Sharonda Irvin

I attribute my success to my mother. She was that influential person who always inspired me to go forth and be greater than anyone expected me to be. She always said that I could do anything I put my mind to, that if I wanted anything, I could go out there and work for it. Work hard, just like they say the men work hard, we work hard. She told me I was born with three strikes against me: first, I'm a female; second, I'm Negro, Black, African American; and third, they expect me to fail because I'm Black and because I'm a female. She said I have to show them I'm more than capable of standing in those spaces where everybody else thought I couldn't. She taught me that when I excel above what they do and they look at me like 'wow, how does she know that?' it's because I put the work in behind the scenes. I didn't wait for somebody to send me to a class, I learned it on my own. Those are things nobody can take from you. She always said if I don't have the money to get what I need, it must mean it's not for right now, but that doesn't mean I can't have it eventually. Never live outside of your means. That's the way I've learned to live. Her memory is being honored in a scholarship we're calling the Valerie White Wells Lifetime Impact Image Award in Lake Okeechobee, and I'm writing a bio for her tonight.

The best career advice came from my mother, who was a schoolteacher. She told me I needed to get my education because if something should happen to me, like breaking my leg, I'd need something to fall back on. That was her premise for everything. She said you gotta have something to fall back on, you need an education. If you don't get your education, what else is there? You can't expect somebody to pay your way through life, and you can't expect someone else to give it to you. We were raised to go out there and get it on our own, like she said, get it off the muscle. She taught me to teach myself things that no one else wants to teach me, to never become stagnant, and to always keep a current resume because at any time, even after 24 and a half years, you could be let go from a job you thought would never end. She also taught me that I was born with three strikes: I'm a female, I'm Black, and they expect me to fail. So I have to show them I'm more than capable by putting in the work behind the scenes and learning things on my own, things that nobody can take from me.

Keep pushing towards the mark. Be present in the moment, but expect to go into those rooms that everybody tells you that you're not available for, that's not available to you. Keep pushing, knowing that self-preservation is the best thing. Teach yourself things that no one else wants to teach you. If you can go online and take a free course, there's plenty of free courses out there. Go online and better yourself that way. Never become stagnant, because at any time, as you can see, after 24 and a half years, I was let go from a job that I thought would never end. So always, always be on your toes, keep a current resume. Put your feelers out there just in case you might want to switch to another venue or another source of work. It's always okay to see what's out there and see what's available, and sometimes it might be easier than what you're doing. So don't just become lackadaisical in what you're doing, or too comfortable. Because in a minute's notice, you could be unemployed for 6 months like I was, and didn't have a job, and didn't know what was what. But God took care of me, and you gotta put your faith in God and know that if He brings you to it, He'll bring you through it. His grace and His mercy is always sufficient for every place that He sends you. We're in places for reasons and seasons, and sometimes your season is up, and you gotta be okay with that shift. And if you don't shift with what He has for you, you'll fall through the cracks. And then you lose your mind and you lose your wit, thinking that you're not enough, thinking why did this happen to me, why can't I keep this, why can't I keep that. It was just a reason and a season, and you fulfilled your season portion of that. The reason is now gone, and look for the next reason.

Kindness is the most important value to me. I tell people every day that I want to be the person that I try to be the person that I want everybody else to be, and that's kind. Because kindness can go a long way. It can make the difference between life and death for some people. I've learned over my years that patience goes a long way with people who need your help, and I'm always patient and kind with my seniors. You have to learn to speak with kindness and meekness, and with kid gloves. It's the small things that matter, the small things that we take for granted. It's not the grand things that everybody else is showboating and saying what I can do and what I can't do. It's the small things, like picking someone up when they fall, running their race together, making a lifetime friend with someone who doesn't understand how to speak. Those small things make this world tick, and people are getting away from that. I also believe that the gifts that God gives us are not for us, they're for other people. I have to let go of self because my gifts are meant to serve others. Through my mobile ministry in Uber, I've turned my app off and foregone making money to sit and minister to people who needed it, including those contemplating suicide. When I leave here, I want to make sure God tells me 'well done, thy good and faithful servant, you've done everything that I put you there to do.'