In this episode of Hard at Work, host Ellen Whitlock Baker welcomes author, two-time founder, and Hype Women CEO Erin Gallagher for a candid conversation about women, work, and the shift from competition to collective power.
Erin shares the origin of the Hype Women movement—including that now-famous photo of Jamie Lee Curtis celebrating Michelle Yeoh—and explains why hype is a verb: it’s the choice to convert admiration into action by promoting, buying from, hiring, referring, and amplifying other women.
Together, Ellen and Erin name the conditioning that teaches women to compete for scarce recognition, how “mean-girl” behavior gets rewarded in professional settings, and why empathy without boundaries leads to chronic self-abandonment and burnout.
Erin offers a practical reframe for jealousy as a signal of desire—when someone else lands a keynote or book deal, ask how they did it, celebrate them publicly, and let your body learn the feeling of abundance.
The two dig into resentment, invisible unpaid labor, and the constant interruptions that drain women’s energy—connecting it to the $10.9 trillion of unpaid work women shoulder globally—and explore how anger can be a healthy messenger when it’s moved through the body: writing, running, singing at top volume in the car, painting, or simply letting yourself feel it.
They also discusses Erin's forthcoming book, Hype Women: Breaking Free from Mean Girls, Patriarchy, and Systems Silencing You (out October 14, 2025), which blends narrative with practical tools to help women stop equating worth with service.
Erin shares the line that changed her life: “I will no longer abandon myself in service to others.”
Listen for honest stories, tangible mindset shifts, and next steps you can take today to hype other women, reclaim your time, and build work that actually supports your life.
(Keywords: hype women, women at work, workplace culture, mean girls, patriarchy, boundaries, burnout recovery, abundance mindset, leadership, Jamie Lee Curtis Michelle Yeoh)
