0. Trailer- Welcome to the FWord

They call us feisty. Difficult. Too much.
 We call it female... and it’s time we owned it.

In this no-holds-barred trailer episode, host Amber Bardon pulls back the curtain on why The FWord podcast was born: because one conversation about female leadership wasn’t enough. This is the platform for the disruptors, the rule-breakers, the women who got tired of waiting for a seat and started building their own damn tables.

Amber shares her raw, real journey from being underestimated in interviews to founding a nationally ranked tech company and now launching her fourth podcast, the boldest one yet.

If you're ready to stop shrinking, start speaking, and lead without apology, you're in the right place. 

The F Word starts now.
Hit play. Then hit the system where it hurts.

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Transcript

I am Amber Barden, and I have a confession to make. I wasn't planning to launch another podcast. I've already hosted three, but then something happened. I recorded an episode on female leadership for my other podcast, raising Tech, and it hit different. It wasn't just about the good conversation. It was a wake up call, women telling me they finally felt seen.

That they were tired of the same stories, the same advice, and told by the same voices, and I thought this needs its own stage. So here we are. Welcome to the F word.           
Now let's just clear something up. This isn't about shock value, the F word, it stands for female. But let's be honest, being female in leadership, in tech and entrepreneurship, it can feel like an F-bomb to the system.

We disrupt, we challenge, we show up, speak up, take up space, and sometimes that makes people uncomfortable. They call us feisty. Formidable. I didn't always have a mic or a title. I started out in a help desk role, entry level IT in senior living. No tech degree, no investors, but I learned and I built and I rose when I was ready to take the next step, I interviewed for IT director roles, just to hear things like, we've never interviewed a woman before.

Do you actually want to work or just work from home with your kids? And you only get five vacation days a year after your first 90. Hard pass. Instead of playing small, I went all in. I launched Parasol Alliance. I managed IT company serving senior living communities, and I built it the way I wish companies were run. Virtual,  unlimited PTOA culture grounded in trust, transparency, and accountability.

And as of today, we won 30 best and brightest workplace awards and we're helping communities across the country and even internationally. Now, I wanna build something bigger than a company. I want to build a movement.

That's why I created the F word, a no filter podcast about the real gritty, sometimes gloriously messy lives of women  📍 who lead. We're not here for curated perfection. We're here for the unfiltered truth. We'll talk power plays and imposter syndrome. Raising capital and raising hell. And yes, we'll tackle the uncomfortable stuff too.

Bias. Burnout, and breaking through boys club boardrooms. The F word is for every woman who's ever been called too much and chose to be even more.

It's for the visionaries, the disruptors, the builders and breakers who are rewriting the rules of leadership. One bold move at a time. This isn't self-help. This is real talk. This is the kind of podcast you listen to when you're ready to stop shrinking and start showing up fully. So if you ever felt underestimated, overlooked, or straight up pissed off by how the system still treats women in power, welcome.

This space is for you. /  

 They said I was too aggressive. So I got louder./  

 Underestimated is my favorite power move./

You don’t have to lead like a man to lead like a boss./

Hit that subscribe button wherever you get your podcasts and join us for fierce conversations That challenge, inspire and fuel your fire because playing nice that never built an empire.