This little girl in the middle was born sensitive and strong and confident. She grew up in a good solid home with a family who loved her and cared for her well. She attended Denver Public Schools.
This little girl was known for being sweet, quiet and shy, but also curious and adventurous and tough, preferring to hang with the boys playing what they were playing. She was called a “tomboy”. She loved to read and write, roller skate, play tennis, soccer, and swim.
This little girl was known to be a gifted learner and an accelerated student, however, when she was in high school she became bored with school, preferring to focus on athletics and part time jobs where she felt confident, was actively engaged, and learned from her experiences. She was a dependable worker and a talented athlete. She had dreams of becoming a tennis star, a journalist, and a civil rights lawyer. She also struggled with a sleep disorder, gastrointestinal issues, and some social anxiety.
She left home at 18 to pursue an undergraduate degree in journalism from University of Colorado Boulder. She became insecure about her writing abilities and study abilities and switched her major to match her subject matter interests. She focused on studying history and eventually determined to also become a school teacher. She focused on tennis while working at Boulder Country Club throughout college and quietly still aspired to attend law school in order to work in civil rights, which she eventually did. She was a natural born peace maker.
She studied to become a paralegal first and earned a certificate at Denver Paralegal Institute. This gave her the confidence she needed to go to law school. She graduated from New York Law School in 1999 and shocked even herself when she passed the New York bar exam with high scores. She had never felt confident as a traditional student and still doesn’t. She went on to hold positions at prestigious places. She worked at the New York City Law Department where she argued in the court of Sonia Sotomayor, she worked at the the New York County District Attorney’s Office, and the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. She found that she enjoyed the law, but she wasn’t built to fight so she became a Mediator. She served as a policy specialist and senior consultant for the Colorado Department of Education.
She realized as an adult that she is Gifted and Autistic, that she can still play like a girl and a boy, and that she is already a teacher and a writer.
Why am I sharing? Because research says that 70% of girls feel different about their futures after hearing from women role models. Thanks to Inspiring Girls International and Women’s Forum for the Economy & Society for asking us to inspire the next generation of girls by sharing our stories.
P.S. #thatlittleboy on the right is my brother Danny Weiss . #thatlittleboy on the left is my cousin David Booth . Weren’t we all adorable in 1973?
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Stuck In My Bra 