The Mighty Forces Origin Story
It was late on election night 2016 when I stepped into my 4-year-old daughter’s bedroom. There she slept, radiating innocence. I felt dead inside as I whispered, I’m sorry.
I’m sorry that I brought you into such a world. I’m sorry that my privilege blinded me to the extent to which misogyny is still choking women’s progress and freedom. I’m sorry that what I thought was impossible is possible and for what that means about me as your steward. What else don’t I know? What other ways might life be a source of pain and disappointment that I can’t sweep from your path?
My daughter, Ali, age 4. Would this beautiful, innocent creature grow up to hate herself? Not on my watch.
In the light of day, I remained stunned. Stunned by the misogyny that had so many women dismissing ‘grab her by the pussy’ as innocent locker room talk…the misogyny that led so many people to decide that they didn’t “like” Hillary, no matter her incredible track record of public service and accomplishments. Ever a strategist, I began reverse-engineering the situation. If misogyny was the problem, what was the solution? As simplistic as it sounds: What would it take to get people to stop hating women? And for women to stop hating themselves?
I decided to fight back using the most powerful tool at my disposal: Storytelling. I’d spent years helping mission-driven organizations tell strategic stories as a way of increasing their reach and impact. Now I would be part of changing the way we told stories about women in our culture, so that more people saw what I saw: an abundance of smart, deep women, whose ideas and voices, if given more airtime — in the media and on social media, including on LinkedIn — could influence our collective futures, for the better.
The following year, Mighty Forces was born.
Its mission: to fill the world with stories that told the truth about women, in order to create a world that didn’t punish us for being too big for the boxes into which we were conditioned to fit — a world where our influence could achieve its maximum potential.
Later, I would realize the extent to which not only misogyny, but also, racism, had shaped the 2016 election; how, as authors Regina Jackson and Saira Rao put it in their book, White Women, white women put solidarity with race ahead of solidarity with gender, voting for a man who openly espoused white supremacy. More and more, I would use the Mighty Forces platform, imperfectly, to intentionally amplify the voices and stories of women of color, and I would commit to unlearning the racism that had infected me since childhood. This work is still in progress. Also: While a number of women of color have chosen to hire Mighty Forces over the years, at least one woman told me she preferred to do the work of clarifying her story and voice with a fellow woman of color, which I completely understand. If you are a woman of color who offers such services, please reach out, so I can refer people your way.
Zooming it up with long-time members of the Mighty Forces community. Top: Michelle Hynes and me. Middle: Neda Frayha and Michele Whitney. Bottom: Mirit Cohen and Anna Vigran.
As the Mighty Forces community grew, what had been one woman’s mission became a wave of impact propelled by many women.
Every week, members of our community share examples of how their commitment to raising their voices and building their platforms on purpose is inspiring other women in their world to follow suit. Over time, I’ve pivoted away from a focus on stories, to a focus on voices — because even if you aren’t sure about the story, or stories, you want to tell, we still need and want to hear from you. About your ideas, your lived experiences. It’s not about perfection, it’s about authenticity — and consistency.
Today, Mighty Forces inspires, teaches, and supports women to raise their voices and build their platforms on purpose, with an emphasis on doing so in community, because the whole point of this work is that we aren’t alone. We’re interconnected, as women, and when one of us raises her voice, it creates a ripple effect, and together, these ripples create waves — and so, together, we change the world.
