The Reward of Asking: Who Am I Now?

Since my job loss over a year ago, I have reflected, reexamined, reevaluated and shifted my thinking countless times to align myself with the climate of 2025.  Over 300 job applications submitted for the job offer that never came, the impact of anti DEI, and pushing my resilience to the brink - hoping that this time, I finally figured it out.

One day, during my skincare regimen, a voice whispered,  “Who the hell are you now?”

It was so audible – as  if someone else was in the room. In all seriousness, it scared the daylights out of me. I immediately abandoned the routine, gazed at my reflection and waited for a response.

Crickets!

I spent the morning reflecting on my entire career, my accomplishments, traumas I survived personally and professionally and what they taught me.  

The reward? A picture of who I truly am. I teared with pride and rose with clarity.

These times are unprecedented: long term unemployment, job insecurity, immigration fear, shrinking social services, return to office mandates and condoned discrimination from the highest office of the United States.

Each exasperated by the pressure of managing multiple identities: parent, caregiver, employee, spiritual warrior, bread winner while on a landscape that changes every week.

Far too many of us have been pushed into a version of ourselves that we never consented to become.

It’s not the one we planned, hoped or worked for; but a version shaped by survival and it is reshaping how we show up, engage, trust, and perform.

As I pivot from employee to full time leader of the business I founded 4 years ago, I’ve realized the value of a radical mindset shift:

🤔 We are the CEO of our own lives. Even in uncertainty, we decide where our energy goes.

🤔 Isolation is the enemy of resilience. Find your tribe and engage regularly.

🤔 Be fully present in the thing you tackle today. The list will still be there tomorrow.

🤔 Pursue grace over perfection.  It’s a given that your efforts may not yield expected results.

🤔 Accept that ghosting is now a business norm. It’s not you. Move on quickly.

I'm reminded of something I emphasize in my work: "know thyself." That question whispered in my mirror empowered me to reclaim agency over my identity.

The irony? This is the same self awareness work I guide others through in my book “Impactful Inclusion Toolkit”.

To champion inclusion for others and enlightenment for ourselves, we must first do the courageous work of understanding who we are and the why behind it.

Connecting authentically across difference demands embracing this truth beyond the roles and circumstances trying to define us.

If 2025 has pushed you into a version of yourself you didn't consent to become, I invite you to ask the hard question: Who are you now?

Your answer might just be the clarity you've been searching for.