Raising the next generation’s SHE-ro
This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #StrengthHasNoGender #CBias #CollectiveBias
Strong women. We all know them. Many of us ARE them. And I’m so happy to read stories that come across my feed this month for Women’s History Month. I’m even happier to see the various actions that are coming out of this month – like the Brawny® Strength Has No Gender™ initiative.
Have you seen the Brawny® Pick-a-Size 8 Giant Plus paper towels at Walmart recently? I saw them when I was shopping with my daughter and seeing the limited-time Strength Has No Gender™ pack just makes me smile (maybe because I remember all of the Brawny® commercials when I was growing up.) Regardless, this makes me happy as a female who has worked in a male-dominated field for so long. And Brawny® paper towels are so strong, they can even stand up to my toddler’s messes.
I’m loving the Brawny® Strength Has No Gender™ initiative for so many reasons. For starters, strength really HAS no gender. Second, I love how strong Brawny® paper towels are. I didn’t think anyone could be a messier eater than my son until my daughter came along and proved him wrong. When she is done, she is DONE and dumps everything onto the floor or table. My table has to be wiped down after every meal, and her seat at the table has to be scrubbed after every meal. Thankfully Brawny® is up for the job.
I graduated college almost 18 years ago and immediately began working in an online department. I started as an online producer (doing basic coding for a website), and my roles transitioned to online reporter, online editor and finally Online Developer. I was the webmaster for a major website, and whenever we did a redesign (dictated by corporate, not my own design), I received a lot of flack. People would complain by emailing the webmaster – and the name calling was absurd. If I received phone calls, the caller usually would ask for my supervisor or be surprised because they were not expecting a female to answer the phone.
Early in my career, I kept printed copies of my work because I had a bad feeling about the man I reported to. He really did not like working with me, and at one point the copies I kept came in handy when I used them to justify my position with the company. He had been telling another supervisor that I wasn’t competent as an online producer, and couldn’t handle the job. Turns out, he couldn’t handle working with strong women and left shortly after that incident.
I no longer work for that company, but I still work with websites – and I still deal with people who are surprised I’ve been doing this work for 18 years. I hope whatever my daughter chooses to do in life, she’s able to have the respect she deserves.
A few years ago, at the dinner table, I remember my son saying that he can’t be a teacher because “only girls can be teachers.” I was so surprised because I had no idea where he had learned that. My husband is an educator. I asked our son what he thought I did all day, and he really didn’t know. (He once thought I was a teacher and now believes my day job is like Homecoming festivities all day, every day.) He thinks that it’s “cool” I can build websites now. I also handle social media for my alma mater, which allows me to cover a lot of really fun events and cool students on a college campus. When my daughter was born 2 years ago, I was so excited about all of the possibilities for her. Seh can be whatever she wants – the sky is the limit for this little girl.
She truly can be whatever she wants to be when she grows up, and I think this little girl is going places.
(Baby’s first Homecoming in which I shot photos and video while wearing her around campus for several hours.)
GIRLS INC. PARTNERSHIP MODULE SHEROES *OF TOMORROW: Brawny® will donate a $100K and, will also give your SHEro stories to Girls Inc. to inspire girls to be strong, smart, and bold. Let’s shape a better future and prove #StrengthHasNoGender
I think we all have a #StrenghtHasNoGender story – what is yours?