Veena Ramaswamy - International Women’s Day

For International Women’s Day this year, I reached out to a handful of women I deeply respect.

This is in no way a “top list.” I know so many extraordinary women - and there are countless more I don’t yet know.

These women come from different industries, backgrounds, and seasons of life. Coaches. Writers. Leaders. Career women. Creatives.

I asked them a few powerful questions about leadership, success, unlearning, and becoming.

And today, I want to introduce you to Veena.

If you asked her at dinner what she does, she’d say:

“I help powerful women recalibrate and realign their identity, nervous system, and strategy so their business, leadership, and visibility finally match who they’ve become.”

But deeper than that, she builds safe private spaces.

Rooms where women don’t compete - they collaborate.

Where strategy meets spirituality.

Where wealth is normalized.

Where emotional intelligence is power.

Because, as she puts it:

“When one sovereign woman rises, she pulls others up with her.”

That’s what she actually does.

She builds ecosystems for aligned power.

But she didn’t start there.

For a long time, as a South Asian woman of color in executive spaces, she dimmed to belong.

She was capable. High-achieving. Fearless at executive tables.

And internally?

She was constantly calibrating.

Too ambitious.

Too visible.

Too opinionated.

Too much.

She didn’t grow up with visible role models who showed her how to lead with confidence and softness at the same time.

So she studied leadership the only way she knew how - by performing it.

Four industry pivots later - tech, consulting, executive coaching, entrepreneurship - she realized those weren’t random shifts.

They were shedding.

Reinvention is lonely when you don’t see yourself reflected anywhere.

So she became the role model she was looking for.

When I asked what being a woman in leadership means to her, she didn’t talk about breaking into rooms.

She talked about leading differently.

“It means I don’t have to armor up.

I don’t have to over-perform.

I don’t have to adopt urgency to prove competence.”

“It means I can hold a room strategically and energetically at the same time.

It means redefining leadership as something embodied, not extracted.”

Embodied, not extracted.

Right now, she says she is rising as a fully embodied Divine Feminine woman - not the version of herself who led from pressure, performance, or proving.

When I asked what she had to unlearn, the answer was simple:

Shrinking.

Shrinking her voice.

Shrinking her intelligence.

Shrinking her standards.

Shrinking her desires so other people wouldn’t feel uncomfortable.

She also had to unlearn that her worth was proven through exhaustion.

“My power isn’t in how much I can carry.

It’s in how fully I can embody who I am.”

Right now, she’s rising into visibility without dilution.

Claiming bigger stages.

Trusting her voice at higher levels without over-explaining it.

Building long-term rooms for women to co-create - not just consume.

She described this season as a phoenix rising.

Not dramatic.

Not chaotic.

Intentional rebirth.

She burned the parts of herself that overextended to be accepted.

Burned the need to convince.

Burned the fear of being “too much.”

What’s rising now is calmer.

More anchored.

More magnetic.

When I asked what success feels like in her body, her answer felt like a quiet revolution.

“Success feels calm.

It feels regulated.

It feels like expansion without anxiety.

It feels like walking into a room and not scanning for approval.

It feels like softness and certainty at the same time.

It feels like home.”

That line.

It feels like home.

Like finally belonging in the room without shrinking to fit it.

And when I asked what she wishes more women believed, her answer carried both fire and tenderness.

“That they are not behind.

That they are not too much.

That they are not late.

That their desire for more - more money, more visibility, more love, more impact - is sacred.”

You are allowed to outgrow rooms.

You are allowed to outgrow identities.

You are allowed to want more.

You are not broken.

You are not late.

You are not asking for too much.

You are remembering who you are.

And I’ll leave you with her words:

“I am a woman who feels deeply and leads boldly and knows her presence is enough.

I am a woman who became the role model she never had.

I am a woman who redefines leadership on her own terms.

I am a woman who leaves every space more expansive than she found it.

I am a woman who leads in a way that future generations will not have to unlearn.”

There are so many extraordinary women in my world - and so many more beyond it - who aren’t represented in this small series.

Consider this a celebration of them, too.

And in Veena’s language:

You are not late.

You are not too much.

You do not have to fracture yourself to lead.

Rise sovereign.

And do it unapologetically.

Where to find Veena online

You can find her on LinkedIn and Threads.

If you are called, here is the link to have a virtual Goddess chat with her. 🌹

Apply to be a Guest on Voices of Impact Podcast here.

Figure out Your Sovereign Archetype Quiz by Beyoutifully Empower here.