The Power of Woman: Finding Your Feet with Rachel Kolisi

What do you think of when you think of a powerful woman? Ask mainstream media and you’ll probably get a mixed bag of answers. Is it the ability to keep going when things feel hopeless? A woman who honours her world through inner authenticity? Bravery, maybe. Or sheer strength and determination. Perhaps it's a combination of all the above.

It's a fascinating topic to ponder on, and one we don't talk about often enough. So, we put it to one of the most recognised women in the country and asked her to think out loud with us.

Speaker. Author. Philanthropist. Founder of the Falling Forward Foundation. Rachel Kolisi shares her thoughts on the topic.

"I used to think power meant being able to endure anything without allowing people to see that it affected me," Rachel says. "Now, I believe power is knowing yourself deeply enough to be honest about what you need."

That’s a short sentence which leads to a lot of introspection. Power stops being a performance and becomes something closer to self-knowledge. It can look like courage, she says, but it can just as easily look like asking for help, setting a boundary, resting, or admitting you don't have the answers. "Power is not about being unshakeable. It is about trusting that, even when life shakes you, you can find your feet again."

Strong Enough to Put It Down

When talking about the pressure women feel to keep performing strength, Rachel doesn't hesitate. "Women are often celebrated for how much we can carry, which can make us feel as though putting something down is a failure," she says. "We become so good at keeping everything moving that people may not realise when we are struggling."

It's a complicated catch-22. Get good enough at coping and the coping disappears from view. Then it becomes the baseline that everyone assumes is the new “normal” that nobody questions, including the woman doing the coping. "Sometimes the strongest thing you can say is, 'I cannot carry this alone today.'"

There's a word Caterpillar Footwear uses often that takes on a whole new meaning here: ‘Carry’. A boot is built to be dependable and carry the weight consistently: heavy load, long hours, and tough conditions that take its toll.

Maybe that's a good perspective to remember the next time putting something down feels like admitting defeat. Even the toughest gear was never built to hold everything forever.

Outgrowing Yourself is Not the Same as Losing Yourself

This is a very important distinction that many of us may never have realised. Or if we have, how do we know the difference? Rachel has come to know what that means for her. Losing yourself, she says, is becoming disconnected from your own voice and values, usually while trying to survive or meet everyone else's expectations.

 Outgrowing yourself feels different. Uncomfortable, still, but in a different register, something in you expands and asks for more honesty.

"Outgrowing yourself is not about rejecting who you were. It is about honouring the woman who got you here while allowing yourself to become the woman you now need to be."

She's had to release identities that once felt central to her, roles that gave her belonging and purpose. But what’s truly important is what she took from this. "A role can be deeply meaningful without being the entirety of who you are. Releasing an identity does not erase what it meant. It simply creates space to discover what else is true about you."

A Soft Heart, a Firm Boundary

Softness gets misread constantly, and Rachel has a theory about why. "We have been taught to associate power with hardness," she says. "Softness can be mistaken for passivity because it does not always announce itself loudly".

But protecting it, in her life, is a practical business rather than a poetic one. Boundaries. Rest. Being deliberate about who has access to her. "I can be capable without being endlessly available”. Read that twice.

The same respect for boundaries is reflected in how Rachel talks about vulnerability. It's taken time, she says, safe people, and learning that vulnerability needs discernment rather than volume.

"Being vulnerable does not mean sharing everything with everyone. It means being honest in spaces where your truth will be treated with care."

Caterpillar Footwear has always been about showing up, doing the hard work, and carrying the load. But at the same time, recognising the importance of balancing firmness with softness.

Power Without an Audience

Philanthropy changed her definition of power completely, Rachel says, and not in the direction most people would guess. "Some of the most powerful people I have met are community members working quietly and consistently, often without recognition, to improve the lives of others."

This is a fresh perspective for most of us who’d imagine powerful people as corporate giants, politicians, or celebrities. Real leadership, in her experience, rarely announces itself. "It is often about creating space for the voices that have not been heard enough."

Which is why she's careful about where the finish line actually sits. "The goal should not be to make women better at surviving. It should be to create conditions in which they can truly thrive."

What Are You Building?

Maybe this is the root question underneath all others.

Not what have you achieved, or how many people you have helped.

What are you building in yourself?

Rachel’s answer is simple, yet profound. “I am building trust in myself”.

Trust in her own voice. Trust in her boundaries. Trust in decisions made from peace rather than pressure. And, maybe most importantly, trust that there is room to become someone new without rejecting the woman who came before.

That feels like a fitting definition of power for women everywhere.

Not perfection. Not endless resilience. Not having everything figured out.

Just the confidence to know yourself, the courage to keep evolving and the freedom to decide what strength looks like for you.

And then, in your own way, to keep walking.

Follow our socials to see Rachel’s favourite Cat picks, and head over to our website to find the shoe that complements your power.