Carry As You Climb

Carry As You Climb is the podcast that will share stories of women leaders, how they got there, and who they brought up along the way. This podcast is devoted to talking to women leaders across Ohio and the nation. Episodes are hosted by Nan Whaley and will feature women leaders from different sectors – from politics to non-profits to business.

Carry As You Climb is a news podcast hosted by Nan Whaley, with 51 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80.

Nan Whaley hosts Carry As You Climb, a news show with 51 episodes published.

Our AI reads these to draft pitches. Use them as grounding for a pitch that cites a real guest and a specific topic.

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  Carry As You Climb

  Good Enough to Start: Alyia Gaskins on Learning to Lead in Public

  Sep 15, 202638 min

  What changes when you stop waiting to feel like a leader…and start communicating like one? Before becoming Mayor of Alexandria, Alyia Gaskins thought the job would largely be about running effective meetings. Less than two years in, she sees it differently: the mayor is the city’s chief communicator. That realization has shaped how she leads through everything from severe weather to federal workforce disruption. Alyia now posts a short video for residents every day, often without perfect lighting, a polished setup, or even a quiet room. What matters is showing up clearly and consistently enough that people know what is happening, and know their mayor is paying attention. In this episode of Carry As You Climb, Alyia joins Nan Whaley to talk about recognizing the leader others had long seen in her, running before she knew exactly how, and replacing perfection with the courage to begin. Her lesson: leadership isn't proving you already have every answer. It is communicating honestly, listening closely, and being willing to learn where people can see you. Conversation Highlights: Believe what others already see in you: Alyia reflects on the years between being told she was a leader and finally trusting herself enough to step forward. The job is communication: how a prolonged ice storm transformed a simple daily video into one of her most important connections with residents. Good enough creates momentum: why releasing the need for perfect plans, messages, and conditions makes more ideas, and better leadership, possible. Listen before designing the solution: what young people taught Alexandria about making civic participation and mental-health support genuinely accessible. Resources Mentioned: Mayor Alyia Gaskins, City of Alexandria @alyia4alx on Instagram — where the daily videos live CitiesRX Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative ALIVE! , Alexandria's food and emergency assistance network Carpenter's Shelter Kim McGuinness , the first Mayor of the North East in the UK — Gaskins's answer to the one-woman question Abbott Elementary (ABC) About Our Guest: Alyia Gaskins is the Mayor of Alexandria, Virginia, and the first African American woman elected to the role. Before becoming mayor, she served on Alexandria City Council and built a career at the intersection of public health, housing, urban planning, and community investment. She is also the founder of CitiesRX, a consulting practice focused on creating healthier communities through policy and partnerships. Alyia holds graduate degrees in public health from the University of Pittsburgh and urban and regional planning from Georgetown University. About the Host: Nan Whaley is a longtime community leader and public servant. She's currently the CEO of Planned Parenthood of Southwest Ohio. She served as Mayor of Dayton, Ohio, from 2014 - 2022. Nan has also presided over the United Conference of Mayors. She's a feminist, daughter, aunt, sister, and friend. About the Show: Carry As You Climb focuses on elevating the voices of women in leadership from Ohio and across the United States. The podcast features guests who give special attention to not only busting through doors to lead but also holding the door open for more women behind them. In other words, they carry as they climb. We focus on leadership development and leadership lessons. Plus, we share personal experiences to inspire the inclusion of more diverse leaders in business, government, and the nonprofit sector. Connect with Carry As You Climb Instagram | Facebook | TikTok | Twitter | LinkedIn Stay up to date with Nan's Substack: substack.com/@nanwhaley Join the Climb: If this conversation moved you, share it with someone who needs to hear it, subscribe to Carry As You Climb, and leave a rating or review wherever you listen. Produced by: Collective Change Communications - Kelly Sakalas & Jeni Keeler Note: The opinions expressed by host Nan Whaley on this podcast are hers alone and do not represent any organization with which she is affiliated.

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  Carry As You Climb

  You Can’t Do This Alone: Frances Strickland on Partnership, Tension, and the Long Game

  Sep 10, 202638 min

  What if the thing holding you back isn’t a lack of experience…but trying to do too much alone? Dr. Frances Strickland has spent decades around campaigns, classrooms, public service, and political movements without ever seeking elected office herself. A former First Lady of Ohio, educational psychologist, educator, and author, she has spent a lifetime watching how women build influence, navigate resistance, and keep moving when progress takes longer than expected. In this episode of Carry As You Climb, Frances joins Nan Whaley for a conversation about the lessons that only become clear with time: why the right partner can multiply your strengths, why discomfort can make a conversation more useful, and why generations that approach leadership differently still need each other. Her lesson: experience matters, but experience alone isn’t enough. Lasting leadership depends on partnership, patience, and a willingness to stay in the room when someone else sees the world differently. Conversation Highlights: You need a partner: Frances shares the leadership lesson she wishes she had learned much earlier…why having the right complement to your strengths can change what you can build. Progress rarely moves in a straight line: from Martha Layne Collins becoming Kentucky’s first woman governor to the public scrutiny faced by women such as Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama, Frances reflects on how women learn when to push, recalibrate, and keep moving. Tension can be useful: an unexpected lesson from her granddaughter’s art becomes a larger argument for staying at the table when conversation gets uncomfortable. Generations need each other: why younger and older organizers can talk past one another, and what becomes possible when experience and urgency are treated as assets rather than competing worldviews. Resources Mentioned: The Little Girl Who Grew Up to Be Governor: Leadership Lessons and Stories From the Life of Martha Layne Collins by Frances Smith Strickland Suffs, the musical Iron Jawed Angels (2004) Women's Rights National Historical Park, Seneca Falls Ohio Democratic Party Dr. Kimberly Hamlin , historian at Miami University — hear her Carry As You Climb episode on Alice Paul and the suffrage movement Ellen Belcher's Carry As You Climb episode, referenced for the Dayton Daily News editorial board story About Our Guest: Dr. Frances Strickland is an educational psychologist, educator, author, and former First Lady of Ohio. She earned her doctorate in educational psychology from the University of Kentucky and worked for years as a public school psychologist. She is the author of The Little Girl Who Grew Up to Be Governor, about Kentucky Governor Martha Layne Collins, and spent decades alongside her husband, former Ohio Governor and U.S. Representative Ted Strickland, through campaigns and public service. About the Host: Nan Whaley is a longtime community leader and public servant. She's currently the CEO of Planned Parenthood of Southwest Ohio. She served as Mayor of Dayton, Ohio, from 2014 - 2022. Nan has also presided over the United Conference of Mayors. She's a feminist, daughter, aunt, sister, and friend. About the Show: Carry As You Climb elevates the voices of women in leadership from Ohio and across the United States. The podcast features guests who give special attention to not only busting through doors to lead but also hold the door open for more women behind them. In other words, they carry as they climb. We focus on leadership development and leadership lessons. Plus, we share personal experiences to inspire the inclusion of more diverse leaders in business, government and the nonprofit sector. Connect with Carry As You Climb Instagram | Facebook | TikTok | Twitter | LinkedIn Stay up to date with Nan's Substack: substack.com/@nanwhaley Join the Climb: If this conversation moved you, share it with someone who needs to hear it, subscribe to Carry As You Climb, and leave a rating or review wherever you listen. Produced by: Collective Change Communications - Kelly Sakalas & Jeni Keeler Note: The opinions expressed by host Nan Whaley on this podcast are hers alone, and do not represent any organization with which she is affiliated.

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  Carry As You Climb

  This Is Your Window: Kate Gallego on Betting on Herself When Life Was Falling Apart

  Sep 1, 202629 min

  What if your opportunity arrives at the exact moment you feel least prepared to take it? When Kate Gallego considered running for mayor of Phoenix, she was pregnant, navigating a highly public divorce, and watching deeply personal details of her life become national news. From within that experience, it felt as though everyone was watching… and judging. Her friends saw something different. They told her this was her window, reminded her why she was the right person for the job, and built the support system that made saying yes possible. In this episode of Carry As You Climb, Kate joins Nan Whaley for a candid conversation about stepping into the spotlight before life feels neatly resolved, learning that voters cared more about what she could build than what had fallen apart, and allowing a painful season to shape more compassionate public policy. Her lesson: leadership does not require a perfect life or complete self-sufficiency. Sometimes courage means betting on yourself - and letting other people help you carry what comes next. Conversation Highlights Your hardest season does not disqualify you: Kate shares how friends helped her see an opening she was prepared to dismiss because her personal life did not look the way she thought a candidate’s should. The story feels bigger from inside the bubble: what she learned after months of reading coverage of her divorce…and discovering that Phoenix voters were far more interested in what she planned to accomplish. Asking for help can make you a stronger leader: why becoming mayor as a new mother forced Kate to release the expectation that she should solve and carry everything herself. Personal experience can become public purpose: how one extraordinarily difficult year influenced her work on paid parental leave, early-childhood investment, cancer care, and women’s health. Resources Mentioned: Accelerator for America The United States Conference of Mayors EMILYs List Berkeley Institute for Security and Governance — the UC Berkeley center founded and led by Janet Napolitano Phoenix's $50 million investment in ASU Health , home of the John Shufeldt School of Medicine and Medical Engineering "I Hope You Dance" — Lee Ann Womack "Standing Outside the Fire" — Garth Brooks About Our Guest: Kate Gallego is the mayor of Phoenix, Arizona, and the second woman elected to lead the city. After joining the Phoenix City Council in 2014, she resigned her seat to run for mayor and won a 2019 special election before securing reelection in 2020 and 2024. Her leadership has included investments in early-childhood education, paid parental leave, climate resilience, bioscience, and expanded medical education. She co-chairs the Accelerator for America Advisory Council, previously chaired Climate Mayors, and holds degrees from Harvard University and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. About the Host: Nan Whaley is a longtime community leader and public servant. She's currently the CEO of Planned Parenthood of Southwest Ohio. She served as Mayor of Dayton, Ohio, from 2014 - 2022. Nan has also presided over the United Conference of Mayors. She's a feminist, daughter, aunt, sister, and friend. About the Show: Carry As You Climb focuses on elevating the voices of women in leadership from Ohio and across the United States. The podcast features guests who give special attention to not only busting through doors to lead but also holding the door open for more women behind them. In other words, they carry as they climb. We focus on leadership development and leadership lessons. Plus, we share personal experiences to inspire the inclusion of more diverse leaders in business, government, and the nonprofit sector. Connect with Carry As You Climb Instagram | Facebook | TikTok | Twitter | LinkedIn Stay up to date with Nan's Substack: substack.com/@nanwhaley Join the Climb: If this conversation moved you, share it with someone who needs to hear it, subscribe to Carry As You Climb, and leave a rating or review wherever you listen. Produced by: Collective Change Communications - Kelly Sakalas & Jeni Keeler Note: The opinions expressed by host Nan Whaley on this podcast are hers alone and do not represent any organization with which she is affiliated.

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  Carry As You Climb

  Build It Yourself: Ro Nita and Donnica Hawes-Saunders on Ownership, Mistakes, and What We Pass Down

  Aug 27, 202650 min

  What do you do when the thing you want to build doesn’t exist yet…and no one is offering you a blueprint? For Ro Nita and Donnica Hawes-Saunders, the answer has often been the same: build it yourself. This week on Carry As You Climb, Nan Whaley sits down in Dayton with a mother-daughter pair whose careers span broadcasting, business, public affairs, the arts, law, government, and now podcasting. Ro Nita and Donnica have each built organizations in spaces where access was limited, and the path forward was anything but obvious. But their conversation is just as much about what happens after you succeed: owning mistakes in front of your team, creating a culture people can carry without you in the room, knowing when to pivot, and deciding which lessons are worth passing to the next generation. The leadership lesson at the center of this episode is that ownership is about more than building something of your own. It means taking responsibility for the culture, the mistakes, and the people who come after you. Conversation Highlights: Build before there’s a blueprint: Ro Nita shares what it took to pursue an FCC broadcast license and create a radio station from the ground up when very few Black women had done it before her. Own the mistake out loud: why telling a team exactly where you got something wrong can create more trust, and more room for everyone else to take thoughtful risks. Build a culture that works without you: the employee creed, leadership habits, and unexpectedly revealing vacation that showed Ro Nita whether her organization’s values had actually taken hold.. Build a culture that works without you: the employee creed, leadership habits, and unexpectedly revealing vacation that showed Ro Nita whether her organization’s values had actually taken hold. Leadership isn’t really about you: Donnica explains the realization that shifted how she leads…from carrying every answer herself to creating a vision other people want to help build. Resources Mentioned: Raised By Her podcast — on Spotify , Apple Podcasts , and YouTube The Averity Group Dayton Contemporary Dance Company The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey About Our Guests: Ro Nita and Donnica Hawes-Saunders are a mother and daughter from Dayton, Ohio, and co-hosts of the weekly podcast Raised By Her. Ro Nita Hawes-Saunders is an executive leadership coach and former CEO of the Dayton Contemporary Dance Company. Earlier in her career, she became one of fewer than ten African American women in the United States to build a broadcast property from the ground up, launching WROU-FM in 1991 after a decade-long licensing effort. Donnica Hawes-Saunders is the Founder and CEO of The Averity Group, a public affairs firm serving organizations in highly regulated industries. A lawyer by training, she built her career through Capitol Hill, corporate government affairs, and public policy. About the Host: Nan Whaley is a longtime community leader and public servant. She's currently the CEO of Planned Parenthood of Southwest Ohio. She served as Mayor of Dayton, Ohio, from 2014 - 2022. Nan has also presided over the United Conference of Mayors. She's a feminist, daughter, aunt, sister, and friend. About the Show: Carry As You Climb focuses on elevating the voices of women in leadership from Ohio and across the United States. The podcast features guests who give special attention to not only busting through doors to lead but also hold the door open for more women behind them. In other words, they carry as they climb. We focus on leadership development and leadership lessons. Plus, we share personal experiences to inspire the inclusion of more diverse leaders in business, government and the nonprofit sector. Connect with Carry As You Climb Instagram | Facebook | TikTok | Twitter | LinkedIn Stay up to date with Nan's Substack: substack.com/@nanwhaley Join the Climb: If this conversation moved you, share it with someone who needs to hear it, subscribe to Carry As You Climb, and leave a rating or review wherever you listen. Produced by: Collective Change Communications - Kelly Sakalas & Jeni Keeler Note: The opinions expressed by host Nan Whaley on this podcast are hers alone, and do not represent any organization with which she is affiliated.

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  Carry As You Climb

  Making Real Progress: Roxanne Qualls on Compromise, Mentorship, and Redefining Leadership

  Aug 18, 202631 min

  Can you step into power without losing the values that got you there? When Roxanne Qualls was elected as Mayor of Cincinnati, she had already spent years as an activist pushing institutions to change. Elected office required something different: not abandoning those convictions, but learning how to turn them into progress. In this episode of Carry As You Climb, Roxanne joins Nan Whaley to talk about the shift from advocate to decision-maker, the unexpected moments that taught her what public leadership really demands, and the women who showed her how to lead…and bring others along. Her lesson: effective leadership isn’t about winning every argument. It’s about knowing when your voice, your relationships, and even compromise can move people toward meaningful change. Conversation Highlights: Progress requires more than being right: Roxanne explains why compromise can be a tool for change rather than a betrayal of principle. The office is bigger than the person: a brief encounter with an airport worker permanently changed how she understood the responsibility of being mayor. Mentorship can shape a leadership legacy: what longtime Cincinnati leader Bobbie Sterne taught Roxanne…often simply by letting her watch how leadership was done. Carrying as you climb means staying invested: why Roxanne continues mentoring former staffers and emerging leaders long after leaving City Hall. Resources Mentioned: Dorothy Dolbey — Cincinnati's first female mayor Bobbie Sterne — longtime Cincinnati City Council member, former mayor, and an influential mentor to Roxanne Nicola's Ristorante — one of Roxanne’s favorite Cincinnati restaurants. About Our Guest: Roxanne Qualls is a former three-term Mayor of Cincinnati and longtime Cincinnati City Council member who also served as Vice Mayor. During her time in office, she helped lead the redevelopment of Cincinnati’s central riverfront and championed neighborhood investment, public safety, homeownership, and more accessible government. She later earned a master’s degree in public administration from Harvard University, where she also held fellowships through the Institute of Politics, Graduate School of Design, and Kennedy School. She currently serves as an Executive Sales Vice President with Sibcy Cline Realtors. About the Host: Nan Whaley is a longtime community leader and public servant. She's currently the CEO of Planned Parenthood of Southwest Ohio. She served as Mayor of Dayton, Ohio, from 2014 - 2022. Nan has also presided over the United Conference of Mayors. She's a feminist, daughter, aunt, sister, and friend. About the Show: Carry As You Climb focuses on elevating the voices of women in leadership from Ohio and across the United States. The podcast features guests who give special attention to not only busting through doors to lead but also holding the door open for more women behind them. In other words, they carry as they climb. We focus on leadership development and leadership lessons. Plus, we share personal experiences to inspire the inclusion of more diverse leaders in business, government, and the nonprofit sector. Connect with Carry As You Climb Instagram | Facebook | TikTok | Twitter | LinkedIn Stay up to date with Nan's Substack: substack.com/@nanwhaley Join the Climb: If this conversation moved you, share it with someone who needs to hear it, subscribe to Carry As You Climb, and leave a rating or review wherever you listen. Produced by: Collective Change Communications - Kelly Sakalas & Jeni Keeler Note: The opinions expressed by host Nan Whaley on this podcast are hers alone, and do not represent any organization with which she is affiliated.

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