In this Between the Seasons episode of Why Does It Feel So Wrong to Be Human at Work?, hosts Chris Lee and Pinaki Kathiari are joined by producer Bree Bartos for a Reddit at Work reaction — or so they think.

The post: a young multimedia specialist lands her dream job, befriends a coworker named Amy, and then gets blindsided when Amy goes to their manager and says she doesn’t deserve the role. Years later, OP still carries the imposter syndrome. How do you move on from a betrayal like that? How do you trust your own abilities again?

Chris and Pinaki react in real time, unpacking the relationship dynamics, the role of managers in catching toxic team tension before it metastasizes, and why people rarely do things to you — they do things for themselves. The conversation gets personal, and then it gets really personal.

Because there’s a twist at the end.

In this episode, they discuss:

• Why creative roles carry more emotional weight — and how that creates unique vulnerabilities
• The danger of avoiding confrontation until it’s too late
• What managers should (and often don’t) do when team dynamics break down
• The difference between someone doing something to you vs. for themselves
• What it looks like when competition and friendship collide at work
• How imposter syndrome can outlast the person who planted it

This is Part 1 of 2. Tune in next week to hear the rest of the story — and find out how knowing the truth changes everything.

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Connect with Us

Pinaki Kathiari – LinkedIn | Local Wisdom

Chris Lee – LinkedIn | Gallagher Communication

Bree Bartos – LinkedIn | Local Wisdom

Special thanks to digital communication agency Local Wisdom (www.localwisdom.com) for really believing in our mission and making this podcast possible.

If this episode made you think differently, laugh, or even yell out loud, we want to hear about it! Connect with us on LinkedIn, and don’t forget to rate, review, and share – maybe with your work bestie… or even your boss if you're feeling bold.

We also bring these important conversations to conferences and private workshops, creating space for real, meaningful change. Take the first step at www.whydoesitfeelsowrong.com.

In this Between the Seasons episode, host Pinaki Kathiari and producer Bree Bartos are joined by Nazmul Islam — communications consultant and creator of History Meets Finance — to react in real time to a Reddit post that hits close to home.

The post: two coworkers-turned-best-friends started a podcast together. It began innocently enough, but after a rebrand, the content got raunchy — and then a coworker found it. Now they’re asking Reddit: how do you keep your podcast and your professional life separate? How do you promote something you have to keep secret?

The conversation goes deep fast. Nazmul shares his experience declaring his YouTube channel to a former employer and why transparency early is almost always better than damage control later. Bree reveals she spent two years streaming on Twitch in her “E-girl era” and told exactly no one at work. And Pinaki recalls a coworker who accidentally landed on the Yahoo homepage. Together, they work through the real factors: social media policies, conflict of interest, company culture, career risk, and what it actually means to be a whole person in a workplace that maybe only sees part of you.

Oh, and Bree finds the podcast mid-episode. The plot thickens.

In this episode, they discuss:

• When your creative life gets discovered by your workplace — now what?
• Why being upfront with your employer is almost always the smarter move
• How company type and industry shape what’s acceptable
• Social media policies, conflict of interest, and what you signed when you were hired
• Bree’s two-year Twitch era (and why she kept it secret until now)
• Faceless channels, pseudonyms, and other ways to protect your professional reputation
• When a passion project becomes a real business — and what that changes
• Nazmul’s take: check your analytics before you decide what to risk

It’s a candid, funny, and genuinely useful conversation for anyone who’s ever wondered how much of yourself you’re allowed to bring to work — and how much to keep for yourself.

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Connect with Us

Pinaki Kathiari – LinkedIn | Local Wisdom

Chris Lee – LinkedIn | Gallagher Communication

Bree Bartos – LinkedIn | Local Wisdom

📺 Check out History Meets Finance - YouTube
Nazmul Islam - LinkedIn

Special thanks to digital communication agency Local Wisdom (www.localwisdom.com) for really believing in our mission and making this podcast possible.

If this episode made you think differently, laugh, or even yell out loud, we want to hear about it! Connect with us on LinkedIn, and don’t forget to rate, review, and share – maybe with your work bestie… or even your boss if you're feeling bold.

We also bring these important conversations to conferences and private workshops, creating space for real, meaningful change. Take the first step at www.whydoesitfeelsowrong.com.

In this Between the Seasons episode, host Pinaki Kathiari and producer Bree Bartos welcome Nazmul Islam — communications consultant and creator of History Meets Finance — for a grounded conversation about what it really takes to make thoughtful, well-researched content.

Nazmul walks through how his research process has evolved over the years: from solo Googling, to hiring freelancers on Fiverr, to bringing on journalists for deep-dive research. He shares where AI tools like Claude and NotebookLM fit into his workflow now — and importantly, where they don’t replace human judgment.

The conversation also covers the challenge of staying consistent on a passion project when no one’s making you do it, what it’s like to look at history and finance side by side, and why media literacy and source transparency matter more than ever in a world saturated with AI-generated content.

In this episode, they discuss:

• How Nazmul built History Meets Finance from a weekend side project to 129K+ subscribers
• The role of external accountability in staying consistent on passion projects
• How the research process evolved from solo Googling to working with journalists
• Where AI (Claude, NotebookLM, ChatGPT) fits — and where it doesn’t
• Why entertainment is not the same as information
• The importance of source transparency and building trust with an audience
• Media literacy as a skill we all need to sharpen right now
• What “follow the money” reveals about how society actually works

It’s a practical, curious conversation for anyone who creates content, does research-heavy work, or is trying to figure out how to use AI without losing what makes their work worth trusting.

Check out History Meets Finance here.

Follow Nazmul on LinkedIn.

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Connect with Us

Pinaki Kathiari – LinkedIn | Local Wisdom

Chris Lee – LinkedIn | Gallagher Communication

Bree Bartos – LinkedIn | Local Wisdom

Special thanks to digital communication agency Local Wisdom (www.localwisdom.com) for really believing in our mission and making this podcast possible.

If this episode made you think differently, laugh, or even yell out loud, we want to hear about it! Connect with us on LinkedIn, and don’t forget to rate, review, and share – maybe with your work bestie… or even your boss if you're feeling bold.

We also bring these important conversations to conferences and private workshops, creating space for real, meaningful change. Take the first step at www.whydoesitfeelsowrong.com.