10 years ago today, I launched my very first book.
And if you knew me back then, you'd understand why that's kind of a big deal.
I struggled in school. I was told I would amount to nothing. I had absolutely no business writing a book, let alone one about confidence and influence. But I had lived something real. I had a degree in fashion and understood how the way a woman dresses impacts how she carries herself. I understood how fear and a poor self-image can quietly rob you of everything you were meant to be. So I wrote what I knew.
Your Signature Style: Unlocking the Confidence, Style and Influence of the Savvy CEO wasn't just a book. It was me betting on myself out loud, in print, for everyone to see.
I launched it on stage at a Y100 event at a local mall. And I'll tell you a secret... I couldn't do it as myself. I showed up as my alter ego, “The Beauty Queen”, with my store-bought tiara, because that was the only version of me brave enough to stand up there that day.
And the most amazing part? My children were there watching. They saw me do something terrifying and do it anyway. Those kids are all adults now and I still think about what that moment quietly said to them about what's possible.
Four years later I stood on a stage again and was crowned Woman of Achievement for real. As my full, authentic self.
That book started something I couldn't have predicted.
A decade later the message still holds because leaders are still shrinking. Still second guessing. Still waiting for permission to take up space.
Your style, your presence, your confidence? That's not vanity. That's strategy.
There is so much more I've learned in 10 years and I'd love to update it one day. But for now this book stands as a monument to what any of us can do when the right people believe in you long enough for you to believe in yourself.
And that one scary bet saying yes to writing the first book… Turned into a second book and 11 Amazon bestsellers I co-authored along the way. Not bad for someone who had no business writing anything."
If you get a chance, grab a copy. It's an easy read. And it might just shift something in you the way writing it shifted something in me.
