3 Inspirational stories of woman
Carmel Batticciotto
“I have had many role models throughout my career, including leaders who showed me what good leadership should look like and the positive impact it can have on others.
“I have also been inspired by individuals who have suffered from great adversity and have managed to bounce back and thrive. Turia Pitt is an Australian woman who was the victim of a bushfire and fought an extensive battle to overcome her injuries. She is now a public figure who openly shares her story and helps and inspires others in the community. She reminds me that, although we can’t always control the events in our life, we can control our reaction to them. Her fighting spirit and never-give-up attitude is a huge inspiration to me.
“Never stop learning and seeking feedback. In order to develop and grow, we need to continuously learn and improve while still believing in our own ability. That has been an important lesson for me, to not let an awareness of your own development areas impact your confidence levels or self-belief. So, no matter what stage you are at in your career, you can continue to learn, evolve, and grow.”
Katrina Villarreal
“I am most fortunate to have an incredible role model in my grandmother, Lorene VanLeeuwen. A child of the Great Depression, she knew that education and hard work were the keystones to success. At a time when most women stayed home, she worked as a teacher, secretary, and postmaster for her small town. At 89, she decided to learn computers and went back to take college classes. Today, at 105 years old, she has an iPad, is on Facebook, and regularly communicates with her great-great grandchildren. She is still learning new things every day.
“The key lesson I learned from her was to never stop learning. If you learn, you grow—and as you grow, you can teach others by your example. I would also echo my grandmother’s advice to never stop embracing challenges. When we embrace a challenge, we think beyond the everyday and do more than we thought was possible.”
Monica Ramos
“Deciding to become a leader is a challenge that will affect your whole life. It’s not just your job; becoming a leader affects your role as a mother, a spouse or partner, and your position in the family. It’s a daily challenge that you need to accept to become a better person and better leader. Like the decision you make to be a mother, the decision to take on leadership affects everything.
“There were a lot of people who inspired me, including my mother and father. In different phases of my life, I have gotten inspiration and advice from different people. Like Jose Augusto Figueiredo, my direct leader. We have worked together for almost 20 years. In the beginning of my career, whenever we had a very challenging project, I didn’t know if I was the right person for the job. He helped me see that I could be the right person and supported me to build a successful team. He always talked about how I needed to connect the best people for the right moment.
“Later, when I became a leader myself, he inspired me as a leader coach, asking questions and showing me different points of view.
“The first lesson I learned is that, as a woman, you don’t need to be afraid of being a leader. And you should not expect people to treat you differently, simply because you are a woman. As a woman, you are no different than any leader, male or female. We may have specific attributes that are inherent in us as women, and that can help us lead in a better, more effective way in certain situations. We are more organized, flexible, and can make adjustments more easily than men. That is a great benefit for any leader.
“I also learned that you do not have to avoid having a family to be an executive leader. A lot of younger women think that if they want to become an executive, they cannot have a family. I try to explain that you can do both things. You don’t need to separate these roles—leader and mother. Instead, you need to integrate them, and you will become a better leader. There are always ways you can do both things in your life.”
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