You’re Allowed* is my new podcast. Part one is the story. Part two is exactly how they did it, in order, so you can too.
“They say, Jesse, you can’t write. Now I wrote a book and I speak everywhere. Go figure.”
Jesse Rhodes Jr.Cultural Architect, Speaker, Author of Leadership Unlocked
Two minutes, five guests, and the question I ask every one of them.
I ask every guest that. First question, every time. Here’s what came back.
Cultural Architect, Speaker, Author of Leadership Unlocked
“They say, Jesse, you can’t write. Now I wrote a book and I speak everywhere. Go figure.”
Principal, Carmen Best & Partners
“You would be surprised how many people said it’s not going to happen.”
Travel HerStory
“I was like, what is the problem with a thousand dollars a month?”
Founder, Armstrong HoldCo
“Those are the walls that I put on myself. Then you’re not allowed.”
Founder, ‘Yet’
“The craziest thing someone told me was probably that university wasn’t for someone from a poor family like mine.”
With plenty more to come, in no particular order.
I started on a restaurant floor in Philadelphia. I ran the service team at L’Espalier in Boston, then spent seven years running private clubs.
Now I run The Savvy Digital Co. and Vantage. And I ask people what they were told they couldn’t do.
Seen and heard on
Ran
Built, or built for
VantageFounder
Serve
The Asterisk
Every episode, the guest’s exact steps, in order, on one page. It lands the morning the episode drops. One email a week, no other mail.
A restaurant floor.
Ran the service team at L’Espalier.
Seven years running them.
Founded it.
Launched in Seattle on July 23.
Premieres November 24.
You’re Allowed* premieres Tuesday, November 24, 2026. The trailer is on this page, and you can follow the show now on Apple Podcasts or Spotify so the first episode shows up the morning it drops.
You’re Allowed* is a podcast hosted by Rachael Barclay about the stuff you’re not supposed to say out loud. Every episode comes in two parts. Part one is the story, the permission. Part two is the access: what the guest actually did, in order, so you can do it too.
Guests on You’re Allowed* this season include Jesse Rhodes Jr. (Cultural Architect, Speaker, Author of Leadership Unlocked), Carmen Best (Principal, Carmen Best & Partners), Michelle L. Jensen (Travel HerStory), Kevin Armstrong (Founder, Armstrong HoldCo), and Natalia Balashova (Founder, ‘Yet’), with plenty more to come.
Rachael Barclay is an AI strategist and operations executive in Seattle and the host of You’re Allowed*. She started on a restaurant floor in Philadelphia, ran the service team at L’Espalier in Boston, and spent seven years running private clubs before founding The Savvy Digital Co. and Vantage.
To book Rachael Barclay to speak, email rachael@thesavvydigitalco.com. Rachael gives keynotes and workshops, including The Myth of the Corporate Ladder, Mastery Is a Cage, Systems as Kindness, and The Gift Wrapped in Garbage.
