Susan Abdon Winters

I realized that I was the captain of my ship, and I realized that I can do whatever I want to do, and that I can actually achieve it. It's okay to go after what I want, not what everybody tells me I should be doing. I think part of all of it is that I want to tell my two daughters that if you can see in my path and my trail that you can achieve anything through any adversity and still come out on the other side and start something new. I want to set the precedence for my daughters and my granddaughter to see that through all the things that Gaga has gone through, that she still comes out on the other side and is still trying to make a difference for other people. The other driver is I am the most tenacious human being. You want to tell me no, that is the answer on the other side that's telling me go. It started out with necessity, but it's about survival. If you push hard enough and keep pushing through, it comes out as success. Success if you just stay the course, run your own race.

A good manager at Procter & Gamble, God rest his soul, told me there's no reason just because you're in the position you're in that you can't continue your education. That advice changed everything for me. He encouraged me to keep going even though I was in a certain position at work, and because of him, I went on to get my master's degree at 58 years old. That support and belief that I could do more, regardless of where I was in my career, was transformative.

Most women, young women, are given a narrative - a narrative of what success looks like, a narrative of what they're supposed to do, a narrative of what their role in this world is. I did that too, but there was some kind of fire inside of me that said, that is not you, you are more than this, you are so much more than this that you can go out and have the world as you see it, not as someone told you it should be. If I could have changed anything, I would have gone on my instincts, been kind, been respectable, but realized that I was born in this world to be me, and not somebody else's model. Don't mistake my kindness for weakness. Don't wait until you're in your 60s to decide that what you're feeling now doesn't feel right - if it doesn't feel right, change it. Are you happy? Does it make you feel good? Do you get up in the morning glad to go do what you do? If it doesn't, change it. It should be their plan, the plan that fills their soul. If you had an opportunity to be whatever you wanted to be, whatever you dreamed of, ask yourself what is it, and then figure out how you could get there. Take the bad experiences and find out what good things you can take from it, but don't be afraid to make change. Sometimes we make our choices based on necessity, and that's okay too - do what you gotta do. But in that necessity, you still have to find a little something that works for you too.

I see possibility everywhere. I use collective intelligence, interact with emotional intelligence, and deliver with social intelligence. I embrace change, I act with inclusion, I work with integrity, I am a connector. I love teamwork and respect what others bring to their side of the table when I have fun. As women, if we cannot seek to understand and be supporters of other women, we're missing something critical. We have to be each other's champions, because we can do double the things while doing one thing. I believe in being truly, authentically me now, finally, in which I can receive and give information that is good for other human beings. I think it's important to be part of my legacy - giving feedback, not just about growth, but good old 'you're good, you're amazing' kind of feedback. That's important to give to people.