Veronica Coward

I attribute my success to resilience and faith. After being laid off, I chose not to be bitter but to take the lessons learned and see how they could transfer into what I'm doing now. The work I did as a project administrator, registering in different states, prepared me to get the nonprofit started. My experience as an apprenticeship ambassador showed me that apprenticeship works and will work for this demographic. The project management work I did throughout the country taught me that scaling this program to help foster care youth in other states is possible. I believe in the power of resilience, of recognizing that nothing is wasted. Each of us has the ability to take something that feels like a down moment and make something of it. For me, I took my broken pieces to God and asked what He wanted to do with them, and I gave that burden to Him instead of carrying it myself. I really believe something is being created that will be useful and effective.

Please be patient with yourself and show yourself grace. I remember wanting things to happen so fast and moving so quickly. When I was young, I thought I was going to marry my boyfriend at the time and was rushing into things, but thank God He intervened and it didn't happen. It ended in disaster, but it was a good disaster because I found out he was cheating on me and got a woman pregnant, all on Valentine's Day. Looking back at times that felt disastrous, I can say thank you God for saving me from something that would have ended terribly. I would say have patience for yourself, patience for others, and give yourself grace to take your time and really consider what you want. The biggest thing is to get out of the comparison trap. Stop comparing yourself to where other people are and what they're doing, and looking at yourself as less than. Your road is your road, and it's not anybody else's road. However long it takes you to get there, that's between you and God. Whenever you get there, you'll get there at the right time.

Honesty and truth are most important to me. The older I get, I value that more and more. It's so often that we aren't honest with one another, and it's so hard now to determine what truth is with so many voices and so many people in your ear. Having relationships, both professional and non-professional, where you can count on people to tell you the truth is crucial. When you can count on people to show up as their authentic self, I'm learning to celebrate that. I find joy in watching people show up in rooms and be themselves, and then watch other people take to them because they didn't care so much about other people's opinions. Not in a selfish way, but they're not going to change who they are. They show up bringing the best version of themselves, and I honor that these days. Honesty and truth, that is probably one of the things I value most.