The Women Who Shaped Me: A Reflection on International Women’s Day

International Women’s Day is one of those occasions where it’s easy to post something generic, a purple graphic, a list of famous names, a caption about empowerment. But this year, I want to do something different. I want to write about two specific women. Two women who didn’t make headlines, but who quietly and profoundly changed the course of my life.

My Math Teacher

I don’t think she knows how much that one ask meant to me.
She was running a program called Math Mondays, an extra study session where students could come in, review homework, and prepare for tests. At some point, she turned to me and said: I want you to help run it.
I was a student. She asked me to be a tutor.
That distinction might sound small, but it wasn’t. It was her saying: I see something in you. I trust you with this. She didn’t just teach me mathematics, she handed me responsibility, and in doing so, she showed me I was capable of more than I realized.
I helped my classmates work through problems online. I learned how to explain things clearly, how to meet people where they were, how to make something complex feel approachable. And somewhere in the middle of all of that, I fell completely in love with the process, not just of doing math, but of thinking, solving, and building.
That love never left. Today I study Computer Science and Mathematics. I want a lifelong career in tech, doing research, building software, contributing to the things that push the world forward. I love it deeply. And when I trace the line back to where that passion started, it leads directly to her.
A teacher who saw a spark and trusted it. That’s everything.

My Mom

There is a specific memory I keep coming back to.
I was sick, spending time in the hospital. Week after week, my mom and my sister came to visit me. They didn’t come empty-handed, they brought meals, Filipino snacks, the familiar tastes of home. Food that said: we love you, we’re here, you are not alone.
And one visit, my mom brought me pencil crayons.
Not because I had asked. Just because she knew, she knows me, that creating things makes me happy. That colour and drawing are how I process the world. She wanted me to have something joyful to hold onto in a hard time.
That’s my mom. She doesn’t just take care of the basics, though she does that too, giving my sister and me a home, supporting our goals, showing up for us in every practical way. She also pays attention to who we are. She notices what lights us up and finds ways to bring more of that light.
Those pencil crayons sat next to my hospital bed and I drew. And even now, creativity is part of how I move through the world.

What I Want to Say

Neither of these women made the history books. Neither of them is famous.
But this is the thing about the women who shape us most: they often work quietly. A teacher who runs an after-school program on her own time. A mom who packs up home-cooked food and makes the trip to the hospital, week after week, and thinks to bring pencil crayons.
These acts don’t look like history. But they are history, my history, the story of how I became who I am.
On International Women’s Day, I think it’s worth pausing to name them. To say out loud: these are the women who changed my life. Not in spite of how ordinary the moments were, but because of it. The ordinary moments are the ones that hold us.
To my math teacher, and to my mom, thank you. I carry you with me.

Happy International Women’s Day to every woman who shows up, believes in someone, and quietly changes the world. 💜