What Taking Up Space Looked Like in New Orleans

There is something a little ironic about choosing Take Up Space as the theme for a year when taking up space felt especially hard.

There were obstacles. There were moments when resources felt tight, when plans changed, and when I questioned whether we could pull off everything we wanted to create. But we did it. And as I stood in a room full of incredible women at the Empowering Women in Industry Conference in New Orleans, I realized that maybethatis what taking up space really looks like. It isn’t always walking confidently into a room without fear. Sometimes it is walking into the room scared and taking your place anyway.

I opened the conference by sharing something that has become deeply personal to me: Big Heart Energy and the idea of leading with Power, Love, and Self-Control, activated by courage. I’ve been thinking a lot about courage lately. Courage isn’t the absence of fear. It is deciding that fear doesn’t get to decide for you.

What I loved was watching that message continue throughout the day without us necessarily planning it. Speaker after speaker talked about confidence, leadership, resilience, wellness, advocacy, using your voice, and taking action. There was this thread running through the entire conference that said: You may not feel completely ready. You may not have everything figured out. You may even be scared. Do it anyway.

Crystal Evans gave us a word that really stuck with me: BOLD. Big Dreams. Own It. Let It Go. Do It Scared.

That last one, of course, got me. Do it scared. Because I do things scared all the time. I just do them anyway.

The next morning, that message became something we physically experienced together. We held a wellness reset with some of the coaches who were part of the conference. We had originally talked about yoga in the park, and it turned into this wonderful combination of breathing, stretching, standing yoga, squats, and lunges. And yes, I think we mastered the squats!

We put on a Spotify playlist called “chill workout vibes,” and somehow those first few songs were exactly what we needed. There was something almost spiritual about being together that morning, breathing deeply, moving our bodies, and letting go of everything we had been carrying. We weren’t just talking about being BOLD. We were practicing it together.

Another moment I keep coming back to happened around Sanya Mathura’s book launch. I was honored to write the foreword for her book, and several of the contributing authors were there with us. My team did what they do so well. They jumped in and started figuring out how to capture the moment, even though we didn’t have some elaborate plan for K’ten started directing us, we got the authors involved, we got the audience cheering, and we made a moment out of it.

That is one of the things I love about this community. We may not always know exactly how we are going to do something, but someone steps in. Someone has an idea. Someone grabs the camera. Someone picks up the microphone. Someone says, “I can help.”

During Sanya’s session, the conversation also became much more serious. She talked about some of the challenges people experience in engineering and STEM, including isolation, lack of support, and harassment in the workplace. She shared perspectives from both women and men, which was an important reminder that some of these experiences cross gender lines.

Then a woman in our audience stood up and shared her own story of experiencing harassment in the workplace and having to advocate for herself and speak up about what happened. That was probably my biggest “all the feels” moment of the conference.

What struck me was her courage. She was able to tell her story from a place where you could see that she had done the work around it. And now she was standing in a room full of people, holding a microphone and using her experience to help someone else.

I love giving someone the mic.

There is something powerful about saying, We want to hear your voice. Your story matters here. Maybe that is one of the simplest ways we can help another person take up space. Hand them the microphone and then listen. There was so much joy in the room, too. At the end of the conference, we brought our award nominees onto the stage wearing their special gold diamond pins, because we want them to remember toshine bright like a diamond. Then we decided to bring everyone together for one big group photo. The picture I love most isn’t necessarily the perfectly posed one. It is the one where everyone is smiling, celebrating, throwing their hands out and just being themselves. You can almost hear the room when you look at it.

Joy. I think that is one of the words I will remember most about this conference.

I also loved seeing what collaboration looked like throughout the event. Paige’s presentation especially spoke to me because of where I am in my own business right now. She has worked in industry and media, has gone through the process of rebranding an event, and she brings her team and other people into what she is creating. During her presentation, she even invited Sanya and me into the conversation. It reminded me that taking up space doesn’t mean taking space away from somebody else.We can make the room bigger.

We can invite someone onto the stage. We can hand someone the microphone. We can share our expertise. We can make an introduction. We can encourage somebody. We can give someone access to a resource we have. We can take up space together.

I saw that in my own team throughout the conference. I especially loved watching K’ten come to life. She has been helping with Empowering Women social media for a while, and there are several photos from the conference where everyone else is having a great time and somewhere in the background you can see K’ten with her “working face” on, making things happen. But I also got to see the excitement on her face and watch her become part of what we have been building together. Those moments mean a lot to me.

Having my family there meant even more. They took up a whole table! My husband and my stepdaughters were there supporting me, along with so many of the people I love. At one point, I handed my daughter Karli Matthews the microphone and put her on the spot. She picked it up and spoke clearly and confidently.

That was a proud mom moment. She was proud of herself too, which was even better!

Karli Matthews takes the mic!

Recognition says, I see you.

And sometimes the people who spend so much time seeing, encouraging and supporting everyone else need someone to say that to them.

One of the interesting things about producing a conference is that you don’t experience it the same way the attendees do. I’m running. I’m watching the schedule. I’m thinking about the next speaker. I’m checking on my team. I’m solving whatever problem needs to be solved next. So one of my favorite parts actually happens the next morning when I wake up and start scrolling through everyone else’s posts.

I get to see the conference through their eyes.

This year, I saw clips of myself bringing Big Heart Energy to the stage during moments when I remember thinking I was tired and didn’t have much energy left to give. But when I watched the videos, I realized the energy was there. I saw people connecting. I saw women learning. I saw my team working. I saw people supporting one another. I saw courage.

And I saw a lot of joy.

When everything was finally over, I felt three things:

Relieved. Thankful. And, “We did it.” with God's help!