She’s Been Through It

She’s Been Through It

by Christine Campana

Season 1

Off the Clock: The Trip I Still Haven't Taken, Fall Comfort Food & Wedding Hot Takes

What's really on your mind when the work week winds down? In this week's Off the Clock, I'm sharing a mix of travel dreams, cozy fall favorites, wedding beauty opinions, and a few things I've been loving lately. From why Okinawa, Japan has remained at the top of my travel bucket list for years to the surprisingly simple trick that improved my homemade soup game, this episode feels like catching up with a friend. We also get into concert memories, the country artists currently on repeat, Penn State volleyball season, and my ongoing Gilmore Girls rewatch, including the debate that refuses to die: Team Jess, Team Dean, or Team Logan? In this episode: ✈️ Why Okinawa is still my dream destination 🍲 Butternut squash soup, sourdough bread, and cozy fall cooking 🎵 Concert memories and current country music favorites 💄 Wedding makeup and hair hot takes and choosing authenticity over trends 🏐 Penn State volleyball season thoughts and State College nostalgia 📺 Gilmore Girls rewatch conversations and favorite characters Whether you're planning your next trip, embracing fall, navigating wedding decisions, or simply looking for a fun lifestyle podcast to unwind with, pull up a chair and join the conversation. 🎙️ New episodes every week 📸 Instagram: @shesbeenthroughsomeshit 🎥 YouTube: @shesbeenthroughsomesht

Why High Achievers Need to Stop Chasing Every Challenge | MBA Lessons on Failure, Perfectionism & Success

What if the next level of success isn't pushing harder, but recognizing which challenges are no longer yours to solve? In this episode of Off the Clock, I share how failing a finance exam during my MBA became an unexpected turning point in my understanding of ambition, achievement, and self-worth. For most of my life, I've been drawn to difficult things. From earning an engineering degree to building a technical career and pursuing an MBA while working full-time, I've often measured growth by the size of the challenge in front of me. But one failed exam forced me to ask a difficult question: Was I pursuing this goal because I genuinely wanted it, or because I felt obligated to prove I could do it? We explore how perfectionism evolves as we grow older, why high achievers often confuse capability with desire, and how failure can provide valuable information instead of serving as evidence of our worth. In This Episode 🎓 MBA Student Life Balancing graduate school, work, relationships, and personal responsibilities The finance course that challenged my assumptions about success Lessons learned in the final stages of an MBA journey 💡 Perfectionism & Personal Growth Why ambitious people struggle to walk away from difficult goals The difference between growth and self-punishment Letting go of achievement as a measure of self-worth 📈 Career & Leadership Development Lessons from engineering school and technical leadership Building confidence through setbacks How experiences with failure shape stronger decision-making 🔥 Failure & Resilience The engineering exam that nearly broke my confidence Why retaking a class changed the trajectory of my career Reframing failure as feedback instead of identity This Episode Is For You If: ✅ You're pursuing an MBA or graduate degree ✅ You struggle with perfectionism ✅ You're a high achiever who constantly raises the bar ✅ You're navigating career growth or leadership challenges ✅ You're learning to separate self-worth from achievement ✅ You're questioning whether a goal still aligns with who you want to become This conversation is a reminder that success isn't always about doing more, achieving more, or taking on the hardest path available. Sometimes wisdom looks like choosing the path that's right for you. Topics Covered: MBA student life, graduate school, perfectionism, personal growth, failure and resilience, career development, leadership growth, ambition, confidence building, self-worth, high achiever mindset, success mindset, lifelong learning, work-life balance, and professional development. Take the hard hat off. You're Off the Clock.

Off the Clock: Country Music, College Textbook Scams & Airbnb Rants

You know me as the engineer. The workplace stories, career lessons, women-in-STEM conversations, and occasional corporate chaos. But what happens when the laptop closes and the hard hat comes off? In the very first Off the Clock bonus episode of She's Been Through Some Shit, we're talking about everything that has absolutely nothing to do with engineering and everything to do with the things I'm loving lately. I'm sharing my honest review of Elin Hilderbrand's latest release, the TV shows currently occupying my evenings, and why I've fully entered my Ella Langley era. From comfort watches and workplace dramas to country music obsessions and hot takes on life's most important debates, this episode is a fun peek into who I am beyond my career. We'll also play a rapid-fire round of This or That, tackling questions like: ☕ Coffee or tea? 🏨 Hotel or Airbnb? 🍷 Wine or cocktails? 🎬 Rom-com or thriller? If you love book recommendations, TV show discussions, country music, lifestyle podcasts, and casual conversations that feel like catching up with a friend, you're in the right place. In This Episode ✅ My review of Elin Hilderbrand's newest book ✅ What I'm currently watching, including New Girl, Ransom Canyon, and a workplace drama featuring a woman in finance ✅ Why Ella Langley has completely taken over my playlists ✅ Fun "This or That" lifestyle questions and hot takes ✅ The hobbies, entertainment, and interests that keep me busy outside of engineering ✅ A behind-the-scenes look at life beyond work Topics Covered Book recommendations Elin Hilderbrand TV show recommendations New Girl Ransom Canyon Workplace dramas Country music Ella Langley Lifestyle podcast Women in STEM Work-life balance Entertainment reviews Pop culture Personal interests Off-the-clock life This is the lighter side of the podcast. Less engineering, more books, binge-worthy shows, music discoveries, and the random opinions that don't always fit into career conversations. 📚 Got a book I should read? 📺 A show I need to watch? 🎵 A song I should add to my playlist? Send me your recommendations. I'd love to hear them. 📸 Instagram: @shesbeenthroughsomeshit 💛 Enjoying the podcast? Follow the show so you never miss an episode. If you enjoy these conversations, leaving a rating and review is one of the best ways to support the podcast and help new listeners discover it. Thank you for being here!

Why One Teammate “Forgets” Every Assignment - Every Week (Weaponized Incompetence Explained)

Why does one MBA teammate always "forget" the assignment was due - every single week? If you've ever sat in a group project (or a team meeting at work) wondering how you became the only adult in the room, this episode is for you. I'm breaking down three real stories from my MBA program - plus one from corporate America - that exposed a pattern I now call Weaponized Confidence: the art of looking capable while contributing almost nothing, and letting everyone else clean up the mess. Inside this episode: 🎯 The MIA Mystery Man - the teammate who showed up to meetings live-streaming himself driving on the highway (yes, really), and the surprising lesson about grace vs. unpaid labor. 🎯 The Weaponized Confidence Olympics - what happens when "I didn't know" turns from an accident into a management strategy, and the moment my professor said the sentence every team lead dreams of hearing. 🎯 The Dream Team - the semester everything changed, and what a genuinely functional, high-trust team actually feels like (spoiler: it's rare, and it's not an accident). 🎯 When School Becomes Real Life - why the same dynamics from your MBA cohort show up in your career, and how "convenient incompetence" quietly trains you to keep rescuing people who don't want to grow. This isn't a men-vs-women thing, and it's not a rant. It's a real look at leadership, accountability, teamwork, and why group projects might be the single best (and most frustrating) preparation for corporate America you'll ever get - long before your first performance review. If you've ever asked yourself, "how am I the youngest person here but somehow the adult?" — you're going to feel very seen. Perfect for fans of career advice podcasts, MBA and business school life, leadership and management lessons, corporate storytelling, workplace culture commentary, and real talk about teamwork, accountability, and burnout. 👉 Got a chaotic group project or workplace story? Leave a comment or call the podcast voicemail at (267) 281-3633 - your story might get featured in a future episode. 🔔 Follow the podcast so you don't miss next episode's topic: what happens when the person you're supposed to learn from becomes the person you end up managing.

He Wanted a Man - Instead He Got Me: My First Engineering Internship Nightmare

Recording this from our Airbnb in Alaska after an already chaotic trip. We landed at 9:30 PM, got to bed around 11, then woke up at 4:30 AM to hike 9.5 miles with 3,500 feet of elevation gain. With rain coming later in the week, we figured: if today is the day, then today is the day. Sometimes you don’t wait for perfect conditions - you just go. One of my favorite Alaska discoveries? You can rent bear spray… at a 24‑hour coffee drive‑through. Only here can you grab a latte and prep for a bear encounter. Bear spray is basically pepper spray with significantly more enthusiasm, and they even make practice versions, so you don’t learn how it works while a bear is charging at you. We practiced at home because you obviously can’t fly with the real thing. Being here reminded me of another environment that felt hostile - except instead of bears, it was my first engineering internship. I was nineteen. Almost every lunch break, I’d lock myself in a bathroom stall and cry - not because engineering was hard, but because the people were. On day one, my boss’s assistant, Trish, pulled me aside and said something I’ll never forget: “Gary didn’t want to hire you. He wanted a man. He doesn’t think you’re going to amount to anything.” Welcome to the company. The office felt like a sitcom: poodles roaming around, a thirty‑year‑old coworker asking me out, and Gary - the owner - who believed yelling was a management strategy. He wasn’t subtle. If he had an opinion, you heard it. Usually loudly. Usually directed at women. At nineteen, I thought maybe this was normal. Maybe every office felt like this. It took years to understand the difference between a workplace that challenges you and one that chips away at your confidence. The bathroom became my safe place. I’d cry quietly, wipe my face, and walk back out pretending everything was fine. My dad drove me to work every morning and immediately disliked Gary. Every day I begged my parents to let me quit. Every day they said no. Later they told me they knew I was safe, the internship had an end date, and learning to work with difficult people would help me later. I didn’t appreciate that then. I do now. The worst moment? The Excel incident. I was presenting graphs and data I understood well. Gary stopped me and said, “That’s wrong.” I explained why it wasn’t. He doubled down: “That’s not how Excel works.” When I calmly walked him through it again, he threw his hands up in front of the entire office and yelled: “I’m not talking to her anymore! Christine doesn’t exist!” Nobody looked surprised. That told me everything. Near the end of the internship, Gary took us to tour a friend’s car garage. I wasn’t rude - I just wasn’t pretending to be fascinated. On the drive back he said, “You didn’t seem very grateful.” For what, exactly? After a summer of criticism, I wasn’t performing gratitude for someone who hadn’t treated me professionally. Then came my last day. Gary called me into his office. I braced for one final lecture. Instead he said: “You were the best intern I ever had.” It didn’t erase the tears or the anxiety, but it taught me something: people often decide who you are before they meet you. Reality eventually rewrites their story. That internship shaped how I lead today. People don’t forget how you make them feel. One bad manager does not get to decide whether you belong. One toxic workplace does not define your future. Sometimes the problem isn’t you. Sometimes it’s just Gary. Youtube: @shesseensomeengineeringshit IG: @shesbeenthroughsomeshit

The Hoodie-and-Glasses Years: Hiding as a Woman in STEM

A guy once called me "engineering hot." Not just attractive. Attractive for an engineer. Adjusted for major. Rated on a curve. At eighteen years old, entering Penn State's engineering program, I laughed it off. But beneath that comment was a message I had already started absorbing: That women are supposed to choose between being smart and being attractive. That confidence can be mistaken for flirting. That visibility comes with consequences. And that sometimes the easiest way to survive in a male-dominated environment is to become invisible. In this episode, I'm sharing what it was like navigating engineering school, entering the workforce as a woman in STEM, and realizing how much energy I spent trying to manage other people's perceptions of me. From hiding behind hoodies and avoiding attention to learning how to take up space without apologizing for it, this is a conversation about identity, confidence, workplace culture, and the subtle ways women learn to make themselves smaller. We'll talk about the impossible double standards women face, the pressure to be taken seriously, and what happens when you stop editing yourself to make other people comfortable. Most importantly, we'll talk about the freedom that comes from showing up as your full, authentic self. In This Episode ✅ The "engineering hot" comment that stayed with me for years ✅ Growing up in a large engineering program at Penn State ✅ The stereotype that women can't be both intelligent and attractive ✅ Navigating engineering school as a woman in STEM ✅ Double standards, workplace perceptions, and professional identity ✅ Why I tried to become invisible at work ✅ How authenticity became more valuable than approval ✅ The surprising realization that hiding wasn't protecting me ✅ Confidence, self-worth, and learning to take up space ✅ Why women shouldn't have to shrink themselves to be taken seriously Topics Covered Women in STEM Women in Engineering Workplace Confidence Career Development Professional Identity Gender Stereotypes Engineering School STEM Careers Authentic Leadership Workplace Culture Self-Worth Confidence Building Corporate Culture Personal Growth Female Engineers Taking Up Space Authenticity at Work Professional Women If you've ever felt like you needed to make yourself smaller to fit in, this episode is for you. Whether you're in engineering, tech, finance, healthcare, leadership, or any environment where you've felt pressure to edit parts of yourself, I hope this conversation reminds you of something important: You don't need to choose between being competent and being yourself. And if anyone ever calls you "engineering hot"? You're hot. Period. 📸 Instagram: @shesbeenthroughsomeshit 🎥 YouTube: She's Been Through Some Shit 💛 Enjoying the podcast? Follow the show so you never miss an episode. If this conversation resonated with you, leaving a rating and review helps more people discover the podcast and supports future episodes about career growth, confidence, workplace culture, and life as a woman in STEM. Thank you for being here.

Women in STEM Chaos: The Drug Test Panic That Confirmed My Exit From Defense Engineering

If you’ve ever been a woman in engineering trying to make a major career move while your anxiety is doing backflips, this episode will feel like a spiritual experience. Today, I’m telling the full story of the drug test panic that hit me right as I was leaving my government defense engineering job - not because the drug test made me quit, but because the stakes felt so high that my brain convinced me I’d get stuck in the job I was desperately trying to leave. It’s chaotic, honest, funny, and painfully relatable for anyone navigating STEM anxiety, engineering burnout, or a career change in a male‑dominated field. This episode starts in Coronado, where I was wrapping up a long, stressful trip working on a Navy‑adjacent project. I had just accepted a corporate job offer - a huge moment for any woman in STEM trying to escape the “stable but soul‑sucking” government engineering path. My boss was on his honeymoon, so I sat with this life‑altering secret for days before finally calling him to resign. And yes, I did it while he was driving home. And yes, I regretted that immediately. From there, the story turns into a mix of women‑in‑engineering chaos, Coronado sunsets, grilled cheese made by an older man who buttered both sides of the bread like a culinary king, and the emotional whiplash of realizing: Oh shit… I’m actually doing this. But the real spiral started when corporate sent me the background check and drug test instructions. If you’ve ever dealt with OCD, intrusive thoughts, or high‑stakes anxiety, you already know where this is going. I had been taking non‑THC CBD oil to calm my nerves, but my brain decided to run a full internal audit: “What if it secretly has THC?” “What if the test picks up a molecule?” “What if I fail and have to go back to my defense job?” “What if I ruin my entire life because of a dropper of Whole Foods CBD?” So naturally… I went to CVS and bought two drug tests. Because nothing says “women in STEM” like redundant validation. The pharmacist absolutely judged me. My boyfriend (now husband) absolutely questioned me. And I absolutely took both tests like I was running a personal compliance lab in my bathroom. Spoiler: they were negative. Obviously. But the spiral wasn’t about the test - it was about the fear of going backward. The fear of staying in a job that was burning me out. The fear of losing the one chance I had to leave government engineering and step into a healthier, more aligned career. This episode is for every woman in engineering who has ever felt trapped, overwhelmed, or terrified of making a big move. It’s for anyone who’s ever spiraled over something tiny because the bigger thing felt massive. It’s for anyone navigating STEM anxiety, career transitions, government engineering burnout, or the emotional chaos of trying to build a life that actually fits. If you’re in your own “Oh shit… I’m actually doing this” moment - this one’s for you.

Workplace Anxiety: When Your Brain Creates Problems That Don't Exist

Have you ever convinced yourself you were getting fired because your boss didn't reply to an email? Or assumed everyone at work knew something you didn't because of one awkward look, one unanswered message, or one mysterious meeting invite? If so, you're not alone. In this episode, we're talking about workplace anxiety, overthinking at work, imposter syndrome, career anxiety, work stress, and the fear of being the last to know. These are the kinds of thoughts that quietly creep in during the workday and suddenly take over, making ordinary moments feel like evidence that something is wrong. I'm sharing a very real story about the spiral that never needed to happen. A look from a coworker. Silence from my manager. A meeting invite with no agenda. Before I knew it, my brain had created an entire storyline about hidden conversations, performance concerns, workplace conflict, and everyone knowing something I didn't. I replayed months of interactions, searched for clues, and convinced myself there was a problem that didn't actually exist. The truth? None of it was real. There were no secret meetings, no workplace drama, and no conversations happening behind my back. It was simply anxiety filling in the blanks. If you've ever struggled with workplace anxiety, overthinking, imposter syndrome, self-doubt, professional confidence, or career stress, this episode will probably feel very familiar. We'll talk about why our brains naturally try to create certainty when communication feels unclear, why silence often feels louder than words, and how easy it is to mistake assumptions for facts. Whether you're new to your career or have years of experience, workplace anxiety doesn't always disappear with time. Sometimes it simply changes shape. As a woman working in engineering, I also talk about how these experiences show up in STEM careers, engineering workplaces, technical industries, and professional environments where communication styles can be direct, limited, or open to interpretation. If you've ever questioned whether you belong, worried about making mistakes, felt left out of conversations, or battled imposter syndrome while building your career, I hope this conversation reminds you that you're far from the only person experiencing these thoughts. This isn't one of those episodes that tells you to "just stop overthinking." Anyone who has experienced anxiety knows it doesn't work that way. Instead, I'm sharing the mindset shift that's helping me move through these moments with a little more peace: if someone has a problem with me, they need to tell me. If Monica has a problem with me, Monica needs to tell me. If John has a problem with me, John needs to tell me. I'm no longer willing to spend hours decoding facial expressions, interpreting silence, or assuming the worst when nobody has actually communicated that there's a problem. We'll also talk about workplace communication, career confidence, emotional resilience, managing stress at work, trusting yourself, and why learning to separate facts from assumptions can completely change the way you experience your job. It's something I'm still practicing every day, and I wanted to share the journey honestly instead of pretending I've figured it all out. This podcast isn't just about sharing my stories - it's about building a community where we can have honest conversations about adulthood, careers, engineering, women in STEM, workplace culture, mental health, confidence, friendships, personal growth, and everything that comes with trying to build a life you're proud of. I've officially opened a voicemail line where you can call in with your own stories, workplace experiences, career questions, awkward moments, engineering challenges, adulting struggles, or topics you'd love to hear discussed on future episodes. I listen to every voicemail, and I'll be answering listener questions and featuring stories in upcoming episodes.

Women in Engineering: Quitting Defense for Pharma & The Full Unhinged Exit Interview

Welcome back to She’s Been Through Some Engineering Shit, the podcast where a woman in engineering who has survived nuclear‑adjacent machinery, government pay scales, and men who bang on tables for emphasis breaks down the chaotic realities of STEM life with humor, honesty, and the kind of storytelling that makes other women in engineering whisper, “Oh my god… same.” If you’ve ever been underestimated, overworked, or stuck in a male‑dominated environment that thinks “diversity” means letting you speak first in a meeting, this episode will feel painfully familiar. Today’s episode is the full, unhinged saga of my exit interview — the one where I walked in with notes, a 6–7 item list, and two years of pent‑up frustration, and walked out with my boss’s boss literally tearing up. It’s part TED Talk, part therapy session, part roast of engineering workplace culture, and a brutally honest look at what women in STEM deal with behind the scenes. We start in 2023, when I was leaving my government defense job for corporate pharma. Management had promised me a GS‑14 promotion for doing high‑grade work on nuclear ships, compressed air systems, and high‑pressure platforms. Meanwhile, my male colleagues already held the higher grade. In the exit interview, I finally said it out loud: “You strung me along.” I laid out the cost savings, the doubled team output, the presentations to leadership — all the receipts. The honesty was robust, and Tom looked like he was experiencing a midlife crisis in real time. Then there’s John — the Human Earthquake — a loud, chaotic peer who banged on tables like he was reenacting Wolf of Wall Street without the money or charisma. He called everyone “gents,” including me, the lead engineer. I explain how this wasn’t just annoying, but emblematic of the subtle disrespect women in engineering navigate daily. Tom nodded like he was watching his entire leadership philosophy crumble. We dive into the diversity conversation: how leaders often “don’t see problems” because they’ve never been dismissed, harassed, or called “sweetheart” in a meeting about nuclear machinery. I tell Tom why checking in with high performers, especially women, actually matters. He tears up. Twice. I did not expect my exit interview to turn into a vulnerability workshop, but here we were. Next comes the San Diego chaos tour: six weeks, eighteen machinery upgrades, Harbor Freight runs, nuclear‑ship breakdowns, and the moment a stakeholder threatened deployment if I didn’t finish. I froze, cried in the lowest deck of the ship, and realized how unsustainable the job had become. My boyfriend (now husband) told me, “You can quit.” And suddenly the door I thought was locked swung open. Right before flying home, I discovered I’d been signed up for a Philly naval conference I never agreed to. I proved it. My boss ghosted me. I spiraled in my basement like a Victorian chimney sweep who’d had enough. Then I went anyway — and he didn’t even show up. It was the kind of workplace absurdity that makes you question your entire career path. The episode ends with the final goodbye: a manager who didn’t meet with me, didn’t acknowledge anything, and didn’t do an exit interview. It was disappointing, weird, and very on brand. And it cemented the realization that I didn’t need to stay loyal to a system that wasn’t loyal to me. This episode blends engineering burnout, workplace culture, early‑career anxiety, leadership gaps, and the specific flavor of chaos women in engineering navigate daily. If you’ve ever felt overlooked, overworked, or one Harbor Freight run away from losing it, this one’s for you. It’s a reminder that leaving isn’t failure — sometimes it’s the most powerful engineering decision you can make. Catch you in the next episode, where we keep unlearning all the outdated career advice we never asked for but somehow absorbed anyway

I Was 23, He Was 55, and This Work Trip Was a Disaster

At 23 years old, I thought the hardest part of starting my engineering career would be proving I belonged in the room. I didn’t expect the hardest part to be managing a 55‑year‑old colleague who was supposed to be mentoring me. This episode dives into the work trip that went from “normal professional travel” to “I cannot believe this is happening,” and the uncomfortable reality of being the youngest person in the room while someone else’s bad decisions become your unexpected responsibility. This is a story about early‑career anxiety, gender dynamics, workplace chaos, emotional labor, and the moment you realize experience does not always equal professionalism. If you’re a woman in STEM, a young professional, or someone who has ever been forced into the “responsible adult” role because no one else stepped up, this episode will feel painfully familiar. The trip begins with a simple work dinner - something that should’ve been routine. Instead, my colleague gets completely wasted and turns the evening into a confessional I never asked for. Marriage issues, regrets, personal frustrations… all unloaded onto a 23‑year‑old who was just trying to make a good impression. And when strangers in the hotel lobby comment on my appearance, he immediately agrees, making the moment even more uncomfortable. I escape to my room, hoping the next morning will reset everything. Spoiler: it does not. I show up at 7:30 AM sharp. He does not. After twenty minutes of waiting, the concierge calls his room. When he finally appears, it’s obvious he’s still drunk - glassy eyes, alcohol smell, miserable attitude. And suddenly I’m the one responsible for getting us to the shipyard. At 23. With no authority. No experience. And absolutely no idea how to handle a grown man who cannot handle himself. Once we arrive, things escalate. He starts arguing with shipyard officers - loudly, aggressively, and incorrectly. I stand there, horrified, wondering how I became associated with this disaster. But I don’t report it. I don’t speak up. I don’t ask for help. Because when you’re young, you’re terrified of being labeled “difficult,” “dramatic,” or “unable to work with others.” You think staying quiet protects your career. In reality, it just protects the person causing the problem. Months later, someone casually asks, “Was he drunk on that last trip?” And instantly I know: everyone noticed. Of course they did. Because he was drunk. And I spiral - did I look irresponsible? Did people think I approved of his behavior? Did they think I should’ve done something? But here’s the truth I learned too late: I wasn’t responsible for him. I wasn’t his babysitter. I wasn’t the adult in the room because I wanted to be - I became the adult because he stopped acting like one. Why this episode matters: This episode is for anyone who has ever: Been the youngest person in the room Dealt with an unprofessional coworker Carried emotional labor at work Felt pressured to stay quiet to “protect your career” Navigated gendered power dynamics Questioned whether you were overreacting Realized experience doesn’t equal maturity If you’ve ever been forced into responsibility you didn’t sign up for, this story will hit home. Call the podcast voicemail: What’s the most unprofessional thing you’ve ever seen at work? What chaotic coworker story still lives rent‑free in your mind? What moment made you think, “I cannot believe this is happening”? Leave a comment or call the podcast voicemail at (267) 281-3633and share your story. Your chaos might be featured in a future episode. If you love stories about workplace chaos, women in engineering, early‑career survival, and the moments nobody prepares you for, follow the show so you never miss an episode.

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