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:…
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…
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…
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…
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…
