Kathryn O'Day, Partner at Atlanta Ventures, spent five years building a personal brand in an industry that didn't expect her to. This week she tells us how she found a lane nobody else in venture capital was standing in, why she still doesn't love the spotlight, and what changed when she stopped trying to be everywhere.

The conversation moves into the harder stuff too: the guilt that comes with being a working mom, the "default parent" dynamic in her own marriage, and a language lesson about guilt that reframed the whole conversation. Plus, an in-person recording in a 100-degree studio, a basement that recently hosted a hundred-person punk show, and skincare secrets courtesy of a wedding in Austin.

Key Takeaways:

• How Kathryn found the one lane in venture capital nobody else was filling, and built a personal brand around it

• Why "I just started" beats a perfect content strategy

• The default parent dynamic, and how to actually talk about it before resentment builds

• A trick for resetting the division of labor at home once a year, and what it revealed

• The reason a language lesson about guilt changed how we think about mom guilt

• How to know your partner is overwhelmed, and what to do about it before you both are

  
  

Please consider sharing this episode and subscribing to the show for more unfiltered conversations about career, motherhood, and the messy human side of both.

Follow Kathryn:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kathrynoday/

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kathrynoday/

• Substack: https://kathrynoday.substack.com/

  
  

Links & Mentions:

• Jake Suchkowski (Heather's son, music producer and snowboarder): @the_board_man_

• Elden Graham (Blakely's son): @e_geaham

• Anthrapology (Elden's band): @anthrapologyband

• Face Five Skincare: https://www.instagram.com/facefiveskincare/ or https://www.tiktok.com/@facefiveskincare

• Face Five Skincare Glow Getter masks: https://facefiveskincare.com/product/glow-getter/

• Wellness with Yuki: https://www.instagram.com/wellnesswithyuki/

• Clay's skincare routine: Casual Friday 06.26.26

  
  

Submit Your Sticky Situations & Workplace Dilemmas:

• Got a sticky situation for Not All Business? Send a voice recording to podcast@notallbusiness.com or drop your question in the comments.

  
  

Thank You to Our Sponsors:

• We’re on Substack! Join us at Not All Business on Substack for full episodes, Unfiltered After Shows, and everything else we're building. https://notallbusiness.substack.com/

  
  

Not All Business is Sex Ed for Your Career — the honest questions women want answered but rarely ask out loud. Hosted by Heather Cooper and Blakely Graham, alongside producer and co-host Clay Carnill, new episodes drop every Thursday covering the real stuff: workplace drama, salary negotiation, imposter syndrome, and the sticky situations nobody has a script for. Subscribe so you never miss the next one.