Valerie Jarrett, Krista Berger, and Brooke Shields spoke about the slow and steady progress required to make change at a panel, moderated by TIME CEO Jessica Sibley, at TIME’s Women’s Leadership Forum in New York City on Sept. 10.
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00:00Well, certainly, these women do not need me to make introductions or read their bios.
00:07And we have to stay on time, because tonight is a really important night, as we know.
00:13But I do want to say a few things about each one of my panelists.
00:16What they all have in common is that they're advocating and inspiring women, and they're
00:22changemakers.
00:23And so thank you for all of your work in every area that you touch.
00:28Krista, I love your title.
00:31You've been at Mattel for a long time, and you are recognized in our industry as one
00:37of the leaders in marketing and branding and strategy.
00:41And I can't wait to hear you talk about your career.
00:45Your incredible CEO, I've got the pleasure to know, Time 100 Most Important Influential
00:49People in the World, just named last year.
00:52And I don't know if we have our Barbie cover, but we've put a lot of attention on Barbie
00:57and Greta this year.
00:58So congratulations to you.
01:00Brooke, you were on the cover of Time, age 15, 16, you didn't even know what was going on.
01:10I was 15.
01:12And you were like the woman, the girl of the decade.
01:16You were the ace.
01:17It was the face, which baffled me, because I didn't know that, you know, was it like
01:21God or somebody that came down?
01:23So this is the face.
01:24It's very bizarre, but it was an honor.
01:26I just wasn't sure how to, I wasn't sure how to bring it forward to me.
01:32I love your bio because it says that you started working at 11 months, and you were a runway
01:37model at three.
01:38That was the only time I ever did runway.
01:43Clearly I wasn't that adept at it.
01:44But you've had an incredible career, you've shaped my life for sure.
01:48And documentary, and you're writing a book about beautiful older women, I think I can
01:52relate to that.
01:53So we're excited to talk to you tonight as well.
01:57Valerie, where do I start?
01:58I'm going to start with you, actually.
02:00I'm going to ask you the first question.
02:03You have so much energy and so much passion.
02:08You've done such incredible work.
02:11And so thank you.
02:12And tonight feels really historic.
02:14Okay, Valerie, so with everything you've done, CEO, there's not a lot of CEOs that are
02:26women.
02:27Of the Fortune 500, 10%, 1% are women of color?
02:38Congress is predominantly male, 72%.
02:43And then there's some statistic, there are more Johns than there are CEOs that are women,
02:48meaning men that are named John.
02:51Okay.
02:52So what keeps you going?
02:54What keeps you motivated?
02:56Help us.
02:57Help you, help you.
02:58All right.
02:59I'm going to tell you a story because I do believe in stories.
03:02So one year for my birthday, President Obama gave me two documents that were in a frame.
03:11One of them was a petition for universal suffrage, signed in 1866, exactly.
03:19And framed alongside of it was the resolution introduced into Congress to authorize the
03:2619th Amendment, signed and introduced in 1919, 53 years between the two.
03:32And he said something along the lines of, you know, continue this tradition of women
03:36changing the world.
03:38And what struck me about it was that we get so frustrated when change doesn't happen immediately.
03:44And if you think about the women who petitioned, who signed the petition, who demonstrated,
03:50who were on hunger strikes, who went to prison, whose husband said, get out because we don't
03:56want you to have the right to vote.
03:58How many of them actually lived to see the 19th Amendment get passed?
04:03Not that many.
04:0453 years later.
04:05But would it have ever passed without them?
04:08And so that thought is what kind of keeps me going.
04:12That and watching around our country and the world, ordinary people, oftentimes women
04:17and girls, doing absolutely extraordinary things.
04:20And all they really want from their government is a little bit of help.
04:23All they want from society is a little bit of help to be able to compete on an even playing
04:28field.
04:30And I will close my opening by saying this, that when I was a young single mom, and we
04:34were just talking about our kids, I thought I was holding on by my fingertips.
04:42And I had a great job, I had health insurance, I had parents who helped me out, I had this
04:46incredible infrastructure.
04:48And so I thought, what is wrong with me that this is so hard?
04:51And what I realized is, number one, it actually, there was nothing wrong with me.
04:56Everybody was experiencing the same thing because of both culture and structure.
05:01And I thought, well, if it's hard for me, what must it be like for those working moms
05:05who have none of that infrastructure that I have?
05:08Who are living paycheck to paycheck, if that?
05:10Who leave their children and are terrified, will their kids be okay?
05:14Who don't have health insurance, so they can't take care of themselves?
05:17Who are really, really scared and worried?
05:20And so that's what really has motivated me to care about gender equality for the last
05:25many more years than I care to tell you.
05:27Let's say decades, five decades, I actually would say, just about.
05:31Well, Time named you also as one of the most important, influential people in the world.
05:36So keep going and thank you.
05:38Thank you very much.
05:40Krista, Time highlighted the power of the doll in 2023.
05:48We had a special edition recognizing Barbie's evolution really has a cultural icon.
05:55And I love the story about Barbie and the founder, because the story goes that she was
06:02watching her daughter play with dolls.
06:04And the play was about how her child was going to envision her future.
06:10I think that's so important.
06:11Not everyone knows that story.
06:13What I want to ask you is, I know you've done so much for Mattel women to advance their
06:20careers at the company.
06:22What have you done externally?
06:24Have you had a moment there in many years that you've been there that you had to just
06:28make a really strong decision to keep that purpose and that mission going?
06:32Yeah, so I think just very quickly, for those who don't know, Barbie was founded in 1959
06:39by Ruth Handler, who was one of the founders of Mattel.
06:42And she watched her daughter play with a baby doll, her daughter Barbara, and realized that
06:46her daughter was really only envisioning this one path for herself, as mother, as caretaker.
06:53And so she invented Barbie because to her, that doll has always been about the fact that
06:58women have choices.
07:00And so over Barbie's 65-year history, going back to that purpose to inspire the limitless
07:06potential in every girl has been critical to our evolution, to our foundation.
07:11And as we hold up a mirror and reflect culture and help advance it, that purpose, that origin
07:18story is at the forefront of everything we do.
07:21Now 65 years hasn't been flawlessly executed, and Barbie has had her ups and her downs.
07:28And they have been well documented.
07:31And I think that that's the story I'd like to tell, which actually, you think of where
07:35Barbie is today in culture.
07:37Last year, there was a pink tidal wave, but 10 years ago, that was not the case.
07:42And sitting on the brand at that point in time, we would hear from women, from mothers,
07:47oh, I played with Barbie, but I would never let my daughter play with Barbie.
07:53What a gut punch to the stomach as a brand steward.
07:56And we went back to the original brand purpose of why do we exist?
08:00Why were we founded?
08:02What is our role for girls in helping them shape their stories?
08:08And we realized that we had not continued to evolve alongside culture.
08:13We were holding up a singular reflection of societal ideals.
08:17We weren't diverse and inclusive.
08:19We weren't reflecting the world that kids saw around them.
08:24And so we took a really brave and bold stance, and we changed the product 50 years into its
08:30product lifecycle.
08:31So for those of you in consumer goods, that's a really risky thing to do.
08:37And society rewarded us, and Time Magazine rewarded us with the cover in a Barbie, now
08:43can we stop talking about my body?
08:46But that was just the beginning, and we continue to evolve alongside society, staying in lockstep,
08:53as beautifully reflected by Greta in the movie last year.
08:57And it all started because we were able to have that bold and courageous decision going
09:02back to what role do we serve in girls' development, and helping them become the next generation
09:07of bold, courageous women leaders.
09:11And that we really do believe is foundational, and it starts at playtime, and going back
09:16to that idea of reflecting limitless possibilities.
09:20Well, that's a great segue to my question for Brooke, Barbie's 65, she still is fabulous
09:26and looks fabulous.
09:28And your focus on that, you're writing a new book, as I understand, I don't know if you,
09:36we're off the record here, right?
09:37Sam, and all the editors here?
09:38It's very much on the record.
09:39It'll be for sale on January 14th.
09:43Flat iron books.
09:44Sorry.
09:45Okay.
09:46Okay.
09:47What's the book about?
09:48Tell us a little bit, give us a little hint, break some news.
09:51First of all, I do want to address one thing that I'm not sure everybody knows, but there
09:56was a Brooke doll when I was 16, I think, and my mother, because at that time, I don't
10:04know what the LJN Mattel situation was, but there was a formatted body that we were being
10:11given to use, and then they would just put my head on the body.
10:15But because it was a Barbie body, my mother made them go into the factory and shave the
10:23boobs down, which is really helpful in high school, and why I started therapy.
10:32But beyond that, my mother was so adamant because it was a dual message slightly, because
10:38by being a model, I was sort of part of the problem or part of the messaging that did
10:41get perpetuated, but I was way too young to really understand that, and we were just
10:47paying the bills.
10:48But she literally made them go back in, and it cost them so much money to shave poor Barbie's
10:54body down so that I could have an anatomically correct 16-year-old body.
11:01So I don't think my mom understood she was making that kind of a statement, but in her
11:06own way, she was being a feminist, and even though it was embarrassing to me, I really
11:12wanted Barbie's boobs, but I didn't get them ever, but that's okay.
11:19But the symbol that she did stand for in my life was huge, and then I felt like I needed
11:26to make friends with her because I really felt bad for shaving down her body.
11:31So that's one thing I just wanted to say, because I've never really said this before.
11:34You and Barbie are good friends, it's okay.
11:37I really do love her and always have loved her, and I did a commercial for Skipper, too,
11:42when I was a little kid, but in any case, I've always been someone who's just believed
11:48in transparency and honesty with regards to when you're in the public eye, it's just always
11:54been easier for me to be completely honest, so anything that I've ever experienced, I've
11:59just made sure to address it honestly without preaching, just saying, this is something
12:05that I'm going through, please tell me I'm not alone, and that opens up the conversation.
12:10My book that is coming out is called Brooke Shields Is Not Allowed to Get Old, and I don't
12:17know if we've shown the back yet, so I probably can't say that, but the book was pitched because
12:24I started my own haircare brand for women over 40, addressing their specific needs,
12:29called Commence, and it was brought to my attention that maybe this would be a good
12:33opportunity to also open the dialogue and write a book about it, which I did.
12:39The title came from being in a cocktail party, and a man whose home it was, he was barefoot,
12:48which I thought was a little weird, it was his house, but he had a big wine cellar, and
12:53I was searching for things to talk about, and I brought up, oh, you have such a beautiful
12:58wine cellar, and just desperate for conversation, and he went on and on about his ability to
13:05sniff something, wine, and drink wine, I don't know, it was like this whole diatribe, and
13:12so I was trying to think, oh, well, I was born in 1965, so does a 1965 bottle of wine,
13:18if it's red, does it get jammy?
13:21Because I was curious, but instead of saying I was born in 1965, I said I'm 58, I was 58
13:28at the time, he knee jerk reaction so quickly and said, I really wish you didn't tell me
13:33that.
13:34And I said, I'm sorry, excuse me?
13:36He said, yeah, you really didn't need to tell me your age.
13:39And I said, I'm thinking to myself, a second ago, he was all like, hey, baby, and now you
13:45can't actually find a 58-year-old woman attractive, that's a sin, it's horrible, and I just thought,
13:52wow, this is it right here.
13:54And so it became the title to the book, because there has been an imprinting of me on the
14:00cover of Time as the face of an entire decade of a body in clothing of all of these things
14:07that when I'm able to just mature naturally, it is unacceptable.
14:14And it just was meant to start the conversation, because it's funny, and yes, but there is
14:19a truth that we, a standard that we hold women to, and we don't appreciate their experience,
14:28what they've done in their life up until now, and the minute you're 40, you're sort of given
14:33this message, and you see it in film and acting, and I'm no longer the ingenue, I understand
14:39that, but I'm not, I don't have one foot in the grave, you know, and I am being launched
14:46as my children left the nest, I am being launched into a new era of my life, and that is the
14:52message of Commence, and it is a beauty line, it is a beauty hair care product, a whole
14:58line, but developed through, from, and because of women's comments over the last few years.
15:05So we're all in the thick of really just, not angrily, just very strongly and matter-of-factly
15:11changing the way we talk about beauty, women experience, who we are, and how much we have
15:20to offer, and how much we have to look forward to in these years.
15:25It's amazing, thank you.
15:27Krista, through your career, I'm sure you've experienced a lot of the challenges that Brooke
15:34just spoke about, and I recently read that you're doing a great commemorative Barbie's
15:4365th anniversary for the Hispanic Heritage Month with Carolina Herrera, wow, that's amazing,
15:53so congratulations.
15:55What can you tell us that you have in your bucket of Barbie coming up, or what can you
16:02envision as the next doll?
16:07I'm not allowed to talk about that.
16:10How about an older lady doll?
16:15But what I can talk about is that, you know, today, Barbie is the most diverse doll line
16:24in the world, so we talk about how far this doll has come, from a singular expression
16:29of beauty, from a doll that was introduced in 1959, you know, today we have over 175
16:35plus permutations of the doll, nine different body types, 35 different hair textures, countless
16:41sculpts and skin tones and expressions of individual beauty, and really, truly living
16:49up to that idea of reflecting the world kids see around them.
16:52And I think that I'm so glad that you mentioned the Hispanic Heritage Month activation, one
16:57of the things that we're most proud about is that we know that in order to aspire to
17:02be the next generation of women leaders, girls need more role models.
17:06They need stories of unsung heroes told, hearkening back to the song that opened up, they need
17:12stories that they don't hear about through traditional medium told to them, and as a
17:17brand that is a cultural icon and at the forefront of, we're a lightning rod for conversation,
17:23we take our platform very seriously as an opportunity to bring these stories to girls
17:29in a way that is accessible for them, that allows them to tell new stories, that allows
17:34them to envision new roles for themselves, just like Ruth Handler envisioned all the
17:38way back when she created the doll.
17:41How are we going to unlock their limitless potential?
17:44And that, to me, gets me really excited about everything Barbie has coming up, and also
17:50about what we are doing to help inspire the next generation and what they might do with
17:56those stories told to them and ingrained in them.
17:59What stories will they imagine for their future?
18:01I love that.
18:03Valerie, Jeff Immelt, one of the most incredible CEOs, CEO of GE, wrote about you in Time.
18:13And this is when you were named one of the most important influential people in the world,
18:17and you still are, because you never lose that, as a Time 100.
18:22He described you as a leader who is strategic, courageous, but above all, loyal.
18:31What is loyalty to you, and why is it so important?
18:34Well, I think he said it, because Jeff chaired President Obama's Jobs Council, and I was
18:39the point person for the administration, and I worked really closely with him.
18:44And part of my job as a loyal advisor is to tell the principal something they don't
18:49want to hear, if it's what I think.
18:52And I think part of what Jeff grew to understand in the course of our relationship developing,
18:56and it was a relationship based in trust.
18:59And I think that takes time.
19:01You don't just meet somebody and say, how do you do?
19:03You might like them, but you don't trust them.
19:06And so Jeff took the time to get to know me and get to know the relationship I had with
19:11the president.
19:12And so he could see that I defended the president, I advocated for the president, but I also
19:17told the president what I thought he needed to hear, not just what he wanted to hear.
19:23Speaking of presidents, it's a historic moment tonight for Kamala Harris.
19:29Yes, it is.
19:30Yes, it is.
19:31Okay.
19:32Sorry.
19:33Sorry.
19:34I'm sorry.
19:35I couldn't help that.
19:37Just the second woman, second woman in this country, and first woman of color to appear
19:44on a presidential debate stage.
19:47I think you know one or two things about breaking political barriers.
19:53Share with us anything that we should be thinking about, not just tonight, but over the next,
19:59what, 50 days?
20:01Don't take anything for granted.
20:04I don't know about you, but I will confess to you.
20:07Because we're all friends here.
20:08In my wildest dreams, it never occurred to me that Hillary Clinton could lose to Donald
20:13Trump.
20:14Just never occurred to me.
20:15Didn't mean I didn't work hard.
20:16I did work really hard for her, but a lot of people didn't vote.
20:21And they woke up the next day and they're like, oh my gosh, what happened?
20:24So wake up, all.
20:26Every single vote counts.
20:27And one of the magical things about a democracy is that it puts the power in us, in the people.
20:34And so when you feel like, well, what can I do, well, begin with being an educated and
20:37informed voter.
20:38And not just for who's the president of the United States, but up and down the ballot.
20:42If people had voted in 2010, President Obama would have gotten a lot more done.
20:47But he didn't, because we lost the House.
20:50So what I would say is that Hillary Clinton shattered a glass ceiling.
20:55I did not realize that our country was more sexist than racist.
20:59I mean, frankly, after President Obama got elected, I thought it was a no-brainer to
21:02elect a woman.
21:03Well, I was wrong.
21:05And so I've learned from that.
21:06And what I realized, though, is over the last arc, when we've seen so many things have happened
21:12that have actually been hurtful to women and girls, I think women now are saying, okay,
21:17wait a minute.
21:18I now get this.
21:19And this is such an incredible opportunity.
21:22And I'll just say this.
21:24Having worked in the White House every day for eight years, having worked on a bunch
21:27of campaigns, there is simply nobody more qualified to be president in terms of intellect,
21:35experience, background, temperament, and strength of character than Vice President Harris.
21:44I would have said the same thing about Hillary Clinton.
21:47And so it's not enough just to be the most qualified person.
21:51You actually have to get people to turn out and vote.
21:53And what we've seen over the last six weeks has been tremendous energy.
21:59And the polls that you look at show it's 50-50.
22:02And so this race turns on just one thing, and that is turnout.
22:06How many people who are either early voter or on election day excited enough about the
22:11candidacy to get out and vote?
22:13On the debate, look, I think debates are excruciating.
22:16I am having like sweats and everything.
22:18And I'm not going on the stage.
22:20She is.
22:22And President Obama was not the best debater, and he still won.
22:25So a debate isn't everything.
22:27But it is important, and it does give you a chance to see how somebody behaves under
22:31pressure.
22:32And I am really confident that she will do just fine.
22:35But it's hard to debate Donald Trump because he doesn't play by any of the rules.
22:40And Hillary Clinton saw that.
22:41He did not play by the rules.
22:43So I'm optimistic, I'm energetic, and I'm terrified because of all of the things that
22:49have happened since Hillary Clinton lost that election.
22:53Okay, we're going to stay on time, but I want each of you, starting with Brooke, want amazing
22:58people in this room, amazing women, amazing men, all ages, geographies, titles, positions.
23:07One very quick piece of advice you would give.
23:09Start with you.
23:10Lightning round.
23:11Oh, that's not, I've already lost the lightning round part.
23:17The importance of having your voice be heard, and that when we think, when we hear words
23:22like parity, equity, inclusion, all of these words, they don't just pertain to one group,
23:29one person, one type.
23:31There are countless other ways that we need to improve across the board.
23:37Krista?
23:39Starting at age five, girls start doubting the brilliance of their gender.
23:44Age five.
23:45I have a five and seven-year-old, and I find this fact offensive.
23:48And one of the best things that we can do to help inspire their self-confidence, they
23:53need to see brilliant women being brilliant.
23:57So go out and live loudly and be brilliant.
24:02Last word, Valerie?
24:04So I wrote a book called, Why Not, Why Not, right?
24:11Well, but it's relevant.
24:14It's called Finding My Voice.
24:16And what I want every woman to do is to appreciate the power of her own voice.
24:20And the most important voice is that quiet voice inside of you.
24:24And don't let it be your enemy.
24:27Let it be your friend.
24:28Be courageous.
24:29Be fearless.
24:30Go out there and use your voice to be a force for good.
24:35The world will be better if more women are forces for good and understand the power of
24:39their voices.
24:40How's that?
24:41We did well.
24:43I'm proud of us.
24:45Thank you so much.
24:46I'm going to be spending time finding your voice.
24:49Thank you, everyone.
24:50Thank you, guys.