Cafe con Pam

Latest Episodes:

A Piano in a Broom Closet Built a Nonprofit | Sheila Fortson Oct 04, 2026

Show notes

If you’ve ever been told that art is nice but not practical, this episode will hit differently.
Sheila Fortson talks about starting music lessons in a $30-a-month broom closet, growing them into a nonprofit, and navigating the pressure small organizations face when the need keeps growing but the funding doesn’t always keep up.
Thank you to Savvy Ladies for supporting Cafe con Pam. Savvy Ladies is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping women take control of their financial future. Check out their free financial helpline at savvyladies.org
Check out BMO here
Special Xero offer: Get 90% off for 6 months using this link. Terms & Conditions apply.
Do you want to support our show and get ad-free episodes? Join our Supporters Club here.
Follow Sheila on all things social:
Website
Follow Cafe con Pam on all things social:
Instagram
Facebook
Diezvelada
Calladita Pattern Free Assessment
Subscribe on YouTube
Listen to Cafe con Pam
Take our Calladita Culture®️ Quiz
Get your business on El Mercadito
Learn more about Pam
The Unmuted Era
Discover your Ikigai
To support the show, an easy way to do it is to leave a review. Your feedback definitely helps other listeners connect and see if this is a podcast they could resonate with. To make it easy for you, here are some quick questions to think about when you’re leaving a review:

What do you love about the show?
What were you expecting before you listened?
What happened after you listened?
How would you describe the show to your best friend?

If you are new here, welcome! I hope you feel like you’re at home, and come back to drink a cup of coffee with us. Let’s stay connected:

Social media. Follow @cafeconpampodcast on Instagram and Facebook.
Learn more about our work and other stories at cafeconpam.com

Listeners, thank you so much for hanging out with me today, y como siempre STAY SHINING!
*The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the views of BMO. BMO sponsors the podcast but does not influence or endorse the specific discussions or viewpoints shared herein. BMO Bank N.A. Member FDIC*
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/cafe-con-pam--6348411/support.

My Group Chat Died When I Started a Business Sep 27, 2026

Show notes

If you’ve ever looked at your group chat and thought, “I have people, but I don’t know who I can actually tell,” this episode puts language to that feeling.
The conversation explores how climbing, changing, and outgrowing old dynamics can leave your walls thinner, and why moving someone to a different seat in your life isn’t the same as cutting them off.
Thank you to Savvy Ladies for supporting Cafe con Pam. Savvy Ladies is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping women take control of their financial future. Check out their free financial helpline at www.savvyladies.org
Check out BMO here
Do you want to support our show and get ad-free episodes? Join our Supporters Club here.
Follow Cafe con Pam on all things social:
Café con Pam 10 year anniversary!

The Unmuted Era
Discover your Ikigai
Instagram
Facebook
Subscribe on YouTube
Listen to Cafe con Pam
Take our Calladita Culture®️ Quiz
Get your business on El Mercadito
Learn more about Pam
To support the show, an easy way to do it is to leave a review. Your feedback definitely helps other listeners connect and see if this is a podcast they could resonate with. To make it easy for you, here are some quick questions to think about when you’re leaving a review:

What do you love about the show?
What were you expecting before you listened?
What happened after you listened?
How would you describe the show to your best friend?

If you are new here, welcome! I hope you feel like you’re at home, and come back to drink a cup of coffee with us. Let’s stay connected:

Social media. Follow @cafeconpampodcast on Instagram and Facebook.
Learn more about our work and other stories at cafeconpam.com

After 22 Years in Corporate, She Chose Clean Beauty | Oni Auer Sep 20, 2026

Show notes

The 12-step beauty routine isn’t proof that you’re doing self-care wrong. It’s an industry system built to sell more products, while opaque ingredients, weak regulation, and corporate sustainability theater keep consumers working harder to protect themselves.
This conversation follows the decision to leave work that no longer felt meaningful, build a simpler clean beauty brand, and question why speaking plainly gets punished in systems built on silence.
Thank you to Savvy Ladies for supporting Cafe con Pam. Savvy Ladies is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping women take control of their financial future. Check out their free financial helpline at savvyladies.org
Check out BMO here
Do you want to support our show and get ad-free episodes? Join our Supporters Club here.
Follow Oni on all things social:
Website
Instagram
TikTok
Follow Cafe con Pam on all things social:
Diezvelada
Instagram
Facebook
Subscribe on YouTube
Listen to Cafe con Pam
Take our Calladita Culture®️ Quiz
Get your business on El Mercadito
Learn more about Pam
The Unmuted Era
Discover your Ikigai
To support the show, an easy way to do it is to leave a review. Your feedback definitely helps other listeners connect and see if this is a podcast they could resonate with. To make it easy for you, here are some quick questions to think about when you’re leaving a review:

What do you love about the show?
What were you expecting before you listened?
What happened after you listened?
How would you describe the show to your best friend?

If you are new here, welcome! I hope you feel like you’re at home, and come back to drink a cup of coffee with us. Let’s stay connected:

Social media. Follow @cafeconpampodcast on Instagram and Facebook.
Learn more about our work and other stories at cafeconpam.com

The Proof Reflex: Why Your Word Never Feels Like Enough Evidence Sep 13, 2026

Show notes

The urge to prove yourself when someone doubts you isn’t insecurity or people-pleasing. It’s the proof reflex, a survival adaptation shaped by Calladita Culture and the expectation that your word won’t count as sufficient evidence.
This episode names how the same system can make you over-document grief, underclaim achievement, and mistake self-erasure for humility.
Thank you to Savvy Ladies for supporting Cafe con Pam. Savvy Ladies is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping women take control of their financial future. Check out their free financial helpline at www.savvyladies.org
Check out BMO here
Do you want to support our show and get ad-free episodes? Join our Supporters Club here.
Follow Cafe con Pam on all things social:
Café con Pam 10 year anniversary!

The Unmuted Era
Discover your Ikigai
Instagram
Facebook
Subscribe on YouTube
Listen to Cafe con Pam
Take our Calladita Culture®️ Quiz
Get your business on El Mercadito
Learn more about Pam
To support the show, an easy way to do it is to leave a review. Your feedback definitely helps other listeners connect and see if this is a podcast they could resonate with. To make it easy for you, here are some quick questions to think about when you’re leaving a review:

What do you love about the show?
What were you expecting before you listened?
What happened after you listened?
How would you describe the show to your best friend?

If you are new here, welcome! I hope you feel like you’re at home, and come back to drink a cup of coffee with us. Let’s stay connected:

Social media. Follow @cafeconpampodcast on Instagram and Facebook.
Learn more about our work and other stories at cafeconpam.com

When You Reclaim What You Survived, Your People Can Find You Sep 06, 2026

Show notes

What if the challenges you were taught to hide are actually leadership assets? In this conversation, Leslie Tagorda reframes astrology as a language for change, connecting the Sun, Moon, Rising, and Descendant to how we lead, regulate our nervous systems, and find the people we’re here to serve.
Together, Pam and Leslie also name calladita culture, people-pleasing, overgiving, and the inherited pressure to handle everything alone.
Thank you to Savvy Ladies for supporting Cafe con Pam. Savvy Ladies is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping women take control of their financial future. Check out their free financial helpline at savvyladies.org
Check out BMO here
Do you want to support our show and get ad-free episodes? Join our Supporters Club here.
Follow Leslie on all things social:
Instagram
YouTube
Follow Cafe con Pam on all things social:
Diezvelada
Instagram
Facebook
Subscribe on YouTube
Listen to Cafe con Pam
Take our Calladita Culture®️ Quiz
Get your business on El Mercadito
Learn more about Pam
The Unmuted Era
Discover your Ikigai
To support the show, an easy way to do it is to leave a review. Your feedback definitely helps other listeners connect and see if this is a podcast they could resonate with. To make it easy for you, here are some quick questions to think about when you’re leaving a review:

What do you love about the show?
What were you expecting before you listened?
What happened after you listened?
How would you describe the show to your best friend?

If you are new here, welcome! I hope you feel like you’re at home, and come back to drink a cup of coffee with us. Let’s stay connected:

Social media. Follow @cafeconpampodcast on Instagram and Facebook.
Learn more about our work and other stories at cafeconpam.com

Stop Waiting for a List to Certify What You Already Are Aug 30, 2026

Show notes

The list you’re waiting for may never arrive because the system taught you to measure your life with someone else’s rubric.
This episode of Cafe con Pam recognizes the quieter accomplishments that often go uncounted, from leaving a life that wasn’t yours to building something over ten years, and names calladita culture as the system that turns quiet labor into invisible labor.
Thank you to Savvy Ladies for supporting Cafe con Pam. Savvy Ladies is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping women take control of their financial future. Check out their free financial helpline at www.savvyladies.org
Check out BMO here
Do you want to support our show and get ad-free episodes? Join our Supporters Club here.
Follow Cafe con Pam on all things social:
Café con Pam 10 year anniversary!

The Unmuted Era
Discover your Ikigai
Instagram
Facebook
Subscribe on YouTube
Listen to Cafe con Pam
Take our Calladita Culture®️ Quiz
Get your business on El Mercadito
Learn more about Pam
To support the show, an easy way to do it is to leave a review. Your feedback definitely helps other listeners connect and see if this is a podcast they could resonate with. To make it easy for you, here are some quick questions to think about when you’re leaving a review:

What do you love about the show?
What were you expecting before you listened?
What happened after you listened?
How would you describe the show to your best friend?

If you are new here, welcome! I hope you feel like you’re at home, and come back to drink a cup of coffee with us. Let’s stay connected:

Social media. Follow @cafeconpampodcast on Instagram and Facebook.
Learn more about our work and other stories at cafeconpam.com

When you stop asking for permission, you start leading your own life Aug 23, 2026

Show notes

Lucy King is back on the show, this time as an author—real evidence that dreams take root in messy, real-life soil, not just positive thinking.
This conversation pulls back the curtain on what it really takes to break through old family rules, juggle privilege and guilt, and find a writing voice that feels both honest and whole. The old system keeps telling us there’s one “right” way, but community, body wisdom, and a good dose of rule-breaking rewrite the rules.
Thank you to Savvy Ladies for supporting Cafe con Pam. Savvy Ladies is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping women take control of their financial future. Check out their free financial helpline at savvyladies.org
Check out BMO here
Do you want to support our show and get ad-free episodes? Join our Supporters Club here.
Follow Luzy on all things social:
LinkedIn
Instagram
Website
Five-day Financial Wellness Challenge
Book Waitlist
Listen to our previous episode with Luzy!
Follow Cafe con Pam on all things social:
Diezvelada
Instagram
Facebook
Subscribe on YouTube
Listen to Cafe con Pam
Take our Calladita Culture®️ Quiz
Get your business on El Mercadito
Learn more about Pam
The Unmuted Era
Discover your Ikigai
To support the show, an easy way to do it is to leave a review. Your feedback definitely helps other listeners connect and see if this is a podcast they could resonate with. To make it easy for you, here are some quick questions to think about when you’re leaving a review:

What do you love about the show?
What were you expecting before you listened?
What happened after you listened?
How would you describe the show to your best friend?

If you are new here, welcome! I hope you feel like you’re at home, and come back to drink a cup of coffee with us. Let’s stay connected:

Social media. Follow @cafeconpampodcast on Instagram and Facebook.
Learn more about our work and other stories at cafeconpam.com

What You Call Self-Sabotage Is Actually Your Body Protecting You Aug 16, 2026

Show notes

Pam opens up about how the things we call self-sabotage or procrastination are actually ways we've learned to protect ourselves in tough environments.
Instead of blaming ourselves for holding back, Pam lays out the “Six Doors” framework, showing how our habits and hesitations are shaped by bigger systems—and how our bodies are simply trying to keep us safe.
Thank you to Savvy Ladies for supporting Cafe con Pam. Savvy Ladies is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping women take control of their financial future. Check out their free financial helpline at www.savvyladies.org
Check out BMO here
Do you want to support our show and get ad-free episodes? Join our Supporters Club here.
Follow Cafe con Pam on all things social:
Café con Pam 10 year anniversary!

The Unmuted Era
Discover your Ikigai
Instagram
Facebook
Subscribe on YouTube
Listen to Cafe con Pam
Take our Calladita Culture®️ Quiz
Get your business on El Mercadito
Learn more about Pam
To support the show, an easy way to do it is to leave a review. Your feedback definitely helps other listeners connect and see if this is a podcast they could resonate with. To make it easy for you, here are some quick questions to think about when you’re leaving a review:

What do you love about the show?
What were you expecting before you listened?
What happened after you listened?
How would you describe the show to your best friend?

If you are new here, welcome! I hope you feel like you’re at home, and come back to drink a cup of coffee with us. Let’s stay connected:

Social media. Follow @cafeconpampodcast on Instagram and Facebook.
Learn more about our work and other stories at cafeconpam.com

Naming What Hurt Us Opens the Door to Power and Belonging Aug 09, 2026

Show notes

This episode sits with the weird, messy middle that shows up when you finally stop hiding parts of yourself and let old family rules or corporate “shoulds” melt away. Instead of blaming anyone for staying quiet, the conversation looks at how silence and keeping things in are baked into culture—not something we randomly choose.
Denise Soler Cox shares how writing her book pushed her to break through the old survival mode—and what can happen when we let honest stories come up.
Thank you to Savvy Ladies for supporting Cafe con Pam. Savvy Ladies is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping women take control of their financial future. Check out their free financial helpline at savvyladies.org
Check out BMO here
Do you want to support our show and get ad-free episodes? Join our Supporters Club here.
Follow Denise on all things social:
Instagram
LinkedIn
Threads
Follow Cafe con Pam on all things social:
Diezvelada
Instagram
Facebook
Subscribe on YouTube
Listen to Cafe con Pam
Take our Calladita Culture®️ Quiz
Get your business on El Mercadito
Learn more about Pam
The Unmuted Era
Discover your Ikigai
To support the show, an easy way to do it is to leave a review. Your feedback definitely helps other listeners connect and see if this is a podcast they could resonate with. To make it easy for you, here are some quick questions to think about when you’re leaving a review:

What do you love about the show?
What were you expecting before you listened?
What happened after you listened?
How would you describe the show to your best friend?

If you are new here, welcome! I hope you feel like you’re at home, and come back to drink a cup of coffee with us. Let’s stay connected:

Social media. Follow @cafeconpampodcast on Instagram and Facebook.
Learn more about our work and other stories at cafeconpam.com

You’re Overloaded Because You’re the Most Capable, Not Because You Lack Boundaries Aug 02, 2026

Show notes

Pam recognizes the hidden cost of being the “most competent woman in the room”—not as a personal flaw, but as a predictable result of systems that over-rely on reliability.
This episode names the ways competence fuels silent overload, unpacking how workplace cultures reward self-sacrifice and disguise overwork as virtue. The true problem isn’t boundaries—it’s unpaid, unseen labor expected from those who’ve learned to answer before being asked.
Thank you to Savvy Ladies for supporting Cafe con Pam. Savvy Ladies is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping women take control of their financial future. Check out their free financial helpline at www.savvyladies.org
Check out BMO here
Do you want to support our show and get ad-free episodes? Join our Supporters Club here.
Follow Cafe con Pam on all things social:
Café con Pam 10 year anniversary!

The Unmuted Era
Discover your Ikigai
Instagram
Facebook
Subscribe on YouTube
Listen to Cafe con Pam
Take our Calladita Culture®️ Quiz
Get your business on El Mercadito
Learn more about Pam
To support the show, an easy way to do it is to leave a review. Your feedback definitely helps other listeners connect and see if this is a podcast they could resonate with. To make it easy for you, here are some quick questions to think about when you’re leaving a review: