Your doing a lot and I see you.

3 days ago
2 min read

Open Book

The thought & notes from one ambitious being to the next

Hey ${contact.name.first},

Sis, let me describe you for a second. You have the degree. Maybe two. You have fifteen-plus years of receipts — the promotions, the performance reviews, the "we don't know what we'd do without you" conversations from managers who never once went to bat for your next raise. You're in your 40s. You are technically accomplished.

And you are exhausted in a way that a vacation will not fix. That exhaustion has a name. It's called doing everything the old playbook told you to do and realizing the game changed while you were busy executing perfectly. Here's what I'm seeing in my practice right now, and it's the most important thing I'll say in this email: the traditional corporate ladder is not broken for everyone. But for high-performing women of color in their 40s, it was never actually built for them. And 2026 is the year more of them are finally willing to say that out loud. So what do you do with that? You stop waiting for corporate to recognize you. And you start building something it can't ignore.

Here's what the data is telling us about how the smartest women are moving right now: Fractional work is exploding. There were 60,000 fractional executives in 2022. Today there are over 120,000 — and that number is growing 14 percent year over year. A fractional executive brings C-suite level expertise to a company part-time, across multiple clients, on her terms. Women are driving this shift.

The fractional CMO market, in particular, is predominantly women — because companies need the senior strategy but can't justify the full-time salary, and women with 15-plus years of expertise are realizing they don't have to be owned by one organization to build a serious income. If you have deep expertise and you're underpaid for it, fractional isn't a side hustle. It's a correction.

With love,

Susana

Dunamis Coaching & Consulting

P.S. Not sure if fractional work or a portfolio career is right for you? Take the Career Pivot quiz at susanaalba.com — it'll show you exactly where you are and what move makes sense next.

Systems that Work

Define Your Three Non-Negotiables

Step 1: Identify your core values.

Step 2: Determine what you need daily to feel successful (e.g., family time, exercise, focused work hours).

Step 3: Write them down and commit to them. I encourage you to reflect on what truly matters to you today. Review these regularly to stay aligned with your vision and business values.

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