“Step out of the history that is holding you back. Step into the new story you are willing to create.” - Oprah Winfrey
“What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.” - Jane Goodall
Today marks the first anniversary of the powerful movement responding to the Electoral College vote enabling a known misogynist and abuser to assume the highest office in our nation.
Last year it was my honor to march with Elizabeth, her mother, our nieces, my sister, and millions of other women (and like minded men) around the globe to demonstrate the power of women to bring about change and new ways of thinking and being in the world.
Over the course of the last year we have seen women here and around the world take up the call of MILCK and AG. They have not kept quiet. Their voices have changed workplaces, convinced legislators of the dangers of violence, called out and condemned racism and xenophobia, brought down abusers and rapists from their perches of control and influence by speaking truth to power.
I believe women’s powerful voices and minds are our only path to a future where respect, openness, empathy, compassion, and wisdom will be the expectation for leaders rather than the aspiration. Women have an appreciation for the complexity of the challenges we face as they have lived lives being un-heard, ignored, minimized and marginalized and will not stand for it any longer. 2018 is not the “year of the woman” it must be the first year in the next millennium for women.
“Some power is vast — it shapes countries and economies and affects millions of lives. But there’s an arguably equal power that’s quieter. It’s in every one of us, and we can use it in big and small ways, every day. It’s the power of compassion to protect the dignity of those in need. The ability to make someone laugh, and to find opportunity in challenges — the drive to take an idea and turn it into a new business. That’s power, too.”
Eileen Fisher
