Lessons from Our Fireside Chat: On Claiming Ground
1. Confidence Isn’t Something You’re Born With
If you’ve ever waited until you met every qualification before applying for a role, you’re not alone. Studies show most women apply only when they’re 100 percent ready, while men apply at 60. That hesitation doesn’t reflect capability; it reflects conditioning.
Start small: volunteer to lead a meeting, pitch a new idea, apply before you feel “ready.” Confidence grows from action, not perfection. Each time you stretch beyond what feels safe, you prove to yourself that you can.
2. Find Mentors, And Let Them Find You
Mentorship changes careers, but it’s not about finding someone who looks exactly like you. It’s about finding people who see you and want to help you grow. That might be a woman who’s already climbed the ladder, or a man who uses his influence to make sure you’re seen and supported.
Reach out to someone whose leadership you admire and ask for a conversation. Mentorship begins with one honest ask: “Can I learn from you?”
3. Build Resilience, Not Burnout
Women leave the industry at twice the rate of men, often mid-career, when professional pressure and personal responsibilities collide. It’s not because women can’t handle the work, it’s because we're often carrying all of it.
Research shows that women consistently perform more “invisible labour” in the workplace, coordinating, supporting, smoothing conflict, mentoring others, tasks that make organizations thrive but rarely earn recognition or promotion. Layer that with the mental load many women carry at home and in their communities, and the expectation becomes unsustainable.
In our industry, mistakes happen publicly: a service delay, a missed cue, an unhappy guest. Many women internalize those moments, replaying them long after everyone else has moved on. That mental replay erodes confidence and fuels exhaustion.
Resilience isn’t about working harder, it’s about working wiser. Protect your energy the same way you protect a project deadline. Learn to separate what’s truly yours to carry from what the system expects you to shoulder. Reflect, reset, and release. You can care deeply without carrying endlessly.
4. Define Success on Your Own Terms
Maybe you don’t want the top job, and that’s okay. Maybe you do. Either way, success should feel like alignment, not exhaustion.
Success is deeply personal. Define it for yourself before someone else does. Then protect that definition fiercely. Real leadership can also be empathetic, values-driven, and intentional. It can mean managing a team or mentoring one person. It can mean slowing down to protect your creativity or stepping up to shape a bigger stage.
5. Claim Space Together
No one succeeds alone. The more we lift each other, the more room we create for everyone to grow. True equity requires us to take that spirit further: to celebrate each other publicly, to advocate for fairness privately, and to invite everyone to stand beside us as allies.
Mentorship, feedback, sponsorship, these are all forms of claiming space together. When one woman rises, she makes it easier for the next to do the same. Ask yourself who you can reach back for, who you can encourage, and who can hold the door open for you in return.
Equity isn’t an individual achievement; it’s a collective commitment. When we choose to show up for each other, we claim ground.