Episode Summary: "Here’s Why the Girl Boss Era Is Over"

Podcast: The Kate Show
Host: Kate (Socialite Agency)
Episode: #293
Date: November 3, 2025

Overview

In this candid and deeply personal episode, Kate recaps her experience speaking on a panel at High Point Market—a major event for interior design professionals—while dissecting the rise and fall of "the Girl Boss era." Moving far beyond surface marketing tips, she shares vulnerable reflections on womanhood, business, motherhood, and what real success looks like for creative entrepreneurs today. The episode weaves together the panel’s unscripted dialogue and Kate’s own revelations, ultimately challenging listeners to reject toxic hustle culture and rediscover authentic femininity, prioritize family, and ground identity in something more lasting than business achievements.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

The High Point Panel: Setting the Scene

• Arrival and Panel Anticipation (02:00)
  • Kate was invited by Andrea Libros to speak at High Point Market, with panelists including Whitney Runnenberg and moderator LuAnn Nigara.
  • The session unexpectedly drew nearly 100 attendees, creating an atmosphere of warmth, transparency, and vulnerability.
  • The panel was intended to focus on beliefs and mindsets in business, but conversation quickly shifted to balancing business and motherhood.

"Literally none of the outline was followed because the conversation just naturally took a different direction. And it ended up being the most beautiful, beautiful thing." [04:50]

The Girl Boss Era—And Why It's Over

• Critique of 'Girl Boss' Culture (09:45)
  • Kate boldly declares the end of the Girl Boss era, critiquing its encouragement of women to prioritize career over family and adopt a masculine approach to business.
  • She argues this narrative is both unhealthy and unrealistic, often leaving women disconnected from their innate femininity and personal needs.

"The Girlboss era said, prioritize your career. Don't worry about having a family... That's toxic. It was toxic feminism." [09:57]

• The Impact on Female Entrepreneurs
  • Many women in business feel pushed to deny their true desires for nurturing, connection, and family.
  • Kate emphasizes that it’s both possible and necessary for women to honor their femininity and motherhood while building successful businesses.

"We have all these women... who are living this out every day where they're basically having to deny who they are and who they were made to be biologically... You were made to be feminine. If you were a woman, you were made to be feminine." [12:00]

Family, Feminine Integration, and Rethinking Success

• Prioritizing Family Over Hustle (16:30)
  • Panel attendees voiced tension and guilt about wanting to be present mothers or partners while running businesses.
  • Kate shares her personal journey, recounting moments of caring for her children during work and refusing to regret prioritizing them during formative years.

"I will never regret keeping my kids home with me until they're one and a half, two years old, even though I'm working at the same time. Because it's extremely hard. It's very hard." [18:30]

• Rejecting Work-Life Balance—Embracing Integration

  • Quotes Andrea Libros: "There’s no such thing as balance...it’s about integration."
  • The popular metaphor: “The teeter totter on a playground is only balanced for about two or three seconds... So what the heck is this balance we all keep talking about?” [23:10]

• Reframing Success (24:45)

  • Kate notes a shift: women increasingly want businesses that serve their families and personal priorities, not the other way around.

"The true marker of success is how much does my business let me be there for my family, and how can I make it let me be there more?" [26:10]

• Avoiding 'Shoulds' and Owning Choices (28:20)
  • Andrea’s advice: "Stop shoulding yourself."
  • The pressure to "do it all" often comes from internalized expectations, not actual desires or needs.

Gender, Delegation, and Communication in Business & Home

• Letting Go of Masculine Modes (31:05)
  • Kate encourages women to ask for what they need and allow others—especially men—to help instead of buying into the myth of total self-sufficiency.

"What they see when they look at us is the girl boss who not only can do it all, but wants to do it all and doesn't want anyone to help because no one can do it right but her." [39:55]

• Delegation Difficulties

  • Many female solopreneurs struggle to delegate, leading to burnout and isolation.

• Men Want to Help—If Allowed and Informed

  • Kate highlights male attendees' desire to understand and support, and stresses that communication breakdowns, not lack of care, often cause problems at home and in business.

"And what I am working on right now, like, personally, this full transparency, I am working on becoming more feminine. And it's funny, because that's my natural state, but I have pushed it away for so long because it felt like weakness to me." [36:10]

The Question of Identity: Beyond Business

• Notable Quote & Turning Point (45:10)
  • Kate shares from the panel that her identity is not rooted in business metrics but in her faith.

"My identity comes from Jesus. It is found in Jesus because he is the one who gave me the business. He is the one who made me. And even if everything went south... I would know that I am still okay because of Him." [49:10]

• Audience Reaction
  • The panel’s vulnerable turn was met with teary eyes and gratitude, as well as some surprise that such a topic arose at a non-religious industry event.

Memorable Moments & Reflections

• Emotional Audience Response (52:00)
  • Many approached Kate after the panel, moved by the honesty about motherhood and business.
  • Rick Campos (Design Biz Survival Guide) remarks on how big this topic has become at his own retreats.
  • Kate emphasizes the need for communication and support among women and with men.

"We feel like we are abandoning our children. And he was like, whoa. What? Like, genuine shock." [55:15]

• Personal Takeaways
  • Kate credits panelists like Andrea Libros and LuAnn Nigara for believing in her early in her career, and reflects on the full-circle moment of discussing these issues openly.

"I have created so many of my own problems in my own family, in my own relationships, because I bought into the Girl Boss Lie." [37:58]

• On Legacy and Main Priorities
  • Final insight: business is not the sole path to legacy—family and relationships are central.

"The women in that room were not there to make a quick buck. They were there to create legacies. And like I said earlier, you don't create a legacy just by building a business, but by building the family around it." [1:01:25]

Timestamps of Important Moments

• Critique of Girl Boss Era: 09:45 – 13:30
• Work/Motherhood Tension: 16:30 – 23:30
• Balance vs. Integration Discussion: 23:10 – 24:45
• Redefining Success: 24:45 – 26:10
• Delegation Issues and Masculinity: 31:05 – 39:55
• Identity Beyond Business: 45:10 – 49:10
• Faith & Vulnerability at the Panel: 49:10 – 52:00
• Audience Emotional Response: 52:00 – 58:00

Notable Quotes

• "The Girlboss era is over. It's dead. And I am so here for it." [00:01, repeated at 09:45]
• "Just because something feels really hard doesn't mean it was the wrong choice." [22:40]
• "Stop shoulding yourself." — attributed to Andrea Libros [28:25]
• "You can do hard things." — Andrea Libros, referencing a plaque she gifted Kate [20:10]
• "There's no such thing as balance... it’s about integration." — Andrea Libros [23:10]
• "We feel like we are abandoning our children." [55:15]
• "The true marker of success is how much does my business let me be there for my family." [26:10]
• "My identity comes from Jesus. It is found in Jesus because he is the one who gave me the business." [49:10]

Tone and Language

The episode is personal, candid, warm, and relentlessly honest. Kate mixes humor, vulnerability, and direct advice, delivering a clear message of encouragement to women in creative business: let yourself be real, let your family matter, and don’t be afraid to push back against cultural narratives that don’t serve you. Her faith and experiences are presented as personal, not prescriptive, and she credits her coaches, peers, and audience throughout.

Conclusion

This episode stands out as a pivotal reflection on the intersection of business, motherhood, femininity, and faith. Kate’s experiences at High Point and the panel’s raw conversation challenge listeners to reject toxic business tropes and embrace a more integrated, honest vision of success—one that allows business, family, and personal identity to coexist organically, and centers legacy-building over short-term achievement.