I believe the children are our future. No, seriously I do.  It’s a brave new world out there and I often find myself speaking to children and starting off with “Well, back when I was in elementary school…” and you know the rest. We are in the age of tech, the age of information and unfortunately the age of social media. I always say that the internet is one the worst best things to happen in the 21st century. Call me old fashioned but I am still inspired by living, breathing people. Real people, everyday people. So when Christianne Clymer who is the Development Manager at Children’s Scholarship Fund Philadelphia asked me if I would like to be part of Career Day at Gesu School in north philly, ( born and raised, thank you) I jumped at the chance. I did it because I thought it was important for the students to hear from a person that not only looks like them but is from where they are from. I did it because I wanted them to see that the world is theirs for the taking and there is no right or wrong way to succeed in life.  I also did it as a personal challenge because public speaking causes me great anxiety and I wish to become a dynamic speaker and the only way to do that is practice. While the other ten speakers were paired off I offered to be the odd man out and spoke to the students for the full 15 minutes alone. 15 minutes is nothing, but when you have a fear of public speaking it might as well be 8 hours.  Let’s be honest, children are a tough audience, they can spot BS a mile away and if they lose focus you’re done. I made sure to speak honestly and from the heart. We rotated between 6-7 classrooms which were gender specific. So even though the school is co-ed the classrooms are not, which I thought was interesting. There are two things I shared about myself that in each class I went to  I could see students eyes light up. 1) I am from North Philly 2) I didn’t go to college. I was on the fence about whether to share that second fact at a school that is predominantly black, where if anything you always want to PROMOTE higher education. But like I said before, I wanted to be honest. The truth is, is that this black girl from north philly, raised by a single mother who managed to send her to private schools has worked at a company for 17 years, and has earned the respect of her peers and has progressed successfully WITHOUT a degree. This woman last year was selected to be part of a Board Governance Program at University of Pennsylvania where she might have been the only person in the co-hort of 25 black professionals, that did NOT have a college degree.  The students were surprised that I am from “the hood.” The point in sharing these facts was to show them that there isn’t just one way to succeed in life and that even if the odds are against you, I am testimony that it doesn’t matter. I shared with the students that although I have been in the banking industry for close to 20 years (GASP!), that music and working with animals are my TRUE passions and that I still try to nurture those passions whenever I can.  (and yes a student asked me sing which I was completely unprepared for but had to oblige) I also told them that although I am a late bloomer I love to travel and shared the places I have been and still wish to go and I could see that some of the students had those same aspirations. The students were engaging, asked terrific questions and welcomed us all with open arms along with Vice Principal Alana Lee. (Thank you Ms. Lee!) It was a wonderful afternoon and I am honored to have been asked to be a part of it.