You built BIÂN alongside two successful male business partners. What has that dynamic taught you about collaboration, communication, and bringing feminine leadership into traditionally male-dominated spaces?
I’ve never been particularly interested in performing masculinity or femininity in business. I’m far more interested in truth, competence, respect, emotional intelligence, accountability, and shared vision. I believe leadership is ultimately human-to-human.
That said, prior to BIÂN, I worked within both the film and television industry and later financial services, so I had early exposure to high-pressure, traditionally male-dominated environments.
I was also raised by an entrepreneurial father who ran his mortgage businesses out of our home. I grew up watching business happen in real time...listening to conversations, playing office (I loved doing “paperwork”), and envisioning my own future very early on.
What I’ve learned is that effective leadership does not require becoming less feminine and on the flip side, more masculine. It requires becoming more fully yourself in a way that is evolved, present, and regulated.
At BIÂN, there has always been deep trust, mutual respect, and an unwavering commitment to the mission between my fellow Co-Founders and I. That alignment matters far more than fitting into outdated ideas of how leadership is “supposed” to look.