For most of her career, Erin Schnarr was a workaholic faced with Imposter Syndrome. To tackle the challenges and setbacks of a 25-year career in the corporate tech world, she treated the companies she worked at as if they were her own. Throughout her time at places like Bell, Reader's Digest, and LexisNexis, Erin faced the glass ceiling head-on, watching as male colleagues surpassed her in both pay and position despite her unwavering dedication and hard work. Erin discusses how she tackled her imposter syndrome and overcame insecurities stemming from unexpected layoffs, previous business ventures, and a history of being underestimated. She recounts her decision to pivot away from the corporate world to co-found CompenSage, a game-changing venture that empowers organizations to achieve pay equity. Erin also delves into how her Indigenous heritage (a surprising discovery) became a source of strength and inspiration, the importance of seeking enjoyable work, creating your own luck, and following your passion to find the job you truly want.
For most of her career, Erin Schnarr was a workaholic faced with Imposter Syndrome. To tackle the challenges and setbacks of a 25-year career in the corporate tech world, she treated the companies she worked at as if they were her own. Throughout her time at places like Bell, Reader's Digest, and LexisNexis, Erin faced the glass ceiling head-on, watching as male colleagues surpassed her in both pay and position despite her unwavering dedication and hard work.
Erin discusses how she tackled her imposter syndrome and overcame insecurities stemming from unexpected layoffs, previous business ventures, and a history of being underestimated. She recounts her decision to pivot away from the corporate world to co-found CompenSage, a game-changing venture that empowers organizations to achieve pay equity. Erin also delves into how her Indigenous heritage (a surprising discovery) became a source of strength and inspiration, the importance of seeking enjoyable work, creating your own luck, and following your passion to find the job you truly want.
Learn more about CompenSage.
In this episode, we cover:
Quote of the Week:
"To get past Imposter Syndrome, you've gotta start being your own advocate. And when you talk to people who are also struggling...you start to [motivate] them, and you motivate yourself." - Erin Schnarr
Hosted by Katherin Vasilopoulos. Made by Cansulta and Ethan Lee.
Music by © Chris Zabriskie, published by You've Been a Wonderful Laugh Track (ASCAP).
Songs used in this episode include: "Air Hockey Saloon," "Cylinder Two," "Cylinder Six," "Remember Trees?," "Short Song 020323," "Short Song 022123."
Used under the Creative Commons 4.0 International License
[00:00:00] Ethan Lee: Hello, I'm Ethan Lee, the show's creator and producer. Next episode of And So, She Left, we wanna try something different.
You're about to hear from Erin Schnarr. Before becoming a successful entrepreneur running a pay equity solutions company, Erin spent 25 years in high profile corporate positions at companies like LexisNexis. She has developed an expertise on imposter syndrome and similar insecurities after experiencing them for decades.
The point of this show is really to uplift and inspire women who've left the corporate world. And one of the ways we realized we can do that is to connect women who've made it with women who will. So for our next episode, we wanna feature one emerging female entrepreneur who's experiencing imposter syndrome in conversation with Erin about overcoming fear.
This is a great way to get some free advice. Plus you'll be getting your brand out there in front of other women entrepreneurs, our community, and Cansulta's partner organizations. If you want to talk to Erin, please email us at podcast@cansulta.com. That's podcast@ C A N S U L T A.com. We're gonna be back at the end of the show with another reminder.
Thank you and enjoy the episode.
[00:01:19] Katherin Vasilopoulos: Hi, I'm Katherine Vasilopoulos. Starting my own venture wasn't easy.
After a decade working in the corporate world, I realized that so many things were out of my control, like layoffs and changes in direction. I didn't like the instability. I didn't want that to define my whole career at professional story, and so I left. I started my own company and achieved more than I ever imagined.
Now I'm on a mission to share stories from extraordinary entrepreneurs who are changing the world and who never gave up on their vision.
Facing imposter syndrome is almost inevitable whether you work in corporate or not. It's far too easy to pour all of your time and effort into your job and to link your performance to your personal identity and self-worth. Just ask Erin Schnarr.
Erin spent over 25 years navigating the corporate tech world. She secured directorial positions at companies like Bell, Reader's Digest and LexisNexis. Throughout that time, she treated each company she worked for as if it were her own, sometimes staying up all night to work on projects. But coming up against the glass ceiling was predictably tough.
She's seen male coworkers rocket past her gaining higher pay and more senior positions while putting in less effort. Throw in surprise layoffs, bad luck when launching past ventures, and a history of being underestimated, and it's no wonder she's developed insecurities that had to be overcome. After pivoting away from corporate, Erin co-founded CompenSage, a venture providing custom pay equity solutions.
Through it all, she's satisfied her need for fulfillment by pursuing enjoyable work, earning her luck along the way. We talk about how she's learned to manage imposter syndrome, how her heritage as an indigenous person was both surprising to learn and a source of inspiration, and why the job you want to do is the job You should.
Hi Erin. Nice to have you here. Thank you so much for agreeing to speak with us today and for sharing your story. It's really nice to have a guest like you.
[00:03:45] Erin Schnarr: Oh, thank you for having me.
[00:03:46] Katherin Vasilopoulos: You have a very interesting story and a very particular story. One of the things that I'd like to start with is for you to tell us a little bit about your professional background.
How did you get to where you are today?
[00:03:59] Erin Schnarr: I started working in the corporate environment during my university years. I was looking for jobs and my brother actually applied at a corporation for his own career, and he brought me home a summer temp job application. I sent it back with him. I was even such an arrogant teenager that I was like, Hey, can you return this for me too, and I ended up getting a job and he didn't.
And that was the start of my corporate career and I fell into it. It wasn't what I had planned.
[00:04:30] Katherin Vasilopoulos: Just a quick question about the initial part of your professional life. What was the first job that you did that your brother never got to do?
[00:04:37] Erin Schnarr: I was I was just a summer job, but I was a secretary for Telco.
And when I was a kid I always wanted to be a cashier cause I loved pushing buttons. And this one gave me multiple lines to answer. So I had to answer all these lines. And it was like a game. It was like a video game ahead of its time. Like how many people could you put on hold, redirect their call, answer their inquiries.
So it was fascinating. But my poor brother. Yeah, he went on to land a great job and he loved it and it was a lifelong career for him, but I have to thank him for-
[00:05:10] Katherin Vasilopoulos: It all started with him.
[00:05:11] Erin Schnarr: Helping me find something. Yeah.
[00:05:13] Katherin Vasilopoulos: He was the delivery boy who handed off your application.
[00:05:17] Erin Schnarr: He's a great guy.
[00:05:17] Katherin Vasilopoulos: So thanks, bro.
[00:05:19] Erin Schnarr: Exactly. So the department that I was in wasn't profitable and it wasn't really in line with a corporate strategy, and we got laid off. They shut down the office in Toronto and it was devastating. It took a really personal blow because I had poured all my entrepreneurial spirit into my position. I was crazy.
My friends thought I was nuts. I was coming in on weekends, I was working all hours. It was my life. I defined myself by my position, and you get in little incentives getting promoted relocated. So you, it perpetuated the comfort that you thought you had. And rather than tap back into that, wait a minute, you weren't gonna stay much less than a year whenever you first started, it ended up being, oh I've gotta go back, I gotta go find another corporate job.
I gotta prove my worth. And I continued my career until I had kids. And that was another pivotal point. I remember interviewing somebody as I was going on mat leave, and again, I had poured myself into my job. I was getting promoted. I owned what I did. I was creating new revenue streams and winning awards and little incentives again.
And so I was leaving my job for mat leave and I felt very secure until I was interviewing the candidate to replace me. And at the end of it, she asked me so what are you gonna do when you return? And that's how I found out that my position wasn't open for me to return to. The company only has to give you an e equivalent position to return to.
So I hadn't had that discussion with my manager. I loved my position and again, it was that kind of blow where it was blind siding and it wasn't what you. You had as a relationship, you thought you have the loyalty, security, and safety.
[00:07:17] Katherin Vasilopoulos: So despite the loyalty...yeah, yeah, you have the security, of the safety. But despite all that loyalty, you're sitting there interviewing your replacement, and that's one of the hardest things to do because hey, like you developed that department, you developed all the processes and you build the relationships, and here you are just handing it off to someone else.
And what does that feel like?
[00:07:37] Erin Schnarr: Oh, it was devastating. It really felt like rejection. It really felt like my safety, my security in my whole corporate environment was not what I thought it was. And when I went to ask about it, my manager just said, oh, we'll work something out. Like they didn't seem to have a concrete plan for me.
I went off and I had my child and I came back and they gave me a position. It wasn't with input from me either and it wasn't what I had enjoyed in the position that I had before. And so I got an opportunity with another company, and so my husband and I used that opportunity to relocate closer to his family, cuz we had this young child and open up our own company, and we were exclusive with this offering that we had with the company for the first couple of years. And unfortunately, the timing was going into the.com crash. 2008. The whole economic downturn.
[00:08:37] Katherin Vasilopoulos: Yeah. The worst time ever to start a new business.
[00:08:41] Erin Schnarr: Worst. And we, of course, we didn't see it coming. But we thought we were secure in the the exclusive contract we had with this corporation. We were good, we were gold, and we were hitting our targets, like we were surpassing their expectations working night and day. So just replicating what I was doing before, feeding the monster.
And then it came out of left field. They were canceling the contract. They had a corporate restructuring. They weren't gonna do external work anymore. They were gonna have a kind of a walled environment, completely understandable from a corporate perspective, but completely devastating from somebody who's hanging their self-esteem on being the superstar for star in the company and getting these rewards and these little contributional acknowledgements as you work your way and fight your way through the career.
[00:09:41] Katherin Vasilopoulos: And it's interesting how we do when we're younger. I'd say in general, spend a lot of time developing our identity around our jobs. This is, I am a marketing expert or I, I am a whatever. And then you realize oh I'm putting way too much identity into this job in a corporate world. And then when the rug is pulled out from under you, you have to re-shift.
[00:10:04] Erin Schnarr: Oh, yeah. And it kept happening. That same sickening feeling. I reached out to a former colleague and congratulated him on landing at a company and he said, Hey, I need somebody. I was like, oh, okay. So it just sucked me back in no time to think about, challenge any thoughts or figure out why you feel so betrayed and that horrible feeling you felt, you actually felt euphoric, oh, they do want me, right?
So I went back to that environment. And so it was good because learning's for me on SaaS. Selling SaaS, marketing SaaS working within that environment. I worked and I got promoted in that company, but I quickly saw that there was a dead end. And how far I could go. I saw my former colleagues, like just these guys just skyrocketing up. CEOs, VPs, and I was like barely getting manager role.
Like I was like, what's going on? Okay. Then I'd squeak to senior manager and it just seemed like such a struggle. Balancing family life, at this point we had two kids, was a very much big challenge. But I was. Treating these business units I was given they were my own. Like after the kids went to bed, I went back to work and I had worked through the night, cuz that was when there was time, there was quiet.
So I'd be working till two, three in the morning or later, sometimes all night, and going to work in the morning. People were like, are you crazy?
[00:11:31] Katherin Vasilopoulos: And it sounds like you have a, you had a lot of start and stop. Start and stop and then yeah, jump onto the next thing and then start and stop again. And tell me what that does for your identity as a worker, and then looking for that opportunity to become an entrepreneur.
Did you have some form of imposter syndrome?
[00:11:50] Erin Schnarr: I think after that cycle of doing it so many times and not really breaking the glass ceiling as they say, on getting like the senior roles, it was really frustrating, but I was so focused on getting that. When I did get it, I really saw that as unfulfilled, and I think that when I had that senior vice president title and I still was unfulfilled, I was like, wait a minute, what's going on?
And I felt like I was an imposter.
[00:12:18] Katherin Vasilopoulos: Can you describe those moments that really stand out to you of the, give me an example of this imposter syndrome that showed up in your life.
[00:12:27] Erin Schnarr: Oh, it started early. I remember once my mom, I was they had moved to a smaller community and I was gonna stay and I was at the very start of my career and my mom said to me, What's wrong with being a secretary? And I know that it, she was coming, like now looking back on it, she was coming from a place of can't you move to a smaller community? You don't need to pursue a career. I was a secretary. What's wrong with that? But it felt am I not good enough?
Am I not, Hey, were you saying that wait. Are you saying that I should only be a secretary? There's some, you're seeing some limitation in me. And so that kind of started to seed of doubt. And then whenever I stepped into organizations, and people are very good at posturing, even though, the most, the ones that are so much more grandiose and confident are the ones that are the most doubting of themselves.
You walk into these scenarios and I'd be like I'm not, I'm the only woman in the meeting. Am I am I good enough? Am I experienced enough? I only have a communications degree. I, I don't have an MBA like him over there. So I would find anything. I don't have the experience that, that they have.
I'm fairly young or I, I'm not sure I'm gonna be able to lead this group. And I had a whole team to lead. And issues to resolve and targets to meet. And I was like, okay, just talk yourself down from those crisis moments and sell yourself is no, you can do this. And what got me through it was when I actually forgot about my own identity and focused on the business.
And because, and it helped because I always regarded them as my own business. So I wanted the employees to be, I could, I wanted the team to succeed, and so I'd pour myself into the revenue strategy. Money is money. They need different expertise for those industries, but the overall sales strategy itself is basically the same.
So I was the type of manager that rolled up my sleeves. Got in there, went to the meetings, if they didn't know how to sell it, figured out what, what supporting documents or people they needed behind them. I like, I did everything I could to motivate my team so that I didn't also feel like an imposter because I made them successful so I was successful and it filled me in so that I could feel a little bit more confident and fill that doubt.
The No you're not good enough to do this. No, but they are, they're a great team and I can inspire them. So one of my greatest moments in my career is walking into organizations, finding those people that have been overlooked in the company and they've been there for 20 years, they've been there for whatever, and they're so knowledgeable of the company.
You ask them about how something works, they dive in and they tell you and they tell you exactly. And you're like, oh my God where have you been? And finding those people and raising them up. And that is so gratifying. And so they move on, they get promoted and you're just like, yes. And they can be new to the country, they can be female, they can be male.
They, everybody has imposter syndrome like you said. And just being able to help them along and inspire them really helped me fight through my own.
[00:15:54] Katherin Vasilopoulos: That's great advice. It's just help elevate the others around you. And then it helps alleviate your own your own feeling of insecurity. We're we're all working in teams.
We all work with other people, and the best thing that you can do is to just keep highlighting what's good about them and what as a strength. And it may help them as well to remember that because sometimes we just need to hear the words. We just need to hear someone else remind us of that, even though that person has 20 years experience.
And they could tell you. From A to Z, everything that they've ever done. Then the history of the company and everything else they're fantastic. Yeah. Resources.
[00:16:30] Erin Schnarr: And then I was like, wait a minute. I keep throwing myself at these jobs and I really wasn't getting the return. And I felt if I went out and did it on my own, I'd probably have so much more have gotten way ahead in my own career and achieved so much more.
And even in my own self. Because a lot of times in corporate environments, you say something and it just goes over people's heads because they've got their mandate. And even if it's a good idea and you see them fail, which you did, it didn't matter because it was in line with what they had agreed to with the C-suite, and that's what they were doing.
I got laid off. They removed the senior management from Canada, an organizational change. This was at the end of the pandemic. And then I my husband got diagnosed with ms and that was a devastating blow. And so while he was healing, we were both trying to figure out what we're doing with our lives.
And he had been working on a platform. And he said, you've got the SaaS experience, like we could do this. So we put a business case together, we pitched it and we launched a company. And this was going on a year ago, and it has been so fulfilling. It's been a rollercoaster of emotion.
[00:17:50] Katherin Vasilopoulos: Let me ask you about that.
The you talked about fulfillment before all this and now fulfillment in your current position. How did that evolve and what did that mean for you? What is this concept of fulfillment?
The fulfillment in
[00:18:04] Erin Schnarr: the corporate world was like giving yourself a chocolate bar. It was a temporary satisfaction and it felt so good as you're eating it.
It was delicious. But you weren't fulfilled afterwards. You're still hungry. And in this environment, I feel satiated. I feel like I am like cooking. I'm a chef. I've got these great meals I'm turning out, and people are just loving it. It's not this temporary little fix. It's actually, I feel so, so much more gratified.
[00:18:36] Katherin Vasilopoulos: That's a great analogy. And anyone who loves food will completely understand the empty calories of the chocolate bar versus a beautiful gourmet experience. Yeah, that is awesome. Perf, perfection. And thank you for clarifying that because it's only when you've gone through those steps that you can reach that realization. When you're in it and you're in a place of nonfulfillment, you don't know what's missing and you really have to change something in your environment, change something in the way you're doing things to be able to see the other horizon.
[00:19:07] Erin Schnarr: Yeah. I felt like these were all little temporary fixes and now this is what I feel like suddenly you're in your wheelhouse.
And all those lessons you learned within the corporate environment that was safe and the risks you took, you feel like you can actually apply those learnings. Those decisions that you make on your own are decisions that you see that they're the right thing. It does a huge thing for your self-esteem and your personal identity.
You really feel, when you go back to it, that you were really an imposter in the corporate environment cuz you truly weren't being who you really are.
[00:19:45] Katherin Vasilopoulos: And I love your story. It's so interesting because you have so many layers to you about your identity. There's the corporate identity. But I wanna hear more about how did you come to discover that you had more Metis background than you thought?
What? What happened?
[00:20:00] Erin Schnarr: Yeah, so I think there was like a generational identity crisis with my, on my mom's side. She talked about it just very rarely. It was through my grandfather and she wasn't close to him. So my sister started to dig and she connected with a half uncle, and we started discovering these incredible stories, the people that were so powerful in that part of our family and highly regarded within the indigenous and the fur trading community, cuz it goes back to the 17 hundreds. And I remember on Ancestry finding this story about one woman. The fort was going to get attacked and they followed her. She went out hunting and she was indigenous. And she had married him to a fur trader. They watched her shoot ducks.
She was able to reload so quickly and shoot the ducks, they decided not to pursue her at all. They called off the hunt and they went back to the fort and they actually decided it was safer to break into the fort, take a piece of the screen window and leave. And her husband was like, who did this?
Who destroyed our window? Like, at the time it was precious. And months later, these people came and they showed him the piece of the screen window and they told him the story that they were so intimidated by her marksmanship. That they weren't gonna even try to attempt messing with her. Yeah. And I was like, right on.
This is the kind of person that I need to tap into it because we're strong and we do have good ideas and we can be successful. And there's been many stories like that on many sides of that family. It is just so inspiring to tap into.
[00:22:00] Katherin Vasilopoulos: Yes. Cuz you discovered a big piece of your personal identity that you did not know about before.
[00:22:05] Erin Schnarr: Yeah. But even there, I had imposter syndrome.
[00:22:07] Katherin Vasilopoulos: Even there.
[00:22:08] Erin Schnarr: Even then, I filled out the Metis application and I was like, but am I really Metis enough? Like I, I don't know anything about the culture. And whenever they gave me my card as oh my gosh, okay, I'm part of this community and so I'm really embracing it and I'm really proud to be a Metis woman president of a tech company.
[00:22:39] Katherin Vasilopoulos: I wanted to ask you a bit more about some unique experiences that you've had in your professional development. So tell me more about some unique experiences that you've had.
[00:22:48] Erin Schnarr: I felt whenever I first started this, I felt very alone and it felt cuz we're working from home, how do I do that? How do we make it through this first year?
And it was a little terrifying jumping into this kind of hole and feeling like you're alone, especially after Covid working from home and not having a lot of people easily available to just meet you for coffee or things like that. So I joined PARO, which is a women's organization, joined an indigenous business group, and it was perfect.
They were so caring and they were so gentle. This women's group, they were very welcoming and very reassuring, and they took you through steps. So that was a very rewarding first experience for me. And then I started tapping into other female entrepreneurs, and they really do take you under their wing and they validate what you're doing.
One friend who I met, she has been great. She's told me about conferences to go to where, introduced me to investors and now I'm connecting with other women that are a bit behind me. And so I share my stories and they're like, oh my God, you're so ahead of me and this is great. And just half hour conversations are so motivating. And that I didn't get in the corporate world.
Everybody had to prove themselves. Everybody was the expert. You didn't show weakness cuz you were, you're vying for the next promotion, right? So you didn't get to have that opportunity to share your doubts and your issues and concerns and openly.
[00:24:26] Katherin Vasilopoulos: Yeah, it's an excellent point. I found that in corporate life, everybody was out for themselves and for the next promotion.
But when you become an entrepreneur, everyone's in that same boat of entrepreneurship. And then we all be, become this tribe of, in individuals that are all looking for one another out there in the world. And when we find each other, it's a, it feels like there's a camaraderie and there's a lot of apprenticeship and there's a lot of guiding the way for each other.
And I'm really glad that you found that because it's one of the key things to helping you not feel isolated because many of us are working from home. If entrepreneurs do anything like that standard thing of we all started in our dad's basement or in our garage-
[00:25:03] Erin Schnarr: Yeah.
[00:25:03] Katherin Vasilopoulos: -Or whatever it is, we start alone and then you have to go out into the world and find those people who are like-minded and can help you, rise you to the next level. So I'm really happy you were able to find that. That's really awesome.
[00:25:15] Erin Schnarr: It's funny cause I used to always get so scared doing presentations in the corporate environment.
I was so nervous. I hated doing them. And now I have so much more confidence in talking about myself, talking about our work. And I think it's because I truly found myself and in the corporate environment I was trying to sell a story and I'm not sure I really believed that story about myself cuz I didn't feel like I was being genuine.
And about whatever I was talking about because it was the corporate mandate, it wasn't my project and it, this is something that I own truly. So it's just, for some reason it's washed away, all that nervousness and angst that you feel in the corporate environment of being judged and making sure you move on to the next level.
[00:26:03] Katherin Vasilopoulos: It's like you had a chance to crack the little egg and the little-
[00:26:06] Erin Schnarr: Yeah.
[00:26:06] Katherin Vasilopoulos: -Chick comes out now the real version comes out.
[00:26:08] Erin Schnarr: Exactly.
[00:26:10] Katherin Vasilopoulos: Let me ask you what is the current. Project that you're working on and pay equity and explain that a little bit to our listeners. What does that mean, and tell me why does that make you happy to work on this?
[00:26:22] Erin Schnarr: It makes me happy because whenever I was at the end of my last job, I was kinda like, no, this is it. No, I need to work on something that really is fulfilling, that really resonates with me. Something that gives back A lot of people don't know what pay equity is. Whenever I say I'm in pay equity, they glaze over.
They're like, oh. And they, then they go, okay, what is it? And it's actually enforces government departments as well, so public and private organizations to have a plan. And show that they're paying women equally, that they're paying men for a, not necessarily the same job, but comparable work. So in certain situations, you can be comparing a secretary to a janitor if the criteria for those positions are similar.
And what we've done is we've developed a platform that removes the roadblock. For companies cuz the legislation in Ontario applies to companies to have a pay equity. A lot of small companies don't have the human resource access or the money to hire consultants to actually have a pay equity plant, and they just can't because there's a lot going on.
Especially if you have a 10 employees, you're still a small company, so this platform enables you to do it quite easily, just collecting your payroll data, collecting your employee data, your job descriptions and uploading it. And we do the heavy lift of analyzing it and making sure that it's being looked at from the compliance perspective, according to the legislation, and we're building it out, we're building it out to be compliant with the federal, the Quebec, the BC and global in the next couple of years. So we're moving fast and keeping very busy, but it's so gratifying because gender equity is important.
It's one of the UN's 2030 goals is gender equality. And you see it still exist in the corporate environment. And I personally have had the struggles of being seen as equal in the corporate environment due to the what is it, the unconscious bias and just the way that the structure, that environment is structured currently.
Gender's one thing, but then there's non-binary, L G B Q T. There's there's other people that are disabled, that are indigenous, that are visible minorities, and we wanna build that platform out to recognize those people to make sure, whichever way you cut it in your company and whoever you hire, you're paying everybody equally.
And to be able to contribute something to that, give them a platform that's unbiased and does the calculations without any personal input of somebody's individual experiences, takes away another barrier. It was a gift. It was like, that thing about luck, it was opportunity meeting preparedness. I've heard that before.
I've heard Oprah say it, and I've never experienced it. And whenever we experience it, you're like, yes, it actually does exist. And you're just so satisfying.
[00:29:24] Katherin Vasilopoulos: So let me ask you this now. I'm sure a lot of young women are listening to this show and they probably haven't gotten as far as they would like to, or they're listening to your story.
They're like, oh, I recognize so much of myself in this. And what kind of advice would you give them?
[00:29:40] Erin Schnarr: Spend time really thinking about what gratifies you about your job. And you can be in a corporate environment. The time might not be right to be an entrepreneur, but if you have that in you, I can tell you it's not gonna go away.
And you can try using different outlets and other means of gratifying that. But it is part of our DNA, part of the brain is in the stomach. And often when I feel something's right, it comes from my stomach. I know in me that deep down in my stomach that it's, this decision is right
[00:30:16] Katherin Vasilopoulos: And it's probably screaming stop feeding me chocolate and give me a gourmet meal.
[00:30:21] Erin Schnarr: Having said that, I have lost 10 pounds.
[00:30:24] Katherin Vasilopoulos: Yay!
[00:30:25] Erin Schnarr: That's a thing.
[00:30:28] Katherin Vasilopoulos: I was talking figuratively.
[00:30:30] Erin Schnarr: And when you get that feeling run with it. Because to be honest, the corporate environment isn't guaranteed. You can be blindsided at any minute and it has nothing to do with you, and suddenly you find yourself without a job.
And I failed. I failed before and I went back to corporate. So it's not like you're shutting a door permanently either. There is always success and learnings and failure.
[00:30:56] Katherin Vasilopoulos: And Ethan, before we wrap up, is there anything else you'd like for us to cover?
[00:31:00] Ethan Lee: I actually wanted to jump in because behind the scenes for this podcast I do deal with a, like a lot of imposter syndrome, especially as it relates to the creation of this show.
My mentality is that, my ability to perform as a podcaster, quote unquote, perform whatever the heck that means, is like a direct reflection of myself as a person and my own value.
[00:31:19] Erin Schnarr: Yeah.
[00:31:20] Ethan Lee: And it's been like that for a very long time, and it feels like you've had some similar experiences in your life.
[00:31:26] Erin Schnarr: Yeah.
[00:31:26] Ethan Lee: I was just wondering if you had any advice on how to divorce yourself from that mindset.
[00:31:29] Erin Schnarr: I know that part of my problem was I was very clear on when I heard criticism. Criticism just resonated. Just hit me. I took it, I owned it, I dwelled on it. And, but if somebody complimented me, I would quickly move past it.
Even a, if I got acknowledgement in a company, of an award given to me, I was like, oh yeah. Helped me and I'd find some way of, not really. To get past imposter syndrome, you gotta start being your own advocate. And when you talk to people who are also struggling and maybe behind you on it, you start saying no, and you start taking a leadership position on it, and no, you you're great at what you do.
Are you kidding me? And you start sharing those moments and sharing those doubts, you start to motivate them and you motivate yourself. And I think even talking about imposter syndrome is so important because, Ethan, when I met you in the, like in the last couple of days, I was like thinking this morning, this guy is so talented, he's probably gonna be in New York and he's gonna be in LA and I'm gonna say I knew him.
[00:32:41] Ethan Lee: That was my real motivation for asking the question. That's all I needed to hear. Really.
[00:32:44] Erin Schnarr: But, but you guys are so good and I listened to your podcast and. Like I, the quality of it, the things that you guys are doing. I was like, why? Like I told you, why are you talking to me? It's just-
[00:32:56] Ethan Lee: That's silly. I think that's silly because you're the perfect fit for this show.
[00:33:01] Erin Schnarr: Thank you.
[00:33:02] Ethan Lee: It has been for us, a pivotal moment. As you've talked about your pivotal moments in your career in corporate. This does feel like a kind of defining movement for us moving forwards, so I wanted to say thank you for allowing us to realize that.
[00:33:14] Erin Schnarr: You guys are gonna make me tear up.
It's so nice because I feel like you guys have actually taken me a step further and reinforced my own path that I'm on and career wise as an entrepreneur, but also just as a person.
[00:33:42] Katherin Vasilopoulos: Many thanks to Erin Schnarr. You can learn more about CompenSage in the episode description. In our next episode, we're doing something a bit different. We've realized that, And So, She Left, can bring together women who've made it and women who will. If you are an emerging woman entrepreneur with imposter syndrome, we would love to hear from you.
We're setting up a one-on-one conversation with one of our listeners and Erin to be featured in next week's episode. If you'd like to meet Erin, please email us at podcast@consulta.com. That's podcast@C A N S U L T A.com. And So, She Left is made by Cansulta and Ethan Lee. We'll be back next Wednesday with a new episode.
Music by Chris Zabriskie, edited for your enjoyment. You can find a list of all the songs you heard here in the episode notes. I'm Katherin Vasilopoulos and thanks for listening.