Ever been asked the question, "When you were in school, who was your favorite teacher?" Who stood in front of your classroom and inspired you the most? What did they do or say to leave such an unforgettable imprint on your life? It causes you to reminisce and go down memory lane, doesn't it? You get an enormous sense of nostalgia, sending an ear-to-ear grin across your face while attributing a generous portion of your success to this individual.
Teachers help us grow and evolve. They are the root of our development, fostering our collaboration, resilience, creativity, and conflict-resolution skills. They expand our thinking, enlarge world scope, and increase our purview. Without teachers, we remain in a state of loss and sometimes find ourselves stuck. The lessons they deliver create progress, ignite transformation, and renew our minds. We become stagnant and stale without them.
I remember my first-grade teachers. I had two. Mrs. Christain and Mrs. Smoot. I had Mrs. Christain first. She saw budding potential in me but contended with my refusal to let it out. As a six-year, I spent most of my time hanging out with a friend called fear. I had all the answers and knew more than I was willing to lead on. I trembled at the thought of presenting or speaking in front of the class and allowed my tears to do the talking. When I became a student of Mrs. Smoot, I later learned that these two educators conspired to haul out the greatness they saw within me. And boy, did they. From that moment on, I was unstoppable.
It didn't end there. Whenever I faced a challenge larger than my mind could comprehend at the moment, a teacher was there to propel me not only into understanding but to astonishing levels of wisdom. Mrs. Arnold took me from total geometry confusion to final exam exemption. Professor Shapiro tapped into my inner seed of strategic business during undergrad and pleaded with me to nurture it through graduate school. When I arrived there, Professor Austin, who led my global marketing course, read my plan for developing programming for YouTube and spent the rest of the semester showing me how to go from idea to implementation.
School was only the beginning of my education voyage. Life, career, and family all have and continue to play a role in contributing to my higher learning. Motherhood, divorce, and losing loved ones each handed me vital lessons. They taught me resilience, strength, integrity, tenacity, courage, and the depths of possibilities. All essential for where the road would lead me next. THuS Marketing + Branding Services.
The most sophisticated classroom I have ever sat in, without a doubt, is this firm. THuS Marketing has schooled me above and beyond anything I could have ever wanted or hoped for. There are days she has trained me through the school of hard knocks and others where special education was the priority of the hour. No matter the course she has ushered me through, the outcome has always led to a better version of me.
Today marks the day of a five-year journey that never ceases to be an adventure. Every twist and every turn has introduced me to something fresh and new. I have been guided through the unknown only to uncover the buried treasures before me. I never knew I could and, therefore, never dared to dream that which was foreign to me. In this classroom, I have been instructed to do so. I am more than I know, and there's so much more to unfold. At this junction of my life, I have been gifted with an incredible instructor who continues to show me what is still left to learn.
Happy birthday, THuS Marketing! You have done so much, given so much, and shown me the vast endlessness of the skies. Wishing you many more years to come.
From your student's heart,
Nona A. Phinn
Here's an additional word from our founder, Nona Phinn