[Y]ou may live in the world as it is, but you can still work to create the world as it should be.

There’s a power in allowing yourself to be known and heard, in owning your unique story, in using your authentic voice. And there’s a grace in being willing to know and hear others.

I knew from my own life experience that when someone shows genuine interest in your learning and development, even if only for ten minutes in a busy day, it matters. It matters especially for women, for minorities, for anyone society is quick to overlook.

The lesson being that in life, you control what you can.

One proving ground only opened onto the next. Such is the life of a girl who can't stop wondering, Am I good enough? and is still trying to show herself the answer.

For me, becoming isn’t about arriving somewhere or achieving a certain aim. I see it instead as forward motion, a means of evolving, a way to reach continuously toward a better self. The journey doesn’t end.

...Chúng tôi trồng những bụi dâu và rất nhiều loại thảo mộc khác. Rồi chúng tôi sẽ có gì từ đó? Tôi không biết, cũng giống như tôi chẳng biết điều gì đang chờ chúng tôi phía trước tại Nhà Trắng, những gì chờ đợi đất nước này hay chờ đợi những đứa trẻ đáng yêu đang ở quanh tôi. Khi đó, tất cả những gì chúng tôi có thể làm là đặt niềm tin vào những nỗ lực của mình, tin rằng với ánh mặt trời, mưa và thời gian, cái gì đó hay hay sẽ từ đất vươn lên.

I wasn't going to let one person's opinion dislodge everything I thought I knew about myself.

Look how I'm managing, I wanted to say in those moments, to my audience of no one. Does everyone see that I'm pulling this off?