Oh you fancy, huh?

What did you want to be when you grew up?!

When I was little, I used to pretend I was my mom going off to work.

I’d announce, “I’m going to a meeting,” grab a stack of books and head approximately six feet away, to our front porch, where I’d arrange stuffed animals and teach them something very important.

There I am in the photo: three years old, one shoe on, one sock off, carrying my books like a tiny little businesswoman with absolutely no time for your excuses.

It was cute because everyone knew I was just a kid pretending to be a grown-up.

The funny thing is... I’m not entirely sure we ever stop pretending. We just get better shoes and start using words like synergy.

In the business world, we stop making things up and start innovating. 

We don’t look for; we source. 

We don’t collect; we curate. 

And we certainly don’t hire part-time staff. We engage fractional talent.

Oh we fancy, huh?

When I first started thinking about leaving TV, I decided I needed to sound like a Serious Business Lady™.

My emails suddenly included phrases like “circle back,” "ROI” and “let's identify the key stakeholders.” 

I was still me. I'd just put a blazer on my vocabulary.

Eventually, I realized there was a problem: If Buttoned-Up Business Page wrote the emails, Jazz-Hands Page still showed up to deliver the content. 

And I didn’t want people looking at me like, "Wait. We were promised a woman who leverages strategic initiatives. Who is this person telling us about #microphoneenvy and making us bite a pen?"

So now I try to sound like myself everywhere, and I think probably you should too. 

Maybe your style isn't AS extra as some of us (ahem 🙋‍♀️), but there's always someone you can look to as being a relatable example who shows their human side and is also a business baddie (Oprah, Warren Buffet, and Sara Blakely all come to mind.. just to name a few). 

If you're reading this far down, you get it and that's exactly why I like you, and that means other people do too... so do you, boo!

So here's to all of us... a bunch of adult-sized kids. Carrying our little stack of books, heading to a meeting and hoping no one notices we’re missing a sock.

Until next month, just remember... you don't have to eliminate your personality to be a professional, you just have to be a professional... with a personality!

-Page

P.S. If you have a minute, shoot me back an email and tell me who's out there doing this well... I'm always looking for people to copy... "new inspo!" 😉

I WANT PAGE TO SPEAK AT AN EVENT