How many times have you been made to feel like you have to twist and shrink who you are to fit the mold society tells us a successful woman must fit?
If you’re a woman in a leadership role, I’d be willing to bet you’ve spent considerable time worrying about how you’re perceived.
Now … it’s true how you present yourself matters. At our company, our trainers spend a lot of time making sure our clients look up-to-date and their look matches their personality, brand, and messaging. We want them to look like themselves – and not distract from their message. And we know when they’re not happy about their look and just haven’t had the time to figure it out. We help them fix that.
The last time I was in the studio for a shoot, our makeup artist made me rethink my “look.”
When she was finished working her magic, she pulled out the lipstick.
It was bright red/orange.
It was bold. I loved it.
And it scared me.
I don’t do bold.
“I can’t wear red lipstick.”
And then it hit me.
I can.
AND I can be taken seriously doing it.
Kellie Gerardi is an ASTRONAUT and fields comments daily on Instagram about her looks. People ridicule her because she wears pink and friendship bracelets. They tell her astronauts shouldn’t dress like that.
Who says?
One of my favorite women on social media right now is Codie Sanchez. She’s a business owner and investor. She recently shared four lessons from her friend, Ann McFerran, the Founder of Glamnetic, a $50M press-on nail and magnetic eyelash business.
The first three of four lessons were great, but it’s the final one I loved the most.
She shared her FAVORITE thing about Ann is she’s unapologetically feminine.
Codie explained how for years, she thought she couldn’t be sexy and taken seriously at the same time.
Relatable, right?
But Ann – the founder of a $50M company – doesn’t share this mindset, and neither should you.
I dressed “like the boys” for most of my 20s because I felt out of place in TV newsrooms across the country. I wanted to blend in. And I didn’t want the female reporters and anchors to think I wanted their job. I wasn’t happy and I lost part of myself.
Here’s what you should take away from this:
You can be taken seriously and feel and dress as feminine as you’d like.
Just lean into and embrace your femininity with confidence.
Choose what you want your personal brand to be, own it with confidence, and walk your walk and talk your talk.
If you’re uncomfortable with it – everyone will know. You can’t pull it off by being sheepish about it.
You have to OWN IT.
Choose what makes you happy and OWN IT.
The confidence is what people will see.
And what matters.
