"Mama, what does 'truth sets you free' means?"

“Mama, what does ‘truth sets you free’ mean?” my 6-year-old daughter asked me unexpectedly at the breakfast table.

I gave her a simple, age-appropriate answer: when you tell a lie, you have to remember the last lie you told to keep your story straight. But when you speak the truth, you don’t have to keep track of anything—it frees your mind from all that burden. She seemed satisfied with my explanation, and I felt proud that my daughter always asks such deep and thoughtful questions.

What I didn’t realize then was that, just days later, I would truly understand the meaning of that phrase in my own life.

I am a mother of two girls, but I am also a woman who has worked hard, studied diligently, and built a career in tech. Like many mothers, balancing a demanding career with raising children can feel overwhelming. Even before having kids, I sensed a bias, a feeling that women often have to go the extra mile just to earn the same recognition as their male colleagues. But becoming a mother changed my perspective. Women can have it all, if only the world respected that we are capable of everything, without needing to prove our worth again and again.

Somewhere along the way, many of internalize that ambition should be quiet, gratitude should replace fairness and exhaustion is normal.

But lately, I have found my truth to be liberating. The truth that I am doing enough. The truth that motherhood does not make me less professional - it sharpens my focus, broadens my empathy, build resilience. The truth is its okay to ask for fairness without guilt. The truth that I am not alone in this experience - neither are you.

To every high-achieving woman who became a mother: You are not “falling behind.” You are growing in ways the world often doesn’t see.

We’re not just balancing work and home. We’re rewriting what leadership, success, and resilience look like. Quietly. Powerfully.

And sometimes, the truth is all it takes to set us free.