I, too struggled to feel confident and empowered well into my 20's.
I know what it is like growing up in a small town with traditional ideas. Being afraid to raise my hand and speak out. To be made fun of for being smart. Not being able to see a life for myself beyond what I already knew.
I also know what it's like to discover there is this big, wild, magical world out there. To travel, to become a robotics engineer and climb the ladder in a male-dominated field. I left a marriage that made me feel boxed in and raised a daughter as a single parent. I know what it is like to be paid less than my male colleagues and feel disrespected, looked down upon and judged simply for being a woman. To be told to smile more. To work 10x harder than all the men so I could succeed and get my seat at the table.
I believe girls cannot be what they cannot see, so we have to SHOW THEM!
I believe that some women are often STILL LIVING in a 1950’s cage that society built for them. I believe that females can be ANTHING and achieve ANY DREAM, but we often have to overcome so many obstacles to get there. So I say, ENOUGH ALREADY! Let’s push back, ladies.
For more than 20 years, I had a successful (and highly technical) career in the software consulting field. I programmed robots, wrote thousands of lines of programming code, implemented automated processes, blah, blah, blah. Although I am grateful for the success I had, my soul and spirit longed for something different. Fortunately, I was able to retire from my technical career, and now I am a mixed-media artist with a focus on empowering women. My soul and spirit smile every, single day!
I am inspired by girls and women. I think this inspiration started when my daughter was 2 years old – that was when I became a single Mom. It is soooooo challenging to raise children in this crazy, information–overloaded world! Raising a child without a partner increases the challenge tremendously. Raising a “girl” increases the challenge exponentially! Why is that? Just a few thoughts on that topic below…
Just a few thoughts on that topic below...
- Whatever girls do, they must do twice as well as boys to be thought half as good.
- Aggressive boys are “strong”, while aggressive girls are “that word I refuse to utter or type because it just perpetuates the stereotype”…
- Boys are still celebrated and admired for having sex with lots of girls, while girls are labeled “that word I refuse to utter or type because it just perpetuates the stereotype”…
- We STILL spend too much time measuring outstanding “Female” leaders, when we should be measuring “outstanding” leaders. Period.
- Girls/females/women are STILL paid less than boys/males/men for the same or better effort.
- When I entered Georgia Tech in 1985, 21% of enrolled students were girls. In 2016, only 31% of enrolled students were girls, an increase of only 10% in 30+ years! What?!?!
Just a smidgeon more about me, if you are interested…
I am a lover of life, art and hard-core gardening. I always see the good in people. My mind is often a jumbly mélange of ideas and thoughts… I seldom succeed at fully unraveling the chaocracy (a She-ism). Sometimes I make up fanciful words. I never met a pair of overalls that I wasn’t instant friends with. I have a lovely set of friends that I affectionately call “Ya-Yas”. I love painting furniture… and doors. I almost always have dirt under my fingernails or paint on my hands…or both. My mind is most clutter-free when I am creating art, running or doing some physically challenging outdoor activity. I have a whopping-normous weakness for chocolate, sweet wine, and buttercream icing… preferably together. YUM!