SXSW RECAP
AI, Online Safety, & Women's Stories at the Heart of SXSW
I came, I saw, I walked. 17 miles. SXSW was a whirlwind adventure and I had the best time. I attended a number of sessions within various tracks and the themes centered on AI (no surprise there!), continuing to disrupt the media and health ecosystems with women, and in that vain, prioritizing online safety (particularly for women).
I have spent the last few weeks reflecting on what this all means to me and my work. I've landed on a few personal declarations:
I'm here for AI and all the complex yet necessary conversations we need to have about it. It's here and it is already changing the future of work and I do believe like all technology, it can be of service to us. I believe it needs to be embraced by all of us so the tech giants don't take over - the way they've done with everything else the last 25 years. The people can police it, not tech giants and not the government. I will lean in more to these conversations and find ways to use it each day.
I'm here to amplify women's voices and stories. The bottom line is even now, with the progress we've made and all the content that exists, we are still underrepresented and underpaid in all the roles and spaces. I'm at a place in my life now where I can lift up other women, be the recruiter and team leader I always wanted, be the sponsor and coach I always needed, be the advocate and storyteller I never knew I needed.
We need more women business owners, women in the C-suite, women producers, directors, writers, artists, athletes, in front of and behind the camera, in PR and marketing, as agents and managers, in civic and medical spaces, STEM, finance, and on and on.
We need more stories about our diverse lived experiences, particularly in the workforce and regarding our health, for ourselves and for our little girls to be and feel seen. It's also for the boys we are raising and the men in our lives - to witness and learn how support looks.
To that end, we all need to cultivate psychologically safe spaces that nurture and lift up the women on and offline because we need safe spaces to be seen and heard.
As I love to say in the consulting world, I'm getting smarter about what online safety means, how we protect ourselves and our loved ones in an ever evolving and changing ecosystem. It's challenging when so much is online, when our kids and their friends are online, when a lot of social activity (like gaming, photo and video sharing) exist online.
Yet there is a harmful exploitative element there too when the giants lure us in with the promise of fame and money. I believe a piece of the online safety work is being extremely mindful of who we are and how we show up online, reporting the bad actors, educating and protecting youth, monitoring youth accounts, and holding the online media giants accountable via our representatives.
The other piece of that is who we are offline. Are we showing up as our best selves? In integrity with our values? I believe one of the ways I can support this model of safe spaces and sharing stories is through the coaching work I'm doing. Psychologically safe spaces can exist in our offices, homes, on the phone, on Teams and Zoom meetings.
I love the coaching because it holds space for the possibility, the stories, the breakthroughs, and accelerates our dreams. I might wind up coaching a future female executive, business owner, or creator and I want her to have a safe space to be seen, heard, validated, supported, and empowered to make progress.
I want her to know there are a plethora of outlets to share her story too, should she choose to, however she sees fit, and me and my posse of women will support and protect her.
These are my promises. I already have a few cool ideas up my sleeve for the rest of this year. Stay tuned.
Scenes from SXSW
I schlepped 17 miles in 3 days, had the best time mentoring and meeting new people, caught some live jazz, and left enriched and inspired.
Thank you, SXSW conference team for selecting me to mentor and to my firm, North Highland, for supporting my dream of attending. I'm forever grateful for this bucket-list experience.
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