Women Who Lead by Bloom

Women Who Lead by Bloom I help women to unlock their next level of leadership
Founder of Bloom | Workshops + leadership coaching for leaders + teams

Ruth Penfold is a former C-suite executive turned leadership coach, mentor, and yogi. Guiding women to lead with courage, truth, and deep self-trust. After years of performing worth instead of embodying it, Ruth rebuilt her life from the inside out. Her journey through corporate burnout, heartbreak, and reinvention became the foundation of her work: helping women remember their power and lead from

authenticity, not exhaustion. Today, through Bloom and her program Women Who Lead, she creates spaces where women can reconnect with their bodies, find clarity in their leadership, and thrive without burning out. Her approach blends practical leadership tools with spiritual wisdom, a fusion of boardroom experience and embodied practice. From yoga and breathwork to executive mentoring, she teaches that leadership begins in the body long before it reaches the boardroom. Ruth’s message is simple yet radical:
You don’t need to perform to be valuable. You don’t need to overdeliver to be seen. You are already enough and from that wholeness, you can lead. Based in London and the US, Ruth continues to share reflections, stories, and teachings that remind women that leadership isn’t just a title, it’s a way of being. Connect with Ruth:
Email: [email protected]
Website: https://ourtimetobloom.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ruthpenfold/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ruthpenfold/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/

09/09/2026

7 unhinged things that actually get my clients promoted and paid, not the polite version everyone else tries first.

Naming the exact title and number out loud, in the first conversation, not the third.

Asking a manager point blank why someone else got the role instead.

Bringing a written case instead of a verbal one nobody has to act on.

Setting a real deadline for a decision instead of waiting indefinitely.

Refusing to soften the ask with “no worries if not.”

Walking away from a counteroffer that only fixed the money, not the actual problem.

Treating the whole conversation like a negotiation from the first sentence, not just the number at the end.

None of it is the comfortable version. All of it is the version that actually moves the needle.

Comment FREEDOM and I’ll send you my free Career Freedom Assessment, and let’s get you paid, babe ❤️‍🔥

09/09/2026

6 unhinged things I did to build confidence (and respect) in my Chief People Officer role.

I politely disagreed with the CEO in front of the exec team in my first month, on something that actually mattered.

I refused to deliver a fake redundancy conversation, and instead gave the person real feedback and a chance to stay in their role.

I said “I don’t know yet, but I’ll figure it out” out loud in a board meeting instead of bluffing an answer.

I pushed back on a policy I’d inherited instead of just defending it because it existed and the Founders believed in it.

I negotiated to condense my hours to a four day week, without sacrificing any pay.

I let people see me get something wrong, and fix it, in real time, to give them the chance to get invested in the project I was working on.

None of it felt safe in the moment. All of it built the version of me that could actually hold that seat.

Comment FREEDOM and I’ll send you my free Career Freedom Assessment, and let’s get you holding your seat, babe ❤️‍🔥

09/09/2026

If you're feeling a little "done" in the corporate world but can't quite picture what it takes to build a life beyond it, I'm talking to you.

Everyone else, scroll on.

(Have they gone yet...? Good.)

Here's what Women Who Lead can do, for the right person.

Maybe you've got one more big job in you. You need to get paid properly for it, and you need to create some space to actually think about what comes next. Something that's just for you, for once.

That's what six months with us can do. You come in with a small, formidable group of women who become your executive team. We get you that next job. We get you that space. We get you that pay rise. And you finally get room to start experimenting with what's next.

I know that might feel scary right now. But if you've stayed this long reading this, I'm talking to the part of you that already knows I'm speaking the truth, and knows you're destined for big things, my darling.

Trust it. Let's talk, and let's see what wants to be born next.

❤️‍🔥

09/08/2026

Embers versus flames.

That's the distinction Dr. Sonal Bhatia and I made in our conversation on the Women Who Lead podcast.

Fire burns. It's dramatic, it's consuming, and if you get too close, you get hurt.

Embers are radiant. People want to come closer. But cross a boundary and you'll burn your hand.

We talked about the women in leadership who are still leading from fire. Not because they have to. But because they haven't yet found a way to soften without feeling like they're losing power.

And here's what I know. You don't have to choose between warmth and authority. Between being human and being respected. Between having a body that's alive and a career that's thriving.

Sonal left one of the most senior medical roles at Pfizer to found Ojas Vida — a platform bridging Ayurvedic wisdom and modern leadership. She understands depletion from the inside. She lived it. And she found her way back.

This generation of women leaders is doing something different. We're rolling up our sleeves. We're saying come on, let's go. We know what worked. We know what didn't. And we are not going to make the next generation figure it out alone.

That's what big sisters do.

Episode 3 of CEO Season is out now. Link in comments.

09/08/2026

5 things you should stop doing immediately if you're a woman in leadership who wants to finally get paid what you're worth.

Stop waiting for the annual review to bring up money.

Stop letting "exceeds expectations" be the whole ask.

Stop comparing your number to your last salary instead of the market rate.

Stop softening the ask with "no pressure though."

Stop assuming competence gets noticed without you saying anything at all. It doesn't, babe. I promise you it doesn't. I wish it did.

None of these fix themselves with time, honestly. They only fix with a sentence, said out loud, by you.

Comment FREEDOM and I'll send you my free Career Freedom Assessment, and let's get you paid.

❤️‍🔥

09/08/2026

Signs you’re in a job that rewards how nice you are more than how good you are.

Your reviews mention your attitude more than your output.

Being “such a team player” comes up more than any actual result.

The colleague who pushes back constantly somehow gets called “passionate” while you get called “difficult” for doing the same thing once.

Nice is not a strategy, gang. It was never going to be the thing that got you paid.

Comment FREEDOM and I’ll send you my free Career Freedom Assessment, and let’s get you valued for the right thing, babe. ❤️‍🔥

09/08/2026

Signs your workplace runs on loyalty instead of value, and why that always costs women more.

Tenure gets rewarded over impact.

“We’re like a family here” comes up whenever pay gets mentioned.

The people who’ve been there longest aren’t necessarily the best paid, just the most patient.

Loyalty is lovely. It has never once been a compensation strategy. Don’t let anyone convince you otherwise.

Comment FREEDOM and I’ll send you my free Career Freedom Assessment, and let’s get you paid for value, babe. ❤️‍🔥

09/07/2026

5 things I tell every woman who’s just been passed over for a role she was ready for, because someone needed to say them to me too.

One. This is data, not a verdict on you.

Two. Ask directly what the gap was, in specific terms.

Three. Don’t quietly downgrade your own ambition to protect yourself from being disappointed again.

Four. The right timing is rarely obvious in advance.

Five. Getting passed over once is not a pattern. Believing it’s a pattern is what actually makes it one.

Comment FREEDOM and I’ll send you my free Career Freedom Assessment, and let’s get you back in the running, babe. ❤️‍🔥

09/07/2026

5 things I tell every woman before she asks for a promotion, because nobody told me any of them either.

One. Ask before you feel ready, not after.

Two. Bring the evidence, don’t just describe it.

Three. Name the timeline, don’t leave it open ended.

Four. Let the silence after you ask sit there.

Five. If the answer’s no, ask exactly what would need to change for it to become yes.

None of this comes naturally the first time. That’s fine. Do it anyway.

Comment FREEDOM and I’ll send you my free Career Freedom Assessment, and let’s get you asking, babe. ❤️‍🔥

09/07/2026

This is for my people pleasers.

You know exactly who you are.

A conversation, an interview, a meeting that mattered, and somewhere in it you gave a little too much. Overcomplimented. Overshared. Leaned in a bit too far, agreed a bit too fast.

And afterwards, that specific feeling. Giving yourself the ick.

I call it ick mode, and I want to help you get out of it with something genuinely simple.

Next time you're in a meeting, hand on your chest. Hold yourself back with yourself. Not leaning forward. Not doing what I call people pleaser listening, the nodding, the performing, the making sure they know you're engaged.

Sit back instead. Rooted.

A rooted person knows who they are. They know what they're about. They're far less likely to come all the way forward and overgive, overperform, overexplain just to be liked in the room.

Hand on the chest. Spine straight. Sovereign.

Try it. See what happens.

❤️‍🔥

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