1/7 It starts early. Just mentored a high school team on their competition pitch. When I asked the young woman for her thoughts she froze and tried to pass the question to her cofounder. He didn’t jump in to take over for her. But she insisted on passing the baton back to him.

2/7. “Oh hell no!” I thought.

I stopped her dead in her tracks.

“You’ve got this. Pause. Tell me what you think.”

“This is hard!” She squeaked. And rolled her head across her shoulders.

3/7. “That’s ok that this is hard. You can still do this and have it be hard at the same time.”

And she gave a great answer with lots of hesitation in her voice.

4/7 “Tell me about something you love.”

She tells me about her dogs and doesn’t miss a beat. She speaks clearly without wavering.

5/7 “You need to talk about your project like you do about your dogs. No one in the competition knows more about the work you’ve done than you. No one. This is your project like those are your dogs.”

She nods her head.

6/7 I focused on her male cofounder. “Practice passing the baton to each other when you’re speaking so it feels natural and you both get equal time. There is nothing that I like less than one cofounder upfront with backup singers. You’re both leads.”

He nods and agrees.

7/7 It’s really important to be able to sit with young women in this discomfort and show them that they can build resilience. And equally important to show young men how they can bring everyone upfront to the spotlight. This is a dynamic, let’s not let either side off the hook.