Your Worthy Career

Let’s talk about what it can be like to be a woman working in government, pharma, and biotech. Things like the idea was only recognized when a man repeated it. The comment in a team meeting that made you freeze. The 1-1 where you were told to smile more. These micro-moments can leave you doubting yourself, stressed about how to handle it, and derail your career. In this episode, I’m sharing some of my own experiences and advice for what you can do to navigate these experiences in a way that is professional, advocate for yourself, and keep your career on track.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Experiences that won’t show up in an HR video but impact a woman’s experience at work
• The science behind stressing with this issue in silence
• Simple phrases to advocate for yourself when something is said that makes you uncomfortable or you’re just not sure if it was meant how it came off
• The difference between allies and advocates, and what to avoid sharing with them

Get the Book: Your Worthy Career: A Science-Backed Method to Build a Meaningful Career in Pharma and Biotech here.

Work with Me: Learn more and apply to work with me here.

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Most of the women I coach in pharma and biotech are worried AI will eventually take their jobs.

AI is risking your opportunities, but not in the way you think.

When you use AI for cover letters and resumes, the data show it lessens your chances of getting an interview or an offer. New labor economics research shows what that is costing you, and the opportunity.

When you use your own words, this can be your competitive edge and increase your chances of getting an interview and offer. In this episode, we are talking about how AI takes your voice and how now is the time to be more authentic and lean into the words only you can say.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• Where AI is taking opportunities from you (and it's not your job)
• What the research says happens to AI-written cover letters
• Why sounding perfect doesn’t get you more interviews
• How to use AI as a tool without letting it take your voice
• Why now is your biggest opportunity to stand out by being you

Get the Book: Your Worthy Career: A Science-Backed Method to Build a Meaningful Career in Pharma and Biotech here.

Work with Me: Learn more and apply to work with me here.

Love the podcast? Share your feedback by leaving us a review. Thank you!

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Should You Stay or Should You Go? In this episode, I walk through the signs that something has to change, and then the actual decision logic I use with clients who are weighing an internal move against a full exit.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• The 7 signs it is time for a change
• Why feeling valued and being valued are not the same thing
• The two questions I ask before anyone decides to leave
• What it usually means when you are still asking the question
• The first step when you do not know what you want yet

Mentioned in this episode:

• Register for the training September 22nd: The Exception: Be the Leader Pharma and Biotech Can’t Overlook
• Enrollment for The Right Move Protocol is opening Sept 21-28. Learn more and join the waitlist.

Get the Book: Your Worthy Career: A Science-Backed Method to Build a Meaningful Career in Pharma and Biotech here.

Work with Me: Learn more and apply to work with me here.

Love the podcast? Share your feedback by leaving us a review. Thank you!

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My client, Jennifer, spent four plus years as a clinical trial manager. Her leadership praised her, handed her work well above her level, and yet, her promotion didn't come. She had become too useful exactly where she was.

Jen came into The Right Move Protocol with a one year goal. In just one month she had a promotion she was not expecting. A short time later she identified her ideal role with her dream company. By using the skills she learned and applying her growth mindset she negotiated and accepted an Associate Director position in a therapeutic area she had been trying to get into for years. She did it while her family had more going on than she ever could have anticipated.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• What "developed in place" really means, and why the praise is not progress
• Jen's 90% rule for deciding before you feel ready
• Why the part of the program she dreaded is the part that got her results the quickest
• What she says to anyone who thinks her results were luck or timing
• The negotiation truth that follows you from job to job

Connect with Jennifer on LinkedIn here.

Get the Book: Your Worthy Career: A Science-Backed Method to Build a Meaningful Career in Pharma and Biotech here.

Work with Me: Learn more and apply to work with me here.

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You put together the strategy your VP loves, then your own manager tears it apart, and you're left standing in the middle with no one publicly on your side. Or your name isn't in the meeting where decisions about your own project get made, and you find out after the fact what everyone else already agreed to.

In pharma and biotech, matrix teams and shifting priorities make this common, not personal, and most women read it as proof there's nothing they can do. That belief is the actual problem. This episode breaks down exactly what to do about it, so you stop waiting for the room to change and start leading it.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• Why conflicting feedback from your stakeholders isn't a dead end
• The real reasons you get left out of decision-making meetings
• How to get buy-in from a stakeholder who doesn't think like you do
• What radical responsibility looks like when no one seems to have your back
• The three-step shift I coach inside The Right Move Protocol every week

Get the Book: Your Worthy Career: A Science-Backed Method to Build a Meaningful Career in Pharma and Biotech here.

Work with Me: Learn more and apply to work with me here.

Love the podcast? Share your feedback by leaving us a review. Thank you!

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In this episode, I sit down with Christine Hummel, a healthcare executive with 25 years across the pharmacy benefit manager side, retail and specialty pharmacy, distribution, and pharma manufacturing, including running US Trade and Channel for a major pharma company.

Christine has hired teams, rebuilt teams, and decided who gets advocated for the next role many times over, and in this conversation she breaks down exactly what she looks for, and why so many high performers stay stuck chasing a title instead of doing what actually gets them promoted.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• Why chasing the next title can actually slow you down
• What Christine actually looks for before she puts someone's name up for a promotion
• The one question to ask yourself before you consider leaving your company for a title
• How to build a network that gets you noticed without waiting to be chosen
• Why AI belongs in your career strategy starting now, not later

Connect with Christine:

• Connect with Christine on LinkedIn here.
• Listen to the Root to Rising podcast here.
• Tune in to my interview on the Root to Rising podcast in the episode, How to Build a Career You Don't Need to Escape From, here.

Get the Book: Your Worthy Career: A Science-Backed Method to Build a Meaningful Career in Pharma and Biotech here.

Work with Me: Learn more and apply to work with me here.

Love the podcast? Share your feedback by leaving us a review. Thank you!

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This week I'm bringing back an episode that I think speaks to what you might be going through right now.

Brena is a Principal Scientist and member of my group coaching program, The Right Move Protocol® (formerly Beyond the Ceiling). She is sharing why she joined the group, what it's like on the inside, and the results she experienced that blew her mind. Tune in for this candid conversation about what it's like to work in the industry and the unexpected results she experienced when she invested in herself.

Brena’s views on this episode do not reflect the company she works for. These are her personal insights based on her experience and expertise in the Pharma/Biotech space and in her experience as my Coaching client.

What you'll learn:

• Why Brena chose to invest in her career even when she had reasons not to
• The power of having a community of like minded women to support you in your career growth
• How Brena landed her ideal job, built her confidence, and created more time with her family than she thought was possible
• The advice she wish she had earlier in her career and a message for anyone who thinks that the results she achieved aren't possible for them

Mentioned in this episode:

• Connect with Brena Williams on LinkedIn
• Enrollment for The Right Move Protocol® is open until July 16th. Learn more and schedule your consultation to join: https://yourworthycareer.com/protocol

Get the Book: Your Worthy Career: A Science-Backed Method to Build a Meaningful Career in Pharma and Biotech here.

Work with Me: Learn more and apply to work with me here.

Love the podcast? Share your feedback by leaving us a review. Thank you!

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You did everything right, made it to the final round, and still got the call: number two. In a competitive Pharma and Biotech search, coming in second rarely means you failed. Often it means you are in the right arena, against strong people, with a process that is finally working.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• What coming in second really means in a Pharma search
• The 5 things to do to rebound after you come in close but do not get it
• The one question to ask next time so you do not get surprised again
• Why your brain fixates on the offer instead of the progress
• How a "loss" can set up the role you actually want

If you are sitting in the waiting and the second-guessing right now, this one is for you.

Get the Book: Your Worthy Career: A Science-Backed Method to Build a Meaningful Career in Pharma and Biotech here.

Work with Me: Learn more and apply to work with me here.

Love the podcast? Share your feedback by leaving us a review. Thank you!

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I coach women through interviews all the time. So when I had to sit in one myself, for the first time in over 12 years, I learned something I want you to hear. Even though interviewing is something I teach regularly, doing it myself, under pressure, with the outcome out of my hands, was a different experience. So I recorded a raw voice memo the moment I walked out, before I knew if I got in. In this episode I play you that unedited memo, then break down exactly what I did so you can do it too.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• Why I prepared with bullets instead of a script, and what I put on that list before I had my panel interview
• The kinds of questions I asked that took the interrogation feeling out of the room and got me real answers
• What I watched for across everyone I talked to, and what that one pattern told me about the culture
• The question almost nobody asks at the end of an interview, and why one interviewer lit up when I asked it
• Why the confidence I felt walking out had nothing to do with whether I got the spot

I received the outcome two months later. I'll tell you how it went, and why the answer matters less than you think.

REGISTER: The next Strategy Hour for Women in Pharma and Biotech is July 9th. Secure your spot here.

Get the Book: Your Worthy Career: A Science-Backed Method to Build a Meaningful Career in Pharma and Biotech here.

Work with Me: Learn more and apply to work with me here.

Love the podcast? Share your feedback by leaving us a review. Thank you!

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Sitting on the fence feels like the smart move. You weigh the pros and cons, you do the research, you tell yourself now isn't the right time. But indecision is still a decision, and in a pharma career it has a cost. The promotion you're not sure you're ready for. The role you can't decide is right. The difficult stakeholder you don't know how to handle.

Every time you stay on the fence to avoid the discomfort of the unknown, you make less progress and you quietly hand the opportunity to someone who decided faster. This episode is about why we do it, and how to get down.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• What sitting on the fence really means
• The questions that expose the real reason you're not making a decision
• How to calculate the actual cost of indecision before it costs you in your career
• Where certainty about a decision actually comes from

Get the Book: Your Worthy Career: A Science-Backed Method to Build a Meaningful Career in Pharma and Biotech here.

Work with Me: Learn more and apply to work with me here.

Love the podcast? Share your feedback by leaving us a review. Thank you!

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This episode is for the woman in pharma or biotech who has strong performance reviews, a supportive boss, colleagues who rave about her, and still can't get the move she wants. We're getting into the difference between activity and strategic visibility — why being known is not the same as being positioned, and how to fill the gap.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• Why you can be exceptionally well-positioned with your immediate team and completely invisible to the people who actually control what's next for you
• The difference between being valued and being someone the organization has a stake in keeping
• The nuance in visibility and positioning that can result in roles being created for you even when there isn't an allocated budget

Monday May 28th - Strategy Hour for Women in Pharma - Limited to 25 women. Register at https://yourworthycareer.com/strategy-hour

Get the Book: Your Worthy Career: A Science-Backed Method to Build a Meaningful Career in Pharma and Biotech here.

Work with Me: Learn more and apply to work with me here.

Love the podcast? Share your feedback by leaving us a review. Thank you!

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The AI conversation in Pharma and Biotech is generating a lot of anxiety, and a lot of misplaced action. Women are either chasing every new tool or avoiding the whole conversation entirely. This episode cuts through both reactions to get at what the research and the data actually say about what protects a career right now.

The skill most likely to determine who gets promoted, who survives a reorg, and who gets called first is not the one most strong technical performers are investing in. That gap is what this episode is about.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• Why the women who will be hardest to cut in Pharma are not the fastest AI learners, and what they are building instead
• What the actual drivers of biopharma layoffs are in 2025, and why they matter more than the AI narrative
• How AI raising the technical baseline changes what gets you promoted, protected, and noticed in a matrix organization
• Why strong technical performers in Pharma systematically underinvest in the skills that determine advancement
• The one relationship move to make this week that compounds in ways credentials never will

Get the Book: Your Worthy Career: A Science-Backed Method to Build a Meaningful Career in Pharma and Biotech here.

Work with Me: Learn more and apply to work with me here.

Love the podcast? Share your feedback by leaving us a review. Thank you!

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You have impressive credentials, a track record that speaks for itself, and a career that looks exactly right from the outside. And yet something is off. The work has become transactional. Your role has accumulated tasks that don't connect to a strategy.

You can see a vision for what you want, but you cannot articulate it — partly because it does not exist yet in any form you have seen before.

That is a clarity problem. And more information is not going to solve it.

In this episode, I am breaking down why accomplished women in Pharma and Biotech get stuck in a research spiral — and why the fix is not another job change, another course, or more time spent gathering options.

What you will learn:

• Why the brain under uncertainty does not settle into clarity by accumulating more information — and what organizational psychology tells us actually resolves it.
• How to recognize whether you are solving real problems or hypothetical ones you have invented to avoid committing to a direction.
• What granular clarity actually requires — and why it is not about a title, a company, or a timeframe.
• How the Right Move Protocol™ functions as your career's decision-making filter — the process that tells you whether any opportunity in front of you is actually the right one for you.
• The neuroscience behind why defining a specific target changes what your brain notices, what conversations feel useful, and how you show up when you are not prepared.

If you are technically excellent, genuinely accomplished, and still not where you want to be — this episode will show you why that is a protocol problem.

Referenced in this episode: The Right Move Protocol™ - Schedule a consultation at https://yourworthycareer.com/application

Get the Book: Your Worthy Career: A Science-Backed Method to Build a Meaningful Career in Pharma and Biotech here.

Work with Me: Learn more and apply to work with me here.

Love the podcast? Share your feedback by leaving us a review. Thank you!

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This episode picks up where the last one left off — and gets super specific. If your performance and results are strong but your advancement isn't reflecting it, the issue isn't how hard you're working. It's where that work is being directed.

I'm walking you through four moves you can make right now to see growth in your career.

What you'll learn:

• Ask the one question that reveals exactly how your manager is positioning you in leadership conversations.
• Map where your reputation currently lives — and where it needs to go for advancement decisions to go your way.
• Communicate your work in the language that actually moves the needle with senior leaders.
• Build the relationships that determine whether your name comes up when opportunity is available.

If you're ready to stop being the best-kept secret in your organization, this episode gives you the specific moves to change that.

Referenced in this episode:

3 Reasons Pharma's Best Performers Get Passed Over - New Live Webinar April 14th at 12pm EST. Register here.

Get the Book: Your Worthy Career: A Science-Backed Method to Build a Meaningful Career in Pharma and Biotech here.

Work with Me: Learn more and apply to work with me here.

Love the podcast? Share your feedback by leaving us a review. Thank you!

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This episode is for the woman who is questioning what’s next after the performance and compensation conversation. The number landed. The feedback was good. And somehow that made it worse, because when you do the math, you realize the outcome does not reflect what you actually bring. It reflects what was budgeted, what the band allows, what a group of people settled on in a 90-minute meeting you were not part of. This episode is about what to do with that feeling, and more specifically, what to do next.

The frustration after the performance season in Pharma and Biotech is not just about the raise. It is about the gap between how hard you have worked and how little control you seem to have over what happens next. That gap feels like a system problem. And it partially is. But the thought that forms underneath it, that there is nothing you can do except wait for the next cycle, sounds like realism. It is actually the most expensive mistake you can make right now.

In this episode, you will learn:

• Why your performance outcome was shaped before you walked into the review meeting, so you can stop preparing for the wrong moment and start influencing the right one
• How to identify whether your current strategy is building visibility with the people who make advancement decisions, or just deepening your reliability with people who already know you
• How to apply a root cause analysis to your own career when effort keeps producing the wrong output, so you can stop adding inputs that are not actually connected to the outcome you want
• How to recognize the specific ways overworking shows up in Pharma and Biotech, so you can audit your plate and redirect your energy before another cycle passes
• How to reframe what is in your control when headcount is frozen, bands are set, and waiting feels like the only rational option

Get the Book: Your Worthy Career: A Science-Backed Method to Build a Meaningful Career in Pharma and Biotech here.

Work with Me: Learn more and apply to work with me here.

Love the podcast? Share your feedback by leaving us a review. Thank you!

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This is for the woman who’s aiming for a promotion (or a bigger external role) and keeps thinking, If I could just get that title, everything would feel different.

Today we are going beyond the title to talk about the messy middle, what drives advancement and the critical part needed to reach your advancement goal. When you don’t understand your deeper “why,” you can end up pushing for something that isn’t actually the solution… or finally getting it and realizing it feels hollow.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Why I ask “why” first when someone says they want a promotion title—and the common answers that quietly stall progress
• The three deeper drivers I hear most often and what each one actually requires in Pharma/Biotech
• Why “I earned it” and “I work hard” rarely works as a promotion strategy in complex organizations

Get the Book: Your Worthy Career: A Science-Backed Method to Build a Meaningful Career in Pharma and Biotech here.

Work with Me: Learn more and apply to work with me here.

Love the podcast? Share your feedback by leaving us a review. Thank you!

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My book, Your Worthy Career: A Science-Backed Method to Build a Meaningful Career in Pharma and Biotech is officially out today, and in this special bonus episode, my marketing assistant turns the tables and interviews me about why I wrote this book, how the method came to be, and what I want the reader to feel by the end of it.

This isn’t a traditional teaching episode. It’s more a behind-the-scenes conversation. We talk about the roadblocks I hit in my own 9-to-5, the moment I was told my extra degree and stretch work didn’t “count,” and how that experience led me to develop the hidden doors framework.

This is honest, unscripted, and be sure to listen to the end to catch the blooper reel.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• The reason I wrote this book — and why I wanted it accessible to every woman in science
• The story behind “hidden doors” and how roles get created outside the org chart
• The career advice I followed early on that slowed me down
• What surprised me most while writing — including what I chose to leave out
• What I hope you feel when you finish the last chapter

Get the Book: Your Worthy Career: A Science-Backed Method to Build a Meaningful Career in Pharma and Biotech here.

Work with Me: Learn more and apply to work with me here.

Love the podcast? Share your feedback by leaving us a review. Thank you!

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This job market needs a different approach - tune in to hear why.

If you’ve been applying to roles, asking for promotions, taking on stretch work, and getting ghosted or hearing “not yet” or “there’s no budget,” this conversation is for you.

When budgets tighten and leaders become selective, performance alone isn’t enough. In these environments, they don’t promote or hire “good enough.” They move toward the person who feels necessary. And when the rules aren’t clear, it’s easy to internalize stalled growth as a personal failure instead of a strategic gap.

So I'm also going to share the insider conversations that happen behind closed doors of leadership meetings.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Why performance reviews and stretch assignments don’t automatically lead to advancement
• What talent conversations actually focus on behind closed doors
• How lack of clarity gets exposed quickly in a tight market
• Why perception and positioning matter as much as credentials
• Details about my book releasing February 24th - Your Worthy Career: A Science-Backed Method to Build a Meaningful Career in Pharma and Biotech.

If you’ve been wondering why it feels harder than it should, this episode will help you see what’s really happening—and what to think about differently.

Get the Book: Your Worthy Career: A Science-Backed Method to Build a Meaningful Career in Pharma and Biotech here.

Work with Me: Learn more and apply to work with me here.

Love the podcast? Share your feedback by leaving us a review. Thank you!

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I'm back! In this episode, I’m welcoming you back to the podcast and opening Season 3 with a new chapter—one shaped by a year of reflection, writing, and deep work with women navigating their careers in Pharma and Biotech.

After a year-long hiatus, I’m sharing why I stepped away, what changed while I was gone, and what you can expect moving forward. I also introduce my upcoming book, Your Worthy Career: A Science-Backed Method to Build a Meaningful Career in Pharma and Biotech, releasing February 24.

This episode sets the tone for the season and speaks directly to women who want clarity, agency, and a practical path forward—especially in an uncertain industry and market.

What you’ll learn:

• Why I paused the podcast and what brought me back
• What’s ahead and who this podcast is for
• How uncertainty in Pharma/Biotech is impacting women right now
• What inspired my book and what’s inside it
• How to stay connected and get involved in the book launch

If you’re a woman in Pharma or Biotech who wants to feel more in control of your career and confident in your next move, this podcast is for you.

Head over to Your Worthy Career for full show notes and book details.

Get the Book: Your Worthy Career: A Science-Backed Method to Build a Meaningful Career in Pharma and Biotech here.

Work with Me: Learn more and apply to work with me here.

Love the podcast? Share your feedback by leaving us a review. Thank you!

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Welcome to the final episode of Your Worthy Career! I’m Melissa Lawrence, your go-to career and leadership coach in Pharma and Biotech, and I can’t thank you enough for joining me on this four-year podcast journey.

Although this is the last episode—for now!—it’s not goodbye. Think of it more like, “Here’s where we can still meet up and connect for a virtual happy hour!”

Here’s Where You Can Find Me:

• LinkedIn: Connect with me on LinkedIn for industry insights, leadership tips, and my LinkedIn-exclusive newsletter, Career Tips Weekly. Let’s keep the conversation going!
• Instagram: If Instagram is more your vibe, follow me at melissa.yourworthycareer for behind-the-scenes moments, career advice in bite-sized bits, and daily inspiration.
• Cheetah Chronicles Newsletter: Subscribe to my Cheetah Chronicles for weekly career strategies and exclusive content right to your inbox. It’s like a mini coaching session every week—sign up at http://www.yourworthycareer.com/email.
• Your Worthy Career Website: Visit http://www.yourworthycareer.com/ for coaching options, free resources, and a searchable catalog of all past episodes. Bookmark it—it’s your one-stop hub for career support in Pharma and Biotech.

Thank you for being here, for listening, and for putting what we’ve talked about into action.

My mission to elevate women into meaningful roles of influence in this industry isn’t stopping here. Let’s keep connecting, keep growing, and remember: take up space, own your worth, and keep moving forward one step at a time.

Head over to Your Worthy Career for full show notes.

Get the Book: Your Worthy Career: A Science-Backed Method to Build a Meaningful Career in Pharma and Biotech here.

Work with Me: Learn more and apply to work with me here.

Love the podcast? Share your feedback by leaving us a review. Thank you!

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