A collage with three polaroid-style images hanging on a clothesline under the phrase “Hiding is having a moment!” Left: TIME100 Health Dinner panel (May 2025). Center: NYTimes Advertiser Perspective article titled The Moment…I Stopped Hiding and Began to Lead (July 2025). Right: Mel Robbins Podcast with text “You’re not defined by your worst moment” (July 2025).

Hiding Is Having a Moment.

Lately, I’ve been noticing hiding everywhere, at a dinner with TIME, splashed across a full-page ad in The New York Times, and in a candid conversation on Mel Robbins’ podcast. You’ve been spotting it too, sending me articles, podcasts, and movie scenes (keep them coming). Hiding—and unhiding—are everywhere. Once you start noticing it, you can’t…

Why Hiding Feels So Exhausting

I remember sitting in meetings early in my career, working so hard to keep parts of myself hidden. I thought it would keep me safe. But by the end of the day, I was completely drained. Recently, after listening to my brilliant speaker friend Cait Donovan talk about burnout and the brain, I started wondering:…

Would You Let a Friend Talk to You Like That?

That inner voice. You know the one, right before you do something meaningful, it whispers: “Don’t mess this up.” “Play it safe.” “Maybe don’t speak up this time.” I call it the unreliable narrator. Some call it the inner critic. Or the negative self- critic. Whatever name you give it, you know the voice. And…

When Do You Share—and When Do You Hold Back?

This month, we celebrated my father’s 85th birthday. (Happy birthday, Dad!) At dinner, he and my stepmother said something that made me pause: “We have no secrets from each other.” And I thought—really? None? It got me thinking about how we all manage what we choose to reveal (and what we hold back). Not just…

ID: Me (white female) posing with arms outstretched next to a tall, colorful, stylized figure in traditional African attire. At WTM Africa

The Power of Pinch-Me Moments

The moments when you pause, look around, and think—Is this really my life? This month, I had at least two powerful pinch-me moments—reminders just of how far I’ve come, and why the message of unhiding matters now more than ever. A Dream Realized in Cape Town, South Africa Five years ago, I stood on those…

Graphic, The Hiding Cycle: How It's Costing Your Workplace. Circle with 8 dots that show how when employees hide it impacts, engagement, retention, and innovation--and the customer experience.

The Hidden Workplace Tax You’re Paying (But Not Tracking)

I sat down to do my taxes this past weekend (sigh)… receipts everywhere, numbers swirling, and I kept thinking: Why didn’t I start this sooner? It got me thinking, though—every business, from small startups to global corporations, nonprofits to government agencies and education institutions, is paying a hidden tax. But unlike financial taxes, this one…