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OUR SPIRIT & SYMBOL
Lanier is the maiden name of my maternal grandmother, Gertrude Beatrice Lanier, whom I didn't have the opportunity to know beyond 4 or 5 years of age. The name Lanier derives from ancient French tongue and means a “falcon.”
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My grandmother was born in the first half of the 1900's and gave birth to my mother late in life, even by today's 21st century standards, and so especially given the times she was born into at the turn of the 20th Century. Highly independent, private, cultured and sophisticated from what I've been told, my grandmother was a Milliner by skill and also an entrepreneur, but a "domestic" by day and night because of societal and class structures at the time. I suppose "domestic" was a more dignified word than saying servant outright, but it meant she lived with and took care of another family's family on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, doing her best to also raise my mother - who was her only child - on the side in Harlem.
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I named my company after her - in honor of her - for her sheer existence. For all of her determination, will and hard work. For her creativity, her independent spirit, her class, her style, her strength. For the life that she lived for if it never meant something to someone or anyone else, thru my work and existence, it now will. I named it after her for simply surviving, so my mother could be here and so I could too. But, too, for all that she couldn't do in large part because of the restrictions set upon her in the country and world in
Photo Below: Gertrude Beatrice Lanier, My Grandmother, My Nana
which she was born and stationed. This is a nod and several rounds of applause and a standing ovation not only for my grandmother, but also my mother and all of the women who came before them in their lineage, all of the women who came after and those who stand now. For all women from all lands and all walks of life, of all races, cultures, creeds and colors, of every single size, shape and age, and to all of those who will come after me - in deep reverence I bow and tip my hat to you all. I see you, I hear you, I feel your spirit, I honor you and I thank you. For everything we have done and everything we have yet to do. Keep going.
Left to Right: 1. My Grandmother, Nana 2. My Mother as a child 3. My Mother 4. Nana again 5. Mother
Our Symbol:
Falcon - the king of all birds, and the fastest member of the animal kingdom with speeds recorded as high as 242 mph. lanier global group. has adopted this bird as its symbol as we align with its attributes of: grace, passion, commitment, spirit, light, power, focus, prophecy, freedom, aspiration, intensity, determination, discerning, liberty, wisdom, guardianship, purpose, precision, transition, superiority and victory.
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As a symbol, if we have a goal falcons beckon us to make plans, calculate and strategies to obtain these goals; they are all about focus - strong, one-pointed focus. When they show themselves to us we are being called to focus on our desires and our goals and to do what is necessary to bring our desires into our reality.
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This powerful bird awakens visionary power, leads us to a life of purpose, and carries with it a message of transition.
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Falcons maneuver about the planet at rapid speeds while at the same time taking in all the details and maintaining a discriminating (as in discerning) mind. Soaring above everything…capturing all the details…and moving at some of the fastest speeds known to something that is of flesh and blood and breathes.
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Just like lanier global group., the falcon’s message is about being discriminate in one’s choices, choosing with accuracy and precision, exercising restraint and reaping one’s ultimate success and reward as one progresses and soars through life.
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The falcon is a solar emblem for success, victory and rising above a situation.*
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This, is who we are.
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*source credit: www.whats-your-sign.com (symbolism & signs)