What It Means to Live An Empowered Life as a Woman

Empowerment as a Woman

Empowerment. It’s a big word.

When we chose this as our word of the month for October, I have to admit that I was a little intimidated to tackle the topic this month.

Perhaps “intimidated” isn’t the exact word. More so, I felt the weight of empowerment. Some content we share here on the website and on social media is purely fluff (i.e., pretty outfits and pretty photos). But the word empowerment demands some serious attention. That’s why we launched our empowered entrepreneur series last week.

And that’s why we are having this discussion today. Empowerment is so much more than the cliche “I am women! Hear me roar!” sort of notion. Sure, that has its place. Really, though, what does it practically, pragmatically, and/or philosophically mean to you and to me to live an empowered life? Truly, there is no one single answer. It’s a very personal question.

Quotes and Statistics on Female Empowerment

What we do know, unequivocally, is that empowering females makes a tremendous impact on the world! Here are a few quotes and statistics to back up that statement.

When women succeed, nations are more safe, secure and prosperous. – President Barack Obama

There is no tool for development more effective than the empowerment of women. – UN Secretary General Kofi 

According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), when more women work, economies grow. The OECD also notes that increasing women and girls’ education contributes to higher economic growth.

According to consulting experts McKinsey & Company, women’s economic equality is good for business. Companies greatly benefit from increasing leadership opportunities for women, which is shown to increase organizational effectiveness.

What Empowerment Means to Us

We posed the following question to our team and several other inspiring, hard working, wonderful women –

What does it mean to you to live empowered as a woman?

Keep on reading to see what everyone had to say!

Different Definitions of Empowered Living

What is so beautiful about this concept is that different persons have different definitions of how to live an empowered life. The bottom line is to do whatever equips you to live your truest, most authentic, most fulfilling life.

In order to get a diverse sense of what empowered living means to various women, we quizzed some ladies! We directly asked some of our favorite women who come to mind when we think of empowerment, plus I posed the question on my Instagram stories.

We asked one simple question:

What does it mean to you to live an empowered life as a woman?

Take a gander at our answers and the answers we received, and (most importantly) start to formulate your own answer!

Answers From Our Team

Our team is composed of some strong, powerful women! I’m thrilled to share some of their insights with you.

My definition of empowered living centers around being true to myself. Living authentically is not easy. I lived many years trying to please others, conform to their ideals, and win them over. But when I feel truly powerful is when I am honoring myself, my values, and my priorities — and using those for the betterment of myself, my loved ones, and the world around me. – Carrie Colbert

For me, living an empowered life as a woman means first and foremost, living a life in which I am true to myself and in which I love and respect myself. Embracing being soft and strong all together, working hard for my dreams and for what I believe in. Loving hard and living life to the fullest! Embracing life, change and opportunity. Not giving up and not looking back. It’s being kind, honest, courageous, loving, creative, building up my dreams, and building up others… and doing it all with grace, humility and respect. – Maritere Rice, Lead Photographer & Creative Director

I think living empowered as a woman changes for me frequently. A lot of times, it’s acting empowered and setting things up to promote and grow my business. Being a female who works in sports (though I’ve dabbled into more corporate and travel writing as of late), it’s important to surround myself with other empowered and bad-ass females. So many try to find empowerment, rather than live in it and exude it for others. I heard a quote recently from Ali Grant (Founder of Be Social PR) and she said something along the lines of “absorb where you can,” and I have always lived by that, whether surrounding myself with other empowered women, reading books, blogs or listening to podcasts that help cultivate that concept, brainstorming ways to improve my life and business, etc. Like I said, it’s a constantly changing concept for me, so it’s important to keep it top of mind. If I start to slack, being around other like-minded individuals (usually women, but not always) help pick me up and remind me to live empowered – either practicing it or finding it. – Jayme Lamm, The Blonde Side and CarrieColbert.com Contributor

To live empowered as a woman is to be able to choose to be a working mom and not have to choose career over parenthood or vice versa. Being a mom is my favorite job, but working and creating beautiful content with Carrie makes me feel empowered. – Jenny Weber, COO of Houston Tidbits and Chief Party Planner of CarrieColbert.com

To me, it means to live authentically and to be honest. So often honesty can be seen as “being rude,” but that shouldn’t be the case. Living your truth is what this life is all about. Be honest, be respectful, and listen to your gut; it won’t steer you wrong. Living an empowered life means living life for you and being true to yourself no matter how hard it might be. Love yourself whole heartedly and be confident enough in yourself and in your life to root others on along the way. There’s room for everyone. It’s also about being bold and not holding back. It’s showing the world who you are and not questioning that person ever. – Julie Weinstein, Author, Podcaster, and Editorial Director of CarrieColbert.com

Answers from Women Whom We Admire

A survey of our friends and business women and leaders yielded these insightful responses…

As a woman, my compassion, grace and willingness to be vulnerable are my strengths. I live empowered as a woman every day by staying true to who I am and being honest, forthcoming, accepting and vulnerable with others. Through my own willingness to live authentically, I can empower others to do the same. – Laura Max Rose, Laura Max Rose, LLC.

Empowerment as a woman means knowing what you want and need, and not settling for anything less. – Valerie Dittner, Adorn Yourself Accordingly

Living as an empowered woman to me means being financially and emotionally independent and choosing to be in a relationship because I want to be and not because I have to be in order to maintain a certain lifestyle. – Megan Silanoff, Owner of Mad Meg Creative

My everyday goal is to uplift, motivate, and inspire other women to see their full potential. – Anna Van Delden, Owner of Lagree HTX

Nothing is more empowering to me than motivating the other women in my life. Being a business owner, I work hard to create an environment where other women are poised for success. I mentor emerging interior designers, as well as encourage my clients to find inspiration in their personal values. Most importantly of all, I am a mother and role model to 2 young girls. I find it so empowering to help them build their unique personalities as they grow with strength, grace, and a wonderful sense of humor. – Laura Umansky, Founder of Laura U Interior Design

To have the guts to run after your dreams even as a mother. Your dreams are still a priority. – Lindsay Teague Moreno

To live as an empowered woman to me is to live independently, enjoying life how you want to.  I love working on my own time frame, going places I want to go (like when I go on holidays I spend a lot of time shopping for myself – haha) and just generally keeping myself pretty happy! – Alyce Tran, Founder of The Daily Edited

To me, it means embracing my strengths as a female and working to be the best version of myself that I can (regardless of female or male). Being a mother is an amazing opportunity we have as females, and I’ve grown to appreciate the differences that make us as women stronger while not allowing gender to hold me back. An empowered woman’s potential is limitless! – Bethany Buchanan, Southern Chic Style

To me, living empowered as a woman is simply putting yourself out there without hesitation or fear. Knowing your strengths and going after your dreams, no matter how big. A key element to living empowered is not striving for perfection, but rather being confident in the idea that failure could happen, and then taking your experiences and learning from your mistakes. So if I would describe an empowered woman, she would be determined, confident and fearless. – Erin O’Leary Stewart, Co-Owner of DEFINE body & mind, Creator of DEFINE foods

Answers from You All on IG Stories

Here are some of our favorite responses that we received when we posed this thought-provoking question on Instagram stories:

It means making the choices that make me happiest and not feeling regret about it. – @therealarig

One word. Maybe two…SELF LOVE is the first step to empowering anyone. – @alicen

To dream BIG and have the courage to make your dream a reality. – @hollymcberty

To know that we can do anything we desire. – @supermanmee

To me, being empowered is connected to having the support of my loved ones. – @mrschristinesherman

Determined, strong and makes everyday a blessing surrounding herself with the support to #keepmovingforward. – @mdf543211

Knowing that I have a successful career that’s improving health for others. – @mothering_in_nature

To love herself!!! – @creativetonic

Your Thoughts

So, now it’s your turn…

What does it mean to you to live an empowered life?

We’d love to hear from you.

We hope you enjoyed reading this. And we hope you are feeling empowered to define the power in your life.

Have a great day.

More color, please!

Carrie