FROM PROVING HERSELF TO OWNING THE ROOM.

So for me, where I was at was mentally in a frame of mind that I constantly felt like I had to prove myself to others or prove myself to me. I had every move in my career was an advancement in every position I had taken, but I always felt or had this inkling that I was clawing my way every single time and always had to be proving something and could never just validate myself... I was showing up greener than I really knew my skillset was.

Yeah. And I think it's huge because when you and I met and you told me the type of strategic HR work you were doing, it was clear to me, you were influencing the business strategically and really showing up with executive level skills. But for you to really step into that executive identity, I'm curious, like what challenges did you have to overcome to finally see yourself that way?

You went through such a massive identity transformation and people don't realize that if you want to see a huge breakthrough in income impact, that shift starts with you. And not only were you going through this huge transformation, you were also a brand new mother... I would love to hear how you manage to get past the, oh, let me just wait till he's a little bit older or let me wait a few years and start to put your own career on the back burner.

I love it. And you can have both. You can have a career that aligns... once you realize, hold on, I don't have to sacrifice my family. I can have both. That was a huge expansive breakthrough in your beliefs.

I had to own my confidence in loving myself hands down... it was starting a mantra of one to three things, whenever my head would get in that space of I'm not enough, I'm not quite there yet. And owning those to be truths started to fundamentally change how I showed up and started to see myself.

I remember starting this program and it was, I need to, I felt like I didn't have the space or the confidence to say, I have a question, just a basic question. And so I'd preface everything. Maybe this might be dumb. This might be a stupid question. And now it's, I require the floor. I have to ask something I need for their clarification and I no longer validate it. No longer preface it.

And then I truly think at the core of it, it's forgiving the past and people, but also forgiving myself and allowing myself to remove the shame or any shame I had or carried with me that didn't allow me to love myself for the true worth that I knew that I was and am.

I showed up not having to prove or feel that I needed to prove, just showing up with the confidence of this is who I am. I am capable. I am smart. I am all of these things, but I don't have to validate that or prove that... I ended up accepting an offer at my top company of my list. I stuck to my values and my needs that I outlined, including things like yes, impact, yes, professional development and growth recognition, but also things like remote working or work-life balance. And I think that that was so powerful to say, I'm not compromising. This is what I need. And I accepted a job offer with all of those things.

And a 40% increase and another breakthrough in title. And the list goes on... Instead you made the shift to stand in your power and say, hold on, I need to get my criteria filled and I am not accepting any less than this. That's where you held that bar. You did the inner work required to actually command that value.

I think, like you said, you have to do the work. And if you want this, you have to take the time to do the work on you, but also accept what you can't fully understand... Do the work, invest in yourself. It's better for you. It's better for your career.