Towards a greater flourishing

Teaching Others is The Path to Mastery

A while back, a funny thing happened.

I won a large startup competition in Europe. Afterwards, a small group of women from the fields of technology and entrepreneurship approached me quietly.

They said “It’s great that you’ve won, as a female applying computer sciences in business. Simply through existing, you inspire others to do the same. But you need to make a habit of being visible, so that it’s sure to stick”. They asked me to promise to find ways to help other women along the same path.

I was so struck by this incident, that for a long time I wasn’t sure how to process it.

Over the summer last year, I met an amazing person. She was real geeky, like me. And an entrepreneur, who found that to be the best channel for social good in the world, just like me. And her spirit is bold, noble, and with an infinite dignity (perhaps that I have yet to master).

We’re rather alike in many ways, save for the fact that she is 30 years my senior. Until I met this lady, I had never really known a female mentor. Plenty of males who I adored, and looked-up to, and learned greatly from — I’ve been blessed with fantastic male mentors with whom I share a wicked sense of humor and mindset. Brilliant women also, who braved incredible odds and never quit fighting. But I’d never consciously witnessed someone whom I could view as a ‘future version of me, as myself; a beacon to guide me towards a greater flourishing.

Meeting her changed my perspectives on the particular blend of roles, skills, and qualities of virtue that a woman could be, and that also changed how I saw myself, and the potential within me.

Identities must change and evolve over time, as they adapt both to external circumstance, and to internal growth. Continual reinvention of oneself is a hallmark of a long and meaningful career.

And so at the every junction in life’s unyielding river, the eternal question: Now who am I? Who is this next Nell Watson?

My head might feel fuzzy, but my heart already knows the answer. The memories of those women-in-tech and their challenge, and the promise that I made, echoes from then ’til now. I know that I have a further purpose to fulfil through my career.

Over the years, I have become known for sharing my ups and downs in the tech startup world in a frank and entertaining way. I began to be asked to share a few of the lessons that I had learned with others. I discovered how much joy there was to be gained from communicating in a willfully honest, and vulnerable, and authentic manner.

I intend to wrap myself up in that spirit and remind peers and former versions of myself that YOU ARE NOT ALONE (and heaven knows we all must feel like we’re the only ones in the world going through experiences like our own sometimes).

I need to capture this revelation in a firebrand that I can share with others, to ignite their own imagination and indignant righteous quest for their personal flourishing.