Let's get loud and light the way.

Let’s get LIT and get LOUD !!!

I was thinking today about a time when I was warned that I was “too loud for the office”. I was surprised and offended and let the person know exactly what I though of that comment.  But as I look back on it today, I see it as a compliment. 

She was right.  I was, and I am, “too loud for the office”.  At that time, “the office” had very little diversity.  Most people in corporate offices looked and acted alike and the managers wanted it just that way.   Most of the managers were men.  The women managers were expected to look and talk and act like the men and some of them actually succeeded.  I did not. 

I was loud.    My personality, my style, my color, my voice, even my ideas (especially my ideas) were all too loud.  I was often alone because I did not conform to the corporate office image,. There was security in the office but in the end the price of security became too much for me to pay. So I left to be on my own and create a workspace in an industry that was right for me.

Today, as a successful woman entrepreneur in hospitality and tourism, I am right where I need to be.  I am still loud but I am not alone. Women in tourism and hospitality are loud.  We are sharing our ideas and moving our industry forward. We are raising our voices and lighting the way. We are redefining our industry as welcoming, including, and valuing equally all people from all places and all walks of life.  We are more than ready for a time such as this.

Just look at what’s happening now. The news is full of people being “too loud”. Being too loud is leading to justice, reform, community, and empowerment.  Being too loud is contagious.  The news is full of people being “too loud”. Being too loud is leading to justice, reform, community, and empowerment.  People who were silently complicit in the past are beginning to find and raise their own voices.   They are speaking up.   And they have something helpful to say.  When they open their mouths to speak they speak with one voice and that collective voice is heard loud and clear and its lighting up a clear sunny sky. 

And it’s great! 

Because the sky is lit,  when we look around we can also see clearly.  We see each other and we see all the ways we are alike in our diversity.  We see what compassion and love and empathy look like. We see that Black Lives Matter. And, we see ideas and solutions.  And seeing is leading to doing.  Doing causes change and that change is lighting up the whole world.

Let your light shine.  Speak up from your heart and speak up with your voice and your feet.  Let’s get walking and talking and working .  Let’s get lit and let’s get loud……. together. 

WASH YOUR HANDS | WEAR A MASK | TAKE YOUR TEMPERATURE | KEEP YOUR DISTANCE | BE SAFE