High-Heeled Success

Topical Thursday! October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
There is encouraging news in breast cancer research: treatment is becoming more personalized.
A 2026 clinical trial found that gene-expression testing may help identify many women with certain early-stage breast cancers who are unlikely to benefit significantly from chemotherapy. In other words, doctors are getting better at determining which treatments are most appropriate for an individual woman and her particular cancer.
While we celebrate advances like these, there are important things women can do right now:
• Know your personal and family history.
• Keep up with recommended mammograms. For women at average risk, the current recommendation is every two years from ages 40–74.
• Know what is normal for your breasts and report changes to your healthcare provider.
• Stay physically active and maintain a healthy weight.
• Limit alcohol, which is a known breast cancer risk factor.
• If you are diagnosed, ask questions. Understanding the type and biology of your cancer can help you and your medical team make informed treatment decisions.
We can't control every risk factor. But we can be informed, proactive and prepared.
This Breast Cancer Awareness Month, don't just wear pink. Take action for your health. I willl be getting my next mammogram in April, what about you?

Wisdom Wednesday! This wisdom from Stephen Covey is profound: “The key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.”
That shift in thinking is a gamechanger. Excellent leaders start with what is critical! Managers merely follow what falls into their lap.
To make a real difference in your workplace, ask yourself, "What could be transformative to this workplace?" Take some time to identify three actions that could start the transformation. Get those actions on your calendar and make them your priority.

Tip Tuesday! It’s OK to Toot Your Own Horn

Women are often taught from girlhood to be humble.

Don’t brag.
Don’t talk too much about what you’ve accomplished.
Let your work speak for itself.
Don’t make yourself look like you’re seeking attention.

But here’s the problem:

If no one knows what you’ve accomplished, your hard work can become invisible.

I’m perfectly OK tooting my own horn about this:

More than 9,000 women have now opened the pages of my story.

That matters to me. Not because I need to brag, but because I know that reaching women with ideas, strategies and encouragement can create a ripple effect far beyond the original conversation.

And this is an important lesson for women in the workplace:

Your accomplishments deserve to be visible.

Talk about the project you successfully led.
Share the results you achieved.
Tell people about the problem you solved.
Make sure decision-makers know the value you bring.

You can be confident without being conceited. You can be proud without being arrogant.

And you can absolutely toot your own horn when you’ve earned the right to do so.

As Will Rogers said:

“If you’ve done it, it ain’t bragging!”

At High-Heeled Success™, we believe women shouldn’t have to choose between being accomplished and being visible.

Don’t let humility turn your accomplishments into invisible work.

Monday Motivation! “It's not about ideas. It's about making ideas happen.” — Scott Belsky, entrepreneur, author, and early stage investor.

In the workplace, having great ideas is only the beginning.

Success comes from taking the next step: turning your ideas into action, results, and value that others can see. Too often, women have excellent ideas but hesitate to speak up, take ownership, or make their ideas visible. Don't let a great idea remain invisible.

At High-Heeled Success, we believe career success isn't just about what you know or what you can do. It's also about making your contributions visible and positioning yourself for opportunities.

Have the idea. Speak up. Take action. Make it happen. Your ideas matter. Your visibility matters. And what you do with your ideas can make a difference in your career.

Friday First! Everyone needs mentors, sometimes even ones you have never met. On this 9-2-5 day celebrating Dolly Parton, this is my first time to post about her since her death. Dolly was a mentor to me, though I never met her. When I was 12 years old, I remember watching her on the Porter Wagner show on Saturday afternoons. I didn’t like the show, I didn’t like country music, but there was something about Dolly I could not explain. She had a charisma that I couldn’t shake. As time went passed, I went to the university of Tennessee and spent so much time in the Smoky Mountain, Sevierville, and Pigeon Forge—home of Dolly Parton. I begin to watch Dolly go through her evolution. Though she did not change at her core, she had many fascinating transformations. As Dolly transformed, I transformed. In the last 15 years, Dolly was one of the models of a woman aging well that I admired! Continue to change, continue to be engaged, continue to be vibrant, continue to be witty, continue to give! Thank you, Dolly, I will miss you as a matter. I will always love you. The life size picture of Dolly was taken in East Tennessee at one of my favorite antique shops, the street sign and marquee were taken in Sevierville .

I'm excited to announce that I'm both a contributor to the Being Brave Tour Magazine and a guest on the Being Brave Tour Podcast!
I had such a wonderful conversation with Karen Rae about something that has been at the heart of my work for decades — helping women recognize their value, use their voice, and stop waiting for someone else to notice just how much they have to offer.

We talked about my own journey from growing up feeling like I didn't really have a voice to building a career speaking to and working with thousands of women. We also talked about what I call the “Big Fat Lie” — the idea that if we simply work hard, keep our heads down, and do a great job, someone will eventually notice and reward us.

We have to be willing to show up, speak up, and ask for what we want.

You can hear more of my story on the Being Brave Tour Podcast, and then take the conversation a little deeper with my reflection inside the Being Brave Tour Magazine: Beautiful Faces Going Places Women’s Success Network Issue.
Complimentary copy: https://heyzine.com/flip-book/228e683884.html
🎧 Join us for this week's episode of the Being Brave Tour Podcast.
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0nQU3Y6GQLhNgsHO85cq7O
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/.../69-what-if.../id1827332334...
I hope you'll listen, read along, and ask yourself:
Where am I ready to stop making myself smaller and start showing up more fully?

69|What If You Stopped Being Invisible? | Kay Fittes on Showing Up, Speaking Up & Knowing Your Value Being Brave Tour · Episode

Topical Thursday! Something important is happening in the workplace right now—and women need to be paying attention.

Artificial intelligence is changing jobs, skills and the way organizations work. But new data shows that women are not yet equally represented in the parts of the AI economy that are shaping the future.

According to new research from the World Economic Forum and UN Women, women make up about 22% of AI professionals globally and fewer than 14% of senior leadership positions shaping AI.

That matters.

Because from the High-Heeled Success perspective, career success isn't just about working hard and being competent.

It's about being visible.
It's about developing skills that matter.
It's about getting into the conversations where decisions are being made.
And it's about positioning yourself for opportunities before they pass you by.

We've seen this pattern before: women can be doing a tremendous amount of the work while someone else gets the visibility and the opportunity.

Let's not repeat that pattern with AI.

If AI is going to shape the future of work, women need to be part of shaping AI, too.

What are YOU doing right now to make sure you are prepared—and visible—in the workplace of the future?

Wednesday Wisdom! “What we fear of doing most is usually what we most need to do.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson, philosopher
Think about your workplace.
What conversation have you been putting off?
What opportunity have you been hesitant to pursue?
What idea have you been keeping to yourself?
What have you been afraid to ask for?
Fear doesn't always mean “don't do it.” Sometimes it means-this matters.
At High-Heeled Success™, we encourage women to recognize the obstacles that can keep them from being seen, heard and valued at work—and then take the steps to move beyond them.
Your Wednesday Wisdom challenge:
What is one thing you know you need to do, but have been afraid to do? Maybe that's exactly where your next career opportunity begins.