“Before I
formed you in the womb I knew you;
Before you
were born I sanctified you;
I ordained you
a prophet to the nations.”
(Jeremiah 4:5)
I use this platform to share with
others things that excite and/or inspire me along my journey of finding my
purposed work. Last night, I watched the re-broadcast of #BlackGirlsRock! Founder
Beverly Bond launched her purposed work through a youth empowerment and
mentoring organization established to promote the arts for young women of
color, as well as to encourage dialogue and analysis of the ways women of color
are portrayed in the media. (To learn more, visit http://www.blackgirlsrockinc.com/). The fifth awards ceremony aired on Easter Sunday, honoring
and celebrating the accomplishments and good works of black girls from eight to
their eighties!
The Change Agent honoree, an
educator, proclaimed that she “opened a school to close a prison.” Nadia Lopez
is the principal at Brooklyn’s Motts Hall Bridges Academy, a school focused on
STEM and arts education. She gained national attention
when her viral campaign to send five students to Harvard raised over $1M in
contributions. She said that before giving her acceptance speech, she paused
and drew strength from Jeremiah 1:4-12, and delivered this:
“I wanna thank God for this day and
appointed time. I also want to thank Beverly for your vision and conviction. To
allow someone like me to even be honored. As women, we are constantly having to
prove our worth, intelligence and having to fight for respect on our jobs, in
society and many times in our homes. Ironically, when one of us women achieves recognizable
success, we are taught to question the credibility of that success instead of
expecting greatness and celebrating it.
The SHE that is great, whether recognized or
not, lives in all of us. She is significant. She is heroic. And she is exquisite.
God fashioned each of us with gifts and talents and abilities that I have been
blessed to use. And I use them to empower children. So the daily question that
I ask myself that I ask you is ‘What are you doing with God’s gift?’ How are
you changing the world? And how are you making a difference in the lives of
children? I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to
remind my scholars that learning is a lifelong process and the reason why we
wear black and purple is because we are descendants of royalty and they are
bound for greatness.”
Transcribed Speech Courtesy
There were so many motivating and tear-worthy moments throughout the show. Ms. Lopez became a new shero, a woman walking in her purposed work. Instead of complaining about the education system in her community, she became the Change Agent, doing what she was ordained to do. How are you using your gifts to change your community or to make a difference in the life of a child? Feel free to comment, or, send me an email at latanyua.robinson@gmail.com. If you like this post and want to catch up on some of my previous discussions, please visit the full Purposed Work blog at http://ltr-latrobe-mfg.blogspot.com/.
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