Latest / Legacy Living with Dr. Gloria Burgess / Global Perspectives: Women and Leadership | Episode #359

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Global Perspectives: Women and Leadership | Episode #359 · Legacy Living with Dr. Gloria Burgess

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Hello, and welcome to today's show, Legacy Living, Make your Life Account.
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I'm your host, doctor Gloria Gloria Burgess, passionate inspirational speaker, author,
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poet, and entrepreneur. Welcome to Legacy Living Make your Life Count.
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I want to give a great big thank you to those of you who are
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listening today, and here's a great big shout out to all of you listening
0:53
around the world. I'm delighted and so grateful that you tuned in. I
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sure hope you are enjoying a fabulous day to day and that you're having a
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fantastic week, because you know what, in the grand song of the universe,
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life is very very short. It's short and sweet and oh so precious.
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So I hope you're making a difference in your own life, because when
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you do, you also make a difference in someone else's life. Now,
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a lot of folks want to make their life count for something, and they
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ask me, how do you do that. Well, it's really very simple,
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very simple. You make your life count, day by day, step
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by step, moment by moment, every single day. Three sixty five twenty
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four seven. That's what Legacy Living, Make your Life Count is all about
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You can learn more about legacy living make your life count by visiting the Gloria
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Burgess website. That's g l o r I A b as and boy u
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r g e ss dot com. That's the Gloria Burgess website g l O
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r I A b u r g e ss dot com. Or by visiting
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Facebook and that's Facebook dot com. Forward slash d R for doctor d r
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g l o r i A b u r g e s s p h
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D forward slash. So today I want to talk with you about leadership,
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a topic that's near and dear to my heart. Specifically, we're going to
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focus on women's leadership and forming your own identity as a leader. In other
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words, today's show is all about asking yourself two very important questions. The
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first question is who am I? And the second question is whose am I?
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So? Who am I? And whose am I? As a leader?
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Now, to help us address those burning questions, I have a very
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special guest on my show today. Her name is Melanie Cremona. She is
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a person of influence and she is very very inspiring. Now, Melanie is
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a leader who makes a difference in her own life and in the lives of
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so many others throughout the world through her work with the United Nations. She
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works at the UN's Institute for Training and Research, which is called UNITAR for
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short. At UNITAR, she heads up the women's Leadership program. I met
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Melanie last fall. We were both attending a women's leadership conference in Stockholm,
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Sweden, and when I heard her speak about her work, she was positively
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supercharged about it. So to simply say that she's interested in her work would
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definitely be an understatement. This young woman is truly passionate about her work,
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and I must say she is most definitely a woman with a mission. She
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is on fire to change the world, and in particular to change the world
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for women leaders. When you hear her story, you'll learn why she's so
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passionate about making a difference about changing the world in this way. I was
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struck by her passion, But you know, this is just one of the
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many wonderful qualities that drew me to her, and I should say that drew
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me and all the other women to Melanie at this conference and to her work.
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Indeed, we were blessed to have her there as one of our honored
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mentors. Melanie is twenty three years old, and she describes herself as a
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Lebanese Greek expap Her work at unitar is focused on women and women's leadership.
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Her specific mission is to strengthen women's participation in multilateral conferences and decision making forums.
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She's also in charge of organizing high level events with prominent leaders and personalities,
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including Nobel Prize winners. Melanie attended the University of Paris seven and the
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University of Copenhagen, obtaining her degree in sociology and anthropology. She also obtained
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the International Diploma in Humanitarian Assistance from Fordham University. Melanie says that she's always
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dreamed about making a meaningful impact in the world and often likes to question conventional
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norms. Well, during my conversation with her, you will hear more about
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her dreams. You will also hear about how she was shaped and formed as
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a leader. All was a particular focus of serving other leaders. You know,
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in many ways, Melanie's outlook on life and in her work pulls together
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the many threads of what my own life and work are all about. You've
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heard me talk about some of these threads and themes on this show. The
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themes of gratitude, authenticity, generosity, strength, passion, presence, hope,
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and possibility. I just love it. Two women, Melanie and me,
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from very different backgrounds, very different cultures, very different in age and
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lifestyle, and yet so many common threads. Can I just tell you something.
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We had a fabulous conversation and I'm so excited to have this amazing leader
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with us today. This is going to be a fabulous show. You don't
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want to miss a single word of it. So put on your walking shoes,
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grab your earbuds, or just relax in your favorite chair and grab yourself
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a cup of coffee or tea or a nice cool glass of water. You're
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going to want to take notes today. We're gonna have a good time.
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But before I jump into today's show, I just want to take a moment
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to welcome you. If you're just joining us, I'm your host, Doctor
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Gloria, and this is Legacy Living, Make your life count. I'd like
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to extend a special welcome to those of you who are joining my show,
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or if you're joining Talk Network Radio for the very first time, You're in
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for a real treat. I'm excited to have you listening in today, and
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I'm deeply honored that you've allowed me to be part of your day so you
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can be inspired by the ideas and resources to make your life count. Today's
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program is all about women's leadership and developing your own identity as a leader,
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with my guest Melanie Cremona. Welcome to the show. Melanie. I'm so
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glad that you're here and I can't wait to talk with you about your passion
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for women's leadership. Thank you very much, Gloria. It's such an honor
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for me to be with you, and thank you very much for giving me
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this opportunity and for taking the time as well, because we're both talking from
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different countries, so it's such a pleasure as well. Thank you so much.
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Yes, this is really a blessing for me, and I know it's
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going to be a blessing for our listeners. Melanie, again by asking you,
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you know, when I met you, you were just so passionate about
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what you were what you were doing. And you know the way that we
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met was through a women's leadership conference, and I'm just wondering what made you
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realize you were so passionate about social problems, including women's rights, gender equality,
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and women's leadership. Well, yes, I mean I must say that
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from a young age, I realized I had a very strong empathy towards people
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in need of help, and I always felt very sensitive and would always make
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people's problems my own problems. I must say it was a blessing and occurs
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at the same time because it developed a sense of guilt and purpose in me,
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and I need to feel useful and to contribute something to our society.
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So I was passionate about philosophy sociology about the way of society can affect a
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person's life, and this was the reason why I decided to pursue a degree
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in sociology. And during my degree, I had to take a gender in
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sexist course, which was mandatory, and I was very skeptical and a bit
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weirded out about it because I was a firm believer at the time that there
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was no need to work on feminism, and I was very judgmental, so
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I believe that anyone who wanted to be equal to men clearly lacked a lot
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of ambition. So I realized I was really stubborn as well. During my
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degree and I learned so many things that brought me back down to Earth,
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so so many things really made more sense as well around my identity as a
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woman, and I started understanding how my Lebanese background play a major role in
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shaping my identity as a woman, and how badly feminism was needed in our
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society, especially coming from a Middle Eastern country where it's true that compared to
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other Arabic countries, women might have a bit more rights, but there are
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still so many loopholes in the law and so many issues that no one talks
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about. I also had a chance to do an exchange in Copenhagen for one
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year, and at the time the prime Minister was a female, and there
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is also the Queen who plays an important role in the society there. So
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all these things opened up my eyes and made me realize I was really passionate
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about gender issues and really wanted me made me want to work for the UN
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and do something about all these all these problems. Well, thank you,
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that's quite a background that you have there, Melanie. Thank you for sharing
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that with us. So you talk with us a little bit about some of
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the challenges that you faced as a woman. You mentioned your Lebanese background and
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how did your background shape your identity in that perspective. So yeah, I
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grew up in a society where paradoxically can find many women holding leadership positions in
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the workplace and being very equal to men. And yet there are still many
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many loopholes and paradoxes. So if I can give you an examples, women
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can't get loans for plastic surgery and religion, the age for marriage is still
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nine, and in the law, men can rape women as long as they
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marry them afterwards. Also, women are not able to give their nationality to
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their children, and there's no clear distinction between sex and rape during marriage because
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a wife needs to fulfill their her duties and religion and patriarchal norms still persist.
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So let's say there's still a lot of patriarchal problems and issues towards gender
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equality and respect for women, which makes things really difficult to understand. And
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given these facts, it has become very difficult to find my identity because women
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are over sexualized, but at the same time there are sexually liberated and free
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there they still face a lot of judgment. And I grew up myself being
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a tomboy and I still struggle to this day to be very feminine. This
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means that I was often asked why I was wearing men's clothes or didn't wear
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enough jewelry or makeup, or that I should probably find husband instead of working
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and focusing on my own growth. So I have to also, I have
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listened to a lot of women while growing up being beaten by their husbands,
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raped or forced to abort. I've listened to women who were scared to talk
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about their relationships or to this day are still very much afraid to talk about
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sex, relationships or anything related to it, simply because it is taboo.
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So these perceptions of how women should be and behave were the main challenges I
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faced, and it's only when I was able to travel and educate myself that
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I became more comfortable with my feminity and to become a tomboyd without worrying about
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it. So I still face some comments from time to time, even about
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the fact that I consider myself a feminist, but it affects me less and
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less, and I also do feel bad for many of my friends in Lebanon
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and in other countries where the rights of women are oppressed, I mean where
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women are oppressed who still struggle to be free women and liberated women. So
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nowadays I do feel a bit more comfortable to be directly involved in contributing to
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the inhention of women's leadership. But and the fact I'm given, being given
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the test to work on the women's leadership program was the blessing that came into
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my life at the right time and in the right moment. But the challenge
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I face as well is seeing all these women still struggling. I must say,
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yeah, well, thank you. That's amazing. The many, many
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contradictions and what you call paradoxes in your culture, and I think you actually
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speak for many women around the world. I get to travel and speak in
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various countries, and although you know on the surface it seems one way,
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when you just go like one or two layers deep, you find all of
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these paradoxes in these in these various places elsewhere. So thank you for addressing
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that and for naming those things. I appreciate it. Let me ask you,
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in your opinion, what are some of the challenges that women face specifically
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with regard to leadership. And if you could change one thing, you know,
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if you could just make it happen. One is the thing which change
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did you just talk to us a little bit about that. Yes, it's
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a very difficult question, and it's actually really interesting at the same time,
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because there are so many things they need to change, and there are things
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that can be easily changed and some things that are very difficult to change.
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So if I could, first of all, I would change the law and
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everything related to law and religion, because in Lebanon, for example, at
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least, law is mainly based on religion, and there are so many patriarchal
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norms that still persist in religion. But then again, you may want to
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change the law, but there's still the culture that persists. So it's hard
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to really tell at first, because someone we want we want to change the
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law, but the most difficult thing to change nowadays the culture. And if
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I could change the way the culture is and how the way we communicate with
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each other's because I believe nowadays there is a lot of there is actually a
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lack of meaningful conversation and society and people who want to talk about subjects that
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are as taboo really fear to be judged. And I still struggle a lot
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with the culture and the communication. So if I could change this, I
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would change definitely the way people think about women. And because there are so
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many people I talk to who do not believe gender inequality is such a big
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deal, and to focus on it wouldn't probably bring more positive discrimination or even
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worse, make gender distinction persist. Yet gender equality is such an easily achievable
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goal compared to war, for instance, And to this day, culture is
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the number one obstacle we all face. So if I could change things,
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I would definitely start with the law, which is the basis of everything in
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their society nowadays, and the culture especially because and I would change this as
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well through communication, and that's why I try to do every single day and
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try to really talk and and there to talk about subjects that people are afraid
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to talk about. I don't know if that makes sense, Oh, it
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makes it makes all kinds of sense. And I appreciate you bringing in the
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fact that culture, you know, culture is such as it's like a multiplier,
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you know, Yeah, everything exactly, very difficult to do. It's
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like, I don't know that much about your culture. But as I hear
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you talk, I'm imagining that there's so many things for the past for hundreds
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and maybe even several millennia that are so deeply rooted in the culture that you
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know, changing those kinds of things is just very very daunting, not impossible,
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but daunting. Yeah, So thank you again, Melanie for shedding the
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light on some of these areas that you care about, that you're passionate about.
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And I'm wondering. I know that you work at the UN, and
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can you tell us a little bit about what you're currently working on there and
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what drew you specifically to work on a women's leadership program. Okay, yes,
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for sure. I mean it's certain that my passion for human rights and
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sociology and contributing to the enhancement of our world brought me to work for the
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UN. It was certainly a childhood dream and I specialized in humanitarian assistance initially,
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but life brought me to Geneva at the heart of multilateral diplomacy, and
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the women's Leadership program was handed out to me. It was a very fresh
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and broad new program and that was launched in twenty fifteen by my colleague with
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the Menday to enhance women's participation negotiations. So my task, my current task,
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and my positions are quite broad. Though I organized high level events inviting
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high level personalities such as Nobel Peace Price and with the purpose to deliver inspirational
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stories talking about leadership and how civil society can lead also the way things are
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in our society and the Women's Leadership Program is a specific program that has been
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mandate to build the skills, knowledge and capacities of women and government officials accredited
19:26
to the UN and its entities, as well as civil servants and people from
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the private sector. The core activity under the Women's Leadership Program is to provide
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capacity building for self reflection, learning and development and increase women's participation in decision
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making and in politics. It has been expended to people from other backgrounds who
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wish to undertake leadership positions too. And I believe this is how we met
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through a women's Leadership workshop and retreat that was done in Stockholm. Yeah.
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So yeah, it's it's all about communicating, developing capacities of them in and
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also providing inspirational stories, uh so that people can can also be part of
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major changes on in a global scale. I know when I met you at
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the at the conference in Sweden, your presence just seemed to radiate. Thank
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you, it did you know, I know. I think, as I
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recall, Melanie, many of the women in that in that circle commented to
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you, you know, something similar, and I just you know, your
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position and the works that you're doing there is so so needed and so necessary.
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Uh. And it's just like you said, it's a blood thing that
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you're able to be there to help lift these women leaders into a new place
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so that they can shine a light for the rest of us. So thank
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you for that work. Thank you very much, thank you. You're so
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welcome. And the question I'd like to ask you in relation to the work
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that you just talked about, you know, because this is this is big
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works. You know, this is not something that's going to happen overnight,
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of course, And so I'm wondering, Melanie, what are the things that
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you think that would help you achieve some of the goals that you laid out.
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Yes, so well, mainly since I work on the Women's Leadership program,
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I use the un as a platform to really reach out to as many
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people as I can. That's my starting point in a way. I want
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to be able to use this platform to be able to reach out many people.
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And since UNITOR is an entirely self funded organization and dependent from the Secretariat
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of the United Nations. This means that we rely on donor contributions and our
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main donors are governments permanent missions, mainly who wish to associate their names to
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this project and who believe in the impact of capacity building in gender equalities.
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As I do not have a person, no brand on my own to advertise,
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which I would love to have in the future, I wish to appeal
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to donations to this interview perhaps and invite whoever wishes to contribute or discuss solutions
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and projects or even partnerships to reach out to me to be able to discuss
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these things. I believe in partnership union to help achieve a larger impact.
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So far, this program has been struggling to be implemented because of lack of
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contributions, and one of the major issues we face is that organizations want to
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do these workshops, want to enhance the skills of their women's but always blame
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the fact that there is no funds or it's not their decisions to send women
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to participate to conferences. So there are so many excuses out there, but
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the fact the way to partner and to contribute would really be something very helpful.
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And I can say that because, well, first the action you gave
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me as well yourself, was that it really had an impact on some of
23:03
the participants. But I do realize the impact myself as well when other participants
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come to me and telling me, oh, this workshop finally helped me not
23:15
being shy anymore and made me realize how shy I was, or made me
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realize how many barriers I was imposing on myself and how nice and polite I
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was before, and how I need to be more assertive and believe in myself.
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So I believe that capacity building and education is something really everyone needs to
23:33
focus on, and help from partnerships would really is It's really needed. So
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this is how I shape my identity myself through education and through capacity building.
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And I believe as well that what would help is communicating with other people.
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So in my daily life, I try as much as I can to believe
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I can make an impact. So what would help is for people to really
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communicate hate and discuss about gender inequality and stop being so judgmental in a way.
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I believe in communication, capacity building and just rea having discussions with people,
24:12
creating new partnerships and highlighting the importance of women's participation and negotiations or gender
24:19
equality or the benefits of gender equality would really be something that is needed.
24:23
So I hope I answered the question correctly. Thank you. No, you
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mentioned many things in this question, so I just kind of want to unpack
24:34
it a little bit. You mentioned UNITAR. Can you tell us what that
24:37
acronym stands for, Melanie, Yes, it's the United Nations Institute for Training
24:44
and Research. Okay, it's the training arm of the ns Yes, okay,
24:49
And so that's UNITAR. And you talked about building a platform so that
24:53
you can reach more people. You talked about funding. You talked about kind
24:59
of the stigma, uh, you know, which is connected to funding.
25:03
I think there's still a general sense that women are less san and we have
25:07
to do, you know, more to get to the table. That kind
25:11
of things about the importance of capacity building and communicating and having conversations with one
25:18
another. Yes, yeah, Did I get most of those things in yes,
25:22
Yes, okay. And you know, I think as you were talking,
25:26
I was thinking about I think Margaret meads that you know, never doubt
25:30
that a small group of people can change the world. It's the only way
25:33
to change happens exactly. Yeah, And these conversations that you're talking about,
25:41
it really is one woman, one circle, one group at a time.
25:45
And I'm just again, just delighted that you are involved in this work.
25:49
So thank you again for for what you're doing and what you're sharing. And
25:55
I'd love to ask you a question. We talked about this several months ago
25:59
when we chatted about the show, So this is a more personal question,
26:03
not about your work per se, but a more personal question, Melanie,
26:07
is that okay if I ask you one of those, of course, of
26:10
course, Okay. I would love for you to just talk a little bit
26:15
about one or two or you know, some of the women in your life,
26:21
women leaders in particular, who have influenced you and your leadership. Wow,
26:29
it's really it's really interesting. It's a question I must say, and
26:33
it's very hard as well to answer because there are so many women at the
26:38
same time, and paradoxically enough, there's not many women leaders that are portrayed
26:45
in society, which makes people sometimes a bit lost when they have this question.
26:52
So I don't want to sound cliche by saying this, but it's true
26:56
that my mom was one of the major your female figure I had growing up.
27:03
And it could really sound cliche because everyone grows up with a female figure
27:11
that is close to their family in a way. But my mom was really
27:15
a very strong woman, and she really had a very tough background because she
27:22
had to take care of her parents alone. She had to really work hard
27:26
and set aside her education to be able to really provide for her own parents.
27:32
And I've never seen her cry or being devastated, and I'm not saying
27:37
that's a good thing at the same time, but I've seen her always very
27:41
strong and very resilient, which really inspired me in my leadership journey because I
27:48
realized that it's true that life will give you a lot of lemon, it's
27:52
really how you deal with them that will shape you your personality in a way.
27:57
And her and her sister were quite strong women, and they were very
28:03
My aunt as well, was very involved in protest as when she was young,
28:07
and she's very she she's a leader in her own hearts, and those
28:12
two women influenced me a lot. But if I have to speak about famous
28:17
figures, I must say that maybe Rosa Parks and Oprah were two female leaders
28:25
that inspired me for their determination and for embracing their challenges and doing something about
28:32
it. And also it really might signd silly, but when I was younger,
28:36
I grew up watching a lot of TV shows, and these TV shows
28:41
had a lot of female protagonists. There were goofy and who were embracing their
28:45
goofiness and clumsiness and at the same time being comfortable with it. And I
28:49
do believe this is needed because it really allowed me to be very comfortable with
28:53
my own self. So I also grew up watching The Power Up of Girls,
28:59
which is an animated cartoon. It might sound really innocent, but the
29:03
fact to see that women had powers while at the same time being seminine and
29:07
embracing their own seminity and characters was really inspirational for me because I really wanted
29:12
to grow up being a superwoman and this helped a lot in my determination.
29:18
Yeah, and what I think you're saying is that it helps to have role
29:22
models, you know, even as a you know, as a child,
29:26
you don't think about your mom or your aunt or these figures that you're watching
29:30
on TV. You don't think about them as role models, but they impress
29:34
you in some way. Something about their spirits something about you know, as
29:38
you mentioned how they overcome challenges their determination there, it's just ignites something within
29:45
us, doesn't it, Yes, exactly. I mean it's it's very silly
29:48
to say and to talk about cartoons and TV shows, but it actually really
29:53
plays a major role. I mean, if you grew up watching tales where
29:57
there are princesses for their princes, you might have a different perspective than watching
30:03
girls who have powers and are saving the world before bedtime. So I was
30:10
really always inspired by that, and I do believe that nowadays we really need
30:15
more figures like that to to provide to two young women because I discussed a
30:19
lot with women that were younger than me, and the fact that I highlighted
30:25
all these things about masculinity and being afraid and shamed of your clumsiness or your
30:32
goofiness or things like that really talked a lot to them and they were like,
30:36
oh, thank god, someone is thinking the same as me. And
30:40
we're really tend to hide all these problems, but they're quite important in my
30:44
opinion. And yeah, so the same you know what you're what you're saying
30:49
is right in my sweet spot because the images that we project whether they're through
30:56
cartoons or TV shows or movies or you know, magazines or whatever. We
31:02
are what we consume. And if we're consuming images of women that are stereotypical
31:07
and that keep us bound and repressed and restricted, that's what we're going to
31:12
metabolize for ourselves and imagine for ourselves. I'm reading a book by Thomas Moore
31:18
right now that I love the number of times. It's called Care of the
31:22
Soul, And you know, one of the things he talks about that just
31:26
really grabs me. He says being being follows imagination. And so when you
31:33
say that you saw these images that you know, we're goofy images that allowed
31:37
you to be comfortable in your own skin. And that makes so much sense
31:41
to me. I think we talked about the arts and leadership and how we
31:45
can use the arts to really help transform those images into images that are women
31:52
who are innovative and imaginative and creative and all of those things. So thank
32:00
you again for sharing that bit about yourself. Thank you for listening and not
32:04
judging as well, because I mean, people can say, oh, well,
32:07
out of all these female leaders, these are the ones that she could
32:12
come up with. But as you say, I mean, we are shaped
32:15
by what we watch and see when we grew up, So I do believe
32:20
it's important to address this issue absolutely, Thank you. So I'm wondering if
32:24
there's a project that you're working on right now or something that's coming up for
32:30
you that you'd like to make sure that our listeners here about. Yeah.
32:35
One of the projects I currently work on is the Women's Leadership Program. As
32:38
I previously said, this program is really important and dear to my heart because
32:44
I do believe in capacity building. I do believe in education and enhancing skills
32:50
the many women needs. And I know this because of the feedback I've received
32:54
from lots of participants who talk to these workshops and who came to me and
32:59
told me that it really changed their lives in a way, and it really
33:02
opened up their eyes and it made them more confident in themselves. And this
33:07
acts as a multiplier effect because they can go back to their capitals in a
33:10
way, or to their countries and provide trainings on their own to other women.
33:15
And I think that this program is really important and people can reach out
33:21
to me at any time at Leadership at unitar dot org to discuss to even
33:25
share experiences to discuss possibilities of partnerships or contributions. We really want to be
33:32
inclusive in the un try to really work on partnering with out their organizations to
33:37
provide more workshops and on larger scale. So this is my professional project,
33:43
which is also a personal project. But as a personal project, I've been
33:46
trying as well to really tell people about the importance of women's leadership and gender
33:53
equality. So I do a lot of communication with people. I try to
33:58
really open conversation, and I would really like to invite the audience to listen
34:02
to do that in their own lives and to really take a step back and
34:07
see how their unconscious bias can affect as well their own actions, because they
34:12
did for me. And it's only through communication and open mindness that I was
34:16
able to really see how judgmental I was and how women can also be very
34:22
discriminatory to where it's others. I mean, it's it's it's important to communicate.
34:28
So these are the personal projects to really try to have an impact on
34:31
a very small scale at first, and try not to really be too ambitious
34:36
while being scared to do anything. But it's just my main message is to
34:40
also say that there's a saying that says, I wonder why sometimes no one
34:45
did anything about it, or someone should have done something about it. And
34:51
it's important to realize that you are that anybody, and you are that something
34:53
someone, and you can do something about anything. And it doesn't have to
34:59
be major impact or something that is really big. It can be really a
35:04
conversation or a communication with someone, or a remark or taking a step back
35:09
towards our own beliefs in our own judgments to try to be more open.
35:15
And anyone can make a change at any time. And yeah, I do
35:21
believe that this is really important. Yeah, yeah, well thank you.
35:24
What you're saying is so important. Many people that I meet in my leadership
35:30
travels, I work with leaders of all ages and lots of different cultures,
35:36
women, men, young people, et cetera. And a lot of times
35:39
they go, you know that, you know, I'm just one person.
35:43
What can I do to change the world? And as you just said,
35:45
Melanie, it doesn't have to be huge, It doesn't have to be written
35:50
across the sky, right, it doesn't small thing in your world that makes
35:55
a difference in somebody else's world. And that really is I think the heart
36:01
of this work of leadership work. You know, there's some things that are
36:07
that are very large in scale, and there's some things that are that are
36:12
fairly fairly small that are you know, within our reach, within our graphs.
36:15
So thank you for making that distinction for our listeners and even and even
36:21
given your example having a radio show to discuss all these things. And it's
36:25
really inspiring in a way because it's it's definitely through listening to people and through
36:31
exchanging ideas that we can make a change and get even inspired to do new
36:36
things as well. So thank you as well for doing this yourself and for
36:39
giving me the opportunity to to speak ups as well. You are so welcome,
36:45
and to your point, you know, there there's so many people in
36:50
countries that don't have the kind of infrastructure communications infrastructure that we enjoy in various
36:57
parts of Europe where you are, and United States and an other well funded
37:01
and you know, so called developed countries and but but everybody seems to have
37:07
a cell phone, you know, and you have a cell phone, you
37:13
can have access to a show like this. And one of my secret goals,
37:16
just so you know, is to have this kind of conversation so that
37:22
people all over the world can can tune in and listen, because that's how
37:27
we grow. Without access to this kind of information, you know, you're
37:30
just kind of stuck in your own, your own little world, and you
37:34
may not know what's happening out there. What's possible for you? Yeah,
37:37
definitely, Yeah, for the work that you're doing, for the passion that
37:44
you have, for bringing your background into play and being inspired by those women
37:51
in your life who made a difference for you when you were younger, and
37:54
that you're now able to radiate that and do the same for other for other
38:00
women. Thank you so much, Melanie, Thank you, thank you for
38:02
giving me the opportunity. You're so welcome. I wish you a good rest
38:07
of your It's evening there now for you, and it's morning for me.
38:13
Good evening, and I can't wait to introduce you to my listeners and great.
38:20
Thank you so much, and thank you also for the audience who are
38:22
listening as well. All right, thank you, fantastic, wonderful nuggets.
38:30
Thanks again to Melanie Cremona for being my guest today. If you'd like to
38:37
learn more about Melanie's work or, as she mentioned during today's conversation. If
38:43
you'd like to donate to units HAARS programming to support women leaders, you can
38:47
reach out to Melanie via this email address and that's leadership at unitar dot org.
38:55
Leadership at unitar dot org. And remember for Unitarre is you ni Taar
39:02
dot org. So if you want to reach out to Melanie, she'd be
39:07
very happy to hear from you. Now, if you've missed any part of
39:10
this week's broadcast about women's leadership, developing your own leadership identity, you can
39:16
listen to the podcast right here on Talk Network Radio Now. You can also
39:22
find me on iTunes, SoundCloud, Alexa, and many many other places.
39:29
Now, before I close today's show, I just want to give us shout
39:32
out to all the women, all the women all around the world, and
39:37
to my mom, who just celebrated her birthday. Yay, love you Mom.
39:44
When Melanie mentioned her mom as one of the women leaders who influenced her,
39:47
you know I was thinking the very same thing as I know many of
39:51
you were too, because you know what, I asked this question a lot
39:54
of people all over the world. I was just presenting a keynote a few
40:00
days ago, and this was one of the questions I asked the folks in
40:02
the audience, who inspired you when you were a young girl or boy?
40:07
Who did you look up to? Who did you admire and why? And
40:13
you know what, no matter where I am in the world, a response
40:15
to that question is always the same. Who inspired you? Who influenced you?
40:22
This is what I hear, Well, my mom or my dad,
40:27
or my grandpa or my grandma. Right, So, you know, it's
40:30
amazing how much impact we have as leaders in our own home. Now.
40:37
Most parents don't think about themselves as leaders, right, They're just kind of
40:40
scratching their head figuring out this parenting things. But we are. That's what
40:44
we are, leaders for our children, and we have so much influence and
40:49
impact in our own home with our own children. So mom's and dad's out
40:53
there, even when it seems like your daughter or son isn't paying attention,
41:00
let me tell you something. They are. They're listening. Okay, they're
41:04
listening, and they're soaking it all in. And more than anything else,
41:09
they are watching you. Let me be really clear. They are scoping you
41:15
out. They're observing every single thing you do, every little nuance. Right.
41:22
More importantly, they're watching you because they want to see if what you
41:27
say and what you do line up right. Our actions really do speak much
41:34
louder than our words. A good friend of mine who's a former CEO,
41:39
she says this, you know, whether you're a parent or whether you're in
41:43
the boardroom as a leader, in any context, your walk has got to
41:49
talk louder than your talk talks. That's great, isn't Then let me repeat
41:53
that, She says, your walk has got to talk louder than you're talked.
42:00
Now, why is that? Because that's how we build the bridge called
42:06
trust. Right, That's how we strengthen our bond with those we love.
42:13
That's how we deepen our relationships one step at a time, inch by inch,
42:17
mile by mile, and smile by smile at home, at work,
42:22
and in any area of our lives, every single day. Three sixty five
42:29
twenty four seven. So ask yourself, how is your walk lining up with
42:36
your talk? You know what, It's never too late to get your walk
42:39
and your talk lined up, to get your act together, so to speak,
42:44
so you can take it on the road and make a difference in someone's
42:49
life, the difference that only you can make. Remember this, how you
42:55
live is how you lead. How you live is how you lead. Now,
43:05
if you're happen to miss any part of this week's broadcast, or if
43:07
you missed last week's show, you can listen to a podcast of the show
43:13
at your convenience. You can even listen to it on the go. How
43:15
about that. Check us out at www dot Talk Network Radio dot com.
43:24
Forward Slash Hosts Forward Slash Legacy Living. That's Talknetwork Radio dot com. Forward
43:34
Slash Hosts Forward Slash Legacy Living. Before I close today, I want to
43:43
thank each of you for tuning in to today's show and for allowing me to
43:49
share just a bit about my journey with what Legacy living is all about,
43:52
not just living and learning, but living and learning and serving so that you
43:59
may a difference in your own life and in the lives of others. It's
44:04
about being on purpose every single day. Three sixty five twenty four seven.
44:12
Legacy Living is one of the many ways to make your life count. Once
44:19
again, thank you for joining me for today's show. I'm your host,
44:23
doctor Gloria Gloria Burgess, and this has been Legacy Living Make your life count.
44:30
Please join me again next week right here on Talk Network Radio for another
44:37
show of legacy living. Make your life count, don't miss it, and
44:45
don't just count the days in your life. Make the days in your life
44:51
count. That's what legacy living is all about. Have a fantastic day and
44:57
remember, make the days in your life count. God bless you. That's
45:16
our show today. I'm your host, doctor Gloria Gloria Burgess. I hope
45:22
you'll join me again next week. Until then, don't just count the days
45:28
in your life, make the days in your life account. That's what legacy
45:34
living is all about. Here's to you. Have a fantastic day. Be
45:39
sure to make it a yes kind of day and remember, celebrate, celebrate
45:45
the music of your life. Make the day in your life count