Sarah Kay Marchetti
Strong women create other strong women. My mother is one of the strongest women I know, and she has and continues to lead by example. One of the earliest lessons of this came when I was about fourteen. My mother and I had decided it was time to leave my smaller dance studio that I grew up in and move to one in Boston where I would join the youth company attached to the professional one. It was incredibly hard to leave my dance family, but we knew it was the best choice for my career. It upset the owners of my studio so much that they handwrote a two page front and back letter to me describing all of my faults in great detail and why I was making the wrong choice. I tore the letter up, threw it into the trash, and cried. My mother pulled it out of the trash, taped it together, and saved it, telling me that any time I missed them or wanted to go back, she would give it to me to read as a reminder that we made the right choice. I am still a professional dancer, now dancing at the Metropolitan Opera. I found that letter on a recent trip home and felt so incredibly thankful for this strong woman that has as big a hand in my career as I do.