I am obsessed with the show Lioness.
If you have not watched it, the show is amazing. It has a great cast, strong women, complicated leadership dynamics, and enough aviation to keep me very happy.
But somewhere between all the action, I realized why I love this show so much.
Every one of these women represents That Girl, each in her own way.
Now, if you are new here, let me explain what I mean by Be That Girl.
Be That Girl is for ambitious women who are ready to stop second-guessing what they already know and start fully using their voice, expertise, and authority. It is about showing up as yourself, speaking when you have something to say, taking action when the moment calls for it, and building the relationships you need as you move into bigger rooms and bigger roles.
It is not about becoming a certain type of woman.
And that is exactly what I see when I watch Lioness.
They are not the same type of woman. They do not lead the same way. They do not have the same strengths. And they certainly do not always agree.
But each one owns who she is and what she brings to the table.
That is what caught my attention.
Because Be That Girl has never been about becoming one particular kind of woman. It is about trusting yourself enough to use your voice, own your expertise, stand in your authority, and take action when the moment calls for it.
And the women of Lioness give us some pretty great examples.
Cruz: That Girl Who Knows What She Knows
Cruz is a doer.
There is a scene where a military guy starts explaining how to use a weapon, and she quickly makes it clear that she already knows “how to point and shoot.”
No long explanation. No list of qualifications. No need to prove herself.
She knows what she knows, and she gets the job done.
How many times have you known the answer in a meeting but hesitated before saying it? Maybe you felt like you needed to let your superior explain something to you instead of interrupting with your experience on that topic.
One of the things we talk about inside my new Be That Girl community is learning to own what you bring into the room.
You do not need to know everything. None of us does.
But you do need to stop treating the things you do know as though they require someone else’s permission to own.
Joe: That Girl Who Owns Her Authority
Joe is clear about who she is and the authority she carries.
She creates her own team. She makes difficult decisions. She stands up for herself when she is challenged, and she does not make herself smaller simply because someone else might be uncomfortable with her power.
And if that’s not enough, there is something else I love about Joe.
She tells the truth.
She does not confuse leadership with making everyone feel good all the time.
Seems super simple but to me, that’s worth pointing out because I hear accomplished women ask versions of the same questions constantly:
Will they think I am difficult?
Am I coming across too strong?
What if they do not like what I have to say?
I want us asking a different question: What does this moment need from me?
Sometimes the moment needs you to listen. Sometimes it needs you to ask another question. And sometimes it needs you to say the thing everyone else in the room is dancing around.
That is a Be That Girl moment that Joe owns often in the show.
Kaitlyn: That Girl Who Does Not Apologize for Her Power
Then there is Kaitlyn.
There is a scene where she is sitting in a room full of male leaders who are challenging her. The conversation gets heated, but she does not retreat, overexplain herself, or try to make her authority more palatable.
She knows exactly who she is in that room.
And I LOVE that.
Because how much energy do we sometimes spend as women trying to make our competence easier for other people to swallow?
You can be confident without being arrogant. You can be direct without being disrespectful. You can have power without pretending that you do not.
Being That Girl does not require you to become somebody else. It requires you to stop apologizing for the woman you already are.
The Team: That Girl Who Can Lead and Be Led
One of the other things I love about Lioness is that these women are not operating in some female-only universe.
They work alongside strong men. They lead strong men. They rely on strong men.
And the secure men on the team respect their leadership.
Nobody has to become less powerful so somebody else can be powerful.
That is an important leadership lesson.
The team is full of people with different backgrounds, experiences, personalities, strengths, and frequencies. Their success depends on knowing how to use those differences rather than fighting them.
The higher you move in leadership, the less your success is about how well you perform by yourself. It becomes about how well you can lead the people in front of you.
That is another part of Be That Girl.
Own your authority, but also become the kind of leader who can bring out the best in people who are nothing like you.
Be That Girl Who Has Other Women in Her Corner
Joe and Kaitlyn are two incredibly strong women operating in an incredibly difficult environment.
They do not need to be identical to understand one another.
They understand the stakes. They understand the pressure. And they understand what the other woman is navigating.
But we do not talk enough about this question:
Who is in your corner while you are doing all of it?
There is an interesting parallel with actual lionesses. They hunt cooperatively, coordinating and using the strengths of the group.
The leadership lesson here is simple: strong women do not have to navigate everything by themselves.
They need people they trust. Women who will tell them the truth, understand the rooms they are navigating, challenge them when they are playing small, and remind them what they are capable of when they temporarily forget.
And that is why I want Be That Girl to become a movement.
Because when I look at the women of Lioness, I see different versions of what it means to Be That Girl.
Cruz is That Girl.
Joe is That Girl.
Kaitlyn is That Girl.
I am That Girl.
And YOU are That Girl.
We are completely different women. We have different strengths, different experiences, and different ways of showing up.
That is the point.
There is no single way to Be That Girl.
The common thread in the women I created Be That Girl for is that they tend to have their stuff together. They are capable. They are accomplished. They are the women other people turn to when something needs to get done.
But when you consistently show up that way, something interesting happens.
People start assuming you are fine.
From the outside, it looks like you have it all together, so people assume you do not need support, encouragement, advice, or someone checking in on you.
But being capable does not mean you should have to carry everything by yourself.
Everyone needs a room where they know someone is in their corner. A room where you can say, “Here is what I am dealing with,” without having to explain the whole backstory. A room where someone will tell you the truth, challenge you when you need it, celebrate the wins with you, and remind you of what you already know when you start second-guessing yourself.
That is the kind of room I created the Be That Girl Collective to be.
It is for women who are already doing big things and are ready for what is next. It is a place to have the conversations that come with getting to the next level: using your voice when the stakes are high, owning your authority, navigating difficult people and situations, making intentional career moves, and building relationships with women who understand what you are navigating.
Because you do not need another room telling you how impressive you are.
You need a room where you can be honest about what it takes to keep becoming the woman you know you can be.
So if you saw a little of yourself in Cruz, Joe, Kaitlyn, or anywhere else in this article, I want you to remember something:
You do not need to become louder, tougher, or more like somebody else to Be That Girl.
You already have the expertise. You already have the perspective. You already have the authority. You already have the voice.
The question is whether you are fully using them.
And you do not have to figure that out alone.
Bring your ambition. Bring the thing you are trying to figure out. Bring the version of you who has it together and the version who sometimes does not.
There is room for both.
You are already That Girl. Now come find the women who will be in your corner while you become what is next.
