Dr. Valerie Steele, Founder of Why Not Now Coaching & Events, LLC and The Table™

What’s an accomplishment you’re really proud of that maybe you didn’t receive recognition for?

I’m incredibly proud of starting my business. After having a career in medicine for 20 years, deciding to make the jump into entrepreneurship was a huge shift. It took courage, grit, and a lot of self-work to get this far, and I’m really proud of myself for doing it!

What I’ve learned is that entrepreneurship isn’t just one big courageous decision. Every single day is a choice to keep moving forward, especially on the days when things don’t go as planned. I continue because I believe deeply in what I’ve created, I see the tremendous value it provides for my clients as they make changes in their own lives and families, and I believe in showing my kids what is possible when you’re willing to believe in yourself and pursue something that matters to you.

Who championed you early in your career, and how did they change your trajectory?

The women who were my very first clients changed the trajectory of my business. Their willingness to trust me and believe in what I was creating, while I was still learning how to fully believe in myself, gave me the confidence to keep going.

I also had female business owners whom I admired reach out to collaborate with me and invite me into opportunities. There was something incredibly powerful about having women I respected see value in what I was doing before I had fully developed that confidence for myself. Their belief helped me begin to see myself and my work differently.

What’s the single decision that had the greatest impact on your professional success?

It’s a decision I make every single day, and it's the same thing I encourage my clients to try: do it before you feel ready.

Do the thing. Learn from it. Pivot if you need to. But do it.

Waiting for the perfect time or waiting until you feel completely ready will keep you waiting forever. So much of my professional growth has come from making the decision to take action even when I’m uncertain, and trusting that I can figure out the next step once I’m moving.

That willingness to act, learn, adjust, and keep going has been life-changing for me. I’ve learned that confidence doesn’t usually come before action. More often, we build confidence because we took the action and discovered that we could handle what came next.

What did you have to unlearn in order to grow?

I’ve had to unlearn people pleasing.

For much of my life, I made decisions based on how I thought other people would feel about them. Would they approve? Would they be disappointed? Would they be upset with me? I had internalized the idea that doing what other people wanted or expected of me meant I was being “good.”

I’ve had to unlearn that and instead learn how to trust my own inner voice. That doesn’t mean disregarding other people or their feelings. It means recognizing that I can care deeply about the people around me without making their approval the deciding factor in how I live my life.

Learning to lovingly make the decisions I know are right for me has been one of the most important parts of my growth, both personally and professionally.

Have you ever had to advocate for yourself in a way that didn’t come naturally? How did you find your voice?

Honestly, advocating for myself at all did not come naturally to me. For much of my life, I was more focused on keeping other people happy than clearly expressing what I needed, wanted, or believed.

Finding my voice meant learning that advocating for myself didn’t require everyone else to agree with me. I had to become willing to say what I needed, ask for what I wanted, and make decisions that felt right for me, even when I knew someone else might be disappointed or uncomfortable with them.

That didn’t happen all at once. I found my voice by practicing it in small moments, having conversations I would have previously avoided, asking for things I might not receive, and learning that someone else’s reaction didn’t mean I had done something wrong.

Over time, I stopped seeing self-advocacy as selfish or confrontational and started seeing it as an important part of trusting myself. That shift has influenced everything from my relationships to my career and the way I run my business, and it’s a big part of the work I now help other women do for themselves.