“Women Amplified offers two decades of inspiration from many of the most respected women leaders of our time."
The soon-to-be-released Women Amplified: 20 Years of Insights from Trailblazing Leaders from the Stage of the Texas Conference for Women dispenses twenty years of wisdom, humor, and inspiration from CEOs, A-list actors, athletes, and more in celebration of the twentieth anniversary of the Texas Conference for Women.
In Women Amplified, a litany of household names offers guidance on work-life balance, leadership, inclusion, and the importance of women supporting each other. Those quoted include author Brené Brown, human rights attorney Amal Clooney, Academy Award winner Viola Davis, global philanthropist Melinda Gates, professor and attorney Anita Hill, Facebook executive Sheryl Sandberg, and entrepreneur Martha Stewart.
Through speakers’ own words and an introduction by writer Lisa Bennett, Women Amplified, published by the Austin-based Greenleaf Book Group, offers a unique portrait of progress for women over the past twenty years and how much work still must be done.
“For those of us who’ve made it through the glass ceiling, let’s worry less about that now, and more about dropping ladders down for the women who come behind us,” Pat Mitchell, who was the first woman president of PBS and CNN Productions, says in the book.
Jessica Herrin, CEO and founder of the Stella & Dot Family Brands, advised women to forge their own paths. “Every day, you can wake up in the morning and make a choice—to live a more bold and joyful life. It is a choice. You have to choose to ignore the naysayers, to pursue a passion, to be daring, to be different, to be kind, to be open to what the universe has to give you. You have to choose to be fearlessly resilient,” Herrin said.
The book is available for pre-order on Amazon and will be released widely on October 29. Women Amplified also will be distributed at the twentieth annual Texas Conference for Women main event at the Austin Convention Center on October 24, thanks to support from presenting sponsor Liberty Mutual. The conference—now part of the nation’s largest network of women’s conferences—began in 2000 with 2,800 attendees and has grown to a sold-out crowd this year of 7,500.
This year’s anniversary event will feature soccer superstar Megan Rapinoe, best-selling author Elizabeth Gilbert, and award-winning actress Tracee Ellis Ross among the keynote speakers.
Although the 2019 Texas Conference for Women’s main day is sold out, opportunities to participate still are available. Tickets can be purchased at www.TXconferenceforwomen.org for the inaugural opening night on October 23 featuring author Elizabeth Gilbert, and for access to a livestream of keynote speakers and select breakout sessions on Thursday, October 24.
“Women Amplified offers two decades of inspiration from many of the most respected women leaders of our time. It lets readers everywhere share in the insights from the stage of the Texas Conference for Women,” said Laurie Dalton White, who founded the Texas Conference for Women and three other sister conferences around the country. “We are extremely gratified to be able to look back at all of the remarkable women who have graced our stage and look forward to continuing our work for gender equality.”
Excerpts from Women Amplified:
“In the last few years, journalists keep asking me about passing the torch to younger women. I’m not dead yet. I have absolutely no intention of passing my torch. The embalmer will have to break it from my clutch. But I’m willing to light as many young women’s torches as possible, and I will do it joyfully.” – National Book Award winner Isabel Allende
“Holding back women is holding back half of every country in the world and stifles progress for all of us. So, these are rights that we must all fight for.” – Amal Clooney, human rights lawyer specializing in international law.
“There are people who focus on the limits, and there are people who focus on the possibilities. See the possibilities in whatever your circumstances are, and fill those possibilities. Run to the problem, not away from it, and opportunity will knock.” – Carly Fiorina, former CEO of Hewlett-Packard and the first woman to lead a Fortune 500 company
“Diversity is about counting, inclusion is about cultivating. Diversity is about being invited to the party, but inclusion is about being asked to dance.” – Vernā Myers, Vice President of Inclusion Strategy at Netflix
“When my sisters and I banded together and decided that we would take on one of the most brutal warlords in the history of Africa, they called us toothless bulldogs, a bunch of old married women looking for press or public attention . . . all kinds of names. Today we are in the history books because we knew that we had to do something.” – Leymah Gbowee, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate
“The pundits were wrong because they underestimated the will of women to stop the abuses that they had experienced. And that is what we have to keep in mind—that you may get messages to tell you that you are weak, or you are powerless, or you are not brave enough to come forward. But we know better. We know that we can tap into our own power and our own sense of what is right and wrong, to step up, to make a difference in our lives, in the lives of people who we care about, and all women.” – Anita Hill, professor and attorney
