Nearing the end of our semester our team among many others had the opportunity to meet some of the most inspiring women, all who have inspirational stories with amazing feats to share with the world. Hosted by New York’s best, The New York Times and Refinery29, and sponsored by North Face, Generation Unstoppable a Get With The Times series panel with award winning Journalist Elaine Welteroth, Gender Editor Jessica Bennett, and athlete -climber- Margo Hayes, not only reached us the local invitees but the Her Campus community who was tuned in from all over the country. It’s no secret to us that the talent, dedication, and perseverance that women have has lead them to astonishing accomplishments in their areas of interest. That is why their dreams turning into reality, are our inspiration today!
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Margo Hayes, Rock Climbing legend and North Face athlete, began the night with a stellar speech on her journey from having an interest in gymnastics and making the decision to become a renowned rock climber. Her decision to be the first woman to ever climb one of the most rock climbing routes in the world called La Rambla in Spain paid off by giving her the title of the first woman ever to climb a 9a+ route. She also shared with us the North Face’s #SheMovesMountains video which introduced us to the nights empowering theme.
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The discussion lead by journalist and New York Times Gender Editor, Jessica Bennett focused on the platform young women can be inspired from in today’s society. Her expertise on women’s rights, campus life, and entrepreneurship lead to a highly insightful discussion with Elaine Welteroth. Elaine is an award winning journalist who expanded magazine coverage to women of color whilst being Editor in Chief at Teen Vogue. Focusing on social justice in relationship to fashion was truly groundbreaking in the magazine industry, leading to her creation of the Teen Vogue Summit hosted during June in NYC!
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During that time we were able to ask Elaine various questions about her journey to the city and how she was able to succeed in such an exclusive environment. She spoke about her determination to follow her professional dream by keeping up with columnist Harriette Cole, in New York City and how she motivated her to leave her Northern California hometown to become a revolutionary columnist. Her beginning in beauty trends slowly lead to opening up the floor to young women of color who were rarely sought for to become the face of popular, national trends. Today she uses her experience with social media and other communication outlets to inspire young individuals to not only follow their dreams but to go above and beyond their own expectations by believing in their voice and originality.  To this she asks us, “What is your North Star?”, our fuel, our drive, the ambition that we have to accomplish our dream, just like she, Margo, and Jessica did.
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So what is our North Star? And what do we need to do to accomplish our dreams? Elaine is able to give us better insight on how to well prepare during our professional journey because, yes, we can do it! Especially when women like them pave the path for us to learn from and grasp the key points beneficial to our success. To see more about this inspiring conversation click here! And don’t forget to keep up with the wonderful women who believe in us as much as they believe in themselves. A big thank you to The New York Times and Refinery29 for hosting such an amazing event with amazing role models. Another big thank you to Elaine, Jessica, Margo, the ladies on the #SheMovesMountains campaign, and Her Campus for making “Generation Unstoppable” happen!
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