My mom and her two brothers used to shoot sugar beets off a passing train with a sling shot when she was a young girl. They liked to eat them for snacks after school. One day, she missed and knocked part of the tobacco pipe out of the train conductor's mouth leaving just the stem poking out. Needless to say, she never shot for sugar beets again! But, the memory and the story lives on - as hearty as the root vegetable itself.
The sugar beet has become an homage, of sorts, to my mom who is a constant source of inspiration to me. Much like the sugar beet, she is of hearty and tenacious stock whose roots run deep and true.
That's how I want to be seen - both personally and professionally: hearty, tenacious, and above all, true to everything I do.