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FROM TOP: Speaking about the city's new "Healthy St. Pete" initiative. Tomalin on the Mayor's Small Business Tour. great great great grandmother was…who are not only charting a course for their lives, but creating possibilities for the generations that follow them. e work I'm doing is for not only those siing around those tables now, but for immigrants who don't speak English and are cleaning hotel rooms and are here because they have a hope for a great great great granddaughter who might follow…and this is a place where something great might happen. It's a huge responsibilit y and honor. I think that a significant purpose for my life—a purpose for which I first drew breath—is to make real that concept, the audacit y of the possibilit y of liv ing the unimaginable…if not for yourself than for those who follow. It's so important for women to pass on those opportunities and serve as role models. It's a rarity and that is one of the problems that I see. I wrote an article about it called "e Broken Sisterhood of Business." It's one of the things that holds us back most. I agree—that perspective of scarcity as opposed to abundance. It's really been assigned to us. We've been told there are only a few spots, but in actuality there is abundant opportunity, enough for each of us. We all have exactly what we need to get exactly what we want, and we w ill best do that by creating a ty pe of energ y and space that perpetuates that opportunity. But let's be honest. ere is scarcity in some industries. e Boys Club is alive and well. We need our own club. Women need to learn to work together more. e question is: What are we going to do about it? At any point it has always been and always w ill be: Whoever has the power wants to preser ve it. A nd if you want some, you have to fig ure out a way to access it. It's been my ex perience—and I'm not say ing it's always the case—that there is no substitute for preparation. At the end of the day, particularly as it relates to business, meritocrac y w ill emerge the w inner. So, be the best. A man who is about business and mak ing money w ill not ignore competence and the best idea in the room or the most prepared person. We can ex pect to be treated equal if we are equal. But that's up to you. It's more comfortable in a situation of all equals to deal w ith the person most like them, but I g uarantee that once you surpass that point of equal and move into the rarefied space where you're now bringing ex pertise or ex posure that can't be matched, that w ill get aention. It won't always deliver exactly what you deser ve or 100% always work out, but it increases your odds like nothing else. ere is no substitute for preparation. Get busy being so awesome that you cannot be denied. A nd then be prepared w ith whatever your arg ument is for what it is you think you're not hav ing access to. But if you're able to translate the value proposition of what you d rea m—I don't ca re i f we're ta l k i ng about a ma n or woma n, young or old, black or wh ite—a nd ca n best move t hem towa rd t heir goa l, t hey wa nt you on t heir tea m . I've seen it ti me a nd ti me aga i n. Our responsibi l it y as women, once we f ig ure out t hat secret, is to help ot her women w it h l i ke aspiration develop at t hat level of stel la r output, t hat level of con f idence to sit at t he table a nd have t he best idea a nd say it w it hout comprom ise. The rest ta kes ca re of itsel f. That's how our club comes to be. Subscribe at GravitasMag.com | 57 Subscribe at GravitasMag.com | 57

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