WOW. I still am having a hard time wrapping my head around how INCREDIBLE the 2021 Turning Point USA Young Women’s Leadership Summit was!
4 years ago this June, I jumped on a plane to Dallas, TX after I received a sponsored Facebook ad for a conference I had never heard of–YWLS–with an organization I knew nothing about–Turning Point USA.
I had been feeling extremely isolated on my college campus for some time in the Spring of 2017 after deciding to become more outspoken about my beliefs and conservative values in student government and beyond on campus, and had recently been called every horrible name in the book simply because of my political values–white supremacist, Nazi, homophobic, transphobic, misogynist–you name it. I now believe God told me this conference may just hold the key to a new community that I would call family for life.
From moment one of YWLS 2017, I fell in love with Turning Point USA. For the first time in my college experience, I was encouraged to challenge my perspectives, learn how to think instead of what to think, and engage in healthy disagreement every once in a while, too. I met girls at that conference I still call friends and likely will for many years to come. A fire was lit in my heart which ignited a passion that would later become my career in the conservative movement.
To transition from sitting in the crowd as a brand-new member of the conservative movement in 2017 to speaking solo on the main stage at YWLS 2021 was the most surreal experience. I am reminded this week of the many ways God has worked in my life in the previous few years to encourage and inspire so many other young women (and men too!) to embrace their values and share them with the world. It was incredible meeting so many of you in person, and I cannot wait to see what the next 4 years may bring! Thank you for supporting my journey over the past few years… I truly believe the best is yet to come!
