Janice Bryant Howroyd

And so I determined that I couldn't value myself out of opportunities because of how I look.

I had to understand about whose I was and not just

Who I was and the disrespect to my parents, to my ancestors, to my creator and to my opportunities by devaluing me.

and changing me to look a certain way or behave a certain way in order to get ahead in life.

And I'm so glad that my sister and I had many evenings, many of them with tears, many of them with laughter, working on me, doing the work on me to help me to realize that that person who I was in Tarboro, North Carolina,

was the person I was designed to be.

And it's how far I thought I could take her that made the difference, not how far someone else thought.

And so I decided that I would never compromise who I was personally on my values,

in order to become who I wish to be professionally.

And it enabled me by doing that to let go of the hostage I held myself to around things like appearance, things like personal culture.

I was able, once I accepted my culture was good, and then once I celebrated that it came from a strong and enduring place,

to be able to identify who I was inside.

And some people, that's a flip side journey for them.

When I arrived in Los Angeles back in the mid 70s, it was a very visually stimulating place.

And so it threw me in the face and it gave me an opportunity to decide, who am I?

What do I stand for?

And in my company today, we have a credo.

that we stand on these feet and that's how we grow forward and feet f-e-e-t is f freedom to innovate e excellence in delivery e because everyone and everything matters t invest the time to understand

F-E-E-T.

Now, when you give a person freedom to innovate, you are basically saying you have permission to make mistakes, make them fast, be transparent about them, and let's all learn how we grow from them.