Black encourages women to let go of superwoman myth

By Lethbridge Herald on March 12, 2026.

Herald photo by Joe Manio Canadian singer, songwriter and motivation speaker Jully Black opened the University of Lethbridge International WomenÕs Day Leadership Conference at the Science Commons Atrium Wednesday.

By Joe Manio

Lethbridge Herald

The first thing Jully Black asked the room to do was clap, sing and laugh.

Within minutes of stepping onto the stage at the University of Lethbridge International Women’s Day Leadership Conference, the Canadian singer and speaker had hundreds of attendees high-fiving strangers and repeating affirmations out loud.

It wasn’t just an icebreaker. It was a way of breaking down the pressure many women carry — the expectation they must always be capable, composed and endlessly available.

“I’m very interested in moving through taking the ‘S’ off our chest,” Black told the sold-out crowd. “Taking that super off.”

The conference, now in its third year, centred on the theme Disrupting the Superwoman Narrative, Embracing the Power of Rest. The goal was to create space for conversations about leadership, wellbeing and the invisible expectations often placed on women in professional and personal life.

Organizer Martha Mathurin-Moe, vice-provost of Accessibility, Belonging and Community at the university, said the event is meant to encourage discussions that don’t always happen in everyday settings.

“This is really about creating space for networking, leadership and conversations with our community,” she said before the keynote. “It’s also about creating a space for our students to see what leaders could be and what they can aspire to become.”

The theme itself was chosen intentionally.

“Disrupting the superwoman narrative is really about creating spaces for innovative conversation about what rest looks like,” Mathurin-Moe said. “What does doing it all without taking care of yourself look like?”

For Black, the answer starts with honesty.

Throughout her keynote (part motivational talk, part musical performance) she moved easily between songs, storytelling and interactive exercises with the audience. At one point, she invited volunteers to complete a revealing sentence: If you really knew me, you would know…

The responses ranged from humorous to deeply personal, exposing vulnerability often hidden behind polished professional lives.

“I wanted to establish trust,” Black said after sharing her own story of surviving childhood abuse. “I’m not surviving anymore. I’m thriving.”

That openness set the tone for the rest of the keynote.

Later, Black led the audience through a spoken mantra, repeating each line together.

“You don’t get what you ask for,” she said. “You get what you believe.”

“What you believe about yourself shows up in your energy — how you walk into a room, how you sit in a meeting, whether you hide in the back or take up space.”

For many women, she said, the pressure to do everything has become so normalized that exhaustion is often worn like a badge of honour.

Black challenged that idea directly.

“A lot of us are sleeping, but we’re not resting,” she said. “Rest is different.”

She drew a distinction between self-care and what she called self-maintenance — routines that keep people functioning but don’t necessarily restore them.

“Getting your nails done or going to the spa — that’s maintenance,” she said with a laugh. “That’s like an oil change.”

Real self-care, she argued, requires deeper reflection.

“Am I thriving, or just running on autopilot?”

It also means confronting habits and expectations that quietly lead to burnout.

“Where am I saying yes because I’m afraid to disappoint someone?” she asked.

Near the end of her talk, Black invited the audience to take out their phones or notebooks and begin writing what she called a “resignation letter.”

Not to a boss, but to the expectations weighing them down.

Reading from her own example, she said: “I am resigning from the pressure to prove my worth through constant productivity. I am resigning from guilt when I rest. I am resigning from the belief that asking for help is weakness.”

Then she offered a new commitment.

“I am choosing rest without apology. I am choosing boundaries without guilt. I am choosing to be human instead of a machine.”

As the keynote wrapped up, many in the audience were still holding the resignation letters they had just written; a few sentences scribbled in notebooks or typed into phones.

Black smiled as she looked out at the crowd.

“You don’t get what you ask for. You get what you believe,” she reminded them.

And if the message of the morning had taken hold, it was this:

Maybe the most powerful thing a superwoman can do … is stop trying to be one.