How to Become More Visible in Business: Lessons from 12 Brilliant Female Entrepreneurs

When I decided to interview successful businesswomen for The Visibility Shift, I thought the conversations would be about confidence and what it means to ‘show up’ for your business. Instead, it became something much bigger and more meaningful than that.

Through my conversations with network and award founders, sales trainers, PR strategists, stylists, hypnotherapists, magazine editors and digital marketers, I saw the same pattern repeating:

●      Visibility begins with bravery.

●      It grows through strategy.

●      And it compounds through credibility.

Not one of these women was naturally fearless. Not one of them “just got lucky". Each one made decisions that changed their business, and I’m thrilled to share their lessons with you.

Visibility Begins With Bravery

Let’s start with some honesty: none of the women I interviewed felt ready.

Even Debbie Gilbert, a multi-award-winning entrepreneur who stands on stage every year to host prestigious award ceremonies, told me:

“I actually hate the limelight. You've been at events where I don't want to be photographed if I'm honest.”

Not that different to most of us, right? As women in business, we’ve created something, built our brands, systems, and platforms, knowing - but often not liking - that we need to be seen for that business to grow. We watch other people doing it with admiration, and a feeling that we’re not like them - they must feel comfortable in that space. But perhaps those individuals are just as uneasy as we are.

Gillian Divine, a photography mentor who leads live training internationally, said:

“I remember when I did my very first live, I was shaking like a leaf.”

This really resonates with me, as I remember very well the first time I stood up and spoke in front of a group of business women at a networking group - I was quite literally terrified. I stumbled over my words and longed for it to be over, but then something happened. Once I had finished and sat down, I began to feel really happy, I had stepped out of my comfort zone and survived, more than that I'd succeeded. I'd done something so ‘uncomfortable’ but now... it felt good! I thought I can actually do this.

As Gill says “It absolutely shows even when you are scared, even when you're nervous, it

doesn't mean you can't do it. And it's like riding a bike, you just keep practicing”

For Zeenat Ahmed-Peto, the turning point was when she found herself asking a question:

“Am I just going to carry on the way I am, or am I going to actually go for it?”

A cognitive hypnotherapist, Zeenat was approaching a significant birthday and realised that she hadn’t been showing up the way she needed to. This question changed her trajectory.

She decided to become more visible. To be more successful, she needed to deliberately and strategically take steps to be seen. It’s a decision that led to publishing her book, making media appearances, and launching a book club community.

These moments of understanding happen differently and at different times for everyone.

There is often a catalyst for us when we start to realise, I need to be brave to move the needle.  A birthday or an event that brings into focus what we may be missing out on if we can’t be brave, could be the moment we choose to change our world.

Others may not give us the support that we need, but that’s not a reason, not to step into the limelight, after all they are not living our life - only we can decide what we need and want.

Amy Atkinson, a digital marketing strategist and creator of The Femtrepreneur, shared her deeply personal breakthrough. Early in her corporate career, she was told:

“Whatever you do, just don’t be yourself.”

Carrying those words for years, in her corporate career and then into her business, Amy held back, keeping her real self hidden. Her shift came when she realised she wanted to step out into the world as herself and that she’d be ok with her real personality being seen.

And Alex Standley described leaving the safety of global brands like M&S and Amazon to become “a team of one” as a huge leap of faith. With no corporate shield anymore, she was on her own.

“It was all me, all on me, and that was a huge leap of faith for me. I feel that many people share that with you, because there are lots of people who come from that corporate world, or a world where they've come from employment, and then they're suddenly standing by themselves, and it is really hard and it's daunting.”

 Dina Behrman shared that “there was a bit of a mindset shift that I had to make around viewing myself as an expert” before she could step into visibility for her own business. And Olivia Marocco  had always worked behind the scenes for years before stepping onto the stage to host her live event, Showtime.

“What makes you step out of the comfort zone is just kind of realising it's not as scary as you think…”  Hela Wozniak-Kay describes how she felt out of place and, in creating the Sister Snog network, created her own tribe, a place where she and so many other people could find their space.”

Across different industries and vastly different personalities, we see the same theme.

sales training expert and networking networking champion Enfys Maloney, reframed the whole idea of courage beautifully:

“I think there's this misconception… that we have to just take this one big leap. But actually, visibility is a big leap every day.”

This lesson really resonates with me. Bravery doesn’t mean confidence first; it means taking action despite the discomfort - and doing that every day.

I really believe this is true, one leap isn’t enough, but the more times we step out of our comfort zone the braver we will become and  the further we will travel, until we don’t really remember a time when the fear stopped us.

Visibility Grows Through Strategy

Enfys’ daily leap takes us to the next stage. Because, while it all starts with bravery, we need

strategy to build momentum.

One of the biggest misconceptions is that visibility is just about “posting more”. None of these women relied on random content. For each of them, understanding how they wanted to be seen and who by, was instrumental in taking those next steps, and it’s something I looked at in this blog post.

As Amy Atkinson put it, we need to be “everywhere that our ideal clients are because then you get the perception that you are everywhere, but you're not.”

You can’t be everywhere. Be everywhere that matters.

Let’s share some of the stories of how these entrepreneurs focused their visibility then.

Hela believes visibility isn’t complicated, but it does require consistency and intention. “If you're going to post on a Monday at 10 o'clock, do that. Or post once a week. Do that to be more visible as well.”

Her advice goes further: create something that’s associated with you - a book, a podcast, a movement - and give people a reason to say, “You’ve really got to meet her because…” In her words:

“Give them the ‘because.’”

For Zeenat, her first shift was simply showing her face. She initially hid behind a website without photos until she realised that adding professional images would make a huge difference to people looking for what she was offering.

“… having your photo on your website and on your all your social media, you know, sometimes I go on somebody's page and they've just got a logo and I'm still searching around trying to find who this mystery person is, and actually okay it's mysterious, but I would rather do business with a person, and particularly if you're in service industry people are going to be working with you so they want to know who you are, so I think that's really critical”

Gillian Divine built a free five-day live mini-course that became her focus. This ensured she maintained consistent, purposeful visibility - not sporadic posting. While Marie-Louise O’Neill carved out a niche and became known as “the go-to Canva person.” This clarity in her positioning made her memorable.

In her interview, Jade Thomas reflected on when she started networking in 2009. She realised that investing in professional headshots was so important: “networking and having some brand photos actually, really was that kind of leap into visibility.”

As a photographer, of course, I am going to say personal brand photography is one of the first things a business should invest in, but again and again the experts are backing me up and if we look at the stats imagery can have a real impact on our visibility.

• visuals paired with information increase memory retention to 65% compared to 10% for text alone.

• 60% of consumers are more likely to consider or contact a business that has an image appear in local search results.

While Dina Behrman reinforced the value of media opportunities, saying:

“You will need photos if you are going to be in the press.”

For owner and founder of the women's networking group Businesswomen Unlimited and the Viva Business Support, Debbie Gilbert, it wasn’t just about getting herself noticed, but also about getting other women seen too. She built her national awards because she saw that women were underrepresented. Winning awards had “catapulted” her business, and she knew it could do the same for other women.

Visibility requires planning and an understanding of your brand, your audience, and where they already are. You might think about:

●      Strategic networking

●      Clear niche positioning

●      Media and PR

●      Awards and recognition

●      A clear embodied personal style

●      Professional, aligned imagery

Both strategy and photography are fundamental to help you reach further. Strategy gives you direction. Photography gives you presence.

Amy Atkinson described how she refreshes her imagery each time she levels up in business, aligning her visual presence with her authority

“… when it comes to working collaboratively with a photographer, you want to make sure that they understand your brand. You want to make sure that they understand that the whole point in you doing this is, for you to stand out. You're not just having another freakin' headshot picture. Who cares?”

Visibility Compounds Through Credibility

The most powerful insight from the series was seeing the ripple effects of visibility on these women and their businesses.

●      Debbie saw firsthand that award recognition led to new clients and opportunities

●      Dina showed that PR doesn’t just bring exposure — it boosts authority, SEO and positioning

●      Olivia’s magazine has grown year on year, with Brand You Magazine’s reputation increasing, supporting her own visibility and influence, as well as those of the businesses published by her.

●      Enfys believes that her events fill because she shows up consistently

●      Zeenat’s increased visibility led to publishing Too Kind, opening doors to media, speaking and community-building

●      Alex started with an Instagram account to reclaim her creativity and went on to

●      become a TEDx speaker

●      Amy refreshes her brand visuals as she scales, understanding that each level of growth requires visual alignment

●      Hela’s credibility has come from creating spaces where women feel seen, building a reputation that has compounded through that community

None of these women relied on a single post going viral or on random ad hoc posting; they built ecosystems. They each knew that their plan for growth relied on visibility - strategic visibility.

So What Does This Mean For You?

If you’re waiting to feel confident before you show up, you’ll wait forever.

If you’re posting inconsistently without a strategy, you’ll burn out.

If you’re hiding behind a logo without showing your face, you’re making it harder for people to trust you.

If you’re trying to grow without aligning your visual presence with your level, you’re creating friction.

Even when they didn’t feel ready, these women made a choice. Because visibility isn’t about being loud, it’s about being aligned.

It begins with bravery.

It grows through strategy.

And it compounds through credibility.

So, the final question is: Are you going to carry on the way you are, or are you going to go for it?

If you need help being brave, being strategic, and gaining credibility, I’d love to you. Why not drop me a DM for a chat.

If you enjoyed the Visibility Shift Interviews ,I’m really excited to let you know I have another series of interviews starting April, called the Photography Shift ,so please do drop by and check them out in the meantime;

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📸 Collage images various photographers (including myself), the lovely Yolande de Vries, the wonderful Albane and others. Many Thanks x