The Queen of R&B Mary J Blidge is my Hype Woman. I’ve never met her, but her songs have gotten me through a number of challenges. I can remember driving down the highway headed toward an important Audit; confidence growing as Ms. Mary belts out the words below in her song Just Fine. It is the song I go-to when I need a pick me up or just had a win! It’s not just her words that penetrate my mood, but her soul-stirring melodic voice that has the ability to pause the moment and command attention.
🎤No time for moping around, are you kidding?
And no time for negative vibes 'cause I'm winning
It's been a long week, I put in my hardest
Gonna live my life, feels so good to get it right🎤
According to Urban Dictionary a Hype Woman is a woman who will hype you up; compliment you, uplift you, encourage you, ect.
🎤So I like what I see when I walk across the mirror. Ain’t worried about you and what you’re gonna do I’m a lady so I gotta stay classy. My life is just fine. I’m ain’t going let nothing get in my way. No matter what nobody has to say.🎧
Whew! I’m ready to go just listening to it now!
I can think of many Hype Woman that I’ve benefited from and vice versa:
There are woman I can count on. It’s a comfort and relief sometimes to know they are there. You know someone has your back.
🎤Got my head on straight, I got my vibe right
I ain't gonna let you kill it🎧
Ms. Julie Castro Abrams gives us Five ways to be a Hype Woman in the article How to Become a Hype Woman in Corporate America .
- Find networks centering on women of color, join them and listen.
- Be fierce advocates for one another.
- Say “yes” to helping one another.
- Be unabashedly visible.
- Reinforce women’s voices.
I was on the recieiving end of incredible support from a Hype Woman in the workplace a couple weeks back. After a packed weekend of events, Monday I woke up exhausted, depleted and not ready for a full day of work. I knew my Hype Woman would show up when I pressed send asking for coverage while I took the day off.
Not only did she show up by taking off some of my workload that day, but I had the sweetest messages in my inbox 📥 asking if I needed more days when I returned!! I can’t tell you how much that meant to me.
In that moment I knew even when my voice was but a whisper, there were women advocating on my behalf in rooms I was not in.
🎤Feels so good when you're doing all the things that you wanna do
Get the best out of life, treat yourself to something new🎧
In closing. I must share how good it feels to BE a Hype Woman. Recently, I had the privilege of speaking about Self Neglect to a group of powerful women in our company. At first I was incredibly intimidated but took a deep breathe and shared my story. I ended the session with:
I’m Cheering for You”
Me
I can’t tell you how fulfilled I felt after pouring into others. As I reflect, being a Hype Woman to others is a blessing of this blog!
I may not know every person that reads the post, but know I AM CHEERING FOR YOU TOO! Know that I write these posts to put some good in the world when it can seem hopeless. Every day you deserve a kind word, and come back to this post as often as you need to hear it.
- You ARE enough
- You ARE powerful
- You ARE their wildest dreams
Consider this your sign to keep doing YOU.
In peace,
J