The Mother's Day celebration takes place in May every year. This special day we reflect and show our gratitude to our mothers by acknowledging their unconditional love, their sacrifices and their contribution to our success.
I owe everything to my mom and I am not referring to my physical characteristics because I don't have her amazing long blond hair or her French-type nose. I am referring to my personality, my attitude towards life and my strategic thinking. From young age, my mom nurtured my (as recently I admitted in an interview) biggest strength in my character: the super-optimistic notion that at the end it will all work out and success will be achieved. Today, this has helped me a lot in my entrepreneurial journey because it made me stay focused and undistracted towards the ultimate goal: the success. Growing up, there were plenty of times that I tripped and found my face on the floor, only to become more stubborn and dedicated to keep running. Her attitude when raising me made me realize that failures were my assets and valuable lessons towards achieving the goal. Her role was to be there for me when I need her, to cheer me up when times were tough and celebrate when times were good. She has been my biggest supporter, my first ally, my toughest coach.
Little did I know back then, my mother was shaping my future through her own lifestyle and career choices. She was leading me by example. I recall that my favorite extracurricular activity was reading books and literature; zooming out from that memory, I also recall my mother sitting next to me and reading her own books. I don't know how my love towards fashion and styling started but I remember my mom bringing me with her while shopping for her own outfits and teaching me what to wear based on my body type and skin complexion. I remember enjoying solving math problems at school that I would later discuss with her while preparing the dinner table. My mom is an economist and so am I... Now I realize that nothing was just a coincidence.
My mom didn't have to tell me what to do or who to become; she inspired it to me. She filled me up with a pool of values and urged me to stay true to them, just by remaining true to them on her own. She taught me that nothing is impossible but there is an opportunity cost for everything. She taught me that love is a strong prerequisite of happiness, along with respect, and hard work is a key ingredient behind accomplishments.
I grew up and I decided that I wanted to change the world into a better place. Of course, I don't have any super powers, unlimited capital or tremendous fame to achieve it, nor do I belong among the global leaders. But, as one of my favorite professors at the University of Pennsylvania, Dr. Kenwyn Smith taught me, power is full of paradoxes and change can happen even from the smallest and weakest link. Never underestimate anyone.
Then it dawned on me! This world can change! Equality, justice and liberty can be achieved from the one special ingredient that its power was overlooked for years: the moms! The first leader every person has, that also is the first teacher, the first role model, the first friend. Moms are responsible in shaping the world's future. Moms can bring up children with values and aspirations to make the world a better place.
It is very interesting how the role of the woman in the society has always been less privileged than man's: equal voting rights achieved early in the nineties, women are misrepresented in media and underrepresented in political and managerial leadership positions, they are getting paid significantly lower than men and they are being supplanted on their way to promotion (aka glass ceiling), female entrepreneurs don't get funded as much or as easy as men are, women are more likely to become human trafficking victims, sex-selected abortion of female fetuses is common in some countries, and so on. Yet, all the change we seek in this world can come from women and not through just leaning in but through literally raising a better future. We can raise better members for our society simply leading by example and change the status quo without much effort.
I call it The Moms' Movement and I hope we all get inspired by it. Moms are a significant part of the society and it is time to show their power and change the world. Every mom is a leader and should take her role with great care, concern and responsibility. We, as society, have put in moms' hands the greatest task: to raise our future. Every year, we celebrate the unconditional love they give us as a gift. From this year we must start celebrating their actual contribution to our society.