About Simone

I wrote the book on self-doubt. And I still hear the voice.

That’s not a confession. That’s the point.

The imposter phenomenon doesn’t care about your credentials. I know, because it didn’t care about mine.

The Story

The award that started everything.

I stood on a stage. Holding an award. A room full of people applauded.

And the only voice I could hear was the one in my head.

“They’re going to figure out you don’t belong here.”

I smiled. Said thank you. Went quiet for months.

That’s the part nobody warns you about. Recognition doesn’t silence the doubt. Sometimes it feeds it. The higher you climb, the more you feel like a fraud on borrowed time.

The Other Identity

I know what it means to rebuild yourself from scratch.

I’ve relocated more times than I can count. New base. New city. New version of “So, what do you do?”

For years, my most common introduction wasn’t my name. It was “the Major’s wife.”

Every move, I achieved. Every move, I doubted. Every move, I told myself the same lie high achievers tell themselves everywhere: “I just got lucky. Again.”

The imposter phenomenon doesn’t care that you’ve done this before. Transition resets the clock. Every time.

The Turn

Then I found the research.

In 1978, psychologists Pauline Clance and Suzanne Imes gave this feeling a name: the imposter phenomenon.

Reading that research changed everything.

I wasn’t broken. I wasn’t weak. I was experiencing a documented, studied, predictable pattern. One that hits high achievers hardest. One that spikes during transitions.

And patterns can be interrupted.

So I did what I do. I studied it. I wrote about it.

First came the story. Almost Worthy: When Recognition Feeds Doubt Instead of Purpose. Then the science. The Imposter Effect: The Science Behind Self-Doubt.

In 2025, I founded The Atkinson Institute to go further. To study the imposter phenomenon and build real tools for the people living inside it.

Visit The Atkinson Institute →

The Short Version

What I bring to this work.

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Author

Almost Worthy and The Imposter Effect. Story and science, both.

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Founder

The Atkinson Institute, created in 2025 to study the imposter phenomenon and build real tools.

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Speaker

Keynotes and workshops for military transition programs, women’s networks, and leadership teams.

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Military Spouse

I’ve rebuilt my identity through every relocation. I know what transition costs firsthand.

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Researcher

Developing The Atkinson Assessment™, a proprietary instrument for identifying imposter patterns.

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Coach

Creator of The Permission Slip™, Beyond the Uniform™, and The Worthy Lab™ community.

Why I Do This

Self-doubt is loudest in the people with the least reason for it.

The high achievers. The ones in transition. The service member hanging up the uniform. The spouse starting over for the fifth time. The woman who finally got the title and now can’t sleep.

Nobody should navigate that alone. And nobody should fight a documented psychological pattern with nothing but “fake it till you make it.”

You deserve better tools. That’s what I build.

Enough about me.
Let’s talk about that voice in your head.

If it can happen to someone with the credentials, the recognition, and the research knowledge, it can happen to anyone. It’s not a flaw. It’s a pattern. Find out which one is running yours.

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