What do Gloria Steinem, Steve Martin, Marilyn Monroe, and Luna Lovegood have in common?

They’re on my Virtual Board of Advisors, and they “live” above my writing desk.

Have you ever been in a conversation, or in a meeting, and suddenly someone says something to you that cuts you to the core?

You start asking yourself questions like:

“Wait, did she/he just say something shitty, or am I imagining this?”

It was 2006, I had just had Stella, and was back to work with almost no childcare whatsoever. I was a train wreck. My identity was wobbly, none of the time management techniques that had worked for me in the past made any sense, and I was chronically exhausted from trying to front like I had it all under control. I went online one night to seek out advice on mindfulness, positive thinking, coping techniques for overwhelm… anything to help me survive the next 24 hours.

It was sometime around 1999 or 2000, and I had recently announced my decision to leave my job at Blanc & Otus for the greener pastures of Scient. Word had made its way around B&O that I was moving on, and when I saw our CEO, Jonelle Birney, approaching me in the hallway, I assumed she’d heard the news as well.

If my thoughts were audible, you’d hear this message with steady frequency.

This thought is always accompanied by a set of physical sensations: butterflies in the stomach, a dry throat, and my heart beating fast and hard.