I have had several amazing opportunities the past couple of months and days to interview women who are putting some great work out into the world, while doing what they love: teaching, leading, mentoring, coaching and great entrepreneurial work. I love to work, myself. And, when I hear the stories of how these women have found their niche and their voices and are using them, I find more resolve to dive deeper and more passionately into the things I love to do.
As you all know, I launched a podcast this summer. That was a major and exciting move for me. Understand, I'd been wanting to do it for a long, long time. I was just so busy working through teaching, scholarship and service to be promoted. I made it to the top. I am a Full Professor. No more ladders to climb. I have been teaching for the past two decades. I've taught students how to write, produce, create and publish their own work. All while taking care of them, I wasn't feeding my own creative longings. Yes, I have contributed scholarly writings for my day-to-day work. But, I wasn't doing something just for me. That changed with the creation and hosting of This Prof Life: Women of Color in Higher Education podcast. I felt the creativity free-flowing again. I. was. ready. to. create. And, that I did.
My hearing the women whom I have interviewed speak with such passion about their experiences and teaching fueled me. It made me do new things again. It also drove my passion to keep engaging with my students, wholeheartedly, to write, pursue more speaking engagements and to simply produce work. To catch you up, in addition to the podcast, I've been working on a book, acted as emcee of a TEDx event in my hometown and am working on improving a Facebook live ministry, Wednesday Warriors, that my husband, Lin, and I stream on a weekly basis. I told ya, I'm fired up!
That leads me to encourage you to do the same. Don't let life get in the way of you living your best life. We all were placed on the planet to contribute. We, human beings, are meant to create. That doesn't necessarily mean you are supposed to do media-related work (or, you could!). It just means you were born to put out something good into the universe that helps to push humanity forward and into a better place. My place in all of that is media-related work through teaching, speaking, teaching and writing.
That is what I want for you and me. Push towards your passion. I encourage you, like me, to do all you can with the time you have to be a positive force on the planet. Let's do it!
In the meantime, please listen to my podcast, rate it, review it, subscribe to it and share it. I think you'll like what you hear. Lastly, go and live passionately. Until next time.