Her silence was heard around the world.

Immediately following the infamous June 27, 2024 presidential debate between Democratic candidate Joe Biden and Republican candidate Donald Trump, the expectation was First Lady Jill Biden would publicly express her concern for her husband’s verbal stumbling, confusion and apparent incapacity.

But she only told her husband her thoughts privately and stayed mum publicly. When he waked off the Atlanta stage after the failed debate, he whispered to Jill, “I really f—cked up, didn’t I, Jill?”

Jill Biden, now 75, says she responded to him, “Yes, you did, Joe.”

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 You can trust a handful of people in your life—maybe—and they might include your mom, sister, best friend, college roommate, partner. Add Minda Harts to that special list. Trust me on that one.

Award-winning, best-selling author, consultant, filmmaker, global trust keynote speaker, equity specialist and workplace communications expert Harts is building trust everywhere she goes with her latest book, Talk To Me Nice: The Seven Trust Languages For A Better Workplace.

 She will be sharing her trustworthy insight as a speaker at Take The Lead’s Power Up Conference 2026 August 26 in Washington, D.C.

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“We are carrying the baton of history,” says Kelsey Nicole Nelson, award-winning sports journalist, branding specialist, college instructor, entrepreneur, role model, activist, nationally renowned speaker and host of Take The Lead’s Power Up Conference on Women’s Equality Day, August 26. 

“I’ve always felt the role of journalist is to tell the story,” says Nelson, who recently founded her branding and communications firm, Kryptiann, where she is founder and CEO. She was awarded 2025 Young Entrepreneur of the Year by the DC Chamber of Commerce.

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The future is literally female.

Women are the majority of workers in what a new report from The 75 Million defines as the top 10 occupations in the U.S. through 2034.

Healthcare workers and software developers –affected enormously by the advancement of AI-- are the two most needed sector of employees, with dramatic ranges of gender and pay disparities in those arenas as well as all 10.

Take The Lead’s Power Up Conference 2026 on Women’s Equality Day, August 26, features experts and leaders directly addressing the latest trends and shifts including those in women’s healthcare as well as how women are using AI as a strategy to problem solve and adapt to an evolving workforce.

Learn more about Power Up Conference here.

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The necessity of claiming truth and the courage to speak out and act is what corrects history and shapes the present and future.

Kimberle Williams Crenshaw proudly proclaims that she comes from a long line of backtalkers. These are women who refuse to not speak up, out and against injustice and discrimination carried out by people and systems that need to change.

The bestselling Black author, lawyer, feminist, activist, professor of law at the University of California and Columbia Law School, as well as co-founder and executive director of the African American Policy Forum, told a crowd recently at the Chicago Humanities Festival, that speaking and writing truth is her right, her power and her calling.

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“Every human being has a compelling story to tell.”

Padma Lakshmi, 55, international best-selling author, Emmy-award nominated host of “Top Chef” and creator of the James Beard-award winning show, “Taste The Nation,” told the audience at the recent Chicago Humanities festival, “For many of us, we don’t see our story told. Unearthing true stories is all we can do.”

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It’s not about who is wearing what, the state of media or the future of retail. It is about gender and power, and the different ways to use and misuse it.

Raking in $233 million internationally in its first opening weekend, and the No. 1 movie globally, “The Devil Wears Prada 2” is a movie by women, for women, starring women and diving into how women treat each other on their career rises and falls with men mostly making the final decisions on careers. All of this at a time that is treacherous for the current economy as AI reshapes how  every job is performed.

And the women are watching.  

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