Issue 261— June 10, 2024
I have exciting news today. Have you been inspired as I have been by the Wonder Woman character?
Then you will be thrilled to know that Lynda Carter, whose iconic role as Wonder Woman exemplifies female strength and the use of power for good will receive the Leading Woman Award at Take The Lead’s annual Power Up Concert and Conference.
Read MoreIssue 260— May 27, 2024
The weather app said rain would start at 3pm. I met Camille Jalandoni and Justyna Kedra, founders of WeRule for a walk in Central Park at 12:30 thinking I’d be home well before the downpour. I’m a big fan of walking meetings, and we had a purpose for this one: to talk about partnering to make the new WeRule mentoring app available to Take The Lead participants.
Read MoreIssue 257 — April 22, 2024
I’m listening to Taylor Swift’s new album, The Tortured Poets Department, looking for inspiration for my more-or-less weekly column, “The Sum.” As in the sum of the week, what it means or what I learned about my favorite topics — women, power, and leadership — from whatever happened during the past week.
The last couple of weeks for me were all Beyonce all the time with the release and immediate race to the top of the C&W charts of her album Cowboy Carter. (How many versions of dancing to “Texas Hold ‘Em” have you seen on social media so far? I’m obsessed.)
Read MoreIssue 256 — April 8, 2024
Women who fear they are losing hard won rights and leadership opportunities often ask me what to do about a world in which they see their daughters having fewer voting rights, equal rights, and reproductive rights than they have had.
So when I spoke on April 3, 2024 to the San Antonio 100, I tackled that question by starting with lessons from our history, inspiration that comes from knowing their power, and challenged them to make five power moves to shape the future they want.
Read MoreIssue 254 — March 18, 2024
I absolutely love Women’s History Month. I love it as an opportunity to write into the generally known history the many women who have been overlooked or under-recognized for their accomplishments.
And increasingly, I focus on tomorrow’s history that we each make by our actions today.
Know your history and you can create the future of your choice.
Read MoreIssue 254 — March 3, 2024
How many clip art flowers and pink figures, celebratory Women’s History Month posts have you seen already this March — and we’re just a few days into it? Somehow it seems that many people have forgotten (if they ever knew) that women needed this special month, just as February was Black History Month for the same reason — because the narratives of history have not been written with our lens, and often our accomplishments have been downright ignored — or stolen.
Read MoreIssue 253 — February 26, 2024
The late bombastic New York mayor, Ed Koch, was famous for going around the city asking, “How am I doing?”
So as Take The Lead kicks off its 10th anniversary year, exactly 10 years after its first big public launch event at Arizona State University’s Gammage Auditorium, we’re asking you, “How are we doing?”
Read MoreIssue 252 — February 11, 2024
Last weekend, I went to see the movie I think should win Academy Awards in every category: Ava DuVernay’s rendition of Pulitzer Prize-winning author Isabel Wilkerson’s Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents.
After writing last week about the discovery of the 3.2 million year old hominid fossil Lucy in Hadar, Ethiopia 50 years ago by paleoanthropologist and founder of the Institute of Human Origins Donald Johanson, I wanted to explore further the question of why we humans are the way we are.
Read MoreIssue 251 — February 5, 2024
What is more fascinating to us humans than ourselves?
Don’t we check how we look when we pass a mirror? Didn’t we invent psychology, sociology, and anthropology because we are obsessed with understanding who we are and why we behave as we do? Don’t we love seeing our names mentioned, or being tagged on Instagram? Come on, admit it.
Read MoreIssue 250— January 15, 2024
Re-print: Originally Published January 21, 2019
“We may have all come on different ships, but we’re in the same boat now.” — Martin Luther King, Jr.
The two movements that have shaped my life converged this long weekend.
Read MoreIssue 249— January 1, 2024
I loved this question posed on social media by Sophia Yen, a longtime friend and the founder of Pandia Health. She asked us to “Brag to me about one thing you did in 2023.”
Take a minute and think about your answer.
Read MoreIssue 248 — December 18, 2023
Oftentimes well-meaning men ask me how they can help women to advance in their careers.
I answer, “Listen. Just listen.”
Now comes a breathtaking example of what can happen when men don’t listen to women:
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