Happy International Women's Day! Let's #breakthebias.
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From stages to virtual screens and from staff hires to board positions, let's do more to support every woman.
It’s International Women's Day, and today we recognize the cultural, political, and socioeconomic achievements of women around the world. To celebrate, we’re inviting you to join us—let’s #BreaktheBias. Will you call out gender bias, discrimination each time you see it? Will you resist stereotyping and, instead, see the individual? Will you stand firm as an ally to all women, calling on others to create inclusive spaces? Help us create a world where difference is celebrated. Help us shape a future where every woman's voice is valued and, instead of deemed threatening, combative or aggressive, seen as assertive, confident and necessary. We believe helping women thrive helps every person thrive.
Click the link below to check out all of our dynamic women speakers at Outspoken, and keep reading to learn more about a few of the leading voices we’re featuring today.
PAULA STONE WILLIAMS
BRINGING ALL WOMXN & MEN INTO GENDER EQUITY CONVERSATIONS
With TED talks seen by millions and a critically-acclaimed memoir detailing her transition journey, Paula Stone Williams sheds light on the gendered landscape that impacts both womxn and the LGBTQ+ community and offers her unique perspective on the universal struggle for acceptance and belonging.
Whether a corporate meeting, women's conference, company retreat or national gathering, Paula's unique perspective and story-telling skills delight every audience as she humbly and effectively advocates for gender equity, LGBTQ rights and appreciation for the differences among us.
READ: “What becoming a woman taught me about privilege,” CNN
JESSICA O. MATTHEWS
FORGING CHANGE IN COMMUNITIES FOR EQUITABLE FUTURES
For more than a decade, Jessica O. Matthews has dedicated her work and evolved her business to address the unique needs of individual communities around the world. Now focused on the future of smart cities, Jessica shows that women in tech have a unique perspective to lead and excel for a better and more equitable future for all.
Jessica’s research and career center around the intersection of disruptive technology, renewable energy, human behavior, and the psychology of self-actualization. A firm believer that innovation is shaped by struggle, Jessica uses her story to show people that look like her what's possible—inspiring audiences to seek out ways to contribute to both positive and sustainable economic development and personal growth.
WATCH: “Jessica O. Matthew Tries to Disrupt the Disrupters,” Politico
RUHA BENJAMIN
SHEDDING LIGHT ON INVISIBLE INEQUITIES AND BIAS IN ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
From everyday apps to complex algorithms, technology has the potential to hide, speed up, and even deepen discrimination, while appearing neutral and even benevolent when compared to racist practices of a previous era.
But Ruha Benjamin has forged a dominant career in educating tech users and tech companies about the many inequities that have plagued advancing technology and affected many in personally damaging ways (think facial recognition mistaken identities used in police profiling). New technologies give us a chance to start afresh, but Ruha encourages us to understand that it's up to people, not the machines, to remove bias.
READ: “Ruha Benjamin: ‘We definitely can’t wait for Silicon Valley to become more diverse,’” The Guardian
AMENA BROWN
CELEBRATING AND CENTERING THE VOICES OF WOMEN OF COLOR
A poetic partner for Tracee Ellis Ross's, PATTERN Beauty, Amena Brown speaks relatably to the experiences of women and empowers the voices of women of color to celebrate themselves, even when they feel unwelcome in many circles. Her bold and courageous poetry brings audiences into the trenches of the realities of womanhood and sisterhood.
From her grandmother’s stories of segregation in the south, Amena shares how she was taught not to let injustice win. Interweaving poetry, humor, and storytelling, Amena encourages audiences to fight against injustice, rediscover the magic in the creative process, and find inspiration in their own roots.
LISTEN: Amena Brown’s podcast, “Her”
NATALIA PETRZELA
UNDERSTANDING OUR HISTORY TO ENSURE A BETTER FUTURE
After the whirlwind success of her 2021 podcast release, Natalia Petrzela has proven she knows a thing or two about using historical facts to tell thought-provoking stories and true crime narratives. At the heart of her scholarly work lies a focus on feminism—whether subtle or direct to the story at hand. Natalia speaks to how the struggles for gender equality have reflected and reshaped politics, culture, and the workplace—both then and now.
She is a co-producer and the host of “WELCOME TO YOUR FANTASY,” a true crime podcast that has been named to top podcast lists including New York Times Best Podcasts of 2021, TIME, Vogue and Esquire and has instigated discussions of how the Chippendales and the women who watched them together forged new representations of gender, sexuality, and consumerism—and what those mean for us today.
LISTEN: Natalia Petrzela’s New York Times 2021 Best Podcast of the Year, “Welcome to Your Fantasy”
DENISE HAMILTON
GIVING WOMEN A SEAT AT THE TABLE AT ANY STAGE OF THEIR CAREERS
Denise Hamilton never shies away from a difficult conversation, which is why she's become a dominant voice in the pandemic-dominant audio app, Clubhouse, and coaches leadership groups and teams on the importance of inclusion within their organization. Her company, WatchHerWork.com, ensures women new, old and returning to work have thousands of videos as resources to ensure they're prepared for the ever-changing landscape of corporate America.
Denise believes that you shouldn’t have to have powerful friends to have powerful information. She is committed to making sure that the information needed for women to build a business, climb the corporate ladder, and get on boards is available to every woman and the men that support them.
WATCH: “How Women Can Advance Their Careers Working Remotely,” NBC News
Outspoken Agency is a women-owned speaking agency representing leaders, founders, public intellectuals, authors and entertainers for paid keynotes, workshops and panels at in-person and virtual events. Learn more about our female founders here.