In this Atlanta Business Radio interview, host Amy Otto and co‑host Leigh sit down with author and speaker Bernadette Boas. Boas talks about her newly released book, Shading the Corporate Bitch (also referred to as “Shunning the Corporate Bitch”), describing it as a love story between herself and her inner critic. She explains how, after leaving a high‑powered corporate role, she realized she had adopted a hostile, "bitch" persona to succeed in a male‑dominated environment, a persona she later shed. Boas traces the origins of that persona to her modest upbringing, the desire for wealth and status while studying at a wealthy Florida university, and the aggressive corporate culture she entered in her early twenties. The book’s core message is to discard the angst, fear, and superiority that hold people back, allowing confidence and self‑esteem to emerge. Boas also shares how journaling has been her lifelong therapeutic practice, which helped her write the book and sparked a new business venture focused on speaking, coaching, and helping others—especially women—let go of limiting attitudes. The conversation is promotional yet personal, highlighting her transformation, the book’s themes, and her current work as a speaker and journal‑based therapist.
Chapters
ball of fire, and I have no doubt in my mind that she ate breakfast because she's always got tons of energy.
Or drank coffee, one or the other.
Well, we're going to think—
highly caffeinated, almost at all times.
She looks too healthy to just be one of those that guzzles the caffeine.
Really?
Welcome to the Atlanta Business Radio Show.
Who's right, Bernadette?
Ball of fire? All the above.
Bernadette Boas, welcome.
Thank you, Amy. Thank you, Leigh. It's a pleasure to be back.
Yes. So last time you were here, this book was just like a glimmer in your eye.
Oh boy, yeah, it's been a very, very active, active year. The book, Shading the Corporate Bitch, has been a story that's been rumbling. It's a love story, right? Yeah, a love story between me and the inner critic of me. And yes, and yeah, the last time we talked, it was probably just kind of evolved out of my heart and soul when I all of a sudden had this somewhat of an emotional breakdown leaving corporate and realizing that I was so happy when I left, and I couldn't figure out why. Why was I so thrilled about leaving a, you know, high-powered job, a high-powered travel position, salary, so forth and so on? And I— it finally came to me that it was because I had so much angst and attitude and this ego and sense of superiority around being, you know, kind of this highfalutin corporate executive. And all of a sudden, shedded kind of all of that and realized that it was so much easier not to be such a nasty person. And I had chosen years ago to be that nasty person because I thought that's what a woman needed to do. And so the book, I've been writing it. It took me about 10 months to write it. That's your copy, by the way. Oh, thank you. You have been such a great supporter. I needed to make sure I got you a copy of it. Pretty much the first round off the press.
It's fresh.
It is fresh. It is fresh.
Oh, I forgot the inside. And look at this cool bookmark. Everything you do, all your marketing and all your stuff that I see, whether I'm following you on Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn, it all looks so good.
Thank you. And that is compliments. It was obviously my concepts based on the fact that the characters are kind of my before and after. However, Havana Nugent is the one who has designed all of that. So, I have to give her credit because she was—
You don't have to.
Well, I will. I'll give her credit for kind of interpreting my transformation, so to speak. So what are some of the key messages in this book?
First of all, "Shunning the Corporate Bitch." It reads itself to think that it would be just a woman that would read it, but that's not the case, right?
Right?
Absolutely not, which has been kind of surprising to me as well. I pretty much get an even, if it's not, you know, 50/50, it's like 55/45 or 60/40. Because the key messages are that no one should live with a lot of angst or attitude, fear, insecurity, intimidation, because that only gets in the way. Of them being fearless enough to pursue their goals and their dreams. So the message is shed all of that, which is what bitches are. Bitches isn't a person or a trait of a person. What that word means within the title is it is the angst and attitudes and fears and insecurities and intimidations people are holding within them that is preventing them from being able to move forward and pursue their goals and dreams. So the key message is shed it, and you know, you'll find the confidence, the self-esteem, the value of yourself to really go after what it is you want in life.
And how did you personally go about facing these fears? I mean, that's kind of a scary realization.
It was definitely a scary realization to admit to myself that I was such a nasty person for so long. But I But it happened, it happened over time, both developing that personality and yet, and then shedding it. Because I realized I was literally walking around with this scowl on my face. And there's one chapter in the book that I had to add after I even wrote it called "My Facelift." Because after I left and I'd run into people from my old life, they would sit there and literally like look at me while I'm talking to them and they'll be like, Did you get some work done? And I'd be like, and I knew what they were talking about. And they're like, because you look completely different. And I'm like, that's because I don't have a, you know, a bitch written all over my face. And so my realization came by, one, thinking I was having heart attacks or panic attacks, right? Because I was so built up with all this like junk that as my inner child, I think— you know, I wasn't like this my whole life. I mean, I was a very sweet— you know, you go read back your high school yearbook, you know, and you read all the sweet things people say about you. And it was so opposite of what I had become over, you know, in my 20s and 30s. So I just literally had this shedding. I mean, all I can describe it in the book is it was as if in that scene from Wizard of Oz, When the bad witch has the water thrown on her and she starts melting?
Yes.
That's how I felt. Like, when I walked out of that corporate building the day they let me go, I kind of walked in the parking lot, looked back, and said, "I am never doing that again." Wow. And it was as if this whole kind of mask and, you know, bitch just let go of me. That's all I can say. Sorry if anyone's offended, but that's all I can say.
How do you think, Bernadette, how do you think the initial transformation— you said in high school you were this cheery, happy-go-lucky girl, right? The girl next door.
Right.
So, um, what do you think made you transform this first time into this corporate bitch?
Well, it was an intentional move, believe it or not. It was much faster.
Don't you kind of think that in order to to perform or to fit in in certain business situations as a woman, it's kind of expected.
You have to be a little harder. It's—
Right. Is that what you thought?
No. I wish it was that. I wish I could get off the hook that easily.
You had a mentor that said, "Behave this way or you're fired"?
Somewhat.
Really? Really.
Well, what happened was, I'm one of 12 kids.
Wow.
And I bring that up because, you know, we grew up in a very modest middle class environment and home. And then I went down to school in Boca Raton, Florida, at Florida Atlantic University. So if you know that environment, if you know Boca, it's, you know, very wealthy, you know, the kids are very spoiled. And I went to school with some great people, but they all, you know, they all had money. And here I am, this middle-class middle child of 12, and I wanted their lifestyle. And I started getting greedy. I started getting, you know, kind of wanting that superiority that they had. And I found— but yet at the same time, I was watching that their money got them things, and their money also allowed them to be somewhat nasty. So it started in that environment, and I'm not blaming them, believe me. This is all about my taking responsibility. That's what the book is about, for The fact that then I used that influence, plus then going into corporate at a very young age, in my early 20s, and yes, the women and the men that I saw as success, how I defined success, which was power, greed, position, were very aggressive, very somewhat nasty people. And I thought, well, if that's what I want, and they're successful, then that equals my need, you know, in my desire to be successful. So that equals bitch.
But that's the path that you should take in order to achieve that. So there was no person, there was no outlier of, "Oh, look at that lady, so nice and helpful and friendly." Cruella de Vil. You didn't see— no, I'm saying, there was no data point of somebody that was not a bitch, you know, that you could have said, you know, "Go up the light, Bernadette Boas." Don't go to the dark side, go to this side.
Well, it's not to say that I didn't have good influences in my life, but at the same time, kind of on parallel of me adopting this new persona, I was becoming very successful, you know, at a very young age. And success again, in my terms. And therefore I was like, well, it's working, so why not keep going?
Do more of it.
Yes. And then eventually it became part of me as opposed to it being a persona at first. And then kind of dug in deep and stayed there for a long time.
So what are you doing now since the book? I mean, how are you going about— are you speaking?
Sounds like therapy.
Actually, I've always been a journaler, and so I have hundreds and hundreds of journals filled out since I was young. And I always said that journaling, for anyone out there that needs help but you don't have money for a therapist, journaling is the best therapy. Because you just dump everything that's going on in your head and in your heart and soul, and you just put it on paper. And it's amazing once you see it in black and white.
Do you go back and read?
No, I usually don't, although when I started writing the book, I realized that I needed to because it was interesting. I couldn't tap into that bitch anymore. And so I all of a sudden was struggling with the writing because literally 3 years ago when I had that shedding or that melting, I literally went from this nasty person to this unbelievably happy, content, at peace. It was very, very dramatic for me and has been ever since. So going back and tapping into that, I didn't even want to. And then my editor kept on saying, "But you have to. You have to." So since the book, what was really interesting is this book has turned into a whole new business. I started sharing my story immediately after realizing that I had a story and that I had something to say because I'm determined not to have, especially women but also men, I'm determined and dedicated to helping them shed all whatever is holding them
