The US Elections... & Support To Keep Fighting the Good Fight

Helloooo! I know it's been a while but I've been busy setting things up behind the scenes (more on that later!) I was going to talk about my career pivot in this week’s newsletter but I decided to save that for next week so that we can process the US Elections together.

To preface this, I'm not American — I'm Canadian but that doesn't mean I'm not affected by what happened. As a Canadian, US policies affect us quite a bit — and I also have American clients, own US company stocks, charge in USD, etc. So watching this unfold was like watching a car crash in slow motion without being able to do anything about it because I couldn't vote.

It's been a heavy week, and I've been talking and connecting a lot with my family, close friends, and clients. It's a tough pill to swallow, for sure. I'm not going to dive into the actual politics because there are a lot of other resources out there (and actually, my partner miiiight write a blog post based on his research and findings so I'll share the link in my IG story if he decides to publish it).

All this to say, I decided to process why I felt so affected by what happened, and here's what I concluded:

1. Obviously as a woman, it feels awful. The fact that we are still fighting over the right to OUR OWN BODIES in 2024... And let's not even get started on how he views and treats women... Yeah, I probably don't need to elaborate much more here.

2. End of Climate Change Progress. He doesn't "believe" in climate change and as someone who has worked in climate and sustainability for over half a decade, it feels so disheartening. One of the biggest countries and polluters in the world is likely going to pull out of a lot of deals and treaties, which will set us back — a lot. Many folks who work in climate take pay cuts, work long hours, etc. so it can feel like it's all for nothing. Seeing what will potentially happen at a policy level is so disheartening and put quite simply, infuriating.

3. Lost Faith in Humanity. This one was a bitter pill for me to swallow. One of the problems in society is how social media and algorithms create "echo chambers" for our beliefs because we tend to follow and engage with content that matches our beliefs. As a result, that reinforces that our beliefs are "correct" and gives us a false narrative that "everyone must think this way". The result? The left becomes more left, and the right becomes more right — making everything more polarizing. It also creates a situation in which most people don't even want to listen to someone who thinks differently from them.

I watched The Great Hack documentary a few years ago about Cambridge Analytica and how social media can be weaponized with elections (and everything else tbh) and it really opened my eyes.

Ever since watching that documentary, I've made an active effort to surround myself with people with different viewpoints, so that I can continue to learn and grow. One takeaway I've gotten over the years, also reinforced by my partner's debate skills from Oxford, is that if you think a complex situation is black and white and you 100% support one side or the other, it usually means you haven't gone beneath the surface to question things or play devil's advocate. Because usually, if you really know a situation and ponder it, you actually struggle to say you can 100% support anything because you'll have all these caveats.

So I wanted to be open and talk to folks after this happened and hear why they voted for him.

Here's the thing — everyone I talked to actually felt conflicted about voting for him (or saying they would if they were American). The TL;DR? It boiled down to money, and how it would affect them.

One girl (yes, a female willingly voted for him...) said she found him appalling and wasn't proud of what she did, but she voted for him because he promised to lower foreign income tax and she wanted to pay less taxes living abroad.

Others voted for him because of the economy, believing he could help with inflation, lower the price of eggs / gas, etc.

So I want to ask those who may have voted for him, even though they might not agree with his morals or him as a person: what is the tipping point and what will it take for you to vote for according to your values and morals, above your own needs?

I say this with love — not judgment. I just want to hold up a mirror and invite you to reflect on this.

Because this is a man with 34 convicted felonies ranging from sexual abuse to civil financial fraud to criminal business fraud, not to mention all the awful things that have come out of his mouth about race, gender, discrimination, and the list goes on and on.

So where does the line draw for you?

At what point is it worth paying more taxes so that kind of person doesn't have power and a “get out of jail free card”?

At what point does it make sense to pay a bit more for eggs so that you have a political party in charge that might actually try to redistribute wealth so that eventually, you could pay less for things?

At what point do you say enough is enough and stand up for a woman's right to her own body?

At what point do you not support someone who is actively harming the planet?

At what point do you stand up for the collective and greater good and put society's needs above your own?

Just some food for thought.

So yeah, it can feel hopeless, dire, and like "What's even the fucking point?" Which is definitely how me and my partner felt this past week, as we both work in sustainability and fundamentally don't agree with his morals, actions, or policies.

But writing this email has been therapeutic (while simultaneously triggering my rage again lol) and made me realize something: we can't give up. Because if we give up, he truly wins.

At the end of the day, people can try to take away our rights, our freedom of speech, and everything in between but they cannot take away our fire, our skills, and our integrity.

I'm sure he would love to see conscious female entrepreneurs roll over and give up — and that's exactly why I'm doubling down on the work I do. In fact, it's lit a new fire under me to help even more people succeed in making positive change.

I believe that one of the most powerful forms of resistance is building truly sustainable and profitable businesses that drive positive impact. When conscious entrepreneurs thrive, we create ripple effects that can counteract the very policies and systems we're fighting against. The more of us who can build stable, impactful businesses, the stronger our collective voice becomes.

That's why I've been working hard on two initiatives that I’m excited to share with you…

1. I'm hosting a workshop on Thurs, Dec 5 to achieve YOUR version of success and make it a reality in 2025. You can sign up here. (If you don't have the cash flow to purchase a ticket right now, you can use code "FIGHTTHEGOODFIGHT". I don't want a lack of funds to prevent you from getting the skills you need to succeed — especially during these times.)

2. I'm accepting beta clients to my new Transform Your Sales program. I don’t want to see conscious entrepreneurs struggle with inconsistent income — bouncing between feast and famine while trying to make a difference in the world. So I'm creating this program and accepting my first beta cohort! You can see how the program works here, and book a discovery call to chat to see if it's a fit to work together.

ANYWAYS, I had to end this on a lighter note. The only amusing thing to come out of this is all the Melania memes, clips, and edits I've seen on my TikTok FYP. People are saying she just wanted to be a trophy wife but ended up as First Lady and how she seemed so miserable his first term and now has to do it all over again — lol.

I'll be back next week to more regularly scheduled programming but it felt wrong not to talk about this since it’s been weighing on me, my clients, and my community.

So don’t give up hope, let's keep rallying together, and I look forward to supporting you at my workshop and potentially in Transform Your Sales!

Keep fighting the good fight,
Selina