Women Who Rise: A Vision for Power With Purpose By Lori Darley
I didn’t set out to become a woman of power. I set out to breathe.
Quite literally.
As a young professional dancer performing throughout Eastern and Western Europe and the former Soviet Union, I learned to hold my breath —not just in rehearsals or high-stakes performances, but walking the streets. Diesel fumes clouded the air, and the smell of burning fuel lingered in the fibers of my costumes and the back of my throat. That experience, etched into my body, taught me that the cost of industry is never just economic. It's personal. It's in the lungs of children. It's in the choices women are forced to make when the water isn't clean or the pay isn’t fair.
Later, as a transformational coach and founder of Conscious Leaders, I began to understand: the systems that suppress clean air are not so different from the systems that suppress women's voices. Both are invisible until you learn to see them. And once you see them, you can’t unsee them. That vision is what led me to create Women Who Rise, a leadership development initiative designed to elevate women into the C-suite and beyond. My goal? To support 100 million women in stepping into their full power —not just for themselves, but for a more just and sustainable world. Because when women rise, we all breathe easier. Power, Reimagined Power, as it's traditionally understood, has been shaped by extraction—take the resources, use them up, leave someone else to clean up the mess. But power, reimagined by women, has the potential to be regenerative. I believe women have a more intuitive understanding of the costs—not just economic, but ecological and human —of doing business as usual. And I believe we are the ones who will rewrite that story. In my 15 years of coaching and leadership training with Fortune 500 companies and high-growth entrepreneurs, I’ve seen it happen. I witnessed the rise of Katie Farmer, who became the first female CEO in the 170-year history of BNSF Railway—an industry long defined by steel, speed, and yes, men. I watched as she led with integrity, steadiness, and vision, proving that leadership doesn’t require shouting to be heard.
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