Traci Saulsberry - Author - Your worth is not dependent on belonging to anyone other than yourself

In this week’s episode of Your Career, Unscripted, I spoke with Traci Saulsberry, Author of This Is How You Love Her. Traci Saulsberry is a senior communications executive, leadership coach, and writer. At twenty-seven, she became one of the youngest Black executives at NBC, where she spent fourteen years shaping narratives at the highest levels of entertainment. She later built and led the communications team at Peacock, managing a team of more than thirty people during the platform’s launch and growth. I was honored to have this conversation after reading her new book. I loved the depth of her thinking and stories and I was struck by the honesty with which she writes about having a career that looked incredibly successful from the outside while feeling very different internally. We talked about what it means to be “successful on paper” while still feeling lost, the realities and hidden costs of career success, the tension between thriving professionally and struggling personally, and Traci’s intentional journey to finding her way back to herself. We also talked about Traci’s experience of learning to spend time alone, “dating yourself,” journaling, and building a deeper sense of trust and connection with yourself. One of the biggest takeaways for me was the idea that one of the most important parts of any career journey is how connected you feel to yourself along the way. I’m so grateful to Traci for sharing so openly about her career, her experiences, and the lessons she’s learned - and I highly recommend this episode (and Traci’s book) to anyone who feels like they’re working on autopilot, overwhelmed by career stress, or looking to reconnect with who they really are. Favorite quote "be a leader not a follower because your worth is not dependent on belonging to anyone other than yourself."