00:00As a young female associate on Wall Street going out to do depositions,
00:05I would walk into the conference room and someone would say,
00:07we are so glad that you're here. And I thought, wow, how welcoming.
00:11They thought that I was the court reporter.
00:13People will look at you and they'll try and define you,
00:15whether you're a woman, whether you're young,
00:17but people can only do that if you let them.
00:20And so I always viewed my job as defining myself.
00:30Both my parents came from rural communities.
00:33Their parents really scrimped and saved for them to go to college.
00:36That was the way out.
00:39My mother, she told me early on, they're driving across the state,
00:43stopping in country restrooms.
00:46She just decided she was done using the restrooms that were marked colored.
00:51My mother felt that if she was really going to live this life
00:55and show her children that you should not accept
00:58this kind of overt discrimination, that it had to start with her.
01:03From that moment on, she never used segregated facilities again.
01:08And of course, I must also thank my family.
01:11Their commitment to justice has been the inspiration for my life's work.
01:16And it is why I dedicate this day, this event and this achievement to them.
01:23When I was in the confirmation process, I was going into one of the Washington, D.C. hotels.
01:37There was an older African-American gentleman who was a doorman there.
01:41And as I went through, he leaned down and he very quickly whispered in my ear,
01:46good luck, Ms. Lynch.
01:49And it hit me that what I was doing was really going to affect so many people beyond me.
01:56Women are a force to be reckoned with.
01:59The glass ceiling is nothing compared to the determination of women.
02:03That I have been able to help?
02:06That I could put my mind withoutoping out.
02:10I was going into that dictated.
02:13I would not have to have in my heart to be as though I was doing this.
02:16And it's better than that.
02:20And I wish it would take me that my mother was doing this you think.
02:22But I could buy one at tether and do another question.
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