By Renee Fraser, PhD

Recently, I received a message I’ll never forget.

My 13-year-old granddaughter texted me about a school assignment her classmate had completed. The student had been asked to write about someone she admired in a career she hoped to pursue. She chose a woman in business and communications—a person whose work she looked up to, who inspired her path forward.

That person, it turned out, was me.

She had no idea that my granddaughter and I were related. And honestly, I’m still not sure how she discovered me—perhaps through my podcast, a campaign I led, or an article she came across online. I don’t know the details. What I do know is that this young woman felt seen in something I shared, and saw something in me that helped her imagine what she could become.

I was deeply moved. Humbled. And frankly, astonished.

We often talk about mentorship in formal terms—relationships we build, people we coach, advice we offer in boardrooms or coffee meetings. But this moment reminded me of a quieter kind of mentorship. The kind we don’t always see. The kind we can’t measure.

It’s the influence that comes from simply showing up—consistently, honestly, and with purpose.

As women in leadership, as business owners, as communicators, we often focus on impact in tangible ways. Metrics, campaign results, year-over-year growth. These matter, of course. But there’s another dimension of impact that can’t be captured on a spreadsheet. It happens in the minds of people we may never meet—young women wondering if they belong in the room, girls asking themselves if they’re allowed to lead.

This experience reminded me that those moments of influence can come from the stories we share, the words we speak, the risks we take, and yes—the times we choose to be visible.

I want to be clear: this isn’t about self-promotion for the sake of it. It’s about purpose-driven visibility. When we share the realities of our work—the challenges, the lessons, the values that guide us—we create a path for others to walk through. We normalize success that looks like ours. And we send a quiet but powerful message: You can do this too.

So many women I know, especially those who’ve come up through male-dominated industries, were taught to keep their heads down and let their work speak for itself. And while hard work is always at the core of meaningful leadership, we also need to speak for ourselves. We need to tell our stories. We need to “brag”—as uncomfortable as that word can feel—not out of ego, but out of responsibility. Because you never know who’s listening.

You may not always see the impact of your voice, your work, your leadership. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t there. Sometimes it shows up quietly, years later, in a young girl’s essay. Or in a decision someone makes because they saw a little bit of themselves in you.

So to the women reading this: keep going. Keep building. Keep putting your purpose into words, into action, into motion. Because even if you don’t know it, someone out there is watching, listening, and growing because of you.

All the best,

Renee Fraser, PhD

CEO, Fraser Communications