Sometimes your heroes are small and the lessons of their legacy unimaginably enormous.

Margaret Atwood, 86, iconic author and truthteller, told a grateful audience at Take The Lead’s  Power Up Conference 2026 on Women’s Equality Day recently in Washington, D.C., that she has always used the tools at her disposal to demonstrate power and utility—including the truth.

Growing up spring, summer and fall in the backwoods of remote, northern Quebec, with her parents, a brother and sister, Atwood said she did not attend school until she was 12.

“I’ve got three chainsaws—big, medium size and a circular saw. You learn to use tools and you learn that girls can really do just about anything,” she said in an onstage conversation with Gloria Feldt, co-founder and president of Take The Lead.

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She was the F word.

Gloria Steinem embodied, embraced and shared the mission of feminism globally for millions of women in many generations around the world who --because of her influence--knew they could become whom they wanted to be.

The co-founder of Ms. Magazine and the Women's Action Alliance, passed this week at 92 years old. The author of nine books, she touched the lives of women and girls with hope, optimism, determination, support and a new definition of what it means to be female. First, second, third, fourth wave and post-feminists owe her immense gratitude.

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There was certainly no power outage in this room. It was a power surge.

As Take The Lead’s Power Up Conference kicked off in Washington, D.C. on Women’s Equality Day, each of the hundreds of participants in person at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel and virtually were plugged into the contagious, vibrant sense of opportunity for leadership and change.

“We are creating this audacious movement in a manner of celebrating and moving towards women’s pay equity,” said Lily McNair, board chair of Take The Lead. “Let’s connect our intentions and audacity to create and bring the energy, voices and power from around the world.”

Read more on keynote Margaret Atwood, panelists, breakouts and award winners in upcoming blog posts.

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“Audacity is a bold action that challenges the status quo,” said Aly Palmer, award-winning singer, songwriter, producer, performer, artist, activist, philanthropist and founder known for her work as a musician with the band BETTY.

In her welcome remarks at Take The Lead’s Power Up Dinner and Concert at The Square in Washington, D.C., on the eve of the all-day Power Up Conference, Palmer added, “Thank you for bringing your audacious and foxy power.”

Read more in Take The Lead in upcoming blog posts on the panels, breakouts and learnings from Day 2 of the Power Up Conference 2026.

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The impressive agenda for this year’s Take The Lead Power Up Conference, “Audacity: Leadership in Action” from in Washington, D.C. is filled with unique opportunities that can alter your leadership path whether you participate in person or virtually.

The conference on Women’s Equality Day, August 26, now in its sixth year, features 46 esteemed speakers across industries of finance, health, AI, entrepreneurship, caretaking, public leadership and workplace issues. It’s where you learn more and leave with a plan. It’s called Power Up because it is where you learn how to use the power you already have.

Read more in Take The Lead about Power Up 2026

These 13 carefully curated sessions include three moderated breakouts: Build Powerful Circles of Collaboration That Propel Your Career and Business; Authentic Leadership: Finding Your Voice Through Inner Development; and Making Connections.

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 In his line of work as Executive Director of The Kinsey Institute, and author of the new book, The Intimate Animal: The Science of Sex, Fidelity and Why We Love and Die For Love, Justin Garcia PhD, fields a lot of inappropriate, embarrassing questions at cocktail parties and events. He politely declines, saying he is a private person.

But what the award-winning researcher in evolutionary biology, psychology, neuroscience, anthropology, social science and human behavior at the world’s leading sexuality and relationship research center, does appreciate are other kinds of inquiries.

“The part I do think is an honor is when people come up to me with questions, wanting to know if they are normal. I realize they don’t know who else to ask,” says Garcia, 41, a married father of 11-month-old son, Nicholas, and Founding Co-Director of Human Sexuality and Health at the Indiana University School of Medicine who is speaking at this year’s Power Up Conference.

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“I am a fighter and if there ever was a time to fight, now is the time. And I know we will move forward to protect ourselves, our children and our communities in order to love this country and have it be the way it needs to be,” says Avis Jones-DeWeever, PhD,  Principal and Founder of Nouveaux Strategies.

A speaker at Power Up Conference 2026, Audacity: Leadership in Action, in Washington, D.C., August 26 on the panel, “Invest in Herself: Women, Money & Long-Term Success,” Jones-DeWeever previously served as the youngest ever Executive Director of the National Council of Negro Women.

What Jones-DeWeever, who launched her firm in 2025, says she plans to offer at the conference are her decades of experience in policy, social justice and strategic communications internationally at a divisive and disrupted period in American history.

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