Four women who shaped my purpose

Fun fact: I served as PwC’s first Chief Purpose Officer before I uncovered my personal purpose. In 2016, I led the charge as we created programs and policies that helped us find what our firm purpose is–to build trust in society and solve important problems. I also fully understood why and how allowing purpose to serve as a North Star for every action and interaction was so critical to the authenticity, impact and sustainability of an organization. Bringing our firm's purpose to life each day helped me realize that I could drive more impact if I could also articulate my personal purpose. If I was to help define it for our firm and our 65,000 people, I knew I had to first do so for myself.

I’ve always been driven to give back and the roles I’ve held throughout my career have allowed me to do that in a variety of ways, whether that be through service, mentorship, sponsorship, coaching, or helping clients address important business issues. However, I knew something was missing. While so much in my career felt on track, I realized I wasn’t intentionally forging my path - I was missing my “why”.

That’s when I started looking backwards. I thought not about where the decisions in my life could take me, but about the aspects of my life that led me to where I am today. I focused on “the why,” not “the what” and I found my answer in the memories I cherished with four of the strongest women I’d ever known, all who I lost too soon in life – my mother, Sarah who also went by Sally; my grandmothers Gladys and Catherine (AKA Dooie) and my aunt, also Catherine. 

For years, I’d carried four queen playing cards in my wallet to represent these four women and the indelible impressions they left behind. Together, their personalities brewed magnificent storms filled with passion and strength, sassiness and classiness, joy and disruption–all at once and each in their own ways. My mother Sally, a pioneer as a state and local lobbyist for a bank who could swing a golf club better than most; my grandmother Gladys who grew up on a farm and made delicious Sunday dinners with multiple Top Chef worthy desserts; my grandmother Dooie who helped galvanize the Visiting Nurses in her community and did so with style and always in an trendy pair of shoes; and my aunt Catherine, who mastered the skills of empathy and kindness like no other woman I knew. They challenged me in the best way possible, as well as being my advocates. They were queens because they ruled in their own ways, and in the direction of their own purposes. 

When I recognized how I’d woven their traits into my sense of self, my own purpose became clear. I wanted to do for others what Sally, “Dooie,” Gladys and Catherine had done for me, which was to help me realize my bold and unapologetic drive to foster equity and inclusion that empowers others to push through societal challenges and step into the lives they were destined. Understanding my purpose has allowed me to forge new paths, create new dreams, and show up in a way that breathes new design into my days and decisions. Through that lens, I am also able to deepen my connection to my professional role, my colleagues, and intentionally move through this world. It’s why I work relentlessly to prioritize purpose-driven work by providing ways for participation in company-led initiatives but, even more importantly, dedicated space through strategies like My+, a reimagination of our people experience based on flexibility and choice, and our Purpose Assessment, which helps our people uncover their purpose and ways for them to activate it in their career. It’s also why I helped to co-create and then co-lead CEO Action, the largest business-led initiative to advance DEI in the workplace, over the past five years.

If you’re still unsure of your purpose, I encourage you to spend this Women’s History Month thinking about the women in your life and how they’ve helped shape you. Ask yourself, what do you admire about them? How are you embodying their most meaningful qualities? What advice have they given that’s resonated most? How do you honor them through your decisions? The answers to these questions may just help lead you to your purpose. After all, it did for me.