Fast Company Feature: How this CEO is helping her fellow female founders make ‘bold moves’

I landed what I thought was my dream job as a regional business manager when I was 27. I had worked my way up, secured a position at a premier accounting firm in Boston, earned my CPA, and was making a comfortable six-figure salary. 

After a decade in accounting, I knew how to set myself up for success within a corporate system: Wear the pencil skirt. Be smart, but not intimidating. Navigate endless politics in a male-dominated field. Be wise beyond my twenty-seven years. Work as if my life outside of a nine-to-five didn’t exist. Accept deadlines and projects no matter how unrealistic they are. Be grateful for the role prescribed for me.

How familiar is this to anyone who’s found success in corporate dynamics? The unspoken rule is: it’s not professional to bring your whole self to work. Fit yourself into a role even if it requires painful contortion. 

I was good at being exactly what the organization needed me to be and quickly rose through the ranks, managing hundreds of employees and millions in the budgets.

But, was I who I wanted to be? Was I doing what I should be doing? The confusing, at times excruciating, feeling of “I’m meant for more” hinted that I was not. 

Read the full article by at Fast Company.