Purpose That Defines

🎤 Behind the Roar | November 29th, 2025

I am a breast cancer survivor. I do not hide this fact — I share this openly with anyone who will listen, because I am a walking miracle. I neglected to get my first mammogram until several years past the recommended starting age — and that first screening is the one that revealed I had cancer.

The scan showed a “suspicious” area. The initial recommendation?
“Let’s wait and have you come back in six months for a recheck. There’s only a 20% chance it is cancer.”

What? Only a 20% chance?
No — that didn’t sit right with me.

I pushed for additional testing. I didn’t want to wait. And I’m forever grateful I trusted my intuition — because what started as “suspicious” became a confirmed cancer diagnosis.

That was in 2015.

For years after my treatment, I would tell people that my breast cancer diagnosis “defined me”. Not in a limiting way — not as if I were nothing more than a diagnosis — but in the sense that it shaped me. It revealed a deeper purpose within me: to help others, to share my story, and to live my life with intention and gratitude.

And now, ten years later, life has handed me another defining moment.

This past week, I stepped away from a 26-year career with a company that helped me grow professionally and personally into the leader I am today. For most of those years, my career also “defined me”. Again — not in a restrictive way, but as a reflection, like a mirror. It taught me who I was becoming and strengthened parts of me I hadn’t always been brave enough to see.

Somewhere along that road, I discovered one of my true purposes:
To help others unlock their potential, grow beyond their perceived limits, and evolve into fuller, more courageous versions of themselves.

A line from The Matrix Reloaded resurfaced in my mind this week — one I hadn’t thought about in years:

“It is purpose that created us, purpose that connects us, purpose that pulls us, that guides us, that drives us; it is purpose that defines, purpose that binds us.”

When we have purpose — when we have something that is pushing us, motivating us, challenging us to be more and do more — that’s when we truly begin to shine.

Purpose isn’t just a job title.
Purpose isn’t just a job or career path.
Purpose isn’t a role that can be taken away or a chapter that ends.

Purpose is a passion — a deep-rooted pull — a knowing that there is something you are meant to do.

And when you listen closely and follow that purpose, you shine brighter than you ever imagined.

So, as we close out this month’s Leading with Vision theme, I’ll leave you with this:
What’s your purpose?
What are you passionate about?
What makes you come alive?
What drives you and motivates you to do more and be more?

And just as importantly:
How are you nurturing that purpose — today, this week, in this chapter of your life?

Your purpose is whispering.
It always has been.
Are you listening?

Ronda 💛

📖 Want More?

If this Behind the Roar post resonates with you, you’ll find deeper reflections like this inside Roar Like a Woman.

Each of the 35 empowering words is an invitation to rise with intention, embrace your passion with courage, and transform your life into a purpose-filled journey full of hope.

👉 Order your signed copy of Roar Like A Woman here.