Amy Purdy: Redefining Life on Your Terms

I think October is my favorite month. It’s not just the crisp, cool air and brightly colored autumn leaves that brighten Columbus but the increasing level of excitement around the office as we gear up for our Fall Event. New Directions Career Center hosts several events throughout the year, but our Fall Event is our opportunity to address a topic important to the work we do here, to help people better understand how we change lives. Lives DO get changed here!

Each year we take pride in hosting a guest speaker who represents the values we engender at New Directions Career Center. In past years, we’ve been privileged to feature speakers such as Nancy Anderson, author of “Work with Passion,” and Gloria Feldt, author of “No Excuses.” These women have offered inspiration, speaking of the very challenges that the women who come to New Directions Career Center face in their daily lives.

That’s why I could not be more proud to announce that this year’s speaker for our Fall Event will be Amy Purdy. Purdy represents the strength, fortitude, grace and tenacity that we try to instill in every woman who comes through the Center. Like the women we help every day, Purdy has overcome challenges that have forced her to find new ways to achieve her aspirations – and at times, forced her to re-evaluate her direction. This is a message we try to send to the women we help every day: barriers can be overcome.

The women who come to us are facing some of life’s greatest stressors and situations that can serve as barriers to career development, if they let them. We help women recognize that even the most enormous barriers in life don’t have to stop them from accomplishing what they want to do. We try to inspire them to a new direction.

Amy Purdy’s inner strength and determination are an inspiration to the people whose lives she touches, and we are honored that she will be the distinguished guest at our Fall Event. In addition to starting her own company, Purdy works as an actress and a model, is the recipient of numerous snowboarding medals and national titles, and offers motivation and insight into overcoming life’s challenges, demonstrating how those challenges can be used to redefine life on your own terms.

In her presentation, “Living Beyond Limits,” Purdy explores the question, “If my life were a book and I the author, how would I want this story to go?” She offers practical tools for anyone of any age letting go of their old selves and embracing who they are, empowering themselves to transcend all obstacles and write the next amazing chapter of their amazing lives.

Join us Tuesday, October 9 at The Columbus Foundation, Davis Hall, 1234 East Broad Street in Columbus at 5:00 p.m. Register today, by contacting Linda Warden at 614-849-0028, ext. 110, or visit http://www.newdirectionscc.org/.