An Open Letter on Mother's Day

Happy Mother’s Day to all moms who, like my mother, inspire their children and carry more than their own weight every single day. 

My mother is a retired educator and military spouse. She taught me the importance of education and the spark of life-long learning that can be ignited in everyone. She also demonstrated the power that women who teach wield in influencing the future by skilling up young people. I witnessed her constantly and delicately face the near impossible challenge of balancing the demands of her profession with the needs of her family.

And as we celebrate Mother’s Day, I want to recognize and honor the resilience, empathy, and fortitude of women, like my mom, who serve as caregivers and caretakers across America.  We celebrate your ability to juggle countless priorities, even during the most difficult of times, and usually for people other than yourself. Your examples make us stronger than you will ever know. 

Following in the footsteps of my mother, I am lucky to have a job that bridges two passions--empowering women and enabling access to education to the communities that need it most.  In my role at NPower, I am responsible for activating the Command Shift coalition--a national consortium of leaders across business, nonprofit, and academia--all focused on accelerating more women of color in tech. It is an ambitious undertaking to spark change in a system that has left Black, Latinx, and American Indian women out at every level and title in the industry. Many of these women are mothers and therefore carry the honor and responsibility of caring for their families while balancing their own desires for career success.

I want the women and mothers out there to know that we appreciate your devotion, admire your strength, and support your hustle to break the molds in our society and launch into tech specifically.

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

Candice L. Dixon and NPower’s Command Shift Coalition