Celebrating Women of BAE!

Katy Pfaffl on Insipration

Maya Angelou taught me the importance of grace and the power of living the truth that you believe in every day and standing up for that truth with integrity. I carry that lesson with me as a reminder that life is not happening TO me, it is simply happening, and I have the power to decide who I choose to be within it.
Oprah Winfrey taught me that it is possible to transform pain into purpose and overcome incredible obstacles to reach beyond the circumstances we were born into. From her example, I do my best to view mistakes as valuable lessons and to put my energy into evolving, listening, and taking care of myself and others.
Isadora Duncan, (the founder of Modern Dance), taught me that there is no such thing as "impossible" if we dare to stay authentic, creative, and dedicated. Every time I step into any space as a female artist, I think of her and stand firmly in my creative self and vision to build what I know is possible and share my knowledge and talents with confidence.

I hope to be a mirror for the young women in generations to come, so when they see me running 4 businesses, performing on professional stages, standing strong in the face of adversity, and loving others fearlessly, the future is reflected back in which they can see themselves shining brighter, living bolder, and loving greater than I ever dreamed possible.

Be clear, be confident and don’t overthink it. The beauty of your story is that it’s going to continue to evolve and your site can evolve with it. Your goal should be to make it feel right for right now. Later will take care of itself. It always does.

Juanita Castro on Graditude

My mother is the woman that inspires me every day. I live my life full of gratitude and empathy just as my mom does. Since I was little my mom has always reminded me that

"La gratitud es el único exceso permitido."

Which means gratitude is the only thing I am allowed to have as an excess. I wake up every day full of gratitude and want to share it with people. Because I believe gratitud is giving and receiving. The idea that happiness starts within, that the person you should love the most is yourself. That we are born with everything we need to succeed, we just need to cultivate it.

Jenny Mollet on Truth

All the women-identifying people in my life have inspired me. From my mother, to close friends, to my barber, to coworkers, to even someone that I met spontaneously, they all somehow left an impact on my life. I apply the lessons I learned and try to apply them to my everyday life whether how small or large it may be. For instance, this lady that struck up a conversation with me while we were waiting for something left me one of the biggest impacts and I remember her to this day.

She said she could tell that I am a sweet soul but not to let it "humble" me too much because I should be confident and take pride in myself, be able to take up space, and also not be apologetic with everything I say or do.

Being a black woman herself when she was growing up, she did not have much of a say in things or didn't have the opportunity to hold her own like I do or that this generation does. So now is my time to do so! There's so much I hope that I can pass down to future generations but I think the main thing I'd want them to know is to ALWAYS live your truth. By doing so, one is being one most authentic self and the world is limitless. They can dream big, strive and achieve for whatever they want, and most importantly, they can love themselves for who they are. There is no one like them out there in the world. You are your own unique being. Who wants to be like anybody else?

Pavithra Govindaraj on Joy

‘Happy Holi’ or ‘Holi Mubarak Ho’ is accompanied by a surprising fistful of color. Holi is a festival of love, colors, and spring as well as a fun invitation to share and celebrate this extraordinary thing called life. Though Holi has its origin in mythology and religion, the festival at its core celebrates the beginning of a good spring harvest season and good triumphing over evil, light over darkness. In India, once the customary poojas are observed, Holi is a great excuse to house-hop with friends and eat as many sweets as possible. This is also the festival where you are allowed to pelt your friends and complete strangers with colored powder called ‘gulal’. 

Holi is celebrated differently in every family. Growing up I always celebrated Holi at my school, Shanti Bhavan, where it was an exciting, messy affair – as Holi generally is - but it was also an educational one too. During assembly time, a middle schooler would share the story behind Holi and the rituals that are usually observed with it. For us, Holi was during P.E – either on the field or in the school quadrangle - so that our clothes could be reused after being drenched and we, as a community, could spend time cleaning the colored walls together. Then the even distribution of the powder sachets and colored water ensues. The fun is in identifying how much you can color another person with minimum ammunition. Quite quickly everyone’s faces turn a shade of purple as all the colors begin to blend but its nothing that a quick shower cannot fix. Since the powder stains a little, we carry traces of Holi on our skin for the next few days.

After graduating from SB, we’ve taken the fun to the streets, meeting strangers and friends alike and wishing them a ‘Happy Holi!’ almost always with a handful of gulal!