Hi Reader,

My iPhone camera roll doesn’t lie. 2024 has been full of incredible memories, gratitude, and community.

I wanted to share some of the biggest “themes” we took away this year—and yes, a few of the less-than-sparkly moments too.

Because let’s be real: the downs are part of the journey. They may not shine as brightly, but they’re the foundation for growth. They’re a reminder that we’re all in this together.

Theme 1) The clearer your values, the clearer your impact ⭐

Over the years, we’ve gotten more and more clear about our values. They include things like collaboration, supporting women, and innovation. But our values aren’t just nice words that live on our website. Every year, we practice them in new ways and ask, “How can we deepen our impact in a way that’s aligned with these values?”

This year we saw our values in action through things like Monument Women’s Creative Alliance events, consistent content, new offers, inspiring partnerships, and aligned clients. Each new decision felt like it was bringing us more in line with our values.

When you really know your brand DNA, it’s easier to figure out your next move.

Theme 2) Ask yourself, “If not now, when?” ⌛

As we’ve talked about before, this has been The Year of Yes. From WordCamp in Italy and hosting our international fellows to starting my MBA and tackling our biggest website project yet, we did a lot of leaping this year. It wasn’t always an easy “yes,” but again and again, we asked ourselves, “If not now, then when?” That question can change everything.

Theme 3) Double down on community 💞

Community has been our superpower this year.

Practically everything that happened in 2024 stemmed from a personal relationship or from leaning on our network. We’ve also seen how building community has helped others in our realm too, which is why it was such a big focus when we were hosting our Professional Fellows.

Having internal support encourages us all to keep trying new things and challenging ourselves.

Theme 4) We couldn’t do what we do without our incredible team🤝

Rachel and I don’t do it all ourselves—we’re supported by an amazing all-women team:

• Justyne keeps everything on track
• Katie handles the details
• Delice takes care of support tickets
• Vanessa adds a spark of creativity to all our projects
• Natalie crafts our newsletters

Their support lets us focus on our Left Brain and Right Brain specialties and go after our big goals!

Of course, 2024 hasn’t been all “yeses.”

We also heard “no.”

Just like any service provider, we’ve lost opportunities. Some proposals didn’t turn into projects. Some grant applications weren’t successful. That’s okay. Every “no” makes room for another potential “yes.”

The other cool thing was that some of the projects we didn’t get still turned into connections. Maybe we weren't the right fit for each other, but they can and do still lead to referrals and other forms of support.

I’d love to know your big takeaways from 2024. What did you learn? What do you want to change going into 2025? What was the best or the hardest part?

Until then, I’m taking some time to unwind with family and recharge.

Thanks for being here with us! We appreciate you.

Happy holidays from all of us at Team Drio. 🎄

Hazel Geary the right brain 1014 W. 36TH ST BALTIMORE, MD 410.635.0229 Read our Customer Reviews