And I Am Stella

Typing this feels like punishment — I just got my nails done at a new salon, and honestly, I have no idea how my fellow ladies function normally with nails. But something happened there at the nail salon today that I can’t shake off, so here I am, clacking away like a toddler discovering a keyboard.

It was my first visit. I didn’t even know the name of the salon or the owner — I just wanted a simple nail fix. The nail technician was cheerful and chatty, and before long, we were laughing about random things. I tend to do that — I like to know people’s names. Whether it’s at a restaurant, a salon, or a corner shop, I enjoy finding connection in ordinary places. It’s my quiet rebellion against life’s tendency to keep us strangers.

So, as we joked, I had given the technician a nickname and needed to ask, “What’s your real name anyway?”
She smiled, “Sophie.”
Her assistant followed as I turned in her direction, “Alice.”

I picked up my phone to check a beep and just then, from the corner of the room, the second assistant, who had been mostly quiet, said with a clear, almost defiant voice,

“And I am Stella.”

That simple statement hit me like a gentle thunderclap.
I hadn’t asked her. I didn’t even look her way. Yet she refused to let the moment pass her by.

And that — that was power.

In those four words was a kind of bravery we don’t talk about enough — the courage to step forward when life forgets to call your name. Stella didn’t wait to be included. She didn’t shrink into invisibility or let the moment define her silence. She claimed her space with something as soft as confidence and as fierce as self-worth.

Because sometimes, life will overlook you.
It won’t remember your name, won’t ask for your opinion, won’t hold a door open long enough.
And in those moments, you can either fade into the background… or you can say, “And I am here too.”

Her words became a lesson I didn’t know I needed.
Sometimes, you have to knock until your knuckles hurt.
Sometimes, you drag your own chair to the table because waiting for an invitation means you’ll never sit down.
Sometimes, you speak your name into the silence until it echoes back to you.

Stella could have sulked quietly, thinking maybe I didn’t care to know her. But instead, she named herself. And in that act, she reminded me that being seen begins with the courage to show up for yourself.

Maybe that’s the real of my story — life doesn’t always pause for introductions.
You have to be bold enough to introduce yourself.

So here’s to us, the Stellas of this world —
The ones who won’t let life forget them.


The ones who say their names until the room remembers.


The ones who remind the rest of the world that even when no one asks… you still belong.

You are created to shine. Shine brightly!