2018 in Review: A Year of Many Firsts!
Happy Belated New Year!
I hope your 2019 is off to a great start.
So far so good for me as I slowly but surely get caught up with life in Atlanta.
If you follow me on Facebook, you may know that I spent the last six weeks of 2018 in South Carolina, loving on my Mama as she transitioned to her heavenly home with our savior Jesus Christ.
I will forever cherish those precious moments God blessed me to have with my Mom, even as I knew I would have to say goodbye to her one last time.
I’m also thankful that God has blessed me with a job that I love, and that affords me a flexible schedule so I could give my full time, attention and care to the woman who has always been and always will be my role model and hero—my Mama.
And thank you for being so patient and understanding during my time away from the blog. But guess what?
I’m baaaacckkk!!
And speaking of my job that I’m so grateful for…
2018 was nothing short of AMAZING!
Check out some of my 2018 highlights…
The Father-Daughter Dance I’ll Never Forget
After speaking at a Mother-Daughter Tea in 2017, I was thrilled by the opportunity I had to speak at a Father-Daughter Dance for the U.S. Army in January at Ft. Belvoire, Virginia. Getting to encourage and empower dads who sacrifice so much for our country was truly an honor that I won’t soon forget.
Inside the World of Gen Z with Axis & Me
I spoke for the Gen Z Faith Summit hosted by Axis and the response to my interview blew me away. More than 100 parents joined my email list after watching it. And a year later, I continue to receive emails from parents who’ve been sharing the impact that my interview and resources have had on their families.
Here’s one I received just recently:
“I first heard you speak during the Axis Teen Summit last year and was hooked. I ordered your book right away and read it so fast. It was simple and to the point, yet full of so many thought-provoking topics. I have since recommended it to so many friends.
I had my husband read it too. His comment, ‘I wish I had read this in high school.’
We also had our then 14-year-old daughter read it. The timing couldn’t have been more of a blessing…Your book led to so many great conversations…
Anyway, I just want to thank you for what you do and the awesome message that you are sending. I wish you lived closer as I would take my daughter and her friends to hear you speak. You are definitely making a change!!”
First-Time Florida School Assemblies
Even though I spoke at a Mother-Daughter Tea in Florida in 2017, I conducted school assemblies for the first time in Florida in 2018 and met some amazing students and school staff.
When I read this email from the principal, I was overjoyed to know that the school was just as pleased as I was with the impact of my presentation on the students:
“The students are still ‘singing praises’ regarding the outstanding presentation that Madison County High School was able to host with the sponsorship of the IMPACT Program.
Sexual risk avoidance was a critical piece, but helping students to examine goalsetting, developing healthy relationships, and making good positive choices was monumental.
The facts shared were a real eye-opener for the students, male and female alike.
Madison County High School student body got an ear full, thanks to you!”
~Geraldine Wildgoose, Principal
There’s No Place Like Home to Conduct Assemblies & the Dream Girls Conference
I’m always excited to speak in my home state of South Carolina. In March, I conducted assemblies in North Charleston, SC, for the first time, where I spoke at two middle schools and two high schools. The principal at Zucker Middle School tweeted this about my assembly:
I also spoke to parents at the 5thannual Dream Girls Conference while in North Charleston in March.
To say that I was impressed by the awesome experience the organizers of this conference created for 2,000 girls, would be an understatement. And I can’t wait to return as a speaker to teen girls 15 and older at the 2019 conference in March.
This year, they are expecting 3,000 girls to attend. Go here to get more details about this incredible conference and register your daughter today!
I’ll also be returning to North Charleston, SC, on January 29thto conduct another parent workshop.
If you live anywhere near the North Charleston area, I’d love to see you there! Just make sure you introduce yourself and let me know that you are a blog subscriber.
The workshop is free, but registration is required. Go here to register.
I Did the Ziglar Family #7DayChallenge Before There was a #10DayChallenge.
I was honored to be one of the seven experts featured by the Ziglar Family in their 7 Day Family Challenge. My area of expertise was Communication and I issued a simple, yet powerful challenge to parents that could transform their relationships with their children.
“Great challenge! I believe this will help a lot of families and parental relationships
communicate and show more love. Thanks!”
I’ll be sharing that challenge with you in a future blog post. So stay tuned!
That Time I Hung Out on the Beach with the Mississippi Alliance of Boys & Girls Clubs
And last, but certainly not least, I was able to travel to another state that I had never visited before in July to speak at the annual leadership retreat for the Mississippi Alliance of Boys & Girls Clubs.
I had such a good time! And not just speaking to the teens, but hanging out with them at a cookout and bonfire on the beach. Now, that’s my kind of speaking engagement. 😉
Even though my presentations were geared toward the teens, the following feedback from the chaperones proved that the teens weren’t the only ones who benefitted from my message:
“I thank you so much for the last couple of days…You have changed my life!
I needed this 15 years ago. I’m 34 now and you helped me on what I need to do.”
“Your message to the youth was profound and you inspired me to continue
to push for the girls that I have the pleasure of reaching!”
“I really just want to tell you how truly AMAZING you were!
I wish to God I had experienced something like that when I was growing up.”
On to 2019
Every year when I sit down to write this post I’m in awe of how God opened new doors for me to walk through the previous year so I could empower teens to dream bigger dreams, make better decisions and realize brighter destinies.
And every year I’m reminded that there’s still a lot of work to do.
But I know God has given me a life-changing message that a lot of teens out there still need to hear.
So 2019, here I come!
And hopefully, you and your daughter will continue to join me on this journey.
In the meantime, if there are any specific topics you’d like me to address on the blog this year, please let me know by replying to this email.
I can’t do this without you. I need your help to help you, help your daughter so we can all win in 2019. 😃
