When Patti Smith accepted her medal last Thursday night she talked about two personal moments in which Katharine Hepburn touched her life. The first was when she, as a young girl, first read Little Women and was introduced to Joe March; Smith described feeling so connected to that character, a boyish and headstrong young woman, a writer. She then described waiting on Katharine Hepburn in New York working in a book store; it was after Spencer Tracy had passed, but Katharine Hepburn would touch some of the books and say, “Spencer would have liked that.” Later, when Smith’s husband died, she remembered that moment and felt better about her own desire to still shop for her husband.

Those descriptions of how Katharine Hepburn helped Patti Smith through two major parts of her life—her difficult adolescence and a large loss—made me think about those people or figures who, just by being themselves, allow us to be ourselves as well. And Robert Mapplethorpe is also a person, as we’ve seen throughout the memoir, who allowed her to become the person she wanted to be, to become her most authentic self.

And, in turn, Patti Smith has become that person for musicians, artists, writers, and even Mawrters. Before accepting this blogging position, Patti Smith felt vague and far way. I was a fan, obviously, but as I read through Just Kids and then processed that reading through various blog posts, her image became sharper and more defined in my head. Then I got to meet her, like really meet her, and she not only lived up to that image, but felt even stronger and even more genuine.

In a very important time in my life, only a few months before I graduate from college, I met a person who told me to go after and work for what I wanted; I met a person who validated my desire to write and create, to perform even if I only know four chords on the guitar; I met a person who reminded me to love the people in my life fully and that there are teachers, collaborators and supporters in surprising and unique places. And, in that way, Patti Smith has pushed me to become my most authentic self as well.