What I’ve learned: women rarely “plan” their careers in a straight line. We grow – in phases, in roles, in experiences. And sometimes it’s exactly these twists and turns that lead us to where we truly belong.

From the moment a girl first asks, “Is this normal?” to the years she grows into her own womanhood, a mother’s voice becomes one of her earliest anchors. Even when life gets too loud, we often hear the echoes of the small things she repeated again and again — “Eat breakfast,” “Rest a little,” “You’re stronger than you think.”