WILLING TO SPEAK UP WILL CHANGE THE STEREOTYPES

Do the women get to talk around here? A question every working and stay home woman asks herself every day.

Every day, women around the globe consider the risks. That is our day job and our night shift. We have a master’s degree in risk consideration. Consider those clothes. Consider that dark alley. Consider what your society will think of you. Consider what your relatives will think of you. Consider your height & weight. Consider your skin color. Consider agelessness. Consider silence. And it goes on and on and on…..

Business to objectify women is frightening. We are learning that the more we raise voice on issues, the more we become a choir. And the more we are a choir; the more the tune is forced to change. Women do not get to have a side. They get to have an interrogation. Too often, they are questioned mercilessly about whether their side is legitimate. 

Some of us succeed and some of us fail, what’s important is that we're telling our stories and standing up for ourselves and for each other. Only if we are willing to speak up we will be able to change the stereotypes. People expect me to be a certain way and I show up another way. I am no more extroverted and loud than many women I know, but I'm perceived as being unconventional because I'm not the meek Hello cool lady or the cold dragon lady they expect. Looking around, you don’t see a lot of women role models. If I can inspire somebody to step up and do what they want to do, that is awesome to me.

Talking to young women, seeing firsthand how so many of them feel empowered and with a desire to be heard and get involved. I want to help lift women's voices. And I realize, in doing that, I need to use my own.

Can it be easy representing those members in our communities who have always been underrepresented? The most exciting thing for me knows that when I meet young ladies, they might be thinking: 'Well, if she can do it, I can do it, too.' That's what this is about for me. It's about opening that door wider, making sure that I'm not the only one able to pass through it, and getting to blaze a trail so somebody after me can take it much further. There's no limit for women to really move forward and achieve whatever they set their minds to. It's more important than ever, right now. I got into socio-political entrepreneurship because I wanted to be able to give back to the community that I love.

That's what really gets me excited: solving problems in the community, helping my state and my neighbors, fighting for those who are challenged and who need voices and people willing to stand up for them. That's where I've always worked, particularly in penning down and meeting people on domestic violence prevention, social justice, basic amenities, education, and counseling.