Our Origin Story - How Two Entrepreneurs Became Unlikely Writing Partners
Every partnership has an origin story.
Ours starts with two women who had both been building things for a long time. Who had both experienced the particular kind of exhaustion that comes from giving everything to something and then having to figure out who you are when that thing changes or ends. Who had both been in the in-between and knew exactly what it felt like to not have a clean answer for what comes next.
And who, somewhere in the middle of all of that, found each other.
In this episode of Step Into Next, Helaine and I tell that story. The real version. Not the polished narrative you put on a website. The actual version, with all of the uncertainty and trust and unexpected moments that made it real.
What We Cover in This Episode
This is a conversation about what it means to be in the in-between and choose to build something anyway. Helaine and I talk honestly about:
How ambition and burnout can exist in exactly the same season of your life
What trust actually looks like inside a creative partnership and how it gets built slowly, not declared
Why your identity does not disappear when a company or a chapter does
How one season of your life prepares you for the next one, even when it does not feel that way at the time
The moment we both knew something new was beginning, even though we could not yet name what it was
Why the in-between is not a waiting room but the most important place you will ever do your work
What This Podcast Is Really About
One of the ideas that runs through everything Helaine and I create together is this: the in-between is not a problem to be solved. It is a place to be inhabited. It is where the clarity that actually lasts gets formed. We built Step Into Next to be a home for every woman who knows what that space feels like. This episode is where it all begins.
About the Hosts
I am Leanne Shear, a strategic consultant and leadership coach for unconventional founders, purpose-driven entrepreneurs, and nonprofit leaders. I work with people who are building something real and need a partner who takes their vision as seriously as they do. Helaine Knapp is the founder of CityRow and my co-author on Making Waves.
Listen to the Episode
Listen to Step Into Next on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube. If this episode resonated with where you are right now, I offer complimentary strategy consultations for founders who are ready to turn their vision into real momentum. Book yours at consciousnessraise.consulting/contact.