A wife's letter.... Father, Less than 100 days till Election and Giving Thanks

So I know, I know, I have not written much. With all that’s been happening, it's been hard to keep up.  But most of all, it's been hard to put on paper thoughts, emotions and future plans.

Well, this winter we were plagued by the death of my beloved father. I was crushed, and really there is no way to describe that kind of pain. The first few days are a fog. I remember only being able to master the strength to make decisions for his funeral. He was buried in his beloved Albania, for which he dedicated his entire life to public service as did most of the Sharra family. An eagle was placed on his casket showing his patriotism, integrity and love of country.

Dad, Mom and I in Rothenburg, Germany

I remember mastering enough strength to make a speech, but what do you say about the man that was larger than life.  He  fought for democracy.  He marched in the 1990s with his fellow heroes of that era. He was the mayor of Vlora from 1992-1996, and the Prefect of Shkodra, Puka and Malesia e madhe during  the worst time, 1998-2000. 

http://www.ata.gov.al/vlore-nderron-jete-ish-kryetari-i-bashkise-elham-sharra-homazhe-nga-qytetare-e-politikane-64837.html.

Nothing was enough.  I mastered the strength because I could hear his soft and firm voice telling me “ Besa, you are my daughter, and I know you can do this.”  Yes, indeed I am, and I did.

I know he would not want me to sit around crying and feeling sorry for myself. So I gather every ounce of strength there is in me and tell myself not to cry everyday.

Today, I have a new job. I am a United States Citizen, Yay!I am active with Zonta working on projects to help advance the status of women. I sit on the board of the Columbus Bilingual Academy.  And I surround myself with my husband and family ( from which I derive all my strength), my lovely dogs, my friends who are always around to make me smile, and my volunteering around the community.

A gift from my parents in law
  It Says" Besa Sharrah, New American Citizen, April 8th,2014, "Live the American Dream"

With the Judge that performed our Naturalization Ceremony, a very emotional time

With my parents in law, who support us in every adventure, misfortune, sad and happy time of our lives.

Soon, Rob and I will have been married for four years. Four real, happy, hard, emotional, intense years.  I am very grateful for this person in my life who makes me better everyday, who tests my patience just as much, who challenges me to be bigger, better and make sure I lead a happy life!

On Our Wedding Day

On our Wedding Day

Well, as you also might know, Rob is running for office. Yup, he is!! Ohio House District 18, which includes Bexley, Franklinton, German Village, Grandview Heights, Weinland Park, The Hilltop, Merion Village, Olde Towne East, Schumacher Place, The University Community, Harrison West, Italian Village and Victorian Village.

Decent territory!

I will tell you how this all came about. We had been involved with the Franklin County GOP helping in campaigns for a while. I remember the day that he called me. I was in the hospital with Dad) and he said reluctantly that there was one nomination left, and he had been asked by the party to run.  The selection committee was meeting that evening. I quickly encouraged him to run.

You might wonder why I would want to be involved with such an enormous project at probably the hardest times in my life? Well, I agree with you, but the idea to not do it seemed even worse than the time and energy that would have to be dedicated to doing it.  AND we were right! 

We connected because of our love for public service.We have had such a good time getting to know the community:

·        helping clean up through a project with the Franklinton Board of Trade called "Kickbutt Columbus" 

   participating in " Tag of War Games with the Children" in the community of Bexley during July 4th celebrations (yup the kids whooped my hubby!!!)

                                                                                               Serving food at the Hilltop Bean dinner

Memorial Day Parade, Candy anyone?!

Back from the annual Bexley John Barr 5K

Bexley John Barr 5K, Rob and Snacks did better than Annabelle and I

Bexley July 4th Celebration

Meeting the community

It has been very eye-opening to go around the community and discuss the issues that are important to resolve as we build Ohio's economy with Governor Kasich's productive and highly effective projects like JobsOhio.

Thanks, to the hard work of Gov. Kasich, one the most heart-wrenching social problems we face today, human trafficking, is being tackled.

Rob and I both care so deeply and are currently working with some projects(secret for the time being) and their respective patrons to help, to educate the public, to promote the appropriate method for reporting instances, to direct victims to available resources, and to strengthen human trafficking laws.

Lincoln-Reagan Dinner, 2014

While Rob and I are hardly the people that follow anyone blindly, democrat or republican, we feel compelled to help advance some of these projects that we—having had the experience in the private sector—believe to be key in rebuilding Ohio's economy. 

My favorite was also when we visited the Long Street Bridge Unveiling. It was incredible to see significant local artists, landmarks, community leaders and pioneers who have been an integral part of the Columbus story honored—bridging the past with the present.

As we get closer to this Election Day, I would like to encourage you to vote.  I encourage you to make your voice heard on this day.

And lastly, I want to thank you. Rob and I cannot thank you enough for supporting and believing in our cause. This was more than just a campaign for, this was an eye-opening experience towards the things that are being done to make Ohio better, and the work that is still ahead of us.  Thank you for the work you do—going across neighborhoods to knock on doors and put up yard signs, making phone calls, supporting us, donating funds, and convincing friends and family to join our team.

We still believe that better days are ahead! It's up to us to rally together to renew America's promise and restore American greatness.

From the bottom of our hearts, Rob and I thank you for your support, prayers, efforts, and vote.  We are forever grateful to each and every one of you."

I WAS RAISED TO BE DRIVEN, "The Immigrant "

"I was raised to be driven."

I just recently read an article with this caption. Following the statistics, immigrants start businesses at about 62 per 10,000 people, compared with a rate of 28 per 10,000 native-born Americans. More than half of foreign-born founders came to the US to study.

As an immigrant and naturalized citizen of the United States I can tell you that I feel like I live and breath "I was raised to be driven". Between, the times of attending a US College and working three jobs while going to  school, and now still pulling 12 -14 hour days as a professional, I profoudly understand what it means.

However, I am one of the lucky ones, yes, one of the lucky ones. I had great parents, that helped me constantly with whatever they had and in whichever way they could. I had selfless parents, that even today put their children first. But, even then, I remember in almost every communication the words, "Remember who you are, Remember how you were raised, you were raised to be extrodinary..... whatever this means".

 

As I got more ingrained in my life here in Dayton, I started getting to know more immigrants, students, professionals etc. I understood that I was not the only one with this type of mentality, that this was how we were all wired, to succeed, to get the highest grades, to work the hardest....to be extrodinary. So I kept going, I worked hard for my goals, I did  not  take no for an answer.

I work & worked much harder and pursued my passion and ambition with a tremendous tenacity after all the goal is ... to be extraordinary.

 

Aspiring to be, Shonali Burke who moved to the US from India and worked for major PR agencies before launching Shonali Burke Consulting. "I'm used to dealing with people from a wide variety of ethnic backgrounds, and can put myself in their shoes," she observes.

Or, Ella Zibitsker, Russian immigrant and electrical engineer who founded Computer Systems Institute to provide computer skills training for businesses later switched to meet the needs of inner-city and immigrant students. Today the school has six campuses offering eight-month career training programs in computer technology, healthcare and business administration as well as English-as-a-Second-Language classes.

Or, Maragert Thatcher.. though my reasons for this one are much more profound, and deserve a whole other blogpost, I can tell you that going from being The Daughter of A Grocerer to The Prime Minister of Great Britain, yes I aspire ...

 Or, even closer to home the http://ataccdayton.org/ that was started by immigrants that strive to help provide for the needs of the Ahiskan Community of the Greater Dayton region, by providing them with the tools necessery to succeed, such education, become quality citizens of the United States and achieve their true potential.

 

Just recently, in a conversation with The Mayor Of Dayton, Gary Leitzell, in a meeting to introduce Zonta Club of Dayton, he expressed  with great confidence that immigrants truly are inovators and understand opportunity, as they strive for the American Dream. In his blog Mayor Leitzell expresses  "The Welcome Dayton plan was formulated at a time when the word “immigrant” was being translated to mean something negative or threatening in many states and regions across this nation. But in Dayton, we saw an opportunity. The citizens of the Dayton region who volunteered to make the Welcome Dayton plan a reality discussed the issue and decided to clearly make it known that Dayton was to be an "immigrant friendly" city.Last year when we launched this project, we had no idea that those two simple words — Welcome Dayton — would launch us to national and international acclaim. Our Welcome Dayton plan put us on the world’s radar, and we attracted not only news coverage from around the globe but inquiries from foreign citizens requesting more information. I personally received emails and phone calls from citizens in France, South Africa and Nigeria, all interested in relocating to Dayton. By adopting this long-term strategy, Dayton will attract more residents and grow its small business base. It’s been proven time and time again that foreign-born nationals demonstrate greater entrepreneurial spirit because they see opportunity that others may not. When a person has the American Dream, they will find a way to succeed. And that American Dream is alive and well in Dayton, Ohio."

 

The same themes emerged from these ambitious entrepreneurs born in other countries. Not taking "no" for an answer. Having go get-'em attitudes. Wasting neither time nor money.  So what would the advice be from them, for us still striving to achieve success immigrants:

1. Do the numbers before you start. "Even if you're not going to write a full-fledged business plan, you have to know how much money you need to make (usually different from what you'd want to make). If you don't have some kind of roadmap regarding how you're going to bring in income, your business is just a hobby.

 

2. Gender doesn't matter. "One of the biggest lesson for me has been that it's not about gender. Some of my business' biggest supporters have been entrepreneurial men. In this city everybody helps everybody more than anywhere else I've lived. So don't be afraid to ask for help regardless of gender." (Ionescu)

3. Don't try to be everything to everyone. "Identify what you're really good at and, equally important, what you want to do. That's the kind of business you should go after, not the 'everyone else is doing it, I may as well too' kind." (Shonali)

4. Just do it. "Don't think about it. Just get out there and make it happen. Too many people waste opportunities because they are afraid. Life is short and when you identify an opportunity to advance your life...take it, or someone else will."

5. Match value and price. "If you know what you have to offer is valuable, don't go with the low price. Go with the right price." (Mana)

I am proud to be in the United States, to work hard and strive for improvement and growth of myself and of those in my life, but most of all I am proud to be an Albanian Immigrant in the United States, that " Was Raised To Be Driven"

Dedicated to all immigrants around the globe

BSH

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.Steve JObs”




10-8-2011

Yes, I want to tempt you to swim against the tide. I want to pass on to others, the taste of hard work, for improvement, extend and enlarge, not for just the sake of making money out of it but to give root to an idea of the vitality of things that are well made.

A great man has left the world this week. I feel compelled to write this as his story and what he has had to say and do has affected all of us profoundly. October 5, everywhere you turned you heard the headline, "the man that changed the way we look at communication and social media has left us".
Flowers, sad facebook titles , October 5 was a sad sad sad day for the United States, but most of all for the world. 

So you think you can do it?

That's what I was told the first day of my career, I thought I did, and I was boy was I wrong. I learned, maybe the hard way , it took such a long time and sacrifice to get there, sometimes I wonder if it was all worth it. I started this for girls like me, who know what they can do and they are just waiting on an opportunity.

Welcome to my world, a world in which I am trying to research, create and find my way and voice. Where language is certainly laced with humor, where stylish shoes have the ability to help you conquer the world.Where happy hour is a mixture of funny sarcastic political discussions  and a manhattan with girlfriends.Where I make mistakes, learn, get angry, laugh like no other.  Where confidence,  that nothing is impossible if you put effort into it is my biggest asset.