[Music]
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
every candle would be lit Norah Jones
would be drifting her way through the
stereo red pepper bisque would greet my
nose as it was bubbling on the stove I
take my shoes off throw my dance bag
down and shuffle over to the couch
snuggle into the coziest throw blanket
my life was warm and this was just a
casual Friday night on Burton Street a
night that I was privileged enough to
come home to on a regular basis at 13
years old I was blinded by the innocence
of my childhood I didn’t think about how
it would take my mom four hours to make
that famous recipe or at any given point
there could be up to thirty dollars
worth of candles burning throughout my
house I didn’t think about how hard all
of this would be for her to achieve with
a chemotherapy bag on her hip you see my
mom had an infectious warmth to her each
day she created spaces that were
approachable comfortable cozy supported
places that would foster growth she was
a woman who gave so much to all of those
who were around her her presence was
large and it definitely didn’t go
unrecognized striving for such an
impeccable quality of life was something
that was so important to her
so those spaces those memories and those
lessons that she taught me is something
that is so very deeply instilled in me
so watching the woman who gave me life
died almost killed me two years later
and a casual Friday without her looked
like any other day of the week gray cold
damp meaningless I was stricken with
post-traumatic stress disorder which
created a huge barrier between me and my
father resulting in spending many nights
couch surfing I was lucky enough to have
older friends at the time who were
willing to open their doors to let me
crash on their couch but being
functionally homeless meant my mental
health declined rapidly at that point in
my life I would often find myself
experiencing many things that were
unrecognizable like going hungry at
sixteen I didn’t know how to take care
of myself
I didn’t understand the value of a
dollar so if I was on my way home from
work and I’d find an extra $20 bill in
my pocket I think to treat my friends to
fast food instead of thinking to invest
in myself by buying fresh groceries this
worked out pretty well for me for a
couple of months until I came to the
harsh realization that you can’t make
mom’s famous gourmet red pepper bisque
with the items that you receive at a
food bank
I craved her instant comfort but I
couldn’t find those candles or that
throw blanket anywhere how was I
supposed to adjust to such a drastic new
normal my privilege had left me blind to
the reality of the struggle I knew that
life could be a warm and inviting place
and I was so determined to try and find
that again so I learned to embrace
vulnerability I reached out to my
community and I leaned on them I set
myself up with stable supportive housing
and I gave myself an environment that
would allow for me to move forward so I
started to grow despite the pain and
some days growing simply looked like
getting out of bed washing my face and
cooking a healthy meal by setting these
realistic day-by-day goals I was
performing a critical act of self care
and self preservation I was often
fighting for my life I had to learn to
give myself the tender love and care
that I so desperately deserved during my
journey I came to realize that my
square-one look different than my peers
because I knew there was something more
than despair out there I knew what
healthy looked like and in that I was
privileged I found myself surrounded by
a community that was overwhelmed with
the suffering that stemmed from toxic
cycles these cycles were results of
broken support systems like child while
their foster care and income support
I was watching people fall into the
bureaucracy seeing is nothing more than
a number or a statistic in society human
beings slipped through the cracks and
live with demons that I never could have
imagined and what didn’t make sense to
me then at 16 was knowing that people
were aware that these horrible things
were happening in such a deadly
repetitive nature but nothing drastic
was being done to change these systems I
didn’t have the answers at the time on
how to create systemic change but I did
have something that worked for me so out
of an act of despair I created danced
through it I’ve learned that in a world
where we need so much how we choose to
cope with what life throws our way is
one of the few things we have control
over but we aren’t taught that we aren’t
taught how to cope positively with life
struggles in school or in the media what
does a healthy relationship look like
how do we control our anger how do we
process growth we need answers to these
questions in order to thrive
independently within society I had to
act so I invested in a local community
center starting by just volunteering one
hour a week teaching young women who
were growing up in housing dancing
dancing has always acted as my filter
dancing has taught me to embrace raw
emotion create something beautiful from
the dark places in my life
dancing allows me to explore myself as I
grow and dancing taught me to fall in
love with myself again by expressing my
emotions I find it easier to regulate
and release them I will never forget
those first few classes my students
showed a need for a deeper connection by
showing up early and insisting on
staying late I came to realize I was
breaching one of many huge gaps within
support systems so I grew I started to
facilitate conversations validate
experiences and emotions and then
translate that into movement helping to
aid in students processing life’s
challenges while enforcing the
importance of positive coping
interdependence self love and self care
it’s been over a year now
since that first class and dance threat
has grown its own set of national legs
on top of curriculum based programming I
also travel across the country to
provide customized sessions to
organizations and companies that
understand the importance of what I
offer the influx of interest has been
overwhelming and it shows no sign of
stopping anytime soon my mom was a
reminder of how resilient we can be when
we’re dedicated to a cause from not
letting a chemo bag stop her from
coaching basketball teams to gold medals
to cooking those meals filled with love
even after a long day I’m well aware
that being Susan Hicks’s daughter is
such like
and when things were dark I knew I had
to have her resilience in me as well it
just took finding the right cause to
pull it out of me her death and all of
the traumatic events that happened
following suit pushed me outside of my
comfort zone and in doing that resulted
in creating something that’s bigger than
I am
by sharing what gets me through
continues to save others and that’s what
resilient leadership looks like I am my
mother’s daughter you don’t need to know
how to change the world to change worlds
thank you
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
every candle would be lit Norah Jones
would be drifting her way through the
stereo red pepper bisque would greet my
nose as it was bubbling on the stove I
take my shoes off throw my dance bag
down and shuffle over to the couch
snuggle into the coziest throw blanket
my life was warm and this was just a
casual Friday night on Burton Street a
night that I was privileged enough to
come home to on a regular basis at 13
years old I was blinded by the innocence
of my childhood I didn’t think about how
it would take my mom four hours to make
that famous recipe or at any given point
there could be up to thirty dollars
worth of candles burning throughout my
house I didn’t think about how hard all
of this would be for her to achieve with
a chemotherapy bag on her hip you see my
mom had an infectious warmth to her each
day she created spaces that were
approachable comfortable cozy supported
places that would foster growth she was
a woman who gave so much to all of those
who were around her her presence was
large and it definitely didn’t go
unrecognized striving for such an
impeccable quality of life was something
that was so important to her
so those spaces those memories and those
lessons that she taught me is something
that is so very deeply instilled in me
so watching the woman who gave me life
died almost killed me two years later
and a casual Friday without her looked
like any other day of the week gray cold
damp meaningless I was stricken with
post-traumatic stress disorder which
created a huge barrier between me and my
father resulting in spending many nights
couch surfing I was lucky enough to have
older friends at the time who were
willing to open their doors to let me
crash on their couch but being
functionally homeless meant my mental
health declined rapidly at that point in
my life I would often find myself
experiencing many things that were
unrecognizable like going hungry at
sixteen I didn’t know how to take care
of myself
I didn’t understand the value of a
dollar so if I was on my way home from
work and I’d find an extra $20 bill in
my pocket I think to treat my friends to
fast food instead of thinking to invest
in myself by buying fresh groceries this
worked out pretty well for me for a
couple of months until I came to the
harsh realization that you can’t make
mom’s famous gourmet red pepper bisque
with the items that you receive at a
food bank
I craved her instant comfort but I
couldn’t find those candles or that
throw blanket anywhere how was I
supposed to adjust to such a drastic new
normal my privilege had left me blind to
the reality of the struggle I knew that
life could be a warm and inviting place
and I was so determined to try and find
that again so I learned to embrace
vulnerability I reached out to my
community and I leaned on them I set
myself up with stable supportive housing
and I gave myself an environment that
would allow for me to move forward so I
started to grow despite the pain and
some days growing simply looked like
getting out of bed washing my face and
cooking a healthy meal by setting these
realistic day-by-day goals I was
performing a critical act of self care
and self preservation I was often
fighting for my life I had to learn to
give myself the tender love and care
that I so desperately deserved during my
journey I came to realize that my
square-one look different than my peers
because I knew there was something more
than despair out there I knew what
healthy looked like and in that I was
privileged I found myself surrounded by
a community that was overwhelmed with
the suffering that stemmed from toxic
cycles these cycles were results of
broken support systems like child while
their foster care and income support
I was watching people fall into the
bureaucracy seeing is nothing more than
a number or a statistic in society human
beings slipped through the cracks and
live with demons that I never could have
imagined and what didn’t make sense to
me then at 16 was knowing that people
were aware that these horrible things
were happening in such a deadly
repetitive nature but nothing drastic
was being done to change these systems I
didn’t have the answers at the time on
how to create systemic change but I did
have something that worked for me so out
of an act of despair I created danced
through it I’ve learned that in a world
where we need so much how we choose to
cope with what life throws our way is
one of the few things we have control
over but we aren’t taught that we aren’t
taught how to cope positively with life
struggles in school or in the media what
does a healthy relationship look like
how do we control our anger how do we
process growth we need answers to these
questions in order to thrive
independently within society I had to
act so I invested in a local community
center starting by just volunteering one
hour a week teaching young women who
were growing up in housing dancing
dancing has always acted as my filter
dancing has taught me to embrace raw
emotion create something beautiful from
the dark places in my life
dancing allows me to explore myself as I
grow and dancing taught me to fall in
love with myself again by expressing my
emotions I find it easier to regulate
and release them I will never forget
those first few classes my students
showed a need for a deeper connection by
showing up early and insisting on
staying late I came to realize I was
breaching one of many huge gaps within
support systems so I grew I started to
facilitate conversations validate
experiences and emotions and then
translate that into movement helping to
aid in students processing life’s
challenges while enforcing the
importance of positive coping
interdependence self love and self care
it’s been over a year now
since that first class and dance threat
has grown its own set of national legs
on top of curriculum based programming I
also travel across the country to
provide customized sessions to
organizations and companies that
understand the importance of what I
offer the influx of interest has been
overwhelming and it shows no sign of
stopping anytime soon my mom was a
reminder of how resilient we can be when
we’re dedicated to a cause from not
letting a chemo bag stop her from
coaching basketball teams to gold medals
to cooking those meals filled with love
even after a long day I’m well aware
that being Susan Hicks’s daughter is
such like
and when things were dark I knew I had
to have her resilience in me as well it
just took finding the right cause to
pull it out of me her death and all of
the traumatic events that happened
following suit pushed me outside of my
comfort zone and in doing that resulted
in creating something that’s bigger than
I am
by sharing what gets me through
continues to save others and that’s what
resilient leadership looks like I am my
mother’s daughter you don’t need to know
how to change the world to change worlds
thank you
[Applause]
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