Albuquerque Public Schools
The Women Who Changed My World
In her Friday message, Superintendent Blakey celebrates Women’s History Month by reflecting on the women she looks up to.
When I think of strength I think of my grandmother Josephine, a remarkable woman who was left to raise two little kids on her own after the unexpected death of my grandfather. I can’t even begin to imagine what that was like for her, between the grief and the sobering reality of having to raise my mom, Maria, and aunt Camilla by herself.
Nevertheless, she put her head down and got to work, shouldering the responsibility with grace and determination because failure just wasn’t an option. Along the way, she built a legacy of strength and confidence that runs deep in my family.
When Women's History Month rolls around, I think of her alongside my other heroes – people like Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, author and philanthropist Sheryl Sandberg and, of course, Oprah Winfrey.
Each of these women changed the world in their own way.
Women like my grandmother and mother have been society’s bedrock from the beginning of time. They nurture and mold us, and when times are tough, they do everything in their power to make things right for us.
Ginsburg, Sandberg and Oprah changed the world in another way. They each became titans in their fields, erasing any notion that women couldn’t compete in male-dominated professions.
Take RBG, a brilliant attorney who served as an associate justice on the Supreme Court for 27 years, the second woman to serve on our nation’s high court. That’s impressive in its own right. But just as impressive was her pioneering work advocating for women’s rights as a lawyer before she served on the U.S. Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court.
She worked tirelessly for gender equality, strategically taking on legal cases that challenged the status quo. She took those cases all the way to the Supreme Court and won most of them. She effectively took a sledgehammer to gender discrimination and made significant gains for women. And she did it in the early ‘70s, a period when men dominated the legal profession.
She also was remarkable in her personal life. She went to law school while raising a young daughter and caring for her husband, who was battling cancer. Her husband also was in law school at the time. So, in addition to her own coursework, RBG attended class and took notes for her husband and typed his dictated papers.
Sandberg was born 36 years after Ginsburg, but she was also a pioneer. She served as chief operating officer of Meta – think Facebook – for 14 years. She earned a reputation as one of Silicon Valley’s most powerful players for her role in turning Facebook into a major financial success.
The book she co-authored, “Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead,” has inspired and motivated me in my work. It was published in 2013 and shines a light on the barriers preventing women from taking on leadership roles. In the book, Sandberg urges us to encourage women to aspire to leadership and to cheer on girls and women who want a seat at the table.
And then there’s Oprah, an incredible woman who has done so many amazing things. I’m not ashamed to admit I wanted to be her in college. Here’s a woman who grew up poor and had a difficult upbringing and still blossomed into one of the most influential people on the planet. Through her incredibly successful talk show and other ventures, she built a media empire and became the first Black billionaire. She has used her resources to lift others up, donating hundreds of millions to educational causes.
These women are my heroes, not just because of their incredible success but because of all they’ve done to empower others. As we celebrate Women’s History Month, I encourage you to think of ways you can empower the next generation of women leaders, because you don’t need to be a billionaire, a brilliant litigator or an author to lift others up.
Have a good weekend.