TEDWomen 2016: It's About Time

I’ve never felt so empowered, so inspired, so hopeful for the future of gender and racial equality, and most importantly, so proud of and to be a woman. An amazing array of speakers dug into their souls, telling deeply personal stories of courage and perseverance in a world that was and is still not ready to recognize the incredible importance and capabilities of women in society.

This year’s theme revolved around time. It’s our most valuable and non-renewable asset. We all have the same amount of it, yet people choose to use it in vastly different ways. The undercurrent of every talk is that now is the time. The time to push hard for the values you believe in. Find your voice and use it to move the needle forward. If no one is giving you a seat at the table, pull up a folding chair and demand to be heard. 

The message was clear and resonated through each participant. These messages of courage, power, action and hope were exactly what I needed to hear. And exactly what I believe every man, woman and child needs to hear. Women can’t create an equal world by ourselves. Men are part of this journey too and need to step up and demand that it happen.  

The 2 days spent at TEDWomen was an extremely moving experience for me. I encourage everyone to watch the videos as they come out on TED's website and to attend a TEDWomen's event if they can.