International Women’s Day 2020

As we celebrate International Women’s Day today, we wanted to give some shout outs to the working women who have paved the way for us and lead by an extraordinary example! Some we know and some we only read about but all are amazing women doing great things for other amazing women.

Tiffany’s List:
So many women have influenced the person I am today. Way too many to mention them all, but the women who have impacted my career most should get a standing ovation. First, is my mom. She has worked incredibly hard and built a spectacular career for herself despite not having a formal college education and all while keeping my brother and me happy and healthy. As a new mom myself, I now realize just how hard that is. One lesson I learned from her is that you should do that awful task no one else wants to do at work and do it well, and also she taught me pivot tables. There are many other working moms out there that I look up to and seek guidance from. It’s not an easy path to walk, being a working mom, and I couldn’t do it without a lot of women cheering me on every step of the way.

These next few people have encouraged me in my professional career whether I have actually met them or not, starting with a fantastic high school teacher, Stacie Decker-Robles. Teachers sometimes don’t get enough credit and she was one of the first people I remember showing me a career in a creative field was an option and taught me how to use my creativity in the real world. She still checks in on me to this day to see how I’m doing and I think that’s pretty amazing. For those wonderful women I haven’t met yet, I follow a lot of very strong women on social media or read their books or listen to their podcasts and one thing all of them have in common is a love for books and supporting other women. Two of my very favorite things. In no particular order, these are some awesome ladies you should read more about: Reese Witherspoon, Tina Fey, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton, Emma Watson and Dolly Parton.

Finally, I wouldn’t be part of an amazing startup digital agency without the 2 ladies working with me today, Heather and Tori. These are some of the smartest and most savvy women I’ve ever met and they make me strive to be better every day. These women work harder than anyone and it’s an absolute pleasure to be part of this group of talented ladies.

Heather’s List: 
Narrowing this down to just a few paragraphs has taken me weeks of rewrites, honest conversations with myself, and Tiffany constantly having to remind me to fill in my part of the blog (sorry!). There isn’t one woman who has influenced my life but there have been many who have shaped my views and drive to succeed. I’ve narrowed that list down but I honestly could write a book.

I take voting very seriously. Not only is it my civic duty, but it is also to pay respect to all of the women who fought for our right to vote – including the Suffragettes.Their sacrifices helped pave the way for so many women to not only have the strength to fight for women’s rights but to get involved in politics and make their voices heard. We wouldn’t have amazing women like Ruth Bader-Ginsberg, Hillary Clinton, Shirley Chisholm or Elizabeth Warren without the Suffragettes standing up for women and saying enough is enough – let us vote!

Working in the digital space we look to other women for support. To all the women who fight for that seat at the table, who bring other women with you on your journey, who support and cheer on other women – I salute you. You are why I keep fighting every day. You are why I get up every morning and remind myself that we are all in this together and we must break the glass ceiling together. I want a better, more just world for my niece. I fight for that everyday. Tiffany and Tori are also a big part of my “why”. Why I lose sleep worrying about how we can keep this business moving forward in an increasingly competitive industry. Why I make whatever sacrifice is needed to make sure we all succeed and are acknowledged for our hard work. They are why I do what I do. 

We have a quote on our website that reads: “We stand on the shoulders of those who came before us.” I also have it hanging on my office wall. I read it every day to remind myself why we do what we do and why this agency was created.

Tori’s List: 
I am incredibly blessed to have been brought into this world by the strongest woman I have ever known – my Mom. My mother has an intense passion for life that permeates through every aspect of her being, including raising two kids while excelling in her career. She began working in IT in the 80s and, due to her tenacity and intelligence, very quickly became the only woman in the meeting room. She has faced many challenges in her career, but has never once stopped to question whether or not she deserved to be there. Her greatest gift to me, besides life itself, is the knowledge that a woman’s place in this world is wherever she wants to be.

Two of my favorite hobbies are reading or listening to music, so many of the women who have inspired me are authors and lyricists. As Tiffany and Heather have said, it was incredibly difficult to limit my list of badass women down to a handful, since there are so many powerful females out there dominating their craft. A few who have inspired me with their prose are: Heather Terrell, author of “The Other Einstein,” “Carnegie’s Maid,” “The Only Woman in the Room” and “Lady Clementine, which she wrote under the pen name Marie Benedict; Margaret Atwood, author of “The Handmaid’s Tale,” “The Testaments” and sixteen other novels; Michelle Obama, author of “Becoming” and the 44^th First Lady of the United States; and Alecia Moore, the singer-songwriter know as P!nk and proud women’s right activist.

As the youngster at Digital Story, I respect and admire Heather and Tiffany in so many ways. They are my colleagues, my teachers, my mentors, my friends and the girl gang that gets me through the ups and downs of life. They are some of the wisest, most talented and wittiest women I know and I’m forever grateful to be on this journey with them.

Digital Story is a proud Certified Woman-Owned Business with a fierce passion for helping others build and grow the business that excites them. Who are the women that inspire you this International Women’s Day?