I believe that women supporting women is essential to our collective success. That’s why I wrote Become the Fire, and it’s why the book stresses the importance of female allyship. When we take an active role in fostering each other’s achievement – through role modeling, coaching, mentoring, networking, promoting, connecting, etc. – and as we celebrate each resulting success, we get stronger and more empowered. And as more of us support and inspire each other, our success will spread like wildfire. 

A powerful moment of female allyship showing the abundance mindset at work happened at the Golden Globe Awards on January 10, 2023, when Michelle Yeoh won the Best Actress award for her performance in Everything Everywhere All at Once. Jamie Lee Curtis’s reaction showed that there’s enough success for all of us, and when one of us wins, it can move us all forward.

My friend and colleague Ann Marie Gardiner Halstead, a staff writer for 30Seconds who’s also a professor, speaker and award-winning author, wrote a reflection on this incredible moment. I’m sharing it here as a shining example of women empowering women and the power we all can take from it.

Michelle Yeoh & Jamie Lee Curtis: The Most Viral Moment from the Golden Globe™ Awards & What It Means for Women

By Ann Marie Gardinier Halstead  

The 80th Golden Globe™ Awards ceremony honored the best in film and American television of 2022, after not airing last year following the outcry over the Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s (HFPA) lack of diversity and questionable practices. There were watershed moments and memorable speeches. 

One of my favorites was when Michelle Yeoh won the Best Actress award for her performance in Everything Everywhere All at Once. What an important, inspiring win, especially considering Yeoh’s “minority” status in the U.S. (discussed in her speech) and her age (in a youth-obsessed Hollywood).

There was another special moment, when Yeoh was announced as the winner. I would like to draw your attention to one person in particular. She didn’t receive a Lifetime Achievement Award. She didn’t win a Golden Globe™. Yet, if you see Jamie Lee Curtis’s reaction, you might think she did. Instead, she’s cheering for her fellow cast member, Michelle Yeoh.

I’ve seen people post and tweet that Jamie Lee Curtis ”is all of us” in this moment. Sadly, I don’t think that’s true. Instead, she’s whom we should aspire to be. We should all cheer this excitedly for our friends, for each other. We should all feel so genuinely thrilled about our friends’ successes. As a woman who has been blessed throughout my life with true friends like Jamie, and as one who loves to support and cheer on other women, I’d like to speak directly to the women here:

If you don’t have these kinds of women friends, go get some. Don’t listen to what you’ve been told over the years. It’s all a lie. Here’s the truth, from one woman to another:

Women are not your competition
Not the opposition
Her success is not your failure

Celebrate her wins
Be the first to applaud
Stand up
Throw your hands in the air

She won’t steal your thunder
Your applause
Her rise is not your fall

Let her shine
There’s enough light for all of us
And be there when it rains, too

Her power empowers you
Your power empowers her
And on and on we go
Making meaning, making change
For each other, for ourselves
For generations
Together

You can visit my author website at ElisaSchmitz.com, and learn more about my book on achieving career and life success at BecomeTheFire.com.

Royalty-free image at top from Pixabay.