#WomenOwnTheRoom - Amelia Aubourg

March was Women’s History Month. I think every day I celebrate being born a black woman but the world celebrates only in March. I know it’s funny. I wanted to make an active choice to help one woman this month move forward in their career. Enter Boston Speaks. I signed up for their #WomenOwnTheRoom as a mentor. I was matched up with Camila, who was a U/X designer who was looking to grow and better communicate her skills. We talked about her trajectory and what her end state was. It is always important from a process issue to start at the end to then reverse engineer how you move forward to that end in the present. We talked about how she is showing up and what she is doing now in her career. We talked about tone in communication and how she talks about herself. We talked about the image she wants to project and what her point of view would be for others who see her design. According to the rules, we were supposed to review quotes of powerful women and spend thirty minutes together. We ended up spending two hours together. She walked away with some insights and recommendations to follow up with based on our call. As a mentor, I received so much from our interaction. I was so grateful to meet her and will definitely keep in touch. To own the room as women, we have to listen to each other and empower each other. We have to be honest and forthright and genuinely care for each other. Most importantly, we have to know that there is enough room for us all and that we can own it just by being our authentic and fabulous selves.