The decision to leave my corporate life didn't come easily, and it took everyone around me by surprise. To understand why, we’ll need to go back a few years.

When I was a little girl, my Godmother once asked me what I wanted to do when I grew up. My answer? "Sit behind a big desk and give orders." Charming, right? Let's just say I didn't struggle with confidence or ambition in those days!

By all accounts I was a born leader who directed other children's play and set the agenda for my family's free time. Coupling that with a hefty dose of God-given academic talent made business a pretty clear career choice.

I wasn’t as drawn to the manufacturing of widgets as I was to the world of fancy restaurants and luxury hotels so I earned my business education at the Cornell Hotel School where the course catalog had me at hello. The internships weren’t bad either – I spent my first one at a resort on the Big Island of Hawaii, living in a suite and traversing the island eating macadamia nuts and drinking Kona coffee on my days off. It was a dream.

After graduation, I landed at Procter & Gamble where I learned my way in and out of a P&L and studied the art of servant leadership. No matter which assignment I was in, and there were many over the course of 15 years, I most deeply cherished the opportunities I had to lead and mentor bright, ambitious, talented men and women. It was during these years that I learned that everyone has a story, and that most of that story lives well beneath the surface.

When I first joined P&G, I thought I’d stay there until I retired – my dad was an AT&T lifer and my mom taught kindergarten for 40 years – loyalty runs deep in my veins. But at some point after my second child was walking, I started dreaming about starting my own thing, pondering how I could meld my passions into a new body of work. I was terrified of leaving my steady paycheck, profit sharing, and predictable path to promotion, but one day late in 2009, I took a deep breath and did it anyway.

And that same week, we learned I was expecting Baby #3. Yep.

So in 2010 I gave birth to two babies – my youngest daughter and a brand new company.

A decade later, I've learned a lot about what matters most to me, and what matters most to my fellow professional women. I'd sum it up as having choices, the ability to choose where and how we spend our time and energy - for me that means my growing business, my family, and my own well being.

Believe me, I love my work, but I also take care to leave space for those other things that matter to me. Like cooking. And running. And reading. And coffee dates. And dinners with my husband and three children gathered around the table.

I’ve earned some accolades for my work in the last few years, and it’s taught me something important - what people admire more than success is courage. It takes courage to redesign your life. People get that. Maybe that’s because success isn’t easily defined, but courage is.