Be The Ripple Podcast
The Cost of Becoming Strong, with Gersende Bonin | A Ripple Talk
"What if the very qualities that helped many women of my generation succeed are also the ones that left some of us with regrets?" Gersende Bonin grew up as the eldest of four girls, the scientific one, the daughter her father called forward differently. She learned early that closeness and legitimacy came through being capable, impressive and strong, and she carried that lesson into a career built on meeting standards she had not set, including a diving instructor qualification in France with one scale, based on men's performance. That adaptation gave her drive, resilience and the ability to hold her own in difficult rooms. In this talk she looks honestly at what it also took: distance from other women, and tenderness she had trained out of herself. It ends beside her father's bed, in a moment she has never stopped thinking about. After the talk, Gersende sits down with Ripple Network founder Sabine Hutchison to talk about finding the story she did not know she had, the permission that came with telling it, and what changed once she said it out loud. Ripple Talks are built inside The Ripple Network, a twelve week speaking practice for women professionals who want to speak with more confidence, more clarity, and more of themselves. One ripple can change the tide. Applications for the next cohort: www.theripplenetwork.com
