SHONDA RHIMES

To me, Shonda Rhimes is everything that I want to be and more. The first time I watched her TED talk, God I was so amazed and enthralled by her words, her confidence, the sound of her voice, and the power in her voice. "What a woman!" I shouted. Everything about that TED talk was so captivating that I rewatched it again and again. I facetimed my friend Sandra(I made her watch the youtube video) and we had a 2 hour coversation about how inspiring she is. It was the first time I got to know this woman, the brain behind "How to Get Away with Murder", "Grey's Anatomy", "Scandal and Bridgerton".

Watching her and admiring her, it made me realize how proud I am to be a woman and especially a black woman. On that day she taught me confidence. That day she taught me to be proud of who I am. That day she taught me the importance of believing in myself first. She taught me to allow myself to be what it wants to be and be the best.

Her Grace, Her Work, Her Intentionality, Her craft, Her essence, Her power, Her pictures, Her vulnerability, Her ability to convey feelings in her works ..all of that done so well was just mind-blowing and impacting on a very personal level: I saw myself in her pieces . In her movies, talks, words I observed a rare sense of power, her voice shows vulnerability, her stillness, the people she chooses to work with and her end product all become a part of her message. To me, this is just amazing and more than just coincidence. As an aspiring architect and software developer, she has taught me to be very intentional about my works. Make sure that I make powerful statements whether it is letting women to be leads in my projects and excelling at it, or whether it is making spaces for people from different backgrounds, races and abilities to prosper in the environment that I can create. She has also instilled in me the power of ownership(her company Shondaland) and not being afraid to name your company after yourself. Because of her I want to own an architectural firm and tech company one day and work so hard to make both successful and international. In a recent interview of her that I read she made a statement of how she has discovered that everything starts and stops with you. This reminded me that I just have to believe, set goals, work towards achieving them, put myself out there, put my work out there, break my comfort zones and do everything it takes to get to where I want to be because everything starts and stops with me.

Shonda Rhimes is among the several people in my life that remind me that everything takes time. Before she became known she was selling CDs to make ends meet and work towards her dream. She made me believe that everything is possible through hard work and everything works for your good. I learned that while working on Scandal she made sure to meet with a professional fixer called Judy Smith and most of the work in Scandal was inspired by Judy Smith’s story and journey. What I have also learned about her, she does a lot of research, asks questions, is always willing to learn from people and is open minded. I believe that that has contributed to her success. And so in my architectural design works, I make sure I ask questions, do my research, let myself be open-minded, be open to feedback, new ideas and criticisms and take in all to improve myself and work. She made this statement through the video posted below, and that is there is nothing new under the sun but there are different interpretations and different ways of thinking of things. That statement has guided my works in both architecture and software engineering. I have to let myself think of different ways to think of things.

My mom, Prisca, a powerful black Africa powerful taught me relisence, hard work, work ethic and Shonda Rhimes reminded me that I belong in every room and that it is good to be difficult. It is good to want to be the best. It is good to be the best. It is good that you want your works to be a reflection of yourself and your values. It is good to say yes to everything that freaks you out. It is good to say yes to writing( hate it but yes). It is good to say yes to public speaking(do not look forward to speaking in public at all - but this year I applied to two speaking engagement events). It is good to say yes to putting yourself out there( took a while to put myself out there but did it - one step at a time )It is good to say yes to the best version of myself. It is good to say yes to my calling, passions and dreams. It is good to say yes to every version of yourself. It is good to be myself, all of me. It is good to be Nana Aba.