Rise From Within, with Terri Pugh

There's a rule a lot of women in business are still following, and that a lot of women are actually still worried about – whether to dress professionally, and how to dress the part for the event they’re going to. For some women it really changes the way they carry themselves and speak, and for some it determines whether they’ll actually turn up in the first place.
But where did that rule actually come from? And does it still hold?
In this episode I challenge the idea that formal equals credible, and explore why dressing with personality, colour and individual style doesn't undermine your authority (and that it can actually strengthen it). 
I’m going to tell you about the difference between dress code and personal style. This is a conversation about what you wear, why it matters, and who you're actually dressing for in the first place.
In this episode I cover:
The networking room moment that challenged my previous thoughts about professional dress
Why context matters and the industries where dress codes exist for real, legitimate reasons
The impossible tightrope women are still walking when it comes to appearance in business or in the workplace
The difference between a dress code and personal style, and how one is imposed and one is chosen
Why the most distinctive women in business are often the most trusted and remembered
How dressing for yourself rather than for external approval changes everything
Why business casual for women has nothing to do with abandoning professionalism and everything to do with authenticity
Key takeaways:
You don't have to dress like everyone else to be taken seriously
A dress code is a rule someone else gave you. Your style is yours.
The women who look like themselves are usually the ones people remember
Dressing for other people's approval is tiring, and it shows in what you do.
Your style is part of your brand. Don't sacrifice that to please other people.
Nobody wrote the professional dress rules for you. You don't have to follow them.
Mentioned in this episode:
My new membership – The Rise Community. There will be just 22 founding member spaces. After that you will sign up at the full monthly price. If you want one of those slots you need to be on the waitlist. Join that here: https://terripugh.com/the-rise-waitlist-may-2026/
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A quick heads up - my transcriptions are automatically generated. For this reason there may be errors, incorrect words, bad spelling, bad grammar, and other things that just seem a little 'off'. You'll still be able to understand what is being said though, so please just ignore that and enjoy the episode.

Being opinionated as a woman gets treated like some kind of character flaw. 
You get called “too much” or “intense” or “aggressive”. And then you start to change your language. You stop and edit a sentence halfway through it. You stop speaking up in rooms where you have something valuable to say. 
But being opinionated is not the problem. The problem is what happens when you start editing yourself to keep other people comfortable.
In this episode of the Rise From Within podcast In this episode I’m talking about having strong opinions, why they’ve helped me lead and get things done, and why “tone it down” is not sensible, neutral advice. I'm getting into women speaking up at work, leadership vs likeability, and the cost of you not voicing your opinions.
Strong opinions have been useful in my life. They’re how I get things done in pool spaces. They’re how I push back on diet culture. They’re how I’ve built a business that attracts the right people instead of trying to be liked by everyone.
There are many people who benefit when women don’t speak up and voice their opinions, don’t take up space in leadership, and don’t trust their own judgement, so I'll give you some examples of that too. 
If you’ve been trying to be more palatable or acceptable so you can be taken seriously, this episode will probably irritate you... but in a good way, so that begin to own your opinionatedness!
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🍰 Buy me a cake and support the show
☝️ If you love the show and want to support it, just click this link here.

A quick heads up - my transcriptions are automatically generated. For this reason there may be errors, incorrect words, bad spelling, bad grammar, and other things that just seem a little 'off'. You'll still be able to understand what is being said though, so please just ignore that and enjoy the episode.

Men comment on women's bodies. Their weight, their clothing, their appearance, their choices. They do it confidently, casually, and often without a second thought.
Where does that authority come from?
Not one of them has spent a single day living in a woman's body, navigating a world that judges bigger bodies and links body confidence to how seriously women in business are taken.
In this episode I'm pulling that apart. 
What men actually comment on and why they feel entitled to do it. 
What they genuinely don't know about what it costs a woman to get dressed, walk into a room, show up on camera, or charge what her work is worth. 
And where those absorbed opinions end up living in our memories for the rest of time, consuming the capacity that should be going into your business, your visibility, your decisions, your presence.
Their opinion is never data. It is never feedback. It is never the truth about you.
It is just noise from the outside, delivered with confidence by people who have never once had to live here.
Your head is far too valuable a space to keep renting out to them.
Send Me Fan Mail
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🤩 JOIN THE RISE COMMUNITY 🤩
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🍰 Buy me a cake and support the show
☝️ If you love the show and want to support it, just click this link here.

A quick heads up - my transcriptions are automatically generated. For this reason there may be errors, incorrect words, bad spelling, bad grammar, and other things that just seem a little 'off'. You'll still be able to understand what is being said though, so please just ignore that and enjoy the episode.

In this episode of the Rise From Within podcast, I'm talking about something I've been experiencing recently — functional burnout. This is not the dramatic, can't-get-out-of-bed version most people picture. It’s the kind where you're still doing everything, still showing up, and still ticking the boxes, but something feels off and your body is telling you it's had enough.
I'm sharing what it actually looked like for me: the emotional strain, the snappiness, the tiredness, and the moment I realised I could see exactly where I was over committing but couldn't work out what to cut because I genuinely wanted to do all of it.
That's the tangle this episode is really about. What happens when the things draining you are things you love? How do you recognise burnout when your life is full of good stuff? And how do you make decisions about pulling back and cutting things out when stepping back feels like compromising and losing part of yourself?
I'm also sharing the signs that are easy to miss. There are plenty of indications that don't look like burnout on the surface but are definitely worth paying attention to. 
And I'm talking about what changed for me when I finally made some decisions on what to let go of, and why a Tuesday night making pancakes with my family felt like the most significant thing I'd done in weeks.
If you're still functioning, still showing up, but running on fumes, this one's for you.
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🍰 Buy me a cake and support the show
☝️ If you love the show and want to support it, just click this link here.

A quick heads up - my transcriptions are automatically generated. For this reason there may be errors, incorrect words, bad spelling, bad grammar, and other things that just seem a little 'off'. You'll still be able to understand what is being said though, so please just ignore that and enjoy the episode.

Do you ever leave a networking event realising you know exactly what everyone else does… but hardly anyone could say the same about you?
You might have had good conversations. You might have felt comfortable, even enjoyed yourself, and yet nothing has come of it. No follow‑ups. No referrals. No real sense that being in that room made any difference to your business.
In this episode of Rise From Within, I’m talking about why that happens.
This isn’t about having a better pitch, being more confident, or forcing yourself to sound salesy. It’s about the very common ways women hold back at networking events without realising — asking questions instead of speaking about themselves, minimising what they do, or moving the focus away from their work and asking others about what they do instead.
I explore what’s actually going on underneath those behaviours, why networking confidence can feel harder the more experienced you become, and how being liked at networking doesn’t automatically lead to being remembered or referred.
In this episode, I cover:
Why networking confidence often looks like being polite, asking lots of questions, and keeping the focus off yourself
The difference between being socially present and being professionally present at networking events
Why confidence at networking events can feel harder, not easier, as your business grows
The cost of being liked at networking but not referred
What it really means to own what you do without apology in business spaces
I also talk about the temptation to say “they weren’t my people anyway” and dismiss what's really happened, and why networking isn’t just about who buys from you now, but who might remember, recommend, or refer you later.
This episode is for you if you’re showing up to networking events, feel like you're doing all the right things, and still wondering why it’s not translating into opportunities and sales.
Send Me Fan Mail
Support the show
🤩 JOIN THE RISE COMMUNITY 🤩
Get my emails
Follow on Instagram
Connect with me on LinkedIn
Personal Coaching

🍰 Buy me a cake and support the show
☝️ If you love the show and want to support it, just click this link here.

A quick heads up - my transcriptions are automatically generated. For this reason there may be errors, incorrect words, bad spelling, bad grammar, and other things that just seem a little 'off'. You'll still be able to understand what is being said though, so please just ignore that and enjoy the episode.