Hello, my name is Latanya Mapp Frett.
I'm the CEO and President of Global Fund for Women
and these are my biggest lessons.
Meet people where they are.
Some of my most profound experiences have been
meeting women in their villages and talking to them about what has been
painful, what has been joyful, and where they would want to go.
It does not help me to talk to them about international conventions.
It's so much better if I talk to them from the heart,
and I talk to them about what also concerns me.
Because it is that trust that we build in a relationship that really propels the work forward.
And so, I encourage people not to take their own agenda into a meeting.
Trusting in your purpose.
I talk to people every day, especially young people who tell me they don't
know what their purpose is, and I tell them immediately, I don't believe you.
Your purpose may change over time, but there is a purpose and you have to trust it.
You have to say what that is. You have to actually articulate it so that people can hear you.
And if it changes next year, or next month, that's fine. But we all have a purpose.
And often it's a strong purpose in life.
And my purpose has always been to support women who are trying to do something for themselves.
And so that didn't sound like a purpose to me.
I would say maybe 20 years ago, I probably wouldn't even say it out loud.
And it maybe sounded too personal, so I tried to make up something.
But to be honest, where I ended up at the Global Fund for Women has achieved my purpose.
And so I think committing yourself to your purpose, articulating it,
and knowing it, and committing to it is where you have to start.
Always stay in learning mode.
I know for many people that it's easy to say,
at some point in your career and in your life, I've already done that, I already know that.
I have tried that before, and it either didn't work, or it did work.
But what I ask is that you always stay in learning mode, that you always stay open to something that
even if you've done it before, that you'd be willing to do again, for someone else.
Because being in learning mode means that
you can work in a different way in a different environment, a different geography.
And that what you learn as you move forward in your career,
and in your life, you can always apply.
Never be afraid to take risks.
The risks that I have taken in my life, and particularly in my career, are the most
fundamental reasons why I've been able to succeed.
I can never think of a time where I tried to sit back and stay safe,
that it actually propelled me into anything that I hold dear at this point in my life.
So risks, you know, are calculated,
and some of them you can take lower risks, as opposed to a higher risk.
But please, please, I beg you always take risks with your career.
This is the life that we live, and you don't ever want to be in a space where
you think I should have tried that, I should have done that.
Take the risk. Take the risk now,
and not all of them will be successful, but you'll be happy you did it.
You'll be happy you leaped and you took the risk.
Really, really motivate your teams.
It doesn't matter whether it's home, whether it's a church, or whether it's at work,
but we all belong to teams.
And sometimes I think we just, you know, in day-to-day life,
we keep moving through the work that all of our teams have to do.
Take a moment to say thank you to your team. Take a moment to encourage your team members.
It will do so much to the success of what your team wants to do.
And if each one of us on the teams do that all the time,
every day, then I think the work just gets easier.
We can take care of ourselves by actually motivating someone and telling someone maybe,
“I got that. You go do whatever you're going to do,”
or “I just so appreciate you getting it for me last time.”
Those are things that when we work in teams,
in life and at work, can really just make the difference for a day for anyone.