Gender parity starts with controlling our lifebrand

[Music]

[Applause]

i was told to kill myself

and if i don’t kill myself then someone

will kill me

anxiety is something i deal with every

day

um there’s just some days that i can’t

get the weight out of my chest

i have no confidence anymore um

i have such low self-esteem and i’m just

scared that

when i am applying for a new job that

someone’s going to bring it up and

i don’t know how to explain it i’m an

educated young woman

and i have future ambitions and

i was canceled over something that is

not my identity

this is a loving family star

a random completely uneventful night

damaged her life beyond repair

when she woke up one morning to find out

that someone decided to post an image of

that night

on social media without her consent

now she wasn’t acting with the intention

to harm anybody

or to express her identity that night

yet when there’s a picture

there always is a story to protect her

from further harm i cannot reveal

any of the details but what i will tell

you is that she lost

countless job opportunities almost all

of her friends

and most importantly her confidence and

her self-esteem

and what she got in return was serious

death threats

and strangers rallying other people

to go to her house and confront her she

was scared someone would harm her family

now sharing her story without being able

to reveal her identity

because she’s scared for her life that

has no

benefit to her she gets no credit for

this

she made this tough decision to come

forward so

tomorrow morning it won’t be your child

and family

that wakes up to a life in ruins

i’m a millennial my first phone was a

nokia

remember those i made my first facebook

post at 24

and i bought my first iphone at 26

and when i grew up we had to call each

other rather than sending text messages

and emojis and

you know we let loose we did a lot of

stupid things without thinking it was

possible

that one day millions of people would be

having access to what we were doing as

teenagers

virtually everyone in the world these

days

owns a smartphone they’re pointed at me

right now we’re all

exposed to constant visibility

gen xers let’s pretend real quick right

that all your 15 year old buddies and

girlfriends

that you used to hang out with in your

parents basement 30 or 40 years ago

that they all had smartphones

recording devices imagine that you

making out with that girl or boy from

next door

smoking illegal substances getting drunk

beyond no return pulling the pants down

their shirts up all of that stuff that

would now be broadcasted to millions of

people on social media

how do you think this would impact your

life what about your career

what about your family almost half of

the adults surveyed by euro rscg

they worry that friends or family will

reveal

personal information about them online

that they

don’t want to be made public appearing

on social media

is not our choice alone sooner or later

someone is likely to make that choice

for us

but it’s not just others that contribute

to our lifetime

content library children these days i

handed smartphones at the age of

11 and that includes access to the

internet now in many cases i’m sure it’s

done

for security reasons so the kids can

reach out to their parents in case of

emergency i totally get it

but what we need to realize is by

handing over that first

smartphone we are also handing over the

temptation

to find a way to explore the virtual

world that lives within that device

in that intended act of safety that

happens

way before kids and young adults have

the maturity

to navigate the roads of the internet

and social media in a responsible way

without exposing themselves or others to

possible harm

what this really means is that we’re

letting them

behind the wheel of their future way

before they

have reached the legal driving age

now part of generation z those are kids

and young adults of the ages 8 to 23

right now

but especially that following generation

that is entirely born in the 21st

century

they are growing up with smartphones and

social media exposure from day one of

their life

and they are unaware that with those

first

few posts the parents put out there

featuring them

and then all the likes and the loves and

the videos that they put out there once

they have access to social media

they started developing a life brand

now a life brand is our digital

fingerprint

it is unique to each person and it is

shaped by the collection of publicly

accessible content

shared by or featuring you and me

such as photos videos audio recording

social media posts

and comments lifebrand literally

has a life on its own it gains power and

strength

over the course of a lifetime if we

don’t control it and the more

content we accumulate in the cloud on

social media

or on paper if you grew up like me with

kodak cameras because that stuff can

still see the light a day

years later as we all know we all

possess

one life branch that’s just one

and imagine every potential piece of

content that we’re about to put out

there like that

bad tattoo that you once got that you

now want to get rid of

and you try to laser it away or cover it

up but the trace of it always remains

so we can go ahead and delete that

embarrassing image on social media that

we’re not proud of but

chances are our bff yeah that one day

might divorce us

has already taken a screenshot of it

this

next generation born between 2012 and

2030

they will be defined by their life

brands they will either become a victim

of it or with the right education

and awareness they can be the most

powerful generation

to have ever lived i’m referring to the

specific groups of kids and young adults

as

generation brand this is the first ever

generation

entirely exposed to uncontrolled

lifebrand creation

from birth initially through the parents

that start

posting about their kids on social media

when they’re small

kids babies now

if we think about women and girls of

generation brand they are particularly

impacted by possible life brand damage

current trends show that 78

of women use social media over 65

percent of men

and there is an assumption to be made

that this could be correlated to a

bigger desire to be liked for girls and

young women

and i would even go as far to say that

getting responses to social media posts

that can lead to like addiction and we

know with addiction comes the buildup of

tolerance

so especially girls and young women they

now have the pressure

to go and post more controversial or

unseen maybe even sexy content that

contradicts who they

are and that misrepresents their true

identity

it’s a spiral of like pressure who gets

the most likes the quickest and with

that comes a bigger

risk to harm our life brands and

possibly our future

now what furthermore comes into play

here is that women are a greater target

for online harassment

the guardian has conducted research into

the 70 million

comments 70 million comments

left on their side since 2006

and they discovered that out of the 10

most abused writers

eight were women we also know that girls

and young women are three times more

likely to be cyberbully than boys

and young men cyber bullying ties into

life brand cultivation and how it can

harm

the life brand journey and that’s

especially true for us

females research has shown that there’s

a confidence gap between men

and women and that gap significantly

impacts how we are advancing and

managing

our careers compared to our male

counterparts

now studies have also suggested that our

confidence

builds with age and experience over the

course of a lifetime

so taking those two things into

consideration technically speaking we

are already at a disadvantage when it

comes to advancing our careers

to senior leadership and executive

levels compared to our male peers now

that’s simply by confidence default

and now those are women like me

professional women like me they have not

grown up

with social media exposure from day one

of their life and they have not suffered

confidence hits with every click

scroll or comment they receive

if we think about the girls of

generation brand that are growing up

with smartphones and social media

exposure from day one of their life

initially through their millennial and

gen z parents

we are looking at a generation that

exposes their possibly

already lowered self-confidence to cyber

bullying

to backlash to criticism with little to

no education on how to act

react and most importantly digest such

attacks on the cell

so the expectation for these future

women to enter the educational path

and then the workforce with high

confidence and self-esteem

that’s not just unrealistic that’s

completely unattainable

if the current social media landscape

remains as is

and putting girls and young women in the

social media driver’s seat

without educating them on the impact

their social media interactions have on

their life brand

that’s like sending them to drive on the

autobahn

without a seat belt the consequences to

their confidence

can be deadly now without this

life-saving education

we are in fact shaping a generation of

future women that is not well equipped

to drive gender parity in business

and beyond that being said

if we are investing in educating

generation brand and especially

the future women of this generation

on the concept of life brand before we

give them

access to social media in the internet

the girls of that generation that you

and me will be hiring in a few years

from now

they are the true game changers they

will drive a cultural paradigm shift

towards full

gender equality and the current

statistics on gender parity in business

they’re well known i mean we’ve been

talking about this forever

there’s an under-representation of women

on manager levels and that’s the true

source for lack of female leadership

pipeline

women get less executive sponsorship

women get paid significantly less than

men

women are also less likely to choose

higher paying occupations and studies

have shown that young teenage females

are already growing up with strong

gender biases against other female

leaders

and then let’s not forget the covet 19

pandemic that now has pushed

millions of women out of the workforce

so we know that companies have a lot of

work to do to help remove

gender biases and to shape a better

future

for women and especially women of color

in the workplace

there’s no debate about that but the

only way how we can drive

full gender parity in business and

beyond is to create awareness

and educate young women on the concept

of life brand

early so they can develop confidence and

self

self-esteem and position themselves

feeling equal to their male peers by the

time they enter the workforce

this is about giving women the power to

initiate and drive

this change if we look

at both dilemmas and that’s the lack of

gender equality

and also the negative impact social

media has on our current and future

generation of women

with social media usage on the rise the

time has come

for a full reset not just on the social

media landscape

but especially on gender equality

through

millennial and gen z women actively

controlling their life brands over the

course of their career

so they can become life brand role

models for the girls and future women of

generation brand

that will not just increase access to

female leaders and executives through

social media

but it will also help us shape a social

media landscape that promotes women

their accomplishments and their

successes

how do you control a life brand a

controlled life brand consists of two

components

and that’s our identity and our chosen

purpose in life

identity in the context of life brand is

the summary

of our behavior and language displayed

on social media

and in the real world because everything

we say and do out here

that can find its way onto the internet

also

a purpose can be discovered through the

vehicle of a passion

an idea maybe your professional

expertise in a certain field

or an interest you might have or maybe a

hobby that you pursue

and managing the connection between

identity and purpose

that is crucial to truly controlling

a life brand our behavior and language

has to be in

alignment with our chosen purpose and

need to be portrayed

with integrity and that means that we

start

living our lives as our life brand

and the longer we control our life brand

the higher the chances that we will

develop a life brand voice that allows

us to drive and initiate change

aligned to our chosen purpose in our

social and real life communities

through the reach of social media

implementing the concept of lifebrand

and understanding the constant risk of

visibility we’re faced with

that will guide generation brand to

become mindful

of their behavior and language not just

on social media but also

in the real world and they will develop

the awareness

that every photo or video that features

them

that has the potential to permanently

damage their life brand it’s a

misalignment with their true identity

and their chosen purpose

now if you are a parent you’re probably

wondering right now

how am i going to get my kids to control

their life brand

that’s going to be really tough well let

me tell you preventing your kids from

going on social media

that’s going to be much tougher

living our life as our life friends that

will also help us remove deeply

ingrained gender biases

and instead equip the girls of

generation brand with strong belief

not just in their own but also other

women’s abilities to lead

and this mindset shift is driven by

millennial and gen z

women actively controlling the social

media landscape

as life brand role models transforming

generation brands thought patterns about

what they can achieve in life

lifebrand will be a confidence builder

for all future women

of generation brand no matter their

upbringing or their environment

we might not be able to change any of

those things

but no matter the circumstances a girl

is growing up in

she will very likely have access to

social media which gives her the power

to control her life brand and with that

her future

now it might not be obvious but this

change

right here that starts with all of us

every single one of us wouldn’t you feel

you had done your part if you prevented

an

image or video or social media post from

destroying a young person’s life

imagine for a second you didn’t bother

to bring lifebrand to your daughter

your cousin your niece your girlfriend

or the girl who walks your dog or

babysits your kids

and one of them end up destroying their

life brand

in their life forever

if all of us educate just one girl

or one young woman on how to use life

brand to build

early confidence and self-esteem they

can become whoever they aspire to be

despite their differences in upbringing

education

or background and that’s

how we will close the gender gap

together

thank you

[Applause]

[Music]

you