Starting out as a small, 100% woman-and-minority-owned business in 2004-05 in the US was scary, uncertain, and full of “what ifs.”
One of the best pieces of advice that I received from another small-business owner in a similar line of work that I still hold true in my heart was:
In our line of work, it is a marathon and not a sprint. Stay the course. You may not see a massive growth in revenue overnight or even exponentially across the years. But you will love what you do – because you are a qualified and motivated woman-of-color (WOC) with a passion for what you do.
Here’s to the marathon and not the sprint for all WOCs like me who love what we do.
Here’s to driving a little Prius and not a muscle car like a Chevy Camaro, Dodge Challenger, or a Ford Mustang. But, you could certainly be a WOC and also drive a muscle car. Hats off to you!
On Friday late afternoon, we signed a contract with AAAS on a large, multi-year grant (do stay tuned for the big news soon!) that also happened to be the 60th National Science Foundation (NSF) grant evaluation work we have done to date.
Our journey down the NSF- grants lane began in 2009 with a Noyce grant evaluation and here we are after 13 years: 60 grant evaluations in 23 programs and working in 31 states across the US.
I think my little Prius can perhaps do 0 to 60 in 13 with me looking like Totoro in the driver’s seat.
PC: The Totoro “driving” a Prius is made in the DALL.E app (www.openai.com). Give it a try, it’s very cool.
