Why “girlboss” culture failed us
For a time, girlboss was a badge of honour. It signalled ambition without apology, independence with style. The term rose from Sophia Amoruso’s 2014 memoir #Girlboss, a celebration of self-made success in the digital age. It captured the optimism of millennial feminism: women could lead, build, and brand themselves on their own terms. But a decade later, the title has aged poorly. The girlboss did not fail because women lost ambition. She failed because the culture around her demanded performance instead of progress.
The birth of a brand
Girlboss culture emerged in a specific moment. The early 2010s were defined by social media growth, startup optimism, and the idea that visibility equalled power. Platforms like Instagram and LinkedIn turned personal success into public currency. The language of empowerment merged with the logic of branding.
Sophia Amoruso’s rise from eBay seller to CEO of Nasty Gal made her the ideal symbol of this era. Her story blended hustle, glamour, and rebellion, proof that ambition could be aspirational. Around the same time, Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In urged women to pursue leadership roles with confidence and strategy. Both narratives promised that hard work and self-belief could overcome systemic barriers.
The problem was that empowerment was being sold as a product. Success became aesthetic. Feminism became a filter. The girlboss movement rebranded ambition but did not restructure the systems that constrained it.
Try this
- Notice when ambition feels like performance rather than purpose.
- Separate personal goals from external validation.
- Ask whether empowerment feels earned or marketed.
Empowerment as performance
As the movement grew, girlboss culture became less about leadership and more about optics. It rewarded projection over progress. The visual grammar of success, laptop on marble desk, matcha in hand, became more important than the work itself.
Influencer entrepreneurs and digital founders turned hustle into lifestyle. Work was no longer what you did but who you were. Success became an aesthetic of control: perfect schedules, morning routines, and brand partnerships that equated ambition with consumption.
The tone was upbeat, but the pressure was relentless. To be a girlboss was to be constantly optimising. Every part of life became monetisable: productivity, wellness, even rest. The message was clear, you could have it all as long as you worked for it beautifully.
Try this
- Redefine productivity as progress, not perfection.
- Resist turning self-worth into public metrics.
- Remember that purpose is quieter than performance.
The emotional cost of the hustle
The girlboss era coincided with rising rates of burnout. A 2019 Deloitte survey found that 77% of professionals had experienced burnout in their current role, with women reporting higher emotional exhaustion. Social media added another layer of pressure, the need to appear successful while struggling privately.
The constant need to perform empowerment created what psychologists call emotional dissonance, the gap between how people feel and how they present themselves. The girlboss smile became armour. Behind the curated productivity was fatigue and anxiety.
Public reckonings soon followed. The collapse of Nasty Gal and the backlash against companies like The Wing revealed a deeper issue, feminist branding without structural change. The illusion of equality had replaced its substance.
Try this
- Question whether your ambition feels energising or draining.
- Build rest into your definition of success.
- Treat ease as evidence of progress, not laziness.
From branding to belonging
As girlboss culture declined, a quieter kind of ambition emerged. Women began to value boundaries over busyness and alignment over achievement. Success shifted from optics to ownership.
The post girlboss era values autonomy without exhaustion. It recognises that leadership is not a personal brand but a practice. Real power lies in the ability to make choices that reflect integrity rather than image.
Dr Brené Brown’s research on authenticity shows that belonging starts with self-acceptance, not approval. This challenges the girlboss ideal, which equated success with constant self-promotion. The new ambition is inward rather than outward. It is about building something sustainable rather than marketable.
Try this
- Ask what success would look like if no one could see it.
- Prioritise long-term alignment over short-term validation.
- Create space for fulfilment, not just achievement.
The evolution of modern ambition
The decline of girlboss culture does not mark the end of ambition. It marks the end of performing it. The current generation of women leaders is redefining success around transparency, collaboration, and balance.
Research from Harvard Business Review shows that organisations led by women who value empathy and adaptability often perform better in complex environments. Emotional intelligence, once dismissed as softness, is now seen as strategic. The traits the girlboss aesthetic ignored, reflection, interdependence, and rest, are proving essential to resilience.
This evolution reflects a broader cultural maturity. Ambition no longer needs to look loud to be strong. Women are building careers and companies that prioritise meaning over metrics.
Try this
- Value emotional intelligence as much as productivity.
- Redefine leadership as influence through empathy.
- Choose depth over display in how you measure success.
Final thoughts
Girlboss culture failed because it valued appearance over substance and encouraged women to prove their worth within systems that still limited them. The next phase of ambition is not about hustle or visibility but about clarity and integrity. Real success comes from making choices that are sustainable, meaningful, and self-directed rather than shaped by performance or comparison.
