How to Feel Empowered
On June 1st, 2023, I had the honor and pleasure of joining a group of 100 women from around the country for Susan Freeman’s annual Empowered Women event in Philadelphia. There were 14 incredible speakers. Here are a few of the takeaways from the day.
Women leaders help other women. The first speaker introduced us to Dress for Success, a nonprofit organization helping women in 23 countries and 144 affiliates around the world. I’d heard of Dress for Success but knew nothing about it. Learn more at https://dressforsuccess.org/ You can bet I’ll be contacting my local chapter to see how I can volunteer. Thank you, Natalie Borneo of Dress for Success Philadelphia, for introducing me to this wonderful organization.
Leadership has a G Spot. Yes, that’s right. The Leadership G Spot is Grace, Grit, Grind, and Gratitude. It’s leading with grace. It’s leading with grit - managing the fear of failure and choosing fate over fear. It’s leading with grind - a constant effort to better yourself; and it’s leading with gratitude. Thank you, Daphne Forbes.
To help learn how to be a great leader, spend time in the kitchen, and learn how to bake croissants. you need a mise en place mindset, details matter, challenge yourself, trust your gut, and savor the first bite. Thank you, Christine Binotti, for these words of wisdom.
There are three R’s in building a roadmap to resilience: reflect, release, and restore. Resilience doesn’t just happen because you made it through something tough. It requires these three things. Thank you to Leslie Marlin for sharing your journey.
Understand your self-worth. Treat yourself with kindness when you fail. And when you fail, and you will, you must fail quickly, and move on. Thank you, Jan Anne Dubin, for this nugget.
Strong posture, strong voice, and strong eye contact are the keystone behaviors when you are presenting. The key is to balance authority and approachability through the three keystone behaviors. Volume, tone, how you hold your head and shoulders, how long you look at someone…there are so many nuances that can make or break the impression you want to give. Learn more at SpeechSkills. Thank you, Kara Hale Alter.
It’s OK to reinvent yourself, even four times. The secret to having a job that serves your purpose in life and leads to growth is to ask yourself what energizes you and what drains you, and what you are curious about. Who do you think you are? Be that person. Never settle for work that drains you. Kudos to Marsha Redmon for this.
Change is a choice. And it’s a choice we can all make. Be a peacock. Strut and grow. Thank you, Sheila Murphy.
Never dim down your shine because someone else can’t handle the glare. Thank you, Sameena Safdar for reminding us of this. Way too many women dim their shine.
Sometimes you just have to laugh at the chaos. So true. Thank you Gina Passarella.
How to turn being a victim into being victorious: If you are the victim of something unthinkably hurtful, and you want to crawl under a rock and die, remind yourself that they f’d with the wrong woman. The reason why they hurt you is simply that hurt people who are hurting hurt others; healing people who are healing heal others. If someone hurts you, the best revenge is to share your pain, not hide it. Use your voice. Effect change. Start a movement. See the film 100shadesofsilence.com. Thank you, Darieth Chisolm for being the wrong woman.
Give yourself permission to live out loud. Change your stripes. Iterate. Evolve. Thank you, Tiffany Castagno, author of Can a Zebra Change its Stripes?
Do something deeply uncomfortable. Take of your mask and be your authentic self. If you break something or break down in the process, remember that you, too, can be a master of Kintsugi, the Japanese process of taking something broken and putting it back together with lacquer and gold to make it more beautiful than it was before. Thank you, Marcie Dickson, for sharing your lacquer and gold.
Be your highest and best self. Be authentic. Always. - Susan Freeman.
The event was moderated by the unstoppable Gina F. Rubel, author of EVERYDAY PR, Harnessing Public Relations to Build Relationships, Brands & Businesses. To learn more about the annual Empowered Women event, which will be in San Diego in June 2024, go to Freeman Means Business.
