Voices that Inspire

What inspires you from WFSU Public Media? Here's this week's Voices That Inspire. My name is Kelly Aughty, and I am the founder and executive director of the Wases Center for Women and Girls. One of the things that I think is the greatest gift that happened to me is that my mother started telling the truth about her own life and my early life. And when she did that, there became a very strong personal connection to the work. But my mother didn't raise me in that awareness. Like she didn't talk to me about the fact that she had been abused as a child. She didn't talk to me about the fact that my biological father was abusive. When you do social change work, it's personal and public. And so there's the part that you're doing to fight for the community and for doing things right with a greater population. But there's also this opportunity that we have to dig into who we are in our own hearts and figure out who we want to be and how we want to be in the world. I always have believed that we have to stand up when something isn't right. And learning how to do that's very hard because sometimes you're the only person standing up. But my personal motto is if not me, then who? And if not now, then when? What does inspire me? It literally is to make sure I've given as much as I can to these young women and men that are coming up. It's like a river. I always saw the work to alleviate barriers for women and girls as a river. And we're only on the banks and in the river for a short period, but it keeps moving. So we have to figure out how that next generation learns the lessons and then rejects what they need to, but goes on with the story. My name is Kelly Audie and I'd like to see a world that cares about each other and works to make it fair. You're listening to voices that inspire.