I come from a long line of girl bosses — that’s the best way to describe my family. My mom, her mom, and all the moms going back as far as memory goes have lived badass lives and raised their daughters to be the same. Even though I’ve only learned a fraction about these people and I haven’t met most of them, I can appreciate the women who made me and all the awesome things they’ve done. Every woman behind me has lived a different life and has had different interests, but somehow, we’re all the same in many ways. We’ve all been hyper-independent, goal-driven people who can accomplish anything we set our minds to. I think my grandmother is the best example of this. She lived a thoroughly crazy life, working in nearly every field imaginable and starting companies, including a short-lived garden center. I remember going to her house as a child and seeing her newest foster animals, beautiful gardens, and latest craft projects. I was too young to appreciate how much work had to go into everything she did, I just knew that I wanted to be like her one day.
All of my biggest strengths I credit my female ancestors with. I got a lot from my great-grandmother. I was probably around ten when I first heard the advice she had passed down to my mom: always keep a secret bank account that your husband doesn’t know about in case you ever need to run away. At the time, I thought it was pretty strange advice, but I think that growing up hearing the stories of these women and hearing their advice instilled some important fundamental beliefs about myself: I don’t have to rely on another person to survive. I can do anything and be anyone if I work hard enough and stay practical.
My mom tells me that women in my family aren’t meant to be stay-at-home wives, but not all of them lived in a time when that was acceptable, so they would find other ways to express their independence. My great-grandmother was a successful real estate agent while raising two kids even though they would have been fine if she hadn’t worked. I’m going to be the first female engineer in my family, but I sometimes wonder what the women who lived hundreds of years before me might have been if they had been given the same opportunities that I have. Maybe there would have been more engineers and scientists in my family tree. Still, I’m just a continuation in a long line of girl bosses, and I know just how capable I am from all that they accomplished in their lives. Although we all have different last names, we’ve passed down values through the generations, and I hope that I end up just as badass as the rest of them.
