To the women who inspire me

This year’s State of the Union and Golden Globe Awards were quite intriguing. For the most part due to the way that both had a comparable dress code; the all black trend. This of course, was as a response to the feminist movement.

Guests at these events wore black outfits & ‘Time’s Up’ pins to stand in opposition to sexual abuse as well as Hollywood’s systemic abuse of women.

This (and Beyoncés ’Run the world’), is what inspired me to write about the women that in my opinion have changed the world and are continuing to do so.

Amelia Earhart, Pilot.

Amelia Earhart was an amazing female pilot who's most celebrated for her numerous world records such as, being the first female to fly over the Atlantic.

It doesn't get any more bad-a** than that if you ask me.

In 1937 she had goals of being the first female to circumnavigate the globe. Tragically she did not make it and never returned from this flight.

In a letter to her husband, Amelia expressed, "Please know I am quite aware of the hazards."

She said, "I want to do it because I want to do it. Women must try to do things as men have tried. When they fail, their failure must be but a challenge to others’’.

Thank you Amelia, for teaching little girls everywhere that ‘’there’s more to life than being a passenger’’. It is as a result of women like you who broke the glass ceiling, which made it easier for women in my era to have the capacity to be confident aviators.

Dr Christina Yang, MD Cardio thoracic surgeon.

I know some of you are most likely thinking ‘’isn't Christina Yang that surgeon on Grey's Anatomy’’? You're correct!

Dr Christina Yang is a fictional character played by on-screen actress Sandra Oh on the Shonda Rhimes hit ABC series, Grey's Anatomy.

From the very first episode in March 2005, we realized that she was exceptional; the other characters knew it, and most fundamentally, she knew it.

Over the seasons we watched Yang turn into the 'Cardio god' that she always wanted to be. She taught all of us how to be "unstoppable" and ''be a force of nature''.

As much as I can be inspired by a character who doesn't exist, Christina Yang enlivened me. She very well might be the strongest and most grounded female character we've ever observed on television.

She never faltered from her work and her intentions of treating patients. She was unapologetic about her abilities and always commanded respect at whatever point she was in the operating room, which is truly inspiring.

Thank you Dr Yang for being ''our person'' and for redefining what it means to have it all.

Gloria Masesi Themba, my mother, my hero (and personal favourite).

If anyone is ever going to claim that they're truly ''Super Mom'' it's unquestionably my mother. My mother has inspired and continues to inspire my sisters and I to be strong women who will always work hard and remain humble.

Although not as famous as the other ladies on this rundown, she is a genuine motivation.

Growing up I watched my mom be an amazing career woman and still have the capacity to return home and be an even greater wife and mother. If I am even half of the woman that she is one day I would be genuinely fortunate.

Thank you mama, for being my personal therapist and for telling me that ''there are many different ways to be the person you want to be'' the point at which I was 19 years old and had no clue what to do next.

This piece of advice (that you probably won't even recall saying), is something that I always refer back to whenever I feel like I'm not where I want/need to be.

Thank you for your consistent support and for teaching me how to be a woman. You armed me with everything that I need to survive in this world and made sure that I could never say I was missing something.

Thank you for teaching, as well as demonstrating to us that women certainly can have it all; the career and the white picket fence.

I LOVE YOU!

Yeonmi Park, Human rights' activist.

A year ago I went to Berlin with my younger sister and while we were sitting and waiting for our flight I decided to purchase a book, at the store, titled ''In order to live: A North Korean girl's journey to freedom". This quickly became one of my most loved books and Yeonmi Park, one of the people I find genuinely motivating.

The book is filled with the sort of stories that bad dreams are made of; it takes after her life and appalling events that led up to her final escape with her family from North Korea.

She talks about her starvation-struck youth in North Korea, her defection and the years in which she was trafficked around northern China by thugs running forced marriage and prostitution rackets.

The book is really touching and I encourage everybody to read it at least once in their lifetime.

These days, Yeonmi Park is an advocate for casualties of human trafficking and attempts to advance human rights in North Korea and around the world.

She loves to smile as regularly as possible, ‘’the way one only can when they have seen death and come away dancing’’.

Thank you Yeonmi for sharing your story. I lift a glass to your courage.

Other women that I couldn’t put on the list (otherwise this would’ve been the longest blog post in history):

My sisters, My late Grandmothers; May their souls Rest in peace, Shonda Rhimes, Malala Yousafzai, Nikki Bella, Oprah Winfrey, Lilia Kazakova, Beyoncé, Ronda Rousey, Serena Williams, Bonang Matheba, Winnie Mandela, Katherine Johnson, Maya Angelou, Graça Machel and the ‘girl from the south ’: Michelle Obama.

I could go on forever really.

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