coach training, saying authenticity, curiosity, and straight shooting matter more than perfect questions. 13. Carly says coach training changed how she shows up at work so much that four people asked her for mentoring after she began the program. 14. She contrasts that with the previous five years, when her annual class of high-potential employees never contacted her for mentoring. 15. Carly says diversity of ideas matters in complex technical work because ten similar voices in a room will not produce the same creativity or innovation. 16. She adds that if five of ten diverse people stay silent, the organization still only hears five voices. 17. The conversation stays reflective and personal, with Noelle sharing her own experience of being mistaken for someone other than the CEO. 18. The style is warm, coaching-oriented, and full of direct back-and-forth examples, especially around experimentation, visibility, and trust. 19. Listeners who work in male-dominated technical fields or want coaching career stories. 20. Listeners seeking entertainment-first shows or hard-edged debate.

As heard by us

A coaching conversation about finding a niche, speaking up, and getting ideas across.

Carly's story stays close to coaching, finding a niche, and the work of speaking up when a room does not make that easy. Noelle's point lands plainly: people can learn to step up and stand out even when an idea does not get picked up.

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Why you'd press play

A coaching conversation about finding your niche and speaking up when the room is not built for you.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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