Latest / Legacy Living with Dr. Gloria Burgess / Advancing Women's Leadership | Episode #385

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Advancing Women's Leadership | Episode #385 · Legacy Living with Dr. Gloria Burgess

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Hello, and welcome to today's show, Legacy Living, Make your Life Count.
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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
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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 to seven. That's what Legacy Living, Make your Life Count is.
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All about You can learn more about legacy living make your life count by visiting
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the Gloria Burgess website. That's g l o r I A b as in
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boy you r g e s s dot com. That's the Gloria Burgess website
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g l O r I A b u r g e s s dot com.
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Or by visiting Facebook and that's Facebook dot com. Forward slash d R
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for doctor d r g l o r I A b U r g e
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s s p h d forward slash. So today I want to talk with
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you about leadership, a topic that's near and dear to my heart. Specifically,
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we're going to focus on women's leadership and forming your own identity as a
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leader. In other words, today's show is all about asking yourself two very
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important questions. The first question is who am I? And the second question
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is whose am I? So? Who am I? And whose am I?
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As a leader. Now, to help us address those burning questions,
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I have a very special guest on my show today. Her name is Melanie
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Cremona. She is a person of influence and she is very very inspiring.
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Now, Melanie is a leader who makes a difference in her own life and
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in the lives of so many others throughout the world through her work with the
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United Nations. She works at the UN's Institute for Training and Research, which
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is called UNITAR for short. At UNITAR, she heads up the women's Leadership
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program. I met Melanie last fall. We were both attending a women's leadership
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conference in Stockholm, Sweden, and when I heard her speak about her work,
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she was positively supercharged about it. So to simply say that she's interested
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in her work would definitely be an understatement. This young woman is truly passionate
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about her work, and I must say she is most definitely a woman with
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a mission. She is on fire to change the world, and in particular
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to change the world for women leaders. When you hear her story, you'll
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learn why she's so passionate about making a difference about changing the world in this
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way. I was struck by her passion, But you know, this is
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just one of the many wonderful qualities that drew me to her, and I
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should say that drew me and all the other women to Melanie at this conference
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and to her work. Indeed, we were blessed to have her there as
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one of our honored mentors. Melanie is t twenty three years old, and
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she describes herself as a Lebanese Greek expat. Her work at unitar is focused
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on women and women's leadership. Her specific mission is to strengthen women's participation in
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multilateral conferences and decision making forums. She's also in charge of organizing high level
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events with prominent leaders and personalities, including Nobel Prize winners. Melanie attended the
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University of Paris seven and the University of Copenhagen, obtaining her degree in Sociology
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and Anthropology. She also obtained the International Diploma in Humanitarian Assistance from Fordham University.
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Melanie says that she's always dreamed about making a meaningful impact in the world
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and often likes to question conventional norms. Well, during my conversation with her,
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you will hear more about her dream. You'll also hear about how she
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was shaped and formed as a leader, all with a particular focus of serving
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other leaders. You know. In many ways, Melanie's outlook on life and
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in her work pulls together the many threads of what my own life and work
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are all about. You've heard me talk about some of these threads and themes
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on this show the themes of gratitude, authenticity, generosity, strength, passion,
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presence, hope, and possibility. I just love it. Two women,
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Melanie and me, from very different backgrounds, very different cultures, very
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different in age and lifestyle, and yet so many common threads. Can I
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just tell you something. We had a fabulous conversation and I'm I'm so excited
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to have this amazing leader with us today. This is going to be a
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fabulous show. You don't want to miss a single word of it. So
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put on your walking shoes, grab your earbuds, or just relax in your
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favorite chair and grab yourself a cup of coffee or tea or a nice cool
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glass of water. You're going to want to take notes today. We're gonna
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have a good time. But before I jump into today's show, I just
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want to take a moment to welcome you. If you're just joining us,
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I'm your host, Doctor Gloria, and this is Legacy Living, Make your
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life count. I'd like to extend a special welcome to those of you who
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are joining my show, or if you're joining Talk Network Radio for the very
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first time, You're in for a real treat. I'm excited to have you
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listening in today, and I'm deeply honored that you've allowed me to be part
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of your day so you can be inspired by the ideas and resources to make
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your life count. Today's program is all about women's leadership and developing your own
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identity as a leader, with my guest Melanie Cremona. Welcome to the show.
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Melanie. I'm so glad that you're here and I can't wait to talk
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with you about your passion for women's leadership. Thank you very much, Gloria.
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It's such an honor for me to be with you, and thank you
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very much for giving me this opportunity and for taking the time as well,
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because we're both talking from different countries, so it's such a pleasure as well.
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Thank you so much. Yes, this is really a blessing for me,
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and I know it's going to be a blessing for our listeners. Melanie,
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again by asking you, you know, when I met you, you
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were just so passionate about what you were doing. And you know the way
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that we met was through a women's leadership conference, and I'm just wondering what
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made you realize you were so passionate about social problems including women's rights, gender
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equality, and women's leadership. Well, yes, I mean I must say
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that from a young age, I realized I had a very strong empathy towards
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people in need of help, and I always felt very sensitive and would always
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make people's problems my own problems. I must say it was a blessing and
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occurs at the same time because it developed a sense of guilt and purpose in
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me, and it 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 society can
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affect a person's life, and this was the reason why I decided to pursue
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a degree in sociology. And during my degree, I had to take a
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gender and sexist course which was mandatory, and I was very skeptical and a
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bit weirded out about it because I was a firm believer at the time that
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there was no need to work on feminism, and I was very judgmental,
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so I believe that anyone who wanted to be equal to men clearly lacked a
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lot of ambition. So I realized I was really stubborn as well. During
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my degree, and I learned so many things that brought me back down to
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Earth, so so many things really made more sense as well around my identity
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as a woman, and I started understanding how my Lebanese backgrounds play a major
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role in shaping my identity as a woman, and how badly feminism was needed
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in our society, especially coming from a Middle Eastern country where it's true that
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compared to other Arabic countries, women might have a bit more right, but
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there are still so many loopholes in the law and so many issues that no
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one talks about. I also had the chance to do an exchange in Copenhagen
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for one year, and at the time the prime Minister was a female,
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and there is also the Queen who plays an important role in the society there.
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So all these things opened up my eyes and made me realize I was
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really passionate about gender issues and really wanted me made me want to work for
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the UN and do something about all these problems. Well, thank you,
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that's that's quite a background that you have there, Melanie. Thank you for
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sharing that with us. Can you talk with us a little bit about some
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of the challenges that you faced as a woman. You mentioned your Lebanese background
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and how did your background shape your identity in that perspective. So yeah,
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I grew up in a society where paradoxically can find many women holding leadership positions
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in the workplace and being very equal to men. And yet there are still
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many many loopholes and paradoxes. So if I can give you in examples,
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women could get loans for plastic surgery and religion, the age for marriage is
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still nine, and in the law, men can rape women as long as
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they marry them afterwards. Also, women are not able to give their nationality
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to their children, and there is no clear distinction between sex and rape during
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marriage because a wife needs to fulfill their her duties and religion and patriarchal norms
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still persist. So let's say there are still a lot of patriarchal problems and
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issues towards gender equality and respect for women, which makes things really difficult to
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understand. And given these facts, it has become very difficult to find my
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identity because women are over sexualized, but at the same time there are sexually
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liberated and free. There they still face a lot of judgment. And I
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grew up myself being a tomboy and I still struggle to this day to be
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very feminine. This means that I was often asked why I was wearing men's
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clothes or didn't wear enough jewelry or makeup, or that I should probably find
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husband instead of working and focusing on my own growth. So I have to
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also, I have listened to a lot of women while growing up being beaten
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by their husbands, raped or forced to abort. I've listened to women who
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were scared to talk about their relationships or to this day are still very much
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afraid to talk about sex, relationships or anything related to it, simply because
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it is taboo. So these perceptions of how women should be and behave were
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the main challenges I faced, and it's only when I was able to travel
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and educate myself that I became more comfortable with my feminity and to become a
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tomboid without worrying about it. So I still face some comments from time to
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time, even about the fact that I consider myself a feminist, but it
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affects me less and less, and I also do feel bad for many of
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my friends in Lebanon and in other countries where the rights of women are oppressed,
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I mean, where women are pressed who still struggle to be free women
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and liberated women. So nowadays I do feel a bit more comfortable to be
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direct involved in contributing to the enhancement of women's leadership. And the fact being
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given the chance to work on the women's Leadership program was a blessing that came
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into my life at the right time and in the right moment. But the
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challenge I face as well as seeing all these women still struggling, I must
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say, yeah, well, thank you. That's amazing. The many,
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many contradictions and what you call paradoxes in your culture, and I think you
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actually speak for many women around the world. I get to travel and speak
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in 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
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of these paradoxes in these various places elsewhere. So thank you for addressing that
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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 with
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regard to leadership. And if you could change one thing, you know,
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if you could just make it happen, what, yes, the things which
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you change, could you just talk to us a little bit about that.
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Yes, it's a very difficult question, and it's actually really interesting at the
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same time, because there are so many things that need to change, and
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there are things that can be easily changed and some things that are very difficult
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to change. So if I could, first of all, I would change
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the law and everything related to law and religion, because in Lebanon, for
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example, at least, law is mainly based on religion, and there are
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so many patriarchal norms that still persist in religion. But then again, you
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may want to change the law, but there's still the culture that persists.
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So it's hard to really tell at first because someone want we want to change
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the law, But the most difficult thing to change nowadays the culture. And
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if I could change the way the culture is and how the way we communicate
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with each other's because I believe nowadays there is a lot of there is actually
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a lack of meaningful conversation in society, and people who want to talk about
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subjects that are as taboo really fear to be judged. And I still struggle
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a lot with the culture and the communications. So if I could change this,
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I would change definitely the way people think about women, and because there
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are so many people I talk to who do not believe gender inequality is such
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a big deal, and to focus on it would probably bring more positive discrimination
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or even worse, make gender distinction persist. Yet gender equality is such an
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easily achievable goal compared to war, for instance, and to this day,
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culture is the number one obstacle we all face. So if I could change
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things, I would definitely start with the law, which is the basis of
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everything in their society nowadays, and the culture especially because I would change this
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as well through communication, and that's why I try to do every single day
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and try to really talk and dare 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 a it's like a multiplier,
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you know, yeah, exactly, very difficult to do. It's like,
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I don't know that much about your culture, but as I hear you
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talk, I'm imagining that there's so many things the past for hundreds and maybe
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even several millennia that are so deeply rooted in the culture that you know,
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changing those kinds of things is just very very daunting, not impossible, but
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daunting. Yeah. 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 the 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 Men Day to enhance women's participation in negotiations. So, myk, my
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current task and my positions are quite broad. Though. I organized high level
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events inviting high level personalities such as Nobel Peace Price and with the purpose to
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deliver inspirational stories talking about leadership and how civil society can lead also the way
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things are in our society and the Women's Leadership Program is a specific program that
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has the mandate to build the skills, knowledge and capacities of women and government
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officials accredited to the UN and its entities, as well as civil servants and
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people from the private sector. The core activity under the Women's Leadership Program is
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to provide capacity building for self reflection, learning and development and increase women's participation
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in decision making and in politics. It has been expanded to people from other
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backgrounds who wish to undertake leadership positions too. And I believe this is how
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we met through a Women's Leadership workshop and retreat that was done in Stockholm.
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Yeah. So yeah, it's all about communicating developing capacities of w men and
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also providing inspirational stories, uh, so that people can can also be part
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of major changes on a global scale. M I know, when I met
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you at the at the conference in Sweden, your presence just seemed to radiate.
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Oh thank you it did you know? And I think, as I
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recall Melanie, many of the women in that in that circle commented to you,
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you know something similar, and I just you know, your position and
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the work that you're doing there is so so needed and so necessary. Uh.
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And it's just like you said, it's a blending that you're able to
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be there to help lift these women leaders into a new place so that they
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can shine a light for for the rest of us. So thank you for
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that work. Thank you very much, thank you. You're so welcome.
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And the question I'd like to ask you in relation to the work that you
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just talked about, you know, because this is this is big work.
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You know, this is not something that's going to happen overnight, of course,
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And so I'm wondering, Melanie, what what are the things that you
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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 people
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as I can. That's my starting point in a way. I want to
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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, independent from the Secretariat of
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the United Nations. This means that we rely on donor contributions and our main
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donors are governments permanent missions, mainly who wish to associate their names to this
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project and who believe in the impact of capacity building in gender equalities. As
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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 to
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donations with this interview perhaps and invite whoever wishes to contribute or discuss solutions and
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projects or even partnerships to reach out to me to be able to discuss these
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things. I believe in partnership union to help achieve a larger impact. So
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far, this program has been struggling to be implemented because of lack of contributions,
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and one of the major issues we face is that organizations want to do
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these workshops, want to enhance the skills of their women's but always blame the
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fact that there is no funds or it's not their decisions to send women to
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participate to conferences. So there are so many excuses out there, but the
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fact the way to partner and to contribute would really be something very helpful and
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I can say that because well, first the the action you gave me as
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well yourself, was that it really had an impact on some of the participants.
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But I do realize the impact myself as well when other participants come to
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me and telling me, oh, this workshop finally helped me not being shy
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anymore, and we made me realize how shy I was, or made me
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realize how many careers I was imposing on myself, and how nice and polite
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I was before, and how I need to be more assertive and believe in
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myself. So I believe that capacity building and education is something really everyone needs
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to focus on, and help from partnerships would really 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 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 re having discussions with people,
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creating new partnerships and highlighting the importance of women's participation and negotiations or gender equality
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or the benefits of gender equality would really be something that is needed. So
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I hope I answered the question correct. You did. Thank you. Now,
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you mentioned many things in this question, so I just kind of want
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to unpack it a little bit. You mentioned UNITAR. Can you tell us
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what that acronym stands for, Melanie. Yes, it's the United Nations Institute
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for Training and Research. Okay, it's the training arm of the NF Yes,
24:48
okay, And so that's UNATAR. And you talked about building a platform
24:52
so that you can reach more people. You talked about funding. You talked
24:57
about kind of the stigma, you know, which is connected to funding.
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I think there's still a general sense that women are less than and we have
25:08
to do, you know, more to get to the table. That kind
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of thing 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, Yes. And you know, I think as you
25:26
were talking, I was thinking about I think Margaret meads that you know,
25:30
never doubt that a small group of people can change the world. It's the
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only way to change happens. Yeah, And these conversations that you're talking about.
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It really is one woman, one circle, one group at a time,
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and I'm just again, just delighted that you are involved in this work.
25:49
So thank you again for what you're doing and what you're sharing. And
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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,
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it's really it's really interesting, is a question I must say, And
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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 them, made her female figure I had growing
27:03
up, and it could really sound cliche because everyone grows up with a female
27:10
figure that is close to their family in a way. But my mom was
27:15
really a very strong woman, and she really had a very tough background because
27:22
she had to take care of her parents alone. She had to really work
27:25
hard and set aside her education to be able to really provide for her own
27:30
parents. And I've never seen her cry or being devastated, and I'm not
27:37
saying that's a good thing at the same time, but I've seen her always
27:41
very strong and very resilient, which really inspired me in my leadership journey because
27:47
I realized that it's true that life will give you a lot of lemhon 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 My
28:03
aunt as well, was very involved in protest as when she was young,
28:07
and she's very she's a leader in her own heart, and those two women
28:12
influenced me a lot. But if I have to speak about famous figures,
28:18
I must say that maybe Rosa Parks and Oprah were two female leaders that inspired
28:25
me for their determination for embracing their challenges and doing something about it, and
28:33
Also, it really might sound silly, but when I was younger, I
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grew up watching a lot of TV shows, and these TV shows had a
28:41
lot of female protagonists. There were goofy and who were embracing their goofiness and
28:45
crumsiness and at the same time being comfortable with it. And I do believe
28:51
this is needed because it really allowed me to be very comfortable with my own
28:55
self. So I also grew up watching The Power of Girls, which is
29:00
an animated cartoon. It might sound really innocent, but the fact to see
29:03
that women had powers while at the same time being feminine and embracing their own
29:07
seminity and characters was really inspirational for me because I really wanted to grow up
29:14
being a superwoman and this helped a lot and my determination. Yeah, and
29:19
what I think you're saying is that it helps to have role models, you
29:23
know, as a you know, as a child, you don't think about
29:26
your mom or your aunt or these figures that you're watching on TV. You
29:33
don't think about them as role models, but they impress you in some way,
29:36
something about their spirits, something about you know, as you mentioned,
29:38
how they overcome challenges, their determination. There it's just ignites something within us,
29:45
doesn't it, Yes, exactly. I mean it's it's very silly to
29:48
say and to talk about cartoons and TV shows, but it actually really plays
29:53
a major role. I mean, if you grew up watching tales where there
29:57
are princesses where for their princess you might have a different perspective than watching girls
30:04
who have powers and are saving the world before bedtime. So I was really
30:11
always uh inspired by that, and I do believe that nowadays we really need
30:15
more figures like that to to to provide to young women because I discussed a
30:21
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
30:36
like, oh, thank god, someone is thinking the same as me.
30:38
And we're really tend to hide all these problems, but they're quite important in
30:44
my opinion, And yeah, so we're the same. You know what you're
30:48
what you're saying is right in my sweet spot because the images that we project,
30:56
whether they're through cartoons or TV shows or movies or you know, magazines
31:00
or whatever. We are what we consume, and if we're consuming images of
31:04
women that are stereotypical and that keep us bound and repressed and restricted, that's
31:11
what we're going to matabolize for ourselves and imagine for ourselves. I'm reading a
31:18
book by Thomas Moore right now that I love for a number of times.
31:22
That's called Care of the Soul. And you know, one of the things
31:26
he talks about that just really grabs me. He says being being follows imagination.
31:33
And so when you say that you saw these images that you know were
31:37
goofy images that allowed you to be comfortable in your own skin, and that
31:40
makes so much sense to me. I think we talked about the arts and
31:44
leadership and how we can use the arts to really help transform those images into
31:51
images that are women who are innovative and imaginative and creative, all of those
31:59
things. So thank you again for sharing that bit about yourself. Thank you
32:02
for listening and not judging as well, because I mean, people can say,
32:07
oh, well, out of all these female leaders, these are the
32:10
ones that she could come up with. But as you say, I mean,
32:14
we are shaped by what we watch and see when we grow up so
32:19
I do believe it's important to address this issue absolutely. Thank you. So
32:24
I'm wondering if there's a project that you're working on right now or something that's
32:30
coming up for you that you'd like to make sure that our listeners hear about.
32:35
Yeah. One of the projects I currently work on is the Women's Leadership
32:38
Program. As I previously said, this program is really important and dear to
32:43
my heart because I do believe in capacity building. I do believe in education
32:46
and enhancing skills that many women need. And I know this because of the
32:53
feedback I've received from lots of participants who took took these workshops and who came
32:58
to me and told me that it really changed their lives in a way,
33:01
and it really opened up their eyes and it made them more confident in themselves.
33:06
And this acts as a multiplier effect because they can go back to their
33:09
capitals in a way, or to their countries and provide trainings on their own
33:15
to other women. And I think that this program is really important and people
33:20
can reach out to me at any time at Leadership at unitar dot org to
33:24
discuss to even share experiences, to discuss possibilities of partnerships or contributions. We
33:31
really want to be inclusive in the un try to really work on partnering with
33:37
other organizations to provide more workshops and on a larger scale. So this is
33:42
my professional project, which is also a personal project. But as a personal
33:45
project, I've been trying as well to really tell people about the importance of
33:52
women's leadership and gender equality. So I do a lot of communication with people.
33:57
I tried to really open conversation, and I would really like to invite
34:01
the audience to listen to do that in their own lives and to really take
34:06
a step back and see how their unconscious bias can affect as well their own
34:10
actions, because they did for me, and it's only through communication and open
34:15
mindeds that I was able to really see how judgmental eye was and how women
34:21
can also be very discriminatory towards others. I mean, 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 not to do anything. But it's just my main message is
34:39
to also say that there's a saying that says, I wonder why sometimes no
34:45
one did anything about it, or someone should have done something about it.
34:50
And it's important to realize that you are that anybody, and you are that
34:52
something someone, and you can do something about anything. And it doesn't have
34:59
to be major impact or something that is really big. It can be really
35:04
a conversation or a communication with someone, or a remark or taking a step
35:08
back towards our own beliefs and our own judgments to try to be more open.
35:15
And anyone can make a change at any time. And yeah, I
35:21
do believe that this is really important. So yeah, yeah, well thank
35:24
you. What you're saying is so important. Many people that I meet in
35:29
my leadership travels, I work with leaders of all ages and lots of different
35:34
cultures, women, men, young people, et cetera. And a lot
35:39
of times they go, you know, 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
35:50
written across the sky, right, it's exactly quite a small thing in your
35:54
world that makes a difference in somebody else's world. And that really is I
36:00
think the heart of this work of leadership work. You know, there's some
36:06
things that are that are very large in scale, and there's some things that
36:10
are that are fairly fairly small that are you know, within our reach,
36:15
within our graphs. So thank you for making that distinction, for for our
36:19
listeners and even and even given your example having a radio show to discuss all
36:23
these things. And it's really inspiring in a way because it's it's definitely through
36:30
listening to people and through exchanging ideas that we can make a change and get
36:35
even inspired to do new things as well. So thank you as well for
36:38
for doing this yourself and for giving me the opportunity to speak up as well.
36:44
You are so welcome and to your point, you know, there there
36:47
are so many people in countries that don't have the kind of infrastructure communications infrastructure
36:53
that we enjoy in various parts of Europe where you are, uh and the
37:00
United States and an other well funded and you know, so called developed countries
37:05
definitely, and but but everybody seems to have a cell phone, you know,
37:08
and you have a cell phone, you can have access to a show
37:15
like this. And one of my secret goals, just so you know,
37:17
is to have this kind of conversation so that people all over the world can
37:23
can tune in and listen, because that's how we grow. Without access to
37:29
this kind of information, you know, you're just kind of stuck in your
37:31
own, your own little world, and you may not know what's happening out
37:35
there. What's possible for you. Yeah, definitely. Yeah. Again you
37:40
for the work that you're doing, for the passion that you have, for
37:45
bringing your your background into play and being inspired by those women in your life
37:52
who made a difference for you when you were younger, and that you're now
37:55
able to radiate that and do the same for other for other women. Thank
38:00
you so much, Melanie, Thank you, thank you for giving me the
38:04
opportunity. You're so welcome. I wish you a good rest of your It's
38:08
evening there now for you, and it's morning for me. Good evening,
38:14
and I can't wait to introduce you to my listeners and great. Thank you
38:20
so much, and thank you also for the audience who are listening as well.
38:24
All right, thank you, fantastic, wonderful nuggets. Thanks again to
38:32
Melanie Cremona for being my guest today. If you'd like to learn more about
38:37
Melanie's work, or, as she mentioned during today's conversation, if you'd like
38:43
to donate to unis Hoars programming to support women leaders. You can reach out
38:47
to Melanie via this email address and that's leadership at unitar dot org. Leadership
38:57
at unitar dot org and remember for unitar is niar dot org. So if
39:04
you want to reach out to Melanie, she'd be very happy to hear from
39:07
you. Now, if you missed any part of this week's broadcast about women's
39:13
leadership, developing your own leadership identity, you can listen to the podcast right
39:17
here on Talk Network Radio Now. You can also find me on itune,
39:23
SoundCloud, Alexa, and many many other places. Now, before I close
39:30
today's show, I just want to give a shout out to all the women,
39:35
all the women all around the world, and to my mom, who
39:39
just celebrated her birthday. Yay, love you Mom. When Melanie mentioned her
39:45
mom is one of the women leaders who influenced her, you know I was
39:49
thinking the very same thing as I know many of you were too, Because
39:52
you know what, I asked this question a lot of people all over the
39:57
world. I was just presenting a keynote a few days ago, and this
40:00
was one of the questions I asked the folks in the audience. Who inspired
40:05
you when you were a young girl or boy? Who did you look up
40:08
to? Who did you admire and why? And you know what, no
40:14
matter where I am in the world, the response to that question is always
40:17
the same. Who inspired you? Who influenced you? This is what I
40:22
hear, Well, my mom or my dad, or my grandpa or my
40:28
grandma. Right, So, you know, it's amazing how much impact we
40:34
have as leaders in our own home. Now. Most parents don't think about
40:37
themselves as leaders, right, They're just kind of scratching their head figuring out
40:42
this parenting things. But we are. That's what we are. We're leaders
40:45
for our children and we have so much influence and impact in our own home
40:51
with our own children. So, moms and dads out there, even when
40:55
it seems like your daughter or son isn't paying attention, let me tell you
41:00
something. They are. They're listening. Okay, they're listening, and they're
41:05
soaking it all in. And more than anything else, they are watching you.
41:13
Let me be really clear. They are scoping you out. They are
41:16
observing every single thing you do, every little nuance. Right. More importantly,
41:22
they're watching you because they want to see if what you say and what
41:29
you do line up right, Our actions really do speak much louder than our
41:35
words. A good friend of mine who's a former CEO, she says this,
41:40
you know, whether your parent or whether you're in the boardroom. As
41:45
a leader, in any context, your walk has got to talk louder than
41:51
your talk talks. That's great, isn't it. Let me repeat that,
41:53
she says, your walk has got to talk louder than you're talking. Now,
42:00
why is that? Because that's how we build the bridge called trust,
42:07
right, That's how we strengthen our bond with those we love. That's how
42:13
we deepen our relationships one step at a time, inch by inch, mile
42:17
by mile, and smile by smile at home, at work, and in
42:23
any area of our lives, every single day. Three sixty five twenty four
42:30
to seven. So ask yourself, how is your walk lining up with your
42:36
talk? You know what, It's never too late to get your walk and
42:39
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 life,
42:50
the difference that only you can make. Remember this, how you live
42:58
is how you lead. How you live is how you lead. Now,
43:05
if you happen to miss any part of this week's broadcast, or if you
43:08
missed last week's show, you can listen to a podcast of the show at
43:13
your convenience. You can even listen to it on the go. How about
43:16
that. Check us out at www dot Talknetwork Radio dot com. Forward Slash
43:25
Hosts Forward Slash Legacy Living. That's Talknetwork Radio dot com. Forward Slash Hosts
43:35
Forward Slash Legacy Living. Before I close today, I want to thank each
43:44
of you for tuning in to today's show and for allowing me to share just
43:50
a bit about my journey with what Legacy living is all about, not just
43:53
living and learning, but living and learning and serving so that you may a
44:00
difference in your own life and in the lives of others. It's about being
44:05
on purpose every single day. Three sixty five twenty four to seven. Legacy
44:13
Living is one of the many ways to make your life count. Once again,
44:21
thank you for joining me for today's show. I'm your host, doctor
44:24
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 don't
44:45
just count the days in your life. Make the days in your life count.
44:52
That's what legacy living is all about. Have a fantastic day and remember,
44:59
make the days in your life count. God bless you. That's our
45:16
show to day. 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