Remembering Maria Shriver’s Women’s Conference at our Heart of Leadership Launch

Heart of Leadership launched our inaugural Speaker Series Panel yesterday!

We opened the evening sharing how and why Heart of Leadership was created.  In doing so, I went back to one of my initial clear moment of inspiration –  Maria Shriver’s 2010 Women’s Conference, a coming together of the trailblazers of our generation:

Photo Cred: David Moya

Photo Cred: David Moya

Oprah, Michelle Obama, Laura Bush, Eve Enzler, Supreme Court Justices Sandra Day O’Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Mary Oliver, and so many more.

I knew then that I wanted to see forums offered for young women to access the wisdom and knowledge of those who had come before them. As I sat in the audience at the Women’s Conference, and the name “Heart of Leadership” came to me.

After three years of meeting and collaborating with amazing women whose passions align in this cause; going back to school to learn how to create and serve a sustainable, values-centered business; and traveling North America (and internationally) speaking and working with teens, our programs launched last night.

Our brilliant HOL teammates, Erin Mobley, Ash Robinson, Alison Beck and Miki Armstrong (Kellee Wip, MaryCay Durrant, and Kathryn Vaughn with us in spirit), created an event that left people excited, inspired, and asking for more.  It’s one thing to hold a vision; another to see it impact people in the ways I was told it did by teen and parent participants alike.

Why does Heart of Leadership do what we do? We believe that wHOLehearted leaders can and will transform our world. Maria Shriver talks about this sense of wholeness on her blog this morning:

Seeing yourself and others clearly — the good and the bad, the dark and the light — allows you to see the truth around you. I see the good in me and in others.

I see the love in me and in others. I see the imperfection in me and in others and I look at it with compassion and understanding.

I now see that I have everything I need inside of me and so do each of you.

One of many brilliant statements from our panel last night came from Dr. Danny Friedland: It’s our self-doubt that unites us, and the ways we compensate for it that separates.  #wow

In other words, we are all whole – perfectly imperfect – and when we can see ourselves and one another with compassion and understanding for all of who we are, our greatest selves and our great relationships emerge. When we stop hiding and holding back, we thrive, and when we thrive, we inspire those around us to thrive with us.

I remember Maria Shriver calling her audience into action at her conference in 2010: “It’s time. Don’t wait until you are perfect to change the world.

Don’t wait until your perfect.  Start now.  Start today, friend!

 

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