Open Letter to Sheryl Sandberg
Last year I wrote and sent this letter to Sheryl Sandberg. Although it never reached it’s destination, I still believe that someday she will read my thank you note. [SEE UPDATES AT THE END OF THE TEXT]
Hi, Sheryl!
I know you’re a busy woman, but I would like to ask for you to kindly spare me five minutes of your time. I really need to share these thoughts with you.
Last January I celebrated my 27th birthday, and a friend gave me your book (Lean In) as a gift. Here in Brasil it is called Faça Acontecer, something like “make it happen”. It was so inspiring that all those pages were telling me that I really had to make it happen. But make what happen? When? How? I didn’t know the answers, but I knew I had to do something.
And, well, there’s no exaggeration to say that your book changed my life.
At that point I was working for an advertising agency in Belo Horizonte, the capital of Minas Gerais. I had some bosses at that job, all men. And Minas Gerais, although it is a very traditional state, it always been a home for great figures capable of doing some great changes, mainly for freedom. Our flag reads “Libertas quæ Sera Tamen”, a Latin phrase for “freedom, even though it is late”. And that’s what your book is all about: freedom, happiness, hope and knowledge that we can go much further.
And so I tried this path.
As I closed your book for the first time, I made a Facebook group for female entrepreneurs from my state (Mineiras Empreendedoras). As I invited girls to join, I discovered some pretty nice things. Some would like to participate because they want to be entrepreneurs, but didn’t know how. Others would like to participate because they discovered that motherhood, marriage, and being a housewife is also a way to change the world. Still others would like to participate just to tell those young girls from Minas Gerais that they can be mothers, business women, happy, creative, strong, the whole package — and also need help from their friends, just because all of this is possible for those who dream big and work hard.
Like yourself.
Two months after I finished reading your book (and after I created this group) I quit my job, gave up the stability of knowing I would have some money in the beginning of the month in order to achieve something bigger than the monthly salary: to live the dream of changing the world with my hard work, my passion, and my will to make other girls (and boys) around the world know exactly what they’re capable of.
So, fate (and faith) gave me a tremendous (and unexpected) prize for this courage: I was called to be part of communications team of SEED (Startup and Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Development), this innovative acceleration program of the Minas Gerais Government. SEED selects startups from all over the world to spend six months here in Belo Horizonte and get their products or services ready for the market.
Here I have met some great startups, dreams, and people that believed so much in themselves that I made this little experience into a lifetime school. And at SEED I understood that it was time for me to truly believe in myself. I took 2 years of studies and validations and, with a friend, I started last month my own business: a small agency focused on content marketing for other small/mid-sized companies. Our mission is to grow along with our clients, through their dreams and our efforts. In our first months of hard work we have accomplished many things, like one great event of social media, three clients and there are still others to come (I hope!).
So, this is who I am now, accepting challenges, working hard, playing harder, and dreaming big, like the stories you told me in your book. Now I’m a “real life entrepreneur” — and this means not having much money in the beginning — I don’t think it will be possible for me to meet you at the Valley or at events around the world on the next feel years, but I really want to say
THANK YOU, SHERYL.
Thank you for your courage, and kindness, of writing such an inspiring and challenging book.
If you ever come to Brasil do not be alarmed if some crazy girl waits for the end of your lecture or appearance just for a possibility to hug you and say “thank you” in person. This crazy girl is going to be me, and maybe a better version of me, with more experience and more knowledge (hopefully!), but still a version of “me” that wants to thank you a lot.
Your words made my life better. And I promise you that my words here are just the beginning of an endless road, in which I will give my life and soul to show other people, companies, and markets, the best they can be.
Kindly,
Laís Menini
PS: say hello to Mark for me. It’s true what they say: near a great man (near, not behind) always stands a marvelous woman. 😉
UPDATE
Almost six months after this letter, I am here with my own business, attending to great clients, participating in an entrepreneurial bootcamp in Chile next month and full of ideas to take out of the paper my project about a female entrepreneurial ecosystem. So I still like to thank Sheryl because I’m pretty sure that without her book it is possible that none of this would have happened.
UPDATE 2!!!
After almost a year of writing this letter and thinking that Sheryl would never read it I got this INCREDIBLE surprise. After reposting it in english and thanks to the participants and staff of Exosphere sharing about it I got this message on FB:
Having her know how much I thank her means a lot to me!
Apply now to Athena Entrepreneurship Boot Camp for Women!
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Laís Menini has worked in all types of media communication since she was 18 and is executive director of Tea With Me. She was a participant in Exosphere’s boot camps and is now part of the Athena team. Know more about her in her siteThe Lion Queen.
Originally published at blog.exosphe.re on April 14, 2015.
