I am ashamed to admit that I do not remember the name of the woman that has perhaps influenced me the most when it comes to leadership and sucess in running a business. To my credit, I was just a crazy college kid when I was under her direct influence. She ran a camp for adults with diabilities in New York. I was looking for something to do with my summer while school was out, so I decided to sign on as a camp counselor at the special needs camp that she ran. That summer proved to be the HARDEST summer of my life….but it also taught me amazing lessons in strength, perseverance, and leadership. The woman that owned the camp was a bit hard to warm up to. She was no-nonsense. She was the first one up working each day and the last to stop for the day as well. There was a strength about her than I truly admired day in and day out. Running a camp for adults who had disabilities as severe as the ones we worked with is insanely difficult. There were constant medical emergencies. Unfortunately, two guests at the camp passed away during their stay (because of natural causes…nothing the camp workers did). The woman who ran the show never showed stress, fear, or anxiety any time a crisis occured. And though she must have been incredibly tired, she never complained. She just did her thing and made sure what needed to get done, got done. She trained the workers well by giving them the skills and confidence to deal with difficult situations. She also held everyone accountable to their responsibilities. She was SO STRONG. I thought- “Wow- I could never be that strong.”

Honestly, I think most people disliked her. But, that’s because she was always being responsible…very rarely letting her gaurd down. When she did let her gaurd down (for brief moments) it made everyone around her smile. Everyone was watching her constantly.

Just taking care of the basic needs of our guests was very difficult in certain situations…but the purpose of this camp was not merely to provide the guests a place to stay and eat for their visit, we were there to provide them a wonderful vacation filled with parties, dances, singing, and all kinds of activities that left them feeling happy and excited to be alive. The woman who ran the camp, NEVER forgot this….and she wouldn’t let us forget it either. Even when half the camp was up all night long because of 4 different emergency calls for ambulances, this woman started each day with our songs of the day, yoga stretches, and a positive attitude made me realize that she was PASSIONATE about these guests. Everything she did was out of passion…the long days and nights, the constant monitoring of us counselors to make sure we were doing our jobs well, the trips to the hospital, and so on. This woman did it all, never flentched at the hard stuff, and remained passionate.

By the end of the summer she finally had a conversation with me that was more relaxed and friendly than before. She said, “I notice that you are always paying very close attention to me…why is that?” Slightly embarrassed I said, “I hope you don’t think that’s weird or freaky…I am watching you carefully, because I want to be just like you. You accomplish so much- and make this work better as a result of your abiity to lead others and stay strong though anything. Someday- I hope someone thinks that of me too…because a woman like that can accomplish anything.”