Takiya Eastmond

I would say my daughter. Seeing the impact that I have on her, as well as on my community as a result, is irreplaceable. It's surmountable. Every day, she's just more and more intrigued with the world and how it works, and I see that as a good sign, a thumbs up, a step in the right direction. It's when we stop asking questions and we stop questioning things where I feel like we would lose the spot. To stem it all, it's from hearing every no and creating my own yes, and then her world just lights up when I'm unapologetically myself. It's irreplaceable.

You're never too much. My spin on it is, you're never too much while everyone else seems mediocracy at best. To you, it may seem too much, but to the person doing it, it may not seem like it's not enough. You cannot help the fact that some people see you as too much, because to them, that's over-exceeding their expectations. That's not for you to handle. You have to focus on what you're worried about, which is your path and decisions that came to you, and to lead. Lead with your best foot forward, but don't forget to reach back and pull those up as well. Never feel like you're too much, because the spaces that you're in need you there.

Make sure you're always yourself. When you enter spaces, a lot of people try to tell women to limit themselves, or dim their lights, or allow others to shine, and just take the backseat. That's never good. Make sure that's never good enough. You were given the front row, you were given that front seat, so sit down and enjoy the ride, or enjoy the show. But never try to dim your light to allow others to shine, because at night you can see every star. Every star is given that chance to shine. But if you dim one out, yeah, you'll never see it. But just know that every star shines regardless, whether there's a cloud in front of it or not. You are given that chance to shine, so make sure that you always, always, always, put yourself first before you can take care of anyone else. Us women love to take care of the world, but we tend to forget ourselves. Take care of yourself before we can take care of everyone.

The trials I run into are hearing no, and hearing no from people who don't understand your passion. It's usually no from people who don't have the same vision, or can't see the end result the way that you do. But I always have to tell others, you know, you were given that vision, not everyone else. If it was everyone else, everyone would be doing the same thing. So just focus on me, and just don't lose sight of that. Just hearing that no is probably the hardest thing for me, because I know what I'm capable of, I know the passions that fuel it, I know what the possibilities could be if successful, so hearing no is crushing, because it's like, you don't even have a chance to think outside the box, you know, to walk two steps in somebody else's shoes to even understand the bigger picture. I guess hearing no, in spite of someone's ignorance is what's frustrating, but I just keep steadfast, and I just keep going.

Love. Whether it's self-love, or loving others, you have to start with it. Especially with loving yourself. I feel like if you don't love and heal yourself first, how can you love and heal the world? Usually, where everything stems from for me, is the love and passion that goes behind it, whether it's love and passion for myself, love and passion to help others, love and passion for education. It's always the basis, the foundation is always love. I always tell people, never lose sight of your why. Some people's whys may not be love, but mine, I feel like it has to be, because if not, you tend to lean more into the negatives in the world, but I don't want to see the world as negative, as dark. There's always light to everything. The foundation of why I do what I do is love. I want to love myself more, I want to love on the world more, I want to love on all of the children more, I want to love on all of the independent people. Just spread more of the love. I don't see why there should be a need for anything other, honestly.