From Lucy, to Isabella and Jessica

Dear Isabella and Jessica,

Where to start. I know I drive hard for you to be successful, even at such a young age; it comes from a place where being a girl meant not everything was achievable and acceptance of ‘my role’ was encouraged.

Success for me will mean that you are living independent lives full of choices. I truly believe that education in all its formats will open all doors. Which ones you choose to take are up to you. I want big things for you because I know the secret, women are amazing, we do things with a unique viewpoint, one of humility and confidence. And because of that anything is possible.

Women have been doing amazing things throughout history and against much bigger odds. There are so many examples but one of my personal favourites is the story of Katherine G. Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson – brilliant African-American women working at NASA, who served as the brains behind one of the greatest operations in history: the launch of astronaut John Glenn into orbit. They did this in a time when racial and gender inequality meant black women were not seen.

Women have always held power but only in recent history and off the backs of so many women that fought to get us here, you can take advantage of the time you are born in and take the lead in your own story.

Learn from the women around you: your aunts, your grandmothers, great grandmothers, friends – you are surrounded by an army of intelligent, strong, funny women doing their thing. Education comes in lots of forms and all are equally as important: academia, life skills, the arts, travelling and don’t forget the observation of people.

Celebrate each other. As girls there is a tendency to compete and that can often lead to unkindness. It’s hard when you want to fit in, and the easy choice is to follow but always choose kindness over popularity.

Feeling beautiful and being feminine is still ok!!!!! Looking after your appearance and wearing pretty things doesn’t make you weak. People will see what they want to see but if you stay true to yourself, you’ll be able to brush negativity aside.

Don’t be the statistic – don’t take credit if it was given to you for the wrong reason, receive all accolades and achievements because you earned them, not because your gender played a part.

Don’t give up when things get hard, work through, do your best, feel the sense of achievement at having tried your best and whatever the outcome, you’ll be able to hold your head up high.

Speak up for yourself. Although things have come such a long way, when you start to experience the bigger world you may find that you are the only female voice in the room. Don’t let that scare you – if you have something to say of meaning, say it. You have no one to compete with other than yourself and if you speak up and you’re not heard then so be it, but you will have done your part. Small voices can make the biggest changes.

And finally, and most importantly I am always in your corner, I will always be your biggest fan and in my mind you have already achieved greatness – it can only get better from here.

Love Mummy

Lucy Farley
Head of Marketing Strategy at a global health information and analytics company