Issue 2896 -August 31, 2026

[Note: Many of you asked for a copy of the speech I gave at Take The Lead’s Power Up Conference on Women’s Equality Day, August 26.  So I am sharing it with you here. Let me know what it means to you.]

I became obsessed with women’s relationship with power when I realized how often I gave mine away.

I know…you look at me and think, “She’s powerful.” You just heard a litany of my accomplishments. And don’t get me wrong.  I’m exceedingly grateful to have been able to make my life’s passion into my life’s work.

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Issue 2895 -August 17, 2026

Drum roll 🥁! By popular demand, we have added a virtual option to the Power Up Conference.
Don’t get me wrong: I really, really want you to come to the Power Up Conference in Washington, DC if you possibly can. There is nothing quite like being in the room with hundreds of women and men whose energy is all about gender equality and advancing women’s leadership.
Seeing and hearing Margaret Atwood in person, one of the greatest writers of our time and the author of The Handmaid’s Tale and The Testaments, among dozens of other best-selling books, is a rare opportunity. The Power Tool champions and the rest of the program’s 40+ speakers are equally powerful on the very topics you need for your life and career.

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Issue 2894 -August 10, 2026

The headline in The New Republic reads “Terrible July Jobs Numbers Only Hurt Women.  And the number of women who have left the workforce since January is more than double the number of men.”

You’ve probably heard it said that the numbers don’t lie.

But it’s also said that there are lies, damn lies, and statistics.

I thought about Dr. Avis Jones De-Weever, profiled in The Movement blog this week. I have long admired her “Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead” mindset about advancing women’s careers. I can’t wait to hear speak at Take The Lead’s Power Up Conference August 26.

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Issue 2893 -August 3, 2026

You know that voice. Deep. Smoky. Unmistakable.

So when I asked my friend Kathleen Turner to be the Voice of the Goddess for Take The Lead's Power Up Conference, I expected a quick yes.

Instead, silence.

Then: "Do you know I'm playing God right now?"

She sounded a little unnerved. I was too. This is the woman who went from smoldering as Matty in Body Heat to mousy Joan in Romancing the Stone to the gleefully murderous Beverly Sutphin in Serial Mom to Chandler's dad-turned-mom on Friends — and who will soon play Gertrude Stein.

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Issue 2892 -July 13, 2026

Didn’t the great poet Maya Angelou warn us, “When someone tells you who they are, believe them the first time?”

His excuses for having the Nazi symbol tattoo on his chest should have been enough to tell the politicians and political consultants who were enamored of his seeming “manly man” in a politically progressive persona that serious flashing yellow lights were likely to tank his ambitions.   

As you probably guessed, I am talking about Graham Platner, whose candidacy for U.S. Senator from Maine fell from its meteoric rise to its ignominious fall. His 11-minute video is full of excuses for the demise of his campaign, including the growing number of incidents of sexual misconduct for which he has been accused by multiple women.   

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Issue 2891 -July 3, 2026

Tonight, approximately 1,000 people are walking into Madison Square Garden for what is being called the American royal wedding. Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce are getting married. In New York City. On the Fourth of July weekend. Because why not now and why not there?

I wasn't invited. You probably weren't either. But I've been thinking about Taylor Swift for over a decade now, and tonight feels like a moment worth marking — not just for the celebrity spectacle of it, but for what this woman's arc actually means.

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Issue 2890 -June 29, 2026

In 2006, I happened to be in Italy when they won the soccer World Cup. I thought I was going to lose my life as the streets filled with revelers wildly hooting and hollering and hugging anyone in sight. That experience helped prepare me for the current World Cup fever.

Because we all love an underdog-to-victory story, tiny Cape Verde has captured more than its share of attention, mine included.

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Issue 2889 -June 22, 2026

I’d wanted to go to Greece for years.

So when my friend Jamia Wilson invited me to a writer’s retreat she was co-facilitating with Narrative Healing founder Lisa Weinert on the beautiful island of Kythera, I enthusiastically signed up.

Kythera is famous for its beaches and mountains, its honey and curative herbs—and as the birthplace of Aphrodite, the goddess of love, desire, and beauty.

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Issue 2888— June 16, 2026 ‍

I’m not much of a sports fan.  

My family would say I barely endure the sports obsession some of them have. While they hoot and holler, I’m reading my book. 

But I watched this interview clip of NY Knick’s’ Jalen Brunson over and over. 

What I see in him is something that can’t be taught as a skill set. But it can be nurtured as a mindset. 

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Issue 2887— June 1, 2026 ‍

In the run up to Take The Lead’s Power Up Conference, I’ve been doing a number of media interviews.

Conference participants often remark how much they appreciate the diversity of our conference attendees. Age across multiple generations is one of those aspects of diversity we often don’t talk about.

Yet we have so much to learn from each other across the generations. In fact, one young woman who plans to come to the conference said just that to me recently when I demurred that one of my ideas might not resonate with her generation.

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Issue 2886— May 26, 2026 ‍

Novelist Jane Smiley observed that pregnancy is the most public of private conditions.

Smiley captures the paradox of the maternal experience. While the physical, emotional, and psychological journey of gestation is intensely intimate and internal, a pregnant woman's body inherently becomes the subject of public observation, societal commentary, workplace policy, and political debate.

Today, that public condition is more often observed about women who are not pregnant or child rearing.

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Issue 2885— May 19, 2026 ‍

Say it, Emma Grede 🔥.

I love your book, Start With Yourself. Love the title, the concepts in it for the most part, your brash and decisive way.

[Catch up on my thoughts about Emma and the book if you have a mind to, before you plunge into this conversation with myself. The two prequels to this post are here and here.]  

Or feel free to start here, with yourself, as Emma would advise and as I am doing.

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