Gloria Feldt
Welcome to the Do More Of What Moves You series.
Here at Alala, we are constantly in awe of incredible women making real change in the world, and love to understand what moves them.
This International Women’s Month, we sit down with Gloria Feldt, the Co-Founder and President of Take The Lead. Gloria has been a thought leader and champion of women’s rights for her whole career, and her work with Take The Lead has been key in helping more women achieve gender parity in the workplace - yes, that means more access to higher salaries, C-level and board positions in the biggest companies! Our founder, Denise, sits on the Take the Lead board and Alala is so proud to support their efforts.
Gloria graces our 2019 Superbodies Campaign
Q: Please tell us who you are and what you do.
A: I'm Gloria Feldt and I'm co-founder and president of Take the Lead.
I am on a mission for women to have equality in leadership across every single sector by 2025. And so I co-founded Take The Lead after I realized from my own research that I had cracked the code on what had been holding women back from being able to take their equal share, and it has to do with our relationship with power.
So now, Take The Lead does training, coaching, role model programs, mentoring, thought leadership, and we have seen a tremendous impact on women's lives in the last nine years. I'm also an author, I'm a grandmother, a great grandmother, a mother, that's some of my proudest moments and why I do what I do.
Q: Debunk one myth about being a powerful woman in 2023.
A: I love this question!
There is a whole industry out there that is trying to "empower" women and I'm here to tell you that women do not need to be empowered.
We have the power, we just don't always know it or value it in ourselves.
That when you think about it, the business case is clear. Companies with more women in their leadership make more money. We have the power of the purse and we have 57% of the college degrees. Our challenge is to have a better relationship with power and learn to embrace it with confidence, authenticity, and joy. And that's what I love teaching women to do
Q: Tell me about INTENTIONING:
A: So once you know you have the power, then you have to ask: the power to what?
What's your intention? What do you want your life to mean?
And it's not about just having ambition, it's knowing you're going to do it, and that's why I invented the word “intentioning”. To show the word intention as a verb, as an active verb. If you don't take the action, it doesn't matter.
I'm so excited that I'm about to be launching a new mastermind based on my new book INTENTIONING, starting March 23rd. Join me, I'll teach you how to turn your dreams into reality.
Q: Where does your motivation come from?
My motivation comes from two places. One is a deep desire to see justice in the world.
It started with the civil rights movement when I realized, well, women have civil rights too. And I began working for women's rights in an intersectional way. I also think it's always personal.
My first book was called, Behind Every Choice Is A Story, and I think we all do what we do because of a personal reason.
I was once that scared, pregnant 15 year old, who felt powerless. I want all women to feel that they have the power to create the lives that they want. I want all women to have that justice of being able to be whoever they are in this world.
And my passion comes from the fact that almost every day, someone says to me, "Hey, you saved my life" or "Hey, I took one of your courses and now I'm the vice president" or "now I built my business". That's where I get my passion. It just never ends.