I digress from my naturally optimistic nature, to reflect on a few business and life realities (experienced in my lifetime!) that matter greatly to me:

When my Mom started her business in the late 60’s, she arrived at the local bank excited to earn her business loan, only to be sent home to fetch my Dad and bring him back with her.

It’s not that my Mom couldn’t start her business on her own…

…it’s that she wasn’t allowed to.

When a few college classmates and I organized the first Women’s Soccer Club at the U in the 70’s, we were thrilled to learn the Men’s Rugby Coach agreed to coach us so we could play.

It’s not that we didn’t have women players skilled enough to play soccer at Varsity level…

…it’s that we weren’t allowed to.

When I was promoted early in my career in the 80’s, into a challenging opportunity to build and lead a team creating a new way for Women’s Health Services to actually benefit women,

I quietly exhaled in gratitude when the CEO overruled the board director who tried to cut me off mid-presentation, apparently hoping by quieting me he could shut our ‘female focused’ plan down.

(Even given proof that, at that time, 76% of healthcare decisions were being driven by women, now 86%. I know, go figure. I did eventually win the right to prove that board director wrong.)

It wasn’t that our team hadn’t gathered every ounce of women’s healthcare research currently available to support our case…

…it’s that hardly any research conducted on women’s health even existed!

And so, we weren’t allowed to.

When I stepped onto the runway in the 90’s, as one of the first Twin Cities Plus Size Fashion Models, I knew without a doubt the explosive standing ovation was not about me. It was about ‘we’.

The entire audience of women filling Orchestra Hall in downtown Minneapolis for that Friday morning’s Coffee Concert featuring the Minnesota Orchestra and designer fashion show, erupted in effusive appreciation for this long-awaited opportunity to be experiencing women of all sizes – models of all sizes standing together – proudly owning that fashion show stage.

It’s not that women weren’t craving seeing all sizes represented together…

…it’s that we had never been allowed to.

That was then.

This is now.

Thank God it’s not because we’re not allowed to… Please,

VOTE.

VOTE.

VOTE.

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ANN TATARELLI ULRICH – Confidence WingWoman & Inspirational Self Empowerment Keynote Speaker For Midlife Women, Podcast Host, Owning It at HelloBOLDOne.com

PHOTO: I remember this day! I was preparing to host my first Live Show “Do 1 BOLD Thing”. My current *now* look is every photo on my website… it’s fun tho to realize we are not just our *today*… we are everything we’ve been along the way… to becoming who we are today!