What happens when you know your stuff, you’ve done the preparation, you have something important to say…and then you get into the room and start second-guessing yourself?

In this episode of The HR Big Meet Podcast, Emma Djemil is joined by communications coach, keynote speaker and comedian Louise Stevenson to talk about finding your voice, backing yourself and communicating with confidence when it actually matters.

Louise is CEO of Speakeasy Coaching and has more than 25 years’ experience in stand-up comedy - including teaching Emma how to get on stage and attempt to make strangers laugh. So naturally, we explore what comedy can teach us about confidence, dealing with challenge and being OK with the fact that not everyone is going to like you.

We talk about:

• Why so many capable women wait until they feel completely ready before speaking up
• What actually makes someone persuasive
• How to handle difficult questions without panicking or pretending you know everything
• Why bringing your personality and humour into work doesn’t make you less credible. Quite the opposite.

We also get into the self-belief underneath all of this: how you stop relying on other people to validate your expertise and start recognising the evidence that you’re actually pretty bloody good at what you do.

If you’ve ever stayed quiet in a meeting, over-prepared because you were terrified of being challenged, or waited for permission to say what you already knew needed saying, this one’s for you.

Louise works with organisations, leadership teams and individuals through in-house workshops, group coaching programmes and 1:1 coaching through Speakeasy Coaching. She also runs public masterclasses, including Find Your Voice, throughout the year.

Her next masterclass on 25 September 2026 covers being heard, influencing senior stakeholders, communicating with confidence and getting buy-in - and if you message Louise over on LinkedIn and mention this podcast to sign up by 14th September 2026, she is offering you £25 off!

If this episode resonated, firstly, welcome. You are very much amongst your people here.

You can connect with Emma on LinkedIn, where she spends a lot of time talking about confidence, leadership, visibility, self-trust and the realities of working in HR.

If you're at a point in your career where you're questioning things, feeling stuck, disconnected from yourself or wanting greater impact without sacrificing your entire nervous system in the process, Emma also works with women in HR through 1:1 coaching. Find out more about that here.

If you enjoyed this episode, do all the lovely podcast-y things: subscribe, leave a review, share it with your HR bestie, or stick it on LinkedIn so more women realise they're not the only ones feeling this stuff.

🎙️ Subscribe for more conversations about confidence, leadership, vulnerability and sustainable impact in HR.

#HR #WomenInLeadership #Leadership #HumanResources #MentalHealth #Burnout #HRLeadership #Confidence #SelfTrust #HumansResourced

This isn't just the end of a podcast season. It's a reminder of what's possible when you stop waiting for confidence to arrive and start trusting yourself instead.

Across this first season of The HR Big Meet Podcast, you've heard women in HR share honest stories of burnout, redundancy, self-doubt, career change, finding their voice and redefining success on their own terms. In this season finale, Emma reflects on the common threads running through every conversation and the lessons we can all take from them.

If you've ever questioned your value, wondered whether it's too late to make a change, or felt like there must be more than simply surviving your career, this episode is for you.

Because lasting change doesn't happen overnight. It starts with one decision, one brave step, and the willingness to believe there's another way.

Now, let's make this mean something.

If this episode resonated, firstly, welcome. You are very much amongst your people here.

You can connect with Emma on LinkedIn, where she spends a lot of time talking about confidence, leadership, visibility, self-trust and the realities of working in HR.

If you're at a point in your career where you're questioning things, feeling stuck, disconnected from yourself or wanting greater impact without sacrificing your entire nervous system in the process, Emma also works with women in HR through 1:1 coaching. Find out more about that here, or come along to Emma's free webinar on 6 August 2026 12 - 1pm BST on how to fall in love with HR again (without changing your career). Register for that here.

If you enjoyed this episode, do all the lovely podcast-y things: subscribe, leave a review, share it with your HR bestie, or stick it on LinkedIn so more women realise they're not the only ones feeling this stuff.

🎙️ Subscribe for more conversations about confidence, leadership, vulnerability and sustainable impact in HR.

#HR #WomenInLeadership #Leadership #HumanResources #MentalHealth #Burnout #HRLeadership #Confidence #SelfTrust #HumansResourced

In this episode of The HR Big Meet Podcast, Emma Djemil is joined by LaShawn Davis for a conversation that proves the challenges facing women in HR don't stop at borders.

LaShawn is a faith and work strategist, founder of The HR Plug and creator of The UNPLUG Experience. With a background in labour relations and workplace strategy, she helps organisations transform their cultures while supporting individuals to reconnect with who they are, so they can stop striving and start leading from a place of alignment.

Together, Emma and LaShawn explore:

• Why so many HR professionals feel like they're constantly fighting to prove their worth
• What it means when work starts to feel like a battlefield
• How our identity can become tangled up in our careers
• The power of discovering your "organic brilliance"
• Why burnout isn't inevitable when you're working in alignment with your strengths
• Building confidence from self-awareness rather than external validation
• Creating influence without compromising who you are

This is an energising, thought-provoking conversation about identity, purpose and remembering that your greatest contribution doesn't come from trying to be someone else. It comes from fully understanding who you already are.

Whether you're questioning your place in HR, feeling exhausted by constantly trying to prove yourself, or wondering how to create a career that feels more aligned, this episode will leave you thinking differently about success, influence and the value you already bring.

If this episode resonated, firstly, welcome. You are very much amongst your people here.

You can connect with Emma on LinkedIn, where she spends a lot of time talking about confidence, leadership, visibility, self-trust and the realities of working in HR.

If you're at a point in your career where you're questioning things, feeling stuck, disconnected from yourself or wanting greater impact without sacrificing your entire nervous system in the process, Emma also works with women in HR through 1:1 coaching. Find out more about that here.

If you enjoyed this episode, do all the lovely podcast-y things: subscribe, leave a review, share it with your HR bestie, or stick it on LinkedIn so more women realise they're not the only ones feeling this stuff.

🎙️ Subscribe for more conversations about confidence, leadership, vulnerability and sustainable impact in HR.

#HRLeadership #WomenInHR #HumanResources #CareerDevelopment #Leadership #Confidence #SelfTrust #Purpose #HumansResourced