Freelancers often leave corporate to feel free, only to find that financial anxiety keeps them stuck in the same patterns that made them feel trapped in their prior jobs. Neha Vadrevu, an applied anthropologist, actress, dancer, tech founder, and former researcher at Capital One's Innovation Lab, knows this tension firsthand. In the podcast’s first-ever live in-person episode, Neha explores the emotional and cultural stories that shape our relationship with money, from generational financial trauma to the shame that keeps freelancers from charging what they deserve. She shares how she's used AI as a pricing sounding board (and why you shouldn't accept its first answer), why going back to corporate isn't a failure, and how to be imaginative and responsible at the same time when designing a career that actually lets you breathe.

Key Topics:

• What financial trauma is and how it silently drives freelancers' pricing and career decisions
• Using AI as a negotiation partner to find your true market rate before talking to clients
• The freelance-to-corporate toggle: why going back is a design choice, not a defeat
• Scaling beyond trading time for money through brand-building, advisory work, and passive income
• Finding community as a freelancer through co-working, volunteering, and intentional connection
• "Be imaginative and responsible at once" — how to pursue bold career moves with safety nets in place

Connect with Neha:

• LinkedIn
• Instagram
  

Connect with Joy:

• LinkedIn
• Instagram
• Website

Description:

Many mothers assume that stepping back from a full-time career means stepping back from ambition. Neeharika Bhartiya, fractional sales leader, sales coach, and former tech founder, proves otherwise. After leaving her role leading strategy at Fivetran, Neeharika fell into fractional work while pregnant with her second child, and discovered she could more than triple her hourly rate working twenty hours a week. She walks through the practical playbook behind her business: setting up her entity and banking, pricing on retainer instead of by the hour, and structuring engagements so clients renew month after month without long-term commitments. You'll discover how to weigh the real tradeoffs between fractional and full-time work, and why being the "less stressed parent" might be the most valuable benefit of all.

Key Topics:

• Neeharika's path from tech founder to fractional sales coach for early-stage founders
• The honest pros and cons of fractional work: income unpredictability, health insurance, and pace
• How an S-Corp structure unlocked paid family leave and tax advantages as a solopreneur
• Retainer pricing that anchors on impact and revenue goals rather than hours worked
• Redefining success as a working mother—from "not good enough" to "as good as it gets"

Connect with Neeharika:

• LinkedIn

Connect with Joy:

• LinkedIn
• Instagram
• Website

In this week’s episode, Erika Todd, a partner at Sullivan and Worcester focusing on employment litigation, shares what can go wrong when professionals juggle a full-time job along with a side hustle. Erika describes some of the common pitfalls freelancers face when they are starting, keeping, or leaving a full-time job.

Key Topics:

• Essentials of employment agreements: non-competes, invention rights, full-time commitments, conflicts of interest
• Legal protections for freelance workers vs. employees by state
• Handling mid-career shifts in side hustle monetization
  

Connect with Erika:

• LinkedIn
• Firm Profile at Sullivan & Worcester

Note: This podcast is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice or create an attorney-client relationship.