Confused about health insurance after leaving corporate? You're not alone.

In this episode, we sit down with Rachel Zimmerman, an independent employee benefits broker with 15+ years of experience helping small businesses and individuals navigate the world of health insurance. Whether you're leaving a 9-to-5, starting a business, or just trying to make sense of the marketplace, this episode is your cheat sheet.

We'll be honest, one of us procrastinated on her own podcast class about podcasting. And that's exactly how this episode happened.

This week, the Mandys get real about procrastination: why we do it, why we can't seem to stop, and the tips and tricks we're actually putting into practice. No judgment. We're both works in progress.

Whether you're the boss or the employee, giving and receiving feedback is one of the hardest parts of any workplace, and nobody teaches you how to do it.

This week, the Mandys break down a real-life corporate nightmare: a manager who calls out his entire team on a weekly group call, gets called out himself for it, and completely falls apart. From there, the conversation goes deep on what actually makes feedback land, and what makes it blow up in everyone's face.

We've talked about burnout a lot. But this week, we brought in someone who can explain why it's happening in your body — at a biological level.

International bestselling author and physiotherapist Jessica Maguire joins the Mandys to break down the nervous system science behind burnout, and honestly? Everything finally makes sense.

Layoffs are happening. Are you ready?

This week, Mandy & Mandy get into one of the most important, and most overlooked, conversations in your career: how to negotiate your severance package. Most people sign whatever is handed to them in that emotionally charged moment. Turns out? That's exactly what they're counting on.

Are corporate politics holding you back or are you just not playing the game yet?

In this episode of The Corporate Burnouts, Mandy Alt and Mandy Holt break down one of the most misunderstoodskills in career growth, navigating corporate politics. Forget the toxic stereotype. This conversation reframes workplace politics as a practical tool for getting promoted, earning raises, and unlocking opportunities you've been working hard for but never getting credit for.

Is company loyalty secretly costing you your career?

In this episode of The Corporate Burnouts, Mandy Alt and Mandy Holt unpack one of the biggest myths in corporate America, that staying loyal to one company is always the smart move.

After decades in corporate careers, the Mandys get real about how the workplace has changed: layoffs, restructuring, shifting leadership, and a loyalty that was never truly two-way. They break down the difference between genuine loyalty and fear disguised as loyalty, and why so many professionals stay stuck out of comfort or uncertainty rather than choice.

In this episode of The Corporate Burnouts, Mandy Alt and Mandy Holt take on one of the most emotionally charged topics in modern work culture: can working moms really “have it all”? From corporate careers and high performance expectations to motherhood, mental load, and burnout, this conversation pulls back the curtain on what it actually feels like to try to be everything to everyone.

Mandy and Mandy share raw, honest experiences about balancing career ambition with family life, the constant pressure of perfectionism, and the invisible mental load that keeps working moms in a cycle of stress, guilt, and exhaustion. They unpack the truth behind the idea of “having it all,” explaining how many women are unknowingly trying to live two full lives at once—career-driven professional and fully present parent—without the time, energy, or support to sustain either at a healthy level. The result? Burnout, resentment, and a loss of joy in both work and home life.

In this episode of The Corporate Burnouts, Mandy Alt and Mandy Holt revisit one of their most talked-about topics, quiet quitting vs quiet survival, but this time, they go deeper. After reflecting on their original conversation and listener feedback, they unpack a powerful realization, there isn’t just one version of quiet quitting, there’s a full spectrum.

From disengaged employees doing the bare minimum to overextended high performers on the edge of burnout, this episode breaks down the real behaviors happening inside today’s workplace and why so many professionals feel stuckbetween burnout and checking out completely. 

In this episode of The Corporate Burnouts, hosts Mandy Alt and Mandy Holt unpack a powerful mindset shift for anyone feeling stuck, overwhelmed, or unhappy in corporate life. After attending the BECOME Conference, they reflect on a surprising realization: maybe you don’t actually hate your job… maybe you’re just working in a way that doesn’t align with how you function best.

From time management and people-pleasing to lack of control, burnout, and misalignment, this episode dives into the real reasons professionals feel drained at work. Mandy and Mandy share honest experiences from their corporate careers, including juggling expectations, navigating multiple bosses, struggling with productivity, and dealing with tasks that feel meaningless. They also explore practical ways to regain control, set boundaries, align your work with your strengths, and reduce stress without necessarily leaving your job.

In this episode of The Corporate Burnouts Podcast, Mandy Holt and Mandy Alt take a hilarious and painfully relatable dive into one of the most infamous parts of corporate life: meetings that should have been emails. From calendars packed with back-to-back meetings to chaotic conference calls, endless PowerPoint presentations, and the dreaded “meeting after the meeting,” the Mandys unpack the good, the bad, and the absolutely ridiculous realities of corporate meetings.

Drawing from their years in corporate environments, they share stories about living and dying by a color-coded calendar, sitting through hours of information that could have been delivered in an email, and the exhausting cycle of meetings that produce more tasks but very few decisions. They also break down what actually makes a productive meeting in the workplace, including why every meeting needs a clear agenda, the right people in the room, a strong leader to keep conversations on track, and the discipline to end early when the work is done.

In this episode of The Corporate Burnouts Podcast, Mandy Holt and Mandy Alt dive into one of the most frustrating realities of corporate life: paid time off (PTO). From denied vacation requests and last-minute PTO cancellations to guilt from bosses and the pressure employees feel about stepping away from work, the Mandys unpack the complicated culture surrounding vacation time in the United States.

They explore why nearly half of American employees don’t use all of their PTO, how corporate policies like accrued vacation time, manager approval, use-it-or-lose-it policies, and unlimited PTO often create more stress than freedom, and why burnout is often tied directly to the inability to truly disconnect from work.

In this episode of The Corporate Burnouts, Mandy Holt and Mandy Alt unpack the reality of stepping into leadership, getting promoted, or starting a business, and why the next rung on the ladder isn’t always what you think it will be. From middle management burnout to becoming the boss with noone above you saying “good job,” this honest conversation explores the hidden emotional shift that happens when you move from being the high-performing employee to the leader responsible for everyone else’s success. 

The Mandys dive into control issues, delegation, micromanaging, loneliness in leadership, resentment overrecognition, and the mindset shift required to find validation in your team’s wins instead of your own applause. They discuss how corporate culture conditions us to chase promotions without questioning whether leadership is actually aligned with our strengths, and why some people are meant to be coaches while others are meant to be stars. 

In this special one-year anniversary episode of The Corporate Burnouts, Mandy Alt and Mandy Holt dive into one of the most debated workplace topics, office romance. From dating a coworker to dating your boss, navigating power dynamics, favoritism, jealousy, workplace gossip, and messy breakups, this episode explores the real pros and cons of workplace relationships.

With over 60% of people experiencing a workplace romanceand nearly half leading to long-term relationships or marriage, it’s no surprise that office dating is common. But is it worth the risk? The Mandys share personal stories from their restaurant industry days, unpack the psychology behind why workplace relationships feel so intense, and discuss the professional risks that come with mixing business and pleasure. They also break down power imbalances, HR policies, performance reviews, manipulation risks, and the legal and career consequences that can follow when dating crossesprofessional lines.

In this episode of The Corporate Burnouts, Mandy Holt and Mandy Alt tackle one of the biggest workplace and cultural conversations happening right now: artificial intelligence. From ChatGPT and AI-generated content to AI in hiring, layoffs, resume screening, creativity, mental health, and even drive-thru ordering, this conversation explores both the benefits and the unintended consequences of AI in business and everyday life.

The Mandys openly discuss how they use AI for brainstorming, SEO, marketing strategy, schema markup, coding, and workflow efficiency, while also questioning whether reliance on AI is weakening creativity, critical thinking, and human connection. They dive into controversial topics like AI replacing jobs, AI scanning resumes and impacting the job market, environmental concerns around data centers, AI-generated art and music lacking “soul,” AI being used for therapy and validation, and the growing cultural tension around authenticity versus automation.

In this episode of The Corporate Burnouts, Mandy Holt and Mandy Alt sit down with Whitney Kenter for an honest conversation about what happens when you do everything “right” on paper but still feel deeply unfulfilled. Whitney shares her journey from building a successful corporate career to realizing that achievement without alignment leads straight to burnout, resentment, and emotional exhaustion.

Together, they unpack the quiet warning signs so many high performers ignore, how grief, pressure, and identity become tangled up in work, and why walking away from a stable career can feel both terrifying and freeing. This conversation explores burnout recovery, redefining success, trusting your intuition, and what it actually takes to rebuild a life and career that bring joy instead of constant stress.

In this episode of The Corporate Burnouts, Mandy Holt and Mandy Alt take a deeper look at the viral workplace trend and ask the question no one seems to be answering honestly: are people really disengaging from work, or are they simply trying to survive it? Drawing from lived corporate experience, leadership roles, and burnout recovery, the Mandys unpack how quiet quitting is often less about laziness or lack of ambition and more about self-preservation, boundary-setting, and exhaustion after years of over-performance.

They explore how toxic work cultures, unclear expectations, emotional labor, and constant pressure have pushed employees into doing the bare minimum not out of rebellion, but out of necessity. This episode challenges the narrative pushed by hustle culture and corporate leadership, reframes quiet quitting as a signal rather than a problem, and helps listeners identify whether they’re pulling back because they’ve checked out, or because they’re protecting their mental health.

In this episode of The Corporate Burnouts, Mandy Holt and Mandy Alt unpack what they call the “corporate personality hangover”, the lingering habits, people-pleasing instincts, and emotional masking that follow you long after leaving corporate life. Sparked by a difficult client situation, the Mandys explore how corporate conditioning shows up in conflict, communication, crisis management, and boundary-setting, even when you’re running your own business.

From phone voices and media training to over-apologizing, diffusing situations at your own expense, and struggling to separate professionalism from authenticity, this conversation dives deep into how years of corporate survival shape who we become. They talk honestly about client boundaries, firing the wrong clients, why “the client is always right” mentality causes burnout, and how prolonged masking erodes mental health over time.

In this episode of The Corporate Burnouts, Mandy Holt and Mandy Alt sit down with Joy Peterson to unpack what burnout really looks like when you’ve spent decades saying yes, grinding nonstop, and tying your entire identity to your job. Joy shares her journey from working 22 years in the service and hospitality industry, rising from server to director of restaurant training, to hitting a breaking point during COVID that forced her to quit without a backup plan.

Together, they explore how burnout sneaks up on high performers, why quitting can sometimes be a health decision, and what it looks like to take intentional time off to reset, recover, and rediscover who you are outside of work. The conversation dives into mental health, boundary-setting, redefining success, transferable skills from service industry careers, and why stepping away career-wise doesn’t mean moving backward.

In this episode of The Corporate Burnouts, Mandy Holt and Mandy Alt kick off 2026 by flipping the usual New Year conversation on its head and focusing on what they’re not doing anymore at work. From people-pleasing, working outside of work hours, and operating on everyone else’s timeline to gatekeeping information, going above and beyond without return, and setting themselves on fire to keep others warm, the Mandys unpack the habits that quietly fuel burnout in corporate life and entrepreneurship.

Drawing from decades of leadership experience and real conversations with listeners, they explore why work is ultimately transactional, how loyalty can be unintentionally exploited, and why boundaries, delegation, and intentional priorities are essential for sustainability. They also share personal shifts around movement, routines, social energy, saying no without guilt, and redefining success in a way that protects time, health, and relationships.