International Women’s Day always makes me pause and reflect on the women who shape us.
For me, that woman will always be my mom.
She was diagnosed with cancer in 1993 when I was just 12 years old. She was only 45. I watched her face something no one should ever have to endure, with a courage and dignity that I still struggle to put into words.
She beat cancer the first time. But when it came back, it was brutal.
I remember watching her fight every single day in a battle she knew she wouldn’t win and doing so with that same courage and dignity that defined her.
Within just three months, the most charismatic woman I have ever known was gone. It was July 1998. I had just turned 17 and was studying for my A-Levels.
The pain of her loss will never leave me, and in that pain you don’t always realise the lessons life is quietly teaching you. But I know how much the experience changed and shaped me.
My mom taught me how to be brave in the face of adversity. She showed me the importance of making every day count.
Sometimes the greatest strength is simply finding a way to keep smiling, even when your heart is breaking and you can’t see a way through.
In business and in life, I know the resilience I have comes from watching her.
Her courage and strength instilled in me a deep sense of empathy and a genuine desire to be kind, to give back, and help people wherever I can.
I’m incredibly fortunate that my career has introduced me to so many inspiring women. Wherever I can, I try to champion and support them, because their talent, ambition and leadership deserve to be recognised.
But I believe that often the most powerful influences in our lives are women like my mom, whose light no longer shines in this world, yet whose impact continues to shine through the women they raised.
So this International Women’s Day, while we celebrate the achievements of women everywhere, I’ll also be remembering the woman who inspired me first.
Thank you, Mom.
