I'm Lila Meltzer, I'm 16 years old,
and I'm the founder of the "Her Secret Identity" movement.
"Her Secret Identity" is a movement
that challenges society's assumptions about women
by inviting them to reveal their true selves.
I created "Her Secret Identity" to face the challenges
I was dealing with in my own life,
and I thought that if I was going through
these challenges and these problems as a young woman,
then as teens and as all women,
this is something that we're all going through together.
Whether it be with their body image, with their anxiety,
with their mental health,
or even feeling like an imposter all the time,
so I really wanted to take initiative
and as simple as it sounds,
to use social media for good and for empowerment
and for vulnerability
and allowing women to take control
of how they're perceived.
Through the help of my family, friends, and mentors,
I built up the courage to launch,
and so I posted my own,
I wrote people think I have it all together,
and my secret identity is I really struggle,
and it was one of the scariest days of my whole life,
but if I was gonna ask other women to do this,
then I had to do it first myself.
And doing so was the best feeling.
The response by friends and family
of not only support for myself,
but in support of the whole project,
was truly overwhelming and it was amazing
to see that other people were experiencing this as well,
and so it was very humbling.
Billie Jean King wrote people think I'm a tennis legend,
and her secret identity is she's a champion
of equality and inclusion.
Cheryl Samberg wrote that people think she is the COO
of Facebook, but she's also a mother of five.
The biggest thing that I've learned
and that I've taken away and I've gained
from "Her Secret Identity" is that we are not alone.
We are all together and unified,
whether it be in our struggles, in our victories,
and whatever we're going through in life,
we are doing this together.
(audience applauds)
It's that connection of one generation to the next,
but what you're doing for women and empowering them
when there's so many discussions now about young women
who hurt themselves because of their image
or comparing themselves to images
that they see on social media.
What you're doing on social media
is flipping that completely, and I just think it's so cool.
Women of all ages are inspired by your work.
Did that part surprise you?
Yes, 1000%.
I mean, we've seen Facebook's own internal data
showing how detrimental Instagram
is to especially young girls,
and I really thought this would just be
for people my age, but it's so humbling
to have people from all walks of life, all ages, all races,
I mean, like 80 year olds do this,
and so that is 1000% surprised me.
This has gotta be the moment that's going to
to snowball, it's going to become
the rest of your life's work, I mean,
this must be very inspiring to you.
Yeah, I mean, I really think that it involves
everything I'm passionate about it,
whether it be women's empowerment,
injustice, and doing good, putting that into the world,
and I would love to see where it takes me
and do it as long as I can.
Oh, I think you'll be doing it a lifetime, I'm sure.
Aw.
So, I normally get up at 4:00 o'clock in the morning,
I start every day very early.
I like the quiet of the house then.
I do an enormous amount of writing and studying,
and I like to have the place to myself,
so the time to do that is that early.
Today, I woke up at three because I remembered
I promised you I would tell you my secret identity.
So this is what I wrote, I mean it was 3:00 o'clock
in the morning, but I tried.
People think that I am an extrovert and a celebrity
and that I live a life of events and happenings.
My secret identity is that I am an introvert.
I am so self-conscious, I'm tearing up
just thinking about it.
When I'm out in public, if I have to put on a fancy dress
or something, I love being judged only for my work
and my quality of my humanity,
am I being kind to my neighbor,
am I treating people correctly,
and am I doing good work?
When you strip that away from me,
I feel completely naked and I just feel so lost.
I absolutely hate being out in public,
and when I am home, I am in my natural habitat.
I am most at ease when I am working quietly.
I like home making, I like cooking and ironing
and doing laundry, I know, it's nerdy, but it's the truth.
I love reading, real books.
I love writing, I love painting,
and I like doing all of that in my sweatpants with my dog.
(audience cheers)
I got a little worked up there.
And that actually made me nervous to say that,
isn't that weird, and I'm 53, that's so pitiful.
You are fantastic.
Thank you so much.
Thank you both for joining us today.
Thank you.
(audience cheers)