In 2024, Devon walked into Smart Women at a professional crossroads. Here's what that community gave her and what she tried to give back two years later.
The work that fills your batteries is worth paying attention to.
That's what Christa Haberstock called your "obvious advantage" at this year's Smart Women Gala. The thing you do without thinking. The thing people compliment you for before you even realize you're doing it. The thing that charges you up instead of draining you.
I want to tell you what that concept meant to me standing on that stage. But first, let me tell you a little about the room.
What "Just Say It" Actually Means
Smart Women was founded by Marin Bright with a simple but powerful philosophy: Just Say It.
It's a movement built around lifting each other up. Give the compliment. Share the encouraging word. Spread joy. Don't hold back the good thing you're thinking about someone. Say it.
The image she paints is a flutter of butterflies, disseminating glimmers of uplifting gestures and bringing smiles and hope wherever they land.
This event was all glimmers.
Not the forced-positivity kind. The real kind. A confluence of enthusiasm, sisterhood, camaraderie, and support that you could actually feel in the room. This wasn't about competition. It was about visibility. About collective power. About showing up for one another with the belief that when one of us rises, we all rise.
That's the room I got to stand in. And it's the same room that changed my life two years ago.
2024: I Came Looking for a Lifeline
It's 2024. I'm at a professional crossroads. Making zero money. Trying to figure out what I'm building and whether I have what it takes to build it.
I decided to invest in myself and go to Smart Women.
I came looking for inspiration, community, fellowship, strength. The kind of things you reach for when you're not sure what comes next but you know something has to.
I found all of it.
Judi Holler taught me to holla at my dreams. Jen Cassetta reminded me that strength could be bigger than fear.
But what I didn't know I needed, and what turned out to matter even more, was the people.
I found women who became mentors, friends, collaborators, and cheerleaders. Women who supported me in corners of my life they probably didn't realize they were touching.
That support gave me courage. The courage to walk away from a professional situation that was no longer right for me. The courage to bet on myself and build something completely on my own. Solopreneur, working mom, zero business background. When I needed a safety net, some of the women I met through this community became exactly that.
2025: I Crossed the Stage as a Rising Star
I came back the next year. I walked across that stage as a Smart Women Rising Star honoree, with so many of you cheering me on.
That moment lives in me.
2026: I Got to Host It
This year, I stood in front of that same room as your emcee.
When Christa introduced the concept of "obvious advantage," I felt something click. The thing that fills your batteries. The thing people notice before you do. The work that doesn't feel like work because it IS you.
Emceeing this gala was that for me. I got charged up giving people their stage moments. I got to hold the room, honor the honorees, and reflect the energy of an extraordinary day back to the people who built it.
And then Mike Lyons found me when I came off the stage.
"They wouldn't just give this gig to anyone," he said. And he beamed.
Full circle.
To know I did my best. To know I got charged up doing it. To make people proud. To give people their moments. That is what this work is for me.
What the Speakers Left Me With
Patricia Vasquez said something that hit differently from where I was standing: courage opens the door, but action pulls you through it.
I thought about 2024 Devon. She had courage, enough to show up, enough to invest in herself when the numbers didn't support it. It was the action she took after that room that pulled her through.
Sarah Wells had me thinking about my SPARK to excellence. What it looks like for me. What performing at the level I'm called to actually means. That's not a question I can answer for anyone else. But it's one every one of us has to answer for ourselves.
And Christa's "obvious advantage" gave me language for something I've felt but never quite named. I've spent years developing skills. This gig reminded me that the most powerful thing I bring into a room isn't a skill set. It's me.
The Questions I Left the Room With
I closed the evening by asking the room to sit with a few questions. I'll leave them here too.
What are you going to do with what you experienced?
Who did you meet that you need to stay connected to?
Whose corner can you stand in?
Because you never know when the conversation you had, the introduction you made, the encouragement you offered, or the thing you taught someone becomes part of the story they tell from a stage two years from now.
That is how impact becomes legacy.
A mentor once told me: "Let's not be inspiration rich and execution poor."
Smart Women 2024 changed my life. Not because of how it made me feel, but because of what I did after I left that room.
I hope that's the story you're writing too.
If you're designing an event and want your audience to leave that room ready to act on something, not just feel something, let's talk about what that actually takes.
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