Successful Women are not afraid to take their seat at the table, or enjoy the meal. When my grandmother died, she left me a treasure trove of memorobilia and pictures. Among the items she left me I found some of her writings. Throughout her life she wrote. I found opinion pieces she sent to news papers, poems she wrote to pass the time, and letters to friends and famous people. Soon after she died, I sat down and got to know her in a way that I never did before. I came away with sure of one thing. Billie was determined to leave a mark on the world. Among her writings I found a journal entry Download Barrymore.pdf she wrote concerning a chance encounter with John Barrymore, the early 20th century actor and Drew Barrymore’s grandfather. When Billie met Barrymore, she knew that dancing in front of him could be a life changing event. She decided to make the most out of the opportunity. She didn’t spend any time thinking about whether she was good enough to dance for him or whether he would appreciate her talents. She was confident enough to know that she was good. So when the spotlight came up on her, she danced like there was no tomorrow and she never regretted a thing.

If Billie were here she would tell you that you have to write your own definition of success. When she was a child she decided that she wanted to dance. She was not supposed to be able to become a dancer at the time because she was poor, with little access to formal training and she was not white. But from the moment she decided what success meant for her, she started taking steps toward making it happen. She listened to the little voice within her that gave her purpose and it never let her down. This is important because defining success for yourself is the key to fulfillment.

Billie would also tell you that one trait of successful people is being able to use your background and experiences to your advantage. Billie’s path to success was built upon the things she learned as a child growing up in segregated Indiana. She never forgot that she was poor as a child. She never forgot that she was a person of color who was discriminated against. She turned those experience into inspiration for her dance. She used them because they made her different. She used them because they were a part of who she was, and it was those experiences that made her successful.