This past weekend I set up my office. We moved about a month ago, but before moving, most of my office furniture had been sitting in storage for years as we navigated the home buying process. Now, my style has changed. My taste has changed. A few of the items that came out of that storage unit are not what I would choose today. But it is what I have. And this weekend, what I have is what I worked with. 😏 I started excited. I had a clear picture of where I was starting and a clear picture of where I needed to end up. A functional workspace. A backdrop for my meetings, consultations, and workshops, as well as for filming curriculum for both this community and my course. That was the goal. What I did not fully anticipate was everything that had to happen to get there, and in what order. The shelving units had to go up first because everything else depended on them. They were fine when they were delivered, but between my daughter's recent party and the chaos of them not fitting back up the stairs, my husband took them apart and rebuilt them, and somewhere in that process the original screws went missing. So before anything else could move forward, I was on a hunt. I checked the house and could not find them. I went to the store and they did not have them because my unit is now discontinued. I eventually tracked them down on Amazon and waited the weekend for them to arrive. That was just to get started. Once the shelves were secured, the drawers had to be reinstalled. They did not just slide back into place. That was its own process. Then the decor could finally go on the shelves, which sounds simple until you are doing it with a tweaked back and trying to figure out what actually looks right in a space that still does not feel fully yours yet. I went hunting for old photos of how the shelves were styled before, just to save myself the mental load of starting from scratch. Then the cabinet that lives between the shelves had to be moved from another room entirely, which meant more lifting, more arranging, and more adjusting. Then the chair had to be put together. And finally, the art piece went up on the wall, held in place by thumbtacks because I could not find a single Command Strip anywhere in the house.

Hey Ladies, Friday is here and we are closing out Week 6 strong! Before we head into the weekend, I just have to take a moment to celebrate some of the ladies who showed up this week because you deserve to be seen. @Jewel Caldwell - Sis, you opened up this week and shared something real and honest. That took courage, and it made this space richer for everyone in it. Thank you for trusting us with that. @Stacie Cannon @Niesha Ellis @Khadeeja Muhammad - You were in the community this week engaging with posts. That is worth celebrating! This community is better because you all show up. And if you moved forward in any way this week, big or small, that counts too. Drop a number below and let us celebrate you: 1 - I made progress on the course 2 - I had a real conversation or validation moment 3 - I just came back and that was enough All three are a win. See you in Week 7!🎉

This week, I watched my son walk across a stage at his kindergarten graduation... his very first. And just days later, I sat in the audience while my husband Cam delivered the keynote address for the first 4th grade graduating class of a Jesuit elementary school here in Baltimore, one he sits on the board for. Both moments. Same week. And I couldn't stop thinking about beginnings. That elementary school was founded by a priest named Father Watters, the same Father Watters who founded the middle school Cam attended, the school that became the starting point for the journey that led him to where he is today. But Father Watters didn't start with a portfolio. He started with a vision, a middle school, taking boys starting in 6th grade. Then he founded a high school. But somewhere along the way, he kept listening. And what he heard told him he needed to reach young men earlier. So he moved the middle school entry point to 5th grade. And then he kept listening. And eventually, he realized that earlier still wasn't early enough. That if he really wanted to shape the trajectory of these young men's lives, he needed to reach them at the very beginning of their education. So he founded Loyola, a preschool and elementary school, welcoming children as young as two years old. This week, that school graduated its very first 4th-grade class. Thirty-three years of listening. Adjusting. Refining. Without ever abandoning the original vision. That's validation. Not just something you do once before you launch. It's something you return to as your offer grows, as your audience evolves, as God sharpens what He's already placed in your hands. Father Watters didn't abandon the vision. He refined it. And the refining came from paying attention to the people he was called to serve. That's exactly what this week was asking you to do. So as you head into the weekend, a few honest questions: Did you have the conversation? Did you send the poll? Did you gather even one insight from someone you're building for?

I recently came across a study that estimated the average person makes around 35,000 decisions every day. At first, I thought there was no way that could be true. But researchers say that number includes everything from automatic, unconscious decisions throughout the day to the hundreds of conscious choices we make about our time, attention, priorities, food, work, and responsibilities. It's no wonder so many of us feel mentally exhausted. Decision fatigue is real. And one of the things it often leads to is procrastination. Not because we're lazy. But because we're tired. As I reflected on that this week, it reminded me why Week 5 matters so much. The goal wasn't just to make a decision for the sake of making one. The goal was to make a few important decisions now so you don't have to keep making them later. Because once you've decided: ✔️ what you're building ✔️ who it's for ✔️ when you're going to work on it ✔️ what completion looks like ...a lot of other decisions become easier. It's easier to protect your time when it's already on the calendar. It's easier to say no to distractions when you've already committed to a direction. It's easier to avoid overbuilding when you've already decided who you're building for. It's easier to keep moving when you've already defined what progress looks like. Many times, we think making the decision is the hard part. But often the decision is the thing that creates peace. Because now you know what you're moving toward. You don't have to keep reconsidering it every day. You can simply take the next step. So if you've completed Week 5, take a moment today and celebrate that. You made a decision. And that decision may remove hundreds of others in the weeks ahead. Now stop revisiting it every day and start building. Let's keep going. 💛

Hey Ladies, welcome to week 6! This week's lesson is all about validation and one simple tool that can make your conversations much easier is Loom (or any recording app you already use). One mistake we often make is trying to listen, think of the next question, and take detailed notes all at once. As women, we are natural multi-taskers and end up missing the small comments that often hold the biggest insights. Recording your conversations (with permission) lets you stay present and actually listen. You can use Loom, Zoom, Google Meet or your phone's voice recorder. As you review, listen for: - Words or phrases people repeat - Problems they've already tried to solve - What feels hard or frustrating - What outcome they're hoping for Sometimes the most valuable insight isn't what people say. It's how they say it. Before anything else, make sure you've watched the Week 6 lesson. It walks through validation in much more depth and will help you go into these conversations with clarity. When you're ready, drop one insight, pattern, or takeaway over at the Week 6 checkpoint post. 💛 Don't forget, Co-working is also tonight at 9 PM, come as you are, wherever you are in the process and let's build as a community. Will you be joining us tonight?🎉