How Kathy Ireland Inspired Me to Be Proud of Who I Am

I have been a friend of Kathy Ireland's for a little over a year now. On the face of it, we don't have a lot in common. She is a wife and mom, I'm a single person. She runs a major company, and I am a one person show. She's skinny and I am fat. She's white and I am black. You get the picture. The only thing that outwardly we share is our birthday.

As we began talking, I noticed something about Kathy Ireland. She is one of the hardest working women I have ever met. That is not an exaggeration. We all know former models who endorse products or slap their name on someone else's work, but I found that was not the case with Ireland. All the work is hers and a very bright team. She told me that when she started Kathy Ireland Worldwide, stores slammed the door in her face, hung up on her, and questioned her ability to sell since she had been a model. She said she found herself auditioning every day. I could relate to that.

I had always been taught that as a black woman that I had to be twice as good, to be considered acceptable. Though I never really ascribed to it, at times, I almost felt the need to apologize for not being whatever illusion someone had in their head. That is until I started getting to know Kathy Ireland. I saw a woman who was confident in whom she is, makes no apologies for her success, and does not take to heart people who attempt to treat or see her as an object.

I needed those lessons, because too often I would play less than in order to not make waves. Too often I found myself questioning my right to be places, or dismissed successes as trivial.

So all those things I felt like we did not have in common really did not matter, because the important things we shared can't be ticked off a checklist. In a nutshell, Kathy Ireland inspired me to be proud of who I am