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I usually don& #39;t share many details about myself here, but I wanted to tell you a little something about being a female leader in a man& #39;s world.
I took over the leadership of a group which, historically, was run by a rotating group of men who held those positions for just short of two decades. When I came on the scene, no woman had led this group at any point.
Every move I made faced the scrutiny of a small contingency of men who worked tirelessly to have me removed from my position. The same scrutiny had never been applied to the men who ran the group until I came along and began questioning the status quo.
I had to work twice as hard to make sure I crossed every t and covered every base. I stood in front of a group of two hundred of people to explain the multimillion dollar contract I had negotiated for them and those men were so angry with my success that they turned violent.
One of the men launched himself across the table at me in a rage and had to be held back by multiple other men. I did not flinch and barely skipped a breath because I refused to show any fear. But my heart was racing and I was in total disbelief.
On the way home, after the contract was overwhelmingly accepted, instead of celebrating what really is the highlight of my 21 year career, I sobbed into the steering wheel and did a bit of raging myself.
Because that moment would never happen to a man in any professional setting. That moment would not have been stolen from a man by a woman who was jealous it wasn& #39;t her who was handing thousands of new dollars to her colleagues.
Instead, I had to endure death threats and intimidation for months afterwards. Two people were fired. Lines were drawn in the sand and I made enemies, and allies, for life.
I stepped down from my position about 3 years later because I felt it important to continue to bring new perspectives to the group. To this day there have now been multiple women in that position and none have had to suffer the way I did. And that is just fine with me.
The passing of RGB has me reflecting on the little battles that women fight every day to be a part of leadership and decision making in what are often male-dominated fields. Their tales go untold because they don& #39;t fight them for glory or recognition.
They fight those battles for you, and for me. And every time a voice is heard just to be heard and not just because it is coming from a man, an RGB angel gets her wings. Another woman gets an opportunity to lead and serve. Another daughter like mine sees it can be done.
Mourn the death of a pioneer and legend by celebrating the lives of all the women around you who take daily risks just to have their voices heard. Help them fight their battles. Stand by them and not in their way. Let our sons and daughters see that every voice matters.
Thank you for retweeting this story everyone it means a lot 
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