#SheIsEqual -- A Promising View of Tomorrow

The irony of the phrase SheIsEqual weighed heavily at the event39s outsetamp160 It was only hours prior that an allmale Republican Judiciary Committee illuminated the lasting impact of genderbased trauma even as their concern over public perception lead them to hide behind in the words of Mitch McConnell a quotfemale assistantquotamp160Arizona prosecutor Rachel Mitchellamp160 Ford was not the only one reliving this trauma the National Sexual Assault Hotline saw a 201 surge in calls after her testimonyamp160The hearing was fresh in memory yet within minutes the summit39s inspiring purpose took holdamp160 A variety of speakers and genderequalitybased initiatives delivered muchneeded hope to the attendeesamp160 Here are some of the empowering messages from the SheIsEqual SummitUse Your Voice to Affect ChangeAs Hugh Evans Founder and CEO of Global Citizen and Carolyn Tastad Group President of PampampG North America took the stage Tastad shared the alliance39s mission which is to quotuse our ad voice to tackle bias spark conversations and motivate changequotChief Brand Officer of PampampGamp160Marc Pritchard who will be inducted into the Advancing Diversity Hall of Honors on January 9 at CES along with fellow SheIsEqual Summit speakers Madonna Badger and Alma Har39el spoke about the SeeHer initiative amp160quotWe brought together more than 75 companies many of which are competitors to promote accurate positive portrayals of women in advertising media and entertainmentquot he saidamp160 quotWe need to be the change to make a differencequotPritchard then flipped the switch interviewing Katie Couric about her partnership with PampampG to create and support smart thoughtful empowering contentamp160developed by women to suit a variety of formats and platformsamp160 Katie Couric Media is founded on the principle that content powered by women is importantamp160 quotWe need more diversityamp160in our stories in our representation in governmentquot said Couric pictured at top with PritchardCouric touched on Anita Hill and the Clarence Thomas hearingamp160some 27 years ago and how the Kavanaugh hearing quotunderscored how little progress we39ve made with regard to sexual assaultquotamp160 When Pritchard asked if she had one word of advice for the audience Couric said quotVote Get off your butt and get involvedquotThe Power of Creativity to Influence Our World View Philip Thomas President of Ascential Events and Chairman of the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity addressed how marketing and advertising dwarfs the influence of TV and filmamp160 quotCreativity can drive business and can make a change in the worldquot he saidThomas was joined on stage by Madonna Badger Chief Creative Officer and Founder of Badger ampamp Wintersamp160 Badger declared one of the highlights of her career was the moment she realized the quotpower of creativity to illuminate problems bring to life solutionsamp160and advocate for women to be whole human beingsamp160 And strongquotamp160 Her subsequent work on campaigns such as WomenNotObjects and Olay39s FaceAnything does just thatAlma Har39el Director and Founder of FreeTheBid spoke with Director Viridiana Pamp233rez and Connie Limamp160pictured below better known as musician and producer Milck about how the industry systematically keeps women out of the creative processamp160 With FreeTheBid Har39el encourages agencies to represent at least one female voice during the bidding process and used the occasion to announce she was now adding composers to the database of female directorsamp160 For Har39el having women behind the camera is important because quotthe female gaze has the potential to change the worldamp160 Little boys need to see themselves through the eyes of womenquotRepresentation andamp160Diverse Voices MatterActress producer and entrepreneur Reese Witherspoon pictured below admitted that when she was young she wanted to be the first female President of the United Statesamp160 quotWe tell girls they can be anything they want to be but do we believe itquot she askedamp160amp160Witherspoon launched her media company Hello Sunshine which shares stories about and created by women out of frustrationamp160 Upon receiving yet another bad script with a onedimensional female character she realized quotThis isn39t good enough for me or my very talented female counterpartsamp160 I want to tell stories with the world I walk through every day being reflected on the screenamp160 Storytelling is changing because we39re changing the storytellersquotWomen and Social Media Can Change the WorldWhile much has been written about the use of mis and disinformation around the 2016 presidential election in particular Witherspoon spoke of the positive influence of social media and the gamechanging impact of streamingamp160 quotSocial media and the emergence of streaming changed everythingquot she saidamp160 quotWe know what the audience really wants and with the use of dataamp160it has helped us create more diversity in storytellingquotModel and advocate Jillian Mercado pictured below echoed this sentiment about democratization of voice through social media and its ability to create positive change in the worldamp160 Diagnosed with spastic muscular dystrophy Mercado is a wheelchair user who has been featured in ads for Diesel Jeans Target Nordstrom and Olayamp160 Represented by IMG Mercado landed her first gig with Diesel after they asked her why she should be chosenamp160and she responded quotBecause I want to change the worldquotamp160 That did itquotBeing a woman you get tested everywherequot Mercado saidamp160 quotBut life is really beautiful and individually we should share storiesamp160 Explore life to the fullestamp160 Talk about the things you want to see changed in the worldamp160 With social media it39s a great time to be alivequotOne thing Dr Ford39s testimony and the SheIsEqual Summit reinforced is the power of using your voiceamp160 SheIsEqualamp160 By continuing to speak out and use our voices together she we will beamp160 TomorrowClick the social buttons above or below to share this story with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

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#SheIsEqual -- A Promising View of Tomorrow

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Karla Chrzanowski

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#SheIsEqual -- A Promising View of Tomorrow

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