Your Difference is your Superpower
By Victoria Foster in dialogue with Múkami Kinoti Kimotho
YOUR DIFFERENCE IS YOUR SUPERPOWER
That phrase is the call to action for Royelles, a game based learning company, that Múkami founded to empower 1 million+ Girls and non-binary individuals to boldly architect their destinies and take their rightful place as trailblazers, ceiling-smashers and disruptors in STEAM lifepaths. It was sparked by a series of conversations and experiences between Múkami and her daughter Zara - for whom Múkami wanted to offer hope and a window into the possibilities that exist for her as a young, black girl in the US. But its roots go much deeper.
“I had known all along, but I wasn't aware.”
Múkami was born in Kenya and spent a childhood moving around. No matter where she lived she never fit into molds of what was “typical". For others of us, this feeling “different” may have its seeds from something else, but we still harbor that internal struggle of wanting our environments to embrace, love and accept us AND feeling that to do so, we need to shrink, to diminish, to justify our opinions (or worse, justify our being).
It’s not about changing, it is about daring to embody our dimensionality.
The tools of oppression lie in dualism. The belief that if we just ‘simplify’ our beings into a tightly packaged brand, we will feel belonging. As FutureMakers, we have experienced the fallacy and the cost of this choice. Belonging begins with belonging to ourselves.
Your difference is your superpower started an unconscious prayer for Múkami and has “evolved into a meditation, into a mantra, into an affirmation, into the truth of who I am.” It has shaped what success means and looks like for her - living unapologetically, unabashedly and as 100% herself.
We know that this is easier said than done. Fear loves to rear its head upon us often. Indeed, as a courageous community of women, we also see that living into our power (our truest home) frightens us the most.
“Success is my daring to go after the big, wild, radical dreams that I have AND embracing and channeling the fear in a way that works for me.”
In our conversation, Múkami's idea of a blissful home conjured up expansive images of a cliff overlooking an ocean and the trees on the slopes of a mountain - the wisest and most fully alive beings on the planet.
While Múkami’s or your images of home may be images of actual places, our power comes when we allow ourselves to own them as our heritage, our roots and who we are. I am reminded of Kahlil Gibran’s poem Fear which invites us to risk “becoming the ocean”. Listen to Múkami reading it.
“Help me see myself the way you see me.”
“Gratitude has the power to part seas, create miracles, and move the big mountains that exist in our lives." Múkami shared a transformative practice of giving thanks and asking the wisdom (of water & trees, as well as of peers) to help her to “see myself the way you see me, so that I can then show up as that person today.” She invites herself and us to be gentle and kind and gracious with ourselves so that we can be present in this moment right NOW - living the me that I AM, and doing what only I can DO.
Múkami and I met years ago at a social impact event. I was drawn to her as a soul sister - her depth is vast and her transformative ambition is enormous. This is what it means to be a FWX FutureWoman. This is what it is to experience sisterhood. I am grateful for you Múkami, thank you for sharing. We leave you with two questions:
What part of your difference is the most difficult to accept?
What difference do you see in another that you want to reflect back and amplify?