America’s 250th birthday has me thinking about my grandfathers. They came from Italy and Sicily with barely a dime in their pockets, but had optimism and faith in what this country could make possible.
That is why Business for America’s “Together for 250” campaign is timely, inviting business and civic leaders to share something real about America, through our own voices.
Purpose, leadership and connection aren’t just words. They are a way of life for me and they were for my grandfathers and grandmothers too.
When I worked in the U.S. Senate in the 1990s, I saw people disagree sharply but still treat one another with respect. That experience shaped my belief that public life does not have to be bitter or reduced to a sound bite.
As the host of the new “Purple Inspiration Podcast”, my mission is to bring people together, bridge divides and get people talking again — beyond the red and blue labels.
I heard a prayer on Hallow and it reminded me that America’s story has always been carried by people who came here with courage, faith and the hope of something better:
“God, our Father. We thank you for the gift of this nation, and for the generations of immigrants who helped build it – people who arrived with courage, faith, and the hope of something better for their families and for those who would come after them.”
As I listened, I remembered the stories of my grandfathers who fled Italy and Sicily — coming to this great nation to start a new life. They were the dreamers who labored in factory jobs to make enough money to feed their families. They wanted to leave their children an even better life than the one they had and the one they fled.
My Mom and Dad worked hard their entire lives. My Mom quit high school to take care of her four brothers and little sister, since my grandmother held a factory job alongside my grandfather, to help support the family.
Many of the factory jobs they held are now taken over by technology. That’s not a bad thing.
My grandparents were the dreamers who set the path so we could follow their example to create an even better life — one filled with complicated innovations that lead to health care advances in medicine. My father-in-law was one of those innovators who left the world a better place and his family better off than he began. His inventions impacted billions of lives around the world.
And so goes the story of America — threads sewn in directions my grandparents could not possibly have imagined when they came here. Every generation changes the way the world works through a commitment to a better life.
That is what business, civic life and the American promise are all about — freedom, self-government, equality under the law, religious liberty, free speech, voting rights, opportunity, dissent, civic duty, resilience, and the unfinished work of making those ideals real to impact more people.
We can build workplaces and communities where people feel seen, useful and connected to a mission larger than themselves.
Believing in America is not just about cheering for the red, white and blue. It is about honoring the real people who make this country tick every day — doers, dreamers, innovators, mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, neighbors, workers, entrepreneurs and citizens.
I guess for me and my family, “America at 250” is not just a catch phrase or a birthday party. It is our responsibility, as business leaders, to remember who built this country, honor those building it now, and decide what we want to leave for the generations still to come.
Editor’s note: Judy Lloyd is a California small business owner, communications professional and podcast host for the “Purple Inspiration Podcast”. She first served in civic life at age 25 as an appointee of the President of the United States and has had a strong sense of duty, country and purpose her entire life. She is a part of Business For America’s “Together for 250”, a non-partisan, business-led campaign that gives companies specific ways to lead, connect and inspire during America’s 250th anniversary.
This 250 anniversray I thought of my family, my Grandfather. He was a Lakota survivor of the Wounded Knee Massacre—a child (12) who lived through something no child should ever witness.
For many families, this 250th anniversary is a celebration of arrival and opportunity. For mine it is a reminder of survival. My ancestors didn’t come to America; they were already here, long before the United States was born. Their story is not about building a new country, but about enduring one that grew up around them.
I respect the pride immigrants feel in their contributions. I simply ask that we also remember the Native families whose history is woven into this land itself—families who carried their culture despite everything. This anniversary is big enough for all our stories.