Kind of a Wreck, Kind of a Leader

I love women in leadership. I love watching women take their place in rooms that once excluded them. I love seeing women lead in male-dominated spaces, take the mic, sit at the head of the table, and own their voice.

I love having female role models. I love being led by women. I love being a woman who leads.

And yet.

For as much as we fight to make space for women in the workplace, I’ve noticed something that still makes me sad:

Not all women make space for each other.

There’s still a silent competition that plays out across conference rooms and casual chats. Sometimes it’s subtle. Sometimes it’s one-sided. But it’s real.

And it’s exhausting.

Because if anyone understands the barriers, the biases, and the balancing acts, it’s us. So why are we still playing games with one another? Why are we still pitting ourselves against each other, even quietly?

I’ve been on the receiving end of it. The dismissal. The resistance. The sense that another woman in the room saw me as a threat instead of a teammate.

But I’ve also been deeply lucky. I’ve had incredible women in my corner. Women who’ve made eye contact across the room when I needed reassurance. Women who’ve let me feel overwhelmed without telling me I was too sensitive or asking me to hide it. Women who’ve believed in me when I was doubting myself most.

Women who check in. Who show up. Who celebrate other women’s wins as if they were their own.

That’s the kind of woman I want to be.

And if there was ever a time I didn’t show up that way, if I was the woman in the room who didn’t offer the support someone else needed, I’m sorry.

I’m learning, and I’m committed to doing better. To showing up better. To paying closer attention.

That’s the kind of leadership I believe in.

We need more of that. And we need to talk about it more often.
Because women supporting women shouldn’t be a radical act.
It should be the norm.

Let’s normalize encouragement.
Let’s normalize eye contact, quiet validation, and real support.
Let’s build rooms where we don’t have to compete to belong.

We don’t have to compete to be seen.
We don’t have to cut each other down to stand tall.
And we become unstoppable when we stop standing alone.