Look around you. How many inspiring women, and men, do you know?
I saw “Hidden Figures” the other day. It’s an incredible story about 3 African-American women, ridiculously smart and determined, who played paramount roles in NASA’s space program. It is a very powerful and empowering film, every minute of it is simply perfect, every actress and actor cast is outstanding.
And it made me think of the inspiring women that I look up to whenever I need a bit of a kick.
NASA’s Hidden Figures
The film will leave you feeling you can do anything since these ladies overcame every single obstacle that was thrown at them. And bonus! The soundtrack has been produced by Pharrell Williams and Hans Zimmer. If you haven’t seen this film, go and see it now.
There is also a short film doing rounds on the Internet in which the crew of this film, and a few other people, talk about their ‘Hidden Figures’. The women who have been their inspiration in their lives.
So what other inspiring women do I turn to? Who convinces me to beyond my comfort zone and do the Impossible, whether in person or not.
Here’s a short list:
Inspiring Woman – Audrey Hepburn
From the very early age of my life, she has been the reason I love dancing, laughing, and being graceful. She taught me that the perfection of simplicity is better than flamboyancy, and that nothing is impossible.
I also love the fact that she was no walking perfection – Audrey smoked, which I can’t stand. But that was her choice, and I’m sure she was fully aware of the consequences.
Audrey was a UNICEF ambassador for years, drawing the world’s attention to the conditions African children lived in. She reminded everyone that some of us are so damn lucky to have clothes, food, a roof over our heads, and not to feel afraid all the time.
Inspiring Woman – Rosa Parks
Not sure how many of you know about this lady: she was called by the US Congress “the first lady of civil rights”.
Rosa is famous for not giving up her seat in a segregated bus in Montgomery, Alabama in 1955. Her action later sparked civil rights movement in the States, and led to the decision made by the US Supreme Court that segregation in buses was unconstitutional.
She wasn’t anyone famous up till then: a seamstress who valued education, married to a man who was also involved in civil rights movement. And yet, despite being a very ordinary person, she triggered something that changed the history of the USA, and the world.
She became a symbol of integrity and strength.
A small reminder that anyone can make a change in this world.
My incredible friend JK
Where do I start with this amazing person…. JK is someone who has never given up on me, never doubted any of my crazy ideas, and never let me down.
She pursued her dream of working for herself, and doing what she likes – which is exactly what she does now. JK is smart, funny, reliable, crazy, likes cocktails (yes!), loves learning and exploring… Most importantly, she kicked the butt of “C”. I can’t even imagine what goes in your head when you hear the “C” word. But J just dealt with it, as if it was another thing that needed sorting out in her life.
She is my life-time inspiration.
Girl Power Advocate – Sheryl Sandberg
I heard of this lady relatively recently. I wish I had heard of her sooner.
At the moment, she is a very powerful woman being the CEO of Facebook (as you are…). Yet nothing about her, when you look at and listen to her, is scary or domineering. She is encouraging, kind, helpful, beaming with utter confidence that YOU can do it.
Sheryl is the author of “Lean In“, a book in which she explains that in order to make this world a more just place we all need to help each other. And most importantly we need to help women and girls to reach for their bestest version of themselves.
The book is focused on workplaces and how the inequality between men and women affects pretty much everything. She is also a vocal advocate of boosting a person’s confidence and helping them out to become what they want to be at any level of life. After all, not everyone needs to be a CEO (who would do all the admin tasks??).
Sheryl stresses the importance of leaning in. This means e.g. not being afraid to take a chance or accept a challenge. She talks about women sticking together and helping one another, and of men and women aiming for equal opportunities for everyone.
I personally love spotting a person who needs this little push to be shown they can achieve anything they want.
I also love her stressing the importance of taking notes and not pretending that you will remember everything someone is saying to you (because you won’t).
Inspiring Women – Single Mothers
Funnily enough, Sheryl Sandberg is a single mum as well (she lost her husband in a freak accident some time ago).
I have all my admiration for all single mums out there.
Whether they are single by choice or not, you need to be a super woman to be a single mum.
The amount of stress, number of things to do, and the lack of strong shoulder to lean on make those women real champions. Hats off to you girls!
Inspiring Woman – Lindsey Stirling
No idea if you have heard of her: she is an American violin player. Sounds very boring, doesn’t it?
Only she is this beacon of joy and happiness after facing so much criticism it’s crazy. In 2010, at the age of 23, Lindsey took part in America’s Got Talent. Piers Morgan told her she was not good enough, and her performance was just poor.
5 years later, she was named as one of the 30 Under 30 in Forbes magazine, with 8 million YouTube followers, and 2 position on Billboard 200 for her second album.
Lindsey dances and plays the violin at the same time (I’m sure Piers Morgan can do that too). She composes her own tunes, adapts existing ones, plays anything between dubstep to classical pieces. Her talents are endless.
I love how she didn’t let the comments in 2010 stop her from doing what she loves, and showing all those doubters how wrong they were. I also love how vocal she is about her fans: that she would not be where she is without their undying support.
All in all, Lindsey is one of the coolest and most incredible girls out there. If you haven’t heard or seen her, check out this piece she performs with Pentatonix:
I could go on for another 5 pages…. Please don’t get me wrong – there have been inspiring men in my life as well. But that’s for another post 🙂
So who are the inspiring women in your life? 🙂
PS. Need a bit more inspiration? Read about the Everyday Super Woman that I am proud to know (I bet you know a few like that too!).
