“If there was one thing on which I had to bet my life, I would put my faith in a woman - a girl even. For it is in women, young and old, that I have seen first hand the triumphs of the least likely. I have witnessed resilience in remarkable quantities.

Having grown up in a family of seven children, I know the company of adversity, and my own path of finding my way out of it. Perhaps, it is my own story that compels me to see in others what for many years I needed someone to see in me.

This is why mentorship is worth the work of my lifetime. Because, it’s through this work that I have seen an unlikely young woman go to college, graduate and secure herself a job in her profession. To us, that may not seem like a big deal, but for that woman and her children this changes everything. I believe in this work because it teaches people the tools needed to actualize their potential, as a professional, as a parent. Only by working in close relationship with women of all backgrounds, can we begin to understand what questions to ask of ourselves, what questions does society ask of us and how will we choose to answer. Are there answers we wish to change?

It has always been the people and things around us that shape us, which is why the most natural solution I can think of to change this world for the better, is to partner strong mentors with proteges in need of strength. For what most of us need is not what anyone else can give us, instead, we need to be taught how to utilize what is already within. In my ideal world a girl isn’t only allowed to dream, she’s empowered to do so.”