Welcome to my virtual home!

  One of the cool parts to this startup journey is connecting with other entrepreneurs. This time around, I'm grateful to know many more female entrepreneurs than the last time I co-founded a startup. Also, the folks I'm meeting are incredibly generous. For example, I connected with AuthenTech , a movement of startups creating value-driven technology, and one of their members, OwnTrail, enables people to chart out their journeys and ask one another for help. Here's a picture of my trail and you can find the interactive version here . I posted a Help Beacon to my trail, asking members to share my startup, and a total stranger shared it with her contacts! Perhaps I've grown forgetful but I just don't recall this kind of open-heartedness when I last started a company. 

A flurry of requests to join Empowered Together came through recently. Reading through parents' answers to a few simple questions humbles me. Parents pour out some of the hardest things going on in their lives. To be entrusted with those cares reminds me this work is important. Parents are looking to grow and become the best parents they can be, navigating often difficult challenges on their journeys. The privilege of being a part of their story fills me with gratitude.

  This morning, before my daughter was sent home from school and my husband took a COVID test, in that quiet interlude I reflected on the last six months at  Empowered Together , listing what's working, what's not, questions I have, and ideas. That simple exercise helped me recognize some gaps and identify ways to address them (e.g., following up with prospects). There was plenty on the "what's not working list" but more than I anticipated on the "what's working list." The reflection reminded me of the joy I have on this vocational journey. It sure beats where I was a year ago in terms of sustainability and mental wellbeing. It's clear that God guided me in this direction and equipped me with skills I'd need while also surrounding me with people who have skills I lack. Entering a new year, I'm grateful for this startup and all the people who've been part of its birth.