00:00Hi, how are you guys? My name is Aaliyah Logan. I'm a Jamaican womanist from New York City.
00:09A fun fact about me is that I was awarded the Girl Up Hero Award alongside Tarana Burke,
00:15which was a crazy honor to be awarded alongside such amazing women who are doing amazing work
00:21with gender equality. My unstoppable equalizer are women around the world who are advocating
00:26for gender equality. To me, doing the work to advocate for gender equality is on a very wide
00:32spectrum, and it starts and includes stay-at-home moms. Moms like mine who immigrated from Jamaica
00:38to America to make sure that my family had a strong foundation. My friends and family inspire me by
00:45showing me what it means to be an advocate for change. Throughout my entire life, I've watched
00:50my older sisters and my mom do amazing things in their respective fields, whether it was pursuing
00:56a degree. They always make sure that they're safe and they're doing well, but while doing that,
01:01they made sure that I was okay as well. I took those experiences and those life lessons, and I
01:06turned that into advocacy. Advocating for yourself is extremely important, but it's even more important
01:11to advocate for other people who may not know how to do so themselves. My friends have taught me so
01:17much about international issues and how to advocate for different groups of people in different ways.
01:22So they inspire me by always continuing to be their authentic selves.
01:32My social cause overall is advocating for young people around the world, specifically young women
01:38of color. I have been able to do amazing work in three different fields, but I recognize that these
01:44three fields are not separate, but they must be viewed in an intersectional lens. I work with Youth Over Guns
01:49to advocate for safety in communities. Now, safety in communities is a very broad and large spectrum
01:55that includes many different things, but we specifically focus on ending gun violence in Black
02:00and Brown and communities that experience poverty. Furthermore, I work with the Girl Up leadership
02:06campaign, which I'm proud to say that I've made such amazing friends internationally that are doing the work
02:12to advocate for gender equality. Through Girl Up, I've been able to speak and advocate and talk and meet
02:18so many different people from around the world that really care about issues that are, they are most
02:24impacted and issues that they are not even impacted by, which really fuels me to continue to advocate
02:30for myself and for other people. Lastly, I work with UNICEF to advocate for children's rights. And to me,
02:37advocating for children's rights is one of the most important issues that I'm able to advocate for.
02:42Children's rights must be upheld and it's insane to me that children are the most impacted by these
02:49issues, but the least heard of when it comes to policy decisions and everything in life in general.
02:55So it's so important for me to have conversation with children and have conversation with young people
03:00around the world and really let them understand that they have power in their own voice and in their
03:05story to advocate for change. To me, advocating for this is directly connected to my Equalizer mission,
03:11because we should be advocating for a world where everyone has an equal access to an equal playing
03:16field and they're able to have access to an education, safety in their communities,
03:21and gender equality. But that's extremely important to me.
03:24I plan to continue their legacy through collectivism. Continuing their legacy is a very large and hard
03:37task, but there's nothing that you can't do without a solid group of people that you can depend on.
03:42Collectivism is focusing on the importance of building community and not focusing on individualism.
03:49Focusing on making sure you and your people are good and you're able to advocate for issues.
03:54To me, when I was growing up, living in the Bronx, I've always heard people say that you have to
04:00speak a certain way or act a certain way or even dress a certain way for people to be able to take
04:05your story and your voice seriously. It's so important for me to meet people where they're at
04:11and let them know that you can be the person you are and be your most authentic self while also being
04:16an advocate and an activist for change. We are all already activists. Your shared experience
04:22with a specific issue is enough for you to get involved and enough for you to make change. You
04:28don't need to have awards or so many of those superficial things to be able to advocate for
04:35issues. You just have to have a good heart. So I definitely want to continue to that legacy. It's so
04:41important to continue to get out there and advocate for issues. And of course now with the coronavirus,
04:46it's harder to do that in person, but it's even easier to do that with new technology like Zoom or
04:52virtual platforms where you're able to meet people from all around the world in different spaces.
04:57So what a day today has been, right? Y'all got some gems. Y'all took some notes.
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