What I want my 7 year old self to know…

When I was 7, I got a toy cash register for Christmas—one of the best gifts I ever received. That day I told my parents, “I’m going to be a CEO one day. Watch me.”

At 12, I was diagnosed with a rare neurological condition that changed my life and my family’s. But I held onto the dream anyway.

In 2020, I reached it. I got the title.

And honestly? That’s all it was—a title. I was the same person, still measuring myself against other people’s expectations, still chasing “enough.”

What I felt wasn’t triumph. It was pressure. It was carrying the weight of employees, investors, outcomes… and quietly realizing I wasn’t okay.

The lesson I didn’t understand at 7—but do now—is that I didn’t actually want to be a CEO.

I wanted to be a leader.

Leadership looks like a lot of things.

• It’s serving a mission you believe in.

• It’s advising and building alongside people you respect.

• It’s mentoring someone who’s just starting out.

• It’s creating space for others to grow—and holding steady when things get hard.

The title didn’t make me a leader.

The work did.
The people did.
The purpose did.

And that may be the greatest gift of my story: realizing that who I am has never been defined by a title—but by how I show up for others.