As 2024 draws to a close, we can reflect on the highs and lows across our personal and professional lives. Whether you use the new calendar year to inspire big changes or continue amplifying the progress you achieved this year. We look towards HerAgenda’s Power Women as a source of inspiration coming into a prosperous 2025.
Here are 12 motivational quotes from women at the top of their industry, along with what has helped them achieve success.
“Do not be distracted by what other people are doing or have done in the past.”
”Things that worked back then are not working right now, so don’t let other people distract you and tell you what you should be doing and what you need to be doing. Literally, put your blinders on! Be aware of the climate but put your blinders on. You have to be confident in who you are as a person and you have to be innovative to stand out in the crowd. Don’t worry about what other people are doing. Just focus and pray and do your thing.”
“Women need to be aware of owning their voice.”
“It is recognizing that you have the experience, knowledge, confidence, and right to sit at the table you are at. If you are not at the table that you want to be at, you have a right to change courses and navigate getting there. As women, we sometimes become a wallflower as we are unsure if we should voice our opinions or ask for better. Women should find their voice and use it confidently because we have a lot to say and there is a lot to be said.”
“Predefine your goals.”
“Professionally, let them evolve, of course, but try to keep a sense of and be really clear on what you want to get out of a job, and what you want to get out of your personal time. I love goal setting. It’s such a powerful force for you to guide decisions [and] to help you allocate your time. That certainly comes as part of the job process, too, because you want to know what you go in for, and it may change, but then it helps you decide when it’s time to move on.”
“Your self-worth cannot be contingent upon someone else’s judgment.”
”If it is, you will always be at the mercy of their judgment. You can do all the things, you can get all the degrees, you can make all the money, you can gain access to all of these circles but if you’re relying on those people, and those institutions and those factors to give you self worth, that can be taken away from you at any time.”
– Natasha S. Alford, VP of Digital Content for theGrio, Anchor for theGrio TV, CNN Political Analyst
“You have to really look at what it is you want out of your life and where you think you could make an impact.”
”One of the things I always wanted to do was drive value and add impact. If you have the courage to do it, you could be really happy and live the life that you want to live. But you have to be honest about your skill set and what you want to do moving forward. And then you have to put in the work, too.”
“Give Yourself Grace.”
”There’s no way that anyone can make every perfect decision, and certainly not everyone is going to be happy.”
“You’re in the room because of who you are.”
“You don’t have to imitate anyone. Once you’re in the room, you have to embrace it and take hold of it. Always be prepared. The biggest moments in my career happened because I was ready when they came. Stay ready so you don’t have to get ready.”
“Be as transparent and as honest with your audience as possible.”
”If you are, you don’t have to doctor all these different pieces of content. If you are being honest and who you are on a daily basis, and maybe sharing pieces of that along the way, then it’s ‘as this journey unfolds,’ I get to be authentically myself and attract this audience along the way because I am just being me.”
“There’s nothing wrong with not being at the top.”
”We’re needed everywhere. Sometimes you’re called to be that person that supports the person at the top. Think about what your call is. It’s weird, I always thought of myself as supporting that person at the top, but I would always end up at the top. At the end of the day, if you choose to accept this mission or something like that, it is worth it.”
“Success does not come from working constantly.”
“I actually believe in the opposite. I really value work-life balance and prioritizing rest when it’s time. We live in a culture of glorifying hustle and ‘I’ll sleep when I’m dead,’ quotes, but burnout is real. As a creative person, I think rest and replenishing yourself is extremely important. We are empaths so situations can affect and drain us easily. Sometimes, we are called to create on-demand and the creativity of coming up with ideas, pitches, and concepts needs to come from somewhere. If you’re never taking time to breathe, restore, live life, watch a film, go to a museum, listen to live music, get inspired, and refill your creative tank, where would you be pulling your inspiration from? Success comes from consistency, learning, and stretching yourself to take on new challenges.”
“Friendship is a very untapped source of joy.”
“As busy working professionals, we put friendship on the back burner. I tell people to put one day a week on their calendar, and pick a block of time: Thursday night dinners, Saturday morning bunches, that’s friendship time that is blocked out. Then, fill it in every week. Just fill it in. Because the reality is that if we’re not strategic about refilling our tank and being intentional about joy, it’s actually going to drain us and when we’re drained, it makes it much easier for a lot of those negative thoughts, that ‘not enoughness’ to creep in”
“You’ll never figure it all out.”
”I really believe that if you are so clear on what you want your path to look like, you might not have the connections yet, you might not have the financial status yet, but it will come.”
