The Silent Permission Slip

The Misfit Icons Signed It First

There is a permission slip I’ve been waiting for someone else to sign.

I wouldn’t dare admit that out loud.

It lives in the drawer I don’t open, underneath the reasons why not, the not yet, the when I’m ready. It has my name on it. It has been waiting longer than I’d like to admit.

Here’s what nobody tells you: no one is coming to sign it.

Not the mentor. Not the algorithm. Not the moment when everything finally feels ready, polished, safe enough to release into the world. That moment is a myth we tell ourselves to stay comfortable inside the waiting.

The permission slip only gets signed one way — by watching someone else go first.

Madam C.J. Walker didn’t wait for the beauty industry to invite her in. She bought her own invitation. A Black woman in early 20th century America, once she had a good product, she trained her saleswomen, and built a movement - a sales force- when every door was closed to her. She went first so loudly that history couldn’t ignore her. Her custom built mansion, Villa Lewaro, still stands in Irvington, NY.

Brownie Wise was the first woman on the cover of Business Week in 1954. She built the entire cultural and sales engine behind Tupperware — the parties, the community, the belief that ordinary women could build extraordinary lives — and did it with joy, jubilees, and an intuitive leadership style. Then the man who owned the company tried to erased her name from its history. She went first for every woman who was celebrated while she was making money for the company, then dismissed- cut off- and discarded.

Carmen Miranda was the poster woman for not belonging- born in Portugal, raised in Brazil since infancy. She was labeled “too much”yet she wore the red lipstick and leaned into the power of her unique expression. She didn’t shrink to fit in- She expanded her ambition until the world had no choice but to make space. The Baiana Stylings, The Platform Shoes, she took those all the way to the bank! She redefined what it meant to embrace your uniqueness and shattered expectations world wide! She went first for every woman who ever felt like they didn’t belong or was called “too much”.

When I create something and put it into the world — music, words, a video, a voice note that trembles a little on the way out — I think of them. Not perfect. Not fearless. Real women with full and heavy lives who went anyway. Released anyway. Showed up anyway.

And I think of you.

The version of you sitting with that unsigned slip. The one who needs to see it’s possible before you let yourself believe it.

So I’m signing it. With shaking hands, in my own imperfect way, a few steps behind the women who made it possible for me to try.

They went first so I could find my nerve.

I’m going so you can find yours.

You don’t need permission. But if you did — consider this yours.

Best Wishes ✨✨✨