Category Archives: Soul Behind The Steel

Hello BOLD One.

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Hello B🔴LD One.

Ah, it feels GREAT to be back.

Thanks for hanging in here with me as I chose to let this blog rest…

… while we all figured out how to stay on our feet – or get back on track – or bounce back to being on top of our game… or simply tried to stay healthy and sane… or realized it’s time to create a brand new lane…

… after the uncertainties of that pandemic year called 2020, which crept into 2021.

I hope you are well. Are you?

And just like that – as I came here to share with you my excitement for this full-circle feeling, as I’ve circled my work back to the passionate place I began in the mid-90’s: Inspiring BOLD.

Hello B🔴LD One is my fresh approach to inspiring the positive impact of leading and living BOLDly

(even in that moment – especially in that moment – when it’s easier not to.)

I’m excited to speak at inspirational conferences, meetings and live events again soon.

AND yet.

Just as we’re getting back together live again (hasn’t it felt SO GOOD to be back out there, in person, hanging out with not-zoomed people again?!)

AIYIYI.

At this writing, I’m reading updates on the pandemic once again rearing its ugly head, this time as the Delta variant. I cannot stand the idea that everything we’ve gained in trying to beat it may now be going backwards. Let’s hope not.

Keep dreaming your biggest BOLDest dreams for leading & living the life YOU crave.

Dreams really do come true!

Every Olympic Athlete reminds us of this truth, simply by their presence in Tokyo.

Don’t worry about the outcome.

Do the work.

Enjoy the process.

Stay as patient as you are perseverant.

Good things come your way when you do!

It feels GREAT to be back speaking to inspire the positive impact of leading and living BOLDly.

If you or someone you know is booking their best-fit speaker for an upcoming conference, meeting or event, I’d so appreciate your suggesting they reach me to start a new conversation.

Stay Inspired. Stay BOLD. Keep Going!

And I will, too.

ANN TATARELLI ULRICH

HelloB🔴LDOne.com

@helloboldone

©1993-2021 Ann T. Ulrich all rights reserved.

Elevate Your Game

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Ah, the inner game of CONFIDENCE.

How often are you pouring your heart and soul, your precious energy and effort, your best move, your brightest light…

…into what (or who?!) you’re trying to attract.

That’s exhausting!

Try this instead: Flip it on its head!

Focus on YOUR game, instead.

Elevate Your Game and soon you’ll stop trying to figure out – and chasing – THEIRS.

This is not easy.

Elevating Your Game Is EXHILARATING.

Elevating Your Game is an EMPOWERING Confidence Builder!

Elevating Your Game takes FRIENDING YOUR FEAR and FOCUS to PERSEVERE.

Elevating Your Game presents a phenomenal opportunity to challenge yourself to reflect, define, refine, develop, change, reinvent to stay on top of your dreams and goals… 

… as you create and build and LOVE LIVING that life you crave.

Not sure who to credit for this powerful quote below, applying it so you can run with it… it’s that GOOD.

I help motivated people reinvent and elevate their game.

Join Us! Start Any TUESDAY.

Ready when you are.

⚪️⚫️🔴

Totally, TATARELLI

TUESDAYSwithTATARELLI.com

Instagram: @tuesdays.with.tatarelli

© 1993-2021 Ann Tatarelli Ulrich all right reserved

NEW: Tuesdays With Tatarelli

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FIND Your Thing.

CREATE Your Thing.

DO Your Thing.

LIVE Your Thing.

Join Me As A Member In My New Thing + I’ll Help You Find, Create, Do, Live YOUR Thing.

So You Can Wake Up Each Day Feeling ALIVE!

I Woke Up Feeling ALIVE Today.

Did You?

REINVENT YOURSELF. LIVE YOUR BRAND. LOVE LIFE MORE.

Life’s Too Short Not To Reinvent Yourself, Be BOLD, Keep Coming Alive(!), Owning It With Confidence.

Your 12Month Program Starts Any TUESDAY You Choose!

A Virtual Membership Club Like No Other.

Details at: TUESDAYSWithTATARELLI.com

Ready When You Are.

ANN TATARELLI

WingWoman Helping Motivated People Reinvent Yourself With Confidence – Membership Club Host – Inspirational Speaker – Senior Lifestyle Model

© 1993 – 2021 Ann T. Ulrich all rights reserved

Your Hidden Gift Of 2020

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Oh my goodness.

The surreal, the heartache, the sadness, the weirdness… the EVERYTHING that is 2020 will soon be behind us.

Or will it??

I’ve been trying hard to succinctly capture the essence of it all… and what I keep coming back to is asking this:

What is the HIDDEN GIFT we are to come away with from it all?

Some days, I feel angry that so much of this year was lost for so many good people.

Today, I’m trying to believe this more-compelling-each-day optimistic feeling:

There is a 2020 silver lining for us each to discover for ourselves!

One bold thing I know for sure:

I do not want to squander this gift I see:

The (forced?) Opportunity to CHANGE.

Have you discovered YOUR HIDDEN GIFT of 2020?

Before you jump into feeling you need to BE any certain way in 2021 – or need to DO any particular thing in 2021 – I hope you’ll sit right here for a minute… and think about:

WHAT IS THE GREAT GIFT OF 2020 THAT YOU DO NOT WANT TO SQUANDER?

If you’d like, share yours in the comments below…

You’ll inspire in ways you may never know when you do.

Thank You for being here… and for reading and sharing… I so appreciate you!

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU AND YOURS.

Till next time,

KEEP BECOMING TOTALLY YOU

And I will, too.

Ann Tatarelli Ulrich

TotallyTATARELLI.com

©1993-2021 Ann T. Ulrich

Please Don’t Spare Us The Details

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“I’ll spare you the details.”

“Long story short.”

“Story for another day.”

And here we are… women self-stifling, not sharing our stories.

And we wonder why we start feeling invisible?

Please don’t spare us the details. 

We want to hear your stories. We want to know you. The real you.

Not the you who trains herself to be the best listener… shielding herself while earning a pass from the effort it takes to let others in.

Life IS stories.

So maybe today’s just not the day – or maybe these aren’t the people.

Fair enough. 

For some reason this wanted to be written today…

I’m considering this my note to self as I crave getting together with friends again… outside under pretty umbrellas on breezy patios again… after this still-surreal season of creepy covid carefulness.

Let’s not spare each other the details, k?

Real conversation is sexy.

Just like you.

KEEP BECOMING TOTALLY YOU,

And I will, too.

Ann Tatarelli Ulrich

WingWoman for Women – Confidence Makeovers – Inspirational Speaker – Advancing Confident Women

Photo: My favorite red umbrella on our deck at Treehouse… where for the first time ever, I arrived in April… and haven’t gone back home all Summer.

© 1993-2020 Ann T. Ulrich ANNULRICH.COM

You’re Not Over This, Are You

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8 years ago. One day after Labor Day. 2012.

I’ll never forget the gut-wrenching feeling after that surprise phone call. I was fired from my dream job. Or more accurately: one of my many dream jobs.

I stayed all dressed up (as if looking the role would bring it back?) and called my friend, Monica. I needed to see a dear friend. On my deck. With wine. Girl talk. The real kind. Pronto.

When David returned from biz travels a few days later, he took one look at me,

“You’re not over this, are you.”

Um, no. It happened like yesterday, how could I be. Not even close.

He suggested I get a good night’s sleep and then scheduled a kitchen table ‘meeting’ with me for the next morning. (Sometimes you just need to let someone you trust guide you thru and beyond your stuckness.)

That ‘meeting’ shifted my whole perspective and transformed my soul.

I was going to be all right.

Yet there I was: Fired. From a major dream job after having been invited in, following an international search. I would be Co-CEO of a soon-to-be-global startup.

(Don’t ever be Co-Anything. Own your role… and structure the organization so that everyone else can own theirs, too.)

I left my BOLD business and my Fit Modeling Agency to go do this. It was an opportunity custom-created, made-in-heaven, a custom fit, for me. So yes, it was a very big deal.

And yet, there I was. Fired.

Back to David. “Head to Treehouse. Nature will do you good. Take a few months and go write. You always wanted to write. Go. Write.”

So many times in my life I was sure I no longer needed a cabin. Every time, ours has proven me wrong. I packed a few things, said my Goodbye Awesome Husband goodbyes, and headed to Treehouse. The little lake cabin we built together almost 30 years ago.

When I arrived, I was overcome with emotion – gratitude, exhaustion, amazingly no hate.

The decision someone else made for me was no longer holding me prisoner in my own mind.

I headed out the door, straight onto one of my favorite dirt trails… I walked that dry, dusty road and cried pools of tears until all that was left on my face was the same dry dust I was walking thru.

And then I looked up. I looked deep into the woods. And saw THIS.

Sunshine revealed a most exquisite scene… mighty trees protecting bouquets of delicate peach-colored moss.

I had walked past this same spot every Fall for years… and never noticed.

I exhaled one last massive exhale and finally believed I was ready to let it all go. And in that moment, reinforced for myself that no matter how hard anyone wanted to help me thru it…

Rebounding from any setback was, is, and always will be… up to me.

Thanks for stopping by. I’m glad you’re here.

KEEP BECOMING TOTALLY YOU

And I will, too.

ANN TATARELLI ULRICH

WingWoman For Women – Champion. Friend. Coach. Confidante.

© 1993-2020 Ann T. Ulrich ANNULRICH.COM

DO ONE BOLD THING™: The Non-Negotiable First Step To Owning Your CONFIDENCE.

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On a quick dash thru Neiman Marcus in downtown Minneapolis a few years ago, I stopped just long enough to snap this picture.

What caught my eye was not the cashmere sweater collection it promoted.

Instead, it flashed me back to exciting memories of my former career as professional plus-size runway model, garment fit model and agency owner – when I amassed a smile-inducing collection of mannequins and fashion fit forms.

I smiled, snapped this photo, and then it struck me:

What stopped me in my tracks was how this display portrayed SO many aspects of the business of life we each lead as professional women…

The rich, colorful tapestry we each weave in creating what becomes our life story – as we lead and live our work and life – in our own special way. Every stage. Every day.

The layers that complicate us – confine us – comfort us – challenge us – complete us?

Our many shades beyond grey.

In that complexity, I want to help bring clarity to the often-exciting, often-overwhelming realities of achieving Success. And Happiness. As you define each for yourself.

The key to Success? (and Happiness?)

Owning It… With CONFIDENCE.

Where to begin? Start here:

photo-84DO ONE BOLD THING™: THE NON-NEGOTIABLE FIRST STEP TO OWNING YOUR SUCCESS… WITH CONFIDENCE:

1.  SELECT YOURSELF FOR SUCCESS!

That’s it! THE often-overlooked first non-negotiable step: Achieving the Success & Happiness you crave begins with Selecting Yourself!

The tough thing about Success? It’s up to you.

The GREAT thing about Success? It’s Up To YOU!

SUCCESS? IT’S UP TO YOU.

Know What You Want. Laser-focus it. Name it. Courageously commit by making it non-negotiable. Grab a quick break and get in front of a mirror and self-talk-it if you need to.

Realize goals worth reaching – the goals you value – are rarely achieved in one-fell-swoop of BOLD Success. Success happens in a series of baby BOLD steps along the way – some forward, and yes, some back. Sometimes more back then forward.

Success is a choice you make. As is Happiness.

What matters is that YOU believe in YOU.

CONFIDENCE IS Believing In Yourself(!) even in that moment – especially in that moment – when it’s easier not to.

(Or why would anyone else believe in you, if you don’t believe in fabulous you? When YOU believe in you, others believe in you, too!)

Thinking this advice applies only for young professionals, early in our careers? Think again.

At every age and every stage of your work and life, to GET what you want you need to KNOW what you want.

Achieving what you want begins when you commit, when you OWN IT with CONFIDENCE … by Selecting Yourself For Success!

DO ONE BOLD THING:

Select Yourself For Success! 

OWN IT… WITH CONFIDENCE.

Achieve The Success (& Happiness) You Crave.

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© 1993-2014  Ann Ulrich, Owning It! at THE BOLD! FACTOR® Award-Winning Leader, Trusted Advisor & Women’s Empowerment Conference Speaker, Encouraging & Inspiring Women To Lead With CONFIDENCE.  AnnUlrich.com

PHOTO:  I snapped this shot at Neiman Marcus, downtown Minneapolis (before NM left Mpls) as an inspiring reminder of the fit form collection I owned in my former career as professional plus-size model and agency owner – and how it applies in so many ways to the business of life for professional women… whose success & happiness I passionately champion at THE BOLD! FACTOR®.

In My BOLD Opinion: The Unintended Consequences of Sheryl Sandberg, Beyonce & Girl Scouts “Ban Bossy” Campaign: More Bullying?

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photo-28In response to these powerful Leading Ladies, including Sheryl Sandberg, Beyonce, Girl Scouts, and more… on their latest *Lean In* bandwagon inspiring Women and Girls to ban the word Bossy and claim they are not being bossy… they are *leading*…

STOP. EXIT THIS TRAIN.

(Per my comment posted on Mashable today, sharing my BOLD opinion as Counterpoint. As always, interested in your thoughts, please comment below, as you wish!)

Before YOU consider whether you want to be part of *Ban Bossy*… please consider the potential impact of Unintended Consequences of this Campaign: 

How many YOUNG GIRLS will misunderstand this complex leadership message… if they’re being told to see themselves not as bossy, rather as: I am a Leader! This is what it means to be a Leader!

How many MID-LEVEL WOMEN will start seeing Kindness as Weakness?

AND how many BOOMER WOMEN (my age, and yes, I’m shouting us out here!) will use this campaign as yet another force, another excuse, for blaming MEN for somehow holding back their own Confidence, Success & Happiness?

How soon before THIS Unintended Consequence becomes reality:  Bullying At ALL Ages INCREASING(!) as otherwise-wonderful Girls & Women start trying their best to practice what they’re now being advised by these influential women role models… believing, for example, *this is not being bossy – this is what being a Leader is all about – Sheryl Sandberg, Beyonce and Girl Scouts KNOW!*

YIKES. Respected leaders? For sure. Mis-directed message? You decide.

How will YOU respond to this newest wave of supposed Women’s Leadership?

Men, interested in your thoughts, too – as you know I believe any change requires us ALL being in this game of business and life together!

I’m going to keep encouraging, inspiring and championing as I have been since 1993:  BOLD Confidence & Success & Happiness… thru Self-Leadership & Ownership.

Instead, try this:

DO ONE BOLD THING.™

CLAIM YOUR CONFIDENCE WITH CALM & CLASS. 

It’s YOUR Success, YOUR Happiness, YOUR Life… And It’s Up To YOU.

OWN IT With Calm, Classy, Courageous, Contagious, Calibrated(!) CONFIDENCE.

BRING YOUR BEST. BOLD. YOU!

Your Turn! Are you onboard their campaign? If so… If not… Which & Why?

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© 1993-2014  Ann Ulrich, THE BOLD! FACTOR® Catalyst, Strategist, Leader, Keynote Speaker & Mentor: “Navigating Success With Confidence! Self-Empowerment For Emerging Leaders & Motivated Professionals.” Subscribe to receive blog posts at:  AnnUlrich.com

PHOTO:  I like to take my own photos for my website and blog – professional or not it’s a passion of mine. I took this photo in a hotel last year, and wondered when will be the first time I use it to signify to readers: EXIT THIS GAME NOW. This is the Topic & Today is the day!

We Need You To Come ALIVE! Right Where You’re At

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WE NEED YOU TO COME ALIVE! Right Where You’re At

Figure out what makes you Come ALIVE!
Do more of that. Be more of that.

Come ALIVE right where you’re at!
Now… not maybe, not later.
Here… not when you get, you know, there.

When you do, you inspire us to Come ALIVE too!

Your Success?
Your Happiness?
In Your Career, Your Business, Your Life?
It’s ALL Up To YOU!

Are you surrounding yourself with people who are as ALIVE! as you want to be?

DO ONE BOLD THING:  Promise yourself you won’t Sleepwalk thru another moment of this fleeting hour… another hour of this great day… or another day of your precious life.

Go BOLDly. Confidently. Success? Happiness? It’s Up To YOU! Own It.

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© 1993-2014  Ann Ulrich, THE BOLD! FACTOR® Catalyst, Strategist, Leader, Keynote Speaker & Mentor: “Navigating Success With Confidence! Self-Empowerment For Emerging Leaders & Motivated Professionals.” Subscribe to receive blog posts at:  AnnUlrich.com

PHOTO:  Title card in my 2-in-1 Inspired Action! Success Card Set: DO ONE BOLD THING.™ and SHIFT YOUR OLD TO BOLD!™ I lead thought-provoking table discussions with these cards, which feature favorites from my trademark strategies shared in BOLD… as round table topics in my interactive Keynotes, and in-depth strategy conversations.

Barbra Streisand’s BOLDest Of All

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photo-8I was looking forward to a great night’s sleep after fun holiday travels for Thanksgiving and before our big family wedding tonite…

And yet there I was, glued to the TV until 3am last night, captivated by Barbra Steisand’s stunning video concert, Back In Brooklyn.

A big fan of A Star Is Born, I later tried to replicate her tricky-nimble vocals of Queen Bee in our Summer rock band while getting that out of my system…

And I still love singing her passionate Lullaby For Myself, which drives my husband David nuts every time I do (if you know the lyrics, you’ll get why in our 34 years of marriage, well, he’s just never been a fan of that one ;)

I don’t watch much TV and especially not in the middle of the night… so what was it about this concert that pulled me in?

Her range is noticeably huskier now, which in a way makes her performance richer – still gigantic, enormous, powerful, soul-soaring, sky’s-the-limit-shattering range as ever…

And yet that’s not where her power lies…

The essence of Barbra Streisand comes alive in her quietest moments, where she takes all that big talent, her massive voice, her powerful wow, and laser-focuses it…

Drawing her own stark contrast… shifting on a dime to quiet… in an up close and personal kinda way… delicate, breathtakingly so, as tho singing and speaking only. to. you.

In her quietest moments, her voice, her impact… can be her richest of all.

Just as your Quiet Confidence can indeed be… your BOLDest of all.

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® 1993-2013  Ann Ulrich  THE BOLD! FACTOR®   BEST BOLD U™   AnnUlrich.com

PHOTO:  This purple bowl of red spoons are a favorite in our kitchen – they hang out next to a favorite soup cookbook authored by my friend, Paulette Mitchell. I am grateful every Thanksgiving (every day!) to have been so smart all these years to stay out of the kitchen, and instead sing the praises of my when-he-has-time hobby chef husband David ;)