The Heels in the Hierarchy Podcast

You know their names. You know their achievements. But do you know what happened in between?

SJ and Pegsy are back — and this week they're doing something a little different.

Rather than a highlights reel in the latest of our looks at Inspirational Women, this episode goes behind the polished, press-ready versions of four extraordinary women — Reese Witherspoon, Maya Jama, Brené Br...

SJ and Pegsy welcome you back to Heels in the Hierarchy - and this week SJ sits down with someone whose career story genuinely stopped us in our tracks.

She welcomes Debbie - a woman who built a successful, people-focused career in beauty and medical sales, and then made one of th...

Everyone talks about the glass ceiling. SJ and Pegsy ask a more interesting question: is it always someone else's doing?

In this episode SJ and Pegsy have an honest, nuanced conversation about career progression — the real structural barriers women face, and the ones we some...

Some of the best management conversations don't happen in a meeting room. They happen on a walk.

In this episode SJ and Pegsy explore the real evidence behind walking meetings — why movement boosts creativity, reduces fatigue, and quietly shifts the power dynamic in ways that make difficult con...

She failed the exams that were meant to define her future. It turned out to be the best thing that ever happened to her career.

In this episode SJ speak with Emmy, a payments product manager, about a journey that didn't start where she expected — or wanted — it to. Failing anatomy exams m...

A career break isn't a gap. It's a chapter — and it's time the workplace started reading it that way.

In this episode SJ and Pegsy explore Carol Fishman Cohen's influential TED Talk on "relaunchers" — women returning to work after stepping away for caregiving, health, or simply a differen...

This episode explores the growing, often-hidden impact of elder care on women in the workforce — from 600 people quitting daily in the UK to the 1.4 million ‘sandwich carers’ balancing children, careers and aging relatives.

Hosts SJ and Pegsy discuss the emotional toll, anticipatory grief, financial pressures, workplace stigma and practical resources, and offer compassionate advice for both carers and managers on ...

The difference between an ordeal and an adventure is your attitude. This episode is pure adventure.

To celebrate one year of Heels in the Hierarchy, SJ and Pegsy are throwing open the outtakes reel — the bloopers, the behind-the-scenes moments, and the bits that didn...

A year in. What have we learned? More than we expected.

SJ and Pegsy mark one year of Heels in the Hierarchy by revisiting the themes that have resonated most deeply with their listeners: women's health, late and missed diagnoses, neurodivergence, and the systemic barriers...

Having a job is supposed to be the answer. For millions of people in the UK, it isn't enough.

In this episode SJ and Pegsy tackle one of the most uncomfortable realities in modern working life — in-work poverty. Rising living costs, part-time contracts, and a persistent gender pay gap are leaving workers, and disproportionately women, financially vulnerable despite being in employment.

But this isn't just a policy conversatio...

A decade of severe pain. A senior job to hold down. A toddler to raise. And nobody believed her.

In this episode SJ and Pegsy welcome Charlotte, an IT manager and mother, who shares her extraordinary ten-year journey through undiagnosed abdominal pain — navigating ho...

Nine years. That's how long the average woman waits for an endometriosis diagnosis in the UK. Nine years of pain, dismissal, and being told it's normal.

In this episode SJ and Pegsy dig into the refreshed UK Women's Health Strategy, published April 2026, and ask the questi...

One in ten women lives with endometriosis. Most will wait years for a diagnosis. Many will wait in silence.

In this episode, recorded for Endometriosis Awareness Month, SJ and Pegsy explore one of the most underdiagnosed and misunderstood conditions affecting women today &...

What if the thing that made school so hard is exactly what makes you an exceptional leader?

In this episode Pegsy turns the mic on SJ for a candid, personal conversation about SJ's dyslexia diagnosis — how it reshaped her sense of identity, changed the way she learns...

Imagine spending decades adapting, compensating, and wondering why everything feels harder than it should — and then finding out there was a reason all along.

In this episode SJ and Pegsy explore Pegsy's personal experience of late ADHD diagnosis — the years of...

The conversations that stayed with us. The moments we didn't plan for. The community that kept showing up.

In this Series 3 reflection episode, SJ and Pegsy look back at a season that covered men's mental health, continuing professional development, encouraging young girls...

It's February. Your resolutions are already on life support. You're not the problem — the approach is.

In this episode SJ and Pegsy revisit the New Year's resolution — all 4,000 years of it — and ask why something so well-intentioned fails so reliably...

⚠️ Please note: due to technical difficulties, the sound quality of this episode is below our usual standard. The conversation is absolutely worth it — we just wanted you to know in advance.

The stories women carry to work with them every day. It's time we talked ab...

Hosts SJ and Pegsy talk with Audrey, an Assistant Associate Head Teacher who returned to education later in life and worked her way into school leadership.

They discuss career change, self-doubt, mentorship, and the gender gap in senior roles.

The episode also tackles practical classroom challenges—social media, student wellbeing, and cultural inclusion—and leaves listeners with clear takeaways: go for opportunities, su...