Mother Hen Saying "Hi!"

My dearest chickies,

Cluck cluck cluck cluck or said another way - I miss you! How are you?

I am back at work after a wonderful-four day holiday weekend. What a difference a year makes. Last Thanksgiving was filled with so much anxiety and stress. My dad had had open-heart surgery and was recuperating. Although I was back in Kansas with my family, I was working the entire time. We stayed in Portland this year and I promised my boys (Shawn and Jonah) that I wouldn't work at all if I could help it. It was fantastic. We had a huge Thanksgiving dinner and played the entire weekend.

Right before the (American) holiday, I spoke to a few of you about the program and specifically the awards. I was asked to make a post and invite you to share your grief about the awards. Although I agreed last week, I have changed my mind.

I understand that the awards were important to each of you, some more so than others. I know that the decision to interview six was upsetting. I know that there have been feelings of disappointment and failure. I wish I could take all of that away because when I look back over the past six months, I do not see failure. I see success. But I do not possess a magic wand - I can’t make anyone feel or see something they don’t. The reality was that only three women were going be selected. It was a challenging decision because each woman was worthy.

I have an idea! Instead of any of us searching for reasons why we failed, let’s try reflecting on our personal achievements, looking to the future, and deciding what we are going to do with our new set of skills.

I love Sunita’s request for feedback about the program (http://worldpulse.com/node/14736) and hope each of you will share your experiences. I especially love these questions:

As a correspondent/mentor/midwife, what have you learnt from the program?
What is your ambition?

Here is what I know you received and learned:
~You built long-lasting friendships with like-minded women - other correspondents, your mentor, and your midwives.
~You were the first group of courageous women to participate in a new and cutting edge program.
~You received 6-months of training and mentoring valued at $5,000 per correspondent. In addition, many of you received stipends from World Pulse to help with your Internet costs. Yowzee!
~You learned the basics of traditional journalism, the unique World Pulse solutions-oriented editorial voice, and op-ed writing. If you already knew this, you were able to sharpen your skills!
~You learned how to connect with women spread out across the globe using Skype, yahoo chat, google chat, and other tools!
~If you completed the program, you will be the first-ever World Pulse Correspondents.

Here are my questions to you. If you are still upset about the awards or some other aspect of the program that wasn’t “perfect,” do you really want to spend one more minute in the past or do you want to use the skills, knowledge, experience, and connections you acquired over the past six months to make your dream for yourself come to life? What new opportunities do you have as a result of participating in Voices of Our Future?

For me, participating in Voices of Our Future achieved so many of my dreams. I got to work with strong women from 21 countries. I got to co-create a program with Scott that has made a significant impact on over 70 women. And, I met Cristi, who has given me the opportunity to take my vision for economic empowerment to Kenya.

With love and respect,

Your Mother Hen
Jennifer