A Risk-Based Life: Solo Entrepreneur Vaulting
The Gem State | 2013 © Alicia Kae Miller
I have always been a calculated risk-taker.
Switchbacking over the course of the last three decades from my home state of Washington to New York, California, and now Austin, Texas, I strategize how to get to where I am going and then I go.
My tactics include travel to over twenty countries and employment within diverse industries such as aviation, investment banking, commercial real estate, and most recently, biotech.
A decision to leave the confines of corporate America earlier this year led me to John Burroughsism
Leap and the net will appear.
Just as I was about to give notice the universe whispered: “the empathy gap” in my right ear.
This call has since become my baby, Empathy Uprise, a novel social movement galvanizing humanity toward greater compassion and less hate. Through writing, speaking, and workshops, Empathy Uprise seeks to shift humanity from “me” to “we.”
While social movements are not a new concept, empathy activism is a new entrant this year that encourages us to be undaunted, to think beyond our self and embrace humanity at large regardless of race, color, national origin, sex, or religion.
Empathy and I go way back.
When I was seven I asked my mom to break open my piggy bank because a schoolmate who lost his home to a fire was both coat and houseless; I learned through parental guidance and my own critical thinking to imagine beyond myself.
The choice to do so may seem unnatural, but once decided, we quickly realize that the gift of empathy is priceless. The gain comes through personal fulfillment; the more selfless that we are, the more enriched our life becomes.
In my search for the heart of humanity, empathy has become the holy grail.
Empathy Uprise is a higher calling and one that I have worked to answer over the last nine months with steadfast guidance from Eleanor Roosevelt
Life was meant to be lived, and curiosity must be kept alive.
One must never, for whatever reason, turn his back on life.
Let us not turn our back on one another out of fear of the unknown.
Ready or not.
The time has come to birth a social movement that is nine months in the making and long overdue.
The ability to express empathy is a must-have in our lives and work. Now more than ever, our ability to understand one another is vitally necessary as we heal untreated wounds and build bridges in our communities.
To learn more about Empathy Uprise, go to empathyuprise.com. Follow us on social, and be sure to sign up for our weekly newsletter “Shine A Light” which profiles empathy through the lens of: art, written word, videocasts, and calls to action.
Until we meet again, be kind to others and most importantly, yourself. ❤️
Yours in Solidarity, -akm
November 11, 2020