An Open Letter To My Female Mentor

My female mentor has been inspiring me for my entire life. She's an inspiration to me. She's always there for me. And she's my mother.

I am so unbelievably lucky to have so many strong and inspiring women in my life. All of my friends are so independent, smart and driven. All the women in my family are high achieving career women. I have had countless female teachers that have set the standard for inspirational and motivational educators. But when it comes down to it, there is no one I admire more than my mother. She is my female mentor.

I admire her work ethic

First off, my mom is incredibly intelligent and hardworking. She finished second in her class at University of California Santa Cruz, with a major in sociology. She then worked her tail off waitressing for the next year to save up to go to law school at Tulane University in New Orleans. From there, she competed with the best of the best at the ivy league of the south to obtain a law degree, and pass the bar. She even passed the bar while she was pregnant with my sister!

From there on out she climbed the ladder. She worked several less than glamorous jobs at different law offices throughout California. She even was discriminated against by an employer for being pregnant, a very common occurrence in the workforce at the time. But this didn’t stop her. She continued to persist, nevertheless, and she ended up going from washing dishes at a Tesco store in London, to becoming their first female in house solicitor. This was for Tesco, which at the time was the second largest retail in the world. Talk about a badass female mentor.

She’s overcome a lot

After her brother died in 2003, our family decided to move back to California from London to be closer to my mom’s side of the family. The loss was hard on my mom, but she carried on to be the best mother and lawyer she could be. She started out at the bottom when it came to her career again, but eventually had enough of working for others, especially men and started her own law firm. It was really hard at first and she had to make a lot of sacrifices and put in a lot of long nights to get the business off of its feet but as of summer 2018, her law firm has been voted the best in Humboldt County three years in a row.

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She’s always cared for others

Besides being an incredibly courageous and cunning defense attorney, my mom is the most caring role model a girl could ask for. When I was a little girl, she used to read Harry Potter to me every night in a British accent until I fell asleep. I struggled with a lot of anxiety in my youth and she never judged me or got impatient with me for it, but instead tried to ease it. She always knew the right thing to do when I was sick and how to comfort me when I was sad. She taught me how to be generous and empathetic towards others and that everyone deserves a second chance. Without my mom, I would not be the young woman I am today. I am forever grateful for her.

So mom, I want to thank you for always teaching me to be self sufficient and to dream vibrantly and to never let anything or anyone get in my way. Thank you for supporting me, trusting me and always believing in my capabilities. Not everyone has such a supportive and trustworthy female role model as a mom, and I am lucky that I do. Your tireless work in our community inspires me and your goofy sense of humor enlightens me. You are everything a woman should be and more. You are my mentor and mom. Thank you for all that you do.