I walked into this workshop carrying layers I hadn’t even realized were weighing me down, ideas about leadership, expectations, learned behaviors.
And then, piece by piece, they started to fall away. Not forcefully, not dramatically, but through something much deeper: presence, trust, and raw honesty.
It wasn’t always comfortable. Shedding the familiar never is. But in the space Anna and Ilka created, vulnerability became a path, not a weakness. And on the other side of it, I found something I didn’t expect—leadership that doesn’t demand, push, or imitate. Leadership that simply is.
Coming home, I felt a new kind of freedom. The realization that impact isn’t something you strive for, it happens when you show up as yourself. When you stop performing leadership and start living it.
And the best part? Others see it too. The feedback I received was like a mirror reflecting a strength that had always been there, just waiting to be acknowledged.
I used to think influence came from effort. Now I know it comes from authenticity. And that changes everything.
Thank you, Anna, Ilka, and everyone who walked this journey with me. You didn’t just show me a new way, you helped me remember who I am.