You know that moment when you’re feeling on top of the world and things are just going your way? Maybe it’s a triumph on the public stage when you’re honored with an award that acknowledges the blood, sweat, and tears you’ve poured into your work. Maybe it’s something more private, like managing to build that IKEA furniture all by yourself after you moved into your own place post-breakup. It’s a reminder that—Hey, YOU, you’ve got this!
Here at Girlboss, we call those instances “Girlboss Moments” (on-brand, we know). While we all have different ambitions and lifestyles, a Girlboss Moment is a reminder that you’re on the right path. It’s the path you’ve chosen for yourself and have worked diligently toward for some time. That’s worth acknowledging and celebrating!
Every week on Girlboss Radio,host Sophia Amoruso asks guests to share their most recent Girlboss Moments. We’ve rounded up some of our favorite answers from recent guests on the pod as a little inspiration for you ahead of the upcoming Girlboss Rally. And the next time you find you’re having a Girlboss Moment, we hope you share it with us on social media by including #GirlbossMoment (simple, right?).
Read on to learn what moments some pretty amazing women have been celebrating:
Roxane Gay, author
“My Girlboss moment was when my agent emailed me and gave me the number for my next book deal (a 7-digit figure) … all book deals are real, but it’s the first time I got one that was newsworthy and I’m very excited.”
Miranda Kerr, model
“I feel I’m more of a Girlboss now than I ever have been. Growing up, and being in the industry for so long, I was always told, ‘Go here, do that, do this, do that.’ Now, they’re like, ‘Hey, what about this job?’ I’m like, ‘No’ or ‘Yes, if we could make it happen like this.’”
Andy Nicols, literary agent
“I was stressing out about a deal that … was a high advance mark and I was having a very difficult time closing it. I started getting very nervous about, ‘Oh, why am I not hearing from this person? What am I doing? What am I not doing?’ Sometimes you can create a problem when you let your anxiety dictate the emails you’re writing, how you’re following up with people.
I was like, ‘You know what? I’m going to step back. I’m just literally going to step back. It’s all here. All the answers are here.’
I was like, ‘You know what? I’m going to step back. I’m just literally going to step back. It’s all here. All the answers are here.’ … I don’t think that earlier in my career I would have had the confidence to just put a pin in it for a minute. Sometimes you can take a beat.”
Kate Berlant, stand-up comedian
My Girlboss moment was “the process of writing this pilot and starring in it and being a producer on it, and just having my hands all over something that I’m also so invested in like emotionally, creatively on every level and not having to compromise and feeling like, ‘Oh, wow, this is really just exactly what I want to be making.’ That’s the greatest feeling: Making 555 or making things that are really your own.”
Lily Singh, YouTube personality
I stopped tolerating things. I only was around things that actually really ignited something within me that brought the best in me.
“In 2018, I made a goal to really protect my peace. … I guess the correct way to put it is I stopped tolerating things. I only was around things that actually really ignited something within me that brought the best in me. I think that it was a moment when I experienced a lot of that burnout in 2017 where I thought, ‘Anyone who is not good for me or is not bringing positive energy to me cannot be near me.’ … My most recent Girlboss moment was deciding to have wonderful people around me and respectfully not having certain people around me.”
Gwyneth Paltrow, founder of goop
“It’s small, but I think my kids go back to school on Monday, and when I have those moments where I’m like ‘Fuck yeah, I did order the school books, and I did get the lunch squared away, and I did sign the health waiver, and my employees are happy this week,’ you know what I mean? You feel like I kind of am surviving all of this stuff right now, and I didn’t fuck anything up.
I really try to recognize those moments where I’m like oh my god, I kind of pulled it off this week. Because there are so many weeks where I don’t.”
Katie Couric, journalist
“I’ve tried to mentor young women but … sometimes, I feel like, ‘Gosh, I should do more.’ Natalie [Morales] said, ‘I remember when you were leavingThe Today show, you brought me into your office and you said, ‘Natalie what do you want to do?’ She told me I said, ‘Well, you need to really go for it. You need to get out there and ask for it.’ It just made me feel like sometimes little things that you don’t remember, other people do, and maybe it gave her some encouragement and strength and the chutzpah to go for something.
It just made me think maybe I’ve been better at that than I give myself credit for. I’d like to do more of it but sometimes it’s not as conscious as saying, ‘I am going to mentor this young woman.’ Sometimes, it’s how you act, how you behave, how you treat them, how you model behavior for other people, and that’s just in quiet moments of making a comment or giving an encouragement or saying, ‘You should do this or you should do that.’”
Rupi Kaur, poet
Recently it’s just been saying no to things and realizing that I actually have the power to do that.
“Recently it’s just been saying no to things and realizing that I actually have the power to do that. So many things come our way but now when I’m just like, ‘No, actually I’m not going to do that.’ That’s so liberating and I always walk out of that conversation feeling so awesome. Even just doing little things, sometimes I give myself a nice face massage when I can’t go get one. … It’s only like three minutes right in the morning and I’m lathering my moisturizer and making myself feel so good. It’s those little things that make me feel so prepped for the day.”
Priya Malani, founding partner at Stash Wealth
“I’m thinking so granular. I worked all day yesterday and I stopped around 4:30. I was so pumped ’cause I had accomplished so much shit. And I was like ‘Fuck it, I’m drinking a margarita, I am just going to have the best time of my life because I feel like I did everything that I needed to do.’”
Tess Holliday, model
“I literally have had such a hard time the past couple weeks personally because I realized that my anxiety was taking over my life. I’ve been doing a lot of self-care, which I realized I haven’t been doing. I realized that as a mom and a wife and my best friend is my nanny/assistant, so it’s very like Jessica Simpson and like CaCee, like it’s that situation. It’s awful; I love her, but you just fight constantly.
I realized that I’m so worried about everything else going on and I’m worried about ‘What if?’ that I wasn’t taking care of myself. … I realized that I have to care about myself as much as I care about other people around me, and I have to worry about everyone around me less because they can take care of themselves.”
