Belinda May is a passionate advocate of the need to develop inner confidence. In our film together you will hear her describe that process being ‘like oxygen’, enabling us the freedom to explore who we are.
Belinda speaks candidly about her life, before and after her diagnosis of a life-threatening disease for which there is no cure. The medication that saves her life, also threatens it. Belinda will share the impact of her disease and her early childhood tragedy with raw and sometimes spicy truth, and the inner confidence she gained as a result of both. She is a dedicated proponent of laughter and of being curious about our circumstances with compassionate humour.
Initially, feeling she had no chance to secure a job after college (despite a secret thought of being a global flight attendant), Belinda became fascinated by law and decided to take what she describes as the ‘safer’ route by studying to become a lawyer.
At the height of her career as Partner at Dentons, she is the senior member of the Dentons Consumer Products team, where she practices a unique blend of consumer product safety, products liability and accessibility law. It was during her tenure at Dentons that she received her diagnosis and has been on a journey of awareness, self-acceptance, compassion and building inner confidence, ever since.
Belinda started Dentons’ Disability/Accessibility ERG and has been named to a number of leadership positions, both inside and outside of the organization. In addition to being recognized as a 2024 Best Lawyer In America, she recently received the rare and humbling honour of being a Chambers Ranked Band One Attorney, nationally and individually, for products liability/regulatory. She was named a Global Ambassador for PurpleSpace, the world’s only professional organization hub for disability ERG leaders, their employers and allies. She describes her work with PurpleSpace as amongst the most meaningful of her life’s experiences and passions.
Belinda continues as co-chair of the Dentons Disabilities/Accessibility Employee Resource Group (ERG), a member of the US Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Committee and a past member of Dentons Global Inclusion Advisory Council. She is an Allyship 3.0 Leader, and was featured in the firm’s Global Storytelling Montage and Purpose Statement, having introduced “Storytelling” as a key component of many of the Firm’s employee resource groups and diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. Her work as a Stanford University Ambassador, “Applied Neuroscience of Compassion” and her work as a PurpleSpace Global Ambassador, reflect a life passion embracing common humanity. You will be riveted by Belinda’s story, her passion and her drive and come away with some ideas to try. I particularly loved her description of seeing her diagnosis as a gift of awareness, which she feels has led her through many successes in life.
These interviews are brought to you with thanks to remarkable people choosing to share their learning about developing inner confidence so that others can learn faster.
Once you have listened, we ask one thing from you: send the link to the film to five others who you think might be able to pass on the messages to five others.
We are on a mission at PurpleSpace to cascade a universal definition of inner confidence, a strong expectation of a positive outcome, and to share the practical things we can do to navigate our working worlds while managing disability.
Enjoy this episode.
