Dearest Gentle Readers,
Yesterday, a friend sent me a LinkedIn video highlighting how women are often not given the opportunity to lead their own projects from start to finish, and as a result, are rarely credited for their inventions and accomplishments.
It got me thinking. We, and okay, maybe this is especially me, tend to operate under this quiet belief that if we put in the hard work and deliver exceptional results, we will be recognized for it. That the work will speak for itself. That someone will notice.
And in reality? That couldn't be farther from the truth.
So, how do we better lift each other up? Celebrate our collective wins? Share with the world, without having to shout it from the rooftops all on our own?
Honestly, I was sitting with those questions all day yesterday. And, I am not 100% clear on the path forward myself but I want to experiment, and with a sprinkle of nostalgia baked in.
She did that. You did that! And, so did she.
Pass it on.
Yup, chain letters.
Bear with me. You remember them, forwarded into your inbox with 47 names already in the thread, this funny little ritual of collective participation. We're bringing that energy back. But this time, it's not for good luck or a free vacation. It's for something women have been quietly accumulating for centuries without nearly enough fanfare:
Their actual accomplishments. Their real hard work. Their overdue credit.
Here's what I’d love to see happen. I want you to send me your win--big, small, quietly massive, or loudly overdue. The promotion you fought two years for. The business you launched at 11pm after the kids went to bed. The PhD you finished. The boundary you finally held. The thing you did that nobody threw a parade for.
I will compile them, celebrate them, and send them back out, both in next week's newsletter and across social media, in true chain letter fashion. A rolling, growing, unstoppable thread of women's wins.
Reply to this email with your win (please keep it short and succinct).
Forward this email to three women in business in your life, and add your win to the top before you send it.
Ask them to celebrate your win with their audiences.
Then share their own, and pass it forward to three more women.
Each woman does the same.
DEADLINE TO SUBMIT your win back to me (reply directly to this email) so that I can include it in next week’s newsletter is Tuesday, March 24th by 10:00 am ET.
Women's work is chronically under-celebrated, over-explained, and under-counted. We are not waiting for someone to notice anymore. We are going to make noise for each other, loudly, collectively, and on purpose.
Tell me your win. I'll make sure people hear about it.
With love and a vintage chain letter spirit,
Raven O’Neal
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