03/08/2024
It’s International Women’s Day!
While International Women’s Day, celebrated March 8 every year, began over 100 years ago, I just started paying attention to it this year. I guess that’s because my own life has changed so dramatically lately, making me reflect on what it what it means to be a woman in today’s world. It’s a hugely different world than that I grew up in, and some of these differences are amazing! “Inspire Inclusion” is this year’s theme, which set me reflecting – and here’s what popped out ¬–
When I was a girl, I never wanted to be ‘just anyone’. I wanted to make a difference in this world! But in those days, the options were so extremely limited, it was difficult to even dream of ‘becoming’ something.
My dad was a doctor, an Internist, and helped people with their health. I wanted to do that, too, but being a doctor was unthinkable way back then for a girl, and I really, really didn’t want to be a nurse.
My grandfather had founded a huge corporation, Pay ‘N Save Corporation, but there were no women in the executive hierarchy or even in management. It wasn’t just unthinkable for women to be in business and hold such positions, it was inconceivable! While my mother had a real head for business, she wasn’t included. She was ‘just a housewife.’
Being a teacher was one of the options open to young women – two of my sisters became teachers. While teachers are amazing, it was not my jam at the time.
In the culture I grew up in, the expectation was to grow up to become a housewife and stay-at-home mother. While I did follow that ‘career path,’ I was never comfortable being ‘just a housewife.’ (By the way, for those who do the stay at home and be a mom, or now dad, job, it’s a really tough one! My hat’s off to you!)
It took me awhile, a few decades really, but all these years later, wow! I am helping others with their health, having become an herbalist, I love to teach, AND I am a business owner/executive, now running our company, Cedar Bear Naturales. How’s that for breaking the mold?!
Our company has even received a commendation from Utah’s Governor’s Office of Economic Opportunity for being a business that supports women in business!
So, on this International Day of Women, let’s all celebrate how far we have all come! (That includes you men, too! We’re partners in all this, after all!)
No longer do women have to sit on the sidelines of life. We can dream big. We can do big. The inconceivable is now conceivable. And doable. It doesn’t make it easy, but the rewards are amazing!
Let’s join hands and celebrate how amazing we are! Working together, look what we can accomplish!
Jhoane Robinson
President/COO/Co-Founder Cedar Bear Naturales, Inc.