Remember that if you believe anything is possible.
Remember that even the darkest days the sun rise.
But I write in the now. This feeling. This moment. I want to remember NOW. So I write to record.
As it is this moment where I can say with PURE confidence that I have made a dent in this world. That I have brought a MOVEMENT in education where parents can demand MORE. Where students can demand MORE. Where we educate for life and the whole person.
That I BUILT a company in a space where there has been zero disruption in 300 years with billions of dollars and institutions trying to protect their piece of the pie. Not only rooting for your failure, but trying to take down as you threaten their very existence.
I was told it was not possible. Who am I, a female elementary educator, to take on the criminal activity happening in higher education. Told that change can only happen from the top. That while we all recognize that higher education is flawed, the system is too big to change, and why would it when people will pay (take out loans) to be lucky enough to get off a waitlist.
But nope.
They were wrong. Yes WRONG.
And yes cancer moms are INVESTABLE! Remember when I was told that no one would invest in me because not only am I a mother but a mother with a sick child. That you wouldn’t make a strong founder. That I was uninvestable.
But nope.
All of them WRONG.
And change (lasting change) happens from the bottom, not the top. It happens from the teachers and the students saying ENOUGH. Stop pushing us into a system that has a 14% success rate that rejects the majority and does not even serve the new realities of the modern economy and world.
No LONGER!
I did it.
WAIT.
NOPE.
WE DID IT.
I need to acknowledge that I had major moments of weakness. There were days when I didn’t think I could take another hurdle. Another mountain to climb after so many ranges prior. Another government agency saying we don’t fit into the qualifications of an “education” and to qualify we would need to become the exact criminal activity we are fighting. There were days I said to myself- “How stupid are you Abby. You threw your entire savings and the last 4 years of your life into something impossible. You are hurting your family. You are traveling, not making an income.”
So Guilty that I wasn’t being the mother I should be.
And all the nights I cried to Steve the same question: “Why is it so hard to do good?” I’m just creating a cheaper, more valuable product that puts students health and success first. I’m not in this for the money. I’m in this for my children and yours. Why is doing good so hard? Lots of sleepless nights on that question.
Lots of days ready to throw in the towel. If I didn’t have you…MYX would not exist.
When I was down, you were there to pick me up. My neighbor coming down and literally slapping me. Don’t give up! Or my co-founder taking the lead when I just wanted to pull the covers over my head in a deep depression resigned that the world had no place for love. That education was no different from the rest of the economy, all about the $$$ with child victims.
But everytime I was down (without fail) I would get a text from a student. A student sharing that they signed their first apt on their lease (and yes they could read all the legal jargon thanks to MYX). Or one of my favorite texts. “Abby I don’t know how to thank you. You have changed my life. I never felt like I belonged before nor had any talents and here I am walking into the world ready!” Those texts always came right in time.
Coincidence? Heck no. We know there are none of those in life.
This was meant to be. This journey was the only way to get to here.
So a big thank you to the pioneer families who believed in this crazy girl talking to them over tik tok. Thanks for being my village as it takes a village. A village of believers.
I didn’t cure Jacobs cancer, Nightwing did.
I didn’t bring education to reflect the truths in learning, the realities of this generation, and the future of work they would inherit by myself- heck no. A team of educators, parents and students did that.
At MYX you never walk alone and I don’t either. People believe in me. People believe in this mission and have even invested in this mission. And I’m going to make those people (including the educators) millionaires. Just watch me:)
As good deserves to be recognized and those people will pay it forward to make the world better. I know it.
I have never felt so high and proud.
Leaving this morning from MYX I can say for the first time with ABSOLUTE certainty that MYX is going to change lives and education in the United States and beyond.
It can be done.
It can be done.
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