Yesterday I had the privilege of hanging out with a woman who I admire a great deal. Her name is Susan Card and she is an artist. But she is also so much more than an artist. She is also a woman on a journey, with a story, who has had a plethora of experience in her life. In a lot of ways she has been there and done that in the art world. She is also a woman who is willing to share her wisdom, journey, experience, and plain raw truth as she sees it with others, especially younger others. It honors me when older women are willing to not just be real, but to be real in such a way that they allow the things they have encountered and experienced to either help, warn, or encourage me in my process. That is the joy of going through hard things and overcoming, so that you can turn around and spare others from walking through those same things or speed them through it by the authority of your story, your breakthrough, your life.

Susan is someone who will tell you if she likes something or not. She is not afraid. There are people who inspire you, whose work you see and admire from a distance. But then there are those who encourage you, who come along side you and put their words and actions with their experience and love and spur you on to what you were made to do. I think we need both. I want to be both for other people! It’s always so encouraging when someone compliments your work, and when someone who knows what they are doing praises your work it has so much weight and impact. It is amazing when someone who inspires you also encourages you!