In January, I attended the University of Pennsylvania’s Higher Education Leadership Conference, and was really moved by one of the panelists. I went up to her afterward to thank her for her candor during the event, and straight away she asked me: Are you a person of faith? What is the source of your passion/faith?

Not being a religious person, I was a bit taken aback at first — my automatic reaction was to connect a word like “faith” to religion. However, I quickly realized that not only is that not true, but that’s not what she was asking me, either.

After a moment where I felt a bit sheepish that I didn’t have a response to her question, I said the first thing that came to mind: I suppose it’s the strong women in my life. My grandmother, my mother, and my sister, to name a few. This post serves to share a bit about that answer and to perhaps inspire you to consider how you would respond if asked the source of your faith or passion.

In the picture above, that’s me with the finger in my ear. The other two are my older sister and my mom. In the picture below on the right, I’m the gap-toothed one with my paternal grandmother, who everyone called Ma.

They are the inspiration for the answer to the question above.

Ma (on the right) grew up in India, earned a master’s degree in English Literature at a time when I’m guessing many women did not pursue bachelor’s degrees, let alone graduate degrees, and didn’t marry until she was 28 (I know, I know). She taught English in Japan, eventually moved to Germany with her husband/my grandfather where she learned to speak German, and moved to the U.S. when I was two, dedicating her life to the support of others.

My mom (above) stayed at home to take care of us during the day and earned a master’s degree at night when I was in elementary school. She then leveraged that degree in a career, which she started when I was in the 6th grade. She married my father at 21, moved with him to an entirely new hemisphere, and raised a family in a country with a completely different culture and set of norms. I still can’t imagine having lived in New Delhi and then moving to Springfield, IL…

My older sister (also above) was the one to do many of the “new” American things in our household from going to public school to dating. I watched what she did (fought for?) and then simply followed suit. She navigated being the first child of immigrants, which made it all that much easier for me. She also earned a doctorate of pharmacy, has a family with two beautiful kids, and manages it all with grace.

I’ve been pretty fortunate to have all of these strong women (and more!) around me from an early age. They’ve inspired me to earn a master’s and doctorate, to do research on gender equity and women’s advancement, and to keep on dreaming. Thank you to them and all of the strong women and men in my life. You’ve all supported me in becoming who I am today!