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In honor of Women’s History Month, here’s a tribute for women everywhere - “Every Woman.” (The poem and graphics below were part of a project I created for a Woman’s History Month celebration I had the opportunity to chair at the University of Miami.)

Every Woman

by Julene Fleurmond

Every woman should learn
To love her imperfections
To nurture the essence of her spirit
To admire her own reflection.

Every woman should live
Never compromising herself
To dream dreams that are impossible
To know when to ask for help.

Every woman should know
That a real man wouldn’t rob her of happiness,
That there is a Love even greater then love
And that she is too blessed to stress.

Every woman should believe
That she is indeed a queen
That she has the right to be herself,
To speak her mind and seek her dreams.

“You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it.” - Maya Angelou

I recently posted about Alyson Stoner on my youth site Dreamer ENT. She is 16-years-old and a talented young actress, dancer and singer whose starred in music videos, Disney movies like Camp Rock and shows like The Suite Life of Zack and Cody. Alyson really strives to motivate other young people to make the most of their lives, and I love this post from her blog where shared some relevant inspiration:

“It pains my heart to see my generation lying around, using their teen years as an excusable “transition-phase” so they can avoid taking on responsibilities before it’s necessary. This period is intended to be the launching pad for our futures! Do you think that the less-than-convicted habits you’re forming and apathetic character you’re developing will magically transform into a successful adulthood without any action taken by you? Friends, we’re setting ourselves up for mediocrity…”

“…Dare to dream. We have an imagination for a reason. Write down your wildest dreams and then create an action plan to make it happen. Stay focused on improving your character and skills (instead of nit-packing others’ flaws) so you’ll be prepared to fly when the opportunity arises. You were created to do amazing things, and I’m not going to let you fail. You are strong. You are valued. You are loved, and you are gifted. Do not waste your life…”

That’s some great and powerful advice for even adults! You can read the full blog post on her official website by clicking here.

Here’s a video of Alyson talking about her vision for her music, and how she looks up to artists like India Arie, Stevie Wonder and others who have substance and passion in their music. This motivated young lady is really grounded and inspiring.

The Dream In Color African American Heritage project is sponsored by Target and Scholastic, Inc. It features various videos of Renaissance woman Dr. Maya Angelou, poet, educator, historian, best-selling author, actress, playwright, civil-rights activist, producer and director. Here are some of her words from the video entitled “How can students find their creative voice?”

Dr. Maya Angelou: “I would say to young people and to old people or upper middle age, that we have seriously crippled ourselves and our children by telling people, ‘don’t try all these different things. You’ll become a jack of all trades and a master of none’. That’s ridiculous. You can become the master of everything. The best you can be.

“You know, we don’t understand talent. We don’t understand electricity. We probably use about one millionth of one billionth percent of the electricity around us. However, you can plug into two little holes in the wall, or three. You can light up a church, a cathedral, a synagogue, a temple. You can light up a surgery. You can light up a…a bedroom. Or you can electrocute a person strapped in a chair. Electricity makes no demands. It says if you are intelligent you will use me intelligently. If you’re not, you will use me destructively. But I’m here.
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Here’s a really inspiring video about famous failures. The video shows how many well-known people failed or were rejected when they tried to pursue their dreams, but kept pressing onward. Looking at all these people inspires us to go forward with our dreams despite fear of falling and failing. The video ends with, “If you’ve never failed, you’ve never lived”. Check it out:

“I am a dreamer and sometimes when you have dreams you are met with obstacles, and your dreams will start to fade. But what I’ve found is that when God has given you a dream, no matter what it is, when you want to give up and believing becomes hard, and when you can’t go any further, the dream itself will start to believe for you. The dream itself will start to carry you through with visions and hope and encouragement.” - Tyler Perry (from www.tylerperry.com) Continue Reading »