Many years ago, I adopted the practice of choosing a "Word of the Year"a powerful personal tradition that transcends the often fleeting New Year's resolutions. It's a meaningful exercise that sets intentions and nurtures personal growth. The concept involves selecting a word or phrase that deeply resonates with you, steering your decisions and shaping your mindset for the forthcoming year.

I share my story as a reminder that our voices and contributions are valuable at every stage of our lives regardless of the whiteness of our hair.

Women investors want to help make the world a better place, add jobs, help to bring life-saving technology to the masses, and so much more. So, I am calling all women to partake of this privilege; we cannot let our male colleagues have all the fun!!

As the only woman in the room for most of my career, I found out quickly that one of the most important things I needed to learn was to be direct and to the point. It seems it was hard enough to have a woman at the table, but a chatty woman was just too much.

I am always looking for articles, book, podcasts, videos etc. that provide focus on the challenges of and hurdles of starting and growing a business – yesterday in this hunkered down world I found an extraordinary source in the Netflix series – Self Made: Inspired by the Life of Madam C.J. Walker

21 years later and these principles of entrepreneurship have stood the test of time!

I have been consciously smiling at or with servers in restaurants, store clerks and cashiers, ticket takers, etc. for many years. I think what they do makes my life easier and it’s my way of saying thank you or I appreciate you; I notice you.

Over the course of my career, I have come to love the collaboration process. I cannot express how much I value and appreciate the input of others. Why? I look at projects, as a harmony of different ideas, skill sets and talents to bring together one perfect piece of music, project, business or life.