This week I had the honor of participating on a career panel for a special non-profit organization.  Strong Women, Strong Girls utilizes lessons learned from strong women throughout history to encourage girls and young women to become strong women themselves. By building communities of women committed to supporting positive social change, Strong Women, Strong Girls works to create cycles of mutual empowerment for women and girls. Their mission is dear to my heart!

Along with the professional women who mentor them, college-aged women who mentor school-aged girls gathered to hear Subhadra England, Lee Pina, Betty Breuhaus, Brooke Botello, and I share our stories and perspectives, with Rachel Spekman moderating.  Most of these women are currently brilliance-based entrepreneurs, and I’d put money down that 100% will be at some point in their careers.  I felt inspired to be in their presence.

When I finally crawled into bed that night, I took a few minutes before I fell asleep to jot down some of the themes I heard during the panel.  I hope these positive messages will spark something in you, too!

1. Take risks.
2. Have confidence in your hustle.
3. Build your soft skills from any work experience.
4. Expect things to work out for the best.
5. Believe in yourself/ what you know to be true.
6. Advocate for yourself.
7. Listen for what each individual values.
8. Network, network, network.
9. Shift your perspective.
10. Seek strong mentors.
11. Prioritize rigorously.
12. Accept there will be tradeoffs.
13. Grow by giving.
14. Follow your passion.
15. Laugh whenever possible!

Speaking of integrating work and family (which we talked about quite a bit that night), I’m sending a big shout-out to Heather Hurd and Piña Madera for their willingness to step in when my babysitter cancelled at the last minute.  My kids and I are grateful to have friends as wonderful as you!