For Such a Time as This, with Carolyn Hantz | A Ripple Talk

Hi everyone and welcome. I'm Sabine Hutchison and founder of the Ripple Network. Before you hear this talk, I want to take a moment to tell you about what it took to get here. The Ripple Network is a dedicated practice space. It's created for women professionals who want to speak with more confidence, with more clarity, and more of themselves. Speaking is never just speaking, it's how you show up in the room and in every conversation.

At every moment, when what you say and how you say it lands. It's a place to come into your own, to create your natural communication style, to build confidence through doing it week after week with women who are doing it, who are doing the same. So over 12 weeks, the women of Cohort One moved through three phases of work. The first month was about understanding how they naturally show up, recording regularly, receiving feedback.

And noticing their own patterns and presence. The second month moved into storytelling, longer form speaking, narrative clarity, and beginning the shape of the core idea of their Ripple Talk. The third month was about delivery. It's about assembling, refining, practicing and practicing, and finally standing in front of their cohort and all the five partners of the program and delivering the talk that they've been building.

So speaking is practice. It asks something real of you. And these women gave it. They gave it their all. They showed up every single week for each other and for themselves. And that is where the growth happened. So what you're about to hear is the result of that work. One ripple can change the tide. And in today's conversation is about exactly that. And I'm very happy to introduce you to Caroline Hans, who's going to share her ripple talk with you.

Welcome, Caroline. I'm so glad you're here.

Okay. Good morning. My name is Carolyn Ramona Hants, and I help women of color in the federal government who feel stuck, unseen, and undervalued, but are still deeply committed to federal service. I help them rise into senior executive roles. So let me start with a question. How many of you know what it feels like to give your absolute best, to exceed expectations, to be the one people rely on?

And still feel overlooked. Yes, I see you. So let me say something that is true, but not often said out loud. Delivering outstanding results does not guarantee you will be seen as ready for top leadership. And if you are a woman of color over 40, you don't just understand that, you've lived it.

You may be over-delivering, checking every box, and still feeling stuck. But today we disrupt that because this is about the real journey to executive leadership, one that requires intention, strategy, and a decision. Now here's the reality: the senior executive service represents less than 1% of the federal workforce, actually 0.4% of the federal workforce.

These are the leaders who shape programs, drive policy, and serve as the bridge between presidential appointees and career civil servants. And I need you to hear me clearly that you can be a part of that bridge. I know that not because I read it, but because I lived it.

I spent 46 years in federal service across eight presidential administrations, 16 of those years in the senior executive service. But I didn't start there. I started as a college freshman who just needed to pay her tuition. So I started as an entry-level secretary. And over time I grew into roles as an auditor and evaluator across multiple agencies. But my defining moment

Came during one of the hardest seasons of my life. Less than a year after losing my spouse to cancer, after a three and a half year battle, I was a single mother of two young children, one about to turn eight and the other about to turn ten, one of whom has a neurodevelopmental disability. I was selected into senior executive service. That was my first mountain. And now

I'm climbing my second mountain to make sure you do not have to climb your mountain alone. So let's talk about what it really takes. First, you need to understand and close your experience gaps.

Are you excellent at your job? Yes, I am certain that you are. But here's the real question: are you excellent where you are, or preparing for where you say you want to be? That's different. Too many high performers wait to be noticed, to be tapped, and to be chosen. Do not do that. Keeping your head down is not a strategy. Ask yourself.

Where am I strong? Where are my experience gaps? And what am I doing to close those experience gaps? Because gaps do not close themselves. You close your experience gaps. And sometimes you have to create your own opportunity. One of my favorite quotes from Shirley Chisholm is: if they don't give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair. Say that with me. Bring a folding chair.

That means you figure out how to show up, how to contribute, how to be seen, even when you weren't invited to the table. Secondly, you have to build strategic relationships, not surface-level connections, strategic relationships. My agency once faced a critical external review. The reviewer called our operations a train wreck waiting to happen. Leadership debated it.

I did something different. I had already created a corrective action plan even before the report was issued. So when the conversation started, I didn't argue, I added value, and that changed how I was seeing. Here's the shift. Stop asking for jobs. Start asking for advice. After not being selected for a senior role, I asked for real feedback. The next time I applied, I was selected. That took courage.

My favorite acronym for fear is face everything and respond. Say that with me. Face everything and respond.

Thirdly, you have to be visible in the rooms that matter. Executives do not wait. They position themselves. Early in my career I made a decision. I would speak, serve, and engage beyond my role. Then an opportunity came.

A detail to the government accountability office. Within days, I was working at the highest levels, engaging national leaders, state and local leaders, academia, and leaders in the private sector. That moment elevated my trajectory, not because I waited, but because I was ready. My mother used to always say, luck is when opportunity meets with preparation, and I was prepared when the opportunity presented itself. Finally,

You have to make the mindset shift. Strategy without belief will only take you so far. You must believe, even when you are the only woman in the room or the only minority in the room. You belong there. And this is where the story of Esther speaks volumes to me. Mordecai, Esther's cousin, asked her, Who knows whether you will come to the kingdom for such a time as this? Esther had influence.

But she hesitated because stepping forward was risky and Mordecai challenged her. Silence would not protect her, avoidance would not save her. She had been positioned not for comfort, but for purpose. And when she chose courage over fear, faced everything and responded, she changed the outcome for an entire people. Her moment required courage, and so does yours. So if you've been waiting, questioning,

Holding back, hear me clearly. This is your moment. Assess your readiness, close your experience gap, build strategic relationships, and step into the right rooms. And most importantly, choose yourself. Because advancement is not about being chosen. It's about choosing yourself. Now I want you to sit with this. What feels clearest right now is

That your rise to executive leadership does not depend on permission. It depends on your decision to act with clarity, with courage, and with purpose for such a time as this. And the only question left is what will you do next?

Caroline, my goodness, thank you. I love the last question. What will you do next? And leave that sitting with everyone else.

Thank you. How does it feel?

feels good. It feels like a good culmination of the twenty s and the what the twelve weeks of effort.

Yeah.

The twelve weeks of effort. Yeah, that was a lot of effort. It's incredible. And yeah, your delivery was fabulous. So it's interesting and be

curious to hear if you reflect back over those 12 weeks and working on this and the various exercises and things that we did, what do you feel shifted? Because you are a very senior woman. You have a very you have a an incredible career that that you've been working in. And even with all of that and you've spoken before this 12 before these 12 weeks, what do you feel shifted?

well part of the reason why I did this is because I retired in January of last year and I I hadn't spoken in public for for that that year and and I wanted to re energize that that capability. and I felt like this was an opportunity to do that. I you know, I am working on starting a business and and I wanna do some speaking.

as it relates to that and also draw people to me from a business perspective and part of that is also not just speaking engagements but engaging like in social media and one one thing I learned in this this twelve weeks is that I gain a lot of energy from more in person engagement and in today's environment

and especially to give me flexibility as a woman, as a mother with with the disabled adult child at this point. You know, sometimes I have to engage with folks more from a social media or or like on cameras, like Zoom or Teams or whatever. And you know, how do I kind of bring bring the energy even if

Right. Mm-hmm.

It's a case of where I'm doing a video where the only audience is the camera.

Right, exactly. That's a really great perspective because so often we think about speaking about being on a stage. And that was again one of the ideas is that not everyone has the opportunity to stand on a stage to tell their story. Sometimes it is in a recording or it is it's in in this type of setting. And the stories can still be incredibly powerful, which yours is. you know, you talk about this being our moment and you've definitely

Taken that moment and made it yours, which is incredible. So you can be incredibly proud of that.

And sharing your story. It's a it's a it's a courageous story, it's an inspirational story, and I believe that that's so important for others to hear. There sometimes it it it it it can be helpful to hear that you're not alone or that somebody else has had struggles and they're able to be resilient and and and work through those and potentially even reach out to you. It'll be interesting to see how your network expands because we're gonna share this with the world. That was my ultimate inspiration for the Ripple Network.

is to help women tell their stories and then to see what kind of ripples those those create.

One thing I did also learn is that it's it's interesting to record and then hear your story yourself because one one of the ripple talks we did which was more on like a value that you wanted to vocalize without initially naming it in the talk.

Mm-hmm.

And I did the talk and I I emphasized it on what I went through in terms of my my husband being sick and th my support system. And I didn't realize how emotional the story was until I listened to it myself after I recorded it the first time.

Mm. Did anything surprise you about that? How was it to hear yourself tell that story?

It was interesting that I could write it, you know, verbalize it, articulate it, and then not realize how emotional it was until I heard it myself.

Mm, yeah. Yeah. We we don't have the chance to do that, do we? It's it w rarely, when do we have the opportunity, unless we're in a podcast or we're some sort some sort of session. you don't have the opportunity. So yeah, that's a very that's a very valuable insight to hear that. And is there anything that surprised you about yourself or about that process other than what you've just named? That's a really good example.

about hearing the emotion behind your own story. Is there anything else that surprised you during this process?

But that was kind of the main thing that that surprised me, the emotionality of my own story. And I have over time shared my story because I find that

so many people, especially when when they're trying to rise higher, want to give the impression like that they they have no issues in their life, like they're the the superwoman or whatever and I'm like, no, I have a lot of issues and that's part of the reason why I was a good person for advancing to senior leadership because, you know, life's not gonna be perfect. You know, if you wait for life to be perfect, you would you'll never rise.

Yeah.

Yeah, exactly. That is so true because what is perfection? And we all have different definitions of that. And you're so right. It's it's almost it will be almost impossible to take the next step or to rise if you wait for that perfection. That's so, so true. So valuable to hear.

And sometimes in in sharing my story, I have found that it brings other people out and more willing to share their story. Because I I have found over time in telling my story about my son is that a lot a lot of people deal with having special needs children.

Yeah.

a lot of times I find that they don't want to share it in the workplace because they feel like somehow or another it's gonna be held against them and I'm like, no, that shows that you're capable of handling your elevation as well as life circumstances.

Yeah.

Yeah. So that's interesting that you say that because I I'm curious to hear about people there peop this is gonna be listened to. We're gonna spread your story online and there'll be th certain aspects. I wrote down or even though I've heard this I think two or three times, Caroline, every time I hear something, I take something different with me.

And this time it was the disruption. I found that that was a very powerful, powerful piece of this about being be comfortable with being disruptive also in what you do. And that can doesn't have to be seen, it's not a negative. It can have a very positive aspect of this disruption. And the the a rip one ripple could be that you someone hears your story and feels more comfortable talking about it.

But If you reflect on your talk, is there something that you wish for others and what kind of ripple do you want your talk to make?

I emphasize choosing yourself. And I find that women especially.

Mm-hmm.

choose everybody else before they choose themselves. And and sometimes we disqualify ourselves before we even try. It's like I I wanna do this, but and I'm like, well what's stopping you other than yourself? So I mean that's the

most important thing I want people to pull from it is that they need to choose themselves. 'cause my another thing my mother used to always say is if you don't believe it, nobody's gonna believe it for you.

So true.

That is right. So you have to embed it and it has to be a part of you. And yeah, that is so true. Well, that's a beautiful ripple that you're lit that you're that you're leaving behind. So Caroline, thank you. It has been the biggest pleasure for me to be on this journey with you and to hear your story and to be able to share it with the world. So thank you very, very much for showing up. you were there every week.

you committed yourself to this, even sometimes when it was difficult and sometimes there were gaps, but you you came back and you kept going and and the the delivery and what you gave today is just incredible. And I wanna thank you for that and your vulnerability and sharing sharing that part of yourself.

Yeah. Thanks, Caroline.