Nicole Young
Nicole recited this piece she wrote at the Leadership Institute for Political and Public Impact and the Young Women’s Initiative Graduation Ceremony on June 4, 2019.
It Starts with Me: A LIPPIsta Manifesto
Written by Nicole M. Young, LIPPI Class of 2019
My heart is the nucleus.
My soul is its keeper.
My mind is the Launchpad.
My hands are the vessel.
I can give a lot but my work and my contribution should only be the beginning.
I motivate communities.
I can move mountains.
And yes, I can be your shero too.
But it only starts with me.
We are workers, concerned residents, sisters, mothers, daughters, nieces, aunts, wives, entrepreneurs, learners, caregivers….queens.
We’ve known that for forever but it took months being in the company of sisters to acknowledge some very important assets.
We’ve spent ten months together – sometimes multiple Saturdays in a month – for hours similar to those on the clock during the average work day. Trust, we were getting our work done.
We were re-learning about ourselves and everything we are capable of. Receiving the guarantee on gifts once unknown and got the okay to try all that’s new. Families, you have us back in your arms but with a renewed commitment to ourselves, our communities and to you.
We’ve always been game changers but now, we know how to write the chart.
We know how to throw our whole selves into an initiative yet now know to expect the same from our team.
Know we will strategize and get our hands dirty yet know when we need our rest.
We care and can give our all but know that we are only a foundation and cannot work alone.
We will love hard and everything we produce will show efforts as what we pour out will never be wasteful.
Time to turn our whispers into thunder.
Words become…
Ideas becomes…
Motivation becomes…
Motion becomes…
Action.
Our neighbors will do more than pause when they hear us coming. They will take deeper notice and will be inspired to set the vision with us.
We seek the flip the script, one filled with countless inequities. We want to create thriving communities, where justice is not just for us.
The world is our snowglobe. We will take hold of it with a firm yet intentional grip then shake it up until we see a world that looks like the way we need to see it….the way it needs to be.
