LinkedIn published data this International Women's Day saying women's path to the C-suite is narrowing. And the corporate world gave a lot of polished, politically correct reasons for it. But there is a piece of the puzzle nobody is talking about. And I am going to say it.
In this episode of The Unfiltered Fit Life, I am sharing what I see after working with over 5,000 women in leadership - the real, unpolished, behind-the-scenes reasons why incredibly capable women are staying stuck. Not the survey answers. The actual truth.
Women make up 44% of the global workforce but hold just 31% of VP-level roles and above. The gap is not about qualifications. It is about confidence, visibility, cognitive load, and the uncomfortable conversations nobody in a corporate setting is willing to have.
In this episode, we talk about:
- Why competence alone stops moving the needle at senior levels
- The confidence gap keeping women out of the room
- How body image quietly eats hours out of your work day
- The "I should already know this" trap that ego built
- Why women carry twice the load at home and still won't ask for help
- What a 155% pay increase actually came down to
- The uncomfortable conversation corporate America refuses to have
- Why fake-it-till-you-make-it confidence runs out of gas
This episode is direct and honest. If you are a woman in leadership, in the workforce, or thinking about getting back into it - this episode is going to hit close to home.
Ever wish you had a fit and straightforward BFF with over 15 years of experience to help you filter through all the information regarding fitness, nutrition, and life? That's exactly what you'll get when you listen to the Unfiltered Fit Life Podcast.
Join Former Bikini Olympia Champion, mom of 2, and fitness coach Nathalia Melo each week as she shares fitness, nutrition, and life tips to help busy working moms simplify their fitness journey so they can learn easy and simple strategies on how to lose weight and feel sexy AF.
After helping over 5000 busy working moms, Nathalia has found the blueprint to fitness, nutrition, and life success, which she will be sharing in this podcast: actionable tips that will help busy working moms be more present at work and at home.
This show is for you if you realize that nothing good comes from your comfort zone and are ready to challenge yourself to achieve great things. Follow Unfiltered Fit Life wherever you are listening to join us each week for a splash of sass, humor, and a whole lotta truth.
Podcast Transcript
Your Body & Health Are The Ceiling To Your Success
INTRODUCTION
Nathalia opens the episode off the back of International Women's Day, referencing a LinkedIn article that caught her attention: women's path to the C-suite is narrowing and senior leadership hires are falling. She frames her perspective as a health, fitness, and performance coach who works with women in leadership daily - and explains that the corporate world's politically correct version of the story is missing a very big piece.
THE DATA
Nathalia walks through the LinkedIn data: women make up 44% of the global workforce but hold just 31% of VP-level and above roles. Women's share of senior leadership hires peaked at 34.8% in 2022 and has dropped to 32.9%, including a full percentage point drop in the last year alone. She sets up the episode by saying she has the version of this data that hasn't been polished for a corporate audience.
POINT ONE: THE CONFIDENCE GAP, NOT THE COMPETENCE GAP
Nathalia breaks down why competence stops being the differentiator at senior levels. The HP study shows men apply for promotions at 60% of qualifications; women wait until nearly 100%. The KPMG Women's Leadership study shows 75% of female executives have experienced imposter syndrome. She explains that getting to the top requires visibility, presence, and putting yourself in rooms - and that many women are quietly opting out of those moments because of how they feel in their bodies.
THE HIDDEN COST OF HIDING
Nathalia gets specific about what avoidance looks like for high-achieving women: skipping the networking event, sending the email instead of raising the hand in the boardroom, doing the work behind the scenes instead of in the spotlight. She introduces the BBV - the bad bitch vibe - and explains that fake-it-till-you-make-it confidence runs out of energy because it requires wearing a mask. Real confidence comes from alignment between how you feel and how you show up.
POINT TWO: THE "I SHOULD ALREADY KNOW THIS" TRAP
High achievers tell themselves they should be able to figure out their health and fitness on their own - because they used to, back when life had no competing priorities. Nathalia calls this ego getting in the way. Data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics shows working women spend about twice as much time on childcare and household responsibilities as working men. She shares a personal story about an unplanned play date arriving to a messy house - and what it revealed about her own reluctance to ask for help.
THE REAL ROI OF ASKING FOR HELP
Nathalia challenges the shame around getting support - with fitness, at home, with a coach. She frames it as a simple ROI calculation: how much is your hour worth versus what you pay for help? Trying to carry everything alone has a cost in mental bandwidth, energy, and recovery time. She makes the case that women operating at that level need to stop treating asking for help as a weakness.
POINT THREE: THE COGNITIVE TAX OF BODY IMAGE
Research shows women have at least eight appearance-related thoughts per day - micro-moments of distraction that each pull focus. Nathalia applies the stat that it takes 25 minutes to regain full concentration after a distraction. At eight interruptions a day across an eight-hour workday, that is more than four hours of lost focus. She connects this directly to leadership performance: the boardroom demands presence, decision-making, and full mental capacity - none of which are available when part of your brain is monitoring how you look.
REAL RESULTS AND CLOSING
Nathalia shares member outcomes - a 155% pay increase, a 25% pay increase, a 200% pay increase - and what each woman said drove it. Not a new skill. Not a new qualification. Feeling confident enough to ask. Carrying herself differently. Not being distracted in the meeting. She closes by calling on women to stop pretending this conversation is too uncomfortable to have, because the discomfort of avoiding it is costing them their careers.
