It isn’t any secret that I’m an advocate for women’s leadership. I’m a meritocrat by nature — believing the best should be allowed to rise. Half of the world’s population comprises a lot of talent. I believe in leveling the field of opportunity for all genders and ethnicities both within Hollywood and media and beyond.
This value system is pretty much a given within TheWrap, where we embrace female leadership and make it our business to think about balance in our newsroom and every other department too.
When we decided a couple of years ago that we did not have enough women photographers shooting for our magazines, our creative director, Ada Guerin, went out and found some of the best young shooters who bring their unique perspectives to the work. We recruited female talent for our edit desk too, as one headline is not like another.
But beyond our media domain there is something broad and deep underway in this country when it comes to women owning their voices and their power. An electric current of action has caught fire in the wake of the loss of Hillary Clinton as our first female president and the election instead of an old-guard populist whose antiquated attitudes toward women (except when it comes to opening car doors for his wife) would be bad enough if it weren’t for all the claims of abuse and the shocking vulgarity caught on tape.
The thrilling moment when millions of women and many men marched throughout the country on the day after Donald Trump was inaugurated has reverberated through our society.
We aim to grab that energy and channel it into something concrete with the BE Conference. We have gathered 200 top millennial women — entrepreneurs, influencers, innovators — to learn from and be mentored by an incredible array of accomplished leaders across media, technology, science, marketing, entertainment, finance and beyond.
Many of those leaders have been part of our Power Women series, which for seven years has been bringing together women of achievement for breakfast in four major cities to connect and nourish one another, to hear inspirational conversations from women from Helen Mirren to Lena Dunham to Nancy Pelosi.
The next stage with BE is to provide guidance to young women already pursuing their own paths to success. The aim is to grow this seed event across the country, and over time build a powerful network of support connected through mentoring, reverse mentoring — a virtuous circle of empowerment and achievement.
But let’s not overthink it. For the moment, just bringing together a group of like-minded, incredible women who are embracing the world with their talent and ideas is enough. I am incredibly excited to see what happens when we put that energy together, and together let’s see where it leads.
Please join us, you’ll see video coverage on TheWrap site and all our related channels — let us know your thoughts.