Happy International Women’s Day! Happy #IWD2022!

Today, March 8th, marks the 111th anniversary of International Women’s Day, a day that honors the fight for our rights as women– to end hunger, end poverty, end domestic violence, fight for gender equality and rally around each other as women.

The shaping of a woman starts with you, and it starts with me. It starts with the encouraging messages we tell our daughters (and sons). It starts with planting seeds… many seeds over time. My parents planted those seeds in me, and I am forever grateful. They never told me I could be equal to a man – because there was no reason to be. I was told to keep my eye on the prize, go for what I want, and work hard to prove to myself that I could make something happen. Men didn’t matter – my goals were what mattered. “Always be the hardest working person in the room and go the extra mile no one else is willing to go,” my dad would tell me. “When they can’t outwork out, you become valuable, then you become invaluable, and that my sweetie, will become your real advantage.”