Ready to negotiate your worth with confidence? Join Rosie Zilinskas as she sits down with Dorothy Mashburn, an interview and salary negotiation coach, to discuss how women of color can effectively advocate for their professional value. Dorothy shares powerful phrases and strategies to help you rewrite your inner dialogue, communicate your worth, and walk away feeling empowered. Discover how to reframe negotiation as a problem-solving conversation, delay providing a number, and leverage your accomplishments to maximize your compensation.

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From Hesitation To Confidence: Dorothy Mashburn’s Proven Strategies To Ace Your Next Salary Negotiation

Picture this. You’re sitting across the table from a hiring manager, and you are now ready to discuss your salary. What’s going through your head right now? Are you exuding unshakeable confidence, or are you second-guessing every word that is coming out of your mouth? My guest is going to help you feel more confident in your negotiation conversations.

We have an excellent episode lined up for you. We are kicking 2025 off by diving into the art of negotiation. Specifically, we want you to flip the script on how those high-stakes salary talks will go. We’re going to chat about a few things. We’re going to talk about why negotiation is really a problem-solving conversation. We’re going to go over some powerful phrases that I think is going to make you a better negotiator, and we’re going to rewrite that inner dialogue that you have, that inner narrative on walking away knowing that you were able to communicate your professional value.

You’re going to leave with some actionable tips after this episode. Let me go ahead and introduce you to our guest. Dorothy Mashburn is an Interview and Salary Negotiation Coach, and she is on a mission to help women of color and allies in executive roles to confidently negotiate their professional value. This is one of those conversations where you will want to take notes. With that, let’s dive in into this game-changing conversation with Dorothy.

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Dorothy, thank you so much for being here. How are you doing?

It’s great to be here. I’m doing fantastic. Thanks for having me here.

The Art Of Negotiation: A Problem-Solving Conversation

It’s hard to believe we’re already in 2025 and we’re kicking off the year. I think this is actually a perfect conversation to kick off 2025. You’re an Interview and Salary Negotiation Coach, and I think women especially struggle so much to really showcase their value. There are amazing women all over the world, but I think the lack of confidence and how to actually position yourself so that someone can actually see the value on what you bring to the organization or the job, the role, whatever it is. I want to kick off the conversation with, let’s just define what we’re going to be talking about first. When we talk about negotiating, what does negotiating mean to you, Dorothy?

Negotiating, to me, is a problem-solving conversation that you have with your future employer. We are talking about salary negotiation. Of course, negotiation can take many forms, but it’s a problem-solving conversation at its very basic fundamental sets. Now there are a lot of Hollywood action sequences and where they’re like being extremely glib and sharp and going back and forth and it’s one-upping one another. It’s none of that.

It’s really, you have a basket of goods and services that you’re bringing to your employer, and the employer wants you. How do you now come to a middle ground on what they want to pay for you and what you’re going to be happy with? That’s really it. If you think of it that way, that fear goes away and you feel more confident.

Preparation Is Key: Building Confidence And Maximizing Compensation

I always tell my clients and my readers that the more preparation you do, that’s how you gain more confidence about yourself. You start understanding who you are and you know what your strengths are and how you actually can talk about your strengths so that you can tell someone, “I can help you meet your goals.”

I think when hiring managers hear that, they’re like, “You want to help me meet my goals,” instead of what’s in it for you only, I think that makes a big difference. I like that you say the conversation is where the magic happens. When you are starting to work with some of your clients and you do interview and negotiation, where do you start? What are the basics that women need to know and understand about the negotiation process?

One thing I will say is this is fresh in my mind because I’m just working with this client and she came to me on the eleventh hour and said, “I have a job offer and now can you help me negotiate?” I can absolutely help you negotiate, but what you need to remember is negotiation happens at first contact. Everything you say to your future employer, whether it’s the recruiter or whether it’s your employer like your hiring manager, you need to think about everything you say needs to be towards maximizing your compensation. It’s really not about getting the job. It is that, of course, but it’s everything I’m going to say from this point forward is about how do I maximize my compensation package.

I hear a lot of women say, “I’m not in it for the money,” or, “The service or the work itself is the driver,” absolutely. You don’t want to work somewhere where it’s soul-crushing. That’s your table stakes. Don’t go in thinking, “I’m not in it for the money.” Guys don’t do that. Guys want to maximize because they want to be paid for the value that they bring. You’re not going to work for free. That’s like your mindset piece and also the where do you start your negotiation. The second piece is try to delay providing a number as long as you can because you don’t know. We know. We’ve been in corporate long enough where job descriptions don’t actually capture all the work that you’re going to be doing.

It’s going to sound, “This is very basic. I can do this and they’re going to pay me $300,000. Great,” but then you get into the role and you’re now traveling every week. You are managing people that you performance manage out, but yet you have to work with them. There are all kinds of nuances when you get into a role that you didn’t account for. The best thing for you is to say, “Let me understand this role a little bit better, then I can give you an educated answer on what I expect for the compensation.”

I think a lot of times when you are in those conversations and employers to ask you right off of that, “How much do you want to make?” I think they put you on the spot. I’ve been in conversations like that where I say, exactly, “I don’t really know enough about the role. I really need to understand it a little bit better.” They come back with a second question. “If you were to have your ideal salary, what would it be?” What would you say in that particular situation, Dorothy?

As you said, try to delay. If you say the number first, it’s like you lose kind of mentality. What would you say if someone is in that same situation? A lot of times, employers just really want to cut to the chase. They want to save time, and of course it helps those people that are seeking for jobs right now because they don’t want to apply for a job if it’s $100,000 less than what they need to live. What would you say in that situation when you’re trying not to say the number, but they’re insisting on you saying a number?

To your earlier point, that’s why preparation is important. You at least need to have what I call a three-part number. It’s your want and then your wish, and then your walkaway. There are different ways of categorizing them. Your desired salary is let’s say you’re making $150,000 and any time you usually say, “If I’m going to shift and learn about something new, I want to at least a 20% increase.” That’s your desire. Your dream is like your ideal, like if everything went my way, so maybe that’s $220,000. Your deal breaker number will be something that is maybe exactly $150,000 or below $150,000.

You triage that range before you have that conversation. The way to do it is, of course, check your websites and work with a salary negotiation expert who can benchmark your salary for you. You have that prepared to keep it in your back pocket. Your employer will say like, “I really need it,” like you asked. If you insist. What you do is provide a range. The range is going to be between your desired and your dream. Let’s say $180,000 to $220,000, and you leave yourself some wiggle room there.

People usually ask, “Can you then go back?” You can absolutely go back if during the negotiation process, you find out, “This really needs to be $280,000.” You then have the justification later through the conversation that, “When I provided you my range, this was my understanding of the job description. However, through the interviews, I found out X, Y, Z, and so now my requirement is $280,000 or $290,000.”

Unlock Your Value: Steps To Determine Your Professional Worth

We talked a little bit when we first had our call about determining your market value, and determining your professional value. Some people call it determining your worth. What are the steps that we need to take in order to get to that market value or that professional value, whatever that dream salary that you want? When I am thinking about a compensation package, it’s not just what my salary is, but it’s like benefits and vacation or paid time off and all those things. What are the steps to actually get to determining your professional value?

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I recommend three data points. One, you simply go to the known sites like Payscale or salary calculators, any of the generic sites. You go to specific sites. I’ll give you three. Levels.FYI, Team Blind and then H1BData.info. What these are, are specific, so you will know what a senior staff engineer in Apple makes because they’ve asked people to provide their salary information, and they’ve done a regression analysis to find the optimal median compensation package. That’s going to have your base salary, your long-term incentives, all of the things that make up a comp package. That’s second.

Your third is absolutely important. It’s going to your alumni groups to reach out and say what is the range since you graduated that you’re seeing in your industry, in your market, in your geography? Those three things will determine it. You triangulate to come up with that range of desired and dream salary number. Of course, there are more specific paid sites, which generally individuals don’t have access to because they’re like more expensive, like ERI, ECRI. Those provide salary benchmarking information. You can always add that as a fourth data point to really have good factual information.

For you, Dorothy, as a negotiation coach, if someone comes to you and says, “Help me determine my professional value or market value,” are those the same steps that you take then with them to determine their market value?

Yeah, absolutely. Every situation is so personalized. For example, I’m working with a client who’s working in a big tech company, and they have an offer of $600,000 in equity for her. However, the work that she’s going to be doing is very specific, and there’s not a lot of people who are going to be available. Her demand is super high. $600,000 is the median for an engineer in equity in this company. However, because she’s so niche, we do have the ability to add another $200,000 in request for equity for her. It’s again very dependent on what skills you bring and how do you position that so that you can then ask for that extra whatever the number is for you.

Crafting Your Script: The Power Of Phrases In Negotiation

What are some other steps as far as using the right phrases? I call it, like crafting your script and it goes back to preparation because if you don’t have the right phrases when you’re positioning your value, that’s where you might have the skills. If you’re not able to articulate that you have those skills, that’s where things can fall flat or go wrong. Tell me a little bit about how you come up with the right phraseology and how you work with your clients to determine those important phrases.

I think it goes back to a little bit about preparation. Preparation doesn’t sound sexy, but it is so important. For the preparation piece, you want to understand what problem is this hiring manager trying to solve? The phrases then will be what they’re trying to solve. This is actually a real-life example. This is a program manager. They’re late on a project and they’re desperate to get somebody in their role so that the project is back on timeline. Now, you’ve discovered 2 or 3 things here. He’s desperate. He’s also wanting somebody to hit the ground running. Also, he doesn’t have time to have a long learning curve.

When you know that, when you understand that, you can then phrase saying things like, “In my past job, I came into a hot mess.” Of course, you would be professional. “I came into a hot mess and nobody was there to train me. I learned my ropes really quickly, and I was able to deliver on time and under budget.” That’s a tweak that would be very personalized. Immediately, you’re going to hear that hiring manager perk their ears, like, “This is the same situation.” Before, the phrase you’ve got to hear, so talk less. Let them talk more. Of course, there’s data even that in an interview, the person who talks most feels like the interview went well. If they talk more, it’s a twofold benefit for you. One, you learn more about them, and two, they feel the interview went really well, so let them talk.

The second phrase is when you are in the in the nitty gritty of the negotiation they may say, “I can only go to $190,000.” You start asking, like, “Help me understand what your constraints are.” That’s a great phrase to show curiosity, and also to understand their problems. Believe them. If they say, “Budget is a constraint,” don’t have a doubt. I was working with a client, and they’re like, “Do they really mean that?” It’s like you have to believe what people say because you don’t know anything else. You believe that, yeah, budget is constrained. The second phrase is, “Help me understand where you do have flexibility, and then I’ll try to work with you so that we can come together and have a solid plan that works for both of us.” Does that answer your question?

Yeah. I like those two phrases. Help me understand the constraints and then help me understand where you have flexibility. I think those are really key phrases, because it opens up the door on the conversation. I think it’s so interesting too that the person that actually talks the most is the one that thinks that the interview went really well. When I’m thinking of the interviews that I’ve had, a lot of times, I was just letting the hiring manager dictate the cadence of the conversation. I think nowadays, things are a little bit more relaxed. I wouldn’t have any qualms about asking questions during the interview. Is that something that you would agree with?

Absolutely. Have an organic conversation. If everything goes well, this is a person you’re going to be working with. It’s a relationship you’re building. Treat it like that versus it being extremely formal and very rigid. Be organic. It’s the best way to even suss out if this is the right environment for you. If you’re somebody who likes to be more relaxed and they’re not, then you know that this is probably not a right fit. You may still take the job depending on what you need to do, but you know what you are getting into eyes wide open.

Are there any other powerful phrases that you use outside of that negotiation conversation, Dorothy, that could really help someone understand how to talk about their strengths? Are there any other key phrases that are your go-to phrases?

I think the curiosity mindset and however you want to articulate in your own words. People use like to use the seven phrases. “You’ve got to do better than this,” or, “Deal or no deal,” I ask people to avoid these catchphrases because every negotiation is nuanced to that individual, and you want to be able to be adaptable and flexible. Similar to what you just said, do you let the person sitting next to you next dictate how the conversation goes? I think that’s the best way, to let the conversation unfold and then adapt your style to that.

One of the things that I always tell people is have your closing phrase that you’re going to say, because I think leaving with a really good, powerful phrase like, for example, “I really look forward to working with you,” or, “I really look forward to hearing from you.” Do you have any closing phrases like that?

In technical parlance, we call it an anchor, a visual, or a verbal anchor. That’s exactly that. It’s basically your signature thing that you’re going to say throughout. This is corny, but maybe you say, “I’m the GPS of the organization. I help people find their True North.” Let’s say you said that in the beginning. Close with that. Not the exact phrase, but you’ll say like, “I am fully committed to delivering the True North in this business when I joined the team.”

Do show excitement, like exactly what you said, “I look forward to hearing back from you,” or, “I’m excited about coming to add value to you.” Always make it about them versus saying, “I’m looking forward to getting this job.” You wouldn’t say that. You would come and say, “I’m looking forward to growing your revenue,” or, “I’m looking forward to cutting costs.” Close with that, but do use that signature phrase, what feels natural to you throughout the interview.

The Curiosity Mindset: Uncovering Golden Nuggets And Building Rapport

I know you have some golden nuggets in your interviews that you generally talk to your clients about. What are some of the golden nuggets that you use during the interview process?

What a golden nugget is those hidden pieces of information within a negotiation that you are unearthing. You’re mining for it. This is why letting them talk more helps because you are trying to unearth these golden nuggets. This is not my phrase. It’s from Chris Voss who’s the FBI negotiator, and now has his own consulting company. He talks about you are looking for those phrases. One example I gave you, “We are under a constrained budget. The program is behind time and over budget.” That’s a piece of golden nugget. You have leverage because they don’t have time to look for a bunch of people now. You can put yourself in that high-power negotiation seat.

The other thing that you can get is ask, “What’s keeping you up at night,” and then let them talk. That will be the biggest problem that will come to the thing they say is the biggest problem. You say, “I solved this exact problem in X, Y, and Z company.” That gives you leverage. This is how you unearth those golden nuggets.

In a commercial negotiation, what I will usually ask for is, “Do you want to do a partnership deal? What’s going on with your career?” Of course, many conversations into is when you ask, and let’s just say they say, “I want to look good in front of my VP of sales.” I know that this individual is motivated to close the deal, and so then I know I have more leverage and more power. That’s where you move from the professional to the personal, to the professional, to the personal, to get those typical golden nuggets to get more power towards your side.

What I’m hearing is that we really need to employ our active listening, but that’s really hard, Dorothy, because when you’re in an interview and you haven’t met these people before, you’re thinking about, “What am I saying? How am I doing?” The brain is so preoccupied by us. What is maybe a way that you can shift that from thinking just about me to thinking about the other person and employing that active listening? What do you usually recommend for your clients for that?

One of the preparation pieces that I do with my clients is understanding your fears. Typically, there are 2 or 3 fears that most people have, like fear of success, fear of failure, or fear of judgment. For each individual, it’s a little bit different. For me, it’s fear of success. For some people, it’s fear of judgment. Knowing and telling yourself that I do have this, naming the emotion, “I’m feeling fear right now, I need to like have a check in with myself,” while you are in the interview, really helps.

First, you’ve got to identify what is the fear that mostly comes up for you. When you are keeping an active check on yourself during the interview saying, “How am I doing? Am I still being confident? Am I cool under pressure? If not, which fear or what is coming up for me?” Naming it in your mind then allows you to slow yourself down.

That almost sounds to me a little bit like being aware of emotional intelligence, understanding your emotions, and understanding, like you were saying, with your fears. I worked with another woman, her name is Joy Selden, and she talks about being very present and even going to the bathroom beforehand and just taking five minutes, even if you’re in the bathroom stall, and just breathing through those emotions and identifying those fears. That’s all part of emotional intelligence. I think once you do that, you go into the interview a little bit calmer, where you can pay attention to the other person and less attention on the nervousness that you’re feeling. That anxiety and nervousness can sometimes be paralyzing.

One of my sales colleague friends gave me this tip exactly. She goes into the bathroom before her meeting. She’s worried about closing, quota and all the things that salespeople have to worry about. She says, “I create a mental parking spot like literally where my car is parked. I put all of that there and say like, ‘For now, it’s sitting here. When I come back, I will get back and put it back in my head.’” that’s just a mental exercise she does before every meeting so that she’s not sounding desperate when she’s trying to sell. I try to apply the same thing when I’m going into a negotiation or a job interview. I haven’t interviewed in a while, but that’s what I teach my clients as well, like, “This is what you need to be.” Something that works for you, like the parking space.

The active listening is what helps you identify those golden nuggets, and then you can bring those back through.

Remember to talk less. That will help. Remember to check in with yourself to see how your emotional state is.

“Remember to talk less and check in with yourself to see how your emotional state is.” – Dorothy Mashburn Share on X

Gender Differences On Negotiation: Overcoming Societal Programming And Owning Your Worth

Towards the start of our conversation, you mentioned the difference between men and women. I’m assuming you coach both men and women. I’m always so curious, and to me, it’s fascinating how men behave one way and women behave another way. When it comes to negotiation and when it comes to really showing your worth and your value, I’m sure you’ve seen that that meme of a cartoon of a male and a female, and the male is looking at himself in the mirror.

He’s bald and he’s got a potbelly, and he’s like, “Pretty good, man.” The woman is all skinny and pretty, her hair’s made, and she’s like, “I look terrible.” That mindset of society, like we are so programmed to have to do our hair and our makeup and be skinny and all those perfect things, whereas guys are just like, “Whatever,” generally, from that meme. When it comes to negotiation, what is your experience when you work with women versus working with men?

I could spend days on this topic. This is one of my favorite topics. First of all, men don’t hesitate to invest in themselves. It’s interesting, Rosie. I primarily work with women and women of color, but not that the doors are closed for anybody who needs help. If I focused on men, I would be a millionaire. Honestly, it’s like they don’t hesitate to invest.

I think it starts there where women have so many competing things in our brains that have been put in our heads where think about others, care for others, taking care of yourself is selfish. All of this social programming that we have to deal with, similar to the meme, “I’m beautiful except I have this tiny little wrinkle here, and I now I’m old,” or whatever.

That is very prevalent. From first contact, I see that between men and women. Women generally think that, this is not everybody, they are doing you a favor by giving you a job. Men usually come at the negotiation thinking that, “I’m awesome. They’re lucky to have me.” Some version of that. When you have that change, it automatically puts you in a position of power. When you think of yourself as, “I’m awesome. They’re lucky to have me, and if they don’t get me, then it’s their loss, versus, “I really need this job and I can do anything, and I’ll learn from them.” That humility is good, but not good for your self-confidence.

“Humility is good, but not good for your self-confidence.” – Dorothy Mashburn Share on X

Those are the major glaring. Now, there is studies that have shifts changed that women are asking for more. Before, women were not asking for more. It’s like that famous study by Linda Babcock. Women weren’t asking. Now there’s a study by Stanford where women are asking for more, but are getting denied more. There are some unconscious biases that women are now facing where the norm has been established that women don’t ask, men ask. Now you’re going against that norm by asking, so you’re being denied more.

There are some systemic problems that women face, for sure. We know this. For the most part, it’s the confidence and the mindset of thinking that the authority figure knows best. I’m going to be in this a subservient position to that authority figure and take what they give you. That’s, generally speaking, the difference in the mindsets.

I hate that so much because I grew up being a rule follower. I’m still a rule follower. I always say rules were made for a reason to protect us etc., but that mindset is so hard to do away with, because you’re right. Whenever we see an authority as we’re growing up, you’re like, “They know best.” When you are an adult and you’re trying to negotiate, and that word subservient, which I hate that word, but you do feel that subservient role where, they’re the executive, they’re the hiring manager, they’re whoever. Do you have any recommendations when your clients are feeling that, like, “The authority person knows best?” What can we do to dissipate that mindset?

One of the things that helped my client, one client was going to ask for a pay raise. She was terrified that they would say no or it would make the relationship awkward. One of the exercises that we did was write down all the things you are great at. It sounds simple and trite, but you use a friend or a person of expertise. We said, “You grew up market in Singapore. Did you have any help?” “No.” “Has that been done before in your company?” “No.” “You trailblazed in a brand-new market, brand new language, brand new culture, and you grew revenue by 20%.” When I said that, she was like, “Yeah, I did that.”

Writing down all the things you have done and how accomplished you are help you to a certain degree. Don’t take that lightly. Do take the time to do it. If you feel stuck, get a friend to tell you what are you awesome at? Second, you alluded to this, you are no longer a child. Authority figures don’t have the same power over you anymore. Thinking, like changing, rewiring that, and maybe even having a sticky on your desk saying like, “I am awesome,” or, “I’m charismatic and influential,” whatever that affirmation is, and looking at it every day, I promise you it helps.

I think that’s such a huge golden nugget that you just provided us, because you do have position yourself as the expert, the expert of whatever it is that you do. You are the expert. You know your stuff. Now you have to position yourself so that you are not in that inferior role as you’re having the conversation. Once you become aware of that, then you can use those power phrases to try to showcase your value and have those discussions with the hiring manager. I think that’s so important to understand those gender differences in negotiating.

One of my friends, she’s a coach, and she’s like, “It’s so funny because women will call me to cancel or to reschedule an appointment and they’re like, ‘I’m so sorry. I can’t meet today. I have to take my son to the doctor because he had a fever and I have to do stuff.’ they give me their life story. Whereas men will call and say, “I can’t meet today. See you next time. Bye.’” you’re like, “Wait, what?”

It’s so incredible how we feel like we have to justify our actions all the time. Obviously, in a performance review, you have to justify your value with the different projects and accomplishments you had. We also have to stop apologizing all the time for no reason. When I was an executive, women would say, “I’m sorry, can I ask you a question?” I’m like, “Don’t say sorry, just ask the question.” Those gender differences. Is there any other thing that come pops up at you when it comes to dealing with men and women in that negotiation realm?

The apology is big. One other piece of information that helps and is supported by research is taking up space. It may be comfortable like when you’re in your heels and all of that to sit like this, but those verbal the body language cues are huge. People who study body language to me are doing amazing work because that’s like our lizard brain tuning into all of the cues.

Take up space in your interview or your negotiation. Don’t be conscious about that. Men take up space. Even if you look at political debates. If you look at the body language of Hillary versus Trump. Trump, if you see him on the podium, he’s like this, and Hillary’s like this. Regardless of where you fall on the on your political views, but he took up space, so he looked powerful. The same thing applies for you when you’re doing your interview. It’s instinctual to be like this, but really it should be like this.

Dorothy’s Journey: From Immigrant To Interview And Negotiation Coach

I’d like to shift the conversation a little bit to your story, Dorothy. Tell us a little bit about how you became an Interview and Salary Negotiation Coach, because you’re very specific, very niche. Tell me about your career and where you figured out that, “I really need to help people in this particular niche?”

I am an immigrant to the United States. I came to the US when I was eighteen. I just got on a plane and came here. My family is all back in India. It was really hard, Rosie. I didn’t know any of the culture. I didn’t know the hidden language of Corporate America. No social networking support or structure. I knew that I was ambitious enough and I wanted to do big things because I’ve sacrificed so much. It was like a lonely, frustrating journey with lots of trial and error and I’ll save the tears for another day. I figured it out but it was through lots of bruises and skin scrapes and negative feedback like, “You shouldn’t have said this.” I corrected then, and opposite feedback came like, “You should have said this.”

I got to the other side and another feedback. A few things I realized was people who give you feedback are not always qualified to give you feedback. This is something I learned over many trials and errors. I realized that other women and particularly women who are not like, say, first generation in Corporate America, or they’re first generation in college from their families or they’re immigrants, they don’t have the rule book for these unwritten rules of engagement. Men either learn it in the playground or they have their networking or their whatever. They teach each other. I don’t know. They know it.

“People who give you feedback are not always qualified to give you feedback.” – Dorothy Mashburn Share on X

I was ad hoc over the years bringing women under my wing to say, “Do this and work for me.” They were so thankful and grateful. I started doing a lot of commercial negotiations, about 600 now, globally. I was like, “How do I connect these two passions where I’m helping people and also using my skills in a way that impacts people positively?” Of course, as you said, there is a difference between how women approach negotiation and men. There’s a fear about negotiation. I was like, “This is perfect. This is my mission.” I see the gender pay gap. Still, women are still getting $0.80 to the dollar for what men make. I was like, “This is my sweet spot. Even if I don’t make any money doing this business, I’m going to be helping people. And this is it for me.”

I started watching a new series. It’s called Landman. It’s with Billy Bob Thornton, and he’s an operations manager for an oil company, but his job is on the field where all the oil rigs are and the drills and all that stuff. They brought in this young female lawyer, and she was a really good negotiator, but then she became a total representative of the company and not the people. I was like, “Great scene to demo how a young woman could come in and be a strong negotiator,” but she went way the other way to where she was screwing people. I was like, “That doesn’t work.”

She became the villain.

Dorothy, you’ve given us a ton of amazing tips on negotiating and interviewing. Is there maybe one specific item or tip that you want to lead the reader with that they can implement pretty much right away?

Top 10 Accomplishments: A Confidence-Boosting Exercise For Women

I will ask you to, after you read this, go write down ten things that you’re amazing at. It can be you are a great mom because you did this. It can be you are a great spouse. It can be work related. Whatever it is, write down ten things, and then stick it on a sticky note in front of your laptop or where you brush your teeth, wherever you will see it. Just do that and I promise you, it does make a difference. It has made a difference for me in my confidence and it will for you.

I love that tip because one of my coaches had me do that very thing for all of my business, like, “Write down all of the accomplishments that you’ve had in 2024.” I was like, “All right, whatever.” As I was going through it, I was like, “Oh my God.” You always think like, “I didn’t really get anything done this year.” When you start going through and really defining all the things, I’ve been named one of the top nine female coaches in Women’s Life Coaching magazine and Thinkers360 has named me as one of the top 125 podcasts in 2025 to listen to.

Those are all amazing things, but when you think about like, “Okay, whatever,” but then once you actually put it all together, it really does help you not only with your confidence and see how far you’ve come in one year. I absolutely love that tip. Thank you so much. All right. Any final words on what women can do to negotiate a little bit better, Dorothy?

The Misogi Challenge: Setting Goals And Achieving Success In 2025

Final word. I guess when you were telling me the story about looking back at your year, there’s a Japanese Shinto ritual called misogi. What it is, is you make a goal for yourself. “2025 is the year I did this,” so that you can look back and think about it. What my challenge for you guys is, if you’re making $200,000 now, you say, “2025 is the year I went up to $300,000.” Do the thing that you need to do to get to $300,000. If you’re making $150,000, make it $250,000, wherever you are. You’ll get there, I promise you.

Dorothy, thank you so much.

Important Links

• Dorothy Mashburn
• Promotion Readiness Quiz
• Unlock The Leader Within
• Payscale
• Levels.FYI
• Team Blind
• H1BData.info
• Dorothy Mashburn LinkedIn
• The Executive Edge

About Dorothy Mashburn

Dorothy Mashburn is an Interview and Salary Negotiation Coach on a mission to help women of color (and allies!) in executive roles confidently negotiate their value. Her services include under-the-radar job search strategies, interview mastery, and creating tailored compensation negotiation plans. With over 20 years of experience in hiring, recruitment, and negotiations, she has been recognized as a LinkedIn Top Executive Coaching Voice.