Evoke Greatness Podcast
Do you have an insatiable hunger for growth and knowledge?
Are you interested in hearing the stories of how successful people have navigated their journey towards greatness…all while stumbling through valuable lessons along the way?
My name is Sonnie and I am the host of Evoke Greatness, the weekly podcast driven by my curious nature and fascination with the champion mindset. I am a HUGE book nerd and a wee bit of a "control enthusiast" with an obsession for motivational coffee cups.
On this podcast, we share the ups and the downs, the highs and lows and all the lessons learned in between. It's my most sincere hope you hear something in one or maybe many of these episodes that resonates with you and reminds you that you’re not in this alone.
I believe that a rising tide raises all ships and I invite you along in this journey to Evoke Greatness!
Evoke Greatness Podcast
How to Rise, Lead & Heal After Workplace Toxicity with Kaitlyn Rios (Part 1)
🎧 Episode 176: How to Rise, Lead & Heal After Workplace Toxicity with Kaitlyn Rios (Part 1)
In Part 1 of this powerful conversation, Faced With Grace founder Kaitlyn Rios shares her deeply personal journey from surviving a toxic work environment to building a mission-driven organization that empowers women to rise above adversity with confidence, poise, and purpose.
We dive into the signs of workplace toxicity, how to recognize them early, and the first small but impactful steps you can take to protect your mental and emotional well-being. Kaitlyn also reveals why purpose is the core value that anchors her mission and the tools she uses to help women transform pain into power.
If you’ve ever questioned your worth because of a toxic workplace—or wondered how to turn hardship into meaningful change—this episode will resonate deeply.
We explore:
- The moment that sparked Kaitlyn’s mission to create Faced With Grace
- How past workplace trauma can unknowingly follow you into new roles
- Practical ways to spot toxicity before it escalates
- The role of mentorship and coaching in navigating and healing from adversity
- How to prevent support spaces from becoming complaint sessions
- The five core values that guide Faced With Grace
- Small, actionable steps to lead positively—no matter your title
🔑 Key takeaways:
- Toxicity has many faces—learning to spot it early is key to self-preservation
- Purpose can transform even the lowest moments into a catalyst for change
- Mentorship provides validation, perspective, and a roadmap forward
- Leadership isn’t about titles, it’s about the example you set daily
💡 Quotes to remember:
- “You are not alone. You have a support system here built in.”
- “Purpose is the anchor that keeps me moving forward, even when it’s hard.”
- “We can’t always erase trauma—but we can use it to create something better.”
📚 Resources mentioned:
✨ Learn more about Faced With Grace: www.facedwithgrace.org
📲 Connect with Kaitlyn:
LinkedIn – Kaitlyn Rios
A rising tide raises all ships, and I invite you along on this journey to Evoke Greatness!
Check out my website: www.evokegreatness.com
Follow me on:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/sonnie-linebarger-899b9a52/
https://www.instagram.com/evoke.greatness/
https://www.tiktok.com/@evoke.greatness
http://www.youtube.com/@evokegreatness
I was working in an organization that dealt me a rather toxic hand. While there was wonderful humans that I met and worked with along the way while I was there, the situation got very complex and my world turned very dark. During that time, there was this morning where I was driving to work, and at this point it had gotten pretty bad and I was stuck right in the middle of it all as a mid-level manager, trying to make everyone happy and failing miserably because it was impossible. I was driving into work. I hit this moment on the overpass where I just felt like driving off the edge of the road would be a better solution than arriving at work.
Speaker 2:Welcome to Evoke Greatness, the podcast for bold leaders and big dreamers who refuse to settle. I'm your host, sunny. I started in scrubs over 20 years ago doing the gritty, unseen work and climbed my way to CEO. Every rung of that ladder taught me something worth passing on lessons in leadership, resilience and what it really takes to rise. On Lessons in leadership, resilience and what it really takes to rise, you'll hear raw conversations, unfiltered truths and the kind of wisdom that ignites something deeper in you your courage, your conviction, your calling. This show will help you think bigger, lead better and show up bolder in every part of your life. This is your place to grow. Let's rise together. She almost didn't make it to work that morning, on the verge of giving up, caitlin looked in her rearview mirror and what she saw changed everything. That moment became the heartbeat of Faced with Grace, a movement empowering women to rise above toxic workplaces with confidence, poise and purpose. In part one of this two-part conversation, caitlin opens up about the moment that changed her life how to recognize workplace toxicity early and why purpose is the value that keeps her going. Let's hop into it.
Speaker 2:Welcome back to another episode of Evoke Greatness. My guest today is a woman on a mission to turn adversity into empowerment and create lasting change in the workplace. Caitlin Rios is the founder of Faced with Grace, a charitable organization that supports and equips women who are navigating toxic work environments. Through mentorship, coaching and leadership development, caitlin and her team are creating a ripple effect, empowering women to rise above adversity with confidence, poise and purpose. Faced with Grace is not just about overcoming toxicity. It's about rewriting the narrative, reclaiming your power and building a future of inclusive, healthy and supportive workplaces for generations to come. In this episode, you'll hear Caitlin share the heart behind the mission, the structure of the organization and how you can connect, support or be supported by the Faced with Grace community. Caitlin, welcome to the show.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much for having me Such a pleasure to be here.
Speaker 2:I'm so glad to have you. Well, I love to just kind of dive in and get a little bit more of the backstory on folks, and so I'm curious what inspired you to create, faced with Grace, and how did the story shape your mission?
Speaker 1:Man. So let me back up a few years, I guess, and give you my background. I am a physical therapist by trade and I've been in the healthcare field for over 10 years now. Unfortunately, quite early in my career I was working in an organization that you know dealt me a rather toxic hand. While there was wonderful humans that I met and worked with along the way while I was there, you know, the situation got very complex and my world turned very dark during that time. Complex and my world turned very dark during that time.
Speaker 1:But the organization is called Faced with Grace because there was this morning where I was driving to work and at this point I had gotten pretty bad. We were an organization where there was sort of three different business entities all working together to form a single clinic and I was stuck right in the middle of it all as a mid-level manager, trying to make everyone happy and failing miserably because it was impossible. And so in this morning when I was driving into work you know, I don't know what was so different about that morning, necessarily, but I hit this moment on the overpass where I just felt like driving off the edge of the road would be a better solution than arriving at work and I, like I said, called the organization Face with Grace because kind of in the midst of that moment I looked up in my rearview mirror and saw my infant baby girl sitting in my back seat and it was like Jesus was sitting back there and there was just this like moment of clarity and calmness and reassurance that there was absolutely no reason to let go of that wheel and I needed to keep going. At the time I had no idea why, because it really didn't make a lot of sense to me, but I listened and leaned into that and eventually I got myself to a psychologically safer place to work, thank goodness. I thank God every day for that stepping stone role that got me out of that place and over the years because this has been gosh at least six, seven years now that that all happened I transitioned through several different organizations and unfortunately, just kept seeing the same signs and at that point I was like, okay, I am working hard, I'm trying my best.
Speaker 1:You know, this can't just be me. And so, as I kind of recollected on things and just did some soul searching and self-awareness, self-discovery and growth and therapy, like all the things right, I took all of those experiences. I look back and I just decided that something in me had shifted. I didn't want to just look back on this time and think, oh wow, that was a really low point, I wanted to do something with it. I didn't want to just look back on this time and think, oh wow, that was a really low point, I wanted to do something with it. I mean, I wanted women especially to feel like they didn't have to go through those situations at all. But if they did have to go through them, I didn't want them to go through it alone.
Speaker 1:And so, faced with, grace was born. I began creating content for it last October and really that came out of a place of kind of frustration and angst and I just couldn't figure out what this thing was that was calling me to do it. That I started and by February I had created a full nonprofit organization and now we're up and rolling and building slowly but surely. Yeah, so it was born from a place of very deep depression. Yeah, so it was born from a place of very deep depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation and really just a calling to change the world for the better and use my negative experiences and do something positive with them.
Speaker 2:It is I wouldn't say it's the norm, but I think this will resonate with many, many people and there are varying levels of toxicity. Right, there is kind of a minor sense of toxicity, to the point where it's just like you feel it when you're in the office or when you're around, and then there's that really high level where the organization is consumed in toxicity, and I think that's probably what you're experiencing and then that starts to consume us. And I think there's two choices in that moment, and those two choices are you can, as you decide to exit, you can take it with you, because there is some trauma involved with that, and you can unknowingly it's tucked in your backpack, in your bag somewhere, and you bring it into the next place. And not that you're bringing the toxicity, but you're bringing the trauma from the toxicity, from that really bad work environment.
Speaker 2:Or you can choose to say, okay, I know how I felt in this, I don't ever want to experience something like this again. Or I want to be the person, the thing fighting against this type of environment, and so I can take my lessons and pour them into what I can do to prevent this type of thing, and I think that's exactly what you've done, but there are some people who unknowingly it's tucked in their bag with them and they carry it to the next place and the next place unknowingly it's tucked in their bag with them and they carry it to the next place from the next place and I mean, I think to your point that trauma will never fully leave me right, like that's always going to be sort of woven into my DNA at this point, just because you can't forget those things that made you feel that low.
Speaker 1:Now I have at least a better perspective on them and can approach them differently, tackle them differently, whatever you want to say. But I think that the fact that I went through those experiences and I have them with me always that returns, sometimes even in the healthiest of workplaces that I've been in. You know, I still fear the email that I send that, you know, is it going to ruin organizational dynamics if I hit send. Or, you know, is my manager going to have something to say about it? You know, all those little microaggressions that are from my past and have not even shown up in my future necessarily are still there, and that's no fault of the new organization. It's just what I've brought with me the baggage.
Speaker 2:I think some people get in the place where they start to get desensitized, because it's just, that's the water that we swim in every day, and maybe I like my job or I like my team, and so you start to like desensitize yourself from that. So what does toxicity often look like, and how can women learn to begin to like recognize it early on, versus it being something all of a sudden you go? Wait a second, how did I get here?
Speaker 1:Right, yeah, that's a great call out.
Speaker 1:I think that, for I always state that for every person in every organization, there's going to be nuances, right, there's differences. It's going to show up in many different forms. For me personally, it was a lot of microaggressions. It was a lot of the things that when you say it out loud to someone, it sounds ridiculous and petty, but, over time, as you've got many different small instances, you know, maybe there was an email sent that had an undertone to it, or something mentioned in a meeting that was directed at you that your whole group of peers heard, or maybe it was a lack of communication that happened right and that just, or maybe it was a lack of communication that happened and that just left you out of a critical conversation. Sometimes, though, it's more than that. Sometimes it's the high turnover and the burnout and the public shaming, right, like it's very obvious and flagrant. And, you know, I think it just really depends on the organization you're dealing with and the people that you're dealing with and how they infuse that toxicity into the organization.
Speaker 2:You have with, faced with Grace. It's rooted in five core values, and that's positivity, people power, peace and purpose. And I'm curious which of these personally anchors you the most and why?
Speaker 1:Man, they all matter so much. You know, I think that for me, it's probably purpose this organization was born out of, like I said, a calling and a sense of purpose around changing the way people think about this. Like you said, people get very numb to it and we just accept it as okay because that's the way it's always been, or this is the way this organization is, or this is the way that person is. Don't worry about it. For me, this purpose and this calling is really centered around the fact that we need to call out the elephant in the room more often and we need to speak up and we need to advocate on behalf of ourselves and our peers and change the way that we think about workplaces.
Speaker 1:My husband, he, thinks I'm crazy. Probably he's like you know, I just don't know if you're ever going to be truly happy in a job, and I'm like you know what. Maybe I won't, but I do believe that each time I've changed roles or changed organizations, I have found something new in that organization that I've come to appreciate, or something that I've learned that I don't want in my next role. And so I think that it's that belief and that purpose of knowing that something better is out there and we have to fight for it and we have to be that guiding light that changes things and breeds healthier cultures and just breeds a healthier workplace for tomorrow.
Speaker 2:How do you think mentorship and coaching uniquely help women grow and heal and lead after going through something, some type of adversity, like you've experienced?
Speaker 1:You know, I like to think that it creates a support system that otherwise wouldn't be there and we as women are again so conditioned to just, you know, tough it out and do it on our own and just trudge through the mess and get through it and be that strong womanly figure, sometimes the maternal type of thing. But I think that whenever we have someone to come alongside us and mentor us and guide us through those hard times, or after those hard times to your point, it creates a sense of security that we wouldn't otherwise have. It gives us an outlet. You know, it's almost like therapy, for the working world is kind of the way, I think, of motivational mentorship.
Speaker 1:It's like you need to have that safe place to go and turn to, to be able to talk to someone and say this is what's happening in my organization Am I crazy? So we give that validation of, like you know, let's analyze the situation, let's look at it subjectively or, excuse me objectively and not so subjectively, and let's remove some of the fluff from it. So it just helps to kind of clear the landscape when you're evaluating the situations and gives women a sense of I don't know calm in the storm in a way. I think that when we're going through these situations, it's often some of the most stressful times. It's often some of the hardest times to pull yourself out of that and think I need help, right. So I encourage women who are in the midst of that storm to reach out, like that is the time Hopefully you don't ever get there but if you are there, like don't do it alone, there's people out there that will help. Face with Grace is just one of many organizations willing to do that.
Speaker 2:But it's so important, so important to look for that support. How do you balance the piece of people not being happy and how do you prevent it from being a complaint session right versus actually processing through and helping it be productive to navigate through that?
Speaker 1:That's a great question and that is one of the things I pride ourselves on at Faced with Grace is that we do a really good job of analyzing the situation. So I've got several different tools that we've created. One of those is like a workplace health assessment. So again, we can kind of remove that subjectivity and the emotion out of it. We don't ignore the emotion. I think this is a really important piece of it. But after we talk through that, then we look at the facts. Right, let's clear out the noise, a framework called open eyes, open minds, open hearts, and that kind of helps break things down into just bite-sized chunks that are realistic and fact-based versus all the feelings that come along with those situations. And in doing that it just creates a very clean roadmap to look at a situation, decide what we want to do with it and then take steps and take action steps from there.
Speaker 2:And you talk about transforming pain into power. What are some of the most impactful transformations you've witnessed through Faced with Grace?
Speaker 1:simplest, but yet the biggest and just the most impactful one that I've seen time and time again is that when women show up to Face With Grace, either in our roundtable sessions or in personal sessions, over the phone or whatever it may be everyone says the same thing, no matter what industry you're in, no matter what your job is or your role or title it's. I thought I was crazy and now I know I'm not, I'm not alone, and I thought I was. And to me, like it just hits home every time I hear that because it's like yes, first of all like yes because it feels like I'm accomplishing what I set out to do, is like you are not alone. You have a support system here built in, but just the validation that people need to then trigger change. Right? I think sometimes, especially as women, like we just need that external validation to say you are enough. This is not a you issue, this is a systemic issue. You know, whatever situation may be, we can validate that for you and help you take steps to a positive, healthier tomorrow.
Speaker 2:Curious as you think about. Sometimes people feel like this is a mountain, right, and it's not easy to conquer a mountain. What are maybe a couple of, like, smaller steps, actionable things that someone can do? Maybe they're even just baby steps around trying to not feel like it's such an overwhelming thing to conquer, rather like okay, I'm going to take a little bite of this today. In what ways can they do that to create more of a positive impact in their situation?
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's a great question. You know, I think that sometimes it starts with finding a trusted confidant in your workplace, right Like finding a friend who's going through it with you and again can offer some of that validation. But to create that level of support within your organization, that's kind of baby step number one. Not to say that you're creating this like us versus them. I never want to come across that way of Facebook grace, but there is something to be said for a trusted confidant, and when I say trusted, you've got to make sure that person truly is a trusted human.
Speaker 1:Secondly, you know, I think that it's starting with yourself. It's getting very self-aware of A. Am I contributing to this toxicity at all? Because even when I've been in situations where I've looked at an organization and been able to remove myself from that and look back on those times, it's like that toxicity affected me as well and I know I was part of the problem at times. It's like that toxicity affected me as well and I know I was part of the problem at times and I know I could have done better.
Speaker 1:I think as humans, that's a hard thing to admit. So we have to first look within and figure out okay, how can I make sure that I'm no longer contributing to this and feeding into it and making it worse for anyone? And then, in turn, what can I do to spin things more positively and create what we call like a luminous leader and be that guiding light for others, so that you can be a new source of positivity for people and a new source of healthy leadership for people, even if you are, you know, like, for instance, in a hospital as a physical therapist, if I'm just a staffie, I can still do that. I don't have to have some fancy leadership title to lead other people to show them a good example. So I think those are just a couple of steps that you can take today that really can make a big difference.
Speaker 2:And I think we mirror so much of this right and we may not be the only one feeling like this. And so, in that kind of connection within the company and having somebody trusted to be able to talk to, we're almost like giving permission to those around us to be able to say, like let's take, I'm going to take this small step toward creating a better environment, or towards figuring out and navigating the environment, and I think that gives permission, that mirrors it to other people, to really, you know, it's like being that taking that brave first step.
Speaker 1:And it's also you can also create sort of like an accountability partner in that as well, right? Hey, I know that this is the dynamic in this organization. I'm not a fan of it, You're not a fan of it. Let's hold each other accountable to being that guiding light for other people and not letting it perfuse into us and us turn around and perfuse that back out into the system. So I think it's really valuable to use that trusted person like that.
Speaker 2:Okay, that's where we hit the pause button. Next week, in part two, caitlin gets real about the hidden toll of workplace toxicity on mental health, why asking for help is the bravest step, and her bold vision for equipping young women to spot red flags before they start their careers. She'll leave you with one piece of advice that could change the way you advocate for yourself forever. You're not going to want to miss it. Hope to see you back next week.
Speaker 2:If today's episode challenged you, moved you or lit a fire in your soul, don't keep it to yourself. Share it with somebody who's ready to rise. Could I ask you to take 30 seconds to leave a review? It's the best way to say thank you and help this show reach more bold leaders like you, because this isn't just a review. It's the best way to say thank you and help this show reach more bold leaders like you, because this isn't just a podcast, it's a movement. We're not here to play small. We're here to lead loud, one bold and unapologetic step at a time. Until next time, stay bold, stay grounded and make moves that make mediocre uncomfortable.
