Long

The first time I spoke out about what it was like to be a woman in the workforce was less than five years ago. That means that for eighteen years, from where you sit to where I stand, my silence implied that everything was OK. You can do better than I did.

It's one of the best qualities to have, the ability to reset after you've taken a hard hit. I've had the pleasure and privilege of seeing the human spirit in full flight in incredible ways.

There's a way that the force of disappointment can be alchemized into something that will paradoxically renew you. You either learn it or you're undone by it.

You may be shy. You may be tentative. And even, at times, you may be fragile. But you have to protect your own voice, your creative spirit, no matter what it costs.

One of the greatest gifts you can give yourself, right here, right now, is to decide, without apology, to commit to the journey, and not to the outcome.

The truth is, you have signed up for a life of service by going into the Arts. And the life-altering results of that service in other people's lives will never disappear as fame unquestionably will.

The world needs you. Now, the world may not exactly realize it, but wow, does it need you. It is yearning, starving, dying for you and your healing offer of service through your Art.

We were all made to love. And I've found that we live our best lives, we are at our most successful, not simply because we're smarter than everyone else, or because we hustle harder. The key to success, the key to happiness, is opening your mind and your heart to love.

We're taught when we're young that the opposite of love is hate. But it's not. Hate is a byproduct. The opposite of love is fear. Fear is what blinds us. Fear is corrosive. Fear makes us hold back.

Self-doubt is one of the most destructive forces. It makes you defensive instead of open, reactive instead of active. Self-doubt is consuming and cruel and my hope is today that we can all collectively agree to ban it.

When you are free from self-doubt, you fail better. Because you don't have your defenses up, you can accept the criticism. You don't become so preoccupied with that failure that you forget how to learn from it.

Embrace your journey to your own potential. It wasn't until I stopped worrying about my own validation and finally refocused my energy on things I could actually change that I finally grew as a person and as a professional.