Episode Details

In this episode of You Are Not Broken, I sit down with Dr. Sunny Smith — physician, coach, and fierce advocate for women in medicine — for a conversation that felt both deeply personal and urgently necessary.

We talk about the transformative power of coaching and why so many high-achieving women still struggle with self-doubt. If you’ve ever downplayed your accomplishments, hesitated to speak up in a room full of men, or questioned whether you’re “expert enough,” this episode is for you.

Dr. Smith and I share personal stories from our own careers that highlight the subtle (and not-so-subtle) gender dynamics embedded in medical culture. We explore how women physicians are often socialized to overwork, over-give, and under-claim their authority — and how that conditioning impacts not only our careers, but our health.

This conversation is about agency.

It’s about recognizing that your thoughts create your feelings, your feelings drive your actions, and your actions determine your results. If you believe you’re “not ready,” you’ll play small. If you believe you belong, you’ll act differently — and the world will respond differently.

We also talk about:

• Why coaching works (especially for high-achieving professionals)

• How women are conditioned to minimize their expertise

• The cost of self-abandonment in medicine

• Gender bias in healthcare — both as physicians and as patients

• What it actually means to advocate for yourself

• Why questioning limiting beliefs is a radical act

• The ripple effect of empowered women physicians

This episode isn’t about blaming the system. It’s about understanding it — and then deciding who you want to be inside of it.

Because when women own their expertise, take up space, and stop apologizing for their ambition, everything changes — for us, for our patients, and for medicine itself.

You are not broken.
You are powerful.
And you’re allowed to act like it.

Dr. Smith's Empowering Women Physician Website

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