Change The Where, Not The Who

Happy Woosah Wednesday.

This is a big week for me, as I made my final edits and gave the greenlight for officially sending my first book off for printing. 🙌🏼 🙌🏾

In preparation for the launch, I have been a guest on a handful of podcasts over the past few weeks to share my story. And because it is a book on leadership written for other women on the rise, I’ve met some incredibly amazing and talented fellow female entrepreneurs so far along my journey.

Then, my brain went and did one of it’s favorite things to do and connected the dots…. Each and every encounter has been filled with great energy AND the opportunity to collaborate and amplify each other on our individual missions to help other entrepreneurs. Which lead me to reflect on a time not so long ago, when I found myself in a room that had me questioning if I was “the problem”, when in fact I was simply the outlier in a non-collaborative space.

And then I stumbled across a video clip online that brought it all home. A Black woman in a leadership role was asked to share some advice based on her own experiences. The tip that really hit home for me was “change the where, not the who.” What she meant by this, was when we find ourselves in less than optimal settings or spaces, we (women especially) tend to think we need to adjust WHO we are to fit in WHERE we are. While sometimes this may be true, more often that not, it’s a sign you’re in the wrong place to be your authentic self.

My request of you as you move through the next few weeks is to pay attention to the WHERE’s in your life, especially the ones where you get to be your true, authentic and best self, and make a plan to spend more time in those spaces. Then evaluate what you can do when you find yourself in a space that has you questioning your WHO. Sometimes a simple acknowledgment and conversation can shift the energy, and sometimes you may find the need to limit your time spent in that space to honor yourself.

At the end of the day, we all deserve to be met with more smiles than frowns, so make an effort to maximize your time WHERE you get to be be WHO you are at your core. 😍