Epitome of ‘girlboss’: Global women leaders share insights, lessons in TED Talks series

Goal-oriented women in various professions detail personal challenges amid success stories

 

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Women leaders from different fields and backgrounds are now amplifying the “girlboss” term and taking charge in redefining lifestyle, leadership, and legacy. 

In fact, these were the three main aspects that speakers from the “TEDxUP Visayas (TEDxUPV) Women: Anchored in Tech” tackled in their talks held on Nov. 15 at The Theatre at Solaire in Parañaque City. The event marks the first TEDx conference in the region with an emphasis on women leaders’ experiences, and the part technology plays in their journeys.

Boasting a lineup of 26 speakers, topics tackled included the usual technology, entertainment, and design (TED) themes found in TED Talks, but this time, with a hyperfocus on the micro experiences of female proponents in various professions.

From dealing with unrealistic social expectations to trying to find one’s footing in a male-dominated field, here are four important takeaways emphasized by these successful women leaders.

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1. Have courage to break norms and be an instigator in your field

While different professions have certain standards and norms that must be followed, it doesn’t necessarily mean this should be the only conventional practice.

“Why should a couple of writers behind the bylines decide what’s best? What gave editors the sole choice to decide what is the standard of beauty?” said beauty and fashion journalist Belle Rodolfo.

The content creator emphasized that the voice of a regular Jane or woman is not usually heard in the beauty industry. Instead, beauty and fashion editors are revered in the fashion community, with lifestyle choices “being made for us.”

To resolve this problem, Rodolfo produced a special project called the Reader’s Choice Awards, where instead of being the sole decider in today’s latest beauty and fashion trends, she asked 50 different ordinary women to weigh in.

“It was important to rebalance that power of choice, [especially since] discoloration still thrives in the Philippine culture,” she said during the TED talk.

“None of them were models and celebrities. They were your best friends, big sisters [...] because what's [more] influential than the authority of the media institution is word of mouth,” Rodolfo added.

 

Another speaker at the TED talk was Lotis Ramin, the country president of AstraZeneca, a global biopharmaceutical business that produced the AstraZeneca vaccine during the onslaught of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ramin, with her extensive experience in healthcare and pharmaceutical leadership, knew she wanted to be part of something innovative at a time when the world was battling the historic pandemic.

“This purpose turned into a clear guidance and mission: Deliver the vaccine throughout the world at the shortest time possible with no profit,” Ramin said.

Like Rodolfo, Ramin had to face the challenge of going against the current in order to pursue her goals.

“The impact is what truly matters the most,” the healthcare professional stressed.

2. Balance work and leisure amid responsibilities

But while jumpstarting one’s career through innovation and initiative is important, female leaders emphasized that hustle culture should not be glorified.

Mary Jane Kurup, managing director of VP Events Philippines, had to learn this lesson the hard way. Juggling her duties as a mother, wife, and a career woman, Kurup was “270 pounds of stress and sickness” before a life-changing hospitalization made her reflect on her time management.

 

“[A] life-changing sickness came [and] I asked myself what I regretted the most. And the answer was I didn't take care of my son, [but] I took care [of] everyone else,” Kurup said, detailing how five days after giving birth with a C-section, she still managed to come to a conference with binders and documents in hand.

“After the operation, I made the ultimate goal to take care of my son. So I had to change how [I did] my daily tasks,” the managing director added.

To set boundaries between work and leisure, Kurup did the “three 8s” system. This included 8 hours set for oneself, 8 hours for career, and 8 hours for family—totaling a well-balanced 24 hours. 

“For all women leaders out there, don't forget to say ‘no’ or ‘not available.’ Empower yourself with the right gadgets that can help you work more efficiently and quickly,” Kurup urged.

3. Accepting death means confronting the purpose of your life

Maintaining a healthy mental state at all times can be challenging, especially when faced with various day-to-day problems and overbearing emotions.

One overbearing emotion heavily tackled during the TED talk was grief—something that is inherently hard to process. Losing someone takes massive emotional turmoil, often leaving one with more questions than answers. 

Nikki Huang, writer and trained sociologist, shared that while she still carried the pain and grief of losing three of her loved ones, she never thought that death and loss made her want to commit to living. 

 

“In life, there is pain that is demanded to be felt, and that pain is a powerful emotion that shows us our moral compass,” Huang said. 

In her talk, she then posed the usual eulogy question that is often heard: When you die, what do you want people to say about you at your funeral? 

This question is meant to trigger a personal reflection on the realities of human life. 

“As you go through the journey from healing and trauma, there soon comes a day that you wake up and realize that no one is coming to save you, no one except for yourself,” she added. 

Through Huang’s reflection on grief and the fragility of human life, she formulated a revised eulogy question to reflect a single word: purpose. 

“If my life suddenly ended tomorrow, would I be happy with what I have lived with? Would I be proud of the person I was with the time I was allowed without any regrets?” Huang said. 

 

However, for author Neeta Bhushan, she associated death with an unexpected comparison: freedom.

“It’s like your worst nightmare suddenly leaves you with this odd gift,” Bhushan said. “You have nothing left to fear, both grief and relief, sadness and freedom all in me all at once, the beautiful paradox of life.”

She narrated that when she became an orphan after the death of her parents and brother, Bhushan went into survival mode and poured her life into her work. 

However, the grit and determination she used to chase became the very thing that drained her, physically and mentally. 

Bhushan then emphasized three shifts she made to make life more meaningful despite grief: allowing oneself to free up mental space, making an effort to forge and maintain personal relationships with other people, and training one’s emotional capacity to fortify the mind. 

4. Follow your instincts and never ignore your kutob

From talking about mental health and the importance of rest, female speakers emphasize that being a girlboss does not only entail breaking gender barriers and defying societal norms, it also includes consciously checking up on yourself and being aware of your own thoughts. 

Carla Mae Leonor, the design division chief of the Design Center of the Philippines, shared that honing one’s instinctual intelligence or kutob in Filipino, is  key to making better decisions. 

 

In training your kutob, Leonor shared that engaging with real-world practice can help gauge the level of instinct you have. 

“Just as Filipino culture emphasized learning through experiences, we strengthen our kutob by diving into real-world experience, testing our instincts, and observing the results,” Leonor said. 

The design chief added that reflecting on past experiences can help identify successful decision patterns that collect information for future insights—establishing a sharper and more reliable kutob. 

This includes recognizing patterns in social settings to train the mind to become more sensitive during subtle cues in diverse life situations. 

Leonor emphasized as well that combining kutob or the instinctive part of the mind with the analytical part can potentially create a beneficial system that enables individuals to make more strategic decisions based on intuition and logic. 

“Kutob or our instinctual intelligence is not irrational, it's not baseless,” she stressed during the TED talk.

“It’s a trained skill that is rooted in our history and our experiences and you have to actively engage in with your craft and to build that database of social cues and to strengthen the link between intuition and analysis,” Leonor added. 

 

This same sentiment is shared by leadership coach Andrea Del Rosario, who said that the formation of internal thoughts are key factors in motivating yourself to make decisions. 

In her talk, Del Rosario discussed “positive and negative anchors,” which refers to things that either “lift us or hold us back.”

She emphasized that these anchors are weapons that should aim to empower yourself in day-to-day life. 

The first step is to identify your ‘negative’ anchors and assess what is causing it and how you can control it through your actions. 

Next comes the crucial part, replacing those ‘negative’ anchors by creating ‘positive’ ones through powerful lines that you identify. 

“When I decided to replace “ I am not good enough” to “I am good enough,” it changed everything, I became a happier person. Once you start changing that negative anchors to positive ones, everything becomes different,” she said. 

While these changes can be hard at first, Del Rosario said they are essential to both change your mindset and your environment. It all comes down to what anchors you want to place yourself into. 

TEDxUPV Women 2024 is more than a celebration of women empowerment and becoming the ultimate ‘girlboss’ in the modern world. The TED talk reflects the changing societal landscape, the sharing of personal stories and experiences as well as honoring the past and the present. 

These takeaways are meant to invoke an emotion, reassess your life, and continue an ongoing legacy.

(2024/11/28-17:23)