Kaitlyn Sester | YWCA Women of Excellence Honoree
What inspires you to get up and do the work?
I'm motivated through connecting with others- from personal life topics to developing your inner leader- I thrive on connecting with individuals and watching them make progress in achieving their goals and becoming the person they've always wanted to be. I enjoy the development process.
What have you learned about yourself through the challenges you have overcome?
I can use empathy and connection as a superpower to build strong relationships and overcome any challenge I face. These skills help me not only achieve goals I set for myself but have helped me create a powerful network of relationships that are full of support, empowerment and love. I believe having strong and healthy relationships have saved me from the hardest times in my life and will be the key factor in overcoming future challenges.
How do you take care of yourself?
I nurture myself by allowing space for creativity and for doing things on my own. Any time I can express myself creatively I find my center again and have more inner peace. I also thrive on having great conversations, so being able to connect with individuals and share important thoughts and topics in my life and theirs help me feel more true to myself.
What is the best advice you've ever been given? Or what advice do you have for others?
It's not about who you know, it's about who knows you. & for me it's about knowing the real me- the multilayered complex and human version of me. I'm a whole person with my own unique life story and the more that I'm open and vulnerable about the real me the deeper relationships I'm able to have and those rich relationships make life fuller and more joyful.
What is your vision for our community? Has it changed through the pandemic and racial justice reckoning of recent years?
Our community has changed rapidly and slowly all at the same time. I believe now more than ever we have a sweet spot of raising the voices of those often told to keep quiet and the more than we can amplify those voices, the stories and those important human experiences the closer we can become as a society and ultimately "do better" than generations before us.. People need people and it takes empathy and compassion to overcome some of the major challenges in our society and I have hope that we are making the right steps towards becoming a united community.
The mission of YWCA is to eliminate racism, empower women and promote peace, justice, freedom and dignity for all. What does YWCA's mission mean to you?
The mission is bold- because a life where all people are empowered, have freedom and respected dignity, where there is justice and ultimately peace is surely a world I believe everybody would love to be a part of and it's that idea that we can get closer to making that a reality that really excites me and energizes me. I just can't help but feel like Yes- I want to be a part of that! so I do what I can to support and promote the mission, because I truly believe in it and I believe our city, our community and our world really need it.
