I pressed the elevator button at a hotel in San Francisco, heading up to my room.

It was 2015. I was there for a conference—Emerging Women LIVE. The doors opened, and suddenly there she was.

One of my sheroes, Brené Brown.

Just the two of us in the elevator. It was, quite literally, my elevator pitch moment. I remember discovering her work years ago in 2011, back when she wasn’t widely known. An academic woman speaking about vulnerability, shame, and mental health —it felt radical. She was naming things most people weren’t willing to say out loud.

I had 60 seconds with Brené Brown.

I needed to be fearless.

I told her TED talk and work inspired me to research something that was often taboo—what the body does when it lies. She went quiet for a second. Then curious. That silence, that curiosity, felt like a hand on my back.

Like she whispered, "Keep going Nora."

Ten years later, I've published that work, given a TEDx talk, and now I'm building the kind of conference I once desperately needed as an n'betweener®.

Here is the thing,

Our heroes simply mirror the parts of ourselves we've disowned.

What moves you in them is not their greatness. It's the part of you that's still waiting to be claimed.

This is why I’m so excited about the speakers at RISE.

Being in the room with the right voices does something to you.

Not theoretically. Viscerally.

It expands what you believe is possible—for yourself, not just in the abstract.

RISE begins in ONE month today.

This is your chance to get bigger, to claim your dreams, and to be among people who are actively doing this work.

The program is now LIVE → Check it out here.

The room is filling. When it's full, doors close—and this time I mean that literally.

If something in you recognizes this, trust it.

Join us at RISE in New York City on May 2nd.

I promise you won’t regret it.

XO

Nora

P.S. I also ran into Elizabeth Gilbert that weekend. I'm just saying—get yourself in the right room.

Brené Brown Got in My Elevator