Return on Energy: Rethinking Success, Ambition & Motherhood | Carrie Fabris (Bonus Episode)
Minimalist Moms Podcast | Purposeful Life & Parenting Tips
Diane Boden
4.7 • 1K Ratings
🗓️ 20 April 2026
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In this episode, Diane sits down with executive coach, author, and founder of Career Frame, Carrie Fabris, to talk about redefining success, ambition, and motherhood. After more than 20 years in corporate leadership, Carrie shares two pivotal turning points - one in 2014 that led her toward coaching, and another in 2019 when she realized her career no longer felt aligned. She left corporate just before the pandemic and rebuilt her work in a way that better reflected her values. We talk about her concept of “return on energy,” and why how we spend our energy matters more than how we spend our time.
What You’ll Learn...
- Why success needs to be redefined (especially in motherhood)
- The concept of “return on energy” and how to apply it
- What it really means to be “all in”
- How to identify and name your inner critical voice
- Why fear can be a helpful signal - not something to avoid
- How to build a career that aligns with your values
- Practical ways to set boundaries without sacrificing growth
- Why stillness and self-trust are essential for clarity
Links Discussed in This Episode |
- Checkout the podcast storefront for recommendations from Diane.
- Subscribe to the Minimalist Moms Youtube Channel
- Connect with Carrie:
- Website
- Book: All In: A Working Mom's Unapologetic Quest for a Juicy Life
About Carrie|
Carrie Fabris is the founder of CareerFrame, a Dallas-based leadership development and executive coaching firm dedicated to transforming leaders, teams, and organizational culture. She partners with high-performance organizations, including Axios Media, Mouser Electronics, Appfolio, Boingo Wireless, and Expedia, to elevate senior leaders, strengthen leadership teams, and cultivate accountable, thriving workplace cultures.
With over 20 years of corporate experience and 15+ years in leadership roles at Google, Travelocity, Sabre, and Travel Leaders Corporate, Carrie combines real-world business insight with her expertise in CliftonStrengths®, EQ-i 2.0, and Situational Leadership®. Through her signature FRAMEit Method, she delivers high-energy, actionable coaching and workshops that help leaders bridge the gap between achievement and legacy, while maintaining balance, purpose, and impact in their professional and personal lives.
Carrie is also the author of ALL IN: The Working Mom’s Unapologetic Quest for a Juicy Life, sharing her personal journey of navigating corporate ambition, entrepreneurship, and motherhood without compromise. She holds a degree from UT Austin and resides in Dallas with her husband and two children.
Episode Sponsors |
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | For those of you that are new around here, I release bonus episodes that serve a niche part of my audience. So if this content is something that doesn't fit what you're looking for, check out the other episodes that drop this week. Or join me back here next week for episodes that you don't want to miss. I think energy is our most valuable asset, not time, because it doesn't matter how much time we have if we have no energy to do something productive with it. This is Diane Bowden and you're listening to the minimalist moms podcast. |
| 0:25.2 | Today's guest challenges the way many of us think about success, especially as working moms. |
| 0:30.6 | Because for a lot of us, success has been measured by how much we can fit into our time, |
| 0:35.2 | how productive we can be or how well we can do it all. |
| 0:38.6 | But what if the better question isn't about time at all, but about energy? |
| 0:43.2 | In this episode, I'm joined by Carrie Fabrice, executive coach, author, and founder of Career |
| 0:49.1 | Frame to talk about what it looks like to build a life and career that actually feels aligned. |
| 0:54.0 | Carrie shares her own story of stepping away from corporate leadership after realizing something |
| 0:57.9 | wasn't quite right and how that led her to rethink ambition, redefine what it means to be |
| 1:02.5 | all in and create work that fits her life in a more sustainable way. We talk about the concept |
| 1:07.8 | of return on energy, how to work with fear instead of against it, |
| 1:11.4 | and why learning to trust yourself is such a key part of building a life that feels good, |
| 1:15.7 | not just on paper, but in practice. |
| 1:17.9 | If you enjoy the content of today's episode, make sure you hit five stars or leave a review. |
| 1:22.5 | Also, share the episode with a friend that could benefit. |
| 1:26.2 | And with that, let's get into my conversation with |
| 1:28.3 | Carrie. Well, Carrie, thanks for being here. Thanks, Diane. I'm so excited about our |
| 1:38.9 | conversation. Great to meet you. Yeah, great to meet you too. So why don't you just go ahead, |
| 1:43.0 | briefly introduce yourself to the listeners. Tell them a little bit more about what it is that you do. Okay. to meet you too. So why don't you just go ahead, briefly introduce yourself to the listeners. |
| 1:44.6 | Tell them a little bit more about what it is that you do. Okay. So I'm Carrie Fabrice. I am a full-time |
| 1:51.3 | working mom living in Dallas. I've got a company called Career Frame and we are an executive |
| 1:56.5 | coaching firm. So we basically help people frame their careers for leadership and life using our |
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