Learning to trust my experience required recognizing the results I've delivered through my own judgment, ability, and leadership. Collaboration matters and is often required, but too many women are conditioned to deflect credit. Owning your contributions is not self-promotion; it is authentic professional integrity.

I stopped doubting my expertise when I realized that every story I've told and every person I've worked with has built a unique perspective I can't find anywhere else. Trusting my experience means trusting that my voice and my work can truly make an impact and amplify others.

Never give up on your dreams/goals it may be a bumpy road but it's worth it. Looking back, I believe that "little me" would be proud of the progress made. It is truly an honor to be recognized, and it has prompted me to reflect on the path my career has taken and the principles that guide my work.

The best way to trust your experience is to look at and learn from the results.

When my clients began quoting me, I realized I was not guessing, I was grounded in experience. From that day on, I started operating unapologetically.

I stopped doubting my expertise when I was the only person who had ideas in a room full of 'leaders'.

I value the feedback of my students, the true steak-holders, as the most important measure of my impact. The relationships we form guide my growth and success. Seeing them leave me and move forward with the skills, life skills, I have taught them show me the impact I make.

I stopped doubting my expertise when I realized my lived experience wasn't a distraction from my professional training: it was the very thing that gave it meaning.

It wasn't just one moment, it was affirmation received over time. Then, after a pretty intense internal team shake-up, I just took the reigns and knew I needed to lean in, trust myself, and own the leadership journey that was purposed uniquely for me. Even failure is an opportunity, so every step or misstep is mine to own, reshape, and celebrate.🎉

I stopped doubting my expertise when I realized the results I had been delivering were not by accident. The results came from years of experience, a little bit of instinct and earned wisdom. My confidence came when I trusted what I already knew and stopped waiting for permission to be a leader.

I gained confidence in my expertise in childcare when I observed other teachers adopting my techniques in their own classrooms after seeing how I managed the environment, interacted with the children, or engaged in conversations. Even more impactful were the numerous accolades I received from parents praising the progress their children made under my care. Their feedback affirmed not only my competence but also my excellence in the field.

You need to believe in yourself. Believe in what you know, what you've accomplished, and what you're capable of, regardless of if you may not have physically done it before. Experience isn't just about physically doing, knowledge is also considered experience. I stopped doubting my expertise and my abilities when I committed myself to the opportunity to learn and grow.

I stopped doubting my expertise when I recognized that my lived experience had been preparing me to lead long before any title did. Every challenge refined my judgment, strengthened my voice, and affirmed that I was already equipped to make meaningful impact.

I stopped doubting my expertise when I realized "I've done this." I had built a successful ballroom business for over 20+ years. When questioned how I was going to create a 3 day conference with 21 speakers in just 5 months after launching Women Getting Visible, I paused and remembered. Twice a year, I choreographed dancers & instructors and orchestrated moms and grandmas to come together for music, movement, and celebration. I left the doubt behind because, I've done this...then I did.

I stopped doubting my expertise when I realized people were already coming to me for answers. I kept thinking I needed another title, another certification, or someone else's approval to call myself an expert—but the truth was, I had already been doing the work for years. The turning point was when I saw the results: artists becoming more consistent, businesses becoming more organized, and creative projects actually gaining momentum because of the systems I built. That's when it clicked for me—experience is earned through action, not permission.

I still doubt myself especially in the quiet moments. There are those moments when there is no time for doubt because things tend to happen so quickly that it is almost overwhelming,

For a long time, I did not doubt my competence. I doubted my authority. There is a difference. As a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthesiologist, I was trained to make high stakes decisions every day. Airway management. Hemodynamic instability. Split second clinical judgment. Lives depend on clarity in those moments, and I never questioned my ability at the bedside. But when I stepped into executive conversations about reimbursement policy, regulatory oversight, systems design, and workforce strategy, I found myself hesitating. Not because I lacked insight, but because I was often the only nurse in the room. I had the experience. I had the data. I had the lived understanding of frontline consequences. What I had not fully embraced was that my perspective carried equal weight. The moment I stopped doubting my expertise was quiet. I was in a policy discussion about care delivery models, listening to leaders debate efficiency metrics and cost structures. As the conversation unfolded, I realized the room was analyzing spreadsheets, but no one was speaking about patient flow realities, documentation gaps, or the downstream clinical risks I saw daily. So I did. And the room shifted. Not because I was the loudest voice, but because I was the only one translating strategy into frontline impact. That was when I understood something essential. Experience is a form of fluency. If you have operated inside the system, you see what others miss. Trusting your experience does not mean believing you know everything. It means recognizing that what you know is valid, earned, and necessary. For women, especially those who are first generation professionals or from underrepresented backgrounds, self doubt can disguise itself as humility. We wait to feel completely ready. We assume someone else is more qualified. But expertise is not just degrees or titles. It is pattern recognition. It is consequence awareness. It is knowing how a decision will ripple before it is implemented. The day I stopped shrinking my voice in strategic discussions was the day I stopped separating my clinical experience from leadership. They are not separate identities. They are the same foundation. Now, when I sit at decision making tables, I do not ask whether I belong. I ask whether the patient's reality is fully represented. If it is not, I speak. And I trust that what I have lived, built, studied, and led is not incidental. It is expertise.

I was fortunate that I never had to find my way into rooms alone. My mother made sure I had a seat at every table she entered. She did not just open doors, she taught me how to navigate the space once I walked in. She helped me understand posture, preparation, and presence long before I became a CEO. As I stepped into government contracting, I became a student of the industry. I attended a GovCon boot camp and learned how to follow the money. I went to government industry days and studied how agencies procured, which contract vehicles they used, and how decisions were made. I realized that expertise is not about guessing, it is about understanding systems. The true shift came after I graduated from the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses program at Babson College. During that program, I learned something uncomfortable but transformational, I was the single point of failure in my company. Every decision, every relationship, every process flowed through me. That was why we had plateaued. Instead of taking it personally, I took action. Within months of completing the program, I made three strategic hires, a Chief Operating Officer, a Marketing Manager, and a Chief Strategy Officer. I put the right subject matter experts in the right seats. Six months later, we won our first 4 million dollar contract. Over the next period, the company grew 263 percent. That was the moment I stopped doubting my expertise. I realized trusting my experience did not mean doing everything myself. It meant recognizing what I knew, understanding what I did not, and building a team strong enough to scale. Confidence came from preparation. Growth came from partnership. And success came when I stopped trying to carry it alone.

I stopped doubting my expertise when I realized I had been building it all along. There wasn't a single defining moment, but a gradual recognition that my voice carried weight, my decisions were informed, and my experience had substance. For a long time, I believed expertise meant having every answer. Over time, I learned it's about pattern recognition, consistency, and the courage to trust what you've already practiced. Once I understood that growth and competence can coexist, I stopped minimizing my knowledge in rooms I had earned the right to be in. Trusting my experience didn't mean I stopped learning. It meant I stopped discrediting what I had already mastered.

Growth is not linear. It is not a rigid, one-way direction. True growth is messy, lateral, and multidimensional. I found Growth in expanding my skill set into a completely different industry. In exploring a passion project that turned into a profitable side hustle. In developing my emotional intelligence to lead with more empathy. In broadening my network to include people who challenged my perspective. Growth appeared in my life when I realized I was not stuck - I have just outgrown the metaphor I was given, that growth is a one-way ladder.