“The size of your dreams must always exceed your current capacity to achieve them. If your dreams do not scare you, they are not big enough.” — Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.

I am using one of my photographs of a beautiful field of horses to showcase the feeling of the quote above. 

This is one of my favorite quotes of all time and it comes from a woman and leader named Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. She was the first elected female head of state in Africa (24th President of Liberia from 2006-2018) and a Nobel Peace Prize Winner. She was born October 29, 1938, in Monrovia, Liberia, to a Gola father and a Kru-German mother (she is turning 87!). She studied at the College of West Africa, Madison Business College, and Harvard University. She returned to Liberia to work as the Deputy Minister of Finance from 1971-74. Then, she went back out west to work for the World Bank in the Caribbean and Latin America. She then went back to work as Minister of Finance until 1980. 

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf fled to the USA when Samuel Doe seized power in a coup. She worked for Citibank and then Equator Bank. She was still interested in politics in Liberia and dreamed big - and won second in the 1997 presidential election (lost to Charles Taylor). She won the 2005 presidential election and took office on January 16, 2006. She was re-elected in 2011. She also became the Chair of the Economic Community of West African States. 

Awards: She won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2011 (due to her efforts to bring women into the peacekeeping process) jointly with Leymah Gbowee of Liberia and Tawakkol Karman of Yemen. She also won the Indira Gandhi Prize from Indian President Pranab Mukherjee in 2013. 2016  - nominated as the 83rd most powerful woman in the world by Forbes. 

There is much more to this incredible woman - please read the sources for more in-depth knowledge about this outstanding leader. 

Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellen_Johnson_Sirleaf and https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/2011/johnson_sirleaf/facts/

Photo: “Dream Big” - A beautiful field filled with horses on the way to Sunlight Basin, WY. October 2024. Cayuse, Umatilla & Walla Walla; Tséstho’e; Očhéthi Šakówiŋ; & Apsáalooke Ancestral Homeland. Nikon D850