Happy Monday!
for those of you that missed Part 1 of this series, you can read it here: My Journey to Becoming a Me Ra Koh Confidence Teacher: Where it all began!
when that email arrived in June announcing the Certified Teacher program and asking for people to apply, i cried. i remember calling Stephen and sharing the email and my response, and he said “do it!” so many things fell into place to make this happen. one of which being that my son took his only 3 hour nap EVER the week the application was due. i was literally able to sit down and complete the entire thing in one sitting, something i don’t have the luxury of doing anymore these days. Stephen helped me with my video submission and did an amazing job. i was really struggling with communicating effectively on video. at one point, Stephen finally said “pretend Me Ra is sitting right here. just talk to her.” and that was all i needed. i got really emotional, but it helped me to focus on what i was trying to say and i finally got through the video!
one of the most amazing parts of this journey so far was the weekend of training in Seattle over the summer! and it all started with a magical dinner at Me Ra & Brian’s house, where i met all of the other women…
Me Ra & Brian went all out in preparing this dinner…and it was amazing! from the flowers to the table setting to the wonderful food. it was such a treat. and the company was even better!
i’ve never had a lot of female friends, to be honest. this started as early as junior high, from what i remember. i was more interested in playing basketball than pursuing boys. and i didn’t understand why girls were so mean to each other. my experience of this was only exacerbated when i entered high school. it hasn’t been until more recently that i started really building relationships with other women, and it’s SO special. especially now that i’m a mom! anyway, i have kept in touch with almost every single one of the women from my Confidence Workshop weekend, and i just love them dearly. in fact, two of the ladies from my workshop are also Confidence Teachers! i bring this up because i could not be more honored to be a part of such a wonderful group of women. we all come from different backgrounds & different states. we range in age from 20s to 50s. some have been practicing photography a lot longer than others. but when we came together, it was like we were all meant to be together. we encourage and inspire each other. and each of these women is SO talented. i count myself so blessed to be a part of this group, and to share this journey together.
the entire weekend in Seattle was beautiful. Seattle feels like home to me, so just being there always gives me a sense of peace. i love this photo from Me Ra’s garden. it just feels like an expression of how beautiful the weekend was…
the next day, we hit the books…hard! Me Ra shared a little bit about our training on her blog. they were long days, and i struggled being away from my little man for so many hours, but we learned SO much. we had to stand up in front of all of the other women and teach a lesson, while being videotaped. then, we had to continue standing up in front of everyone while we were critiqued. this is such a difficult thing to do, but i think it made all of us a little stronger. we covered over 100 pages of teaching materials! and we looked cross-eyed at Brian while he shared excel spreadsheet after excel spreadsheet. (i have to add a little note here that Me Ra is part of an AMAZING team. her husband, Brian, has been right beside her through all of this and it has been just as wonderful getting to know this awesome man over the years!!)
here’s a peek at Day 1 of training from Me Ra’s blog…and here’s a peek at Day 2 of training! you ladies are going to LOVE the workbooks that Me Ra & Brian designed. they are fabulous!!
at the end of the weekend, we were all pumped…and exhausted! empowered…and overwhelmed. i think quite a few of us even got sick upon returning home. but that hasn’t stopped us. we have had regular conference calls, forum chats, email discussions, and even Facebook group messages to keep us all connected since that weekend in August. we have come a long way in a short time, and we are SO ready. Me Ra has spent years pouring her life, heart and soul into so many women. i could not be more honored to be an ambassador of the Me Ra Koh brand and look forward to empowering & inspiring women and moms through the Confidence Workshops i will be teaching!
i want to end today’s post with the mission statement Me Ra created for the workshops:
Empower and Ignite Moms to Grow in Confidence Through the Vehicle of a Camera by Transparent Teaching and Mentoring so They May not only Give Voice to Their Creative Spirit but also Establish Space for Their Children to have Creative Voice while Transforming the Culture of Motherhood One Mom–One Child at a Time.
stay tuned tomorrow for the official announcement & find out how you can sign up for one of my workshops!!!
xoxo
jess
Jess – This is a beautiful post…you made me cry! In a good way of course 🙂 So much of what you said is in sync with how I feel as well – on how different all of us are, but how well we get along. Love you! And I’m so excited to share this journey with you! xo