00:00I want to take a moment to talk to the mentees actually first because young
00:06ladies, young women, I can only imagine how you are feeling today but I have
00:14been sitting in my seat imagining it because I don't come from where you come
00:22from but I am deep in my heart and will always be just a kid from the Bronx who
00:27wound up in really fancy rooms and I remember what it felt like to walk into
00:35a room and be confused and overwhelmed and disoriented and inspired and also for
00:46me there were times where I felt a little bit angry that it seemed that there were
00:49a whole population of people who had choices that were not afforded to any of
00:53the people who came from where I came from and I just want to acknowledge that
01:00and to say to you today remember how you feel because in the path that you're
01:06going to walk I guarantee you you are going to continue to be in rooms that
01:12overwhelm you and that call you to bring the best of yourself forward rooms where
01:17you feel like maybe you don't belong or where you're not sure what to say or where
01:21you want to apologize for your big feelings or your accent or your
01:25upbringing or whatever it is and I just want to remind you that that feeling is
01:30a sign that you are growing in the right direction continue to step outside your
01:35comfort zone and go into places that challenge you you are needed in those
01:40rooms you belong in those rooms I'm so grateful that you're in this room today
01:46because don't don't for a second misunderstand you are receiving gifts today but we are
01:55receiving the gift of your presence today and you are changing us as much as this
02:00program is changing you
02:09and and to those of you who did not win quote unquote a scholarship today I also want you to
02:16know that those feelings are a part of the path of success that you don't get to have a story
02:22of
02:22success without having days that you feel like you got everything you wanted and days that you feel like you
02:28didn't so also put that in your pocket and know that that's part of your story and
02:33that's part of your journey and it's a sign that you are moving in the right
02:37direction I promise you
02:46there's a lot of papers up here and I'm nervous I didn't send my stuff to
02:49teleprompter because I was working on it till forever so I'm gonna move these
02:53papers okay okay I'm so grateful to be here today the award I'm presenting is
03:01named for a very powerful woman and it is being presented to a very powerful woman
03:06because let's be honest you guys Hollywood is obsessed with power we love
03:13it we have power lists and power issues and power lunches we strive for power we
03:20court power we traffic in power so I want to talk about it I want to talk about
03:27what power really is because I believe its definition is evolving the narrative is
03:33changing and I think it's changing because of rooms like this and because of
03:38women like Reese Witherspoon we all know what power used to look like in this
03:43town it was about leveraging your authority your access your influence over
03:48other people it was about orchestrating fear it was about excluding people who
03:54were less powerful than you disenfranchising them and in the very worst
03:59cases abusing them assaulting them historically in Hollywood power wasn't
04:06something that many women could get it was gotten and often at our expense and if
04:13somehow we did get it if we somehow clawed our way into a position of power
04:19chances are that we perpetuated many of the crimes that were committed against us
04:24telling ourselves that we had to do whatever it took to stay in that position
04:30even if it meant we were the only ones there who looked like us to be a woman in
04:37power was lonely and it often cost us a great deal but a couple of years ago when
04:45many of us were forced to come to terms with the systematic abuse and misuse of
04:49power in our workplaces Reese started talking publicly privately she was one of the
04:58women who called and invited me deeper into that conversation with other brave and
05:03bold women and together we were all called to do something about it to shift the
05:08balance of power not just in our business but across all industries we may
05:12have been made to feel lonely but we were not alone what we've discovered in
05:19Time's Up is a new kind of Hollywood power a power that is based in unity in
05:24generosity in community and in respect and in the willingness to share and
05:30empower one another in everything we do and this ethos extends beyond just Reese's
05:36activism this is how she operates in her life in all areas you see it in the way
05:43she runs her media company Hello Sunshine we all know unless you are living under a
05:48rock that Hello Sunshine creates rich bold compelling stories about women
05:52stories that despite the conventional wisdom in this town resonate strongly with
05:57all audiences and in doing so Reese has lifted up so many women and not just women who look
06:06like her Reese is creating work with and for women who are younger than her and older than her
06:14bigger than her and smaller than her those who share her race and ethnicity and those of us
06:20who don't she empowers herself to partner with open arms and an eye towards
06:26intersectionality and inclusivity and in doing so she makes it possible for so
06:31many of us to step into our own power because she is stepping into hers and
06:38sharing it the old narrative told us that there was one person that there was
06:46power in singularity in being the one the only the it girl the phenom it
06:55trafficked in control and subjugation and most of all fear it told us that in
06:59order to keep your power you have to reject others reject otherness make other
07:05people feel powerless like they can't have what you have the new narrative the
07:13Reese narrative tells us that our power lies in our partnership that real power
07:20comes from succeeding with people not in succeeding off of people that real power
07:28is born of the humility and grace of sisterhood that's what empowerment means
07:35the more power you share the more power you have and the more power you have the
07:41more you must share this is the lesson that you must learn when you are in Reese's
07:48orbit this is the lesson so many of us are learning from her I'm not alone but I
07:55will say I love this woman as a friend as a sister but also as somewhat of a
08:03mentor and an inspiration Reese isn't just changing the narrative for women in the
08:08content she creates she's changing the narrative for women in real life period
08:17Reese I owe a great deal of my success and dare I say power to Sherry Lansing she
08:26took a chance on me and put me in one of my very first studio films save the last
08:30stands when when my only credit at that point was an independent film that was still being
08:39sliced together in an edit suite but she did it she took a risk it's so fitting that I was
08:46asked to
08:47present an award to you in her name you have both been in your own ways trailblazers you've redefined what
08:56it means to be a powerful woman you've had a tremendous impact on my life and you both
09:03lead with the understanding that the only way we rise is if we share our power and all rise together
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