A Mother's Day Reflection

Our family's hearts were heavy on Mother's Day as we prayed for the safe return of all the Nigerian girls who were separated from their families. I am using this moment to teach my daughter about Gratitude. I am sure that many of our girls in America do not realized that millions of girls risk their life for and opportunity to be educated. My daughter and I watched Mrs.Obama's message from the White House as she explained that we know that girls who are educated make higher wages, lead healthier lives, and have healthier families and when more girls attend secondary school, that boosts their country’s entire economy.

Please share the first lady's speech with your family as it has given our daughter a lot to think about.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/

 

Educate a girl, change a generation

Board room confidence starts early

It was a powerful moment to see 5 year old Sarah, so poised, self assured and confident  with 15 year old Master James Black. James is one of the members of the award winning Chess team documented in the movie Brooklyn Castle. The children were participants of a wonderful Chess event given by the Chess Challenge organization at the Gallup Building in Washington, D.C  The parents of the masters spoke publicly about Chess and all the important skills that their children had acquired as a result of playing Chess. The children also repeated that Chess taught them organization, strategic planning, analytical skills in real life situations and handwriting.  All of which are skills required to accelerate and compete  in the workplace. The Master's and the parents agreed that most of all they had learned patience.

  May I encourage you to read an article written on
 "The Confidence Gap" by Katty Kay and Claire Shipman

http://www.theatlantic.com/features/archive/2014/04/the-confidence-gap/359815

Evidence shows that women are less self-assured than men—and that to succeed, confidence matters as much as competence.

A growing body of evidence shows just how devastating a lack of confidence can be. Success, it turns out, correlates just as closely with confidence as it does with competence. No wonder that women, despite all our progress, are still woefully underrepresented at the highest levels in business and government.
 All of that is the bad news. The good news is that with work, confidence can be acquired. Which means that the confidence gap, in turn, can be closed

 I am so proud of Sarah. She is literally learning confidence in a board room dominated by men and boys at such a young age. That is really important in a world were women are severely under represented in the STEM careers. Women make up less than 25% of participants in science, technology, engineering and math. Early experiences shape how the brain grows. Adding Chess to a  young girl's academic foundation in the early years boosts confidence,self image, in addition to increases the probability of positive outcomes in college and promotions in any workplace.