Feminism, Women’s Stories: The Creative Process: Empowering Stories, Inspiring Women, Gender Equality, Women's Rights & Empowerment

"At that time, I didn't have words to describe what I was feeling and I felt very deviant for even questioning whether or not it was okay to have kids in the climate crisis. I didn't really see it reflected. I figured, Okay, this is probably me getting a little bit loopy here, and I ought to do something to bring more perspective into my line of view. And that started me on a research pr...

Britt Wray is the author of Generation Dread: Finding Purpose in an Age of Climate Crisis. She's a writer and broadcaster researching the emotional and psychological impacts of the climate crisis. Born and raised in Toronto, Canada, she is a post-doctoral fellow at Stanford University and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, where she investigates the mental health consequences of e...

"I think that for us who embody those spiritual relationships with our grandmothers, it's something that's cannot be explained, especially in English terms. But I come from a matriarchal society, and it's one of the only Indigenous communities that continues to follow a matriarchal society, which is different than matrilineal. It's like where women hold the hierarchies, where women also hold the p...

Dr. Jessica Hernandez (Binnizá & Maya Ch’orti’) is a transnational Indigenous scholar, scientist, and community advocate based in the Pacific Northwest. She has an interdisciplinary academic background ranging from marine sciences to environmental physics. She advocates for climate, energy, and environmental justice through her scientific and community work. Her book Fresh Banana Lea...

"So I'm Iraqi-Iranian-Jewish. So I remember growing up where the movie that felt most reflective of our family was My Big Fat Greek Wedding, which, it's Greek. They're not the same, but it was so close, talking about the lamb, and we have Nick, Nick, Nick, Nikki, and in my family, Shuly, Shuly, Shuly, Sol, and there was just... It felt like, Oh my God, this feels like my family seei...

Karina Manashil is the President of Mad Solar Productions. She began her career in the mailroom at WME (William Morris Endeavor) where she became a talent agent. She represented notable clients including Scott Mescudi, known by his stage name, Kid Cudi, and built her career taking talent into new arenas. In 2020, she partnered with Mescudi and Dennis Cummings to launch Mad Solar, which is backed b...

"When women [began wearing] masculine clothing, it suggested that those women could assert masculine privileges and masculine liberties because that's what that clothing suggested. It suggested that the women were not only refined, but also sober, practical, industrious - all of the things that women were denied in that context, and that made it a threat to the existing social order. And this is s...

Richard Thompson Ford is the George E. Osborne Professor of Law at Stanford Law School. His scholarship combines social criticism and legal analysis, and he writes for both popular readers and for academic and legal specialists. He's written for the Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, Christian Science Monitor, and other publications. He’s a regular contributor for Slate and has appeared on...

"I think that one of the things that it's very important is not to let anybody decide or limit what you want to be, what you want to study, the kind of career that you want to pursue, how you want to identify yourself. Nobody, no institution, no culture, no society should limit you in your ability to do so. And I think that we live in a world of choices, and choices are available, and information...

Aniela Unguresan is Co-founder of EDGE Certification, the leading global assessment methodology and business certification standard for gender equality. Launched at the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in 2011, EDGE Certification measures where organizations stand in terms of gender balance across their pipeline, pay equity, and effectiveness of policies and practices to ensure equitable...

"I was actually writing for a long time, but I really had my first big byline the year that I turned 50. I was still 49, but it was my 50th year. Part of it was also reclaiming my past. I was a housewife. I was a full-time mother. I was teaching a little bit, and I was looking back almost in disbelief at things that were in such stark contrast to the life I was living now. Thinking – Wow, I once w...

Marcia DeSanctis is a journalist, essayist, and author of A Hard Place to Leave: Stories from a Restless Life, 100 Places in France Every Woman Should Go, a New York Times travel bestseller. A contributor writer at Travel + Leisure, she also writes for Air Mail, Vogue, BBC Travel and many other publications. She has won five Lowell Thomas Awards from the Society of American Travel Writers and is t...

"I had mentors all along the way. To be quite honest, I wasn't even aware that I was ‘only a woman in a man's world’. It didn't even occur to me that there was a difference. My entire life, I liked the things that boys were interested in. People love to teach and I loved to absorb and learn. And so I was as excited by the signal path of a live PA system for a rock band as I was going on the road a...

Cynthia Daniels is a Grammy and Emmy award-winning producer, engineer and composer working extensively in film, television, and music. Her career has led her around the world, initially specializing in orchestral pop from Big Band Jazz to Broadway, and then crossing over into producing records for young and seasoned artists in the rock, country, and folk-rock world. She is owner and chief engineer...

"I went to undergrad for writing for screen and television at USC. I think I was one of very few women and very few people of color. I think in the program there were maybe 10%. I would write about things that had happened to me in my life, and there just was no interest at the time. That was 2006. Over time–how many years has it been? 15 years. It's only in the last three to five years that I hav...

Claudia Forestieri and Brigitte Muñoz-Liebowitz serve as the creator and showrunner of the Latin-focused comedy series for HBO Max, Gordita Chronicles, making them the first female Latinx showrunner and creator duo. The series is executive produced by Zoe Saldana and Eva Longoria. Inspired by Claudia’s own life experience, the show centers around a Latina reporter looking back...

“One thing that we should remember as young people is that everything allowed us is political by nature. We shouldn't be really scared of getting ourselves into different political aspects of issues around us. Be bold enough to speak out on the biggest challenges that are around you. And at the same time, it's in us to understand what kind of environment I am in? What is it that I can contribute t...

Memory Banda is a human and girls’ rights activist, and the founder and executive director of Foundation for Girls Leadership; a not-for-profit organization in Malawi working to advance and promote girl’s rights, their leadership and their active participation in driving positive change. Girls in Malawi are denied their rights to education, sexual reproductive health, and have fewer opportunities...

"What drew me to the time period of the 70s was the real story of these magazines  Playgirl, Viva, Foxy Lady,  all the magazines that existed in this period. So it was a natural outgrowth of trying to tell a story that was inspired by, to some extent, real-life events. When I started developing  Minx , what struck me about the 70s, in particular, is just how similar it was to our ti...

Ellen Rapoport is the creator, executive producer, and showrunner of the breakout hit comedy series, Minx , for HBO Max. The series, which aired on the platform on March 17, takes place in 1970s Los Angeles and follows the story of an earnest young feminist who joins forces with a low-rent publisher to create the first erotic magazine for women. In May, it was announced that the series was renewed...

Dolen Perkins-Valdez is the New York Times bestselling author of Wench , and Balm . She was a finalist for two NAACP Image Awards and the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award for fiction, and she was awarded the First Novelist Award by the Black Caucus of the American Library Association. She lives in Washington, DC with her family and teaches at American University. She discusses her latest novel Take My...

Dolen Perkins-Valdez is the New York Times bestselling author of Wench , and Balm . She was a finalist for two NAACP Image Awards and the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award for fiction, and she was awarded the First Novelist Award by the Black Caucus of the American Library Association. She lives in Washington, DC with her family and teaches at American University. She discusses her latest novel Take My...

"When are we all going to start to care about one another? Because all of our individual choices do have impacts. And I just think the demands that we place on this planet, on the ecosystems, are what are driving conflict and human suffering. In some cases, it's really the scarcity of resources, just like water. In others, it's the changing climate and the loss of fertile lands to be able to grow...

Photographer and filmmaker Ami Vitale shares her personal odyssey—from documenting the heartbreaking realities of war to witnessing the inspiring power of an individual to make a difference. Her award-winning work illuminates the unsung heroes and communities working to protect our wildlife and find harmony in our natural world. Hear her awe-inspiring stories of the reintroduction of northern whit...

"I am very concerned that the future seems to be consolidated among the 10 wealthiest, most powerful people in the world who are all white guys. And they're great. I know most of them personally. I have mad respect for them, but it's really concerning when a private individual can buy Twitter. It's very concerning when a billionaire can own one of the most important news organizations in the Unite...