The Stacy Sisters: What Happens When Women Choose Community Over Competition.
There are two questions people ask us more than any other at The Stacy Mansion.
The first: "Is the house haunted?"
The second — and the one I want to talk about today: "Do you girls actually get along?"
Every time I hear it, I smile. Because the answer is so much richer than a simple yes.
Danielle Ward, Kim Stelzer & Serena Riley — The Stacy Sisters — 📸 Nanci with an Eye Photography
Why We're Even Asked That Question
The fact that this question gets asked at all says something important — not about us, but about what we've all been taught to expect from women in proximity to each other.
After 20+ years in corporate environments and startups, I understand exactly where it comes from. We have been collectively conditioned to believe that women must compete with each other — that leadership positions are scarce, that there isn't enough room at the top for all of us, and that survival means protecting your own seat at the table above everything else.
I've lived through the consequences of that conditioning. I've been in organizations where women created toxic environments, where backstabbing and drama were survival strategies, where individual progression was prioritized over the health and growth of the whole team. And I understand it — I really do — because those women were operating inside a system that told them there was only one seat and they had better fight for it.
But here's what that system gets wrong: getting into a leadership position is a starting point, not an ending. Once you're there, you have a platform — and the most powerful thing you can do with it is use your voice to create more equity for the people around you. To build opportunities not just for the loudest and most visible, but for the ones who are unheard and unseen. To make the room bigger, not guard the door.
That's what I've tried to do in every leadership role I've held. And it's exactly how we run The Stacy Mansion.
And this isn't only true for women. It's true for every person who has ever felt unseen, unheard, or underestimated because of who they are. The responsibility of a seat at the table — any seat — is to make sure others don't have to fight as hard as you did to get one.
The Best Teams I've Ever Been On Have Been All Female
I want to say something plainly, because I think it deserves to be said without qualification:
Some of the best teams I've ever had the privilege of being part of have been entirely made up of women.
Not in spite of that fact. Because of it.
When women have a safe space to show up fully — to speak honestly, to lead where they're strongest, to be vulnerable without consequence — something extraordinary happens. The team stops sputtering and starts running on all cylinders. Trust deepens. Feedback becomes a gift instead of a threat. Strengths multiply because nobody is spending energy on self-protection.
That's what psychological safety does. And in my experience, when women are given the environment to practice it with each other, they are remarkably good at it.
“It’s not always effortless, but it’s always intentional.” — Serena Riley
What the Stacy Sisters Actually Look Like in Practice
So — do we actually get along?
Yes. And here's what that actually looks like.
The three of us, Danielle, Kim, and I, each bring distinct strengths to The Stacy Mansion, and we've learned to lean into that rather than fight it. Where one of us leads, the others step back and support. Where none of us has the answer, we collaborate, talk it through, and use a majority vote to move forward. For big moments — a new event format, a first-time experience, something none of us has navigated before — we're all in it together, watching and learning side by side.
It’s not always effortless, but it’s always intentional.
What has validated this approach more than anything is our guests. The feedback we receive consistently reflects something they feel when they're with us — a sense of ease, of warmth, of three people who genuinely enjoy what they're doing and genuinely enjoy each other. They can feel when a team is in sync. And ours is.
That didn't happen by accident. It happened because we made a choice, from the very beginning, to operate from a place of trust rather than territory.
The Stacy Mansion — Tecumseh, MI
What's Possible When We Choose Community
Women who collaborate — who build community instead of competition — create better teams, better outcomes, and better futures. Not just for themselves, but for their communities and every woman who comes after them.
And it doesn't stop there. The allies — whoever they are — who actively create space for others to lead, to rise, and to be fully seen, allow that momentum to compound in ways that change entire organizations and industries. Allyship isn't a gesture. It's a practice. And when it's practiced by people with power and platform, the room gets bigger for everyone.
The Stacy Mansion is a small proof point of something much bigger. Three women, a beautiful 1848 historic home, and a shared belief that there is more than enough room for all of us.
Not just at the table.
In the whole house.
