6 Steps to Make Visibility Feel Easier as a WOC

If you’re going to land speaking opportunities (using the tips from my episode #50), you’re going to have to get comfortable being visible. And here’s the thing: Women of Color don’t have an ability problem, they have a visibility problem.

Think about it, who do you usually see portraying the CEOs of companies on screen? Usually, a white man. Sometimes a white woman. Visibility is often needed to make more money. And I want to be really intentional about not making a systemic issue a mindset issue. Let’s be clear: Visibility is hard because of oppression, note because it’s a personality trait.

Even my super successful ex corporate women who climbed the ladder are not immune to this. I coach women who are Directors at Google, who have been SVPs, who worked for the United Nations. And across the board, visibility is hard for us. Being seen can feel unsafe because we’ve been overly criticized for out natural way of being and had unforgiving standards put on us growing up.

So here’s 7 steps to make visibility easier:

1. Acknowledge the emotion.
2. Validate why it’s hard.
3. Ask LESS of the thing you’re doing. 
4. What do I need in order to increase my capacity to do this?
5. Rank visibility in terms of what you have the capacity for. 
6. Embrace it as a journey vs destination.

Tune in to episode 51 for the why and how behind each of these steps!