“This is me!” Series: An Open Ocean
Until my second year in high school, I believed I wanted to be a journalist - the Discovery Channel ones producing documentaries. But I also knew that something was not exactly right. Then, one day out of nowhere, the director of my school came to me and said that her daughter was studying Oceanography. That was it! At that moment I learned the name of the profession that I wanted to follow.
This decision changed my life… and opened so many doors. I am the first in my close family to attend a Federal University, to live abroad, to speak another language, maybe even to get on an airplane (I have to check that with them). This decision and all the prior groundwork broke barriers for me.
This actually reminds me of a great piece of text I read once and I think every woman should read:
“They said she could not go very far, that was safer to stay closer, in the neighborhood her mother and grandmother grew up. They said that she should find security and stability, and build her own castle within the known surroundings.
She smiled gently, put her shoes and backpack on, and said: I want the world. They questioned her about children, college, and buying her own house. She proved that her dreams were compatible and that she would not give up on any of them to live to the full.
The borders they drew she crossed; the rough seas she braved and the dark paths she made sure to lighten. She engraved every step, flight, turn, and avenue in her heart. She grew up, matured, and understood the greatness of her role in this world.
She kicked off her heels and stepped onto the sand, applauded the first ray of sunlight lightly touching her hair, and she thanked. Every road she passed, every storm alone.. she found herself on the corners of the world, and she didn't stop, she went exactly where she wanted to go. Because the world is hers!”
By Louizzeh Kelly
“With each generation, women’s ability to live the lives they choose reaches a place their grandmothers never thought possible. But that doesn’t mean everything is perfect or that our work is finished.”
– Cathy McMorris Rodgers
