The Legacy of your “why”…

As I sit furiously banging my Macbook's keyboard, sending work emails on a Saturday, clearly violating my own "no-send/no-read" rule, I noticed a pattern emerging that struck an emotional chord which caused me to take pause. I suddenly became drawn to the words "first" and "historic"when writing about collaborating with AnitaB.org- and for the sake of journalism, I'll say something meta-physical started to happen.

Initially, I thought I would do a quick LinkedIn post, give a few kudos as a nod of gratitude to my collaborative partners, then I saw a post referencing "The Importance of Tribes to Building Your Career". I chuckled slightly, reminded of my occasional tagline, "I do it for the culture," when I realized that has more relevance to the legacy of my "why" than I ever imagined.

Upon graduating from high school with a 3.9 GPA and in the top 5% of my class, I received a Presidential Scholarship to attend the University of Alabama and I entered as a first-generation, female, student of color from a single-parent, free-lunch recipient household. I chose Computer Science as my major without any role models to explain what that might entail and I struggled to navigate my way through freshman year, often calling home in tears because I couldn't debug my programs after hours of trying.

I was the students I coach everyday.

I eventually ended up changing my major to Economics but I never left tech. From humble beginnings as a technology teacher for NYCDOE, to leading a team of TechOps in the U.S. & Puerto Rico at Skytel, to landing at CUNY2xTECH, I have always subconsciously "leaned in" to tech.

Thus brings me to the legacy of my personal "why." Simon Sinek, author of "Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action," stated:

“We are worth more than the work that we do; the work that we do is supposed to reflect who we are and what our worth is.” 

Who am I? A servant-leader dedicated to finding resources which provide "intentional access" to individuals, particularly women, in underserved communities. The epiphany of today, however, is that the legacy I hope to leave (so one day my daughter will actually be able to articulate what I do) has crafted itself organically through this "invisible" thread of my career trajectory.

So I'll keep banging on these keys, noting "first" and "historic" as I go and enjoy this moment of self-actualization that my legacy is fulfilled through my "why."

Is yours?