i'm thankful for opportunities today's grandmothers and great-grandmothers didn't have.

Last week I got into a conversation with an older woman via the telephone. Our conversation went from the script I was suppose to say to women's issues. Suddenly our lives were being compared as Presbyterian College students...women, college students to be exact. Hers was early in the 20th century as mine is in the early 21st century.

In her world, college consisted of letters while mine consists of iMessages or emails. She was one of a few women among many men while I am apart of a class where the females outnumber the males. As our conversation continued, I came to realize how far we've come in regards to female rights.

Not perfect mind you, but better. Amazingly better.

In her world women were limited to two professions after college....become a teacher or a secretary. Other avenues were not available without major resources working in your favor. This woman entered into secretary work because her mother didn't want her to travel out of town. She informed me that she was never unhappy with her choices or how her life turned out, but she did wish later that more options had been open to her. She told me to educate myself in as many fields as possible; make sure as many doors are open as possible when I toss my own cap in a little less than two years.

I'm working towards that. My current path will leave me with a major and three minors. I will hopefully pursue my journalism career but I'm also working on opening a door for a part time freelancing/social media consulting business on the side. I also am piling up manuscripts and short stories to hopefully publish. All of these things are individual passions of mine or dreams I hope to see come to light.

After I hung up the phone, my thoughts were with that woman's words for days after. I have much to be thankful for...especially my opportunities. Now I am not saying that opportunities just appear on a silver platter, you do have to work for them. Each opportunity I have I worked for and seized to my advantage.

We as women, especially those of us in higher education, should appreciate what we possess. Many, many women before us worked hard to give us these opportunities. Opportunities they did not have. They pioneered prejudice and sexism. They worked tirelessly so that future generations could have opportunities they only dreamed of.

We owe it to our grandmothers that only had two options if they were lucky to attend a college where the males outnumbered them. We owe it to our great-grandmothers who fought to even have the privilege to attend a university. We owe it to all those that came before us. We owe it to the many girls who still today do not have the opportunities. Work for these girls and help provide if you can, opportunities for them.

Most importantly we owe it to ourselves because each of us is beautiful in our own unique, special way.

#InspiredBy....Ann Curry

#InspiredBy.....Ann Curry.

I just want to say thank you, Mrs. Curry. 

Let's Each Hold Onto Our Dream

I've been very thoughtful lately. I've been reflective as I make plans for the future. As I registered for second semester a few weeks ago, it suddenly hit me....I'm halfway done with college. The real world seemed closer and I became more afraid. Well maybe not afraid.
Anxious?
Yes that is a better word. 
I'm anxious about the future. 
I'm anxious about not fulfilling my dreams. 
As I sat and pondered over what is to come, the verse from Ecclesiastes came upon my heart.
"For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under the sun." (Ecclesiastes 3:1; NLT)  

Why is it that I doubt my dream? Why is it that I waste my present time worrying about the future that is not yet there? As cliche as it sounds....the present is a present because we cannot change the past nor can we predict the future. All we do is dream and plan. As I am reading a book about women and our way of thinking, it seems that we're programmed to automatically self-doubt ourselves. We shrink back in fear upon achieving something or worry that our decisions now could later affect a family or marriage. At least that's been my own train of thought recently. That's not healthy though and it does nothing to benefit me. It only ruins the life I am living right now.

The same goes for any young girl who ruins her present gift for worrying about the future or regret of the past. Perhaps  there is truth in the studies that we as girls and women let our inner voices dictate negative thoughts for our future. If it is true, then we need to reprogram those voices. We need to begin to teach our daughters, sister, friends, mothers, family friends and any woman we know to allow a positive inner voice to be the only voice that the ears hear. Tune out anything else.

Let's inspire each other to dream by dreaming ourselves. If each woman were to only do that...could a chain reaction occur? If a daughter saw her mother achieving a lost dream, wouldn't she be inspired to keep pursuing hers?

I'm calling this proposal the Voice Project. When you speak, speak loudly and clearly about YOUR dream.

My dream is to become a broadcast reporter upon completing my Bachelor's in English with a double minor in Journalism and Women and Gender Studies. I want to use this interdisciplinary study to report on women's news in the future. All my segments I want to be news that pertains to the woman. Whether this be health, resources, etc...whatever is relevant to the current community. I want to return to my roots and give back to the women of my area. What news pertains to them and their needs? That's what I will report on. 

What's your dream? Don't be silent. Voice it.

Let's Be Ourselves

It's so easy to become someone else, or to allow yourself to be extremely influenced by your fellow peers. This especially seems to occur in girls. It begins in middle school when the quote "mean girls" or even just inner (or outer) "peer pressure" makes you feel like you are suppose to be a certain way. Whether this is how you dress, how you act, or how you speak. 

The bad part of this is that all at once you are not you. You are not the person God created you to be. I say this not as a judgement because I have found myself in those shoes; and in the shoes of another trying be more "like them". Even as recently as a year ago, I was not being my whole self. Now it was not the same level as middle school where I was not necessarily trying to please a "mean girl", but I was trying to please myself. I was trying to discover who I was.

This I know is a lifelong journey...discovering who we are. It is a never ending cycle of ups and downs. Yet we need to encourage ourselves, our sisters or daughters or friends to be ourselves more times than not. We will have times of conflict where we are uncertain of who we are or comparing ourselves to another we make look up too. That is simply a human emotion. 

However as fellow women we can encourage each other to be ourselves. Empower each other by complimenting the uniqueness of another. It is not about comparing who did what better, but what is original and fabulous about our individual women colleagues, friends, etc. 

Yes, there is business. In a business world competition is inevitable and sometimes necessary. I am not saying that it about submitting ourselves to underachievement or not doing our best, but build each other up not down. Encourage each other so it is not so difficult to be ourselves when we feel being ourselves is not okay.

Encourage yourself too. Let your inner voice be a positive not a negative one. I know I struggle with not being my own worse enemy. It is a daily battle and always will be. There is not an easy solution. However you can ease the burden of being human, being a woman by uplifting each other. With time maybe the inner and outer voices can be positive instead of derogatory. 

Let's Support Each Other

I do absolutely love social media. It's amazing how with one click of a button, you're instantly connected to someone that could be down the street or halfway around the world. This phenomenon that is social media, is opening up a whole new world for women to connect and support each other. 

If you ask my family or close friends, they all know my favorite connection story that began with one Twitter message. This message of encouragement sparked a determination in me that has never dwindled. 

In October of 2011, almost two years ago exactly, NBC journalist Ann Curry sent me a message on Twitter. In this 140 character message she told me to dream big, because what to us seems impossible, is probable if only we do not give up. 

I was so amazed and surprised by this message from a well known journalist who has millions of followers on Twitter. Yet she saw a viewer of her's look to her with admiration, and she took a simple moment to encourage me. It was a way of supporting my dream and it has forever impacted me. 

Since that message that was sent to me two years ago, I've taken her message of encouragement to heart and am actively pursuing my journalism dreams. 

I've entered college and launched with another fellow classmate a news station on our campus. I've been writing for an international news magazine and taking every opportunity I can to see my overall dreams realized.

This simple act of kindness that Ann Curry extended to me, is something we all should follow. Women are so constantly in competition with each other, it's kind of sad. 

It 's as if we cannot move beyond the insecure days of middle school where we wanted to be the "prettiest" or the "coolest" and if anyone go it before us, well that just was not okay.

In today's society, women face enough obstacles and criticisms as we pursue goals. Let us not be each others' obstacles but each others' encouraging supporters.

Ann Curry did so for me and it made all the difference. Why don't we do the same with the fellow women in our lives? Let's support each other not compete with each other. 

My ultimate dream is to meet the very lady who first encouraged me. She changed my life and I would so be honored to one day be able to thank Ann Curry in person. 

Encourage a fellow woman today. It may make all the difference now but most especially will in the long run. 

Let's Start a Conversation

Recently I've become empowered by an issue I was not completely aware of or knew I would find so much passion behind. However, one of my college classes got my mind going and now I want to get a conversation going.

This conversation?

The lack of equality for women. How can I as a college woman change this for myself and my peers? 

My first awareness for this came when I was leafing through the magazine, Cosmopolitan. Inserted into this particular issue was a mini-magazine entitled Cosmo Careers. On the cover was Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook's chief operating officer. In it she discussed woman and careers with a snippet from her book, Lean In. 

Soon I was purchasing her book right before I returned to school in the Fall. The statistics in the book shocked me. I suddenly became aware of the lack of equality women still have in society.

Do not get me wrong, women have made tremendous progress when it comes to rights and cracking down on sexism. Yet, we still have lengths to go when it comes to personal attitudes about woman in the career world and changing a woman's internal message she is sending herself.

I became empowered to join the conversation after finishing Sandberg's book and in the process of taking my Women and Gender's Studies class. Here I see first hand the facts and statistics that speak to the issue we still are facing in society when it comes to women's equality.

I may not be able to change the entire society's opinion, but I want to start a conversation. A conversation among my fellow college peers and young women in their 20s. As we enter the first years of college where we plan for our careers, or we are entering that profession in our early years, we need to do so boldly with a great inner confidence.

It seems that the biggest obstacle we face is our own inner voices telling us we "cannot do it" or are "not good enough". I decided  that I am going to use my love of writing and my resources of a blog to jump in the conversation. However, this perspective will be from a college woman who is looking to pursue a profession that is dominated by men and where women are judged by our looks.

I want to look to raise awareness of this disgrace and change the societal "norm". Even if I simply join in the conversation as I share my personal experiences I face on my journey towards the newsroom.

Please join me in the conversation.