Girl Power!!!

I was talking to a kindred spirit this week. We had just met and found out that we both grew up in very small towns raised by mothers who taught us that we could achieve anything we set out to do.  We discussed why we thought our mothers were able to send this message to us and what motivated them.  

My mother married as a teenager right after my dad came back from WWII.  We discussed how our mothers had very limited opportunities when they were coming of age.   My mother never had the chance to decide if she wanted to further her education, or what she wanted to be.  She became a wife and mother (and was amazing as a wife and is wonderful still as a mother) because her choices were limited.  She later worked outside the home and became very successful at her job.

She told me from a young age that marriage was an option that education was a keeper and that I could do anything I wanted to do.   So growing up I just thought everyone had the same opportunity and the ability to do anything they wanted.  It was in college and after that I saw so many people who didn’t feel the way I did.  They didn’t have a world of choices for them, or no one told them they could do anything they wanted. 

So, when we work with younger women just coming up in the business world I think it’s important that we nurture them and teach them that they can do anything they set out to do.  That we don’t limit their choices or encourage them to take the same path we took.  Girl power is a strong power and as women we must embrace that and spread it around.  

Image Source

Suzanne Cormier
Executive Director
BizWorks (Small Business Incubator)
Follow Suzanne Cormier on Facebook and
Twitter @BizWorksCenter