CIRCLES

Lean In: The Womb of Power — Where I Found My Tribe 
                                                                                          - written by Maria Olon-Tsaroucha
Before that evening, I didn’t realize how lonely I had been.
 

Not lonely in the obvious sense—my calendar is full, my work expansive, my purpose clear. Yet there was a quiet loneliness that comes from carrying vision, responsibility, and depth without a shared feminine mirror. Then I walked into my first in-person Lean In NYC gathering, hosted by Debra Albert, the inspiring leader of the LIME Circle, within a network of 7,200 like-minded professional women across New York—and something ancient and essential awakened.
 

I found my tribe.
 

What surprised me most was not the caliber of women in the room—leaders from tech and finance, the arts, entrepreneurship, and diverse cultural backgrounds—but the pace and presence. We took our time. Real time. We introduced ourselves one by one. We listened. We offered help without an agenda. We opened our arms the way women do—naturally, instinctively—accepting, nurturing, discovering brilliance and soft points alike. Truth was spoken gently and honestly, in a way only women can hold together.

There was laughter. There was connection. There was sisterhood.
 

And quietly, meaningfully present among us were two exceptional gentlemen—men who care deeply about the world and who actively support women’s brilliance, voice, and uniqueness. Their presence was not performative; it was respectful, conscious, and grounded. These are the men the world needs most—men who understand that empowering women does not diminish them but rather elevates humanity as a whole.
 

This is womanhood that smells like honesty, openness, maturity, and care. A space where friendship is not transactional, where sharing is not a strategy, where differences are not merely tolerated but praised—because women know that diversity is not a threat; it is medicine. In that room, I felt how deeply women are wired to heal: to read between the lines, to sense what is unsaid, to hold complexity without needing to dominate it.
 

History has always known this. In Lysistrata, Aristophanes showed us women who, in the face of endless war, found a radical, creative way to restore peace—by withdrawing intimacy until men chose life over violence. Satirical, yes, but profoundly wise. Women have always found ways to end wars—sometimes quietly, sometimes boldly—because they understand the cost of destruction in their bodies, their children, and the future.
 

Today, as the world tilts once again toward harsher forms of patriarchy—louder, faster, more aggressive—women must be listened to seriously. Not symbolically. Not politely. Seriously. Our ways of knowing, leading, and healing are not “soft alternatives”; they are essential intelligences.
 

This is where Lean In reveals its deeper truth. Beyond networking, beyond leadership development, it is a womb of power—a space where women remember who they are—together. Where leadership is not stripped of compassion. Where ambition does not exile empathy. Where strength and tenderness coexist.
 

That evening, I saw: awareness, responsibility, empathy, courage, and unity beyond ego. Women leading not from fear or domination, but from presence and purpose. This is leadership that does not burn the world—it renews it.
 

And to Debra Albert—thank you.
Thank you for holding space with grace, steadiness, and vision. Your leadership is not loud, yet it is powerful. Not forceful, yet deeply formative. You remind us that true leadership is not about control—but about containment, care, and continuity.
 

My wish is simple yet expansive:

May all women of the world feel welcome into Lean In womanhood.
May we find—or create—circles where we are seen, supported, and celebrated.
May we continue to laugh together, to share generously, to nurture boldly.
And may we remember, together, that when women gather consciously—with allies who truly see them—the world does not just change, It heals.
 

Welcome home.