Event looks back at TED Talks for women empowerment

By Crystal Cantu/reporter

Posters displaying powerful women surrounded the NW student activities center as non-stop TED talks played on the television screen at a recent event honoring Women’s History Month.

Videos of back-to-back TED talks that represented the long history of women’s fight for equality were on display in WSTU on NW Campus.

One such video focused on Amy Cuddy, a social psychologist who believes that body language affects not only how others see us but also how we see ourselves. Cuddy is a professor and researcher at Harvard Business School, where she studies how nonverbal behavior and snap judgments affect people from the classroom to the boardroom.

Her TED talk “Your body language may shape who you are” focuses on power-posing, which can be described as standing in a posture of confidence can boost feelings of confidence and might have an impact on women’s chances for success, even when women don’t feel confident.

“These women have the beauty and the brains,” said Cat Stevens, NW student activities administrator, as she put up a poster of Hayat Sindi, scientist and innovator.

NW student Amarise Castillo enjoyed seeing influential women on display from a variety of fields, especially the ones that are underrepresented.

“I am pursuing a degree in information and technology, and I want to take pilot courses,” she said.

Hannah Searsy, NW student development coordinator, said having events like this at TCC are special because they provide encouragement for all women and that it doesn’t matter where you come from.