Litigation attorney turned entrepreneur Cassandra Burnett joins Joy Makers to talk belonging, grief, people-pleasing, and the joy practices that keep her grounded. On founding Lizzie’s Love Cakes, the Hey Girl Women’s Conference, and The Aunties podcast — plus why pausing is the bravest thing you can do.

What happens when you stop trying to fit in and start letting yourself belong?

This week on Joy Makers, I sat down with Cassandra Burnett — litigation attorney turned entrepreneur, community builder, and the founder behind Lizzie’s Love Cakes, the Hey Girl Women’s Conference, and the Hey Girl Fund nonprofit. She also hosts The Aunties podcast.

Cassandra has spent years being “the one” in professional rooms — and that experience shaped a deep calling to build spaces where women can drop the titles, lower the guard, and quit the comparison game.

We get into the hard, beautiful stuff: how losing her mother and then her father set off what she calls a “great untethering” — the unraveling that finally freed her from people-pleasing and reconnected her to who she actually is. She shares how grief deepened her marriage, why she stopped apologizing for being multi-passionate, and how she learned to tell a healthy space from one that’s quietly draining her.

We also talk about rest as a calling (not a reward), capacity over hustle, and the daily joy practices — devotional time, movement, community, affirmations — that keep her tethered now.

If you’ve been running on empty, performing belonging instead of feeling it, or wondering whether the pause you keep craving is allowed — this one’s for you.

• Why belonging beats fitting in — and how to tell the difference
• How to stop apologizing for being multi-passionate
• The link between people-pleasing and losing yourself
• What grief can teach you about identity, marriage, and joy
• Why pausing protects your peace, capacity, purpose, and rest
• Simple daily joy practices you can actually keep
• How gratitude rewires your brain (and why Cassandra leans on it)

00:00 — Podcast Welcome

00:33 — Meet Cassandra Burnett

02:24 — Why Safe Spaces Matter

06:28 — Belonging Over Fitting In

08:12 — Stop Apologizing for Being Multi-Passionate

09:27 — Losing Yourself to People-Pleasing

12:28 — Grief and the Great Untethering

14:50 — Marriage Through Major Change

21:51 — The Joy of Grief

24:01 — Motherhood Identity Shift

26:14 — Go Find Yourself

28:32 — Choosing to Pause

30:16 — Capacity Over Hustle

32:51 — Rest as a Calling

35:54 — Set-Apart Identity

37:17 — Brave Faith and Joy

39:11 — Feel It and Release

40:50 — Daily Joy Practices

46:18 — How Gratitude Rewires the Brain

48:06 — The Perfect Three Hours

50:47 — Connect and Closing

Cassandra is a litigation attorney turned entrepreneur and community builder. She founded Lizzie’s Love Cakes in honor of her late mother, created the Hey Girl Women’s Conference and the Hey Girl Fund nonprofit, and produces The Aunties podcast. Through monthly baking workshops, she brings women together to bake, connect, and honor their ancestors.

Connect with Cassandra:

https://www.instagram.com/cassandraburnett_/

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www.nicholemchphotography.com

https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicholemhoward/

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