Last year, I was asked to give my first public speech.

As you might imagine, I was beyond nervous, but I couldn’t have asked for a more compassionate crowd at the Brave Girls Symposium.

Picture five hundred (mostly) women all there to connect, create, and explore the question of, “What can love do?”

This was my audience.

Since LOVE was the theme, I decided to share (for the first time publicly) my story of hitching a ride to New Orleans and doing six-months of disaster relief work on the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina — all while living in a makeshift tent.

Writing and sharing this story allowed me to dig into the memories of that potent time in my life, and looking back, I see what a huge turning point it was for me.

A total game-changer, actually.

By heading heart-first into the middle of a disaster zone, I ended up opening my own heart in countless ways I never could have imaged. In fact, this experience was so life-changing, I ended up changing my first name afterwards!

Ultimately, this is a story about listening to and following the call of my heart, and I truly hope hearing it might stir something in your own heart.

You can listen to the whole story below. And if you’re inspired to watch more speakers from last year’s Symposium, you can catch those here. They were all so remarkable.

This is truly a special gathering, and I would love to meet some of you there.

With love and courage,

flora