Women are often expected to play nice, serve others, and do as they are told with a big smile. And if a woman learns to stand up for herself, she’s often described as aggressive, controlling, or worse – simply for stating her opinions or tending to her needs. As a clinical psychologist and woman, I’ve found that an abundance of societal and cultural factors contributes to the limitation and erosion of women’s self-confidence and authenticity. If you feel like you’ve had to live small and abandon your true self, stay tuned for empowering insights from a renowned self-confidence expert.

Join Dr. Carla and Wall Street Journal bestselling self-confidence author, Sheena Yap Chan, for an uplifting discussion on how you can build stronger self-confidence, self-love, and self-esteem! Topics discussed include self-care, self-love, self-confidence, self-esteem, empowerment, feminism, authenticity, trauma, intergenerational trauma, family dynamics, menstruation, confidence, leadership, imposter syndrome, gender disparity, success, healing, support groups, self-help books, and psychotherapy.

Please note that this episode contains sensitive material; listener discretion is advised.

Emergency Assistance Note: If you or someone you know needs immediate support, please call your emergency services. In the US, 24/7 help is available by calling “911,” “988” (Suicide and Crisis Hotline), or SAMSA (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration) at 1-800-662-HELP (4357). Support/informational links are in the show notes.

Books by Dr. Carla Manly:

Joy from Fear: https://www.amazon.com/Joy-Fear-Carla-Marie-Manly/dp/1641701218

Date Smart: https://www.amazon.com/Date-Smart-Transform-Relationships-Fearlessly/dp/1641704675

Aging Joyfully: https://www.amazon.com/Aging-Joyfully-Optimal-Relationships-Fulfillment/dp/1641701412

The Joy of Imperfect Love: https://www.amazon.com/Joy-Imperfect-Love-Creating-Relationships/dp/1641709057

Oracle decks by Dr. Carla Manly:

Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/listing/1757477615/imperfect-love-reflection-oracle-cards

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Imperfect-Love-Reflection-Oracle-Cards/dp/B0D1Z5M4YK

—

Watch the episode here

Listen to the podcast here

Stuck in Imposter Syndrome? Super Charge Your Self-Confidence with Expert Sheena Yap Chan

Overcome Imposter Syndrome! Build Your Self-Love, Self-Confidence, and Self-Esteem!

Women are often expected to play nice, serve others, and do as they are told with a big smile. If a woman learns to stand up for herself, she’s often described as aggressive, controlling, or worse, simply for stating her opinions or tending to her needs. As a clinical psychologist and woman, I found that an abundance of societal and cultural factors contribute to the limitation and erosion of women’s self-confidence and authenticity. If you feel like you’ve had to live small and abandon your true self, stay tuned for empowering insights from a renowned self-confidence expert.

We’ll focus on this reader’s real-life question. “My boyfriend of five years constantly demeans me. It’s killing my confidence. My friends say he is so critical because I make more money and have more education than him. He has a lot of good qualities, but this is getting to be a deal breaker because it’s getting worse over time instead of better. Do you have any tips for how I can turn things around?” With that question as the focus of our episode.

I’m joined by a very wonderful guest, Sheena Yap Chan, who will be sharing her expertise on empowerment. Sheena is an empowerment expert and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of The Tao of Self-Confidence and so much more. Sheena, welcome to the show.

Thank you so much for having me. I’m super excited to be here.

Bestselling Self-Confidence Author Sheena Yap Chan

It’s a delight to have you with us. For those watching by video, they can see your books in the background, The Tao of Self-Confidence and Bridging the Confidence Gap. Besides those books, you’ve really done a lot to offer a wealth of information and support for women and people of all genders who want to grow their confidence. Can you tell us just a little bit about what makes you you before we dive into how you came to be in the world of confidence building?

First off, I think what makes me me is just I do my best to show up as my authentic self. I know that sounds a little cheesy, but especially in the world that we live in today, social media plays such a huge role. Having the perfect photo, the perfect skin, the perfect body, not realizing it’s altered to a T. Especially being someone in their 40s, a lot of us think there’s an expiry date when really there is none. You can start at any given moment, at any given time. There’s no such thing as an expiry date. I just want to showcase that, especially being an entrepreneur, is never easy.

There’s a good, a bad, and the ugly. Yes, you get to work your own hours, but at the same time, you might have to work 24 hours a day. I guess that’s what makes me different. I do my best to speak the truth. It’s not always easy. It can be scary. I show up as much as I can because it’s so needed, especially in the climate that we’re in. They mentioned that gender parity wouldn’t be achieved until at the earliest, the year 2158. I don’t think any woman wants to wait that long.

2158 I had no idea it was out that far. We’ve come a long way since prehistoric times when women were being dragged around by the hair but we do have a lot more to do. Thank you for that background. Now, how did you get into the realm where you are focusing on self-confidence? How did that come into being?

I think it really stemmed from my own upbringing and having my own confidence issues. In 2015, I was dealing with a lot of confidence issues on myself, and I was looking for resources that specifically catered also for Asian women, just because there weren’t any. Of course, I couldn’t find anything, and culturally we’re not told to talk about what we go through, our feelings, you mental health is considered taboo.

I wanted to start something, create something, because representation is also important for me. I started my podcast, The Tao of Self-Confidence, launched in September of 2015. I’ve interviewed over 800 women on this topic of confidence. It has over 1.3 million downloads worldwide. As much as I love my podcasts and what it’s done, it’s still a very small platform compared to other forms of media.

For me, visibility is so important, especially for someone like myself who didn’t grow up with the right representation. That’s when I decided to write books. My first book was a co-authored book called Women Who BossUp, which led me to writing my first book with Wiley, The Tao of Self-Confidence: A Guide to Moving Beyond Trauma and Awakening the Leader Within. This book is really important because trauma is something we don’t talk about.

Trauma actually is the root cause of the many things we deal with, having low self-esteem, low confidence, and people don’t realize we’re also carrying not only our own traumas, but the traumas of our parents, grandparents, and so on. I had to write this book in less than three months. I had no idea what I was going to write about, to be honest. I knew I was committed to it. I finished downtime, came out in May of 2023, and hit the Wall Street Journal’s bestselling book list, which was really awesome.

Fast forward two years, and I have my next book, Bridging the Confidence Gap: How Empowered Women Changed the World. That’s why I mentioned about the report that gender parity wouldn’t be achieved until the earliest 2158. When I wrote the book, they said that the earliest would have been in the year 2154. It’s been delayed four more years from when I wrote the book until now. That’s a big problem.

Of course, we don’t want to wait that long. At this rate, it feels like it’s going to get delayed even more. I also do workshops, training, and talks for corporations, organizations on confidence and leadership, because confidence is a lot. Confidence is what I believe helps you go out there and be the person that you are, especially for women. One of the biggest barriers for women is confidence.

A lot of women are more than capable out there, but how they see themselves stops them from moving forward. I know we’re more than capable. I’ve seen it time and time again, but the difference between, let’s say, men and women is not a capability factor. It’s more of a confidence factor. They know they’re capable, they can figure it out, even if they have no clue where to start. If we applied the same thing, just imagine what we could accomplish.

Difference Between Self-Confidence Vs. Self-Esteem

I am in full agreement with you. For our readers who might be accustomed to hearing self-confidence and self-esteem being used interchangeably, how do you see those two different elements as being different? I know, I see them as vastly different. What’s your paradigm?

I guess for me, self-esteem is you’re valuing your worth. As women, we don’t value our worth a lot. I mean, I’ve been there. I always felt like I was no good, there’s someone better out there, or I just felt like I had nothing to contribute to the world. Especially in my late thirties, I thought, “It’s too late to go out there and start something.” I think self-esteem talks about more of valuing who you are, valuing your worth, versus confidence is knowing you’re capable. Having that inner knowing that you can do it regardless. Even if you don’t know where to start, even if you don’t know how the why you can do it, you’ll figure it out as you go. I hope that answers the question.

It does. I’d like to expand on that a little bit more. Again, I like differentiating the two. We have working deaf definitions. I always like to look at it. It seems like you mirror this in your way of putting it that self-esteem is something neither are born with self-esteem or self-confidence. Self-esteem is that sense of, “I respect myself. I have grown and continue to do the work over time to see my worth, to see who I am, my qualities, live in my truth,” that thing. When we look at self-confidence, you are saying, “I can do this, I can do this.”

Yes, that is the big piece of confidence is whether we’re good at football, whether we’re good at our job, whether we’re good at parenting, at baking, at piano, at meditation, whatever. All of those things that we can do. Sometimes it’s also appearance. Some people get a lot of self-confidence boost from their appearance. The downside to that is that if you’re getting your confidence from areas that are fleeting in nature, such as looks.

If you like, hold to this, “I must look like I’m eighteen years old.” Pretty soon, you’re not going to look like you’re eighteen, no matter how much stuff you put in your face or your body. If that’s what your life is based on, how you look at eighteen, that’s going to go by the wayside, and you’ll feel very deflated once you hit 30, 40, or 50. Yet if you’re working on building your skills, as well as your internal core, you get the boost of self-confidence, and you get the boost of self-esteem working together. Does that comport with where you come from?

The inner work is so important. Working on your mindset is important. For some people, that might sound cliche or cheesy, but how you think does matter. What you put into your head is so important. Reading books, listening to podcasts like this, it’s so important. People don’t realize your brain’s like a hard computer hardware. If you feed it with good stuff, it’s going to work properly. If you feed it with bad stuff, that’s when the viruses start coming.

I’m not saying you have to be positive 24/7, because that’s also unattainable. There’s also such a thing as toxic positivity, but knowing that it’s okay to feel your feelings. You can feel sad, you can feel mad, but you have the tools and resources to pick yourself back up and move forward, and realize that you have what it takes to make something out there to be the person that you meant to be. Especially as women, we’re born leaders. Just having a little push can make a difference in the world.

I think that women forget because, for so long, their skills have been relegated to the home environment. Not that that’s not important. Anyone out there who’s reading who is a stay-at-home mom or works from home, huge value in that. I am such a fan. If you want to go beyond that, realizing those skills that you learned, whether in school or as a little girl or as a mom, whatever, you have such inherent strength and working on acknowledging that strength, embracing that strength, and walking it out into the greater world.

Making Less Money Than Your Partner

That can take quite a lot of work, a lot of self-belief. We look at our reader’s question. The one where it sounds like she has more education, more financial worth than perhaps the partner does. He is getting critical and starting to talk down to her, which is going to erode if she chooses to stay in that relationship and things don’t shift. It’s going to erode her self-esteem and her self-confidence. What sage words of wisdom would you have for someone in that predicament?

This is never an easy situation, of course. There’s someone out there who you truly love, who you’ve invested time in, who you’ve probably been together for so long. All these things start to happen. Of course, there are different scenarios. If this is the person that I really want to be with, I would find ways to maybe take couples counseling. As long as the other person’s open to it. Your partner’s open to it.

Sometimes also he could have gone through a traumatic experience that makes them realize, “The man has to be a breadwinner. The man has to do this,” versus it doesn’t really matter. I’ve seen men where women make more money than men, and they have healthy relationships because communication is important. If this is something that they want, I think going through a couples counselor is important, going through therapy, and talking it out.

Of course, that’s not me. This is just a suggestion, of course. If the person refuses, then I think that’s the hard decision to make. Is this the type of person you still want in your life? I know as women, we tend to run from a mentality of scarcity, of lack, thinking that there’s no better men out there when there’s more than enough. Sometimes people come into our lives as a blessing or a lesson. We also have to see that, too. What’s the blessing?

What’s the lesson? What can we learn from this? Why is this person in our lives? When we can pre-frame things in that way, it can also help us make the decisions that we need to decide. It’s always easy to say, “No, you need to dump him.” Of course, that’s not the easy answer. Especially when you love this person, it can be difficult. If there’s open communication and the other person’s willing to talk it out, I think there might be a chance.

If not, then that’s really up to the person to see, “Is this the path that I want to keep going where I get ridiculed, where I get put down for something that I’ve achieved that I’ve worked for?” There are men out there who don’t care. They don’t care if you make more money than them. I’ve seen it. I’ve seen couples that have healthier relationships, regardless of status. They’ve worked through it, they’ve done the work. I think if it’s something you want to do, I think it’s important to do the work first. If all else fails, then you have to decide if this is something that you want in your life. I hope that helps out the reader.

That is really helpful. Let’s break it down a bit. First, I appreciate that you said that often people are in the mind, “Just leave him or just leave her. There’s someone better out there.” Absolutely might be true that there’s a better fit out there, but I’m a big believer, and it sounds like you are, that sometimes life gives us these situations so that we can grow a part of the self. Maybe the other person will choose to grow as well.

We cannot control their growth trajectory if he want to grow and evolve as a human being, that’s his choice. For this individual, it sounds, what you’re saying, what she can do is look inside herself, realize, “Do I want to stay? Do I love this person deeply and want to try and work on it? Do I want to go to couples therapy?”

If I really do, let’s see how he shows up in therapy. Also, I love the idea that she can start using curiosity with him. If she thinks that this is because of the money and the education, if he’s getting rude and condescending, she can use that confidence and self esteem that she has inside of herself, just to pause, take a deep breath in when he’s being critical and say something like an iMessage like, “I feel really hurt when you talk to me that way. Could you tell me why you made a comment like that?”

I think comments like that, where you’re inviting someone to tell you what’s going on inside of them, might help her get to if he’s all communicative, and at all emotionally intelligent. He may be able to dive inside and help her understand what’s going on for him, which will not only build her self-confidence and self-esteem because she’s doing that exercise. The iMessage “I feel this, I feel that.” What do you think about the power of iMessages?

I think curiosity is always a great thing. Asking the right questions on iMessage. I think you can learn a lot from the other person as to why they’re feeling this way. Why do they feel like they’re putting the other person down? It could reflect on their upbringing. It can reflect on their cultural upbringing as well, like the culture that we’re in. There are many cultures where men are first-class and women are second-class. Things are slowly changing. Of course, there are women out there who make more than men. We see it in public figures as well, yet they still have healthy relationships. Being able to do these exercises could help figure out why this is happening. I think getting to the root cause is important because then we can figure out how we can find solutions to it.

If he’s able to do that, the partner understanding that he is being critical, because some people are so critical. The more they do it, as you were saying, the more you feed your mind negative things, whether it’s sarcasm or criticism, the more that’s going to be habit, you might not notice it, the more you feed it loving things, kindness, reach towards the other person. It’s what I call in my book, The Joy of Imperfect Love.

Getting To The Roots Of Your Trauma

I call it a reach toward when we’re doing something kind or a push away. When we’re doing pushaways or harming the relationship, we are often harming ourselves and harming the other person. Thank you. I think that this is a really good foundation for this reader’s question. You also opened the door in your response for something I was thinking of when someone of trauma.

You had said that so much of what you see is caused by trauma. In my work as a clinician, I believe that. When we’re looking at, say, a woman in this situation, we don’t know her history. Let’s imagine that she had a highly critical parent, really disparaging, kept her down on one hand, maybe supported her on the other hand. In a strange way, this may feel like those who have experienced trauma know that trauma doesn’t feel good, but sometimes it’s familiar.

You’re critical voice is familiar because dad was critical, or mom was critical, or a sibling was critical. Again, I’m coming back to your part on self-confidence. When we realize that maybe what’s impeding the growth of our self-esteem and self-confidence is unresolved trauma that, on one hand, makes these kinds of interactions painful but also familiar. How do you encourage people to get to the roots of their trauma so that they can understand if there’s a backstory that’s creating this familiarity?

I think it’s important to ask the right questions. You know why maybe they see something and they get triggered, start asking, “Why do I get triggered seeing a certain photo or hearing a certain name or attending personal development seminars or courses that help you get to the root cause of that?”  I went to a personal development seminar in Hawaii, and it made me realize that when I was five, I failed kindergarten in the Philippines for coloring outside the lines of a photo.

I realized that because I didn’t work through that trauma, I actually thought I was an instant failure in everything I did up to my mid-thirties. I realized that I didn’t fail. I didn’t fail for coloring a photo outside the lines. I was meant to just color outside the lines. Sometimes we have blind spots, and they’re called blind spots for a reason because we cannot see it. You need to have a 2nd, 3rd, or 4rth pair of eyes to see those blind spots so they can correct it, then you can find solutions to heal through your trauma.

If you have to talk to a mental health therapist, there’s nothing wrong with that. There’s no shame in that. If it’s maybe reading books or listening to shows like this, and maybe you had an a-ha moment, that’s totally great. Find places that are safe for you to talk about. Of course, we want to make sure you’re in a safe space. I think that’s important because sometimes we can get very vulnerable, and it can get very intense. For me, I think creating safe spaces is so important. You don’t have to do this alone.

I think that’s what the most important part is. A lot of us, especially as women, we think we have to do everything ourselves, but really we don’t have to, like we can ask for help. We can receive help to take out those blind spots, to course correct them, to find solutions to the trauma, to find the root cause, even to be aware of it. Not a lot of us are aware of it. Those are some of the things I would do.

I appreciate that you shared that you went to that self-growth seminar in Hawaii. Seminars like that, I remember the first one that I went to, and I was like a fish out of water because it was all of these women and there was dancing and there was mask making and feed in mud. I was like, “What did I get myself into? This is so unfamiliar.”

Yet getting out of the zone of the familiar can be such a boost for both self-esteem and self-confidence because every time we try something new, even if it goes a little wonky, we can never forget that we made it through something new, something unfamiliar. It builds that internal sense of strength and resilience. For those who cannot afford a retreat or a weekly psychotherapy, even for a couple of months, I’m a huge fan of this. I have to say this from the start. There are so many. I used to run a huge women’s support group, and it was very low fee, specifically so that women of all socioeconomic layers could attend.

I also am aware that domestic violence support groups are often run by the YWCA or similar community support services that are no cost. We’re talking about being with other women in a truly safe container where you are heard, you are held. Not literally held, but held emotionally in a safe space. What do you think about the transformative power of being with other women in safe spaces like support groups, specifically?

It’s just knowing that you’re not alone in this journey, having someone that we can relate to. I think we feel like we’re always the only ones dealing with our own issues, not realizing we all deal with similar issues, regardless of cultural background. We go through similar situations. Having a safe space where we can just put everything out on a table, cry it out, do what you need to do to be better is so needed because healing isn’t pretty.

It’s very messy and ugly. That’s okay. Everyone’s journey is different. When you have a safe space, a group of women or a group of people who can help you get there. It just makes things a lot better. You know that this person went through a similar situation as me and they were able to come out of it. Seeing that they were able to come out of it, you know that’s also possible for you to come out of it because they’ve already been through it.

Wonderfully said. I believe that I remember when I was leading my support group. There were so many women who, when they first came, they’re very quiet, had low self-confidence, and low self-esteem. Some had been through a lot of negative life experiences. Sometimes they couldn’t speak for the first couple of meetings. They didn’t want to speak.

As they saw other women speaking, they would be able to come forward and then say things like, “Even in those first three times I came where I was just listening, I could see myself in you. I knew I would be able to get farther and farther ahead.” It’s just beautiful, the power of women. Again, it’s not specifically women, but we are focusing a bit on this gender parity issue and how we want to embrace all genders, but giving an extra cuddle to women so they can see, as you say, it’s not uncommon to have these feelings of being an imposter, to be looking at yet another post.

Consuming Feel-Good Content

I steer pretty much clear of looking at things on Instagram unless they’re about things I like, like recipes or dogs, but looking at bikini photos of other women is not going to, “I’m not going to make my day any better.” I encourage our readers to engage in content, as you’re saying that is going to help build the muscle of your body, mind, and spirit. When I say body, I’m talking on a cellular level of feeling good in your skin. What do you think about that?

Can you repeat the question? Sorry.

No worries. More about I was circling back to something you had said earlier, that when we’re engaging in content that feels good to us, and we’re paying attention to “This post feels good. I’m feeling good in my skin. I’m watching this Instagram post about Sheena Yap Chan, and she’s speaking about women’s confidence and how to do this. It feels good to me.” Following what feels good to you in your body, mind, and spirit, so that you continue to engage in more of that content rather than content that doesn’t feel good.

I think it’s important to follow that content. There are a lot of people out there on social media who do show up as their true selves or authentic selves, telling what they’ve been through. Of course, there’s also a healthy balance of that because there are people out there who just also, unfortunately, utilize it to monetize. Utilize that feel-good stuff just for monetization, not realizing it can hurt so many people out there, and so we have to also be intentional about the things that we put out, and we can feel it as women, we’re intuitive.

We’re going to know if someone online is there for the right reasons or the wrong reasons. For me, I do follow content that feels good that whether it’s a quote or a story or someone sharing that these are my love handles, that’s like, “This is the stuff that helps me realize I’m not the only one who goes through this.” Yes, unfortunately, there are also people out there who will take it to the next level and utilize it just for monetization purposes. We just have to be a little bit wary of who we follow.

Practicing Self-Care And Self-Love

Just noticing without judging after I engage with this content, whether it’s political or whatever it is, am I feeling better, or am I feeling worse? Am I feeling more confident in my skin, or I feeling less than? In that way, you get in touch with what makes you truly and deeply better, which builds self-confidence. When you look at both of your books, if we’re giving our listeners just general, other than engaging in social media that helps you, what are some other confidence-building tips that they can take away?

I think as women, we forget to promote practice self-love and self-care. I think that is so important. We’ve always had self-care. It helps you fill up your own cup as well. If we’re constantly trying to impress everybody and serve everybody, it feels like it’s never enough. We just keep climbing this never-ending ladder of trying to please everybody. It gets exhausting and daunting.

Stop for a second there, because we tend to use words like self-love and self-care an awful lot, would you break it down with two specific examples of your own practice for building self-love and two examples of self-care?

For sure. Two examples of self-care is I like to take walks outside, especially when my mental health is starting to deteriorate a little bit. I just need to clear my head. I like being outside in nature. Taking walks is really important. Taking small breaks during work, whether it’s 5 minutes or 10 minutes, I think that’s important. You can use it to read a book, watch something silly on YouTube. I think having those breaks is so important. When it comes to self-love, saying affirmations is important. I don’t say I’m a million, I say like three.

I keep it really simple. I usually say “I’m love, I am worthy, and I am enough.” I keep telling myself that until I feel good because, of course, when you’re trying to say these things to yourself, it’s going to feel awkward, it’s going to feel weird, because you’ve never done it, especially when you’re in front of the mirror trying to say it. It takes practice. One thing I’ve learned to train my brain is that every time I say something bad about myself, I think of the opposite right away. It helps me stop putting myself down.

Those are really great tips. I’ll just add on, especially for the part where you said it’s unfamiliar. The self-care, again, those are practices. Generally, if you can schedule them, it helps the brain remember, “I deserve a walk every morning. I deserve a meditation time every evening,” whatever it is. Those doing those self-care things, the self-love, I adore that you brought up affirmations.

I agree that they are often, especially at the beginning, they can feel very unfamiliar. I’m a big fan. If you cannot do them looking in the bathroom mirror quite yet, just stand somewhere with your eyes closed and imagine that you’re your adult self talking to your kiddo self, or if you had a kiddo, and what are some things you’d say? “You’re you’re darling, you’re worthy, you’re adorable, you’re a good soul.”

How To Self-Promote And Overcome Imposter Syndrome

When we do that, often with our eyes closed, we can get into that habit of what we would do if we had a kiddo who was us and how we’d talk to them. We wouldn’t be shaming them or blaming them would be picking them up and hugging them and giving them a nice cuddle. When you’re looking at bridging the confidence gap, just as we prepare to wind up, what are a couple of other tools that you’d like to give our readers?

I think one thing that I talk in the book a lot that women are afraid to do is the importance of self-promotion. As women, we’re not taught to promote ourselves. We’re taught to stay in the background. Don’t brag about your achievements, but especially if you’re in business for yourself, you’re going to have to go out there and promote yourself, promote your products and services. Pay someone to do that for you.

Either way, you’re still promoting yourself. It’s important to see self-promotion as something empowering versus something tacky. In the book, I share different ways that you can do it with confidence, and it doesn’t feel icky if you still feel that way. Also talking about imposter syndrome. Imposter syndrome is something that we all deal with, feeling not good enough and learning to work through that is really important as well.

They say like 75% of women in corporate deal with imposter syndrome. That’s a big number. I’m not saying men don’t deal with it. I know women deal with it a lot more compared to men. Those are some of the things I would start doing things to promote yourself, whether it’s posting a selfie, posting a mug with your logo on it. Just something simple to help you get the ball rolling.

Learn more about imposter syndrome, start asking yourself, “Why do you feel like a fake? Why do you feel like you’re not good enough? Why do you think someone is better out there?” Of course, that would lead to the root cause. It could be from a traumatic experience, from our upbringing. How women are treated. Each culture has a different way of dealing, like they have certain traditions that hurt women, and we’re not even aware about it. I share some of those traditions that does hurt women until today in the upcoming book in the book in the newest book.

Could you give us an example of one of those traditions?

When a woman has her period, that’s always often a huge taboo. Some women are put in a different house because they have it. They’re in a shed with cattle for five days because having your period is considered dirty and not pure. That’s part of a woman’s anatomy. We’re going to bleed at least once a month. Everyone’s different, of course. Women who do have it is they’re treated unfairly because of it, even though it’s part of women’s anatomy.

Get In Touch With Sheena

Issues like that in today’s world, we do want to band together to help eradicate them because a woman’s menstrual cycle is just part of what makes her such an amazing, incredible human being. That ability to give life if she so chooses. My goodness, you have brought us so much, Sheena. Where can our listeners find you?

First off, thank you again for having me on the show. For anyone who’d like to connect with me, you can check out my website, SheenaYapChan.com. You can also check out the podcast, The Tao of Self-Confidence, on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, and all other major podcast platforms. You can check out my books, The Tao of Self-Confidence and Bridging the Confidence Gap, on Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Indigo, and other bookstore retailers worldwide. You can connect with me on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and  YouTube. Also on my website, you can also check out there’s a free quiz to test your self-confidence personality. If you forgot anything that I mentioned, you can literally Google my name, Sheena Yap Chan, because I’m the only Sheena Yap Chan on the internet.

Sheena and readers, all of that will be in the show notes. Especially if you’re driving, don’t worry about having a pen handy. It will all be in the show notes. You’ll be able to click on any of the links and access Sheena and her books and her quiz and everything else. Thanks again for being with us, Sheena. It has been such a delight. To our readers, thank you as always for sharing your time, your love, and your energy with us. This is imperfect love.

Important Links

• Sheena Yap Chan
• Sheena Yap Chan on LinkedIn
• Sheena Yap Chan on Twitter
• Sheena Yap Chan on Facebook
• Sheena Yap Chan on Instagram
• Sheena Yap Chan on YouTube
• Sheena Yap Chan Links
• The Tao of Self-Confidence
• Bridging the Confidence Gap
• The Tao of Self-Confidence podcast on Spotify
• The Tao of Self-Confidence podcast on Apple Podcasts
• The Tao of Self-Confidence podcast on YouTube
• Test Your Self-Confidence personality
• NAMI HelpLine

About Sheena Yap Chan

Sheena Yap Chan is a keynote speaker, podcaster, consultant, and bestselling author dedicated to empowering all women, with a focus on leadership and confidence. Through her work, she inspires women to embrace their authentic selves, step into leadership roles, and amplify their voices. As the author of the Wall Street Journal bestselling book, The Tao of Self-Confidence, she is on a mission to foster stronger, more authentic representation for women and to equip them with the confidence to lead boldly and unapologetically.