I’ve always been fascinated by female beauty and behavior and how they are shaped by society and local cultures. I love to witness how women in Cameroon demonstrate authority by taking up physical space and speaking loudly, how Brazilian women make their long sleek hair rock from side to side in a never-ending sensual dance of seduction or how gender seems to be an outdated concept in Northern Europe. What a pleasure to discover all those female facets when you travel!
But sadly, in the workforce, most of these colours and textures seem to disappear. The more successful women are in the professional hierarchy, the more they tend to radiated power, strength and charisma in a very traditional masculine way, putting aside their femininity in order to be taken seriously. When I talk about femininity, it has nothing to do with dresses and make-up, although of course they can enhance your female beauty, I am referring to archetypal female power characteristic such as empathy, compassion, collective intelligence, vulnerability as well as feeling good in your female body and letting yourself be seen for who you really are.
I believe that the most important ingredient to be a charismatic and impactful communicator is authenticity. You need to find out who you are and you must not be afraid of showing it. The challenge for us women today is to stop hiding behind a male facade and instead, rediscover for ourselves what it means to be feminine. We need to give ourselves permission to be seen in our full female glory in order to express ourselves authentically and carry our unique message into the world.
I am extremely proud to have teamed up with the renowned french-american communication firm LingoFacto to launch “POWER AND PIZAZZ: How Extraordinary Women Communicate”, a fantastic program dedicated to authentic and impactful communication specifically designed for professional women to help them become the best versions of themselves and the leaders they were always meant to be.