By Zimkita Mabindla
There’s nothing that affirms, animates, comforts and energizes me more than working to empower women and young people in my profession (all genders).
I choose to live in a world of abundance, creation and hope. I choose to set boundaries with those who have a scarcity mentality. I set boundaries and cut off harmful people. I cut off people who have toxic preconceived notions of who I should be and how I should behave.
I choose to shutdown and not to pay attention to those who’ve been nurtured and indoctrinated to believe they’re INHERENTLY superior and better than me.
In a world that tells me that it’s fine for me to succeed, so long as I’m in someone’s shadow, I choose to reject their models of success, and design and bring to life platforms to ensure that I have full control of my legacy and will stand alone in the sunshine.
In a world that gets so easily rattled by black women like me, who don’t ask for permission to shine – Like Lisa Nichols, I choose not to ask for permission but to give notice that I will shine and then proceed to shine.
In a world that tells me I’m too loud about acknowledging my factual, valid and proven success, I choose to have empathy, and give a warning to those who have a problem to keep their hearing specialists on speed dial, because it’s about to get mighty loud up in here.
This is my story. This is my script. I’ve got full control over who I write in and erase from my story and script.
My life is my theatre. I’ve got full control of who comes into the theatre to see my play. I’ve got full control who occupies the front seats and over who to relegate to the cheap seats of my life.
This is my stage; I’ve got full control of who comes onto my stage to perform in my play.
We might not have had control over our beginnings, but we surely can have control over writing our own endings. And I ensure everyday than my ending will be exceptional and will be a legacy that will transcend generations to come.
