I am a huge proponent of learning the art of expressing your appreciation for others. It sounds simple, but it can truly have a profound impact on your own mindset, and on the lives of the people around you—especially at work.
It’s exciting to catch someone doing something wonderful and to express to them our own joy about witnessing it. It’s a pleasure! And it creates immediate friendship—that feeling of them being seen.
It’s also making an active decision to take charge of how we want to show up, and how we want to feel. This is a way to take charge of our culture and radically transform our experience of our professional environment and our life. Simply expressing your care and appreciation for someone at work is YOU taking charge of your work culture. It’s like saying, “I see you…. I want the best for you… I’m on your side.”
We can each defiantly choose to bring goodness into the world, no matter what is happening. We can all bring more of the human element to our work and take care of each other. We can make it feel good being at work. And we can even make it fun!
Plus, when we choose to care for others, it lights us up! When we bring our love, care, and kindness to others we feel better. We feel radiant. And having this mindset changes everything.
Be the One℠
#keynotespeaker #BeTheOne #workculture #leadership #kindness #empathy #leadingwithempathy #retention #inspiration #burnout #burnoutprevention
Fighting for My Softness
For those who don’t know, years ago, I burned alive in a fire—trapped in a burning car. It was horrific. Somehow, I remember everything that happened inside that car. The recovery that followed—the debridement, the emotional pain—was almost as searing as the fire itself.
What astounds me to this day is that my journey to healing became one of the most extraordinary experiences of my life. After a long period of grieving and being consumed by the daily fight to recover, I finally came up for air. And in that moment, I realized: it was up to me to heal my life. It became clear that I had to take charge—to be in command of my thoughts, my decisions, and to make every moment count as I moved my life forward. What a gift.
That experience taught me an incredible lesson. What I learned in my healing journey later overflowed into every part of my life, shaping how I built my businesses and created success in my career.
One of my favorite revelations was how deeply suffering expanded my compassion for others—something I wouldn’t trade for anything. Whenever we go through hardship—whether it’s pain, betrayal, or loss—there’s potential for unexpected gifts. It’s definitely not something we want to hear in the middle of suffering, yet later, once we’ve made it to the other side, we can often see how the struggles shaped us, matured us, and made us better.
And yes, I had to fight hard to survive. I had to fight to heal. I had to fight to become stronger and more at peace than ever before. But I also noticed something else—I wanted my innocence back.
So, I began to fight for my softness to return. I fought for my gentleness to come back. And I got it back.
That, perhaps, was the most surprising part of my recovery. I never would have imagined it was possible.
This is why you will hear in my keynote, "The Fire Within" that you can be "tenderhearted AND fierce."
#resilience #mindset #healing #overcomingadversity #personalgrowth #keynotespeaker #leadership #compassion #workculture #motivation #inspiration #hope
