I heard three amazing women last night: Katrina Foley, the only woman on the Orange County Board of Supervisors; Sheerin Larijani, Senior Deputy District Attorney in the Office of the Orange County District Attorney; and Heidi Zuckerman, CEO and Director of the Orange County Museum of Art.
There was so much takeaway as I listened to their tales of how they came to their respective positions. Consider this: Foley came from severe childhood poverty, Price was the firstborn of Iranian immigrants, and Zuckerman was the first woman to build two art museums.
The constant refrain that came through was a willingness to seek good for a larger community, for the marginalized, and the uneducated. And to do that, they all had to speak truth to power. Their sense of service left many of us thinking, “What can I do?”
It starts by becoming comfortable with being uncomfortable, stepping into the unknown, and taking a risk. It means saying ‘Why not me?” instead of “Why me?”.
No wonder I had a hard time falling asleep last night.