With the election a week behind us, we can finally let the dust settle and get a little bit of rest. I know we are really scared, some of us more than others - minorities especially. As we should be.

Despite the turmoil we feel though, I have good news for you: Shondaland is alive and well, and if you're feeling scared, down, and out of hope, Shonda Rhimes just might be the inspiration to help you find your way.

Shonda, a graduate of USC's Film School is best known for her Thirteen Season (and still going!) Medical Drama, "Grey's Anatomy." She's the first African-American Woman to produce a tv show that became a top 10 network series. (Minorities, are you hearing me right now?)

For Shonda, things like Glass Ceilings don't matter. Nor does race, class, gender or sexual orientation. Not only does she produce a really, really good tv series, (or three!) she is a shining example of hope for those of us who are scared that we aren't going to make it in this Trump-a-tized world that we are suddenly living in. A woman? Don't worry - Shonda didn't just make it as a woman, she made it as a woman of color. Her tv shows, Grey's Anatomy, How To Get Away With Murder, and Scandal all exhibit beautiful examples of characters who are all different genders, have various sexual orientations, come from different class systems, and are all forms of race and color - yet, they overcome the struggles along the way and still become powerful and successful, and compassionate for those still on the long journey of finding their way.

Here are five reasons why we need Shonda now, more than ever:

1. SHE TEACHES US TO ACCEPT OUR FAILURES:

I've got news for you friend - we're all human, we all for short, we all make mistakes, but it doesn't mean that we are bad! I'll tell you in my experience when I'm falling short, it's usually just because I need a nap.

In Shonda's Commencement Speech that she gave at Dartmouth in 2014, she said:

[...]people are constantly asking me, how do you do it?

And usually, they have this sort of admiring and amazed tone.

Shonda, how do you do it all?

Like I'm full of magical magic and special wisdom-ness or something. [...]

The answer is this: I don't.

Whenever you see me somewhere succeeding in one area of my life, that almost certainly means I am failing in another area of my life.

If I am killing it on a Scandal script for work, I am probably missing bath and story time at home. If I am at home sewing my kids' Halloween costumes, I'm probably blowing off a rewrite I was supposed to turn in. If I am accepting a prestigious award, I am missing my baby's first swim lesson. If I am at my daughter's debut in her school musical, I am missing Sandra Oh's last scene ever being filmed at Grey's Anatomy. If I am succeeding at one, I am inevitably failing at the other. That is the tradeoff. That is the Faustian bargain one makes with the devil that comes with being a powerful working woman who is also a powerful mother. You never feel a hundred percent OK; you never get your sea legs; you are always a little nauseous. Something is always lost."

If Shonda can be ok with falling short, then so can I... and so can you.

2. SHE TEACHES US TO BE BRAVE:

I believe that her tv drama's that rule ABC on Thursday nights wouldn't be as successful as they are if they were less dramatic... if you're not one for dramatic cries in the elevator and the sound of gun shots at a clients home, then Shondaland isn't for you. (That's ok... we can still be friends, and bond over something else...)

If you are one of those people though, that doesn't mind some dramatic tv, you can learn from these characters that life can be overcome, you are strong and, no matter what you face you can can conquer it.

All of Shonda's characters have bravery stored up in their personas.

Meredith Grey: survived and overcame childhood trauma, abuse and neglect. She became a brilliant, talented, extraordinary surgeon. And when McDreamy died, she took all of her strength and continued on as a mother, a doctor and a survivor. (I love her).

Analyse Keating: Survived and overcame childhood poverty and rape. She became a brilliant and successful attorney after graduating from Harvard Law School. She, unlike Meredith Grey, was a woman of color and didn't have a mother who pushed her head against the glass ceiling before her. Analyse overcame these things all on her own, and became a very successful woman, who is very good at her job, and gets to fight for social justice everyday.

3. SHE ENCOURAGES US TO BE OURSELVES:

Quoting again from her speech at Dartmouth, Shonda re accounts how she became the woman she is. She said:

You know what I wanted to be? I wanted to be Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison. That was my dream. [...] And guess what? I couldn't be Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison, because Toni Morrison already had that job and she wasn't interested in giving it up.[...] At film school, I discovered an entirely new way of telling stories. A way that suited me. A way that brought me joy. A way that flipped this switch in my brain and changed the way I saw the world. Years later, I had dinner with Toni Morrison. All she wanted to talk about was Grey's Anatomy. That never would have happened if I hadn't stopped dreaming of becoming her and gotten busy becoming myself.

You never know what potential you have stored up inside of you. I'd be willing to bet a lot of money on the idea that everyone has something great inside of them. You just gotta try.

4. SHE OFFERS A WONDERFUL (AND DO-ABLE) SUGGESTION:

Find a cause you love. It's OK to pick just one. You are going to need to spend a lot of time out in the real world trying to figure out how to stop feeling like a lost loser, so one cause is good. Devote some time every week to it.

Shonda isn't oblivious to the scary things happening out in the world. Chances are, shes had to face some of these scary things, head on. She knows that there is no overcoming all the bad things - so she just tells us to pick one thing.

Focus on it.

Spend a little time working at it.

Trust me, this will make all the difference.

You might even surprise yourself.

And with all the organizations banning together for support and love right now, you're gonna have your top picks for which cause to support and serve.

5. SHE TEACHES US THE BEAUTY OF A WORKING WOMAN:

I'm all for motherhood. I was raised by a stay-at-home mom. When I say the following things, I'm not putting down the beauty of motherhood, or telling mom's that they need to go get a job today. When I say this, I mean -

Give women power. There is no need for a woman not to work, and make a place for herself in the world. I know there are many reading this that believe in equality. I believe in equality and so does Shonda, and I love her for saying:

I want my daughters to see me and know me as a woman who works. I want that example set for them. I like how proud they are when they come to my offices and know that they come to Shondaland. There is a land and it is named after their mother. In their world, mothers run companies. In their world, mothers own Thursday nights. In their world, mothers work. And I am a better mother for it. The woman I am because I get to run Shondaland, because I get write all day, because I get to spend my days making things up, that woman is a better person—and a better mother. Because that woman is happy. That woman is fulfilled. That woman is whole. I wouldn't want them to know the me who didn't get to do this all day long. I wouldn't want them to know the me who wasn't doing.

We are beautiful and we are strong and we are capable and working hard is a gift! We get to experience the joy of earning and building and organizing, and Shonda just leads the way!

You can read or watch Shonda's full Dartmouth Commencement Speech by clicking here.