Know Your Value

How Soggy, Smudged Notes Reminded Me Why I Fight

I found them buried under a stack of folders at the bottom of a soggy box – my scribbled notes from 2016, complete with a smudged reminder of "NO CURSING." I was finally cleaning out the last few damaged boxes from my office after fucking Milton blew through town when these pages tumbled out, instantly catapulting me back to that Saturday morning when I stood before a room of young women with fire in my eyes and hope in my chest.

You know what's better than sleeping in on a Saturday? Watching a room full of young women light up when they realize their worth isn't defined by anyone else's rulebook.

Let me paint you a picture: It's the Young Women's Leadership Symposium, and instead of doing something way more fun, these future leaders showed up EARLY and ready to shake things up. I had the incredible opportunity to talk about something we don't discuss nearly enough – knowing your damn value.

And because, even back then, it is my nature to be a bit extra, I reached out to some brilliant women in my community – the kind who've been there, done that, and aren't afraid to tell it like it is. I asked them to film themselves answering one question that hits right in the gut:

"What do you know about your value now that you wish someone had told you when you were in high school?"

The result was pure magic, their wisdom outshone my amateur editing skills. But the real moment of truth came when the video ended. You know how sometimes people do that polite, awkward clapping because they feel like they have to? Yeah, this wasn't that. These young women erupted in genuine, spontaneous applause – the kind that comes from that place of "holy shit, I needed to hear that."

It's the kind of reaction that reminds me why I do this work. Why I keep pushing against the boxes society tries to stuff me into. Why I keep having these conversations that make the status quo uncomfortable.

Fun fact: this was the very first video I ever uploaded to my YouTube channel. My digital firstborn. Different hair, different logo, same unapologetic enthusiasm. Watching it now hits me with a one-two punch of nostalgia and a certain kind of sadness. We were so earnest, so convinced the world was bending toward justice – it makes my chest tighten a little.

But there's hope tangled up in that feeling, too. Those young women in the audience that day are 25-28 now. They're making decisions, leading teams, maybe even running for office. I can't help but wonder how many of them carried those messages forward. How many times have they stood their ground in a meeting because they remembered their worth isn't up for debate? How many moments have they refused to shrink themselves to fit someone else's expectations?

Looking at these soggy, smudged notes now, nearly a decade later, I'm struck by how the message hasn't just remained relevant – it's become urgent. In a landscape where women's rights are being actively rolled back, where access to healthcare is diminishing, and where the spaces we fought to claim are being challenged, knowing your value isn't just empowering – it's a survival skill.

We're not just fighting for seats at tables anymore. We're fighting to keep the tables we built. We're fighting to protect our bodily autonomy. We're fighting against systems deliberately designed to make us question our worth.

If you’re reading this, I want you to know your value. Hit play below. And if you know someone who needs this message (spoiler alert: we all do), share it. Because sharing knowledge is how we create change that sticks. That's how we claim our space. That's how we make enough noise that they can't possibly ignore us.