International Womens Day: Best Women Public Speakers
"Who run the world? Girls!"
Beyonce's hit may be funny to look back on, but every year, there is a day that girls run the world: International Womens' Day!
Bringing together women from all walks of life, International Womens' Day is celebrated across the globe on 8 March every year to show appreciation towards women for their economic, political and social achievements.
To celebrate, this year, our team put together a list of women who've contributed to the world of public speaking.
Michelle Obama Who can argue Michelle's not on the list? She's spoken up for womens' rights, healthy lifestyles, Barack's and Hilary's campaigns and much much more. Her style of speech touches the heart, bringing up stories that shake the emotional core. A good example was her speech about Trump's comments towards women.
With smart use of pausing, she never fails to deliver a message across. And people clearly want more of her speeches, given calls for her to run for President in 2020.
Malala Yousafzai Malala may not be a Toastmaster but her personal stories make her speeches stand out.
As a Pakistani education activist, her experience being kept from going to school and being held at gunpoint by the Taliban gave her inspiration and will to make the world a better place. Her passion towards achieving universal education for girls is reflected in her speeches.
Going back to her Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, I quote "The word Malala means "grief stricken", "sad", but in order to lend some happiness to it, my grandfather would always call me Malala - The happiest girl in this world and today I am very happy that we are standing together for an important cause." Few sentences in the speech already get the audience thinking about the importance of being grateful and staying optimistic in the roughest of times, alongside standing up for the right to education for all children around the world.
Sheryl Sandberg
Sheryl Sandberg is behind one of the most popular apps till date - Facebook. As the first woman on Facebook's board of executives, she joined as Chief Operating Officer in 2012. In the same year, she also made it to Time 100, a list of the 100 most influential people in the world according to Time magazine
Throughout her life, she has spoken up for women leaders, including her first book Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead, which was a huge success covering business leadership and development, issues with the lack of women in government and business leadership positions, and feminism.
In 2010, she also delivered a TEDx talk about why a smaller percentage of women than men reach the top of their professions and shared powerful pieces of advice for women to excel in the workforce.
Oprah Winfrey
Oprah can't be missed out if we're talking about International Womens' Day.
Oprah grew up in poor household in Mississippi, but worked hard in high school and helped out at TV and radio shows in her 20s. The Oprah Winfrey Show was launched in 1986, a show that was first of its kind, promoted as a educational platform promoting philanthropy and self-improvement. The show, till date, is known as the highest-rated talk show in American television history.
In 2001, Oprah was named "arguably the world's most powerful woman" by TIME. Her speeches cover an array of topics including charity, the importance of never giving up and education for children.
Hillary Clinton
Clinton is named the second most Powerful woman on Forbes' "The World's 100 Most Powerful Women" list. She was the only woman to come so far in a Presidential Race, while also serving as United States Secretary of State from 2009 to 2013 and First Lady of the United States from 1993 to 2001.
Hillary shows great support for women through her Clinton Foundation, which focuses on early childhood development efforts. Her speeches are all over the internet, topics including diplomacy, the environment and healthcare.
