The Sky Is The Limit
Today I am reading Paulo Coelho’s the Zahir. He talked about the acomodador. It could not have come to me at a better time.
I just learned that I did not get into Goldman Sach’s 10,000 Women. I really wanted to be a part of it, part of a milestone, of women who can, with this training, “spur more jobs and income, for their businesses, their communities and, ultimately, for their countries.”
I prepared my application, lovingly, apprehensively, wondering what to put on it, wondering how to impress the judges. I dressed carefully on interview day, sharing carefree banter (and my brochures and calling cards) with the other applicants – some out of Payatas who had a cooperative; a social worker who is building a call center from the ground up, cutting up her prices so she can compete with India; a businesswoman who flew all the way from her province, who protested at the class schedule because it will take her away one full week every month from her business (and how will the business survive without her?); and one who sold her soaps to the group and shared to me that she first went to Manila to find the mother who left her, and she did find her and came face to face with her, but she did not want her, not then and not now. Women in business with their own stories, all strong, some struggling, all deserving. Out of 97 shortlisted applicants, only 24 were able to get in and I was not one of them.
