Courage – Take Heart

Heartitude Hero Series

I’m struck by the extraordinary courage of leaders like President Zelensky and the Ukrainian people as they face true life and death fear, uncertainty and danger. It got me thinking that while usually not life and death, it’s not so different from the courage many of us need to exhibit every day as leaders. Aurora James is the founder of Brother Vellies https://brothervellies.com/ and Fifteen Percent Pledge https://15percentpledge.org/ and one of Time Magazine’s 100 inspiring women in 2025. She inspires me to take the risk of trying new – and yes, extremely uncomfortable – things to fulfill my own mission and values. I hope Heartitude Hero #3 inspires you to take that risk to pursue your dreams.

Aurora James is known as a creative genius, mission-driven entrepreneur and social activist. As a leader, she seeks to create an empowering environment for her team and her customers and to champion diversity as good business. She lives her values with her shoe brand, Brother Vellies https://brothervellies.com/ by committing to hiring people of diverse backgrounds, ethnicity and ideas to foster innovation. She has used her success to create the Fifteen Percent Pledge https://15percentpledge.org/, enlisting companies to commit to buying 15% (current rate is 1%) of their goods and services from black-owned businesses. She is probably best known at the moment for designing the dress Alexandria Ocasio Cortez wore that read “Tax the Rich.”

Where does courage play a part? Courage is needed to face uncertainty, take risks, fall on your face and get up again, and most importantly to learn critical new skills as the world changes around you. Aurora shares that she has faced all of these and that it was the courage of a calling deep in her heart that drove her to tread on.

When asked about her business and success, Aurora said, “There’s nothing I’ve done so far in my company that I knew how to do beforehand … if you feel a calling to do something, you have to just dive in headfirst, lead with your heart, and not be afraid to ask questions.”

This is the Courage that only our hearts can drive within us. The courage to be bold, face obstacles and innovate. The Courage to learn new things even when we are experts. The courage to be extraordinary in ourselves and a champion for others.