Dearest Reader,
I need to get this off my chest. To express something to myself that I needed to hear and maybe you do too. Because I've been doing everything and nothing at the same time.
That's what rebuilding without a safety net feels like. Every decision feels major. Every pause feels like falling behind. And the overthinking, the constant mental spinning, starts to feel like productivity when really it's just protection.
I know you know this feeling.
๐ง Listen to this letter on Spotify or Apple with a reflection at the end.
As a recovering people pleaser, so much of my life I spent being indispensable to everyone else. Solving problems before I was old enough to carry them. Making myself useful because useful felt like valuable. And I was good at it, I spent decades helping other people build, raise, launch, scale. I collected rent on their dreams.
But somewhere along the way, I realized: I had never let my own brilliance collect rent.
That's the trap. The trap is being so good at building for others that you forget to build for yourself. Playing it safe inside that role because at least you know how to do it.
Growth is glorified and even commoditized, but in practice it's hard AF.
Growth means being willing to be seen trying. Saying what you're building even if it's not fully formed yet. Being willing to move even if it means failure. Because what I know to be 1000% true is that I've learned more from my "failures" than my successes. Every single time.
And what I've learned most is this:
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๐ What is appearing in your life is often a reflection of what's going on inside.
The overthinking isn't protecting you. It's the trap. And that trap gives you a false sense of comfort.
Every time you spiral on whether it's the right time, whether you're ready, whether anyone will care, you're not getting closer to clarity. You're getting further from action. And the longer that idea, that project, that business lives rent-free in your head, the heavier it gets.
It's taking up space. It's paying nothing. And it is quietly costing you so much: your confidence, your momentum, the version of yourself that was supposed to be further along by now.
Your idea is not waiting for you to feel ready. It is waiting for you to decide that staying stuck costs more than moving scared.
It needs to come out into the world and start collecting rent.
So how do you actually practice this?
- Start here: write down the idea that's been living in your head. Not a business plan. Just the sentence. "I want to ______."
That's the tiny action. That's the first rent payment. Celebrate it. Then remind yourself that the compound effect of tiny actions leads to the leaps.
๐ Building in isolation is lonely as fuck. And it's also a choice.
So many of us feel alone in the building. Under-resourced. Spinning with no one to catch us. And the systems we inherited were never designed for us, they were designed to make women tradable assets, not equals at the table.
Isolation is the most expensive thing we pay for and it never shows up on the invoice. It shows up in the ideas that never launched. The businesses that stayed in the notes app. The version of yourself you kept promising you'd become when the conditions were better.
You are the only one who can make the conditions better. The room is what gets better. The people in it are what changes what's possible.
I want to be surrounded by women who find solutions. Who remind me it's possible. Who are building too because that is infrastructure.
That's why I built The Table.
It's where the real work happens. A paid, intimate room, because when women invest in themselves, something shifts. I've watched it happen every single month. The ideas get louder. The excuses get quieter. And the ROI of being in a room with women who are actually doing it, not just talking about it, is something I can't quantify in this email. But I've watched it change the trajectory of someone's year. ๐ฏ
โThe Table is how I show up and support others while I'm building. Because lifting the veil helps us all, and more good people need to make more money. That's how we create a better world.
๐๐ผ I'm building to solve for the glaring gap of women being underfunded.
๐๐ผ For the feeling of isolation as you build your dream.
๐๐ผ For the networks that talk about collaboration but only if you stay in a lane.
๐๐ผ For the financial disparity that exists even though every stat points to how exceptional we are โ yet imagine what we could accomplish with more than crumbs. More time. More resources. Actual intel. A pipeline. A network that doesn't gatekeep.
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I'm pitching it in real time. Bringing in partners and sponsors. Navigating the broken ecosystem that is funding for women-owned businesses and sharing what I find. That information should not stay behind closed doors.
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We share receipts on The Table every month. What worked, what didn't, what it actually costs to build. The parts people usually only share after they've made it. We share them now.
One of the one things I know how to do really fucking well is build a room where you remember what you're capable of and helping you solve the right side of the problem. Where the idea you've been whispering to yourself finally gets to be said out loud, to women who don't flinch, who lean in, who say yes, and here's how.
"Vanessa saw straight through the overthinking, the spinning, and the hiding behind the details. She made me face that I don't need anyone to grant me permission. I need to grant it to myself." โ Yomarie C.
"In a world where we grew up and are reminded every day we need to shrink, The Table is a space where your dreams don't sound so crazy. They are achievable and groundbreaking." โ Alexis B.
The Table is that bitch. ๐
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Sometimes the big movements aren't about splashy social media strategies or ads. They're about building what's missing and opening up the gates and sending the invitation. This is my invitation to you. ๐
The Table is a 4+ hour virtual collaboration room. Four hours to finally give your thing the room it deserves, surrounded by women who want to see you win. That's not a lot to ask of yourself.
You walk in with the idea that's been living in your head. You walk out knowing exactly what to do with it.
Join The Table: May 21st, 8 seats. Founders rate. Intimate on purpose.
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โโ Claim your seatโ
Overthinking hasn't served me or anyone I know. But it is so easy to fall into, especially when what we see, makes you feel like you need to be 100% ready or makes you feel like you are behind.
Stop.
Take a breath. ๐ฎโ๐จ
Isolation isn't healthy for us as a species and it has never been the path to anything worth building. We need community. We need rooms that tell the truth. We need each other.
And your idea needs to actually start collecting rent. Even if itโs imperfect.
Let it and you be seen. Working on this myself as I write this to you.
Until the next letter,
Vanessa
UPDATES + LINKS ๐ ๐คญ ๐ค
- Next Glow Up - May 14th. Glow Up Hour is my free monthly gathering. The room where we meet, connect, and exchange ideas.
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I'm bringing in a Claude (Anthropic) expert to walk us through how to set up projects, build agents, and use AI to actually get more done. If you've been wondering how to make technology work for your business โ this is the session. Sign up here.
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- My birthday is May 1st. I'm taking time off to celebrate, go into silence, and reminding myself that I am exactly where I need to be. You are exactly where you need to be.
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- Build The Dream is being built in public. The real-time version lives on Instagram. Come watch it happen and give me some encouragement! @vanessasantosleonโ
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- Alongside my co-creator, weโre bringing an IRL experience for 200 women in Las Vegas this year and Iโm going to tell you all about in my next email... Dropping in the next 24-hours!
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- If The Table has been on your mind, the May cohort is your next powerful move.
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