It’s the month of International Women’s Day! Recently, one of my colleagues unfamiliar with this day said, “They only get a day?” This made me chuckle. We do deserve more than a day, which is why we commemorate Women’s History Month as well–an opportunity to celebrate the courage of women throughout history who have paved the way for the freedoms and opportunities we have today.

I have a rich generational history of strong women in my family. It was these women who raised me, who showed me how to navigate life with pure resilience and courage, and who taught me to be myself and love that above all. Today, I am especially celebrating today my two moms, pictured above: my own mother, Ellen, and her twin sister, Olive.

Aunt Olive and my mom were practically inseparable–so much so that my stepfather used to say he never bargained for two wives when he married my mother, but got them both all the same! In the 1940’s, instead of getting married, Olive and Ellen started careers, my mom as a nurse who went on to manage the Operating Room, and Olive as a teacher and librarian. True leaders in their family and in their workplace, these women are role-models that I’ve had the privilege of coming behind as leaders, encouraging me throughout my life to do and be anything I want to be. As my favorite quote from R. S. Grey says, “She believed she could, so she did.”

Happy Internationals Women’s Day, and remember that like Ellen and Olive, if you believe you can then so you will!

Mary Younggren
Owner & President
Advent Talent Group