Running To Win The Race

There are some days when life can just suck! Yes, I said it. We all have days like this and we all have this thought. Today I woke with this feeling.

I didn’t want to post an inspirational message. I didn’t want to go to work. I didn’t want to do anything.

It’s when we’re honest with ourselves about how we feel and where we are in life that things will begin to turn around.

As I set in my car, I received a message on my phone. It read, “Gina…Penny Tweedy Chenery has always been my hero. I think she showed women can soar and beat the odds. She is now 90 but her message is still clear and it also makes me think of you and what you are doing.

Reading the message put a smile on my face. It gave me the hope and encouragement I needed today. It reminded me that to whom much is given, much is required. Therefore, when I start thinking and feeling like the task is too great, I must remember the women who have traveled before me.

Women like Penny and many other’s who Soared in a time when women were expected to stay home, raise their kids and be good little wives. If these women could launch careers, build businesses, start movements and make a difference, so can I! So can all of you!

When I set out to develop a media company that would create inspiring content and events for women I knew it would be difficult. I had know idea there would be days I wish it would all go away. I didn’t realize the fight I would have.

The blessing is…I’ve learned so much on this journey. I’ve built new relationships that are more valuable than gold. I learned who my true friends are. I’ve seen the authentic spirit of women from all walks of life. I’ve seen what women can do when they really support one another with a pure heart.

The message I received this morning reminded me of the strength we as women posses. I hope it inspires you to Soar today and Celebrate The Brilliance Within!

By Yvonne Crum:

Penny Tweedy Chenery owner of Secretariat was a stay-at-home-mom in the early seventies with four kids and a lawyer husband who sits in his chair at the breakfast table reading the paper while she is trying to prepare breakfast for him and their four children. It was the time — It was the 70’s!

Brought back to her farm by her mother’s death, her love for horses, her father, and the business of the farm and horses that he taught her as a child come rushing back. She was a business-minded woman, having given up her own personal ambitions and career in order to raise her family as a graceful and committed woman, who has no qualms about standing up for herself and her decisions while she is confronted, attacked, ridiculed, and threatened by men; this includes her husband, her brother, other horse owners and racers, and so on.

But she stands her ground, ridicules back, and lets her determination and intelligence speak for her. In her champion horse, Secretariat, she sees herself: she is running for her life, running to win the race that being a mother and having obligations deterred her from competing in.

She saves her family farm, races a champion, faces the adversity that came with patriarchal notions of her time regarding women, and she accomplishes the unimaginable: she made millions of money by racing a horse everyone bet against, competing against the big rich boys of her time — and proving herself a valuable business woman.

Definitely, A Woman who Soars!