Mothers! What can anyone say that would express exactly how you feel about them!
As Maya Angelou said correctly, “To describe my mother would be to write about a hurricane in its perfect power. Or the climbing, falling colours of a rainbow.”
A mother is the strongest person you’ll ever meet, with the most delicate touch. She is as tender as a lily, with the strength of an old tree. She is your everyday Dumbledore, but once it comes to her child, she wouldn’t think once to switch to Voldemort. She is the epitome of beauty. And whatever you are, it’s because of your mother.
Celebrating this spirit, we asked entrepreneurs how their mothers shaped their lives and this is what they have to say.
My mother was a teacher and there was a very large emphasis on education growing up. She was (obviously) initially worried about my decision to quit Bain which was a very stable job. Given I’m a first generation entrepreneur in the family, both my parents were quite evidently unsure of the risk that I was taking and whether it would be worth it.
My mother has always been encouraging towards my endeavours from the moment they began till now . It was a difficult decision to shift to India from USA, where I grew up, and it was only because of her that I managed to do so. She has always been a great source of strength for me.
Given that my area of work is in menstrual education, my mother (Sushma Gupta) has been a rock solid support for me since the beginning and has played a very important role in conceptualizing it.
Being an entrepreneur, you often make compromises on the family front but my mother has been very forgiving and understanding. She always keeps her calm while handling difficult situations. She is my biggest source of inspiration when it comes to handling challenging situations through the roller coaster journey that entrepreneurship is.
My mother has been a symbol of resilience, hard work and utmost honesty to me. She has always egged me to do better, bigger. She has been on my side, as I made several choices in my life. She is also someone who engages to her context actively and is pro active in helping her community. High empathy and high energy, she typifies a resilient independence, which I deeply value. Apart from that, have learnt to make the most of what you have - resources, time, and energy in any given situation. She has also been a great anchor through many changes in my life and has always helped me keep my face towards the goal. I couldn’t have made it without her.
Like every Mom, mine too has been my first manual and my first guide. She has always dreamt big about me but has never said so. She doesn’t want her dream to become a burden on me.
From the past 10 years, I have been able to meet her hardly twice a year. The immense belief that I see in her eyes is the force that drives me even when I start getting low on fuel. My Mom is an iron lady. She has faced every odd in her life with patience. I believe that patience and persistence are mandates for an entrepreneur to see the peak that he/she works for. I can think of no one other than my Mom who is a perfect portrayal of both. Whenever I realize that I may run short on any of these, I talk to my Mom. She is an angel and in my every birth I want to be her son.
I am the youngest of the four siblings and closest to my mom (well at least that is what I would like to believe). She has very deep and profound impact on me. She is very simple yet super intelligent and smart lady. She is very perceptive and understands changing trends and new developments fairly quickly.
She is the one who encouraged me to pursue management degree when I did not like pursuing chartered accountancy. She is the one who encouraged me to study abroad if that would have given me more happiness. She is the one who encouraged me to start ShopClues when she understood that I always wanted to do something on my own. She helped me develop risk taking abilities, be an independent and progressive thinker, be alert, and always follow your passion. Whatever I could accomplish in life, it is my mom who played an immense role in it.
My mom has been my role model. She showed me that at the end of the day, it's the stamina you build and the perseverance that counts. She showed me that being true to who you are and being vulnerable enough to put yourself out there, can open up entire worlds of adventures. I live by these qualities and they've been at the core of how I run my startup, my household and my life in general.
If I get even half as good as she's been with these qualities I'd consider myself a success. She's my goddess!
This article was originally published - here