For Every Version of You Nobody Applauded

My friend Brenda would remind me, "It takes a village."

She was right.

When I look back at my journey from paraeducator to PhD to CEO, I don't just see what I accomplished. I see the encouragement. The conversations. The different perspectives. The people who believed in me along the way.

There were days I believed in myself completely.

And there were days when someone else believed in me more than I believed in myself.

Through all of it, my faith stayed at the center. God comes first in my life. Thank you, Lord. Always.

I believe there was purpose in every chapter, even the ones when I couldn't see what came next.

I earned the degrees. I did the work. I became the CEO.

But none of that made me more valuable.

A doctorate didn't make me worthy.

A title didn't make me influential.

I was becoming her all along.

And I wasn't becoming her alone.

We may have our own dreams, but we don't have to chase them alone.

To the Woman Reading This

Maybe she is 18.

Maybe she is 38.

Maybe she is 68.

Maybe she is 88.

Maybe she knows exactly where she is going.

Maybe she has no idea.

Maybe she is building a career.

Maybe she is raising a family.

Maybe she is caring for someone she loves.

Maybe she is learning to care for herself.

Maybe she has three degrees.

Maybe she never went to college.

Maybe she loves being the center of the room.

Maybe she would rather never be noticed at all.

Maybe she is chasing a dream.

Maybe getting through today is enough.

Maybe everyone thinks she has it all together.

Maybe nobody knows how hard yesterday was.

I don't know her story.

I don't know what she believes.

I don't know what she has survived.

I don't pretend to know what she should do next.

But she knows something no one else fully can:

What it took to become the woman she is today.

The private battles.

The starting over.

The things she carried that nobody knew were heavy.

The days when simply continuing was the victory.

That woman might be someone you love.

That woman might be you.

And if nobody ever applauded those moments, this is your standing ovation.

Not because the world finally noticed you.

Because your story mattered before it did.

How Far Does Influence Travel?

That's the question I keep coming back to.

A teacher says something a student remembers thirty years later.

A friend's encouragement becomes someone else's courage.

One woman believes in another before she fully believes in herself.

Someone listens when another person needs to be heard.

Someone makes another human being feel less alone.

One life touches another.

Then another.

Then another.

Eventually, the woman who started it may disappear from the story entirely.

But what she gave doesn't.

Something you said, taught, shared, or gave may already be traveling through someone else's life.

Maybe it was so small you don't even remember doing it.

They might.

You may never know.

And that might be the most extraordinary thing about INFLUENCE:

It can outgrow the moment that created it.

Someone may have changed a small part of your life without ever knowing it.

And you may already have done the same for someone else.

Pass the Light

That's the kind of influential woman I want to be.

Not a woman whose story makes someone think, "Look what she accomplished."

A woman whose story makes someone think:

"Maybe my story matters too."

Someone passed a light to me.

I carried it.

Now some of it lives in these words.

I may never know who carries it next.

I don't have to.

Because influence was never meant to stop with the person who started it.

It doesn't stand above someone.

It doesn't stand in front of someone.

It stands for someone.

Maybe the greatest influence we have isn't the influence we get to see.

Maybe it's the courage we leave in someone else.

The belief.

The kindness.

The moment we made someone feel seen.

The light.

And somewhere, something we gave may already be traveling farther than we ever imagined.

None of us was ever meant to be the whole light.

We were meant to pass it on.