Breaking Rank Podcast

09/07/2026

Isn't it wild how something viewed as a flaw can become one of your greatest strengths?

Ly'chel Carmichael spent years working with children on the spectrum, and it taught her to see her own mind differently. She started noticing the beauty in the way their brains were designed, the art in how they thought and progressed. Talking with their parents, she learned to describe it not as a disability, but as an art form.

As a child, she was told the way she thought was just wrong. Working with kids, never wanting a child to feel that way, helped her rethink her own thinking entirely.

Watch the full episode of Breaking Rank now. Links in the comments.
https://youtube.com/shorts/YEzd7iSiSBQ

09/06/2026

Ly'chel Carmichael didn't find out she had ADHD until she was an adult. Then she took a high-functioning autism test and realized she had that too. Now she calls it AuADHD.

Growing up as a Black woman in high-intensity environments, she learned to mask, to assimilate, to appease, to fit in line with everyone around her, just to avoid getting in trouble. She didn't realize at the time that she was constantly reinventing herself.

Now she sees it differently. Once she learned to hone it, that same instinct became one of her greatest strengths.

Watch the full episode of Breaking Rank now. Links in the comments.



https://youtube.com/shorts/BLO8wPkFLOQ

Ly'chel Carmichael didn't find out she had ADHD until adulthood. A ...

09/05/2026

Ly'chel Carmichael didn't read a full book cover to cover until she was 17.

She failed the 9th grade almost three times. Her dyslexia and dysgraphia went undiagnosed for years, in part because she was so verbal that nobody thought to look closer. It took a brain injury, and the testing that came with it, before anyone caught it.

That experience is why she became a special education teacher and advocate. She's seen firsthand what happens when children get the right help early, and how much it can change the entire trajectory of their life.

Watch the full episode of Breaking Rank now. Links in the comments.

https://youtube.com/shorts/j2hQg0eyLrk

Ly'chel Carmichael was a non-reader until almost the 9th grade. Und...

09/04/2026

New episode: Leading From the Margins: Neurodivergence and Emotional Intelligence

Systems can be automated. People cannot.

That's the core of this week's episode of Breaking Rank, featuring curriculum and human development strategist Ly'chel Carmichael.

Ly'chel spent years building structure for people who were never handed one, first as a special education advocate, then as the founder of four ventures spanning education, beauty, food, and media. Her throughline across all of it: leadership isn't about managing a program. It's about managing people's emotional wellbeing first.

In this episode, Ly'chel breaks down why she believes emotional intelligence, not systems building, is the leadership skill that actually sets people apart as AI takes over more of the technical work. How assuming positive intent changes the outcome of nearly every hard conversation. Why reading and math scores are a flawed measure of a child's intelligence, and what culturally responsive learning actually requires. How she took over one of the most challenging classrooms in her school, spent two weeks on emotional repair before teaching a single lesson, and watched that class rank third in the state.

This is what leading without permission looks like when the system wasn't built for you in the first place.

New episode live now. Links in the comments.

What does leading from the margins actually look like? Curriculum a...

09/01/2026

One of the biggest reasons I write the content I write? Bad bosses.

In this clip from my conversation with Megan Senese, I say the quiet thing out loud. There are so many bad bosses out there that writing about them could be a full-time job. And somehow, they keep advancing. They move up, move on, and their old teams are left dealing with the damage.

If you have ever worked for one, this will feel familiar. Watch, and go listen to the full episode.

🎧 breakingrankpod.com



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Why do bad bosses keep getting promoted? In this clip from Breaking...

08/29/2026

Rank & File is back for round two. Every five episodes, I share the biggest leadership lessons my guests leave me with.

From Episodes 6 through 10:

Trust your own judgment.
Own your worth.
Lead with curiosity.
Visibility is leverage.
Success doesn't require sacrifice.

Five more people. Five more definitions of leadership. Not one of them waited for permission.

Swipe through to see the lesson behind each one, then tell me which one hits home for you.

New episodes of Breaking Rank are out now, wherever you listen.

08/28/2026

Megan Senese knew she was leaving Big Law long before anyone else did.

In this clip from our Breaking Rank Podcast conversation, she talks about the quiet work of building her visibility on LinkedIn while she was still at the firm. She started posting real content, getting a little braver each time, because she had already made peace with the risk. She was leaving anyway. Worst case, she just launched her business sooner.

There is something freeing in that. Watch, and go listen to the full episode.

Megan Senese decided to leave Big Law before she had any idea how s...

08/24/2026

Six lines. One conversation about leaving Big Law and building something better.

On this episode of Breaking Rank, Diana sits down with Megan Senese, co-founder of stage, to talk about leaving Big Law, choosing abundance over scarcity, and choosing generosity over gatekeeping.

Swipe through the quotes, then listen wherever you get your podcasts.

breakingrankpod.com

08/23/2026

What if the people on both sides of business development were afraid of the exact same things?

In this clip from Breaking Rank Podcast, Megan Senese, co-founder of stage, shares a realization about fear, trust, and how much easier the work becomes when we finally say the quiet part out loud.

Watch the clip, then listen to the full conversation wherever you get your podcasts.

Most lawyers are genuinely afraid of business development, and so a...

08/22/2026

What do you do when the best work of your career earns you the smallest raise they can offer?

In this clip from Breaking Rank, Megan Senese, co-founder of stage, describes the review that broke something open, the grief of everything she had given up, and the decision to stop waiting to be recognized and start building for herself.

Watch the clip, then listen to the full conversation wherever you get your podcasts.

The best work of her career came with the smallest raise they could...