For the past year, I've only read things that speak to personal development and entrepreneurship. Names like Michael Clouse, John C. Maxwell, and Robert Kiyosaki line my bookshelf. However, people like Wayne Dyer, Deepak Chopra and Ellie Drake soon replaced them. While this reading list may not seem unusual to many, it is quite a change for me. For the past several years, I've been a teacher of English and reading. My purpose was to instill the love of reading in students who in the best of times were open and most of the times were indifferent. My goal was to open a world to them that they were unaware existed, to allow them to meet people unlike the ones that live in their world.



At the end of the school year, I learned of a book that does not fit my newfound genre. It crept into my thoughts and would not let go. So, I followed this calling, went to my favorite bookstore and bought a copy of Khaled Hosseini's A Thousand Splendid Suns. This is the story of two women from Afghanistan who rise above what life gives them. It is the story of despair, trust, endurance and the limitless love of women without a voice, without dreams, without hope for a future for themselves or their daughters. I found their story creeping into my thoughts when I would have preferred to keep it at the back of my memory. While we all have our own stories to live, the story of Mariam and Laila has touched me in a profound manner and caused me to think about my own story in a new light.

I'm not sure how many Americans take for granted the tremendous freedom we have. I never thought about all the privileges I have: the freedom of speech, the freedom to become anything I pursue, the freedom to trust and believe that the world is a place where dreams are possible and can become reality if that is the intention. Perhaps it was destiny that I read Hosseini's haunting tale of these brave-hearted women; it put my venture as an entrepreneur in a new light. It was both eye opening and humbling. How lucky I am to live in the land of opportunity, how lucky I am to be a woman at this time in history, how much I value the opportunities that await my granddaughter and all the other little girls who dream big and expect to do great things.

Like Mariam and Laila, I gain strength from other women. Being a founding member of BraveHeart Women's Global Community is a tremendous gift. I know I can trust that as a community we have only the best of intentions at heart, and those intentions are to benefit women and children of the world. Our mission goes beyond culture, religion and ethnicity. It connects us all at a level much deeper than where we live, what we believe and who our ancestors are. With this gift comes a responsibility. It is with humility and gratitude that I can say I have been given a great deal. Not all women are as fortunate as I; some like Mariam and Laila live lives that should only be on the pages of books. Unfortunately, this is not the case.

As an American woman, I have great power; as a BraveHeart Woman, my power is 1000-fold. We began as 100 privileged women. We are now 1000 strong: a thousand splendid women who will some day reach as far as the lives of those like Mariam and Laila; that is the responsibility we embrace; that is the mission we hold in our hearts, our brave hearts.