When women don't get to tell their story

"I am not the type of person who likes to put herself out there"?

"I am an introvert"

"Social media is not my thing"?

"Personal branding is not something I approve of, but I know I must do it"

These are all our code words for fear. The fear of visibility. And, you know what, when we see the treatment of women like Naomi Osaka, there is a case to be made that we are justified in being fearful.?

What seems to happen when we are visible??

• We lose agency to choose when and how we want to show up;
• We get fined for not being available to talk when we don't want to;
• We have to experience the vitriol of those who feel entitled to us in their terms.?

In Elizabeth Lesser's?"Cassandra speaks: when women are the story tellers the human story changes",?she describes the mythical fate of those women who chose to move out of the straight and narrow and to be seen. A fate that seems to hang over all of us, not as a threat, but indeed as a promise:?

• Eve: if you decide to step out into the light and ask for more, you will be punished for generations to come?
• Pandora:?if you are curious and open that box, you will unleash untold evil into the world and be responsible for the misery that will ensue
• Cassandra:?if you refuse to yield to my will in return for the favour I give you, you will live your life speaking your truth but never believed.?

?? Myths and stories create culture ???

They are to culture what assumptions are to a financial analysis. You understand the results by understanding the assumptions and...well, you understand culture by understanding the stories at its core.?

That is why personal branding is activism.?

Because it is reclaiming the stories. Reclaiming the stage. Taking your voice and making sure you tell your story in and on your own terms.

The last episode of Speaking with Women explores public speaking and gives you my playbook for building your first talk.

Feel the fear and do it anyway.

Bibi