Today has inspired me to reflect on one of my greatest role
models in life: my mom.


My mom
graduated from college as one of the
three women in her accounting program in 1982. 

My mom’s career has been filled with ups and downs. She went off to work
at a one of the biggest sugar cane companies in the Philippines after she graduated from college. After my parents got married, my mom moved to Los
Angeles, CA. In LA, she
worked for Farmers Insurance and health care company. As California’s economy
took a dip in the early 1990s, both my parents lost their jobs. My family
decided to move back to the Philippines for a few years. However, shortly after
my sister was born, my parents decided to move back to the US to give my sister and I better lives.


We moved back to the
US in November of 1997. One week after we moved, my mom started working in
the kitchen of Northwest Airlines. A year later she came back in the accounting
world as an accounts payable specialist/assistant to controller role at a
retail company in Kent, WA. A few years later she faced a lay off again, she worked part time for the school
district, battled breast cancer, worked another two jobs, and found her way to
Providence Health & Services and has been there for the past decade.

My mom has always worked.
Even as she battled breast cancer while I was in 8th grade, she
worked part time for the school district. She was my first example of a woman
balancing a career and family.


As I watched my mom do the grocery shopping every week,
attend my sister and I’s gymnastics meets after work, cook for birthday
parties, and more, she instilled with me 4
main life lessons that I’ve taken in my education, career, and passions:


1.    
Aim High & Reach Your Goals:

I distinctly remember my mom raising me
with this lesson. She always encouraged me to continue to dream and work to
achieve those dreams. Whether it was in track, academics, or extra-curriculars,
my mom told me I could do whatever I set my mind to. I think this was one of the best things she ever taught. I don’t
know if I would have attended college, entered corporate America, or pursued my
passions in blogging if my mom hadn’t instilled in me to dream big and work
hard.

2.    
Empathy:

Another lesson my mom taught me was the ability
to relate to others on an emotional level. I believe my mom gave my
sister and me a heightened sense of empathy. She taught my sister and I
that even though we may have struggled as a family, there are always more
families out there who face greater obstacles than we do.

She showed us to be aware and mindful of
others situations. So today, I don’t need to be in a specific circumstance to
understand the struggles a person faces. Being able to relate to people on an
emotional level, has helped me understand peoples differing perspectives and
opinions in my life.

3.      
Resilience:

My
mom has faced incredible adversity as she’s balanced a career and family.
When I was in 8th grade she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Our
family was lucky they caught the breast cancer at stage one. I used to go with
her to radiation treatments after work and after I got off of school. She
continued to work part time to support our family even as she received
treatments.

My mom was fine after two surgeries and
radiation treatment. My family is thankful that the cancer also never came
back. I honestly couldn’t imagine the fear my mom probably faced at that time.
I was in middle school and my sister was in elementary school. She needed to
still be a mom, bring in an income, and work to get better. My mom is
incredibly resilient and I’m so thankful she taught my sister and I how to also
be resilient in adversity.

4.      
Sow the seeds today so you
have something to harvest for the future:

My mom instilled
in me that you have to actively do things today to set yourself up for the
future. She encouraged me to excel in academics and was my biggest advocate for
me to go to college.

My sophomore year of college I turned to my
mom and expressed to her that I needed an internship. I was applying to the
business school in spring quarter and I believed that an internship would help
differentiate me as an applicant. My mom encouraged me to apply for an
internship at one of the Providence Health & Services hospitals in West
Seattle.

If it were not for her, I would not
have known about and gotten my first internship as a Fundraising/Special Events
intern. After that internship, my mom encouraged me to look for a corporate
internship. She advised me to try to figure out a way to be an intern for the
Boeing Company. After joining INROADS and completing my first internship fall of sophomore year, I
landed my first paid summer internship with Boeing. I ended up being admitted to the Foster School of business later that year.

My mom has been an
incredible example of how to be a mom and how to empower other women in their
careers. She was my first person to
extend a hand to me in the professional world. 

She encouraged me to dream,
raised me to be empathetic, demonstrated resilience, and instilled with me the
idea to work hard today so I can benefit in the future.

Thank you mom for all of your love, support, and kindness. 


Happy
International Women’s Day!


Love,

Emma