Podcast May Series #3
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_1_05-19-2025_091209: [00:00:00] let me ask you something personal. Have you ever had a season where showing up felt less about being put together and more about just. Being in the moment and present, not the version of presence that gets talked about in the leadership books, right?
Not the own the room version, but the kind where you are quietly navigating something behind the scenes and just being there is the win. This week I really wanna talk about a version of presence. We don't celebrate enough. The kind that holds really steady when everything else feels uncertain. The kind that is quiet in the background, the kind that doesn't need a spotlight to matter.
Welcome to the Style and Strategy Podcast, where personal brand meets leadership and style. I'm Sonya, a personal brand and style coach who's been exactly where you [00:01:00] are juggling career and business success. Personal growth and finding a style that truly fits. After decades in corporate leadership, I've learned that showing up isn't just about what you do, it's about how you align who you are and how the world sees you.
This season, I'm bringing you practical strategies, bold insights, and honest conversations to help you amplify your presence, unlock your next level, and lead with clarity and confidence. Let's dive in.
_1_05-19-2025_091209: over the last 12 months I've experienced this personally and it really changed the way I understood. Presence, leadership and what it meant to show up for yourself, your people, your family, and most importantly, your purpose.
A year ago, after about, of being sick, [00:02:00] My husband, we took, we had taken my husband to the emergency ward and on that day he was diagnosed with AML. So for these of you who are not familiar with AML, it's a form of blood cancer and uh, which is known as acute myeloid leukemia. I won't go into every detail, but if you've ever had that moment that split in your life where you had the before and then you had the after, you'll know what I mean. We actually spent months in and out of hospitals balancing kids, clients, coaching calls. Business growth, shutting down businesses and blood tests, blood tests and blood transfusions.
There were days where I was working from the side of his hospital bed and days where I was doing [00:03:00] client prep while texting with doctors. It wasn't perfect. It wasn't about me showing up as completely polished or put together for my clients. It was me being real. And through that season, I realized something that I now make sure that I teach every single client.
It is not just how you walk into a room, it's actually how you hold that room when everything inside you is still shifting. In leadership, you know, presence is such a broad, description and sometimes it's never even defined. You might hear things like, oh, you need some more executive presence. Like, what, what does that even mean?
Having the look or the,
communication or the, let's call it gravitas, right? Projecting confidence.
But when I reflect [00:04:00] on those words that have kind of been, that have been said to some of my clients, that version of presence is not one that I subscribe to because it only scratches the surface.
Here's what presence felt like to me in the last year as I went through this next evolution.
It was grabbing my comfort clothes. checking in to make sure that. What felt like me today is what I was putting on.
It was, I guess you'd describe it, the quiet strength on days where I really wanted to fall apart, but didn't.
This version of presence for that moment wasn't about. Everything put together. It was like a marathon. It was emotional endurance. It was clarity in the chaos of the unknown, and [00:05:00] really deep in grounded energy, even if no one else saw it but me.
I remember really closely. Those mornings where I'd rolled out of bed and headed into the hospital and you know, all I wanted to wear was leggings, but I shifted into this mindset of I'm gonna show up in that hospital with strength, with presence for my partner, my husband. To help him find the strength too.
And
that may have not been my elevated version of strength, but it was my comfort version of presence.
And so. I know that I'm not the only one going through or have been through, moments like that, [00:06:00] moments where you might be showing up at work while pa while caring for aging parents or saying no to more commitments while you are navigating the burnout or sitting at the table with really big decisions ahead, or something in your personal life feels fragile.
So if you are in a season like that or you've just come through one, I just want to share a few shifts that really helped me through that time period, and I hope that it helps you too. Presence isn't about how perfect. You look or whether you can get that outfit perfectly right. It's what you prioritize when everything else is really stripped back.
And often that sometimes means simplifying your wardrobe, your energy, and especially your calendar, so you can really focus on what truly matters
especially for high [00:07:00] achievers. you might have always tried to do more and fill up your world with achieving more to actually just pulling back to more grounded energy because it's in that quiet strength that helps you to show up even when you don't feel like it.
And for me that meant choosing outfits that felt calm and felt really easy for me because when you are carrying that emotional load, you don't need your clothes to add extra complications or friction. You need them to really support you. And sometimes in that time period you don't feel like being seen.
You just wanna be still and remembering that sometimes the most powerful present is not the one that is loudest or most visible. It's the one that says, I'm here, I'm [00:08:00] steady, and I'm still showing up even when life is messy. So this version of presence can help you create trust. It really builds resilience and it invites probably one of the most important elements of relationships and building relationships.
It's connection. So if you are listening to this right now and you haven't come through the other side and you are thinking, I'm in it right now. And I'm really tired of pretending and I wanna be seen, but not at the cost of myself. Here's what I want you to really take away. Your presence doesn't need to be perfect and powerful and bold and bright, and any of those things you can lead from the middle of the crazy chaos.
[00:09:00] You can wear that same outfit three days in a row, you can pull your hair into a bun and still carry that room. Because presence really starts with this intention. And if you are in that space and you're still craving some visibility, but all craving, realness and that connection, you don't have to choose between them.
Every element of that evolution, every moment of life, there's a way to show up that feels true and aligned to you. You don't need to trade your authenticity for credibility. You can have both, and you don't need to put on a mask. To try to be something else during those time periods. So if this conversation really resonated with you, I'd love to hear from you.
Drop me a [00:10:00] dm, send me an email. You know where to catch me on ins, Instagram or LinkedIn. And if you are ready to really explore how your presence can evolve from here. Or if you are navigating a season of transition, visible or invisible, I want to really remind you that you are not behind and you are just really becoming and you're stepping into this new season.
Thanks for being here. I will see you next week on the Style and Strategy Podcast.
