Tracy Ellis Ross is one of my favorite women and one of the most intentional business women I know.

She reminds us that the best ideas take time to bake and that success isn't just about what you do,

it's about how clearly you speak it into existence. This week on Aspire, Tracy shares how being

deliberate with the way she speaks changed her mindset on everything. Family, aging, relationships

and business. Over the next hour, Tracy is giving you the playbook

to be who you are and get what you want.

Tracy, Ellis Ross. That's me.

But it's you. Thank you so much for being here. I'm so happy to be here. I'm really lucky to have you here. You are lucky. I'm really lucky. There were been a couple birthday parties we've been at, like, yes. Yeah, just a handful of times. And I'm like, wow, she is so unapologetically who she is. She is so full of life. She's designed this life. And it is, to me, one of the most

unbelievable things about you is this level of self-assurance and how self-possessed you are

as a woman. And I think for so many women, that's a really difficult place to get to in life.

So that's where I want to start. And I just

wonder, have you always been like that? Has it taken you a while to get there? It's taken me a long

time. And it's interesting because as you say that, I'm like, do I feel self-assured? I have a real

genuine sense of who I am. It took me a long time to get to know myself, to have the courage to be that

person, and then to live as that person has just come in the last, I would say, six to seven

years. Oh, really? Yeah, to actually live as that person. And I actually look forward to what is to

come because I feel like I still have a sense of knowing what is

right for me, but not always having the courage to do that.

You know, sometimes I feel like I should do this.

So I do look forward to the other.

But I think I've always been, I've always been this person.

I've always had a very big personality. I've always

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