When Presence Speaks Louder Than Words

Defy Venture team with Tony Robbins at UPW 2024

After seven long days of serving, the last participants left and Business Mastery 2025 with Tony Robbins finally came to a close.

Even though I’d been sick for part of the week and didn’t have my full energy back, I still found myself in flow — serving, anticipating what was needed, and moving quickly so we could wrap — when the most unexpected thing happened. I walked over to Jay Abraham’s booth to ask if they needed help, and instead, I got something I didn’t see coming.

A man named Brian struck up a conversation with me. What started as a joking comment turned into a truth-bomb that left me in tears.

Brian hadn’t been there the whole week, but somehow, he saw me. Not the character I used to play. Not the mask I thought would be loved and accepted. He saw the whole of me.

“You run deep,” he said. “You move with compassion because you’ve overcome more than most people ever will. You don’t just walk through a room — you glide. You carry power, and you’re in control.”

I was floored. His words pierced straight through my heart — not because I needed them, but because they confirmed what I finally started embodying. For so long, I believed people couldn’t understand me. But the truth is, I wasn’t letting them. I only revealed the fragments I thought were safe. And THAT created the disconnect. 

Crewing for Business Mastery 2025

This year, I made the conscious decision to crew at this event. Last year, every event I attended left me with magical experiences. This year is about integration and implementation. About the “this AND…” — what’s required to truly feel successful and fulfilled. 

In the very masculine world we live in, I’ve often felt the pressure to prove my worth with numbers where there’s so much more to me. To explain why I wasn’t doing things “the way it’s always been done.” But honestly, I know why I’m here, the scale I’m here to play at, and exactly where I stand in the unfolding of my journey. It’s only a matter of time before it shows in the way everyone else understands. 

Gone are the days where I feel the need to convince anyone who doesn’t share my vision. You know… the ones who get stuck in the “how” between where I am and where I’m called to be. 

This time, I let my presence do the speaking. And this interaction proved it: presence is power. 

Here’s what this week taught me:

1. You don’t need to be loud or flashy to be seen.

2. You never know who is watching, or what opportunities that will open.

3. Your energy speaks louder than words.

4. When you’re in the right rooms, anything is possible.

5. Stop asking for permission and trying to convince people of your vision who are limited in their own thinking. 

I don’t know if anything more will come of that conversation. But when I look back at the feedback I received throughout the week, it was the same confirmation, over and over again: I’ve shifted. And because I’ve shifted, my experiences have shifted.

To anyone who says, “That’s just how it is, it’ll always be this way” — I want to challenge you. Stop focusing on what you can’t control. Start aligning with what you can. 

Because here’s the truth:

You don’t have to wait for permission.

You don’t have to convince the ones who can’t see it.

When you shift, the world shifts.

When you embody who you are, you will be noticed — and lifted — by the right people.

And when that happens, opportunities stop being something you chase. They start chasing you.