This year’s TEDWomen in New Orleans was a truly special conference, at a vital moment, and I’m sure the ripples will be felt for a long time to come. The theme this year was bridges: we build them, we cross them, sometimes we even burn them. Our speakers talked about the physical bridges we need for access and connection as well as the metaphoric ones we need to bridge the differences that increasingly divide us.
Along with the inspiring TED Talks and often game-changing ideas that were shared in the TEDWomen stage, my biggest take-away from this year’s conference was once again the importance of community and the opportunity this conference offers for women and a few good men from different countries, cultures, religions, backgrounds, from so many different sectors of work and experience, to come to together to listen, to learn, to connect with each other, to build their own bridges.
Take a look at all the presentations with our detailed speaker-by-speaker coverage on the TED Blog. Between sessions, we hosted four great Facebook Live conversations in the Blue Room, diving deeper into ideas from talks with WNYC’s Manoush Zomorodi. Catch up on them right here.
And we’re starting to post TED Talks from our event to share freely with the world. First up: Gretchen Carlson, whose timely talk about sexual harassment is relevant and resonant for so many women and men at this #MeToo moment. It’s already been viewed by over 800,000 people!
Gretchen calls on women who have experienced sexual harassment to “Be Fierce!” (also the title of her recent book). Luvvie Ajayi, in another TEDWomen Talk being released today, encourages not just women, but all of us to be courageous and to Speak Up when we have something to say, even if it makes others uncomfortable — especially if it makes the speaker uncomfortable. “I want us to leave this world better than we found it,” she told the audience in her hopeful and uplifting talk, “And how I choose to effect change is by speaking up, by being the first and by being the domino.”
And don’t miss Teresa Njoroge’s powerful talk on women in prison. At Clean Start Kenya, Njoroge builds bridges connecting the formerly imprisoned to the outside world and vice versa.
And one of the highlights of the conference for me, my conversation with Leah Chase, the Queen of Creole Cuisine. Chase’s New Orleans restaurant Dooky Chase changed the course of American history over gumbo and fried chicken. During the civil rights movement, it was a place where white and black people came together, where activists planned protests and where the police entered but did not disturb — and it continues to operate in the same spirit today. In our talk, she shares her wisdom from a lifetime of activism, speaking up and cooking.
Follow me on Facebook and Twitter for updates as we publish more TEDWomen 2017 videos in coming weeks and months. And please share your thoughts with me here in the comments about TEDWomen, these videos and ideas you have for speakers at TEDWomen 2018. We’re always looking for great ideas!
Gratefully,
— Pat