Sensible Woo is the mind. Sasquatch Media Grounds is the muscle.

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Hey Reader,

Living Your Values Is a Media Strategy (Not a Personality Quirk)

Not gonna lie… this past week knocked me off my usual rhythm.

I’ve been fielding a wave of messages after a speech I gave as a trustee on the Fort Vancouver Regional Library District board. Supportive messages. Grateful messages. Messages from people who felt seen. The public replay will be up soon, and there’s coverage if you want the context.

And I can already hear someone reading this thinking, “Cool story, Mary… but what does this have to do with media and business?”

Oh friend. Grab your tea. Cozy in. This is the part most entrepreneurs are about to learn the hard way.

Because living your values is not a side note to your marketing. It is your marketing. And in 2026, virtue signaling without follow-through is going to blow up a lot of businesses.

Let’s name the thing:
Virtue signaling is when you post the right words, adopt the right language, share the right graphics… and then nothing else happens. No decisions change. No boundaries shift. No money moves differently. No risk is taken.

I guarantee you can think of a brand or creator right now who does this constantly, and you couldn’t quite articulate why it grated on you… until now. Once you see it, you cannot unsee it.

I work with entrepreneurs, so this is where we get nerdy and practical. We can talk all day about attraction versus repulsion marketing in theory, or we can look at how this plays out in real life, with real money, and real consequences.

After that board meeting, I grabbed coffee with my friend Eliana Mendez. (Side note… yes, we're figuring out how to host Eliana via Sasquatch Media Grounds for podcast branding photography as part of the Dojo. More on that soon.)

While we were enjoy delicious lattes, she asked me one of the best questions I’ve heard all year:

Y’all. This is an Ask Better Questions, Get Better Answers moment if there ever was one.

Here’s what I told her...

Wishy-washy messaging is why so many business owners are struggling right now. And I get it. You need to get paid. I need to get paid too. But when you repeatedly compromise your values for a paycheck and look the other way, something inside you contracts. Your energy dulls. Your voice loses its edge.

And if your soul starts resembling a shriveled raisin, how many customers do you think find that attractive?

I’ve said this all year, and I’ll keep saying it: sometimes you do not have the luxury of working only with your most ideal clients. That’s real life. That does not mean you don’t get paid.

It means you decide where the line is:
​Ideal vs. Acceptable vs. Hell-no

What I see too often is people compromising their values instead of compromising the type of project.

It looks like saying yes to the glossy #girlboss with a massive following because you think the exposure will save you, only to discover her values are shady and her microaggressions are loud. Meanwhile, a quieter, less sexy brand approaches you with a solid, boring, khaki-shorts-from-Costco kind of project that would pay well and align cleanly… but doesn’t feel glamorous enough to post.

That sting you just felt? That’s the lesson.

You already know who I work with inside Sasquatch Media Grounds. I help people amplify their voices. Why on earth would I take clients whose messaging would happily erase me or my community?

That’s a hard no.

And yes… I also take plenty of work you never see. Because the visible, culture-shifting projects take time. Shows with real substance take longer to develop. Speaking gigs don’t materialize overnight. Good work has a longer incubation period.

That’s not failure. That’s craft.

What I want for you in the coming year is more boldness. Louder opinions. Less academic distance from your own fucking voice. Stop sanitizing your values in the name of “professionalism.”

By the way… washing everything down into beige “professionalism” has a name. It’s called tone policing. I got a front-row seat to that this week when people were more upset about how I spoke than about the harm I named.

Good. Discomfort is information.

And no, your values don’t have to be about civil rights to matter. In business, it might look like a social media manager calling out vanity metrics that don’t pay the bills. It might look like saying out loud that big numbers without engagement don’t equal success. That truth will make people uncomfortable. That doesn’t make it unprofessional. It makes it honest.

This is the clarity I will push for inside the Creator Economy Dojo. Because when you monetize your voice, whether through sponsors, partnerships, or ads, your values are on the line. Taking money from a brand that violates your ethics creates a quiet rot your audience will feel long before you say a word.

Trust once broken is very hard to rebuild. Here’s the line I want you to sit with:

Your voice can only be as brave as the voices you’re willing to listen to.

If you never expose yourself to people who speak clearly, take risks, and stand somewhere solid, your own message will keep shrinking. Courage is contagious. So is silence.

Which brings me to this.

Don’t be boring. Train your creative brain in the CEO Winter Rebellion.

TL;DR (because I love you):

If you want a bolder voice in 2026, you need better inputs now… not more noise, not more perfection, and definitely not more beige.

👉 That’s where the CEO Winter Rebellion comes in.​
Explore. DNF what doesn’t spark. Find fearless voices. Get rewarded for it.

​Click to see what prizes you're playing for and to join anytime before December 31st!

Gossip From the Creator Trenches...

🧵 Community, But Make It Functional

Online community is a moving target. Tools get bloated, prices creep up, and suddenly you’re managing vibes and software. Enter Threads, quietly rolling out a communities feature that might actually help with audience engagement without turning into a full-time moderation job. Will it fix everything? No. But I do love seeing more options on the board, especially for folks who find Discord exhausting and over-engineered. (No shade. Okay, maybe a little.)
🔗 See the online discussion​

📺 The Oscars Blink First

It only took about a decade longer than necessary, but here we are. The Academy is moving the Oscars from ABC to YouTube streaming starting in 2029, which is a very loud signal about where attention and power already live. This isn’t a trend. It’s confirmation. If your business content is still avoiding YouTube, consider this your weekly reminder to stop pretending it’s optional. It’s the most leverage-heavy move you can make right now.
🔗 Gird your loins for change​

💸 Can You Stay Calm When Money Gets Loud?

This one’s a masterclass. A video of Sotheby’s Asia business development director running a record-setting auction crossed my desk and I haven’t stopped thinking about it. Watch how steady she stays while millions change hands… for a print, not the original (sit with that). If this makes you anxious, that’s information. If it excites you, even better. Either way, it’s an invitation to examine how regulated you are around charging market rates, receiving money, and paying experts without flinching.
🔗 Start the bidding here​

🐉 The Creator Economy Dojo is coming...

If you’re done half-assing your content and want a space to legitimately train your craft, this is your heads-up.

I’m opening a brand-new media dojo in the new year for creators who want consistency, clarity, and real momentum — not another “accountability group” that dies in week three.

Founding members get the cheapest rate I will EVER offer and first access when doors open in January.

If you want in before the masses:
→ Join the early-access list.​

This is where your content gets bold, your message gets paid, and you become the creator people buy from — not just follow.

🔥 Explore Louder. Get Rewarded.

If the last few weeks have left you feeling tender, fired up, or quietly restless...
For the final stretch of this year, I don’t want you optimizing. I want you exploring.

Not scrolling out of habit. Not consuming because you “should.” Exploring with intention, curiosity, and a little defiance.

The CEO Winter Rebellion exists because strong voices don’t come from isolation. They come from exposure. From hearing people who speak clearly, take positions, and aren’t afraid to be fully themselves in public.

For the rest of December, you’re rewarded for listening & watching differently.

You check out podcasts you wouldn’t normally choose. You wander through YouTube creators outside your niche. You practice the sacred art of DNF’ing (did not finish!) anything that doesn’t light something up inside you. No guilt. No catching up. No gold stars.

This matters because your courage doesn’t grow in a vacuum.

When you surround yourself with bold thinkers, your own clarity sharpens. Your conversations deepen. Your instincts get louder. You stop sanding yourself down to fit rooms you’ve already outgrown.

Yes, there are raffle tickets and genuinely excellent prizes. Joy counts. Reward counts. But the real win is walking into 2026 with a stronger spine, fresher ideas, and a voice that knows exactly where it stands.

You can join anytime this month before December 31st!

👉 Jump into the CEO Winter Rebellion and see what you’re playing for.​
This is about becoming someone people want to talk to again.

Business Tarot + Astrology

If January has been whispering “not yet” instead of screaming “GO”… you’re not behind. You’re on time.

The new Q1 2026 forecast drops tomorrow inside the private Woo Crew feed, and it’s not about hype or hustle. It’s about when momentum actually returns — and how to use this threshold season without burning yourself out before spring even arrives.

This quarter isn’t a straight line... It’s a bridge. And inside the private reading, we map:

• why January is for orientation, not execution
• why February opens the real doorway
• and why March is where the green light finally turns on

You’ve got two ways in:

• You can join now for $7/month and unlock every December reading, including the ones pointing directly at your first Q1 moves.
• Or you can hang out inside the CEO Winter Rebellion in December and start your Woo Crew subscription in January with your gifted free month to kick off 2026.

Choices, choices.

Either way — this is the moment to stop guessing and start moving with the timing instead of fighting it.

👉 Doors are open. Pick your path. Tap to hear the excerpt ⤵️

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Want the whole thing? ​
Click here & go ⤵️

Let's Hang Out Dropping this in one more time this week because I'm so thrilled for Rachel & Petchy... but also because this magazine is GORGEOUS. I have a very small part in this and you can purchase your own copy to read my very spicy answers about the wage gap for women in entrepreneurship. If diamonds are a girl's best friend, then Triple Diamond just got you two new besties. Order your copy & get inspired by the people they featured.

Participate + Join In The AI landscape is changing faster than any of us can keep up with. Yes, I'll be helping you with Gemini, which is making ChatGPT look like it's stuck in the 8th grade with braces. Before my new bots land in your hands… get the entire library for whatever you wanna pay. The original training included with a new one on the way. The foundation remains the same: ask better questions, get better answers.