Blog
Recalculating
“A job can be taken from you. Your value cannot.” Nearly two years ago, I learned that lesson the hard way. One conversation. That’s all it took. One meeting, one decision made by someone else, and twenty-five years of building, sacrificing, achieving, and leading...
The Resentment We Build Ourselves
There was a moment during one of my recent Unfiltered Leader sessions that stopped me in my tracks and I felt deserved a blog of its own. Not because it was dramatic. Not because someone broke down crying. But because one woman answered a question with a level of...
Some People Come Back Around
Sometimes the people who influence our lives don’t even realize they did. And sometimes, nearly twenty years later, the universe puts them in the seat next to your friend on an airplane just to remind you how connected this whole crazy journey really is. A week ago...
Who Are You Really?
When someone asks you to introduce yourself and tell the room a little bit about who you are, what do you say? Before you read another word, I want you to stop for just a minute and answer that question. Don’t overthink it. Don’t edit yourself. Don’t write what you...
Live Where Your Feet Are
There is something wildly unfair about July and August in El Paso.It’s the middle of monsoon season. The afternoons are hot enough to fry your common sense, temperatures routinely climb well past 100 degrees, and just stepping outside feels like opening the oven door...
The Great Awakening of Working Women
I don’t think women are leaving the workforce because we’ve suddenly become less ambitious. I think we’re finally becoming less willing to disappear. Somewhere along the way, many of us stopped having careers and started becoming them. We introduced ourselves by our...
The Scenic Route
I have made the drive between El Paso and Phoenix more times than I can count.So many, in fact, that I could probably tell you where “The Thing” billboards start, where the decent bathrooms are, and exactly which stretch of Interstate 10 seems to exist solely to...
The Day I Realized My Competence Was the Problem
One of the biggest revelations I’ve had since leaving Corporate America wasn’t about toxic workplaces. It wasn’t about bullying. It wasn’t even about the gaslighting. It was realizing that I had completely misunderstood what my boss actually wanted from me. I can see...
The Tray Table Test
I snapped a picture on a recent flight home from the Bahamas. To anyone else, it probably looked ridiculous. It was just a picture of my crossed legs in an airplane seat. Nothing special. Nothing remarkable. Certainly not something most people would stop and...
The Power of “And”
I got fired on a Tuesday. Not laid off. Not restructured. Not caught in some company-wide reduction in force. Fired. Even now, years later, that word still lands differently. For twenty-five years, I had built a career that most people would have considered...
Congratulations, You’re a Disruptor
The worst performance evaluation of my career arrived without warning. No meeting. No phone call. No coaching conversation. No discussion about concerns. No opportunity for feedback. Just an email sitting in my inbox waiting for me to...
The Burnout Backlash: Why Corporate America Punishes the People Who Care the Most
I used to believe that if I worked hard enough, eventually the truth would win. Maybe that’s naïve. Maybe it’s the product of being raised to believe that integrity matters, that effort matters, and that results matter. Maybe it’s because healthcare is one of those...
Women Supporting Women… Until She Gets Too Powerful
A few days ago, I stood in front of a crowd at The Climb, an event dedicated to raising awareness around postpartum depression, maternal mental health, and supporting women through some of the hardest seasons of their lives. As I looked out at the moms, families, and...
Even Dashboard Jesus Was Like, “Girl…”
There are moments in life when faith feels easy. When the doors swing open at exactly the right time, opportunities seem to appear out of thin air, and the universe practically smacks you in the face with confirmation that you’re exactly where you’re supposed to be....
You Didn’t Lose Yourself
There’s a moment, and if you’re a woman reading this, I’d bet money you know exactly the one I’m talking about, when you wake up one day and realize you don’t even recognize your own life anymore. Not because it exploded overnight. Not because of one...
She’s Still Standing (And So Am I)
I was sitting on the deck of my cabin when it hit me—not in some soft, peaceful, Instagrammable kind of way, but in the kind of way that makes you pause mid-thought and just sit there for a minute. The air was quiet, the kind of quiet you only get in the mountains,...
The Devil Doesn’t Wear Prada Anymore — She Wears a Diversity Badge and Calls It Leadership
I went to see the new Devil Wears Prada movie tonight with a group of girlfriends, and honestly? Somewhere between the designer clothes, power plays, perfectly timed insults, and emotionally unavailable bosses with incredible handbags, I realized something deeply...
She’s Not Too Much—You’re Just Used to Too Little
I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve heard it—sometimes whispered behind closed doors, sometimes dressed up as “feedback,” and sometimes thrown out so casually you’d think it was a compliment. “She’s a lot.”“She can be… intense.”“She’s just… a little too much.”...
They Didn’t Mentor Me. They Warned Me.
I’ve often said that I’ve worked for—and alongside—a lot of people who helped shape my approach to leadership. Not because I admired them or wanted to follow in their footsteps, but because of the exact opposite. Some of the most defining lessons of my career didn’t...
We Don’t Do That Here: The Unwritten Rules of Women Who Actually Support Other Women
There’s something I need to say out loud—because too many of us have felt it, experienced it, and quietly questioned if it was just “part of the game.” It’s not. Somewhere along the way, women were handed a script that said there was only one seat at the table....