Power In Words

Speakers remind we’re stronger, better together

Courtesy photo Partnered with Reese Witherspoon's media brand Hello Sunshine and sponsored by Walmart, Together Live brings five incredible women to Fayetteville, including Boz Saint John (pictured), to share their stories and encourage inspiring conversations with everyone, not just fellow women.
Courtesy photo Partnered with Reese Witherspoon's media brand Hello Sunshine and sponsored by Walmart, Together Live brings five incredible women to Fayetteville, including Boz Saint John (pictured), to share their stories and encourage inspiring conversations with everyone, not just fellow women.

Five women, five unique experiences, five stories to share with tonight's audience at the Walton Arts Center.

"The No. 1 most-used word on social media used to describe the evening is 'life changing.' In the good way," explains Jennifer Rudolph Walsh. Walsh is the head of Worldwide Literary, Lectures and Conference Divisions at William Morris Endeavor and the founder of Together Live -- a touring live event where women share their authentic stories to facilitate connection with audiences through inspiring conversations.

FAQ

Hello Sunshine x Together Live

WHEN — 8 p.m. today

WHERE — Walton Arts Center in Fayetteville

COST — $25-$43

INFO — 443-5600, waltonartscenter.org, togetherlive.com

FYI — Fayetteville’s lineup features Jen Hatmaker, Bozoma Saint John, Geena Rocero, Sabrina Jalees and CAM.

"We are in the field beyond right and wrong. We're not interested in that. What do we have in common? And what are the things that actually bind us together? They're so much greater than this divisiveness that I think the media and the world [are] really amplifying right now. We all want the same things. We want an impactful life; we want to know that we matter; we want to be seen. And that's really what we're amplifying."

"I wish there had been an event like this when I was a kid or even a young woman, to know that there was a community who I could connect with, who probably felt the same. ... I may have felt more powerful in my younger years," Bozoma ("Boz") Saint John confesses. Saint John returns for her second year with Together Live as she joins tonight's lineup. "If I'd had a base like that where I could have heard other women talk about some of these challenges or feel the support of this type of network, I certainly would have been a bada** much earlier."

A quick glance at Saint John's life or career reveals that yes, "bada**" is the correct identifier. Though she was born in the U.S., Saint John lived in Ghana the first 12 years of her life, so the beginning of her life in America came from the immigrant perspective. Many on the internet know her today as "the coolest person to ever go onstage at an Apple event," so dubbed by Buzzfeed following her debut at the company's developers' conference when she was the head of global consumer marketing. Since then, Saint John was the person brought in to fix Uber's image in 2017 and left the company after nearly a year to take the CMO spot at entertainment conglomerate Endeavor. (Not to mention everything awesome she did before Buzzfeed discovered her only two years ago, and her own empowering public persona.)

"I recognize how important resilience is today versus just trying to achieve. Earlier in my career, wanting to achieve and wanting to succeed was foremost in my mind," Saint John shares. "And now I realize that it's actually not about climbing the ladder, it's about being resilient -- being able to weather the storm, being able to be strong enough for not just yourself, but your sister next to you, being able to pull others along the journey with you. That's much more important than just achieving on my own.

"There's an African proverb that says 'If you want to go fast, you go alone. If you want to go far, you go together.' To me, I want to go far and fast," she adds cheekily. "Which means that in some cases, you do have to do things by yourself. But in a lot of cases, you've got to do it with your community, and you'll be so much stronger that way. So the lessons I've learned along the way have been about resilience and therefore being able to bring people along the journey with me versus trying to just achieve by myself."

NAN What's Up on 11/16/2018

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