Lucy Appiah

Lucy Appiah: Speaker: Lucy Appiah, Youth Speaker, Purpose Mentor & Youth Development CoachWhat does being an Influential Woman mean to you?Lucy Appiah: What does it mean to be an influential woman? To better explain this, I want to tell the story of a young woman. So there was this young woman who had big dreams. She wanted to start a small community library in a kiosk to give the young children in her community who were um less advantaged, um. An opportunity to start reading, you know, to give them access to reading materials and to learn how to read. She wanted to go back to school and become a therapist. She wanted to start an orphanage. She wanted to offer scholarships to young people who wanted to pursue their educational goals, but something happened. She wrote them down in her journal but never started. And then years later, life happened. She got married, she had kids, one after another, and the dreams came back. They kept coming back, but this time stronger. And so she started right where she was, even though progress fell slow for her, she started right where she was, and that is what it means to be an influential woman, starting right where you are, regardless of. Your past, regardless of the painful experiences you've been through in the past, regardless of what limitations society may have placed on you, regardless of Your resources regardless of what someone has said regardless of who believes in you or not, regardless of what you've been through. Mastering the courage to start and to touch lives. I was that young woman, and today when I read about the testimonials of what my dreams is doing in the lives of others, it gives me joy and it reminds me that my dreams do matter. It reminds me that to be an influential woman means Mastering that courage, starting, even when I feel, getting up again. Keep going, learn from the mistakes until my lessons become a launch pad for someone else. That is what it means to be an influential woman. Touch lives wherever you are, regardless of circumstances, regardless of who gives you an opportunity or not, creating your own opportunities and touching lives, knowing that I'm making a difference in the lives of others. That is what it means to be an influential woman.What's one piece of advice you would give to younger women chasing their dreams?Lucy Appiah: To younger women chasing their dreams today, I would say do not wait for the perfect opportunity. Do not wait for the right timing, the right helper, the right amount of resources. Just start today, you know, because we will always have excuses. There will always be something. There will never be the right time. When I think about the concept of. Seeds and fruits. I find it fascinating, um, because, you know, when you sow a seed today, it takes time before it becomes a fruit that is visible for all to see and tasty, um, to be tasted by others, to be enjoyed by others. And so it is with any venture, any business, any dream that you have, you have to sow the seed first. You know, and so I would say get started, give yourself the permission to try, fail, when you fail, you learn from it and you keep going. Find mentorship, seek mentorship if you have to. Find the right community. Ask questions, ask others, but by all means, get started and learn from your mistakes as you go. Until it becomes, you know, the version that you want it to be. But by all means, sow that seed today, sow that idea today, start today regardless of the circumstances, regardless of what resources you have, regardless of your past, you know, just get started because eventually, if you don't give up. Just like that seed, you're going to see a lot of growth underneath, behind the scenes when no one else is watching. You become a better person in the process. You will grow so much that you will not even recognise yourself, you know, so just get started and enjoy the process until it becomes that version that you, you like.