PHOTO ABOVE: Wendy with Camille Mazalev and Laura Bacon at the 3rd.

“Life is not a competition; it’s a cocreation.” 
― Shannon Lee, Be Water, My Friend

Have you met my friend, Change?

Change won’t be happy that I told you this, but we’ve had a challenging relationship. Perhaps you know someone like Change, though perhaps a different name and a different experience. We used to wrestle – I wanted to decide what areas of my life Change was allowed to work on. Change was relentless and fighting Change was exhausting. One day, I found myself on a cold tile floor, overwhelmed and then I suddenly realized that every strategy I tried was insufficient to fight Change. I had to find another way to be in a relationship with Change without giving up my power.

I started by reframing our relationship into a dance – we could be dance partners! Initially, Change and I were imperfect partners. I was heavy-footed, sometimes stepping on my toes and sometimes stepping on theirs. Change didn’t like structure or routine – Change preferred free form, so I learned to adapt and mirror Change as it shifted and moved. Sometimes I got scared of Change – it was doing things I didn’t know I could do. Change was steady, always inviting me to try again. I noticed that sometimes I would have to step back and observe Change and sometimes I could step with Change. As I became more comfortable in myself, I could step towards Change even more boldly. Then Change really took off.

My most recent dance with Change – we got an office! The first official “place” outside our own living quarters, and it’s at the 3rd, a Women of Color Entrepreneurial co-working space founded by Laura Bacon. Why there? Because Change and I want to be a part of an ecosystem where difference is welcome and invited and also be part of a community that creates and reimagines a thriving economy for all. Change also helped me reimagine “how” to have an office! Meet my new shared space partner, Camille Mazalev, who I met at Conscious Capitalism‘s Ignite Howard County. She is brilliant, the Entrepreneur in Residence at the Maryland Innovation Center, and a friend of Change too!

Want to meet Change? Let’s meet at the 3rd to re-think, re-solve, and re-imagine with Change. Or join us for Reimagining Racial Equity where we use racial equity as a catalyst for shift and change.