How one female leader’s visibility journey will change the way you show up, speak up, and get paid.
If you’ve ever sat in a room and shrunk yourself to make others comfortable, this post is for you.
If you’ve ever known the answer but stayed quiet anyway, this is for you.
If you’ve ever felt the butterflies before a big negotiation and thought something was wrong with you, keep reading.
Learning how to be visible as a woman in business is not about posting more. It’s not about a prettier logo or a more polished bio. It’s about what happens in your body when the stakes are high and all eyes are on you.
Jennifer Cleversey Moffitt is the Chief Administrative Officer and General Counsel at a federally regulated port authority in Belledune, New Brunswick, Canada. She’s also a ballet teacher. A mother of two daughters. And one of the most grounded, direct, and refreshingly honest women leaders I’ve had the pleasure of interviewing on the Social Media Love Podcast Show.
What she shared in Episode 101 stopped me in my tracks.
Because she didn’t talk about visibility like it’s a marketing strategy. She talked about it like what it actually is: a safety issue. A body issue. An identity issue.
And she gave us real tools to build it.
Boardroom Confidence for Women: The Moment That Changes Everything
Picture this.
Jennifer is the only woman in the boardroom. She’s the lawyer. She’s the most educated person in the room. She’s there to guide people through complex matters.
Someone knocks over their coffee.
Every single person in the room turns to look at her.
Not because they’re being deliberately cruel. But because of deep, unconscious conditioning that says: the woman cleans it up.
This is one of the most common invisible battles for women in male-dominated industries. It’s not always a slur or a door slammed in your face. Sometimes it’s just a spilled coffee and a room full of eyes.
In her 20s? She would have gotten up and grabbed the napkins.
In her 40s? She didn’t move.
“I didn’t spill the coffee,” she told me. “And just because I’m the only woman in the room doesn’t mean it’s automatically my job to clean it up.”
They all sat in that discomfort until someone else got up.
And here’s what she said happened next: her stature in the room went up. Not down. Up.
This is what boardroom confidence for women actually looks like in practice. It’s not a post. It’s not a reel. It’s not a brand colour palette.
It’s the moment you choose not to make yourself smaller so others can stay comfortable.
Imposter Syndrome in Women Leaders: Why Hiding Gets Sneakier as You Grow
Most women don’t know they’re hiding. That’s the dangerous part.
When you’re early in your career, hiding looks obvious: staying quiet, not raising your hand, not applying for the role.
But the further you go, the sneakier it gets. Imposter syndrome in women leaders doesn’t always look like self-doubt. Sometimes it looks like over-preparing and still saying nothing. Sometimes it looks like deferring to someone less qualified because they spoke first.
Jennifer put it perfectly:
“I had done the homework. I knew the answer. But I didn’t have the confidence in my own voice to really say what I thought.”
That is hiding at a high level. You’re in the room. You have the credentials. But you’re editing yourself out of the conversation before you even open your mouth.
Sound familiar?
Here’s the reframe that changed everything for her: doing the homework was her anchor.
When she walked into a room fully prepared, her female entrepreneur confidence wasn’t based on how people made her feel. It was based on what she knew. No one could take that away.
And on the flip side? She learned it was okay to say “I don’t have that answer right now, but I’ll get back to you.” That’s not weakness. That’s competence. People trust you more when you tell the truth instead of filling space with noise.
Action step: Before your next big meeting, pitch, or sales call, ask yourself: have I done the homework? If yes, you belong in that room. Full stop.
Somatic Tools for Women in Business: The Hype Ritual That Gets Her Boardroom-Ready
Here’s something most visibility strategies miss completely.
Your body needs to feel safe before your voice can be heard. That’s why somatic tools for women in business are not a wellness trend. They’re a performance strategy.
Jennifer shared something that women rarely talk about openly: she has a physical ritual that shifts her energy before high-stakes moments.
High heels. A sharp black suit. Hair pulled back. And a playlist.
Her go-to song before a tough negotiation? Rihanna’s “B**** Better Have My Money.”
She laughed when she said it. But she meant it completely.
“Sometimes you have to create the hype. You have to create the energy,” she said. “And how do you do that? You’ve got to find what works for you.”
She also talked about deliberately lowering her voice in the boardroom. Not because she’s been told to. But because she noticed that a calm, measured tone made people stop talking over her. They leaned in. They listened.
Margaret Thatcher used the same technique. Jennifer Cleversey Moffitt uses the same technique. And now you have permission to use it too.
Action step: Design your own pre-visibility ritual. What do you wear that makes you feel powerful? What song shifts your energy? What physical cue reminds your body: I’ve got this? Write it down. Use it consistently. Your nervous system will start to recognise it as a safety signal.
The Butterfly Reframe Every Female Entrepreneur Needs to Hear
How many times have you felt that flutter in your stomach before a sales call, a speaking opportunity, or a conversation about how to charge more as a woman entrepreneur, and told yourself something was wrong?
Jennifer has a different take. And she’s been sharing it with her daughters since they were little.
“The butterflies are there because they’re excited. They want to get out there and do something. If you use all of the power those butterflies have, you’re going to do great things.”
Read that again.
The butterflies are not a warning signal. They are a performance signal.
Discomfort is not danger. It’s the body preparing to do something that matters.
This is exactly what a real visibility strategy for female entrepreneurs looks like. Not more content. Not another funnel. It’s learning to regulate your nervous system so you can take bold action without shutting down first.
Through the V.I.S.I.B.L.E. Method, this is what I call the Regulate step. Before you can express yourself and lead, your body needs to feel safe enough to do it. When you learn to work with your body instead of fight it, you stop hiding and start leading.
Action step: Next time you feel the flutter before a big moment, say this out loud or in your head: “This is not danger. This is readiness.” Then take one slow breath and move forward anyway.
Women and AI in Business: What Jennifer Said That No One Else Is Saying
The conversation around women and AI in business is growing fast. But most of it misses the most important point.
Jennifer is a lawyer. She’s thoughtful. And she’s cautious about AI in a way I deeply respect.
She called it a double-edged sword.
She talked about confidentiality risks. About the fact that AI is developing faster than regulations can keep up. About the moral compass every business owner needs to engage before diving in.
But the thing that hit hardest?
“Your brain got you to where you’re going. It wasn’t created through some other artificial entity.”
She talked about how her 17-year-old daughter, after a long dinner conversation about clean energy, looked at her and said: “You’re way better than AI, mom.”
That’s the truth we all need to sit with.
AI can check your grammar. AI can research. AI can structure. But AI cannot be you. It cannot carry your story. It cannot hold your authority. It cannot walk into a boardroom and refuse to pick up the coffee.
Your voice is your brand. Protect it.
Action step: Audit your content. Are you using AI to enhance your voice or to replace it? There’s a big difference. Use it for structure, research, and editing. But make sure what comes out still sounds like you.
How to Close Deals as a Woman: The Money Truth No One Says Out Loud
We had a direct conversation about something that most people dance around.
When women seek funding, they get asked about risk.
When men seek funding, they get asked about vision.
If you’ve been wondering how to close deals as a woman in a system that wasn’t built for you, Jennifer’s answer is not to wait for the system to change. It’s to get comfortable being a closer anyway.
“You can’t change what’s being asked of you. But you can change how you respond. And you can change the confidence level in which you deliver that response.”
And on how to charge more as a woman entrepreneur? She came back to the same theme: longevity.
At the port authority, they just negotiated a 25-year contract with a partner they’d worked with for 25 years.
The message at the table was clear from day one: “This is not a five-year agreement. We are in this together.”
That kind of longevity signal changes the whole negotiation. It filters out the wrong clients. It attracts partners who value what you build. It shifts the conversation from price to investment.
For your business, longevity might mean three years instead of 25. But the intention is the same. When you show up willing to invest in a real relationship, people trust you differently. They buy differently. They refer differently.
Action step: In your next discovery call or sales conversation, name your intention for longevity. Tell your potential client or partner how long you like to work with people and why. Watch how the energy shifts.
Her Final Words to Every Woman Entrepreneur
I gave Jennifer the stage at the end of our conversation. I asked: if every woman entrepreneur listening right now was in the room with you, what would you want her to know?
She said two things.
First: “I applaud you. It takes courage.”
Second: “Do your homework. Be the most educated person in the room on what matters to you. Be humble, but be confident. And even when the butterflies flutter, know they are propelling change. There’s nothing wrong with that.”
There is nothing wrong with that.
Ready to Deploy Your Visibility?
What Jennifer shared is exactly why I do this work.
Visibility is not a strategy problem. It is a safety problem. When a woman finally feels safe to be seen, everything shifts. Her revenue. Her relationships. Her identity.
If something she said landed in your chest today, that’s your sign.
Book your Visibility Audit with me. It’s 15 to 20 minutes. It’s free. And it will show you exactly where your visibility is ready to emerge and what to do about it.
The link is in the show notes. Do it today. Not tomorrow. Today.
Listen to the full episode with Jennifer Cleversey Moffitt on the Social Media Love Podcast Show, Episode 101.