Today, there are 68 million women in the workforce and 7.7 million women business owners. I bet if you asked those women who their biggest mentor was, many of them would say their dads.
Mindful, empathetic, supportive, loving, present and wise men raise powerful daughters.
My dad was born in 1926! He had me at 46 years old (the same age I am today)! He was the ultimate feminist. He loved seeing more and more women in Corporate America and rising through the ranks to the board room tables. He'd come home and tell me stories about the gals (not entirely politically correct but he used the term with admiration) he was working with and how smart and driven they were.
He was one of the most incredible men, having lived through growing up on the tough streets of Brooklyn, enlisting in the Navy and serving during WWII, finding love and losing his first child, then losing his wife, finding love again with my mom, having 2 kids and living a full, happy and fulfilling life till the ripe old age of 84. This February marks 10 years since I lost him.
After writing my first book, I began talking about writing a sequel called Foster The Dads - a guide for Dads consisting of advice from women that were mentored by amazing fathers and turned out to be strong, powerful, driven, successful women.
On Father’s day, I asked a few friends that have lost their dads to share with me some of the best advice their fathers ever gave them. The messages that returned were so powerful and I knew that at some point, I needed to push this project forward.
Last week, as I was going through an old folder digging up papers, I came across a letter my dad wrote to me almost 12 years ago. The letter and just seeing his handwriting (aka chicken scratch)brought me to tears.
Tears of loss. Tears of longing. Tears of love. Tears of joy.
I feel the loss of his words, his powerful love for me and his granddaughters, his wisdom, his advice, his stories. I wish to g-d that I still had all of his letters, his notes, his crazy emails. I feel the loss every single day but after so many years, I’ve learned to turn it over into a smile as I look up at the sky, knowing he’s looking down on me and say, 'Dad, I used to be your little angel and now you are mine. Your guiding hand on my shoulder will remain with me forever.'
10 years and it still feels like yesterday the we had our last talk the night before he passed. I did laps around the Supermarket as he gave me advice, talked about life, love, kids… neither of us wanting to hang up as if we knew it was the last conversation.
If you met Hal Foster, you knew in the first 2 minutes that he was the most proud father of the children he raised and his 4 gorgeous granddaughters. He bragged about his son-in-laws golf handicap, his daughter-in-laws creativity, the entrepreneurs we all were, the beautiful rock of a woman (my mom) that stood by his side come hell and high tide.
To pay tribute to my dad, I am launching Season 3 of Foster Your Passion podcast - Fostering Dads. I will be interviewing some of my dear friends and FosterWomen that have also lost their biggest mentors. We will be sharing stories about our dads, their words of wisdom and the advice they gave us that we may not have realized at the time, but that impacted us to become the women we are today.
Season 3 is not just as a tribute, it is also meant to Foster Dads that are currently raising girls and to help guide and advise them on how to raise them into strong, confident, powerful and successful women.
Click here to listen to the Season 3 Intro and subscribe to get notified when each episode launches.
I look forward to you being a part of this journey with us.
Lots of love and fostering,
Hayley
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