What It Really Takes to Walk Into Rooms Where Nobody Looks Like You

What It Really Takes to Walk Into Rooms Where Nobody Looks Like You | You Are You Unapologetically (S5 E14) Have you ever walked into a room and felt it before you even said a word? That shift in the air. The eyes that adjust. The silence that is not quite silence. And in that split second — before anyone speaks — you have to decide: do I make myself smaller so this room stays comfortable, or do I stand tall and dare the room to expand around me? In this episode, we ask the question most women have felt but never said out loud: What has shrinking yourself all these years actually cost you? Host sits down with Barb Smith — founder of Journey Steel, a $5.8 million company with 25 employees, and Journeys Soaring Impact, a nonprofit creating pathways for inner-city young people — for a raw, honest, and deeply powerful conversation about what it truly takes to walk into rooms that were never built for you, stay fully yourself inside them, and build something significant that could only have existed because you refused to leave any part of yourself at the door. Here's what you'll discover: → What it feels like to walk into a room where nobody looks like you — and what you tell yourself to keep going → How the pressure to shrink becomes automatic — and the quiet moment you finally decide you are done → The difference between being tolerated in a room and truly belonging there — and why it matters more than you think → What staying unapologetically true to yourself in the most uncomfortable spaces made possible for Barb → What the woman who is tired of fighting to belong in spaces that keep rejecting her needs to hear today This is not a conversation about surviving rooms that were not built for you. It is about walking in, standing tall, and letting the room rise to meet you. By the end of this episode, you will understand that you were never asking for a seat at the table — you were always meant to help build it. 🔗 Connect with Barb Smith: 🌐 Journey Steel | Journeys Soaring Impact ⏱️ TIMESTAMPS 00:00 – The Question Every Woman in the Wrong Room Has Had to Answer 04:00 – Why This Conversation Has to Happen 08:00 – The First Room Nobody Looks Like You (with Barb Smith) 14:00 – The Pressure to Shrink — and the Moment She Said No More 21:00 – Tolerated vs. Truly Belonging — How to Know the Difference 29:00 – What Staying True to Herself Made Possible 36:00 – Journey Steel, $5.8M, and a Nonprofit Born from Refusing to Shrink 43:00 – What She Knows Now That She Didn't Know Then 48:00 – Key Takeaways & Your Action Steps 51:00 – A Word for Every Woman Who Is Tired of Fighting to Belong 💬 Comment "I SHOWED UP. THAT IS ENOUGH." if this episode reached you. ✅ Share this with a woman who needs to be reminded that she does not owe any room a smaller version of herself. 🔔 Subscribe for new episodes every week — because showing up fully and authentically starts here. You Are You, Unapologetically. Walk in. Stand tall. Let the room rise to meet you. #WalkInAnyway #YouAreYouUnapologetically #DrKimRGrimes #WomenInBusiness #TakeUpSpace #BarbSmith #JourneySteel #WomenLeadership #UnapologeticallyYou #PersonalGrowthPodcast 🏷️ TAGS WalkInAnyway, YouAreYouUnapologetically, DrKimRGrimes, WomenInBusiness, TakeUpSpace, BarbSmith, JourneySteel, WomenLeadership, UnapologeticallyYou, PersonalGrowthPodcast, StopShrinking, WomenOfColor, BelongingMatters, RoomsNotBuiltForYou, CodeSwitching, WomenEmpowerment, PodcastForWomen, AuthenticLiving, OwnYourSpace, WomenWhoLead, BreakTheBarrier, StandTall, WomenInSTEM, PurposeDriven, GrowthMindset, DareToShowUp, FemaleFounders, WomenEntrepreneurs, ImpactDriven, LeadershipPodcast