For Women Who Refuse to Be Underestimated, Underpaid and Undervalued

“Put Your Head Down and Work” Was a Lie

Author

Jennifer Justice
May 18, 2026

In partnership with

I ask every woman I interview, "What's the worst advice you have ever received?" and they all have the same through line of "play it safe" or "don't rock the boat". But the worst advice I ever personally received? Put your head down and work, and you'll be recognized. I heard it at the first law firm I ever worked at, from someone I thought was a mentor and cared about my career. What's worse is that I followed it for a few years. No surprise, it was total bullshit. But when I looked up, I realized that the person I was doing all that work for was out there in rooms I wasn't in, taking meetings I didn't know about, getting credit for things I built. Also, no surprise, the mentor was a male. Fuck that guy.  I never made that mistake EVER AGAIN. I started showing up everywhere, took credit where it was due and made sure my name was on the tip of everyone's tongue and it worked. Being visible totally helped my career. What I realized was that advice that doesn't benefit you isn't wisdom. It's a strategy — someone else's strategy. And you don't have to follow it. Just listen to this week's episode of Takin’ Care of Lady Business with Aliza Licht - because I am sure the only advice she's ever taken has benefited her. This episode is for every woman who is still following someone else's strategy.

With Love & Lady Business,
JJ 

In today’s edition:
1. Why Visibility Matters More Than Talent with Aliza Licht
2. Before You Follow the Advice, Audit the Adviser
3. Kerry Docherty is Selfish
4. Lady Bits

1. Why Visibility Matters More Than Talent with Aliza Licht

"While you're planning, someone else is starting."

Aliza Licht said that during our conversation and I have not stopped thinking about it since. Aliza is a brand strategist, author, and the original voice behind DKNY PR Girl — one of the most influential anonymous brand personas ever built online. But what brought her back to the show this time is something she is doing right now, in real time: writing a novel about the late 90s New York fashion world and publishing it one chapter at a time on Substack before it is finished. No publisher. No completed manuscript. No safety net.

Her philosophy: "I don't believe in waiting for permission to test an idea. I tried, it didn't work — who cares? What's the worst thing that can happen?" That is not a writing strategy. That is a life strategy.

In this episode, we get into why visibility matters more than talent, how your name gets dropped in rooms you are not in, how to use AI without losing your voice, and why clarity comes after you move — not before.

Your business has grown. Is your accounting on the same path?

When you started out, doing your own books made sense. But the business you're running today isn't the one you started. If your accounting hasn't kept pace, it's quietly costing you — outdated financials, no clear view of what's actually profitable, and hours every week pulled away from the work that grows your business. At BELAY, our Financial Experts integrate directly into your business. They manage your books, reconcile accounts, run payroll, and deliver the timely insight you need to make big decisions with confidence. Stop guessing. Start knowing.

2. Before You Follow the Advice, Audit the Adviser

The next time someone tells you to put your head down and work, I want you to stop and ask one question. Who benefits if I do?

Because in my experience - as a lawyer, as a negotiator, as someone who has sat across the table from a lot of people with a lot of agendas - advice is never neutral. Every instruction someone gives you serves someone's interests. The question is whether those interests are yours.

When a boss tells you to stay in your lane, ask yourself: does staying in my lane keep me productive, or does it keep me invisible? When a mentor tells you the time isn't right, ask: right for whom? When someone says just keep doing great work and you'll be recognized, look around. Are the women who followed that advice sitting where you want to sit? Or are they still waiting?

This is not cynicism. This is due diligence. It is the same thing I would tell any woman before she signs a contract. Read it. Understand it. And ask who wrote it and why.

Advice - and rules for that matter - that don't benefit you are not meant to be followed. Your visibility, your credit, your seat at the table — none of that comes from following rules written by people who never intended for you to win. It comes from knowing the difference between guidance and a ceiling. And having the confidence to choose accordingly.

REAL TALK
Before you take any advice, ask who benefits from you following it. Before you follow any rule, ask who wrote it and why. Your biggest power move is to analyze it before you take. Visibility is not vanity. It’s strategy. And it starts the moment you stop following someone else's.

3. Kerry Docherty is Selfish

Kerry Docherty is the co-founder of Faherty Brand, the beloved sustainable lifestyle company she built alongside her husband and his twin brother. Yale graduate. Human rights lawyer. Certified B Corp co-founder. By every measure, she was doing everything right.

And then she wrote Selfish: Unlearning, Reclaiming, and Telling the Truth, a memoir so honest that the people closest to her didn't want it published. She published it anyway.

The book is about what happens when women spend years giving everything to a marriage, a business, a family, and a life that looks perfect from the outside and what it costs them on the inside. It is the kind of book that makes you feel seen in ways you didn't know you needed.

She audited the advice. She chose herself. Sound familiar?
Selfish is available now from Penguin Random House wherever books are sold. 

Lady Bits

📖 Sparks Fly by Hazel Henry just dropped and it is the summer read both you and your daughter didn't know you needed. Three sisters, one lake, and enough romantic chaos to make you forget you have a job. Out now from Harper. Grab it before your beach trip. Order here

💊 One packet, 18 supplements. Same amount of $$ as one jar alone. Biologica makes stage-specific daily essentials for women built around your hormones, not a one-size-fits-all formula designed for men. If you haven't tried it yet, this is your sign.
Every Day: https://go.shopmy.us/p-54603530 Perimenopause: https://go.shopmy.us/p-54603980
Post Menopause: https://go.shopmy.us/p-54603956

📊 How to be visible in the age of AI - SEO what? Read more

🎵 This artist broke the record that nobody else has touched. And she's only 23. 

💬 Charlize Theron on relationships :"When I'm in, I'm in all the way. My problem is I think I lose myself." Here’s what she says about her future relationships.

Hi, I’m JJ

Since starting the Justice Dept, we have increased women's wealth by over $100MM in just over 5 years. Want to know what inspires me to do this work, other than making women money? My clients' surprised reaction when we manage to get them much better terms for themselves and their companies, whether via talent agreements, employment, severance, partnerships, asset sales or investments. They often admit that they never thought they could get that result. Not even hoped. This blows my mind. As we know at The Justice Dept. you are all worth everything you ask for and more. Reach out and we’ll show you how!
x TJD