2023, Year of the _____ Woman
Happy International Women’s Day!
I have to say, this is one of my favorite days, because I have frequently spent it somewhere international in the company of fabulous, phenomenal women.
Last year, I was sailing through the Panama Canal as the Resident Historian on Viking Orion, along with the indomitable Dr. Erica Hamden, our Resident Astronomer, representing women as scholars and historians in spaces where we are too often still the minority. (I look forward to the day I make it an entire sailing without both guests and crew commenting on my gender.)
Four years ago, I was in Italy on Viking Jupiter where I was in the company not only of my favorite Resident Astronomer, the groundbreaking Dr. Steph Yardley, but also another powerhouse, one of my oldest and dearest friends, Dr. Amanda Hendrix. Thre three of us embraced the space of women doing it all that March 8, working, succeeding, lifting each other up, and honoring our right to enjoy life all at the same time!
On that 2019 trip, I also encountered something that happens less and less (tg), but still happens. I was called a “Lady Historian” and Steph a “Lady Astronomer” on more than one occasion…
Let me just make it clear, there is NOTHING that drives me more up a wall than the enduring concept of defining a woman in any space as a “Lady ——.” Women with advanced degrees, women in industry, women in corporate spaces, you name it. The other night, my husband, a fabulous feminist in his own right, made the mistake of calling me in to watch “the Lady Wildcats” play basketball on tv and he got to hear all my thoughts (again)!
I am pretty sure I’m preaching to the choir here, but we’re not Lady-Anything. We’re Historians, Astronomers, CEOs, Treasurers, Writers, Teachers, Accountants, Basketball players, and everything we could be or want to be.
We ARE the thing! (shoutout, Angela Bassett & Ariana DeBose)
So on this International Women’s Day, let’s embrace the call to #EmbraceEquity by finally rejecting the language that says there are jobs and there are Lady-jobs, identities, and Lady-identities.
Let’s embrace that we ARE the Thing. And let’s accept nothing less from ourselves or from anyone else
Step 2. Let’s level it up.
If you’ve seen the marketing for IWD2023, you’ll have seen that this year’s theme is #EmbraceEquity and it includes lots of images of folx giving themselves a hug. They’ve dubbed it the #EmbraceEquity pose.
Don’t get me wrong, I love the message that “equal opportunities are not enough.” Equal opportunities are what get us Doctors and Lady Doctors. That is definitely not enough.
But my question is, why is embracing equity internal? Why are we hugging ourselves? Why isn’t it external? If I think of an image for #EmbraceEquity, I’m going more in this direction:
Embracing equity should be an open, outward, confident, authoritative act.
It’s not reclamation. It’s exclamation!
It’s lifting each other up, opening arms, pulling together.
It’s the now-iconic image of everyone’s new 2023 hero, Jamie Lee Curtis.
It’s the shout of women for women everywhere embodied in one, fantastic, emotional, everything moment as Michelle Yeoh wins the Golden Globe and the only person in the world happier about it than Michelle is her co-star and friend, Jamie. It is women’s joy and success multiplied by each other.
The image went viral from a LinkedIn post (of all things) by Erin Gallagher, a feminist, founder, and CEO of Ella, a women’s networking movement. She dubbed it the “unabashed hype woman,” the woman who is confident and amazing in her own right and channels all of that into equal and equitable love and energy and power for other women. A woman who knows that a successful woman is a celebration, not a competition.
So let me bring this full circle.
It’s 2023. It’s time to embrace being the Thing. To embrace being the unabashed hype woman. To embrace your Authority and step into your story.
If you are already doing it, be loud. Be bold. Let everyone know.
If you aren’t, it’s your time.
On this International Woman’s Day (and every day), let me give a shoutout to the incredible women who inspire me, who are The Thing, who are my Hype Women.
First and foremost, my mom, who is definitely the Thing!
My sister-in-law, Micaela, the ultimate Hype Woman, and Katie, aspiring feminist bad***.
Avi Fox, who is just everything everywhere all at once. There aren’t enough women in the world to hype enough back at her for all the people she raises up around her.
The incredible women I’ve sailed with - Fenella, Steph, Lucy, Erica - breaking boundaries and blazing trails (and traveling the world in style to do it).
The women writers I work with whose books I couldn’t be happier about if I wrote themselves. I am so proud to be the Jamie to your Michelle!
Your turn.
Hit reply on this email or leave a comment below and tell me 3 things.
How are you The Thing?
Who is the unabashed Hype Woman in your life?
Who are your the Hype Woman for?
#EmbraceEquity, my friends, by being big, being open, shouting and dancing and being The Thing.
Happy International Women’s Day!
P.S
When you are ready to do the thing and write that book about how you are the Thing, email me!
As your coach, your Hype Woman, I can guide you and your book from idea to final draft and I promise that there is nothing I want for you more that that celebration, that exclamation of pure, unabashed joy when your book becomes a reality makes it out there in the world. Be bold. Be loud. Be the Thing. Write the Book!
I’m taking on new clients this Summer. Now is the time! Don’t miss out!