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Ambition Without Compromise — Business
Ambition Without Compromise

Ambition Without Compromise is the space where powerhouse women of color — with a special heart for Black mothers and future mothers — come to redefine success on their own terms.

Hosted by Monique R. Shields, executive coach, entrepreneur, and mentor to women at the highest levels of leadership, this podcast dives into the real challenges women face when juggling bold professional pursuits with the responsibilities of being present partners, mothers, and whole, healthy individuals.

Through honest conversations and powerful stories, you’ll gain insights on:

Balancing ambition and freedom without burnout

Crafting sustainable work-life integration

Protecting your mental and emotional well-being

Building intentional communities and seeking mentorship for growth

Whether you’re scaling your business, stepping into a higher leadership role, or simply seeking clarity about what success means now, this show offers the tools and stories to help you thrive without compromise.

Follow Monique wherever you listen to podcasts and step into a world where ambition and joy can coexist.

Copyright: © 2024 Ambition Without Compromise

Latest Episodes:

06 | On Trying To Save Everyone Apr 26, 2023

Show notes

⚡️Click Here To Text Monique!

This episode is about reframing generosity. As high achievers, the temptation to help everyone looking for mentorship is strong. Many of us get trapped in this version of generosity that has us spread thin, trying to do the best we can for everyone. All of these mentorships take up time and energy that could have been spent on our core vision - the passion that has propelled us to the top of our fields.
I know how tempting it is to say yes to everyone asking for help. But if we want to continue growing and expanding, we must shift our mindset on giving.
Generosity is not about how much you give. Generosity is about how well you give. Ask yourself: “What’s at risk for me if I give to this person and what’s at risk for them if I say yes?” It’s not always about filling in the gaps with little ways that you can help people here and there and spreading yourself thin. It’s about keeping your eye on the prize and putting energy in places that drive your mission and goals.
GEMS DROPPED

“...because of the structural barriers, there's no one above us. And so we feel once we get to these levels, it's like, well, I didn't have anyone to look up to. I'm now the person I wish I had been back then. So I owe it to this young, bright mind …to take the phone call to say you know what, go ahead and send me your resume. Yeah, you know, go ahead and send me your portfolio. You know what, I'll find some time in my calendar, reach out to my assistant, you're just saying yes to everybody. And look, I want you all to understand, sometimes you're gonna say, Yes but it has to be filtered through a set of criteria that you have determined for yourself that it incorporates, and really, I think, at its foundation is about protecting who you are most meant to be showing up in the world”.

“...we got to stop trying to save everyone, and losing ourselves in the process and losing our big pictures in the process. It's not a strike against you to have boundaries in this way…we mistake generosity for spreading ourselves out. And that generosity actually has nothing to do with giving a lot. It's not about the amount of giving that you do but about the number of people that you give to and how much you give them. Generosity is about quality. Generosity is about how well you give. Generosity is not about how much you give, it is about how well you give. And what happens is we get into this practice of giving ourselves away”.
STAY IN TOUCH
Come and follow me on Instagram @moniquershields and I would love your feedback so send an email to ambition@moniquershields.com.

05 | Why We MUST Stop Isolating Ourselves - How To Connect Deeply With Other Women (CEO Series) Apr 12, 2023

Show notes

⚡️Click Here To Text Monique!

How are you navigating and managing your path to success? The biggest challenge high-achieving women face is isolation. You are wired to be self-sufficient and have an overwhelming feeling of responsibility and ownership. Those qualities propelled you into a powerful leadership position, but is being alone sustainable?
In this episode, I share a story from my young adult life that was a turning point for me. At that moment, I realized how disconnected I felt from other women. That is also when I made a choice to start navigating life through relationships. That decision was the greatest shift I had made professionally and personally.
Now, I have gained the gift of personal connection. Relationships are essential to our basic well-being. No matter how much we fight it or insist, we can navigate the journey alone. Connections with other people bring clarity and motivation. Your advancement, your expansion, and your growth are absolutely dependent on your ability to connect and relate to others.
I encourage you to open up and pull others into your journey. I encourage you to experience the power of what it means to learn through relationships and to be exposed to another human being. Because if you’re not able to share your problems or not able to share your questions, you are never going to get new answers.
GEMS DROPPED
I've been able to shift my beliefs about myself about what's possible for me as a human, as a business owner, as a wife, as a mom, because I now know the power of what it means to learn through relationship, to be exposed to another human being, because if you're not able to share your problems, not able to share your questions or just the things that you're sitting with, you're never gonna get new answers”.
“...a big part of what I'm trying to share on this episode today is encouragement for you to find and tap into some bravery and belief around the fact that you can shift your entire existence, you can shift your being, by just deciding…to reveal that piece of yourself that feels messy or shameful or uncertain or not good enough. That's honestly the key. That's the thing that you're waiting on to be different. You have to decide to be different with it, which means to stop trying to hold it alone, to open yourself up, and recognize that, okay, I'm not meant to do anything alone in life. We're really not”
“If you are feeling isolated, and you are feeling like I know my high achievement… it's blocking me from connecting with other people from trusting other people from letting the other people in to actually see me and embrace me and hold me and help me, you're holding yourself back”.
STAY IN TOUCH
Come and follow me on Instagram @moniquershields and I would love your feedback so send an email to ambition@moniquershields.com.

04 | Power In The Pause (CEO Series) Mar 29, 2023

Show notes

⚡️Click Here To Text Monique!

This episode is for everyone who is being pulled toward a new way forward. You are someone who has built something to be proud of, something people are taking notice of. After years of hard work and proving yourself, success is rolling in. It’s all you’ve ever wanted, but suddenly it doesn’t feel as exciting. Instead of rushing into the next opportunity, you’re asking yourself “What’s next?”
This is another type of crossroads. One where we are called to pause and step away.
I’ve dedicated this episode to a conversation about reframing what it means when we are called to restart. It is disorienting to feel like you are starting over or losing the passion for the brand and business you have built.
As entrepreneurs, we need to shift our mindset about quitting. You aren’t losing momentum because growth is not a linear journey. You are being called to recreate and expand into something else. The drive that lives deep within you isn’t fading. It is what will propel you into the next leg of the journey. And it’s time to get started.
GEMS DROPPED
“...subconsciously many of us are operating this way. Like, the only time I will stop, the only time I will pause, the only time I will take respite is when I get the terrifying diagnosis, suffer a major loss or blow in my life and everything comes crashing down…That is when it is okay for me to stop…We have to actually self-direct our pauses, our rejuvenation, our restoration, and our reinvention is what I'm inviting you all into in this conversation…”
“...when we build something so big, we have forged something so special and so bright and shining and powerful, that sort of the equal and opposite reaction required is a deep and powerful restoration, a deep and powerful aggressive recovery, and reinvention, space for reinvention, space for recreation, like the Phoenix, because it's drastic to go from being this bright and brilliant and powerful bird, this creature, this mythical creature, with all these powers to a pile of ash... the energy of those stages of this creatures lifecycle are…necessary”.
“...what that reworking requires many times, it's not the kind of work that we're used to doing, that kind of visible building, you know, revenue immediately driving work that we're used to doing, but it still is probably the bigger work, the biggest work of your life, and the biggest work of whatever you create, because what you create is going to be an extension of you.”
“... your potential is resting upon your ability to submit to this season that is calling you. Your potential is on the line, and you're holding it the wrong way. Your potential does not reside and you continue to power through, but something that does not feel aligned anymore. When you look forward and it's like this is not right. Something's not right for me. Don't ignore that voice”.
LINKS MENTIONED
Vanessa Lau - https://vanessalau.co/sabbatical/
Quit by Anne Duke - https://www.amazon.com/Quit-Power-Knowing-When-Walk/dp/0593422996
STAY IN TOUCH
Come and follow me on Instagram @moniquershields, and I would love your feedback so send an email to ambition@moniquershields.com.

03 | What Are You Playing For? (CEO Series) Mar 29, 2023

Show notes

⚡️Click Here To Text Monique!

If you have been questioning whether your current business or career is fulfilling or meaningful, that may be a sign that you’re at a crossroads.
This is a common stage on our journeys where we think to ourselves, “how did I come this far, build up this business, build up this professional identity, and all of a sudden, I don't know what I want or where I’m going?”
I think the question beneath all of this is, what am I playing for?
And so I wanted to have this whole episode to be a conversation to remind you that you absolutely know exactly what you're playing for. Your ability to connect with a North Star, and to go after that thing you desire, it hasn't gone anywhere. It's just being clouded right now and I want us to explore what might be causing you to feel as though your future is veiled. Let’s go.
GEMS DROPPED
“If you want to go and actually take full advantage of the brilliance that surrounds you… you want to be able to take that [brilliance] in and you still need a filter through which to process that stuff. And I think reminding yourself of who you are, and what you want, both before and after events… that is incredibly important”.
“This whole thing called entrepreneurship…we got into it because we were seeking to have a more unique individualized experience of our professional lives. And what that means is, the way we are going to do it is going to be unique to us, and you have it in you, you absolutely have it in you. It's just a matter of you giving yourself permission, full permission to embrace it.”
STAY IN TOUCH
Come and follow me on Instagram @moniquershields, and I would love your feedback so send an email to ambition@moniquershields.com.

02 | Taking Your True Potential More Seriously Mar 29, 2023

Show notes

⚡️Click Here To Text Monique!

Does this sound familiar?
You have done all the things, and now you've earned independence. You're at a point in your career where you might have a business or some other sort of organization, or department or Institute or whatever it is that you're running, where you're the big boss. You're at the top, and you get to make the rules, still –
you don't feel deserving,
you don't feel like you're supposed to be where you are,
You don't know what to do with all that power.
What's happening is that so much of what has been driving you to this point has been externally directed. And so, in lieu of knowing precisely what you want, going after and defining your own rules and setting your own terms, in lieu of that, what you'll continue to do is give yourself away to this external mandate.
You stop giving your power away by beginning to take yourself more seriously. You do this by owning that you are a star and accepting and embracing that.
I want that for us. I want us to be able to see how brightly we shine. So in this episode, I will share what has helped my clients and myself with this process of taking ourselves more seriously and really positioning ourselves to create the kind of future we truly desire and deserve.
GEMS DROPPED
“There is no recalibrating of who I believe myself to be without some healing.”
“The greatest trick of all time when it comes to career building and vision setting is that we are convinced that we don't know what we want. Because even though the possibilities are limitless, it's like I could want so many different things, I want to choose the right one…there is no one right path.”
“Just taking one big bold step, one exposing, revealing, vulnerable step, it forces you to take the next step and the next step and the next step because it's like well shoot, I'm out here now. I'm out here now. I did it. I ripped the band-aid off. So I kind of have no choice but to go on to be great”.
“If you're trying to build your unique and intrinsic vision, you have to have clarity around what it is that you really want next, and not be driven by what other people say should be next, or what the ladder dictates should be next for you. We don't want to be building on default anymore. That's the whole point”.
STAY IN TOUCH
Come and follow me on Instagram @moniquershields, and I would love your feedback so send an email to ambition@moniquershields.com.

01 | Embracing Your Next Season - How To Let Go Of What's Holding You Back Mar 29, 2023

Show notes

⚡️Click Here To Text Monique!

In this episode, I reveal what it has looked like for both me and my clients to move through the challenging experience of needing to shed either what no longer serves us or no longer matters most - even during the “gray” uncertain seasons of our lives.
I am excited to invite you into what becomes possible when we identify the beliefs, identities, and behaviors that have begun to hold us back and shift our focus toward a more singular and intense way of existing.
You’ll hear about how I discovered that little 5th-grade Monique was showing up in my business goal-setting as a story I had to shed. You’ll also learn how I’ve helped my brilliant clients make massive shifts in their businesses by confronting some tough, but necessary people-pleasing and self-sabotage shedding of their own.
If you’re ready to turn the mirror inwards and consider what you need to shed in order to meet your next stage of expansion, this episode is for you.
GEMS DROPPED

“ When I took a step back and asked myself ‘what do I truly want this year?’ I said, ‘I want a more singularly focused experience of my time and my business. I want to be doing a very limited number of activities and doing them super duper duper well”
“We all get hung up on these false narratives that are trapped in our minds on an endless loop that are delivering half-baked data on our past that are now having massive implications on how we shape our futures.”
LINKS MENTIONED

Luminae Wellness (Oakland, CA): https://instagram.com/luminaewellness?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

STAY IN TOUCH

Come and follow me on Instagram @moniquershields, and I would love your feedback so send an email to ambition@moniquershields.com.

00 | Welcome to the Ambition Without Compromise Podcast Mar 08, 2023

Show notes

⚡️Click Here To Text Monique!

Hi and welcome to my corner of the podcast sphere! My name is Monique Shields. I'm an executive coach, a career strategist, a Black woman, a wife, a mom, and an entrepreneur.
I help ambitious women leaders move through fear and distraction to clarify, communicate and act on their unique definition of success without compromising what matters most.
For me, Ambition Without Compromise is based on internal rather than external metrics that we never built. And so in this space, I want us to focus on our individual visions, needs, curiosities, and how our ambitions can actually support us as we grow into the versions of ourselves that we desire to expand into.
I am so excited to share this space with you. Join me biweekly as I bring you solo and guest episodes to help you curate your path to success. No hiding. No Compromise.
I know you're going to enjoy this journey. Come and follow me on Instagram @moniquershields, and I would love your feedback so send an email to ambition@moniquershields.com. Let's go!

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