Unbound

Unbound

A Woman’s Guide To Power

Summary

Stop being a servant of the life you’re living and become a creator of the world you want. Electrifying lessons in power, influence and persuasion to equalise women in an unequal world.

Why do so many women feel they're too much yet not enough? How can you feel ‘good and mad’ yet reluctant to speak up in a meeting or difficult conversation? What causes women to freeze at critical moments?

Kasia Urbaniak spent 17 years studying to become a Taoist nun. To foot the bill for her studies, she worked as a high-paid (and extremely successful) dominatrix in dungeons around New York City. What she learned in these two wildly different settings has turned into her life’s work.

UNBOUND brings Urbaniak’s unique teachings for women on speaking power, persuading others and navigating conflict to a mainstream audience for the first time. Part polemic, part practical, it opens women’s eyes to why they frequently find it so difficult – personally, professionally and socially – to raise their voices, why they freeze in challenging circumstances and what they can do to change this. Too often women find themselves in the role of ‘sub’ when they need to be more ‘dom’ – in short they are paralysed by their Good Girl Syndrome and a deep-seated need to please everyone and anyone except themselves.

UNBOUND offers precise, practical instruction in how to stand in your power, find your voice and use it well. Part manual, part manifesto, it will help you cut through layers of self-censoring and self-doubt to go after what you truly want, and live your wildest, best and most satisfying life.

Reviews

  • a master at unpicking power dynamics
    The Guardian

About the author

Kasia Urbaniak

Kasia Urbaniak is the founder and CEO of The Academy, a school that teaches women the foundations of power and influence. Her perspective on power is unique: over the course of nearly 20 years she worked as highly sought-after professional dominatrix and practiced Taoist alchemy in one of the oldest female-led monasteries in China. Since founding The Academy in 2013, Urbaniak has taught thousands of women practical tools to step into leadership positions in their relationships, workplaces, families and wider communities. She has spoken at numerous corporations and conferences worldwide, including MoMA, Wharton School of Business and the Yale School of Management, and is already the subject of much media attention, with interviews in The Guardian, NYT, Forbes and on BBC Capital, amongst others.
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