I hope that everyone had a great holiday and is ready for the New Year. I didn't make any resolutions because I never EVER keep them. I know it's sad but it is the truth. Well this year is monumental for me because I am going to complete one of the tasks on my bucket list. You may be wondering what that monumental task maybe; I am going to be graduating from college. Yes, I have struggled and sacrificed and now the end is near. To be honest with you it is nowhere near the end it is only the beginning. While I was looking for some good articles to online to read, I came across an article in the Huffington Post about a young lady who too had to overcome obstacles. I read the article and I was blown away! This young lady I read about is phenomenal! I would like to share the information I read and the article from the Huffington Post.
The young lady I am referring to is Candace Klein, the founder of Bad Girl Ventures. Bad Girl Ventures is a non-profit organization that focuses on financing women owned start up companies. According to the Huffington Post, Bad Girl Ventures has educated over 250 businesses and financed over 26 women with 700k and created 154 jobs across Ohio (1)
Candace's journey began with humble beginnings. Candace is the daughter of a single teenaged mother who lived in a trailer park. Candace was the first of five children and was the first to attend college. Candace obtained four degrees at Northern Kentucky in 2003. She was then accepted to Boston University and the University of San Diego for law school. It seemed like everything was going in the right direction for Candace and could only go higher. Unfortunately, Candace was diagnosed with Ovarian Cancer. Candace had to move back home so that she could get proper treatment and have the cancer procedures done. The medical bills piled up and this hindered her from attending law school.
According to the interview she did with the Huffington Post, Candace worked as a lobbyist and met a woman by the name of Alice Sparks. Alice Sparks was independently wealthy and she was committed to promoting women causes. While having lunch with Alice, Candace told Alice her life story. Alice asked what she planned on doing with her future and Candace told her the plan. She wanted to learn the law, run a successful business, teach others how to run a successful business and run for governor of Ohio. To Candace's surprise, only after knowing Alice for one hour, Alice agreed to pay for her to go to law school. Wow!!! Even though Alice did not want the money back, she did want Candace to take the money and invest in other women.
Candace went to law school and began her career. After so many years of practicing corporate law, Candace was saddened by the financial state of some of her clients and that sparked the idea for the Bad Girls Venture. Candace understood that her clients did not just need money, they needed the education and training more than anything.
After I finished reading Candace's story, I was inspired. This sounds like a fairytale but this happens. There is a time in everyone's life when an "incredible opportunity" presents itself and either we will turn it down ignorantly or we won't even recognize it. Often times many of us don't have the faith in ourselves to take the time to take a chance at it. I can tell you from experience that I had a similar experience. Not necessarily like Candace but a young lady offered me the opportunity to invest in an up and coming cell phone company and I decided not to because I listened to some of my friends and I just received my income tax check and I was afraid to give up $1000 of my money. Three years later I ran into that same woman and she told me that I missed out on the opportunity to be an investor in the cell phone company "Metro PCS". I was sick to my stomach!!
Well needless to say I take the time to research any opportunity that presents itself. I am also aware that every opportunity is not a good one so the research comes in handy.
Well I hope this blog post is of assistance to some of you. If you don't do anything else, push yourself to do better and do more. You will be surprised at how much you can handle.
Best Wishes
Cite Info:
"Huffington Post." Editorial. Breaking News and Opinion on The Huffington Post. Huffington Post, 10 Jan. 2012. Web. 10 Jan. 2012.
