Natalia Mehlman Petrzela

Fewer than a third of Americans get the recommended amount of daily exercise, despite our life being awash in pressures to do so, from insistently buzzing wearables to workplace run clubs to ubiquitous athleisure and a steady stream of media scolding about the health dangers of sedentariness. How did we get here, to a moment when there’s never been more pressure to work out—and in many ways, more options to do so—and yet as a nation, we remain so collectively unfit? Even more importantly, how do we move forward to create a more inclusive fitness culture?

In this talk drawing on her academic research on fitness culture, her experience working in the commercial wellness industry, and as a community health advocate, Natalia vividly explains how the efforts of policymakers, entrepreneurs, and everyday people transformed attitudes about exercise to become embraced as not only crucial to bodily health but to overall wellness. Natalia also traces how fitness participation has become yet another marker of inequality. Yet it doesn’t have to be this way. Drawing on lessons from both past and present innovations in how we understand–-and enable access to–-fitness and exercise, Natalia shares with us how we can ensure a world in which more people have opportunities for movement, on their own terms.

The idea that American women "can have it all" has gained power across the political spectrum in recent years, but a strong sense persists in American culture that feminism—the fight for equal rights for women—undermines families and, therefore, bedrock American values. Yet history proves otherwise: women and men who have organized under the banner of feminism have for nearly two centuries fought to strengthen families and their rights, not undermine them. In this talk, Natalia charts the history of feminism in the United States, and how the struggles for gender equality have reflected and reshaped politics, culture, and the workplace—and still do today. In parsing how feminists have been defined—by allies and enemies—Natalia gives insights into how the feminist movement has rallied to support women at home, at work, and in the world, and in the process transformed our understanding of equality and difference.

Politics were once off limits for brands, who went all out to avoid courting controversy and alienating customers. But today, brands are “getting political” more unapologetically than ever—on purpose. Why is this happening now? How meaningful is this shift, in terms of external messaging and internal practice? Why are some causes more appealing than others? What is the future of this movement to sell not only merchandise, but social change?

Drawing on her expertise on the history of American political culture, Natalia explains how our generation is far from the first to experiment with “cool” or “socially conscious” capitalism—and in doing so, to inspire new conversations about consumer habits, the identity surrounding the brands we buy, and the ethics driving them. Unaware of this fascinating past, brands today often hastily jump on the bandwagon of social justice celebration, muddling their messaging and missing the mark, whether with Juneteenth branded ice cream and Lost Cause hiking gear, or hollow statements of empowerment, from publicly celebrating women athletes in advertising while cutting the contracts of pregnant women to doing nothing more to fight racism than posting a black square on social media. Natalia explores with audiences the many aspects of corporate activism and whether authenticity is possible—now, or ever.

Why is it that, in 2022, our educational system is still defined by social, economic, and cultural divides? How far have we actually come since legalized segregation, sink-or-swim language policies, and the stigmatization of marginalized children and their families? Who has the right to determine what education looks like? These pressing current struggles are rooted in our past, and understanding how American educators and policymakers have reshaped our schools to serve a rapidly growing and diversifying student body over the past century illuminates how we engage in the present and shape our future in powerful, new ways. 

As the coronavirus pandemic and a new chapter of the culture wars have deepened educational inequality and created new disparities, it is crucial to look to our past to understand how schools can redress these trends rather than perpetuate them. In this talk, Natalia examines our country's past and present to illuminate how schools have often been the primary institutions tasked with addressing America's most profound political, cultural, and demographic transformations. In a volatile political moment in which questions of educational equity, justice, and fairness are paramount, we must reckon with our past and its legacies as we forge a way forward for our nation's youngest citizens.