If you’ve ever walked into a room and felt every eye land on you, you know the jolt. Is it fear? Is it excitement? As Dr. Ebony Stone reminds us, those two emotions feel identical in the body. The difference is the label you choose and the step you take next.

Ebony spent nearly three decades in corporate leadership before turning her experience into a coaching framework for women. She calls it PAUSE: Pause/Pray, Analyze, Understand, Strategize, Execute. It’s simple enough to use before a tough meeting and sturdy enough to guide a career transition. What I love most is the starting point: grace. Not the performative kind, real grace that says, “I’m human, and I’m still moving.”

We talk about the myth of perfect timing (spoiler: expensive delay), the comparison trap (double spoiler: you’re comparing to someone else’s chapter twenty), and the moment Ebony realized that being a woman in leadership isn’t a hurdle—it’s a superpower. When women enter the room, the atmosphere changes. Eyes turn. That’s not pressure; that’s opportunity. Use the attention with intention.

A small challenge for your week: pick one moment to PAUSE. Sixty seconds. Breathe. Analyze what’s fact vs. the story you’re telling yourself. Understand what actually matters. Strategize a single ask or contribution. Then Execute, even if you have to do it scared. (Welcome to the club; we all do.)

If you want more, Ebony’s book The Power of Pause is a generous field guide. She’s offering our community a discount – code $Spark2025$ – linked below.

Here’s to grace over guilt, purpose over perfection, and choosing excitement when your palms get sweaty.