Transcripts For CSPAN2 Politico Forum On Women Leadership Morning Session 20171206

Thank you for joining us. Its amazing to see similar lawyer faces. Its been a great evolution. Its great to have you here. Im here to say thank you. Special thank you to ambassadors i never ate please stand if you are an ambassador. [applause] many have fun and from across the country to share information and insights. At our first annual luncheon they would be reading tylox. I hope you enjoy that. Today, we are informing, empowering, and connecting women together. Until will have amazing conversation about Human Trafficking and harassment in the workplace. Empowering conversations with female ceos who made a bag i want to share their insights. I hope you can join us for the poor program. Thank you to our sponsors for making this possible. Founding partners. [applause] our 2017 presenter, sharon was joining us for the first time this year. [applause] are supporting sponsor, loreal and a table sponsor, u. S. Bank. Thank you. A few brief housekeeping notes. Please join the conversation on social media. Send out your messages im bring in women who cannot be here with us. There is a women marketplace, one of my favorite parts thats a series of women run businesses. I encourage you to put your money where your mouth is. Finally we are over capacity today. If you are unable to join for the full day please let the registration know so we can backfill your seats. Thank you for being here. I hope you leave today and informed, empowered, and connected. Please join me in welcoming our boss, kerry brown. I am the editor i political and i am thrilled to welcome you to the fifth women were all summit. This started with only a few hundred women. It is now a community of tens of thousands of women across the close. We come together for what is a watershed moment. The past year we had a huge gap between womens understanding and vision of themselves as equal citizens and on the other the vast underrepresentation of women across the government and private sector. The question about how do women come into positions of power and what difference do they make when they are there . Over the five years we have learned without question that it matters. The matters that women are at the table and their voices are heard. It matters that they are are a critical mass, not a critical few. We leave no doubt that womens progress has been connected. Women who run for office benefit from those confined rates and provide models of leadership. Ceos need women lawmakers who can champion the policy changes that help women succeed in business. Integrate the numbers of women in Business Leadership anymore women entrepreneurs. Those children are not transgender or generous enough to participate. Today, well hear from women and all of the fields about what it will take to keep making progress. The sexualharassment dominating the conversation coasttocoast, we will delve into that topic as well. We have learned that what happens to women at hollywood is connected to those in media and wall street. The conditions are bigger than anyone perpetrator, workplace, or sector of the economy. That is the message of the founder of the me to movement that we will hear today. [applause] the to movemen me to is about lg arms and looking at where we had been left behind and why that happened. Figuring out how we can make changes to the status quo so we have equal representation and we are equal citizens. Not accept the status quo, those that lift up other women, take risk, foster change and have impact. Our hope is that from hearing from this Diverse Group it will inform you about the Bigger Picture and your own face in it. Hope is to connect you to the amazing women not only in this room but across the women rule community. Our hope is that this will empower you to go back to organization and your community with not only a sense of inspiration, with a clear idea of what we can do to make sure that progress continues to be made. I just want to go off a script for one second. To think a couple to think a couple of people, our director of content and a Vice President and their brilliant staff who brought the state to life then nurtured like their own child and embodied the spirit of the community in ways i am proud and wanted to make sure they were recognized properly. [applause] our collective power is stronger than any one person. Thank youan for being here toda. Lets get started. I would like to welcome one of my amazing reporters to come on stage and start the panel. [applause] please welcome the political reporter eliana johnson. [applause] hello, everybody, thank you for being here. I cover theve white house for politico and we are excited to have you this morning. We are going to star start to tk about the 2018 midterm election. In 2016, there was a lot of discussion about having to first female candidate atop the president ial ticket to win a Major Party Ticket and a little talk about how gender impacted the results but there was less discussion i think about what happened at the lower levels. A 25 of state and local offices nationwide. It came out of the investigation that was published in june and we are going to focus on that and what its going to take to start increasing those numbers. For those that havent had a chance, i encourage you to do so. Its fantastic. Without further today as it could delay im going to get to my panel. I am joined by the congresswoman casee study on how to succeed n the territory and by the South Carolina state representative. I saw that anita dunn who served with president obama was quoted in a piece about the upsurge of women particularly running in democraticsu primaries. Is she getting ahead of herself or can we prepare for an influx of female officeholders . Thank you for inviting me here. Its not very often i sit on a stage and look out to a sea of women. [applause] came to washington in 1991 i think itin was about two weeks before the Clarence Thomas anita hill hearings in iran but the moment the lights switched on and women noticed this panel looking downn and grilling this africanamerican woman and it was at that moment emilys list went from a small shop and a Record Number when more were elected that year than any point in history which was a whopping 24 women in24 the house and five women in the senate but what we forget about and talk about is a couple things it was a redistricting year so there were a lot of new seeds and a new scandal when we learned they over drew their accounts by a lot and then they got to hide the fact. They just spend the money i dont know where it goes. Not only did you have a Record Number of women in 1992 obviously some ofs. The scandal. The wailing of energy we had always seen the gender gap but when you see the favorability cap, this is the last journal poll. 3263 and 52 of women strongly disapproved compared to the 40 of men so it does feel like we are living in this moment of Intense Energy independence to the Record Number of women on the democratic side who are interested in running. Many of them are running against each other in primary so you will see a Record Number of but i think what we saw in virginia as well is in places that are suburban, well educated like suburban virginia or denver this a time we see this outside influence. Our investigation found when women run they are more successful if the problem is they dont run as often. You are partly responsible for the recruitment and whether they differ it is different so i will walk you through a little bit of this scenario. Im mostly focusing on the midwest which is the area from the democratic perspective that we betterr figure out if we want to win back the house. House. I am in a district that represents central and 7,000 square miles all 11 are entirely rural. Ith wonder 20 plane 20 planes. What are you doing that is different and how can you help us bee successful so when recruiting men versus women. How do you take all of the public criticism thats out there relentlessly even sometimestt when you build a little more Comfort Level people say theres such a large swath of issues how can you manage understanding of these issues. First you havee to ask were you asked to run when you first ran . I served on the city council. Anybody fromta downstate illino . It is completely doable with a lot of convincing. I wouldnt have thought to run forfr congress. I had a lot going on that motivated me and you better have that personal motivation because phoniness is very apparent in people, so you better have that drive for wanting to make a difference. When we are recruiting a younger woman who hasas children, i say im going to have the congresswoman from new york one of my closest friends give you a call. We were out to dinner last night and went to young chow on penn avenue and she had to excuse herself for a little while because her husband was out of town for the christmas ball tonight. You know the personal connection and even the attack ads and howd you deal with that. [inaudible] female candidates but when it comes to republicans, they have a serious problem on the federal level and state level but to give the audience an idea, why do you think they faced this problem and what can they do to improve this because we will never approach it in terms of representation unless we get a more elected to office. Very good question. Women step up and say i want to do this. I worked for someone that got elected to congress and i said i want to do this but the hard part, is a very traditional mindset. I was very surprised i thought they ar were going to get on my case i should be staying at home taking care of children. A woman came up to me and said if i had the opportunity to do what youre doing when i was younger i would have done it anh i thought that is not what i expected so women need to understand yo your need to just up. We dont have the networks demand due. One of the best things you can do if you dont run is to write as. Check to someone that is. The biggest problem women have is fund raising. I have been fortunate that im good at it and like it but a lot of the candidates are not. I stay involved in the organizations to help republican women run. Democrats and republicandemocrae represented at the table. Th as the Fundraising Efforts something . Its tough. Running for Congress Takes a loa of resources. When youre a challenger running against somebody in office, it takes a lot of resources. They sent me out to understand the basics of fundraising. I quit my job as the Vice President of a health system. Im sitting at my desk at home with pictures of my three boys in front of me. She grabs me by the arm comes the tiki from my desk and says youre not and have you have yon front of you. Building the field organization. There are so many that helped run now more than ever. I feel very passionately about getting people to run for office and that is what we are doing to help out in this next generati generation. Can we play the video that we had . [inaudible] she sends it to me. Shes criticized and announced this morning that hes going to retire, not resign. Do you think the retirement age is an adequate response and of the response more generally. Whether youve been in congress for 40 years orco i hear. If you are a perpetrator i dont think congress is the place to be. When we have republicans and democrats that are harassers its not a place to be. I would like to play a part in helping to win back the trust of the public in ath part of it ise have somee legislation now. We have a piece of legislation that will require anybody who is paid out victims from the secret slush fund and should they choose to not be subject in a gag order. It struck me many people felt she had a special responsibili responsibility. Did she miss this . Now theyve paid out 84,000 out of the slush fund. I dont hear people calling speaker i am asking about his resignation. [applause] i believe no matter if youu are republican, democrat, senator or house member you shouldnt be serving in congress if you are asexual or afte a sexual har. Ii wonder if i can have each of you in kind of a lightning round address why that is and how would george off the different. Were they different and why dont we start with you. Is in the industries that have historically been dominated. Its not as if there were just a few, the men are running everything. The fact that congress has to say we should have Sexual Harassment training. The challenge is everybody gets referred to the Ethics Committee which is an internal investigation by your peers so that also raises the question that doesnt raise the question of theti credibility. Ive been frustrated in some ways about the way in which we talk about the role that women should play. What this ilike this is the yeal harassment so women are going to win. Its a domestic issue that affects them personally in my experience, it does focus on st of survival of the fittest. We saw those that were blowing the whistle along the banks and Mortgage Companies said wait a minute this doesnt seem right to me that kind of tells you everything like how is that going to impact everybody. We have our own version of the scandal going on for years and campaign finances. This is an issue of character of the person. Everybody came to me and expected me to sponsor these womensil issues does. My path was going to be a whole different way because in my district i was a business oriented. Some of the things these men are doing what never crossed their way to getting away with doing things whether you are female or male and i think the issue is women tend to be consensus builders. I started talking to people from the other party. The coastal part in the upper part of the state dont get along. I think women find more of a way to build a Common Ground with other people he served with. Whether we talk about music or or whatever to build relationships with people first so we can d go to people in the other party and at least be able to talk about what we are working on. I was a journalist for 17 years. Ive never been in the room where decisions are made that its not better if you have diversity. [applause] and that means diversity ofiv al sorts of age, race, gender, occupational diversity. I think in a dream world if everybody can make up the country from those perspectives, think about what a better nation wee would be and as it pertains to serving and elected office. I am proud to be in congress. If you work hard and give our honest because 99 of women in this room everything is built on that foundation. The men in congress have a baseball team. The way it is structured as democrats and republicans. We have senators and house members and our opponent is the Washington Press corps so we practice at 7 00 in the morning, two to three mornings a week from march and april until june and the raise money for the town Survivors Coalition close to a Million Dollars now. We have a democratic senator pitching, republican from alabama, Debbie Wasserman schultz, im sure to stop and Shelley Moore capito. We are there in our raw form where it leads to democrats and republicans working together legislatively you might go on target runs together. That is a great note to close on. [applause] please welcome politico coauthor. We want to encourage you all to join in on the conversation. Theres this kind of conversion of it happening but asking about the issues across the political spectrum. [applause] the former Lieutenant Commander and head coach. [applause] the underpinning of the conversation has a lot to do with washington but a lot of others have joined in this kind of protest movement. Talk about what youve seen and from my perspective it wouldnt ]ave happened in this way. They started this Movement First and we also have to own that they were the first group to work in solidarity and they are not given the credit for the work theyve done it. No mens teams have taken that risk and i think we first have to step back and say women once again have taken the bullet and men are still getting all the credit. [inaudible] are you concerned about them going too far . I think often they are separated from their personality or journey. This being on the field or the court were what got them there and i think it is onerous to honor a human being and say who they are and how they play and how they got there is important and the issues that matter to themnd are important. You and i have spoken about the goalie for the capital. And how the social media he took after about [inaudible] the strength and courage that he showed in athletes showing it matters. It is moments like this whereas youre proud. Our position is peace folks come out and have a platform for change, they have a voice so why not honor that. I am very lucky to work and raise the planes that have lead on these issues in a way that im very proud of. In terms of what you are saying thats when they are most powerful and can be such effective agents because people can identify with them. Things about watching the olympics. How many times did you cry . Happens all the time, all about those stories or a connections, wherein can be leaders. For me as an agent cant the most unsafe thing is to be not authentic. Cr so often not wanting to say the wrong thing that starts by being educated so for me i like to think about. If you in context [inaudible] i dont want to say the word suffer per se if you think about athletes like mohammed ali. I think its critical we celebrate our heroes today and being in solidarity showing up for each other. You are talking about what has the journey been like in the last. That continuum is made possible by womenpoe who are going to got there and be the first. One of the opportunities that presented itself was this position and i have men who basically said you are one of us and we are going to welcome you into our family. Fast forward than this opportunity actually happened my credibility having been both in terms of putting bike lanes and over the long period of time but also being a woman and a leadership position when i came into the navy 20 some odd years ago i was the first woman to be permanently stationed on a ship and so men that had ever worked for a woman. I was an oddity that is the longer the case. Im fighting to san diego two weeks after getting married because one of theen women was n the destroyer. In terms of women coaching name it doesnt happen very often but it is a continuum i am no longer an oddity im just a continuation. I have to figure out what motivates my athletes and what drives them and whats important in happening in their lives to connect with themm on a personal level. On who are they as a person and how do i get the best out of them and began because of the continuing breaking barriers and leadership positions and being part of the conversation for this position. How has that battled the last few years . There are threeal female owns the capital, the mystics, the wizards, the capital one center. We know the more women in the room, myself, johnson and steve jobs, the more women in the room the more important it becomes and something a previous speaker said backstage about the diversity when i look at the diversity and reflecting the fan base of washington, d. C. That is the right thing. I think washington is lucky because we have someone who thinks that way. I dont think i is true of every organization whether that be a company or sports team but voices are important we see things from a human level may be a guy doesnt pick up on and do more women you put in the boardroom. Have you had these moments are . I remember the first time i walked into the locker room [inaudible] [laughter] the interesting thing is my male counterparts always felt comfortable going in there. She would walk in and nobody told me to stay back but i would just do that. So walking through those doors saying iem in equal to the men was big for me. Slowly i think [inaudible] i want to go back to something we were talking to the coaches of the teams are important so this is a guy that looks at his athletes and says their voices are important in their lives are important. They are not just chess pieces that we arere moving around. So it starts at the coach and goes through the entire system. Talk a little bit about keeping it in places to place is something you were thinking about . Anytime we make progress forward i think its important that we name that we here in this space right now so its portent that not just when men speak up and then educate ourselves and listen t listenede stories and lives and add our voice to the conversation in the idea that we are all in this together and it its important o we continue to see women in sports and the stories that are behind them. The [inaudible] we are at anan important moment and think a lot of conversations are led by support and diversity and its not always just gender or race but youre talking about a different ability and being an agent that represents athletes that need to include general conversations an and represent a lot of different constituencies and communities its important we are thinking in those terms. I think its worth mentioning title ix is not just about sports. [applause] a direct attack on womens abilities to and how to investigate it and i think it is critical that we remember that and its not just about people that can play. As important as that is, i think it is a 95 of women in offices have played sports, over half of the University Levels of the impact shouldnt go and we should be fighting to maintain that. We were talking about title ix and its farreaching into life. It addressed the culture oncologist and how that affected colleges but getting the raise resources they need and help they need to so i think it is important on the cultural side and its important on creating leaders. Playing sports transcends what happens on the field. It creates leaders and confidence and gives women the opportunity to meet other strong women, so we need to speak up and speak out and continue to support it. In terms of having a womans rugby team and the same experience as men. One of my regrets is this is important because as you said just about playing sports or getting an opportunity to get on the playing field, it is to develop. Wewe have to continue to create this opportunities the men have had so long im everything you gave me and im thankful, it was a lot of trips to the orthopedic surgeon. [laughter]eo my mom wasnt happy with when i switched from soccer to rugby. [laughter] it is about giving women this opportunities andes im not goig to rest until we have it up and running. I wilthere will be the continuif the legacy so everybody has the opportunity to do that because ity isnt just the sport itself does what it brings to you as a whole person and what you can bring to everyone you encounter. One other thing about the pay gap it can sound like an excuse and maybe it is. What we need getting paid the same amount through sponsorship. If you see a sponsorship come across, make it as important as a game invented b and then womee the same amount as men are making. Theres morthere is more we wero discuss but thank you so much for doing this panel. [applause] a [inaudible conversations] please welcome the politico writer. [applause] thank you so much im pleased to have secretary of transportation joining us on the stage for an interview. This is a sort of please, welcome her. She was one of the first interviews he did a month ago and it was a great conversation i appreciate your candor about a lot of Different Things and we are pleased to welcome you back to. I would like to start within first infrastructure. Youre going to see it just notou the original timeframe. We did come out with principles and it was faulty affordable healtthought theaffordable heald go first, then tax reform and infrastructure it shows the legislative calendar and its the most precious commodity back . Is there a desire by the president to go back or do you feel like you have to go within the structure. Is not really within my lane. I have enough handling infrastructure. I hear you. We will see what happens with the legislative calendar. Youve had what i would call one of the most memorable lines of 2017. Really . I stand by my man, both of them. I wanted to go to that moment, partly because i was fascinated at how you handled that moment. To catch people up, this happened over the summer when the transportation permitting process where the secretarys boss was fighting with her husband. Will they werent exactly fighting. No they were not. It was a Healthy Exchange of views. [laughter] is that what we call it. We all have different points of views. I think you make a great point. You were there to talk about your issues, transportation and you stood in front of a group of reporters who asked you, you were caught in between. What were you thinking at that moment . Isnt that interesting. We were supposed to talk about my life story. If youre gonna be in the public sector, you have to be prepared. Anything can happen. When i was first starting out, i got really rattled. Im Asian American and they said anything bad about me, i was afraid the New York Times would say alain chow disgraced her family and they would remember and then i learned that this is part of the democratic process which is soap precious to our heritage and our tradition and experience in the public sector, you just learn to roll with the punches and learn to anticipate different kinds of questions. And word of advice, they can ask the question. You have the choice as to what you want to answer. That is true. That is good advice. Too that point. I had a great interview with you in april. One of the reasons why i wanted to do this and accepted this invitation is because i thought what you and i both shared is a deep concern and desire to help empower women, younger women in particular. I do a lot of that. Ive meant toward a lot of young women. I think the world ahead of us has so much possibility and opportunity. How do we encourage women of all ages. Too that point, backstage i learned that you had parity when you are a labor secretary which is remarkable and a lot of your appointees are women. Im going to brag a little bit, when i was secretary of labor, 50 of the Leadership Team at labor were women. [applause] they were all confident and outstanding in their field. I think of my diverse background and how i grew up, i saw leadership in a different kind of packaging and it was okay. I was much more open to recruiting people who looked different and yet who were leaders. I went to visit iraq in 2004 and i went to a womens center, they had just gone through the war, many have lost their husbands they were trying to make a new living, new livelihood for themselves, and i was thinking of leaving them with something memorable that would really inspire them so my team and i took a photograph with all the Women Leaders at the department at the time and we gave that framed photo with these six women at the present and the women who are going through such difficulties, they were so dumbstruck. They could not believe that in a country called america 50 of the leadership were headed by women and they were not ancillary positions. They were worker training and Employee Benefits and over time, these were important, large offices. These women were so moved and so touched and gave them a great deal of hope. One of the women officials who accompanied me is laura and she is now the Senior Advisor for strategic medications. I also have with me Pam Somerville who was a Senior Advisor to the secretary for all things, and i have five women were heads of it administration. We have heidi king, and brandy hendrickson who is from indiana, Jane Williams who is head of federal transit, mrs. Hildebrandt who is cio of technology and kathy is head of federal Motor Vehicles administration. Thats an amazing lineup. What is the impact of that and what does it mean to have women in those positions . How does it change the conversation. I think its important for women to be at the table. I think more diverse perspectives is helpful in the government arena to come to the best policy decisions because, ive worked in the private sector and the Nonprofit Sector as well and part of the challenge of the government sector is that there are so many different stakeholder groups. We are a democracy so there is a cacophony of different voices sharing what they view as important to our country, to the department, to the public and how do you address all these viewpoints. That is difficult, but the first most important thing is you have to understand what your stakeholders are saying. If you are not diverse, you dont know what they are saying. Once you understand what different people are saying then you can begin to craft a solution that would try to address all these viewpoints. Having this point of view is important and it cant come, it has to come from people with varying experiences and viewpoints. When you are coming over here for your second cabinet post at transportation, how conscious are you when you are hiring for these thoughts to meet exactly what you said or is it just that you hope that you get parity for how do you consciously do it . I do Pay Attention to a. Again its not preferential treatment nor is it discrimination route but its understanding in my work i have to have people who think differently so they can tell me what reality is. The worst thing that can happen to the public arena is that you think you know reality and you really do not so when you frame the debate or the discussion of the policy, youre missing an important point that would not be the best policy for our country. What is your piece of advice for young women in washington looking to make it in policy and politics right now. No one couldve been further behind a ball and me. When i came to washington i was so naive. When did you come to washington. A long time ago in the Reagan Administration as a white house fellow. Im an immigrant to this country and i didnt understand so much about america so i was curious about the federal government, i wanted to know how it worked. I credit my parents with giving me a sense of curiosity. I didnt understand so many things, but i was curious and i wanted to find out in a responsible way so i came as a white house fellow, i was so naive. Someone came to lobby me about an issue and i was shocked. I said you want to change the law, thats what its all about you know. Then i wanted to volunteer for campaign and i didnt know anybody. I can even volunteer. They wouldnt accept me. Why. Because people want people they know to volunteer because they may not know you, they dont know your capabilities or how loyal you would be. You feel under estimated because youre a woman or a minority. And then i was young. They say all the time how do you make it if you are a woman minority. The young part very rapidly took care of itself. Then i would say if i thought like that, i would get out of bed in the morning. It would be too much, but i had such a great sense of adventure, i was interested in exploring, i refuse to acknowledge what i didnt understand until i understood it. That was kind of training to myself. I refuse to be confused until i understood what was going on. I basically had no friends, people were mean. I dont know anybody in this town thats so highly connected and i have nobody, i was connected to nobody. I was in nobody so nobody paid attention to me. Where did you start. How did you. But i was still excited about being in washington. Good lord. I get up in the morning and i can see the white house and i would like to work and i could see the Washington Monument and life was good. I was excited about what i was doing but people were mean but since i came from such a Strong Family background and i have five sisters and i cannot disgrace my parents or my community. I cant disappoint them. There were a lot of people who were supporting me and loving me and that gave me a lot of courage i thought okay, so if they fire me ill go back home and i was very lucky that i would have a home to go back to you. She didnt know anyone, people were mean, she wasnt connected, she volunteered. If i can start like that, you are surely better prepared, better connected and youll have wonderful futures. You have a sense of adventure, a sense of knowing your core values. When i got discouraged, i had a little picture of my fathers village in china and it was thatched huts and chickens and pigs running around and that was good because that mean they had money. I would say to myself, if they can go through an environment like that i thoroughly can prevail. There is something that inspired you so that when you get discouraged you can without that photograph or that touched touched stone or something and that will remind you all of the sudden whats really important and how you need to have confidence in yourself and then you just pick yourself up and go right ahead. Just to fastforward, youve served for president , even in washington for decades with the conversation that were having right now thats dominating Sexual Harassment, i just wondered if you have a me to moment. Of course. I think that the dirty little secret that a lot of women have held for a long time. Many of us have experienced it. The environment is very different. Would you tell us a story. The person is still here and still around. All the more reason. [laughter] you will go through difficulties in your life and i hope you will triumph. When you triumph you need to help others along the way but you also must have the spirit. Things change, times change and its not worth my while to go back and revisit negative moments. I will fight for other women and he will stand up for other women but you have to let it go otherwise its too corrosive and its too negative and it does you up double injury because i hold you back. I can say, im sure many of us have been in circumstances, you Say Something thats important and has value in the conversation goes on and then somebody else picks it up and its a guy and he said the same thing you just thought you said in everybodys paying attention. I think its important not to get discouraged by that. You just jump right in and Say Something else. In many ways there are so many opportunities so dont get discouraged. To wrap it up, what are one or two things you would say you need to do to make sure the dynamics permanently change, that this event just a conversation were on to Something Else in ten days from now. This applies not only to the issue were talking about but i was involved with them in trafficking working with condoleezza rice, and i have always boasted women wherever i can and as i got into positions of greater responsibility, i was able to appoint a more diverse team. Whats the most tangible thing that we can do is make sure women are given opportunit opportunity. For me, i have found it to be helpful to give other women the opportunity. I think the environment is getting better. For women to speak up it shows they have more confidence in the system that will allow them to speak up. The other thing also, i think its important to work hard and prepare for and im still not very good at winging it, as you know, and i just feel better, i feel more confident if i am more prepared so thats for me. Thank you secretary chow. I found the stories to be quite uplifting. You work hard, you support people and i think a lot takes care of itself. Thank you for having me. Thank you very much. Thank you. [applause] when you overcome big and successful, take my phone call. Thank you so much, good luck. [applause] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] less than 24 hours they have been over 12 million me to post on facebook and 650,000 tweets on twitter. I have been organizing since i was 14 years old. I have, for the last 16 years, really focused on women and girls of color. But during that work is when we realized that the girls we were working with were encountering Sexual Violence in various ways. I met a young girl when i was young, she was probably 12 or 13. She came to me and she told me the things that have happened to her. I remember thinking in my head me to come i know what this feels like. It was so scared. I was 22. Ended up sending her to another counselor who i thought could handle what she was going through and get her the help, but i didnt tell her anything. Over the years i have written her letters, in my mind, i dont know where to send them but just apologizing because it feels like the worst that you can do for someone whos committed to young people so my partner and i decided to step back and figure out what to do. When we came from this idea that we had to do this groundwork first. Libraries and churches and schools. It really is an exchange of empathy between survivors. When i became a mother, i had a daughter and it really stuck with me that i wanted my daughter to live in a world that saw her and recognized her and acknowledged her power. You can say youre not alone, youre not alone as much as you want, but whats been generated from this movement. [inaudible] this is not about predators or individual people. Its about victims. If we keep dealing with the individual people will pop up and Start Playing whack a mole. We have lived in a society that allows Sexual Harassment to flourish. We have to be careful not to have the wrong conversation. Please welcome rachel dade. [applause] welcome. [applause] [applause] [applause] thank you. First off, thank you for being here and for sharing your story with us today. Thank you for having me. Ive been covering Sexual Harassment from the capitol hill standpoint ever since the Harvey Weinstein scandal broke. I was stunned to find that you founded me too way back in 2006 on a myspace page. Tell me, why do you think it took more than a decade for this to catch on . Take us inside that day when went totally viral. I think its been more than a decade. People dont want to talk about this issue. People dont want to amplify these discussions. It is not a pop culture issue. I started this work, working with black and brown girls in the south. I havent gotten twitter started yet so that wasnt the vision but we did have a vision to have something that people could connect to that was simple but it showed in exchange where people really connected with each other. Its really easy for somebody to say when you tell your story of any kind of trauma oh my goddess im so sorry it happened to you. A person is wellmeaning and wants to make you feel comfortable but theres a distance between you and them. Seeing it happen to you but not me. The difference is when somebody share something the most dramatic thing that happened and at the end you say me to. Thats an instant connection that happens that at least for the two of you is a liberation that you cant trade for anything in the world. Theres no money that can help you have a healing of that connection that says my god im not alone, im not crazy, im not an anomaly. The feelings i have for genuine and thats really what me too is about. Take us back inside that day. What happened . Sunday morning, picture it. Sunday morning for notifications on my phone, there were a few going on and i checked one and a friend sent me a message. She said something happened . What are you doing and i was like . Nothing in particular and she said you need to go on line. There are people talking. I had videos and i had to times been doing work long time that when i went to look on twitter at first i kind of panicked. This is weird. I do the work in a specific way and to very specific audience and that wasnt the audience that i was seeing. I also hadnt tackled Sexual Harassment in the workplace. Street harassment yes and in schools yes so i went through a waive of emotions. By the Late Afternoon i was more panicked about the idea that there was mass happening such a public way. While me too is about people telling their story i was worried about people not having the process. Its a very big deal. Think we lose the idea that social media is the world. Once you put it out there its in the world and i was like theres a waive of emotions that happened after you disclose something is so personal. I need to figure out how to insert myself in this conversation to give context to it. Its a declaration and its a disclosure that has impact and when they use it there is empowerment and empathy. I wanted to introduce into the conversation and i was fortunate enough that these women, you know i am a writer and have created a network of people who do social justice work over the last 20 or 25 years and they know my work. They immediately came and said we need to amplify your voice and we need to understand what this is about. Speaking of disclosure i can tell you from on the hill talking to a lot of these victims theres a theory that now coming to a world where they will be blackballed in their mobile to get a job and theres a sense of this watershed moment has not reached washington politics. Why do you think that me too has not quite hit the political arena that way of spreading across the country right now . I think it has entered a lot of arenas and i think thats very real thing when you declare about. The protection is great and the social media and the width of the glam and i can go on television and talk all about a lot of things that my going on television speaking in front of you does not protect a woman right now who was at her job fearful that she could get fired whether its capitol hill or mcdonalds. I think we have to be like people keep asking what happens after this moment. Im like this is a movement and movements are built over time and they are strategic and they are methodical so for me this moment is a triumph and the overall movement. I think we should celebrate it as a triumph but not forget theres a whole body of work that has to happen. Their loss that have to change in policies that have to be implemented. Theres a lot of groundwork that has to happen and thats my commitment to the work that i love being here and i love talking to people in getting the message out but i have a lot of work to do. Part of that is because it hasnt reached everywhere and the very next thing we have to do is amplify this conversation and represent those people wherever they are. What would you say me too is taught you about mobilizing phone networks of women in . Lets talk about women. I love being a woman and i love being a black woman. I love that we are always at the forefront regardless if theres a camera there or not, and other people paying attention. We are on the ground doing the work in this moment would not happen without women, no question. The bravery and the courage of the women who came forward and even the women who havent come forward. We should always acknowledge the fact that when you are as a survivor of violence your choice is taken away. You are right to choose is taken away in the choice is a choice even if you choose not to disclose to disclose thats a powerful choice that people should hold onto. I hate when people get caught up and i get messages all the time where people say really need to grow but im scared. I say dont. What this moment has done has given choice to women in ways they havent seen for a long time giving them that power back whether you stand up or whether you times you dont or what the support somebody or you dont. [applause] we are almost out of time but i wanted to ask you about the young girl you talked about and who inspired all of this. You said that you write letters to her in your head and i want to know have you ever found her . As she reached out . Do you think she will and what would you say to her . This child i am 44. [laughter] i have not found her. Iran camp for almost 10 years and she only came that one summer. A couple of things i have realized in this moment. One is that i think of myself as an adult who was a child who didnt help the child but i was 22. I have a 20 robot or who is a baby to me. Hi baby. And so what i would say to her i would apologize for not being what she needed me to be in that moment but she is 33 or 34 so i would think that life has given her a message lessons. I would want her to know that at that moment help me spend the rest of my life in it trying to show up every time i get an opportunity to do so. Sexual harassment requires change and shes going to be on the next panel talking more about that. Everybody give her a round of applause. [applause] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] please welcome the director michelle norris. [applause] hello, hello. [applause] good afternoon everyone. I am Michele Norris the founding director of the project and a whole lot of years i hosted a show on public radio called all things considered. [applause] today i get to do what i love best which is to talk to interesting people about an important topic and we are here today to talk about Sexual Harassment. There are very few topics that are more important than that right now. Im thrilled to be participating in the summit and im sorry we have to have this discussion but we do have to have this discussion because from hollywood to capitol hill from highprofile accusations of Sexual Assault have sparked a National Debate surrounding the reality of Sexual Harassment in the workplace. Today we are going to discuss what it will take to finally put an end to harassment in the workplace and what companies import in the a lot leadership play and holding accountability for the times the actions and the role of media and all of us in covering allegations in reacting to allegations before they have been proven in court. So i want to introduce our panel. At the far end congressman Jackie Speier from california. [applause] thank you for joining us. Elevating this issue by using your voice. Chris overman is the managing director of icm and is come has come all the way from california. [applause] Rachel Renick is also with us. Shes the ceo and creative director of we posts. [applause] we just heard from the founder of the me too movement. A lot of you are familiar with the. You were introducing us to do so congressman. I want to begin with you. We just heard in that. Yes, your say in we heard secretary child say women are coming forward because they have much more confidence in the system but on capitol hill we have not seen as many women come forward. Different kind of conversation. There seems to be different impediments to gaining that trust or some sort of comfort where they can raise their hand and say me too. Help us understand if whats different about capitol hill. In congress it is a system that has basically the protection of the car as her and the victim has been without resources. For example the office of compliance to which a victim would report would have to go through 30 days of legal counseling and 30 days of mandatory mediation and then signing a nondisclosure agreement and then 30 days of the cooling off period all the while still working and that harassing environment. That is what im trying to change with the me too congress act inspired by tarhonda and we have over 100 cosponsors republicans in democrats right here in the house. [applause] how long is a system been in place . Its been in place. What was it created in response to . It was created in 1995 count count called the congressional cup of the accident was on the heels of the scandal senator packwood. This would be a new system that was going to create accountability. As we have seen it doesnt create accountability. The members never identify and the result is habitual harassers are allowed to continue to operate and we are seeing it right now. How many women were involved in creating that process . I really dont know and since its predominantly a male congress at the time i would suggest probably very few. On the other side not just women coming forward that members of congress and staff coming forward to talk about it. Did the tribal realities on the hill make it difficult . Democrats talk about priorities of previous president s and republicans are reluctant to talk about sexualharassment charges against the current president. Do the people on the hill make it harder to put this issue on the table and examine and interrogated and figure out how to solve the . I think it does and thats why we are contemplating a new system i think we need to look at creating a thirdparty function that will be outside of congress not populated by members of congress so this issue of comfortable this uncomfortableness associated with calling a member of your same party is not there. But you know the institution is special but members of congress arent special and we need to be treated like everybody else. [applause] there are many places where allegations have been made and people have stepped aside voluntarily or not. Theyve been asked to step down so that sense it seems members of congress are moving on a different parallel track on the adjudication of issues. Senator frankel and congressman conyers and their others and new allegations have surfaced. Should these members step aside . Should they be asked to step aside while they allegations are examine the . I liken this to a corporation. We like to talk about ourselves as ceos of our office and a corporation, a ceo as identified as being a harasser. They dont wait until the next annual meeting of the shareholders to vote on it. The board of directors determined and typically what happens is the ceo is out no matter who they are, no matter how great they are no matter what kind of an icon they are. I think members of Congress Need to realize that we have a board of directors whether we call it the Ethics Committee or the Actual Congress and we need to act. We cannot allow this to fester while two years go by until the next election takes place. So we have got a lot of work to do and i am optimistic because i do think we have seen an age of new enlightenment and we cant let this moment go. I mean we cant let this just be a blip. It has to be a concerted effort and its got to be sustained. For my part i have suggested that congressman conyers should resign, that senator franken should resign and congressman farenthold should resign. [applause] chris the congresswoman talked about a wave of enlightenment. Doesnt feel that way in hollywood right now and you personally run a company. You have had a lot of contracts that run across your desk, a lot of projects you are involved in. What has changed in hollywood and is it a reaction to the moment or do you think that this time its the kind of meaningful lasting change that will have a real impact . You know i think that first of all we are private company so we have the ability when this happens we can deal with it quickly and we can just get rid of the problem so we arent going to have someone creating an uncomfortable environment. They have got to go and we can do that quickly and easily. A lot of the stuff thats has happened in hollywood in his come out clearly there is Harvey Weinstein and thats criminal behavior. He should be in jail of their things like that and that has been put out so quickly. Then obviously down for too long and its going to be this tidal wave which should have happened a long time ago. I think what we need to do as the company is look at this and listen a lot and figure out what are the real thing is that we can do to create lasting change because that does have to happen. I think companies should reflect more the world around them. We represent thousands of clients from all walks of life and the people who represent should reflect the kind clientele. I think the thing that i have personally identified the culture of silence which i find incredibly troubling that people are really frightened for themselves to come out and i love the fact that people can come out and talk about this and they are empowered by this and being recognized and thats a good thing. I think thats great and i think mentorship is the other thing we focus on. I dont things can change overnight. We cant just snap our fingers and say have to leave people are going to be women. Its going to take time but that requires mentorship. Personally i have had great female mentors in my life. They are very strong women who have affected me and mentored me and i think its also on all of this to mentor people in a much better way and really focus on mentoring women as well. What about manned . You are probably a real role model for a man also so can you share the conversations perhaps you are having with people right now about how to raise their hand if they have been boorish or tiptoed in an area that is heading towards sexualharassment . What kind of advice to getting people to make sure they understand the rules of engagement . What we did is put more women into leadership positions in the company. As good a relationship as we might have that stuff and i understand that. I know women need to be put in more positions of leadership and everyone in the room would agree on that but what do men need to hear to understand this . Im sorry. In dealing with race and america there is an expectation that people of color often take a leadership position to dismantle a system that was not necessarily of their making that was put together and sexualharassment there is an expectation that women will lead on this issue. Even though this is not a problem of their own making what is the role of men in taking on this issue and as someone who is a leader in your industry what kind of advice would you give . I think its listening more and gain openminded and being protective in a way that people should be able to speak freely and where a man might feel the power to speak freely about something and a woman might not feel that power you have to be sensitive to that and create open lines of communication so people can talk freely and protect the environment. When people talk they are not punished for it but on the contrary they are rewarded for it. Thats probably the long way of saying it but they are empowered. I think thats something thats cultural. Thats a cultural shift in a company that is cultural in terms of how people look at the world and how people interact with each other and something that everyone has to make a commitment to together. Something we talk about a lot. Its conversation at Culture Shift and it takes time and it takes real commitment. As someone whos been in this business for a long time i love playing this just in. You have your phone sign you are following twitter or as my mother calls it the twitter or facebook or instagram. You may know the congressman Congress Conyers has announced hes going to be retiring and he made that announcement 10 minutes ago. You are shaking your head. You are not saying anything but your body language is saying something. Your reaction to that. I was anticipating he was going to be resigning and thats what should happen. That should force the house to go through the process of investigating his conduct and the house is going to have to take action. Its not good enough to say in a year and a half for an eight year im going to retire. A serial harasser. He is stepping down. He is not resigning. Hes going to retire at the end of his term. He is stepping down. Is that right . What is he doing . They said that effective today. He stepped down today. [laughter] we will clarify that. We have the hill and we have hollywood and i also want to take on Silicon Valley because the power balance, there is quite an imbalance in part based on numbers and in part based on axis tick capital and the start of culture where women in this industry its difficult to do this and less you get access to funding. Does that create a power dynamic in the system of inequality and help us understand what is unique about Silicon Valley and the tech industry. I think there are a couple of different scenarios that i think should be addressed. The first is the Power Dynamics between investors and founders whether first time found her female founder. He creates an environment for you to be vulnerable. I think fundamentally it comes down to this idea that we dont take women seriously. The fact that in my experience i had quit my job. I was picking upside jobs to pay the rent and working night and day to put together materials to pitch to Somebody Just to walk into a lead. If you are sitting there and you feel like a fool because you have spent time and energy doing something and you walk into a room to not be taken seriously about something that you have a vision for and that you need money for it. We talk a lot about vcs. There is somewhat of a systematic structure and how we handle the situation and we can ask to get rid of them and do something about it but what is not talked about is what we experienced as investors and the difference is these are high in networked individuals that can do whatever they want with their money and say whatever they want. They want to meet on a hotel lobby at 8 00 p. M. And you are desperate trying to get your business off the ground you know every woman has that feeling of im going to go to this meeting and we will see how it goes and on top of that theres a culture of do whatever you need to do to get your business off the ground. You have the sort of dynamic between power, emotional manipulation and on top of it the object of vacation a few you are just walking around. I am a woman and im an openly woman and you would think that would deter something. But no, no. So you know women are sexualized and you put two women together and you are hypersexualized. You are running up against all these barriers and you were trying to on top of just simply trying to figure out how to which is hard enough in itself. We talk about Silicon Valley and the investor dynamic in the other thing to touched down is the dynamic within the Actual Company and the policies and the sword of call to action right now we need new policies. We need to enforce the policies that we have and the only way to do that is to show people that there are compromises. To let men know there are consequences to their actions and women will only step up and come forward when they know something is going to be done. Why would i speak up if not and on top of it you have to get 10 women together just to take down one predator so there are a bunch of different dynamics. The investor situation is the one thing he and enough itself that Silicon Valley needs to hold a mirror to itself and really think about what are the policies they have, are they enforcing policies and creating policies . Sometimes you can create policies that are so difficult. The same dynamic. It protects the company. You abused your voice to talk openly about this but there are some things you cant. There are disparagement clauses and gag rules. Is that a policy in and of itself that people are not allowed to talk about this issue that there is comfort on the part of the company knowing that we dont have to talk about it if we can settle out of it. I think they are sort of the difference between dont talk about this issue. Most people know this is wrong. Most people know Sexual Harassment is wrong but they will say to you that and you are looking for what do i do about it and nobody is going to tell you to do anything about it. That silence comes from women who dont know anything but silence and it comes from men who were saying we dont want to ruffle any feathers. For me the most predators are not stupid. He did everything in person. I have no written evidence. I just have my experiences in my head so that idea that i cant really even remove him from the environment because the way it was set up in the wait was approached. All women have i think right now and what is really powerful is the Whisper Network. That has unequivocally taken a lot of people out of power because they were able to coordinate and warned people. Hey im going to this meeting. What does anybody know about this guy . We talk and we know. Theres a Whisper Network and that is easily the most powerful tool we have. Turana its good to know that women have the Whisper Network but its also sad that women have to whisper about this while the men that are responsible for this behavior are still sitting in their positions. What else can or should women do if they find themselves in this situation . Who should they talk to and should they keep a record . You say there was no paper trail. How do you create some sort of trails so if you raise your hand and say me to that you have some sort of dossier that you can move forward with . I was just talking about this the other day another function. You have to keep track of everything and write everything down an email yourself and tell your friends. You have to create your own body of evidence. Email yourself so you have date stamps and time stamps on it. The same thing you would do with any issue you have a work is the first thing people will tell you is documents. You may not have something official and you may write it in a. Think its also helpful to tell other people and if you cant go tell other people, there is a power in numbers so when the opportunity strikes you are ready to have something to say to add your voice to the chorus or even if you are the first one. You created this and i think its a but i think everyone has seen the in their feeds. Our s useful and would have helped the men men had a or if there is a to include or to encourage ask your sister, ask your mother, asked ask your coworker. Obviously works. It brings awareness. We have enough Empirical Data to show the world nobody can say no i have never heard of that. If you engage in social media and you are zero wait and on the computer you have heard of it. It could help for men to have a but the thing that bothers me so much when we talk about, i almost said a bad word. You are a human being. I want a you are a human. [applause] it bothers me that men dont have to train other than not to touch another mans when you go to a meeting. You dont have to say look out for that guy, he might hit you on the. You dont have to be trained to do that. I am a human being, dont touch me and dont talk to me appropriate way. I dont know how we legislate that and i dont know how we shift the culture. That conversation has to be about empowering because this is about privilege and power and how people use it. Privileges and going to go anywhere anytime soon but its how you use your privilege. You have to use it to serve other people if you have more privilege for them. I think you people people understand that concept and interact with people and being a human being. You are being careful with your language they are. I was being very careful. To understand before all of these allegations surfaced and before the me too movement loss and did we understand where we were . We watched as a society seven seasons of madmen thinking we were watching something that took place in the past when maybe that was not was actually happening. Do we underestimate how much parts progress we have made on this issue . I think the problem is that culturally there is still that tension that allows for people to say i dont believe her, but she is not telling the truth. We have to flip that where the presumption is that she is telling the truth because we do know anyone who comes forward is going to be badgered and is going to be put under a microscope. More often than not they will be black ball. Thats interesting because our judicial system in which someone is innocent until proven guilty. But this is not a judicial undertaking. This is a Workplace Environment where someone is violating the civil rights act, title vii that says you have the opportunity to work in a hostile free Work Environment and that you should not be subject to severe or pervasive Sexual Harassment. We have talked about this but theres a spectrum and only a certain point does it become criminals. Because again there have been no consequences or anything on that spectrum we have lumped everything together so to your point anything from the death by a thousand paper cuts a little bit of sexism here and there to full on sexism to harassment whether that be verbal or other to insults which is criminal. To your point there is a certain point where you reach the judicial part of it but there are a lot of things in between that need to be handled in their need to be consequences for those actions. Most of the times the consequences fall to the woman. We are we are going to movie off the team or shuffle things around. Or meetings with women. Dont get me started with that. I think we are point, Tipping Point where we are angry and i think we need to give ourselves the space to be angry and then we can have more nuanced conversations about how to approach each and every one of them on a casebycase basis. We estimate sure that women are driving the conversation. How important is it to deal with things on the lower end of the spectrum that might be considered worse behavior to deal with that because thats often a gateway to more aggressive more harmful behavior. I think its allimportant and i think it really just goes to leadership. If you see the senior people acting like the lowerlevel people will feel like they are empowered to do that too. It needs to come from the top and people know how to be good normal people. I believe that and i think it just needs to be reinforced and it needs to be stated as a core value of your company. I think it needs to be important. Be cautious of how you are affecting someone else and understand that and talk about it. We represent a lot of powerful people in the world whether they are men or women and i think im really proud of that and i think the company has an obligation like us to make sure internally we reflect that as well. I mean i agree with you about the anger and people need to get this out because ive seen it and i have seen it for years. Its really important to to me n the position im in now to make sure we deal with that and we created an environment where that doesnt change. Its something that i want everybody to be proud of and we want people who work there to be proud of it and i think its important that it comes out now and its important that people show leadership and mentorship. Not just the women but also the man. I know that sounds simple and i know its a bigger issue than that. I think the culture is really important because when we think about the spectrum of violence it starts with Sexual Harassment but those are the things that create a culture. It really bothers me that people keep talking about Harvey Weinstein as a Sexual Harassment case. He sexually assaulted women. Thats not chasing someone around the desk and not pitching someone in the office. He has committed crimes multiple times in their systems in place that allowed him to. The culture of his company protected him. People are invested in capitalism and invested in the money and the power and not invested in the women who suffered at the mans hands for 30 years. Its really important that the boorish behavior is important because that opens a door for the day that allows him to touch folks. It has to be dealt with and those things have to be sought out in the workplace in the streets and organizations come in Congress Wherever they have been. They open the door to allow this type of behavior to happen. Many people have gone through through, you have to go through Sexual Harassment training and it has to be done by tuesday and on your computer you sit in a classroom. That obviously has not been effective so how do you effectively change the culture . I think what chris said is important about leadership. People have to model what the culture and the company is. Not just on the computer and not just reiterating it every couple of years paid people in leadership, you cant laugh at rape jokes and he cant tolerate oh hes just like that. You cant tolerate those things. There has to be tolerant about how we work together. Have leadership set an example for what well deal with an art company at that moment in time. [applause] lets talk for just a minute about the Industries Women who work in retail and women who work in manufacturing, women who clean the hotels in this hotel. Do they have adequate support or understanding for the challenges they face and as we talk about this Movement Overall are we spending enough time looking at their challenges . Okay. For me my work has always been centered around modulating. We have to start with im not just talking about men. If you are Woman Working in the work place and there are powers in place to protect you and there arent for the women cleaning the office and if im in a place where im not going to have myself protected and not make sure everybody who is vulnerable is protected. Thats one of the ways we do that. I think its also important for us to appreciate that the module that you see on the computer is woefully inadequate and we have got to change the requirements so its interactive interactive, a relates to the industry and its something that comes from the top. I think we have all said that. If the message is very clear from the top then you will see behavior change. We have heard a lot about the number of men who have left their various industries and the talent range of powerful men. I want to hear in hollywood, on capitol hill about women who cut their sales, could just that i cant deal with this, who were less ambitious than they would have been or have been the walking wounded for years and sometimes decades carrying this around. Will we ever be able to measure the talent drain of women whose jobs, whose lives in their workspace were cut short because they face this kind of harassment . I have a story that appears in one of the papers about woman who was working for congressman farenthold. She received an 84,000 settlement they came out of the secret fund in the u. S. Treasury treasury. She was absolutely black vote wall. She was told before she filed the complaint that she would be black walled and she hasnt been able to get a job. No wonder that 70 of women who are harassed adult come forward because they need a job and that is the dynamic that has to change. We have got to make it very clear that someone who comes forward is going to have support and whistleblower protection so they can in fact feel free to come forward and not be blackballed from an industry in which they want to work. You have chosen not to name names even though you have said you know there are other people on capitol hill. Explain to the audience why you have chosen not to do that and tell us about the reaction that you have perceived on capitol hill. I imagine you are saying things that people wish they would rather not have to talk about. You know whenever you are going to air the dirty laundry you are making people uncomfortable. I would say that in terms of the people that i know that have harassed i have said i am here to protect the dump. If the victim is prepared to come forward and i have encouraged the victim to come forward its got to be their decision and these are the cases that im talking about. In terms of what im hearing its amazing. Its almost like this huge burden has been lifted from women in the house. I got stopped at trader joes twice by women on the hill that said thank you so much for what you are doing and then they told me their stories. Ive had women come to me that work in the capital and the stories they tell are so repugnant. Imagine having someone come up to your desk, unzip their pants and stick out their. And she is afraid to say anything because she is a single mother and she needs the job. Congress, we have a problem and we have got to fix fix it fix i. Have you ever considered approaching the men involved to tell them i know about this and you should think about this . My concern is if you sign a nondisclosure agreement and you now tell me about it and i tell the member then conceivably you have violated the nondisclosure agreement. I want you to each think about a specific thing. Theres a longTerm Solution in the short Term Solution so for now lets think about the shortTerm Solution so they can take on individually or the industries you represent that could be done by friday or by the by the end of the month or by 2018 to really make a difference in dealing with this issue and turana i will start with you. I think, say it again, solutions we can have. The things you can do right now. Im an organizer by training and i think we have to organize around this issue. The women who are prepared not to force anyone who doesnt want to pit those who are prepared it to come together. One of the things me to does is identify people. Talk to your friends and talk to the women in your office. If you see someone with a have lunch with them and say lets talk with it. You want to do something even if theres just support. To see what actions can be taken by people who you know who have come forward is something that can happen immediately. Besides looking for allies whether its in your work industry, in your church or organization whatever it is find likeminded folks and allies. A woman in the work place has an army behind her. For me there are two things. For women we need to listen to our own voice and i think the emotional aspect to all of this is we have been conditioned over decades to tell ourselves it wasnt that bad or oh its not a big deal im making a big deal out of this so for women and one of my favorite things Michelle Obama has said that women are taught not to listen to their own voice and it keeps us from fighting a fight we believe in. That is an actionable thing just tweeting tweeting your inner dialogue to not be so hard on yourself to try to grapple with whats happening and recognize it and realized im not alone in its okay in changing that inner dialogue is something we all have to work on. We have been conditioned to dismiss ourselves. For a man there is a lot of work that guys need to do. I would say i dont need you to defend me when im in the room. I will defend myself. What i need is for men to defend me when im out there. Men have access to the spaces in the pockets in which the behavior really drives. We witness it as women but we know behind closed doors how much worse it is and we need men right now as allies not for a pat on the back but to do the hard work behind closed doors to call up their friends and call out their coworkers to say to them i dont appreciate you speaking that way about women and that is not an easy thing to do. That is absolutely not an easy thing to do. I think men have a lot of work to do in that area. If you are not defending us while we are not there you were not doing anything. [applause] as the man on the panel i want you to add to the question of what we can do. Thats a tough one to follow. I think rachel has ginned it up for you to address what man can do. I will speak specifically about what we are doing as a company because we can only affect what is right in front of us and by doing it that are for us we can make an example for everyone hopefully. We made a commitment like they said a cultural shift will take time. We have a company thats over 50 women but not in leadership positions so as far as Department Heads go we have 40 then as farce the board 30 of the board are women. Our job together is over the course of the next two years hopefully to mentor enough people so they come into those jobs as leaders and on the board that they have earned it. I dont mean earned by putting them through the paces. Its from the standpoint that we spend time together. I think thats super important to put them in those jobs and make sure they do great. I would just say there are going to be a lot of those backroom conversations because you want to have a conversations and the men should be worried about what the women are saying in those conversations. In my opinion they work really well when they are in balance and any balance to be put into this stuff. Thats what we are trying to do and im really proud that we are making progress in that way and hopefully it will be something that years from now people will be talking about. [applause] i would say two things. Its very important to talk about it, to talk to other women about it, to empower each other, to recognize as a bystander you can be very powerful in supporting another person. We are only 20 of congress that things are changing. The largest march in the history of this country took place on january 21 because women and men across the country watched. [applause] there are more women running for congress than ever before, 356 women are running in multiple numbers in the same race and more women are contributing than ever before. This is an opportunity that we cannot let it run through our hands. We have got to be there to speak up, to vote, to run and to transform the body politic in this country. [applause] thank you very much. Thank you for using her voice is into the women in the audience thank you very much for being here and just know there are certainly people in this room who perhaps have not found the words to raise their hand or to put a behind the word me too but know there are a lot of people working on this issue and getting into this issue. It isnt just a story in the headlines right now but its something that will be with us. Thank you very much congressman speiers and tarana. [applause] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] please welcome chevron Vice President stacy olson. [applause] thank you. I am stacy olson was chevron and im so happy to be this morning. Before i make my remarks we will watch a short one minute video. Its a story about dewars impossibilities. This is lauren. Shes a tour and an expert in Science Technology engineering and math. Heres gushing up engineered gps to colacci and today shes mentoring a generation of s. T. E. M. To find their way. She is one of forest that can dewars. This is sydney bit of the music not. Sydney is exploring. Meet sophia. She has a big dream. The fact is girls do remarkable things with s. T. E. M. This generation may change the world. [applause] im excited to be part of the conversation about empowering the next generation of women. Women in government, women in business and women in media. As part of that conversation i want to make sure we also talk about empowering the next generation of women in s. T. E. M. , Science Technology engineering and math. In my 30year career as an engineer working for Global Energy company i have worked in six Different Countries on five different continents. Ive seen have the energy we produce has the power to build economy and lift people out of poverty and create the products that we rely on in our everyday lives. Today i am based in pittsburgh and lead chevrons Business Unit devoted to developing natural gas from shale and pennsylvania ohio and west virginia. Its a part of our country that has one of the largest natural gas fields in the world. A little more than a decade ago we didnt think it was possible to produce this resource. In fact my job wouldnt exist if it wasnt for Major Technology breakthroughs and advancements in science in the last 20 years. I have a personal goal to encourage more women. When i think about the next 20 years, when i think about the global challenges we face now and in the future its going to take a scientist to come up with solutions and i want to make sure that more women are part of the solution. I read a study recently that said unless things change in the u. S. We will come up short by 1 million s. T. E. M. Nationals in the next decade. Women hold about half of all in the u. S. But only slightly more than a quarter of s. T. E. M. Jobs. At chevron we realize the success of our business depends on a diverse workforce. Our philosophy is investing in education along the continuum starting with k12 education programs. Over the past three years we have invested more than 100 million in education in the u. S. And more than 340 million locally. We have supported s. T. E. M. Programs for thousands of businesses around the world and in our own backyard. In the appalachian basin 20 million over five years to support education and training throughout the region including many rural areas. Our focus is to inspire women in underrepresented students to pursue good careers and arm them with the skills they will need to be successful in the future. In addition to investing in education i believe role models and mentors will play an Important Role in filling the s. T. E. M. Pipeline. Over the course of my career i have seen a shift in the representation of women in business and government but i think we need a lot more role models today especially in s. T. E. M. When i began my undergraduate degree i majored in petroleum engineering. You might say i was the one pursuing engineering before we really talk about s. T. E. M. As a thing. For me, my mom was my role model model. She is a Computer Science degree and mba and a law degree pitch he served as an elected judge for 12 years. I didnt grow up in a home with stigmas or stereotypes. All i knew growing up is that i was smart and if i worked hard i could do whatever i wanted. When i graduated from college my first job out of school was as a representative on a rig in the gulf of mexico. In those days by job title was more traditionally known as the company man. I was often the only chevron employee on the rig and i was often only the one on the rig. I work seven days straight with 75 men. Despite what you may be thinking it was one of the best experience i ever had. I had a lot of responsibility for someone new in a career. I got used to being way outside of my comfort zone and i had the confidence that helped me say yes to new and exciting opportunities that came throughout my career. In those early days on the rig the men i worked with supported me. They helped me learn the business and they wanted to see me succeed. This is an attitude ive encountered throughout my career at chevron. I know that many women are not as fortunate to have the same experiences were role models that i have had but that is exactly why we need more women and men to support women. We need to send a message to the next generation of young girls that says you are smart, you are talented and with hard work you can do whatever you want in this world. Then we need to show them what opportunities look like. Everyone here i would say be an intentional role model and mentor. You dont have to be perfect to have an impact. Encourage women to get outside of their comfort zone and finally, support them along the way and make sure others in your organization do the same. Over the course of my career i have seen a change for the better and when i think about my daughters i get excited for them and im optimistic about the future and advancing them through the organization one company or person wont solve this alone. Its up to us for this Bright Future but with the efforts to Mentor Support i am confident we will succeed at empowering the next generation. [applause] thank you for your time. [applause] please welcomed the chief International Affairs columnist, susan glasser. [applause] nobody came this morning. [laughter] i want to thank everybody for turning out this morning. What an incredible institution this has become and how many years we have been doing this. We are all a part of an important conversation today about how we can come together to understand the problem of Human Trafficking. These are all leaders in different ways. Senator marco rubio. Thank you. [applause] next is the former director of u. S. Immigration and customs. Thank you for joining us this morning. [applause] actor, filmmaker and we will talk about the issue of Human Trafficking. We encourage her. Thank you very much. [applause] and most importantly, survivors of Human Trafficking in the movement to stop it and the author we are honored. [applause] i am glad in many ways about this incredible moment about what is happening in the workplace is and how we can seize control of the middle so the continual of which it exists so thats why im glad we are able to talk about it. And you are the only one on the panel who can speak directly to what its like in the experience and also in washington why cant we fix this. Lets do our Law Enforcement officers need to do that they are not . [inaudible] if i could answer that question, we could all just go home. You mentioned Law Enforcement. When i was a 12yearold for over a decade for many times i was arrested that the traffickers were never so training for Law Enforcement and identification. So maybe that person is a victim, maybe they are not a criminal. So many people theyve never heard of it. So awareness and education. That is a good opening moment. If we got more sophisticated on this issue for some time in terms of proposing legislation for specific things tell us what are the steps forward that are happening. We are creating a better understanding of what youre speaking about. What is the end result . People who are forced to work with little or no pay and then there is a physical combine that and psychological as well and it receives a tremendous amount of attention it likely to be a co rightfully so. The numbers are even bigger. They are related. The third aspect is the method by which people are being trafficked in places you are able to advertise the services and hide behind the notion we dont know what that is and its my hope they can pass. And last point is the one raised a moment ago. We still find too many Law Enforcement they treat them the way you would they think they arrestinbyarresting them and ing them puts them there. Shattered and fear whose minds are controlled by the individual who put them there is a. Lets stay on capitol hill for a second dimension this new legislation you are getting pushback from the tech compani companies. You are protected by free speech and the ability and the vast majority some of the big platforms are onboard. Of course theyre going to fight again. If they are openly facilitating, they dont want to be liable for it. I think what we have is an an objective to bringing it to the floor so we can unanimously pass it but there is a way to do it. I do believe that Elizabeth Warren and marco rubio are cosponsors. [applause] i can see the national unity. I am not so sure that Law Enforcement is helpful in this area. Everybody focuses on the immigration area but there is a core including sex trafficking of all kinds. To say that in 2017 ipod abou 2d about a thousand indictments nationwide and thats just those that passed the federal test. We cant take every case. This is a case that has national impact. We can have a better impact because the states have their own Human Trafficking statutes as well. I dont know how much of a message it sends because there isnt an International Aspect of this in particular that involves thinking of one in particular, korea. They were thinking they were going to get an education with good paying jobs once they got out of school. One of the saddest things was the name of countless women whod gone through the second floor that we were never able to find. We do go after the perpetrators and we put them in prison, but the most important thing is, and this is something we teach all our agents the most important thing is you cant extend the investigation as a victim of being threatened and at risk in that moment. You have to stop and bring them forward. The most important thing is for runs like this. I want to get back to this issue but quickly to you first, how do you think the current crackdown happening in the United States might end up having people who are victims of trafficking as well and they might have Legal Immigration status but it is coming outside of the range of people and it isnt a leap of faith to say they wont want to report a crime where they can then become the criminal where a person looked at it as criminal first. I dont have numbers on it, but i dont believe theres a negative impact with a push towards anybody thats out there and i think i read the other day, senator, something about the person that is running right now in the acting capacity as the nominee you should be a treat if you are in the country illegally. Number one, no one knows you are even here. The cases are far from home and they are disconnected and the third gets sent back. That is a good oversight hearing, isnt it lacks [applause] in iowa was programmed to believe everything was my fault and i would be arrested, and i was arrested for that and forced what i was told, and there were psychological bonds in place and no one will walk into a Police Station and say help me, help me. It takes time to get to that point and nobody has time. I feel grateful to be here thank you for having me. We have heard the story. It had been busted, a sex trafficking house and we just couldnt believe in our own backyard around the corner where we lived that this kind of thing was happening and nobody knew about it. Something needs to be done about this and the only thing that we have to speak out on our platform is art. So we decided to make this movie, which is about a girl from honduras and she is trafficked through los angeles. My husband took a crew of about eight people and photographed the movie has no end filmed and made his way through guatemala all the way through mexico and then i met him in tijuana. The subject matter i felt there was one moment in that got me quite nervous he was in guatemala and i was here in washington, d. C. Speaking with a group starts about 20 years ago. I told them about the movie that we were making and they said you know what just happened yesterday, there were about 30 women rounded up who have been protesting and essentially they were killed. I called my husband and made sure everyone was okay and i told them what happened. We felt so overwhelmed by telling the story that not many people know about it and it fueled much more to be involved in this issue. It started as a pure place and i think we lose sight the more im introduced in the subject matters of the humanity of this it is not a statistical problem although the numbers are high it starts with a sister, daughter, mother and niece but for the grace of god a it can be any one of us, so that is what our movie is about and why i feel it is so important to tell it. I see you nodding your head. This is a story about immigration but also something that literally happened to you right here. Originally im from fairfax. I left when i was 12 and i ended up being under the influence of a trafficker for over a decade. Every type of violence i experienced. Im a cancer survivor, uterine cancer but is a result of being trafficked, hpv. I pulled myself into a drug rehab clinic when i was 22 and heavily addicted to heroine into the intake person went above and beyond her scope of work and looked me in the face and gave me eye contact and for the first time i felt like a human being and she treated me like a human being. She sent me on a job interview, i didnt get the job. If i would have gotten the job it would have been a miracle. She found out family members were living in nearby philadelphia and i left and i never went back until 2013, so taking the time and treating people like human beings i know counselors and social workers and everyone else. Its overwhelming to think about how there could be a girl in Fairfax County right now, 20 minutes outside of the beltway experiencing this. I want to ask one more question by the way get your questions ready we are going to try to get some from the audience. You mentioned in the fact that you became addicted as a part of this whole abuse that you were experiencing this has become a much despised crisis. In any of the conversations around the policy issues have you seen this as being factored into the discussion on the Opioid Crisis . Its not enough because one of the leverage points to a. We shouldnt lose sight of the fact that theres a number of people who find themselves in vulnerable situations and become prime targets until its developed from something much serious. Learning about kids in foster care system being targeted which is important to be aware of and you can imagine they are so vulnerable already than theyve gone through this cycle of abuse back into the foster system. There needs to be a scenario people have a sense of healing. I fell through the cracks because nobody took time. Im having a hard time seeing so i will have to go to the front. How is it [inaudible] how is it cosponsoring a bill with Elizabeth Warren and working across the aisle do you get support from other republicans were some of your coworkers or is that something that is hard to do . They only see the figures on television and these are real human beings we interact with one another and agree on a lot of things. One of the most sought after things in the senate is bipartisanship almost on any issue you are looking to bring in a leave from the other parties so its not the first issue ive worked with her on. Anytime you have a bipartisan sponsor on an issue like this that doesnitdoesnt have naturn combines. Its very productive in. Politics is covered over the conflict. So it is a conflict driven environment but if it is its more ideological. On this issue there are some groups dont like any sort of regulation attaches the internet speech on the internet. It turns out they supported them after promising visas so what are you doing to make sure that in this age people that are promised this because of trafficking get them and can you please also support the dream act . [applause] to enforce the law but not endanger the people. All the facts proved to be a but they would be disciplined again. The dream act is important. Its the top professional opportunities and they are to provide what people do move to prove the merit based system. The question becomes how do you achieve it and in order to get the bill passed you need the majority in the house and t houo so it is my opinion, a permanent change in law on the immigration status you have to car have to t witpair thatwith a permanent che sort thats the only way you get the votes in the senate and we had a conversation yesterday with senator durbin on the senate floor. Theres a majoritthere is a majs to achieve Something Like it and the disagreement is how to achieve it but i do think that youre seeing new senators. Is there something happening to your former agency that concerns you right now do you think this would have happened in the previous era . Lets talk with the facts that are reported sometimes are not always accurate. The paper reporting the facts. Didigital lint and critical youe got to be careful with that. There was barbed wire around the Family Detention Centers but they were aiming their children. I am also a lawyer and to work on any kind of legislation we can do which i think has to be comprehensive. Theres no doubt at all has to be solved. The debate a is the legislation that is difficult to do that heu will never solve. I want both of you to promise youre going to come back to the summit and tell us how this collaboration to rewrite the immigration goes. [applause] youre saying what can i do, how dhowto buy processed, what do io with this. Taking time to learn about the issue into the gaps between policy and practice and to educate yourself and it takes time and i know nobody has that but we have to slow down and take the time to learn about what is happening and what we can do to make a difference in what iandwhat is happening in or particular communities and states. Its the most important thing that one can do. I still feel very intimidated but im very committed to knowing more and its very important. [applause] i work with this group so understanding and educating ourselves on the groups that are on the front lines and listening to the survivors is important. Youll find all kinds of tools to take back to the communities. Youvyou got to know what to lor including in Law Enforcement. I want to thank everyone here. [applause] [inaudible conversations] [applause] iem excited about the next conversation we are going to have and im thrilled to be joined by leaders in the community we will hear some personal stories, get some recommendations and insight about how we can further ourselves into the founder and ceo of the consulting firms. A lot of people come up to us wanting advice. So how did you get to the moment you decided im going to do this and start my own firm. My mom raised me to believe i could do anything. I didnt know that i wasnt supposed to sit at the table. So i just sort of blew through those what is she doing sitting at the table moments of. He literally said to me how are you going to support yourself and i thought what you dont know, i mentioned it to my former mentor of the weeks before and he sent me a contract and then my mom passed away and left me a small inheritance and that gave me the courage to start a firm and what i knew then it was once my mentor had put his faith and belief in me and my mom having passed away i knew i couldnt let him down, so it was a motivator im sure many of you felt somebody put great faith in you and you were not going to let them down, youre going to work hard and do the unthinkable. I can see a huge market opportunity. Nobody knows how. Ive been a partner at a law firm and i had a financial concern but had money saved aw away. You need that events where you are likyoure like im going fod for me it is like a Holiday Party almost 11 years to the day i see the chairman of the law firm talking to a client that i brought in and im feeling very pleased with myself and chairman says isnt heather our most beautiful partner . And talented you spend the rest of the evening smiling and sleeping in for me i gave a notice ten days later and i went for it. [applause] one of the big things all of us in tha this room have gone throh is when you had to enter in a room like this and did not know anybody or a reception where you are on the scene lost with constant networkers. You do need strategies. Walking into a room and handing out business cards isnt going to get you where you need to go. I make sure who i need to connect with and make sure they are meeting the right sort of people, if i need to touch base with a reporter but the key is to have a strategy. The second piece of that is to have authentic connections with folks. I tried to find out whats keeping them up at night. What are they concerned about, how can i help them in some way. Maybe i just read something that can be beneficial to them and i want to share it with them. It is a mindset when you go into a roomful o room full of strangs gloria said knowing whos in the room you can start that conversation but the mindset is everyone would feel like there is a hostess of the party this is my party, not paying for it with all of you are my guest. Another part is to address to start the conversation. I am always i love clothing that i know if i go out there someone would say [inaudible] it gives people a way of approaching you and you become approachable as well. [applause] networking turns into business development. Men need to have the leg up on that. With a tool that they can take away from the conversation. Listening. Really understanding what a potential client might need and the telling them how you will solve the problem and it is the beginning of the conversation. Often times, its almost like if youre single, lets date. It is understanding that to bring in a client is a cultivation exercise that takes time and one of the mistakes i see people make is pushing for a quick answer. Are you going to hire me as opposed to share value. Let them see how smart you are and understand how you are different from other folks in the industry. Also, and i know gloria also believes in this, be a concierge in the business of taking care of peoples problems, your kid needs an internship, lets work on that. So theres any number of ways to start the conversation and you have to find ways to keep that conversation going. Part of it is just being a good person and remembering birthdays and i saw this article you would band youwould be interested in d remembering the old adage. And making sure that potential clients know that you are in for an. Investing in people early without a return so they know you are investing in them for all the right reasons and not just because they are going to hire you and then you are moving onto the next investment. You are always paying attention in findinand finding out thingsy might not know. I think when you put those things together, you put the columns in the right number for your firm. I want that person on my team and i know people have said that about us, so protecting that hes very important. The question i got the most was how do i ask for a raise and people give you some of their own and they do deserve the raise. My grandmother used to say you dont ask, you dont get. When i started in the business folks didnt often ask for the order so my boss told me you have to ask the question and help people. So, sit down with your boss, make the case. Go ahead and have good answers. If the answer is no, not narrow, you need to figure out what is going to take for me to become a senior vp work for you to buy a table at the fundraiser, what do i need to do and how can you help me because what you want to do is have the client, you want them to buy into your success. Often times it is put on the day, the meeting. If you are focused in that way you will not get your raise. This is about developing a strategy. Like anything in washington is a lobbying campaign. So right now, we are in the middle of one of the soontobe tax conferences. I want this at this last moment, and please Pay Attention to me. No, you would have developed a strategy a month earlier. Why should you be given a raise . What have you been doing, documenting that but also educating folks about you and others in the organization. Its important to have the validator is. To create a thoughtful approach to establish your own storyline. I see people doing good work but if they dont tell me that they are doing it i dont know that they are doing it. I am not a mind reader. Ibm actively engaged so i can speak with what is going on but my vote have learned they have to tell me what they are working on. In that meeting, you should be straightforward and nothing should come as a surprise to the person sitting across the table from you. Dont be entitled and dont negotiate against ourselves, dont equivocate. We are wrapping up the panel that i know that you will be around so please feel free to introduce yourself and with that we are going to leave for lunch. Thank you so much. [applause]