Evan Nierman

Founder & CEO, Red Banyan PR | Author of Top-Rated Newsletter on Communications Best Practices

I'm the Founder and CEO of Red Banyan, an international public relations and crisis management firm that exists to press the truth and deliver results. My team and I specialize in high-stakes PR, cancel culture response, litigation communications, and complex reputational challenges that require creative thinking, strategic clarity, and unshakable judgment.

For more than two decades, I’ve helped CEOs, public figures, law firms, and global brands navigate their most difficult moments. Whether it’s a viral controversy, a legal dispute, or a reputational crisis, I bring deep media experience and a relentless commitment to exceeding expectations.

I’m also the author of The Cancel Culture Curse and Crisis Averted, and I frequently appear on major news outlets like Fox News, CNN, BBC, and Newsmax to share insights on cancel culture, media strategy, and crisis communications.

🔹 Founder & CEO of Red Banyan
🔹 Author of The Cancel Culture Curse and Crisis Averted
🔹 Regular media commentator on PR and reputation issues
🔹 Trusted advisor to executives, attorneys, and public figures
🔹 Featured in Newsweek, PRWeek, The Washington Post, and Forbes

My mission is simple: help people and organizations tell their stories truthfully, strategically, and powerfully—especially when the stakes are highest.

📩 Learn more at www.redbanyan.com

Founder and CEO

Red Banyan Group is a strategic communications firm specializing in public relations, crisis management and marketing.  Red Banyan Group combines creative thinking, steady judgment shaped by experience and a relentless commitment to achieving results for its clients.  Red Banyan offers a wide array of services, including: media relations, crisis management, marketing, corporate communications, litigation support, social and digital media, copywriting and editing and media training.

Kindness is often misunderstood in leadership.
Especially in moments of pressure.

In a crisis, many leaders believe strength means distance.

Control. Silence. Authority.

But the moments people remember most
are rarely the loud ones.

They remember who stayed human
when it was easier not to.

Over the years, I’ve watched reputations rise and fall under stress.

Not based on decisions alone
but on how those decisions were delivered.

Kindness is not softness.

It’s clarity without cruelty.

Accountability without humiliation.

Leadership without ego.

People do not expect perfection from leaders.

They expect fairness.

And long after the headlines fade,
what remains is how people felt working with you
when things were hard.

That memory outlasts any press cycle.

Leadership is not about being liked.

It is about being respected
even when the pressure is high.

Follow for weekly insights on leadership, reputation, and crisis communication.

Staying in a “good mood” isn’t the point.
Staying composed is.

In moments of pressure, leaders don’t earn trust by being upbeat.
They earn it by being steady.

When stress rises, people stop listening to explanations.

They start reading signals.

Your tone.

Your pace.

Your presence.

I’ve seen reputations damaged not by bad decisions
but by how pressure showed up in a leader’s voice.

Composure isn’t emotional detachment.

It’s emotional discipline.

It’s the ability to remain clear
when others are reacting.

That steadiness doesn’t just calm the room.

It restores credibility.

In a crisis, your emotional control becomes public leadership.

Follow for weekly insights on leadership, reputation, and crisis communication.

undefined undefined

Sounds like you're ready to bulletproof your organization's crisis response.

Get your free guide here: https://strategies.redbanyan.com/10-steps-for-crisis-communications

Best, Evan.

Veronica H.

Integrity is not measured when everything is calm.
It is measured when there is risk.

In a crisis, everyone claims to have values.

Very few actually demonstrate them.

Over years of working with leaders under pressure, a clear pattern emerges.

People with real integrity do not behave ideally.

They take responsibility when it is most costly.

This is what it looks like in practice:

They do not say what sounds best first.
They take ownership before they are forced to.
They do not trade truth for short-term peace.
They think in terms of long-term reputation, not today’s headline.
They protect people, even when it is unpopular.
They admit mistakes without drama or excuses.

These are not motivational traits.

They are reputational decisions.

The difference between a good leader and a trusted one
is not charisma.

It is behavior when there is no perfect option.

Integrity does not build image.

It determines whether image survives a crisis.

Follow for weekly insights on reputation, crisis PR, and leadership under pressure.

Many experienced entrepreneurs don’t stumble because they lack knowledge. They stumble because they rely too heavily on themselves.

As a company grows, a leader who doesn’t delegate,
doesn’t build a culture of trust,
and doesn’t surround themselves with people stronger than them
eventually becomes the constraint to growth.

True leadership doesn’t come from control.

It comes from self-awareness, trust, and the willingness to let others lead.

Experience doesn’t eliminate blind spots. It often hides them.

In this article, I share five leadership mistakes even seasoned entrepreneurs make

and how they quietly limit growth if left unaddressed.

Grateful to Entrepreneurs'​ Organization’ for the opportunity to explore this topic with their community.

The leaders who scale the furthest are the ones willing to examine what success can make easy to miss.

Read the full article here:

https://lnkd.in/gqD5W4HT

People won’t remember what happened.
They’ll remember how you handled it.

Years after a crisis ends, most people won't recall the details.

The timeline. The investigation findings. The resolution.

What they remember is simpler—and more powerful.

How you showed up.

Whether you seemed scared or steady.

If you told the truth or hid behind lawyers.

Whether you cared more about protecting yourself or doing what was right.

Here's what outlasts the crisis:

1.) Your tone.
Did you sound human or like a press release?
Did you show empathy or just manage liability?

2.) Your presence.

Did you show up when it was hard or disappear until it was safe?
Leaders who face the moment earn respect.
Leaders who vanish lose it permanently.

3.) Your honesty.
Did you own the mistake or spin it?

People can forgive failure. 
They don't forgive dishonesty.
One moment of raw accountability outlasts a dozen polished statements.

4.) Your composure.

Crisis reveals character.

If you panicked, people saw it. If you stayed calm, they felt it.

Composure doesn't mean hiding emotion. It means showing strength when everyone else is looking for it.

I've watched crises fade from headlines within weeks.

But the leaders who handled them well—or poorly—are still defined by those moments years later.

Because facts blur. Emotions stick.

People remember how you carried yourself when everything was falling apart.

Not what the official statement said.

Not what the settlement amount was.

But whether you showed up with integrity, empathy, and courage—or didn't.
The crisis will end.

What you do during it lasts forever.

Honored to speak at the Winter Meeting of the Business Law Section of the Florida Bar this week. Big thanks to The Florida Bar and to Stephanie Lieb of Trenam Law for organizing such a thoughtful and engaging event.

We had a direct and dynamic conversation about the intersection of law, media, and crisis management — a space where strategy and speed can make or break reputations. 

Grateful for the opportunity to share real-world insights with a sharp group of legal professionals.

https://flabizlaw.org/

You can read more here:

https://lnkd.in/ejwrHue8

#FloridaBar #CrisisPR #ReputationMatters #RedBanyan

What people think about you often matters more
than what you actually do.

This might sound surprising, but in reality, perception drives everything.

Your reputation isn't built just on the actions you take.

It's shaped by how the public perceives those actions.

In a world where information spreads faster than ever, perception is often reality.

So, why does your reputation matter more than anything else?

Because in business, trust is the foundation of everything.

From customers to partners, employees to investors, how people feel about your brand influences their decisions, loyalty, and engagement.

Here’s the truth:

When people trust you, they listen to your message, engage with your brand, and stand by you even when times are tough.

But when trust is broken, no amount of good work can fix it.

In a crisis, managing perception can mean the difference between a minor setback and a business-ending scandal.

Reputation is your most valuable asset because it directly impacts:

1.) Customer loyalty
2.) Brand perception
3.) Growth opportunities
4.) Crisis resilience
5.) Leadership influence

To build and protect your reputation, you have to be consistent, transparent, and always in tune with how your actions are perceived especially in moments when you’re under pressure.

When perception is managed well, it doesn’t just protect your business; it propels it forward.

Your reputation isn't just what you've done. 

It's what others believe you've done.

And that belief drives success.

In a crisis, people don’t hear facts first.
They feel.

It’s a critical lesson that many leaders realize too late.

In the heat of the moment, emotions are high. 

Explanations struggle to stick. 

Details blur, and timelines become difficult to follow.

Not because the truth doesn’t matter — but because people’s emotions are overpowering their ability to process information.

Emotion shapes attention. 

It creates the lens through which everything is viewed.

The most effective leaders know that facts alone won’t carry them through a crisis.

They recognize that addressing how people feel is just as important as providing the truth. 

They lead by creating an emotional foundation first, building trust and clarity before moving into the facts.

Here’s what that looks like in practice:

Acknowledge feelings. 
You can’t move forward until people feel heard.

Speak with clarity, not defensiveness. 
A calm, composed message sets the tone.

Give space before precision. 
Sometimes, presence matters more than perfect facts.

Empathy in these moments isn’t a sign of weakness.

It’s a strategic move that helps ground the conversation and brings people back to a place of understanding, even in the chaos.

In uncertain times, being heard can be just as powerful as being right.

Leading with empathy allows you to regain control of the narrative and build the trust needed to move forward.

Before you say anything publicly,
ask yourself one question:

"Would I say this if I knew it would be quoted out of context?"

Because it will be.

Every statement you make can be clipped, screenshotted, and reshared without the nuance you intended.

The careful explanation gets reduced to a soundbite.

The context disappears.

And what's left is whatever fits in a headline or a tweet.

Here's what this question forces you to consider:
Can this be misunderstood?

If your statement requires explanation to be accurate, it's vulnerable.

Simplify it. Clarify it. 

Make it stand on its own.

Does this sound defensive without the full context?

Tone matters more than intent.

If a single sentence sounds evasive or dismissive when isolated, rewrite it.
Would I stand by this if it were the only thing people remembered?

Your most quotable line will become your legacy from that moment.

Make sure it's one you can live with.

Am I saying this for me—or for them?

If your statement is about protecting your ego or winning an argument, it will backfire.

If it's about clarity, accountability, and truth, it will hold.

The best leaders assume every word will be taken out of context.

And they speak in a way that still holds up when it is.

Because you don't control how your words get used.

You only control whether they can survive on their own.

The fastest way to lose control in a crisis
is to let others explain your silence.

In a crisis, social media is a weapon.

The question is: are you wielding it—or is it being used against you?

I've seen brands navigate crises brilliantly on social media.

And I've seen them implode because of one careless post.

The difference isn't luck.

It's strategy.

Social media moves fast. Too fast for most crisis teams to keep up.

But when used correctly, it can protect your reputation, control the narrative, and keep your audience engaged.

When used poorly, it amplifies the damage and gives critics ammunition.

Here's how to make social media work for you—not against you—during a crisis:

1. Stay silent if the source is unreliable.
Not every fire needs your attention.

Sometimes, responding to a baseless claim just gives it oxygen.

Ask yourself: Is this credible? 

Is it spreading? 

Does it require our response?

If the answer is no, let it pass.

Reacting to noise can turn nothing into something.

2. Share with care.

Every post during a crisis should be intentional.
Helpful. Relevant. Clear.

Before you post, ask: Could this be misunderstood? 

Could this make things worse?

Because once it's out there, you can't take it back.

And in a crisis, one poorly worded post can undo weeks of damage control.

3. Post with purpose.

Random updates create confusion.

Every message should align with your overall crisis communication strategy.
Ask: What does our audience need to know right now? How does this help clarify the situation?

If you can't answer that, don't post it.

4. Be human.

Corporate-speak kills trust during a crisis.

People want to know there's a real person—who cares—on the other side of the screen.

If someone criticizes you unfairly, don't get defensive.

Address it with empathy.

If the complaint is valid, own it and explain what you're doing to fix it.

Authenticity defuses tension. 

Deflection escalates it.

5. Monitor constantly.

You can't manage what you don't see.

Set up alerts. Track mentions. Watch for patterns.

If misinformation is spreading, you need to know immediately—before it becomes the dominant narrative.

6. Control your channels.

Don't rely on the media or third parties to tell your story.

Use your own platforms—your website, your social accounts, your spokespeople—to communicate directly.

Own the narrative. Don't let someone else shape it for you.

Social media in a crisis is high-risk, high-reward.

It can save you—or sink you.

The brands that survive are the ones that move fast, communicate clearly, and stay relentlessly strategic.

The ones that fail are the ones that react emotionally, post impulsively, or go silent when they should be present.

In crisis, social media doesn't give you time to think.

So you better have a plan before you need one.

A television interview can repair credibility — or permanently redefine it.



I’ve seen leaders accept TV appearances thinking the facts alone would carry them through. They rarely do.

Television amplifies everything — confidence, hesitation, emotion, and missteps — all at once.

Before agreeing to a televised interview, leaders should assess the risk as carefully as the reach.

And if the decision is yes, preparation becomes the strategy.

Here’s what consistently separates strong performances from damaging ones:

1. Preparation beats explanation.

Knowing the facts isn’t enough. You need to anticipate the pressure points and rehearse how you’ll handle them.

2. Visuals matter as much as language.

Tone, posture, and composure often communicate more than the words themselves — especially when clips travel far beyond the original broadcast.

3. Persuasion isn’t about critics.

The audience that matters most is undecided. Messaging should be built for them, not for detractors or loyal supporters.

4. Discipline prevents headlines.

One emotional reaction can overshadow everything else you say.

Handled well, a TV interview reinforces trust and authority.

Handled poorly, it becomes the crisis.

Media doesn’t reward improvisation under pressure.

It rewards clarity, discipline, and leaders who understand the stakes before the cameras turn on.

DOJ press releases don’t just resolve cases, they shape perception instantly. As PPP enforcement accelerates, leaders need to be prepared for the reputational impact, not just the legal process. Download the guide to prepare before the headline hits.
#ppploans #crisisPR #DOJ #redbanyan

The U.S. government is ramping up enforcement around fraudulent PPP loans — and DOJ press releases are publicly naming organizations involved in repayments and settlements.

If your company shows up in one of those headlines, do you know how to protect your brand?

Download our free guide to learn how to manage reputational risk, respond strategically, and regain control of the narrative.

https://lnkd.in/eqn-niFf

#PPPloans #CrisisPR #ReputationManagement #DOJ #LegalCrisis #CrisisResponse #RedBanyan

Brand strength today is measured by how quickly and clearly you respond when expectations change.

In my new piece for Fast Company, I share why responsiveness has become a defining trait of leadership and brand trust.

Read the full article here:

Open article: A new era defined by brand responsiveness by fastcompany.com

A new era defined by brand responsiveness

Co-founder & CEO at Flash Pack 🌏 Social adventures for solo travelers. Follow for daily posts on building a career and life with purpose.

On a mission to create 1 million meaningful friendships using the power of travel. 

In 2014, I founded a boutique adventure company called Flash Pack that connects solo travellers aged 30-49 across the globe. 

I was in my 30s:
 
➤ Stressed with work. 
➤ Not quite nailed what I wanted to do. 
➤ Friends were busy, getting married & having kids

I wanted to get away for some fun & an adventure. 

But when I researched the market, there was nothing for me, just: 

a) Party packages for budget backpackers in their 20s.
b) Slow but luxurious options for retirees in their 60s. 

I wanted something in between:

✨ A dynamic adventure. 
✨ People at my stage of life. 
✨ A boutique hotel, not a hostel! 

And Flash Pack was born 🌏 

Fast forward 10 years… 

🗺️ We offer all the classics, as well as bucket list trips. 
🗺️ From Portugal, to Japan, Australia, and beyond! 

Our trips are 100% hassle-free. We sort the incredible people, handpick the experiences, hotels & guides. And we OBSESS over  the group dynamic, ensuring those connections feel natural. All you need to do is turn up! 

So far, we’ve created: 

✨100,000 friendships
✨With 80% of travellers staying connected after trips. 

But the journey has been FAR from linear. 

Diwali 2020: COVID forced us to close the business & we lost everything. 
Diwali 2021: we relaunched Flash Pack 2.0. 

Today, we’re stronger than ever. 

↳ A global team of 90.
↳ A +400k strong community. 
↳ A £7.5M raise to expand our mission. 

What took us 4 years pre-COVID, has taken 2. And we’re just getting started!

Follow for more of the journey, as I scale Flash Pack 2.0 - sharing the mistakes & the lessons, whilst championing the importance of human connection, women’s empowerment & diversity in entrepreneurship 🩵

Want to explore our life-changing trips? ⤵ 
🌐 Head to FLASHPACK.COM 

– 

For media, press or speaking inquiries: radha@flashpack.com

For soul-warming content ⤵
📽️ @flashpack on Instagram 
📽️ @flashpacktravel on TikTok

Radha Vyas

A lot of people my age don’t want to say this…

But getting a job is not the same as it was 10 years ago.

Things have changed. 

Here are 7 new rules I'm teaching my daughter: 

❌ Your degree determines your career trajectory 
✅ Skills matter more than formal education

❌ Only technical skills matter 
✅ Soft skills ARE skills (especially in the age of AI)

❌ Follow rigid career ladders 
✅ Carve unconventional paths that leverage strengths

❌ Wait for permission to lead 
✅ Leadership comes from initiative, not titles

❌ Let your work speak for itself 
✅ You must advocate for yourself

❌ Stay off social media for work
✅ Your online profile can help your career

❌ Stay at one job forever
✅ Strategic job-hopping can accelerate your career

The world of work has evolved (thank goodness?) 

Job-seekers and employers...

Your approach must too 🤷🏽♀️


🍀 Agreed? What would you add?
—
👋🏽 I’m Radha Vyas, CEO & Co-Founder of Flash Pack. We connect solo travellers on life-changing social adventures.

Follow for regular posts on the journey!

What people THINK a career break is:

→ Laziness masked as "finding yourself" 
→ A sign you can't handle the pressure 
→ Career suicide that you'll never recover from 
→ An expensive way to avoid responsibility 
→ Something only privileged people can do 
→ A massive gap in your CV that needs explaining 
→ Running away from your problems

What it ACTUALLY is:

→ A chance to reset your mental compass 
→ Space to rediscover what truly drives you 
→ An investment in your long-term growth 
→ Time to develop new skills and perspectives 
→ Permission to prioritise your wellbeing 
→ A catalyst for significant life changes 
→ An opportunity to broaden your worldview 
→ The clarity you need for your next chapter

A break isn’t a setback.

It’s a setup for something greater.

Agreed?

🔄 Repost if this resonates
_
👋🏽 I'm Radha Vyas, CEO & Co-Founder of Flash Pack, connecting solo travellers on life-changing social adventures.

Follow for daily posts on the journey!

The most confident person in the room is usually the least qualified.

I used to watch certain people in meetings speak with absolute certainty and think: they must know something I don't.

They didn't.

Cornell University psychologists proved that incompetent people physically lack the cognitive hardware to realise they're failing. They can't see the complexity of the task. So they radiate confidence.

Meanwhile, the people actually paying attention to nuance? They hesitate. They second-guess. They feel like frauds.

Corporate culture rewards the loudest voice, not the smartest mind.

So if you're a woman sitting in a room full of confident men wondering why you feel like you don't belong, consider this:
You're not failing to keep up.
You're just the only one who can see what they're missing.

🍀 Repost if you've ever mistaken someone's ignorance for leadership capability.
-
👋🏽 I'm Radha Vyas, CEO & Co-Founder of Flash Pack. We connect solo travellers on life-changing social adventures.

Follow for daily posts on the journey!

"You have a young child, how can you run a global company?"

I get this question often. 

And it baffles me that people still assume: 

Family should be a woman's priority more than a man's
Mothers can't be fully dedicated to their careers
Children need their mother present 24/7

These assumptions make me feel:

→ Frustration at the outdated thinking
→ Determination to prove the doubters wrong
→ Pride in showing my daughter what's possible

But let's think about what actually matters...

What does successful parenting look like?

I believe:

1. Showing your child what's possible
2. Being present when it matters the most
3. Having a partner who shares the load

My husband Lee and I are 50/50 partners:

→ Some days I work late
→ Some days he works late
→ We both read bedtime stories
→ We both do school runs

For me, this is modern-day parenting. 

With proper support and priorities, a woman can be both a mother AND build a killer career. 

So when people ask how I do it all?

I remind them I'm not doing it all alone.

I'm doing it with an equal partner who believes in me.

And showing my daughter that ambition has no limits.

♻️ Repost if you think this could help someone in your network. 
—
👋🏽 I'm Radha Vyas, CEO & Co-Founder of Flash Pack, connecting solo travellers on life-changing social adventures.

Follow for regular posts on the journey!

People-pleasing is a form of lying. Your team knows it.

When I first started Flash Pack, I used to think the nicer I was, the harder people would work for me.

Turns out I had it backwards.

What I called "nice" was actually avoidance. I didn't want to be the difficult boss. The demanding one. The woman who makes people uncomfortable.

So I let things slide. Said "great job" when I meant "this needs work." Smiled through missed deadlines.

Then came the reckoning. Six months of feedback I'd been sitting on. Six months of things I should have said but didn't.

And you know what happened?

They weren't grateful. They were furious.

Not at the feedback itself. At the fact I'd known for months and said nothing.

One person told me: "You let me fail in slow motion."
That landed.

Here's what I've learned since:
👉  Honest feedback isn't unkind. Withholding it is.
👉  People don't need you to protect them from the truth. They need you to respect them  enough to share it.
👉 Being liked is not the same as being trusted.
👉  And trust is built in the uncomfortable conversations you're avoiding right now.

🍀 Repost if you're learning that kindness sometimes looks like honesty.
-
👋🏽 I'm Radha Vyas, CEO & Co-Founder of Flash Pack. We connect solo travellers on life-changing social adventures.

Follow for daily posts on the journey!

Thinking of changing careers in your 40s?

You're not behind. You're actually better positioned than you were at 30.

Here's what no one tells you:
That CV gap you're worried about? It's evidence you've lived a full life.

That "lack of direct experience"? You've got something harder to teach — pattern recognition across markets, industries, and economic cycles.

You've already survived the dot-com crash. The 2008 recession. A global pandemic.
You've learned to work with difficult personalities. Navigated office politics. Communicated with people who think in spreadsheets and people who are allergic to them.

A 25-year-old has energy.
A 45-year-old has judgement.
Both matter. But only one takes decades to build.

The system rewards linear careers.
But the most interesting people I know have squiggly ones.

If you're considering a pivot, stop apologising for your timeline.

Your experience isn't the obstacle.
It's the entire point.

🍀 Repost if you're done believing there's an "expiry date" on success.
-
👋🏽 I'm Radha Vyas, CEO & Co-Founder of Flash Pack. We connect solo travellers on life-changing social adventures.
Follow for daily posts on the journey!

A perfect CV is a red flag.

Here's what I look for instead.

A gap. A failure. A moment where everything fell apart and they had to rebuild.

Professional scar tissue.

Apple call it "distance travelled." The candidate with straight-A grades and prestigious internships has a short distance. They started near the top and stayed there.

But the candidate who failed, got knocked down, and clawed their way back? They've travelled miles. They've got scars.

That's what I'm hiring for.

Because I need people who can handle a new category launch imploding the day before. Or scaling into a market when nothing goes to plan.

A polished CV doesn't tell me how you'll react when that happens. Scar tissue does.
So, stop hiding the mess.

Your scar tissue might be the most valuable thing on your CV.

🍀 Repost if your path wasn't a straight line either.
-
👋🏽 I'm Radha Vyas, CEO & Co-Founder of Flash Pack. We connect solo travellers on life-changing social adventures.

Follow for daily posts on the journey!

Not all “high performers” are good for your company.

Some quietly destroy trust, morale, and culture - and hide behind their results to get away with it.

Here are 6 toxic behaviours to watch for:

1/ Shifting blame when things go wrong. 
2/ Hoarding information to stay indispensable. 
3/ Performing for leadership while creating chaos. 
4/ Relentless critique without offering solutions. 
5/ Saying what leaders want to hear, not what's needed. 
6/ Quietly undermining colleagues’ credibility.

And when you call them out?

"It's just how I get results." 
"You're being too sensitive." 
"They’re just not a fit for our culture."

The truth:

You can’t build a great culture if you protect toxic behaviour.

No matter how good someone’s numbers look.

Culture is shaped by what you reward AND what you tolerate.

Agreed?

♻️ Share to protect teams.
—
👋🏽 I’m Radha Vyas, CEO & Co-Founder of Flash Pack. We connect solo travellers on life-changing social adventures.

Follow for regular posts on the journey!

Not all “high performers” are good for your company.

What's the point of "making it" if you can't enjoy it? 

True success isn't just business metrics.

It's having energy for your loved ones.
It's feeling present in your own life.
It's creating space for joy and rest.

We glorify the hustle culture.

But at what cost? 

The real goal is sustainable high performance. 

In your career AND your wellbeing. 
In your ambitions AND your happiness. 
In your business AND your relationships. 

Success without wellbeing?

Its just exhaustion with a fancy title! 

And who wants that, right? 

🔄 Repost to remind your network! 
_
👋🏽 I'm Radha Vyas, CEO & Co-Founder of Flash Pack, connecting solo travellers on life-changing social adventures.

Follow for regular posts on the journey!

Being the only brown woman in the room comes with a specific kind of exhaustion.

You're already scanning for whether you belong.

Then imposter syndrome walks in and sits on your chest.

It's a double weight. The external question of "do they think I should be here?" layered on top of the internal one: "should I be here?"

But here's what I've had to learn:
The Dunning-Kruger research shows that the people who feel like frauds are usually the ones whose brains are sophisticated enough to detect their own gaps.

The people who are actually unqualified? They don't feel it. They can't. They lack the cognitive hardware.

So if you're a woman of colour leading something and the imposter feeling never quite leaves - it might not be because you don't belong.

It might be because you're paying attention in ways others aren't.

Your doubt isn't proof you're behind.
It might just be proof you're ahead.

🍀 Repost if you've carried the double weight and kept going anyway.
-
👋🏽 I'm Radha Vyas, CEO & Co-Founder of Flash Pack. We connect solo travellers on life-changing social adventures.

Follow for daily posts on the journey!

taplio

The Battle

Evan Nierman

Radha Vyas

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance ScoreEvan Nierman's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreRadha Vyas's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

taplio

The Battle

Evan Nierman

Radha Vyas

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Evan Nierman's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreRadha Vyas's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreEvan Nierman's LinkedIn Performance