Next Steps for Principle Quest - Why and When

I grew up in Dallas in the 1950’s, during the Jim Crow era. When I was 8 years old, I walked with our housekeeper’s daughter, who was Black, to the local drugstore to buy a soda. We were told by a not-so-nice waitress to get off the stools at the counter. Feeling shame and hurt, we walked home in silence. I did not know how to act or what to say. I told no one about this.

Growing up a girl in Dallas back then had other restrictions. I was supposed to be pretty, dress in frills, and not be too smart. Lucky for me I was saved from these expectations because from age 11 until I was 17, I attended all girls’ schools. I thrived, learning self-confidence, courage and scholarship. When it was time for college, my father was amused, explaining he saw no need for me to go to college.

In 2012 I founded the Principle Quest Foundation to support experiential education and mentoring for women and girls of all ages and backgrounds. Today the Principle Quest community is 130 women strong.  40% of these women are women of color. I soon discovered that just as I had encountered bias against me as a young woman, so, too, women of color faced bias at least twice as toxic.  I realized that facing our own history as a country was a path toward healing, creating a more just society for all of us.

After reading Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson, I was drawn to visit the EJI Museum and Memorial in Montgomery, Alabama in April 2019. I invited five women to join me, and we visited Selma, too, with so many historic sites from the modern day civil rights movement. Through generous introductions, we met with the Black Belt Community Foundation. Two women in our group were from the Black Heritage Trail of New Hampshire whose mission and purpose were identical to our trip’s goals.

Nearly 30 years ago, I first tried to express why I believed love was key to changes we needed in society.  “If we stay true to the principles and skills of loving, we can balance the feminine and the masculine in business, communities, and government.”  These principles state that love is an intention, not a feeling. It is a code of conduct for how I aspire to show up in the world – to see you, listen to you, and treat you in a way that demonstrates good will. We can then heal the wounds caused by exclusion, exploitation, racism, sexism, and injustice. Then we can show up, speak up and stand up – as courageous women. We can reinvent the world for our granddaughters – and grandsons, too!