She Found Her Voice — And It Changed Everything

She didn’t shout.
She didn’t demand.
She simply stopped silencing herself — and everything changed.

There’s something radical about a woman choosing to use her voice, not just in boardrooms or classrooms, but in everyday life. In how she leads. In how she lives. In how she dares to show up fully as herself.

And that shift doesn’t begin with confidence.
It begins with worthiness.

Because before we find our voice, we have to believe we’re worthy of using it.

This month, I’m reflecting on the power of voice — and quietly building something for the women ready to reclaim theirs.

Keep reading to find out what’s coming this fall…

Voice in Leadership

Leadership often asks women to be composed, measured, and agreeable, but rarely does it encourage us to be fully ourselves. For women of color in particular, the expectations are even more narrow. We’re told to make our voice more “palatable,” to soften our edges, to speak only when invited.

When a woman leads from a place of rooted worth, she doesn’t wait to be chosen.
She uses her voice to shape the moment and the movement.

Voice in Life

Your voice doesn’t only matter in your profession, it matters in your relationships, your parenting, your healing, your boundaries.
And it doesn’t only live in your words. It lives in your presence.

You use your voice every time you:

• Speak truth in a room where silence is expected.

• Write something that disrupts the dominant narrative.

• Walk into a space fully as yourself — no shrinking, no code-switching.

• Wear what makes you feel powerful, not just “professional.”

• Take up space in your beautiful body without apologizing for it.

Voice is how you move. How you carry yourself. What you create. What you no longer tolerate.

For so many women, our bodies have been policed, judged, or used as metrics for worth. But real women have curves. Real women have softness, stretch marks, strength, and stories etched into their skin.

And while we carry softness, we also carry edges.
Edges that have protected us.
Edges that show up when we need to guard our peace, hold our boundaries, and advocate for ourselves and others.
We are nurturers, yes — but we are also protectors.
We can hold space and hold the line.
We can be tender and powerful, all at once.

Sometimes using your voice means choosing comfort over control.

It means being fully present in your body, not performing someone else’s version of beauty.
It means saying: “I am worthy as I am.”

Voice as Resistance

There’s a cost to speaking up, especially for women who have been conditioned to stay silent.

When a man speaks with conviction, he’s seen as a leader.
When a woman speaks the same way, she’s often labeled emotional, difficult, or “too much.”

When a man raises his voice, it’s considered powerful.
When a woman raises hers, it’s considered a problem.

And yet, we keep speaking.

Because there is a greater cost to staying silent.

Systems of oppression in workplaces, in institutions, in culture, don’t just tolerate silence.
They depend on it. Especially ours.

So when women speak — when we advocate, when we challenge, when we name what others are afraid to, it’s more than self-expression.

It’s resistance.

Every time I coach or mentor a woman...
Every time I write or speak from lived truth...
Every time I remind myself and others that you don’t have to audition for belonging...

I’m not just using my voice, I’m practicing liberation.

A Love Letter to Every Woman Reading This

After I shared my Worthy of More article by email, my purpose-driven sister-in-faith and a fellow champion of women’s leadership, Kim, wrote back with a message that felt like a mirror held up to my why. She said:

“You are the VOICE. Thank you for speaking up for yourself and others.”

I read those words slowly, then again.

Because the truth is: I don’t use my voice just for me. I never have.

I use it as an act of solidarity.
As a form of resistance.
As a sacred offering to every woman who’s ever been told to shrink, to wait her turn, to “tone it down,” or to be grateful for less.

But here’s what I also know:
Women are tired.
Women of color are especially tired.

We carry the weight of our families, our communities, our institutions — and still show up, still speak truth, still lead with grace.

We pick ourselves back up because we always have.
Because we don’t let the weight keep us down.

But that doesn’t mean we don’t feel it.

That’s why collective voice matters.
Because those who speak often get tired.
Because those who carry the mic need rest.
Because sometimes the most radical thing we can do is amplify our sister’s voice when she can’t speak, or simply shouldn’t have to.

That’s the work. That’s the sisterhood.

And here’s one more truth:
I’ve found healing in my voice.
In writing. In speaking. In saying the quiet things out loud.
We often create the very thing we needed most —
the words, the space, the permission, the love letter we were waiting for.

My voice carries my story, but it also carries yours.
It carries the stories of women who came before me.
It carries the voice of my daughter, and every young girl learning that her voice is powerful, necessary, and enough.

This is what sisterhood sounds like.
This is what worthiness feels like when it’s spoken out loud.
This is what happens when we stop silencing ourselves and start honoring the power within us and each other.

So let this blog post — this love letter — be your reminder:

You are not voiceless.
You are not too much.
You are not alone.

You are Real.
You are Worthy.
And when you speak — in leadership, in life, in love — the world shifts.

Because when one of us rises in her voice,
we all rise together.

P.S.

This fall, I’m creating a new space—for women who lead, live, and love at the intersections.

A space for women in higher education who are ready to rise in sisterhood, move with joy, and return to themselves.

A space not just for doing, but for being.

For belonging.

For building lives and leadership rooted in worth.

I’m launching a podcast! A healing, truth-telling space where your voice, your dreams, and your whole self are welcome.

Stay tuned. We’re building something real, worthy, and yours.

If this blog spoke to you, the podcast will too.

Your voice belongs here. Stay tuned!