Member since August 2024
I've been an entrepreneur since 2001. I started my company after spending 8 years of working for large consulting firms. Soon after starting my business I joined the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO) and served in leadership roles in my local chapter and also at the national level. I served on the national board of directors for six years, and was national Chair in 2018-19. During this time I was also growing my business into a multi-million dollar government contracting firm, landing on the Inc5000 list four times. In 2020, when my term on the board ended, I decided to write a book about what I had learned about what makes an effective leader in both business and non-profits. My book "Master Your Mindset: How Women Leaders Step Up" was published in 2022 and I have been speaking about the topics addressed in the book, specifically around developing the different mindsets that make someone an effective leader.
My biggest passion is helping other women to become more confident in their professional life so they have the courage to step up into leadership roles, start their own companies, and become more successful and independent
One of the topics I speak about is strategies for dealing with imposter syndrome. I have several stories of my own situations where I had imposter syndrome and how I dealt with it. For example, a few years ago I was asked to serve as a delegate for the US on the W20 as an expert on women's entrepreneurship. The W20 is the working group of the G20 that makes recommendations for regulatory changes that affect women. The W20 is a group of high powered influential women from the 20 countries that belong to the G20. Although I had been a successful entrepreneur for over 20 years and had served in leadership roles for the largest association of women entrepreneurs in the US, I did not think that I was nearly as accomplished or qualified as the rest of the women on the W20 or knowledgeable enough to make recommendations on behalf of the United States. However, after I attended a few meetings of the working group, I realized that I was just as qualified as anyone else there, and in fact, I had expertise in areas that many of them didn't. I also thought about the fact that the woman who was co-chair of the US delegation who had invited me to participate is someone I really admire and respect, and if she thought I was qualified and could do a good job representing our country, then she must see something that I didn't realize was there.
I spent 8 years working for several large consulting firms and was not happy so one of my coworkers and I decided to leave and start our own company. We decided to spend a couple months working on a business plan and lining up some clients so we could start at the beginning of the next year. Within a week, we had half a dozen potential clients telling us not to wait, they wanted to hire us now. So we met with our attorney to fill out the incorporation paperwork, and the next Monday, we filed the paperwork with the state and gave our 2-week notice to our company. The next day was September 11th and the world completely changed, but we had already quit our jobs so we had to make it work. That was my introduction to entrepreneurship.
One of the topics I speak about is strategies for dealing with imposter syndrome. I have several stories of my own situations where I had imposter syndrome and how I dealt with it. For example, a few years ago I was asked to serve as a delegate for the US on the W20 as an expert on women's entrepreneurship. The W20 is the working group of the G20 that makes recommendations for regulatory changes that affect women. The W20 is a group of high powered influential women from the 20 countries that belong to the G20. Although I had been a successful entrepreneur for over 20 years and had served in leadership roles for the largest association of women entrepreneurs in the US, I did not think that I was nearly as accomplished or qualified as the rest of the women on the W20 or knowledgeable enough to make recommendations on behalf of the United States. However, after I attended a few meetings of the working group, I realized that I was just as qualified as anyone else there, and in fact, I had expertise in areas that many of them didn't. I also thought about the fact that the woman who was co-chair of the US delegation who had invited me to participate is someone I really admire and respect, and if she thought I was qualified and could do a good job representing our country, then she must see something that I didn't realize was there.
I spent 8 years working for several large consulting firms and was not happy so one of my coworkers and I decided to leave and start our own company. We decided to spend a couple months working on a business plan and lining up some clients so we could start at the beginning of the next year. Within a week, we had half a dozen potential clients telling us not to wait, they wanted to hire us now. So we met with our attorney to fill out the incorporation paperwork, and the next Monday, we filed the paperwork with the state and gave our 2-week notice to our company. The next day was September 11th and the world completely changed, but we had already quit our jobs so we had to make it work. That was my introduction to entrepreneurship.