Are you shrinking to stay promotable?
I coach women in music who don’t bring their full selves to work.
Not because they’re ashamed, but because it’s the only form of protection they’ve got left in an industry that already takes so much.
The music business blurs every boundary.
Evenings. Weekends. Identity.
So many women I coach hold part of themselves back.
Not out of fear, but out of self-preservation.
Because being “yourself” doesn’t always feel safe.
Not in boardrooms or in team meetings where the culture still expects women to be likeable and never too much.
Especially when those rooms are still run by the boys’ club; where power is protected, not shared, and women are expected to adjust.
70.4% of women say their employers offer
We can’t keep telling women to “bring their whole selves to work” if there’s no space for real conversations about what that actually includes.
Like periods that derail your ability to concentrate
Like perimenopause brain fog during a pitch
Or needing to step out of a meeting; not because you’re flaky, but because you’re in pain
When 70.4% of women say their employers offer no support at all for menstrual or hormonal health (Lifesum, 2024), what message does that send?
When “professional” still means pretending nothing is happening inside your body,
That’s not inclusion.
That’s being made to feel they have to hide it.
It’s this culture of silence that keeps women masking, shrinking, and showing up as edited versions of themselves.
Over 50% of women would leave a job for one that
The stats prove it:
60% of U.S. employees say they hide parts of who they are at work (Deloitte, 2024)
That rises to 67% in leadership
Over 50% of women would leave a job for one that did support their hormonal health
Women in music are already bending themselves into a shape that fits the room.
Apologising. Smiling. Staying quiet.
Keeping their hormones, their health, their opinions, their full selves out of sight.
Some women aren’t masking to fit in. They’re doing it to stay promotable.
To avoid being labelled “difficult,” “too emotional,” or “not leadership material.”
Because in a culture that still rewards compliance, authenticity can feel risky.
The cost is not just burnout or resentment.
It’s disconnection from our power, our voice, and our potential.
You deserve better than a career that only values part of you.
You deserve to lead, contribute, and thrive as you are.
Coaching won’t change the system overnight, but it can help you stop shrinking to survive inside it.
If you’re ready to build a career that fits you, and not the other way around; let’s talk. Contact me here.
