Meet Kay To
“In fourth grade I listened to a bunch of JFK speeches, obviously a super dork. Dissecting the anatomy of the speeches, I remember he challenged Americans. With his speech, he was creating a common emotion in all Americans, and the common goal was getting to the moon before the Russians. Listening to so many of his speeches, I realized I would really love to be a speech writer. Because I still remember all of the emotions that his speech writers were able to evoke.
The principal of my middle school was Don Rather, Dan Rather's brother. Every now and again Dan Rather would come to our school and talk in front of the school assembly about journalism. Now in sixth grade you're really concerned about going to the mall or the movies but I remember thinking, this is the magic; this man has a legacy. His legacy will be in people, and how he makes people feel.
This man's power was in words. I learned specifically because of Dan Rather’s visit to our school that gosh there's a power in words, and we should be careful with them. We should be careful in the way that we use them. And I remember somebody asked a really interesting question: “What are some of the words that you hate?” He said he didn't like curse words.
I thought “Oh, this is just an adult because he doesn't want us to say a bad word.” And he said, “There are so many words in the English language that really hold emotion. So when you use a cuss word you're really selling yourself short. If I said, “this young lady is pretty.” You would just think okay she's pretty. But if I said “she's beautiful, you feel something else. But if I said she was unforgettable.”
And I thought, “Whoa. Who's the girl?” I remember thinking, he's got a point. I’m grateful to Principle Rather that he brought his brother so often. They were so gracious with their time. They helped me understand the power of words.
One of my favorite words is Ikigai, the Japanese word for purpose. I do want to do purpose driven work. And I think at the core, all people want to do that. I think my purpose is twofold. Number one is to continue learning right, always be a learner and always be curious. I think when curiosity does its job then we all win.
My second purpose is to help lift others. I used to be so sad when I used to think that I would call myself a friend collector. I would become so sad when people would drift in and out of my life. And then I realized that maybe my purpose, or my gift, was in that moment, maybe just in that moment and in how I made them feel.”
