Frankly Speaking with Tyra G

What comes to mind when you hear the words, " compassion without borders"? For global citizen, civic leader, local non-profit CEO, mother, and president of Tysons Rotary Club, Ambreen Rizvi, it is her life’s strategy.

Ambreen embodies Rotary International’s motto, Service Above Self. She is a woman of action who has the gift of intellect, a servants’ heart, and determination to get the job done. Both Rotary International and Ambreen are examples of how a person living in Northern Virginia can make a huge impact globally through service.

Ambreen’s story began in Pakistan, continued in Paris, and exciting new chapters are being written here in the United States. Service has become a generational legacy in her children as well.

Share both the challenges and blessings of leadership as a woman and a woman of color through Ambreen’s lens. The conversation is both personal and universal.

Click below and be inspired.

 

“The 19th Amendment had first been introduced in Congress in 1871. But Congress’ unwillingness to pass it meant women could only vote in states that had passed woman’s suffrage laws. By 1919 that had come to include 27 states, but not New Hampshire. Granite state women would have to wait for the state of Tennessee to become the 36th state to pass the 19th Amendment before they could vote for President in 1920.”[1]And there is so much more to do!

Join me in a fascinating, energizing, educational, and empowering discussion about how African American women participated in the battle to the ballot box for all women. Enjoy a personal preamble tribute to the “Notorious” Ruth Bader Ginsburg including some in her own voice. Please click below and be inspired.

[1] https://www.nhhumanities.org/news/unfinished-business-right-vote-and-19th-amendment

Patricia is a symbol of Rotary’s transforming commitment to diversity and inclusion. Women join the senior leadership ranks. It has been a process, not an event.

Consider some of the journey's highlights:

1987 On 4 May, the U.S. Supreme Court rules that Rotary clubs may not exclude women from membership on the basis of gender. Rotary issues a policy statement that any Rotary club in the United States can admit qualified women into membership.

Sylvia Whitlock, of the Rotary Club of Duarte, California, becomes the first female Rotary club president.

1989 At its first meeting after the 1987 U.S. Supreme Court decision, the Council on Legislation votes to eliminate the requirement in the RI Constitution that membership in Rotary clubs be limited to men. Women are welcomed into Rotary clubs around the world.

2005 Carolyn E. Jones begins her term as the first woman appointed as trustee of The Rotary Foundation.

 2008 Catherine Noyer-Riveau begins her term as the first woman elected to the RI     Board of Directors.

2013 Anne L. Matthews begins her term as the first woman to serve as RI vice president.

 2020 In October, Jennifer E. Jones becomes president-nominee, the first woman to be nominated to be Rotary International President. Her term as president will begin on 1 July 2022.

Lest we forget,

“Who you are surrounded by often determines who you become.” 

- Vicky Saunders (Founder, SheEO)

Click below and hear Patricia’s vision for District 7610 next year.

Consider this:

He walked 10 miles every Saturday with his family to borrow books from the nearest library growing up.

He learned he could travel the world while sitting at home reading a book.

His dad told him that, Determination has no barrier.” He believed him.

He became fluent in several languages and passionate about literacy.

He learned a full scholarship for high school and college from E3Kids International, a US-based nonprofit supporting schools, libraries, orphan care, and clean water projects in Kenya and Guatemala.

He is currently 22 years old, a scholarship student at the University of Nairobi in Kenya, majoring in Commerce.

George Omiro of Nairobi, Kenya, unable to return home due to travel restrictions, used the inconvenience of Pandemic to build service project bridges among many Rotary and Rotaract clubs in Virginia.

Rotaract clubs bring together people ages 18 and older to exchange ideas with leaders in the community, develop leadership and professional skills, and have fun through service. In communities worldwide, Rotary and Rotaract members work side by side to act through service.

Click below, take a listen, and be inspired! I was.

In 1930, Rotary Founder Paul Harris said, "The world is a changing place, and Rotary MUST change with it." And it has.

Maya Angelou said, “If you don’t like something, change it. If you cannot change it, change your attitude.” And we have.

Frances Hesselbein said, "Culture does not change because we desire to change it. Culture changes when the organization is transformed – the Culture reflects the realities of people working together every day.” And it has.

Change is an external alteration. Transformation is an internal process. Both are necessary to sustain Rotary's mission, Service Above Self. To deal with both concepts simultaneously, an organization must have committed and empowering leadership.

Meet Harry Henderson Jr. 2020-2021District Governor for Rotary District 7610, a perfect leader for such a time as this.

During his term as President of his Club, Harry established a vibrant and innovative path for Club Membership growth. In total, Bailey's Crossroads Virginia Rotary Club grew by over 20 members during his term and received over 18 club and individual awards that year.

In 2016 and 2017, he became the Membership Development Director for the district, presenting innovative ways for clubs to enhance their membership options.

Since 2008 and the birth of his daughter, Harry has been an advocate for disability issues and individuals with disabilities. In 2014, Harry was appointed by the Governor to the Commonwealth of Virginia's State Independent Living Council (SILC). In 2017, Harry was appointed by Fairfax County School Board Member Sandy Evans to the Fairfax County Public School's Committee for Assistance for Students with Disabilities.

The two proudest distinctions that Harry claims are that he is married to the love of his life, Catherin Henderson, and is a proud father to his daughter, Jackie.

Harry has turned every personal and professional test into a testimony.

Click below and feel Harry’s leadership energy, commitment, and creativity.

I echo the words of author and coach Iyanla Vanzant in her 2000 book, Until Today for her view of service.

And I quote:

“The greatest service I can offer is standing confidently in my power.

It does not serve you or the world for you to behave as if you are powerless. You can think yourself into and out of any situation with which you are confronted. You have the ability to speak for yourself. You can defend yourself!

Promote yourself. Encourage yourself. Teach yourself! Correct yourself. That is power. You have a heart. Through it, you can experience love, grief, compassion, empathy, joy, peace, and an entire realm of emotions that let you know that you are alive.

While you are alive, you can create, destroy and rebuild something as insignificant as a Lego house or something as significant as the capital of a state. You can create another life! Through that life, you have the opportunity to share words of compassion, to express feelings of love, to know the joys of sharing, and to experience the wonderment of seeing life grow before your eyes. That is powerful! You are powerful!"

Meet a woman who has for years lived to serve. Her service is her power. Her power has been felt on several continents. Her passion fuels her power to improve the quality of life for children with special needs. Meet Rotary International member and ambassador, Meesh Peters.

Author Ms. Iyanla Vanzant says, "Life loves you enough to live like you, to breathe through you, to express itself as you. Life loves you so much; it does everything in its power to stay in you, to be with you, and allow you to depend on it. Life is, at this very moment, totally and absolutely in love with you! Life wants to look like you, live like you, be like you, live as you because it respects and honors that you are.

When life sees you coming, it gets exciting! It can hardly contain itself! Life is ready to fill you up, spillover through you, and experience the best it has to offer you as you. If you were to ask life what it is about you that makes you so loveable, the answer would be simple. You are alive!  That is all it takes to make you loved, loving, and loveable. Now isn’t it good to know you are loved?

Until today, you may not have realized just how much life loves you. You may have believed that life was not on your side. But Just for today, be devoted to honoring, cherishing, and enjoying life’s love for you. Sit silently and ask life to fill you with its love.

My guest today, and phenomenal woman is grace personified. She is also the oldest living competitive bodybuilder, an African American extraordinaire. Her record lives in the Guinness Book of World Records. I will introduce to some and present to others Ms. Ernestine Shepherd. She knows that life loves her.

Stay close now.

Rotary creates environments of peace.

“Many people use the end of one year to reflect on things they would like to accomplish in the coming year. What better resolution than to sow the seeds of peace in 2021?

Peace underscores much of the work that Rotary members do in improving their communities around the world. Rotary’s peacebuilding initiatives seek to create environments where lasting peace is possible. We do this by continually investing in sustainable and measurable peace programs throughout our communities and across the globe; by creating an extensive network of peacebuilders and community leaders dedicated to peace and conflict prevention; and by providing Rotarians with several avenues in which they can actively participate in peacebuilding processes within their communities.

We believe that if Rotarians and concerned citizens mobilize locally to create peace, change can happen globally.”[1]

Meet Ralph Menzel, President of the Rotary EClub of Global Peacebuilders of Virginia. Feel his energy and commitment to taking action to address the underlying causes of conflict, including poverty, discrimination, ethnic tension, lack of access to education, and unequal distribution of resources.

As inspiring as Ralph’s commitment to peace is the story of his journey into the Rotary family which began in Germany. You will want to take a listen.  Click below.

[1] https://blog.rotary.org/2020/12/28/top-10-ways-to-be-a-peacebuilder-in-the-new-year/?clid=IwAR1Xb8WUDdkDEXJSQsl3lGZEqEcWTHmCf_uz4ZOJcO4ex_r6kQjCh2HN4HY

Frankly Speaking with Tyra G is determined to find and tell stories about individuals and organizations who shine light into the darkness of our current season of uncertainty and unrest.

Meet and be inspired by Naomi and Asa Nero, two strong "Voices From the Future", a generation also known as Generation Z. They describe their unplanned transitions forced by the pandemic through the lens of hope, wisdom, faith, and fun packaged in authenticity.

They creatively co-produced this podcast, allowing me to be a relaxed consumer of their talent as a member of the audience. They unwrapped and performed a special musical gift at the end of the podcast.  Asa arranged a Nat King Cole standard, "Smile" featuring a vocal by Naomi and a solo by their dad Courtney Nero.

Click below and feel your heart smile.

How do YOU spell Legacy?

Ray Bradbury believes, “Everyone must leave something behind when he dies, my grandfather said. A child or a book or a painting or a house or a wall built, or a pair of shoes made. Or a garden planted. Something your hand touched some way, so your soul has somewhere to go when you die, and when people look at that tree or that flower you planted, you are there. It does not matter what you do, he said, so long as you change something from the way it was before you touched it into something like you after taking your hands away.  ― “

I step boldly into the belief that one can be a living legacy. To me, it is called a purposed filled life. In fact, what if we were continuously motivated to step beyond our own gifts of imperfections and vulnerabilities to empower, encourage, celebrate, educate others who share the air we breathe. What if we internalize the reality that love does and well as love is?

This quote punctuates my thoughts perfectly: Peter Strople’s says, “Legacy is not leaving something for people. It is leaving something in people. —"

Meet Tommi Crump, a fourteen-year-old who has become a living legacy to those with whom she connects. She empowers and educates from a value-based platform to include kindness and generosity and joy. She inspires a younger generation she refuses to leave behind.

Click below, listen, and be blessed by a voice from the future., Ms. Tommi Crump.