Like many women, I struggled to achieve professional success. It had nothing to do with my skills. It had everything to do with lack of opportunities. I had been laid off four times in my career.
These demoralizing roadblocks could have derailed me, and they almost did.
Faced with the necessity to develop and nurture the capability to believe in myself and present myself as the self-assured, capable professional I knew I could be, I struggled to find my way. Despite the setbacks, I had to develop self-confidence to take charge of my future. Realizing the need in the marketplace, I mustered up my courage and ultimately created a thriving corporate Public Speaking and Leadership training business.
My corporate Public Speaking and Leadership training had life-changing impact for professionals, especially women who like me had setbacks and lost confidence. Several years later, I woke one night with an idea to offer a new training program to women who needed it most.
Leap to Success was founded in 2008, as a volunteer project to help women in the most dire circumstances – domestic violence, homelessness, and those struggling to overcome addiction – build their self-esteem, self-confidence, and the communication and career skills needed to be successful in life. And to ultimately help them become self-supporting by breaking the cycles of violence, poverty and other devastating life challenges.
Since our first program, Leap to Success has assisted more than two thousand women.
Many have gone on to attain new professional achievements including leadership roles, advanced education, or starting their own businesses.
As Leap to Success began producing amazing results with its participants, professional women working with and supporting the programs told me they wished there was a program to help them overcome their own struggles with a problem common to so many of them: imposter syndrome.
Imposter syndrome, suffered by up to 70 percent of all women—including famous women, describes feelings of inadequacy that persist despite evident success. ‘Imposters’ suffer from chronic self-doubt and a sense of intellectual deception, which crushes feelings of success or even external proof of their competence.
Driven by the desire to find a solution, my vision came full circle.
If our programs could transform the lives of women facing the greatest imaginable challenges—by giving them the tools and the confidence to rebuild their lives, what might they do for women struggling to be taken seriously – and take themselves seriously – as professionals?
Power of Confidence takes everything my team and I have learned and offers a brand new seminar series. We’re providing women in business with the tools and skills they need to channel their confidence and excel as professionals.
With new knowledge, skills, and support, we empower women to use confidence as a springboard to reaching their most ambitious professional and personal goals.
Power of Confidence is now open for registration for the very first cohort of women who are ready to boost their confidence to reach new heights of personal and professional success. The program starts on April 9 in Carlsbad, California.
To your confidence and success!
Dana Bristol-Smith
P.S. We conducted a survey of more than 250 women in business to find out how they rated their self-confidence. Here’s the news release with links to the survey report.
