I’m Zeva Bellel, a certified career transformation coach for women. I’m based in Paris, France, but I hail from Brooklyn NY. Back in 1999 I left everything known and familiar to to me to follow my dream of one day becoming French. It was a wild decision that made no “logical” sense (especially if you asked my grandpa, Sol, who thought I was nuts).
Since then, in life, as well as in work, I’m fascinated by how we become the version of ourselves we’re meant to become. Especially when our paths are strewn with unexpected challenges, doubts as well as inexplicable urges and desires.
However, in a world obsessed with overnight success stories and fancy ribbon cuttings, we neglect the insights and learnings that emerge during the messy middle of the transformation process. The consequences are that we often believe transformation should be obvious, quick and pain-free, since we have few examples to guide us and inspire us forward.
That’s what On Becoming sets out to do—tell the true transformation stories of inspiring women entrepreneurs, creatives and innovators. Instead of merely focusing on where they are now, we’ll peel back the onion and take a lovingly honest look at their becoming journey. We’ll hear about how they made difficult decisions in the pursuit of deep self-expression and fulfilment, especially when they wandered off course and deviated from the classic path. Listen to find out how their hidden journeys can help unlock your own potential.
Subscribe now to follow every episode.
You can also follow me on Instagram, get my newsletter or book a call with me at www.zevabellel.com
Credits
Artwork Jessie Kanelos Weiner
Editing Matthew Jordan
Music © Fabrice Fortin
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
I’m Zeva Bellel, a certified career transformation coach for women. I’m based in Paris, France, but I hail from Brooklyn NY. Back in 1999 I left everything known and familiar to to me to follow my dream of one day becoming French. It was a wild decision that made no “logical” sense (especially if you asked my grandpa, Sol, who thought I was nuts).
Since then, in life, as well as in work, I’m fascinated by how we become the version of ourselves we’re meant to become. Especially when our paths are strewn with unexpected challenges, doubts as well as inexplicable urges and desires.
However, in a world obsessed with overnight success stories and fancy ribbon cuttings, we neglect the insights and learnings that emerge during the messy middle of the transformation process. The consequences are that we often believe transformation should be obvious, quick and pain-free, since we have few examples to guide us and inspire us forward.
That’s what On Becoming sets out to do—tell the true transformation stories of inspiring women entrepreneurs, creatives and innovators. Instead of merely focusing on where they are now, we’ll peel back the onion and take a lovingly honest look at their becoming journey. We’ll hear about how they made difficult decisions in the pursuit of deep self-expression and fulfilment, especially when they wandered off course and deviated from the classic path. Listen to find out how their hidden journeys can help unlock your own potential.
Subscribe now to follow every episode.
You can also follow me on Instagram, get my newsletter or book a call with me at www.zevabellel.com
Credits
Artwork Jessie Kanelos Weiner
Editing Matthew Jordan
Music © Fabrice Fortin
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Hi, it’s Zeva—host of On Becoming and a native New Yorker turned Paris-based career coach for women navigating change and reinvention.
For this solo episode, I’m coming to you from upstate New York, where I’m wrapping up a month-long, multi-stop summer adventure that’s taken me from the sumptuous beaches of Hawaii to the buzzy freeways of LA, and finally into the quiet, meditative woods of the Catskills.
This extended pause has given me rare space and time to reflect on everything this season of On Becoming has offered so far. And in this solo episode, I’m doing what I love best: trying to unpack and connect the dots between the layers of wisdom shared by my brilliant guests and the conversations I’ve been having lately around midlife creativity.
This show was recorded without notes, without a script—and without any walls, actually. Just me, my mic, and my reflections from a screened-in porch in the woods.
What’s mentioned in this episode:
If any of these threads resonate, I’d love to hear from you. And if you’re catching up on the season, consider this your perfect summer reminder.
Connect with Me:
• Book a discovery call: www.zevabellel.com
• Subscribe to my Substack: On Becoming
• Email me: zeva@zevabellel.com
• Leave a voice message: Speakpipe
Credits:
Artwork by Jessie Kanelos Weiner
Editing by Matthew Jordan
Music © Fabrice Fortin
P.S. If you love this episode, share it with a friend, leave a 5-star review, or drop me a line. I love hearing from you.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
There are things we inherit that are easy to name—eye color, recipes, family traditions. And then there are the things we inherit that no one talks about. The grief. The silence. The secrets. The patterns that show up in our relationships, our parenting, our choices, and our creativity, all without us fully understanding why. This is what Dr. Galit Atlas calls emotional inheritance: the unconscious transmission of trauma, desire, and unspoken narratives across generations.
About Dr Galit Atlas:
Dr. Atlas is a clinical psychologist, psychoanalyst, and faculty member at NYU’s Postdoctoral Program in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times and academic journals around the world. Emotional Inheritance has been translated into 27 languages and become an international bestseller—for good reason. It helps people name what they’ve never had language for.
I’ve been wanting to talk to her for years, but I reached out now because I’ve been sitting with this question in my own life and in the lives of the women I work with:
What’s the connection between emotional excavation and creativity? Especially at midlife, when we feel a pull to become more ourselves—but often bump up against everything that’s unfinished, unspoken, or inherited. Galit helped me name something I hadn’t fully seen before: that creativity isn’t about making something new out of nothing. It’s about making new connections. It’s the act of looking at our own story—especially the fragmented or incomplete parts—and asking: What else might be true?
In this episode, we explore:
We also talk about Galit’s beautiful The Emotional Inheritance Workbook, a structured, compassionate, and profound tool for doing this work—alone or in partnership. I can’t recommend it enough! And Galit also give a sneak-preview of her next book, coming in 2027, which explores childhood wounds and adult love.
Connect with Me:
•Book a discovery call at www.zevabellel.com
•Subscribe to my Substack: On Becoming
•Email me: zeva@zevabellel.com
•Leave me a voice message on Speakpipe
Credits: Artwork Jessie Kanelos Weiner; Editing Matthew Jordan; Music © Fabrice Fortin
P.S. If you love this episode, share it with a friend, leave a 5-star review, or drop me a line. I love hearing from you!
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Full disclosure: This episode almost didn’t make it to you. After our conversation, I got one of those dreaded error messages—my guest’s audio was supposedly damaged beyond repair. Which meant I had to do the unthinkable: ask her to re-record the whole thing. And not only was that a professional bummer, it felt like a crime. Because the conversation you’re about to hear was full of spontaneous, goosebump-inducing moments—those rare, honest sparks when something deeper comes through.
So yes, we did a backup recording (thank you, Ana, for your grace). But right before I sent the files off to my editor… I discovered the original audio—the one you’re about to hear—was perfectly intact. Don’t ask. Just thank the podcast gods.
Now, about my guest: Ana Tajder is a Croatian-born journalist, author, and host of the award-winning podcast Thank You, Mama, where she’s interviewed over 170 women from 80 countries about the lessons they learned from their mothers. She’s also the daughter of renowned Yugoslav actress and artist Jagoda Kaloper, a university lecturer in Vienna, and a two-time author whose work explores storytelling, sociology, and the cultural legacies passed down through the motherline.
I invited Ana on because—whether she knows it or not—she’s been quietly building what I’d call a doctorate in mother-daughter wisdom. I wanted to know: after all these conversations, what has she learned not just about our mothers, but about us? What resurfaces in women’s lives at midlife? What gets inherited, and what gets rewritten?
Ana’s story is extraordinary. She grew up with a fiercely independent, creative mother—and carries the legacy of a Croatian island ruled by “white widows,” badass women who held down entire communities while the men were gone. That matriarchal strength runs through this entire episode.
We talk about:
Connect with Me:
•Book a discovery call at www.zevabellel.com
•Subscribe to my Substack: On Becoming
•Email me: zeva@zevabellel.com
•Leave me a voice message on Speakpipe
Credits: Artwork Jessie Kanelos Weiner; Editing Matthew Jordan; Music © Fabrice Fortin; Mai's photo bt Lyloutte Studio
P.S. If you love this episode, share it with a friend, leave a 5-star review, or drop me a line. I love hearing from you!
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Mai Hua is a filmmaker, writer, color designer, and one of the most emotionally honest storytellers I know. Her work doesn’t just explore intimacy, it practices it.
Born in Paris to Vietnamese immigrant parents, Mai was raised to be pleasant, high-achieving, and accommodating. But one deceptively simple question from her then-boyfriend, now husband—“Tell me who you are”—pierced the surface. It cracked open everything she thought she was supposed to be. Her willingness to even try answering it became, in her words, "an act of love."
Mai has been on a creative and spiritual journey toward what she calls l’intime—“the inside of the inside.” Her groundbreaking documentary Les Rivières traced the hidden emotional inheritance of the women in her family. Her second film, Make Me a Man, co-created with her husband, the British psychotherapist, Jerry Hyde, brings viewers into men’s therapy groups where emotional truth is the only currency. Her upcoming project, May Day, follows a 12-day group therapy circle, continuing her exploration of what it means to live and love honestly. And on her top-rated Substack Tell Me Who You Are, she asks and explores the hard questions, in public, with vulnerability, laughter and grace.
In this conversation, we talk about:
Mai’s work invites us to find the courage to speak as close to the heart as your consciousness allows. After this conversation, I felt empowered to have some overdue conversations of my own. I hope it opens something for you too.
💫 Want to take this work deeper? Join me this June in Paris for Creative Camp—a five-day immersive designed to reignite your creative spark. Learn more at zevabellel.com/creative-camp
Connect with Me:
•Book a discovery call at www.zevabellel.com
•Subscribe to my Substack: On Becoming
•Email me: zeva@zevabellel.com
•Leave me a voice message on Speakpipe
Credits: Artwork Jessie Kanelos Weiner; Editing Matthew Jordan; Music © Fabrice Fortin; Mai's photo bt Lyloutte Studio
P.S. If you love this episode, share it with a friend, leave a 5-star review, or drop me a line. I love hearing from you!
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
We tend to talk about creativity as something we have to do. Write that proposal. Complete that project. Perfect that performance. But what if we're completely missing the point of engaging with creativity? What if creativity isn’t something to manipulate and master, but more like a living, breathing relationship that just wants some genuine TLC? Like any of the meaningful relationships we check in on regularly. (e.g. Hey, what’s up? How are you? What’s going on? What do you need? Can I give you a hug?)
And what if our creativity in midlife—more than at any other stage in life, perhaps—is especially about dropping our incessant desire to control the outcome? And instead, just about showing up. With no expectations. Just a willingness to be curious, to listen, and to see what's cooking.
That creative reframe is at the core of my conversation today with Liz Kimball—a creative catalyst, transformational coach, and visionary thinker whose work lives at the intersection of imagination, embodiment, and identity. Liz doesn’t just coach women to “get things done.” She helps them reimagine the creative process as a living relationship with their voice, their purpose, and their future self.
Liz grew up in a deeply artistic home and began dancing seriously at a very young age. Ballet became her creative container. A space where she poured years of discipline and devotion into the pursuit of excellence. Everything seemed mapped out for a professional career in performance, until one day, in a moment of radical clarity (which she shares in her TEDx talk), she walked away. That choice unraveled everything and sparked something entirely new. Today, Liz is the founder of The Creative 15 and The Expansion Project. Her work has been featured on Oprah.com, The Guggenheim, and more. With an MFA and a CPC certification, she helps women birth the great work of their lives, not just the external projects, but the truest version of themselves.
💫 Want to take this work deeper? Join me this June in Paris for Creative Camp—a five-day immersive designed to reignite your creative spark. Learn more at zevabellel.com/creative-camp
Connect with Me:
•Book a discovery call at www.zevabellel.com
•Subscribe to my Substack: On Becoming
•Email me: zeva@zevabellel.com
•Leave me a voice message on Speakpipe
Credits: Artwork Jessie Kanelos Weiner; Editing Matthew Jordan; Music © Fabrice Fortin
P.S. If you love this episode, share it with a friend, leave a 5-star review, or drop me a line. I love hearing from you!
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
I was originally going to publish a conversation this week. It was all recorded and ready to go but I had so many dots that needed connecting that I had to grab the mic and record a solo episode to try to make sense of things. What’s been bubbling up for me as I rip open and explore this season’s theme—creativity at midlife—is whether this phase of life is truly age-specific… or something more nuanced. Something broader. Like a spectrum.
There have been moments in my life—applying to colleges, being pregnant, first moving to Paris—that felt so immersive and all-consuming, I couldn’t take in anything else. Surprisingly, midlife feels the same, and I want to understand why.
In this episode, I explore that question through a few key touchpoints:
I also share something I’ve been building quietly behind the scenes: Creative Camp—a new series of in-person events in Paris to help you reignite your creative energy, reconnect with parts of yourself that have gone quiet, and say yes to being bad at something new. It very much ties it with a new term I learned from Chip Conley called "type 2 fun"—the kind that feels awkward or uncertain in the moment but leaves you changed, glowing, and deeply alive in hindsight.
So here’s the question I’ll leave you with today:
Spots at Creative Camp are limited, and they’re already filling, so come get yours!
Connect with Me:
•Book a discovery call at www.zevabellel.com
•Subscribe to my Substack: On Becoming
•Email me: zeva@zevabellel.com
•Leave me a voice message on Speakpipe
Credits: Artwork Jessie Kanelos Weiner; Editing Matthew Jordan; Music © Fabrice Fortin
P.S. If you love this episode, share it with a friend, leave a 5-star review, or drop me a line. I love hearing from you!
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
This season we’re exploring creativity in midlife. That electric, unpredictable, often inconvenient force that resurfaces just as everything else in your life is demanding your attention. For many women, this chapter brings a hunger to express, create, and feel deeply… even while navigating brain fog, hot flashes, insomnia, or a sneaky sense that time is running out. What happens when your creativity doesn’t quiet down, but starts to boil up? Enter my guest today, Robinne Lee.
About Robinne Lee:
Robinne is a Jamaican-Chinese writer, actress, and producer, a graduate of Yale University and Columbia Law School. She’s spent the past three decades building an impressive career in film and television, with standout roles in Hitch, Seven Pounds, 13 Going on 30, Being Mary Jane, and the Fifty Shades franchise. But she’s perhaps best known today as the author of the breakout novel The Idea of You—an international bestseller, translated into over a dozen languages, and adapted into an Amazon Studios movie starring Anne Hathaway. She’s currently working on her anxiously awaited second novel, due out in 2026.
If you don’t already know the book, here’s the premise: a nearly 40-year-old single mom and art gallerist unexpectedly falls into a passionate relationship with the 20-year-old lead singer of the world’s biggest boy band. Yes, it’s erotically delicious. But it’s also a daring, tender, and deeply honest exploration of what it means to feel alive, desirous, and sexually empowered at midlife—a time when society often expects women to shrink and fade.
In our conversation, we dive into:
We also get into the audiobook version of The Idea of You (which Robinne narrates herself). It’s masterful—she inhabits the characters of Solène and Hayes so completely, it’s like being inside the story with them. Honestly, if you’re tempted to skip the book and just watch the movie… don’t. Listen to the audiobook. Trust me.
And if today’s subject stirs something in you—if you’re feeling your own creative fire asking for space—just remember: this is the work I support my clients with through my coaching practice.
Connect with Me:
•Book a discovery call at www.zevabellel.com
•Subscribe to my Substack: On Becoming
•Email me: zeva@zevabellel.com
•Leave me a voice message on Speakpipe
Credits: Artwork Jessie Kanelos Weiner; Editing Matthew Jordan; Music © Fabrice Fortin
P.S. If you love this episode, share it with a friend, leave a 5-star review, or drop me a line. I love hearing from you!
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
This season, we’re diving into something deeply personal, often misunderstood, and wildly powerful: creativity for women in midlife. The theme is inspired by my own observations and the voices of so many women I've worked with as a women's empowerment coach. There’s a narrative tension in this chapter of life: a deep, almost primal hunger to make, express, and reinvent… right alongside physical symptoms like brain fog, emotional reactivity, night sweats, anxious insomnia, and a creeping sense that you’re not as fired up as you used to be. You wonder: What the heck is going on inside of me? What do I need to express—and why is it so hard to get it out? Add in the cultural messaging that a woman’s midlife brain is in decline, and you’ve got a potent mix of doubt, confusion, and disconnection from your power.
So I wanted to begin this season with something grounding. Not just inspiration—but the science. The “under the hood” truth of how our brains evolve as we do. To help us, I’m joined by Dr. Sarah McKay, a neuroscientist, author, speaker, and unapologetic brain nerd, who’s spent the last decade unpacking the wildly misunderstood world of women’s brain health.
About Dr. Sarah McKay:
Dr. McKay is an Oxford-educated neuroscientist who lives on Sydney’s Northern Beaches, where she writes, teaches and translates brain science into real-world tools for clinicians, coaches, and curious minds. Her books include:The Women’s Brain Book (2018; second edition due September 2025); Baby Brain (2023), on how pregnancy and motherhood rewire the brain for the better; Brain Health For Dummies (2025). And she also gave a TEDx talk on the power of naps—a woman after my own heart. Sarah’s journey began with a viral blog post on “baby brain.” Instead of brushing off the stereotype, she got curious. That spark turned into a decade-long exploration of how the female brain transforms across life stages—from matrescence to menopause. When she started researching menopause and the brain, it was niche—barely a blip in mainstream science. Now? It’s everywhere. And Sarah helped lead the way.What makes her work powerful is how she breaks the science down—dissecting, decoding, and making it useful. She shines light on what’s long been hidden, creating a hunger for understanding, agency, and more.
In this conversation:
So, whether you’re foggy, fired up, or somewhere in between, this episode will reframe how you see your midlife mind—not as decline, but creative rebirth.
Connect with Me:
•Book a discovery call at www.zevabellel.com
•Subscribe to my Substack: On Becoming
•Email me: zeva@zevabellel.com
•Leave me a voice message on Speakpipe
P.S. If you love this episode, share it with a friend, leave a 5-star review, or drop me a line. I love hearing from you!
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Hey there, it’s Zeva Bellel—career and leadership coach for women—and I’m thrilled to welcome you to Season 4 of On Becoming.
This season, we’re diving headfirst into a topic that’s been stirring in my heart, in my coaching work, and in nearly every honest conversation I’ve had with women lately:
Midlife and the Creative Reckoning.
If Season 3 was about how women lead, Season 4 is about what fuels that leadership—and for many of us, it’s creativity.
But I’m not talking about creativity in the narrow, elite, paint-in-a-studio sense. I’m talking about creativity as life force. As inner knowing. As rebellion. As a return to the wildest, most vital parts of who we are.
In this season, I’m exploring what happens when women at midlife feel the creative urge rising, and how many of us have lost the map to our own expression.
Here’s what you can expect this season:
We’ll wrestle with questions like:
🎨 What happens when we stop expressing ourselves creatively?
🌀 Why do so many women feel a quiet ache for “more”—but have no idea where to start?
🔥 How do we move through the fear, shame, and perfectionism that block our creative power?
🌿 What’s the link between creativity, vitality, and personal agency in midlife?
And we’ll hold tight to this truth from Clarissa Pinkola Estés:
“A woman’s creative ability is her most valuable asset, for it gives outwardly and it feeds her inwardly at every level—psychic, spiritual, mental, emotive, and economic.”
If you’ve ever felt the hum of something inside you asking to be heard, expressed, made real—this season is for you.
Midlife isn’t a dead end. It’s your next masterpiece in motion.
So subscribe, follow the show, and share this episode with someone who needs a creative jolt. You’ll want to be part of what’s coming: powerful conversations, creative experiments (yes, a creative camp is happening!), and a collective reclaiming of the parts of ourselves we’re finally ready to honor.
—
Connect with Me:
•Book a discovery call at www.zevabellel.com
•Subscribe to my Substack: On Becoming
•Email me: zeva@zevabellel.com
•Leave me a voice message on Speakpipe
P.S. If you love this episode, share it with a friend, leave a 5-star review, or drop me a line. I love hearing from you!
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
This is a solo episode—a personal reflection on the biggest insights, toughest truths, and most electrifying moments from this season on fierce female leadership. When I started this season, I wanted to peel back the curtain on women’s power—to understand the unique ways we lead, the gifts we bring, and the impact we make when we show up fully. The moment felt hopeful. Kamala Harris had a real shot at sitting in the most powerful seat on the planet. But now, just a few months later, the backlash against women in leadership is intensifying and the exhaustion is real.
So, as this season comes to a close, I want to pause and reflect—not just on what we learned, but on the one question I keep coming back to:
How do we nurture and grow our unique power—and use it for the collective good—when the world seems dead set on stopping us?
I connect the dots between my guests’ powerful stories and this cultural reckoning:
And I dig into the core themes that emerged this season:
•The ways women are wired for collective power—and why that threatens outdated leadership structures
•Why emotional intelligence is not a soft skill but a strategic advantage
•The tension between ambition and backlash—and how we redefine success on our terms
•The hard truth about women hurting other women in leadership—and why that’s not the full story
•The power of embodied intelligence—how women’s lived experiences shape innovation, leadership, and creativity.
Connect with Me:
•Book a discovery call at www.zevabellel.com
•Subscribe to my Substack: On Becoming
•Email me: zeva@zevabellel.com
•Leave me a voice message on Speakpipe
P.S. If you love this episode, share it with a friend, leave a 5-star review, or drop me a line. I love hearing from you!
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
What does feminine energy look like in tech, one of the most masculine sectors in the world? This week on On Becoming, I’m joined by Ida Tin, the visionary Danish entrepreneur demonstrating what leadership and innovation looks like with feminine intelligence at its center. Ida is the co-founder and former CEO of Clue, the groundbreaking menstrual health app used by millions, and the creator of the term “femtech,” a $28 billion industry transforming women’s health and lives globally. Since leaving her post as CEO of Clue, Ida’s written a book about her entrepreneurial journey and has recently launched Femtech Assembly, a think tank that explores the link between Femtech, economy and planetary health.
Ida’s story is as bold and unconventional as the solutions she’s built. Growing up on motorcycles, traveling the world with her family, she witnessed firsthand how childbirth and childcare profoundly shaped women’s futures. These experiences sparked a question that would guide her life’s work: What if we created tools that truly supported women—on their terms?
In a tech world dominated by linear, competitive, masculine energy, Ida offers a radical counterpoint. Her approach is cyclical, relational, and deeply intuitive, drawing on the intelligence that comes from living in a woman’s body. Ida challenges the cultural blindness toward women’s needs and shows us what’s possible when we innovate from a place of connection, care, and inclusion.
In this episode, we explore:
•The profound connection between women’s health and planetary health—and why empowering women could save the global economy $1 trillion every year.
•How Ida’s global travels shaped her mission to build Clue and pioneer the femtech movement.
•What feminine leadership looks like in action—grounded in cycles, intuition, and emotional intelligence—and why the world needs it now more than ever.
•How to move past fear and radically reimagine systems that include and serve everyone.
Ida’s story is not just inspiring; it’s urgent. She reminds us that breaking the silence around women’s health is revolutionary work—that it’s not just about individual empowerment but about transforming systems, economies, and ecosystems.
Ida’s story will leave you inspired to think differently about leadership, bold enough to tap into your own unique wisdom, and hopeful about what’s possible when we center women’s voices and needs in our world.
Links and mentions:
Connect with Me:
•Book a discovery call at www.zevabellel.com
•Subscribe to my Substack: On Becoming
•Email me: zeva@zevabellel.com
•Leave me a voice message on Speakpipe
P.S. If you love this episode, share it with a friend, leave a 5-star review, or drop me a line. I love hearing from you!
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
What does it take to lead with heart—even when it's shattered into smithereens? In this episode of On Becoming, I sit down with Colleen Curtis, a powerhouse in community leadership and a woman who’s redefined what it means to lead with a strong back, and soft heart.
Colleen was my boss for four years at Yelp, and she’s the one who had to let me go during a massive company-wide layoff back in 2016. But here’s the thing: I don’t just respect her—I absolutely adore her. Because the way she handled that impossible moment taught me what true leadership looks like: thoughtful, human, and deeply invested in the people she serves.
Over her impressive career—from rising to VP at Yelp to leading community at The Mom Project, Miro, and now Reddit—Colleen has championed the idea that community isn’t just a buzzword. It’s about creating spaces where people can connect around a common interest or cause and "become the best versions of themselves." Whether it’s writing LinkedIn testimonials for laid-off team members or rallying her network with “Let’s Get People Hired” campaigns, Colleen has never stopped building bridges and empowering others to step into their full potential.
What We’ll Explore:
Questions to Consider:
•What does leadership with heart and humanity look like in your life?
•How do you create community in a way that fosters true connection and belonging?
•What role does self-realization play in your professional and personal growth, and who's supporting you on that journey?
Colleen’s story will inspire you to think differently about leadership—how you show up when things get messy, how you balance strength with softness, and how you create spaces that lift others up. If you’ve ever wondered how to turn tough moments into transformative growth—for yourself and the people around you—this is the episode for you.
Connect with Me:
•Book a discovery call at www.zevabellel.com
•Subscribe to my Substack: On Becoming
•Email me: zeva@zevabellel.com
•Leave me a voice message on Speakpipe
P.S. If you love this episode, share it with a friend, leave a 5-star review, or drop me a line. I love hearing from you!
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
What happens when empowerment is only half the equation? In this season dedicated to the feminine edge of leadership, a sobering reality hit me post-election: empowering women is vital, but what about the work needed to address the fears that keep men (and women!) from embracing strong female leaders? In this solo episode of On Becoming, I’m diving into the silent fears, old narratives, and cultural barriers that keep true gender equality at bay. We’ll explore how stories—whether in advertising, literature, or personal relationships—can shape a culture where power isn’t a zero-sum game but something we all benefit from sharing. Along the way, I’ll unpack lessons from coaching, insights from historians, and even a viral ad that flips gender stereotypes on their head.
What We’ll Explore:
Questions to Consider:
Links and Mentions:
Connect with me:
Credits: Artwork Jessie Kanelos Weiner; Editing Matthew Jordan; Music © Fabrice Fortin; Photo: Virginie Faucher
P.S. Don’t forget to subscribe, leave a 5-star review, and share this episode!
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
What happens when life doesn’t call for a hero, but a sense of humor? In this episode of On Becoming, I’m joined by Jessi Klein—Emmy-winning writer, comedian, and one of the funniest people I know—to remind us that sometimes, survival isn’t about grand heroics but finding humor in the middle of motherhood, midlife, and all the “what in the actual f*ck” moments we never saw coming. In a time when women’s rights and bodies are still up for debate (and sometimes outright denial), Jessi shows us how laughter can be our greatest tool for resilience, connection, and yes, even protest.
About Jessi Klein:
Jessi Klein is an Emmy and Peabody Award-winning writer, comedian, and producer known for her work on Inside Amy Schumer, Big Mouth, and Dead to Me. She’s also the author of two bestselling books, You’ll Grow Out of It and I’ll Show Myself Out, where she brings the unvarnished, laugh-out-loud truths about womanhood to the page.
In this episode, we’ll explore:
•The quiet courage it takes to stay present through motherhood’s hardest moments, and why Jessi calls it the “ultimate hero’s journey.”
•How Jessi uses humor to confront the emotional shifts of midlife and keep herself grounded (or at least laughing) through it.
•Why unfiltered storytelling about womanhood—complete with underwear sandwiches and other intimate details—helps us connect over experiences we rarely share.
•Her journey to realizing that comedy is more than just jokes—it’s a powerful way to make people feel less alone.
As you listen, consider these questions:
•How might laughter help you face the big, messy challenges in your own life?
•What would it mean to see your own struggles as a hero’s journey, where the courage lies in just showing up, day after day?
•How can humor help us feel less alone in the experiences we usually keep quiet about?
Links and Mentions:
•You’ll Grow Out of It, I’ll Show Myself Out
Connect with me:
Credits: Artwork Jessie Kanelos Weiner; Editing Matthew Jordan; Music © Fabrice Fortin; Photo: Virginie Faucher
P.S. Don’t forget to subscribe, leave a 5-star review, and share this episode!
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
What happens when you stop playing by the world’s rules and start living unapologetically on your own terms? For my next guest on On Becoming, it’s not about “breaking the rules”—it’s about smashing the outdated systems that were never built for us in the first place. Whether she’s rethinking how we view sex, reshaping power dynamics, or fighting to overhaul outdated payment systems, Cindy is rewriting the world through a female lens. In this episode, Cindy opens up about her radical journey from the male-dominated world of advertising to becoming a pioneering voice in sextech, and why she believes the world will be a better place when it’s 50-50 equally led, managed, and designed by women.
About Cindy Gallop:
Cindy Gallop is a British-Chinese entrepreneur, advertising veteran, and fearless leader in the fight for sex positivity and gender equality. After founding the U.S. office of ad agency Bartle Bogle Hegarty (BBH) in 1998, she went on to win Advertising Woman of the Year in 2003. Her career took a major pivot after a TED Talk in 2009 that went viral, launching her groundbreaking platform MakeLoveNotPorn, which promotes real, consensual sex as a counter-narrative to mainstream porn. But MakeLoveNotPorn is just the start. Cindy’s ecosystem has grown to include MakeLoveNotPorn Academy for sex education, a FinTech solution to ensure fair payment systems for sextech businesses, and an ad tech platform for ethical advertising. She’s even working on an AI tool to visualize and model real consent—something the world desperately needs!
In this episode, we’ll explore:
•The birth of MakeLoveNotPorn and how dating younger men casually opened Cindy’s eyes to the real impact of porn as sex education.
•Why she’s pushing for a 50-50 world where women lead, manage, and design systems of power.
•The roadblocks Cindy faces trying to fund MakeLoveNotPorn and how she’s tackling systemic barriers with radical solutions.
•Why Cindy believes that open, honest conversations about sex can change everything from relationships to power dynamics in the workplace.
• Why Cindy’s recipe for self-care will make every married mom weep with envy. :)
This conversation is not just about sex or power—it’s about flipping the system, breaking down barriers, and living unapologetically in a world designed through a female lens.
Links and mentions:
Connect with me:
Credits: Artwork Jessie Kanelos Weiner; Editing Matthew Jordan; Music © Fabrice Fortin; Photo: Virginie Faucher
P.S. Don’t forget to subscribe, leave a 5-star review, and share this episode!
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
In this special solo episode of On Becoming, I dive into a topic that’s been on my mind lately: the environments we choose to live, work, and grow in. Are they nurturing us, helping us thrive and evolve? Or are they neglecting our growth, keeping us stuck in places we’ve outgrown?
After a transformative retreat in the South of France, I began reflecting on how the spaces we surround ourselves with—from our homes to our workplaces to our broader communities—play a crucial role in shaping our development. I share stories from my own journey, from Vassar College in upstate New York to my life in Paris, and how each environment either nurtured my voice or constrained it.
In this episode, I explore:
•How the environments you choose impact your personal and professional growth
•The difference between nurturing and neglecting spaces
•How to identify when your space no longer supports your evolution
•Practical tips to start shifting your environment, one small step at a time
Why listen:
•If you feel like your environment no longer supports your growth
•If you want to learn how small shifts in your space can lead to big changes in your life
•If you’re curious about how environments impact leadership, creativity, and personal evolution
•If you want to hear personal stories of transformation with actionable insights to create change
Listen now and explore how the spaces you choose can unlock your potential.
Links and mentions:
Madame de la Maison's The Good Life Retreat
Connect with me:
Credits: Artwork Jessie Kanelos Weiner; Editing Matthew Jordan; Music © Fabrice Fortin; Photo: Virginie Faucher
PS: Don’t forget to subscribe, leave a 5-star review, and share this episode far and wide!
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
What does it take to finally start listening to yourself? For some of my clients, their wake-up calls have come via the creeping signs of burnout, increasingly frequent panic attacks on their daily commutes to the office, or even and cracked rib from a slip down the stairwell during a rare vacation break! But for my next guest on On Becoming, it took something far more sudden and terrifying: a near-death experience that erased any room for doubt. In this episode, Rha Goddess opens up about what that terrifying moment taught her about trusting her inner voice, leaning into joy as power, and embracing women’s hidden strengths.
About Rha Goddess:
Rha Goddess is a soul coach, speaker, author, and CEO/Founder of Move The Crowd, a leadership collective that guides entrepreneurs, cultural creatives, and change-makers to find their purpose, make money, and do good. She’s coached some of today’s most influential figures—Gabby Bernstein, Reshma Saujani, and even Halla Tómasdóttir, the new President of Iceland. She’s the author of the bestselling book The Calling: 3 Fundamental Shifts to Stay True, Get Paid, and Do Good and has delivered a TED Talk titled “4 Ways to Redefine Power at Work to Include Women of Color." She’s currently working on her next book, The Great Renegotiation, which explores how we’re all redefining our relationship with work in a post-pandemic world.
In this episode, we’ll explore:
This episode is about listening, trusting, and leaning into the joy that makes us whole and ties beautifully into this season's theme of peering into the blueprints of successful women leaders to understand how they do power differently.
Links:
Connect with me:
PS: Don’t forget to subscribe, leave a 5-star review, and share this episode far and wide!
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Ever wonder what it looks like to lead with intuition and softness while revolutionizing an entire industry—all by age 36?
In this episode, I chat with the remarkable Anna Polonsky, the French founder of the NYC-based branding and design agency, Polonsky & Friends. Anna and I first met in Paris in 2010, when I tried to recruit her to build Yelp’s Paris community. She politely declined, as she was about to embark on her next big adventure: launching Le Fooding in the USA. This project would go on to redefine how we experience food, blending it with art, culture, and community in ways that had never been done before.
Since then, Anna’s career has skyrocketed. She co-founded MP Shift, where she pioneered the concept of 360-degree hospitality branding, helping to create some of the most iconic restaurant brands. Her work earned her a coveted James Beard Award for restaurant design and a spot on Forbes’ prestigious 30 Under 30 list. Now, with her latest venture Polonsky & Friends, Anna and her growing team focus on mission-driven projects, collaborating with some of the world’s most innovative chefs and food brands.
In this episode, Anna opens up about breaking away from conventional paths, her gift for turning restaurants into brands, and how she leads with intuition and softness. It’s a masterclass in trusting your gut, knowing when to pivot, and leading with heart.
In this episode, we’ll explore:
This conversation ties beautifully into our show’s theme of peering into the blueprints of successful women leaders to understand how they do power differently—how they lead with softness, intuition, curiosity, and a focus on collective success.
Links and mentions:
Credits: Artwork Jessie Kanelos Weiner; Editing Matthew Jordan; Music © Fabrice Fortin
Want to get in touch?
Book a free discovery call or leave me a message speak pipe.com/onbecoming.
You can also sign-up to my Substack and follow me on Instagram @zevabellel
Don’t forget to subscribe and share the podcast, and leave a 5-star review.
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Hey there, it’s Zeva Bellel, career and leadership coach for women, and I’m excited to welcome you to Season 3 of On Becoming!
This season, we’re diving into something that comes up again and again in my coaching sessions: the unique ways women lead—reshaping power, influence, and leadership both professionally and personally. With a woman in the race for the White House, there’s no better time to dig into this!
In Season 3, we’re peeling back the layers of how accomplished women, from a multitude of sectors, lead in their own revolutionary ways, far beyond the old-school models.
Get ready to hear from a spectacular lineup of guests: trailblazers in social activism, neuroscience, design, femtech, entertainment, and even… wait for it… pornography! Yep, we’re leaving no stone unturned. These women are rewriting the rules and shattering ceilings in the most refreshing and bold ways.
Here’s what you can expect this season:
We’ll explore juicy questions like:
If you’ve ever wondered how successful women lead with authenticity, empathy, intuition, and a healthy dose of rebellion, this season will leave you inspired, motivated, and hungry for more.
Season 3 kicks off on September 12th, so mark your calendars, tell your friends, and get ready to plug in those earbuds for some seriously game-changing conversations.
Make sure to subscribe, follow the show, and don’t miss a single episode. Trust me, you’ll want to be part of this one! 💥
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Every day I hear from women who feel stuck. As a coach, my job is to help them release what’s holding them back, and get them moving forward. This conversation altered my perspective on "stuck." A word that our culture patholgizes. “Quick, let’s fix the problem!" This conversation reframes growth, suggesting there’s a lot to celebrate in the fallow, neutral space of a woman’s life, when a metamorphosis is happening out of view. And yet this liminal, in-between phase can be terrifying, especially if we’re prone to overachieving the heck out of life, tackling one ambitious goal after another, like the guest of my program did for most of her 56-years.
About Melissa Unger:
Melissa Unger is a Brooklyn-based, Franco-American author, artist and creative director. In 2011, she founded Seymour Projects, a collaborative initiative devoted to nurturing human consciousness in a world increasingly dominated by technology. Over the course of her 30+ year career, she’s worked with many renowned organizations including Tribeca Productions, The Ad Council, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, artnet, and the Creative Growth Art Center. Early in her career she was also the personal assistant to Robert De Niro and Daniel Day Lewis! Melissa and her projects have been featured in The Huffington Post, Die Zeit, ELLE Magazine, Le Monde, El Pais, and New York Magazine. Her visual art has been exhibited in various art spaces, as well as featured on a variety of products. She’s a member of the Intentional Spaces/NeuroArts, Kinnernet and DLD communities and a participant in evolutionary behavioral scientist Tamás Dávid-Barrett’s discussion group Human Beast.
Highlights of of conversation include:
Links:
Credits: Artwork Jessie Kanelos Weiner; Editing Matthew Jordan; Music © Fabrice Fortin
Want to get in touch with Zeva, the host of On Becoming?
Book a free discovery call or leave me a message speak pipe.com/onbecoming.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
