#557 – When Striving Steals Your Joy with Ashley Menzies Babatunde
The Sister Circle Podcast
Chrystal Evans Hurst
4.9 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 1 December 2025
⏱️ 42 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Today I’m talking with Ashley Menzies Babatunde—lawyer, DEI leader, storyteller, and host of No Straight Path. Ashley shares how striving, achievement, and perfection shaped her early years…and how failure, burnout, and grief invited her to slow down and rediscover who she really is.
We talk about knowing when you’re striving, how to reconnect with your purpose, the healing power of journaling, and navigating big feelings while becoming a new mother without your own mom here. Ashley also introduces the concept of “time affluence” and how to create space in your life for the things that actually bring joy.
It’s honest, warm, insightful, and full of permission to breathe.
Highlights from Today’s Episode
- Simple signs you’re striving instead of living intentionally
- How journaling helps uncover your passions
- The power of mentorship and sharing your network
Related Resources
- Connect with Ashley on Instagram or her website.
- Listen to Ashley’s podcast “No Straight Path” here.
- Check out Happier Hour by Cassie Holmes, PhD
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi there. Thanks for listening to the Sister Circle podcast. My name is Crystal Evanshurst, |
| 0:09.6 | and I'm your host. Thanks for tuning in to another episode of the podcast that's designed to help you |
| 0:15.8 | live your life well and to make it a life you love. Listen, you get to choose. |
| 0:28.8 | Hey, y'all. So you may or may not realize this, but I have this little spot set up on my |
| 0:35.0 | website where anyone and everyone from a media company, PR company, |
| 0:40.4 | or individuals can send me a message to talk to me about being on the podcast. I get so many |
| 0:47.4 | requests. I can't have everyone on. I wish I could. There's so many interesting stories and so |
| 0:53.3 | many people who have messages that other people need to hear. But alas, I'm I could. There's so many interesting stories and so many people who have messages |
| 0:54.6 | that other people need to hear, but alas, I only do an interview once a week. But this one came |
| 1:02.6 | through, and I pretty quickly and immediately message to Emily, who handles our podcast |
| 1:09.4 | right now. Yeah, this seems like a good one. And I'm really happy |
| 1:12.8 | to have someone that you may not have heard of joining us on the podcast. I want you to help me |
| 1:20.1 | welcome Ms. Ashley Menzies, Babatoon Day. And I would love to have her tell you a little bit more |
| 1:26.8 | about herself. But I want to tell you first why I said, yes, I should have her on the podcast. I am a big striving person who believes that we are not doing. We are beers first. And I also understand how grief forms, how we are our impact and what we want our legacy to be in terms of the relationships |
| 1:45.7 | we have going forward. And so when you sent that request in, what got me is, okay, a lawyer, |
| 1:55.3 | well-educated, career, Stanford, all these different things. |
| 2:01.4 | And we talked a little bit beforehand about the experience of being the own little chocolate chip in some spaces. |
| 2:05.7 | I get that. |
| 2:06.4 | That's my experience too. |
| 2:08.6 | But at the intersection of striving and the intersection of grief, losing your mother. |
| 2:17.7 | I'm sure you'll talk about that. |
| 2:18.9 | And the intersection now of being a mother and how that has reoriented the decisions, |
... |
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