Zimbabwe-born Deborah Calmeyer has made this belief a guiding principle for the experiences she curates through ROAR AFRICA, the travel company she founded 16 years ago. I’ve had the privilege of working with Deborah to curate some of these experiences that we call “learning journeys” to extend ROAR AFRICA’s mission to uplift African women and further engage the global women’s community with their challenges and their accomplishments. This year, we chose Rwanda as one of the best models for women’s leadership and economic empowerment on the continent.

I thought about all the ways I wanted to pay tribute to the great Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as this is the week we designate to remember and celebrate his leadership. But instead of adding to the much-deserved praise and many appreciations, I decided to write about his mother, Alberta Christine Williams King.

At the start of the pandemic, I shared Arundhati Roy’s essay in which she compares the pandemic to a portal through which we, as a global community, must pass through. Will we carry baggage from the before times or start anew? I have had some reckonings with what I value and will carry forward. In the spirit of New Year’s Resolutions, I share them with you with gratitude.