Oprah Winfrey does not have impostor syndrome. But as she looked out over the crowd of more than 11,000 people, most of them women, in Boston on Thursday, she said she doesn’t think they should.
“The reason I’ve never felt like an impostor is because I’m so spiritually rooted … my being here is no accident,” she said.
Her mother and father never married and only had sex once, which led to her, she told the crowd.
“For years I was called the bastard child, the illegitimate child. People tried to make me feel like I definitely didn’t belong. But my spiritual judgment allowed me to see that I came from something bigger than myself,” he said
Winfrey, her best friend and CBS Mornings co-host Gayle King, Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey, Gail Devers, Beverly Johnson and Cailtin Clark were all keynote speakers at the Massachusetts Conference for Women held Thursday at the Convention Center and Boston Expositions. . It was the 20th anniversary of the event.
The theme was power in unity. Keynote speakers talked about building relationships in the workplace, what it means to be a team, and how their failures got them to where they are today.
There were also many sessions from other women leaders in Massachusetts, including those on work-life balance, supporting caregivers in the workplace, and effectively managing hybrid teams.
Gloria Larson, board president of the Massachusetts Conference for Women, said she wanted people to leave with new information they can take to their workplaces and feel inspired in their careers.
“We want people to have the best possible experience while they’re here,” he said. “I call it a professional women’s spa day, because that’s how I feel, too.”
Landing Winfrey, Clark and others as keynote speakers for its 20th anniversary was a “home run,” Larson said.
Winfrey encouraged people in the room to seek only validation from themselves, not the world, and to trust your gut.
“The reason you’re born is because you have something that no one else has to share, and you can do it in a way that no one else can. A lot of times people are looking for that big idea of what your purpose is. The your purpose is not out there. Your purpose is always here. It is right here,” he said.
Mistakes can also get you ahead, Clark, a professional basketball player, said Thursday.
He recalled his sophomore year at Iowa when his team unexpectedly lost to a much lower team. But she firmly believes that they wouldn’t have gotten this far over the next two years if they hadn’t lost and found that power.
“The sun rises the next day,” his mother reminded him after the loss.
And he did, as the team reached the finals both years. Also, Clark became the all-time leading scorer in NCAA Division I history and broke audience records. During the tournament, a record 14.2 million people tuned in to see Iowa win over UConn, according to the Associated Press.
She talked about other times she failed, as she often played sports against growing boys or girls who were older than her. She said it was important that her parents let her fail and that it helped build her confidence.
She said she sees confidence as the biggest thing young girls struggle with. And it can continue into adulthood.
People would kill to be a professional basketball player, she admitted. But there are people who would kill to have the jobs many in the public have, too, he said. Remember how lucky you are, she encouraged.
“That usually puts a smile on my face,” he said.
A difference of 20 years
In the first year of the women’s day, there were 2,500 attendees.
Although it’s now less than a quarter of attendees, “we were thrilled,” Larson said.
It showed the need for a conference like this, he said. And it kept growing.
Over the years, he has seen changes in what women want, and the conference has changed with them.
“In the beginning, it was a lot more to do with how I develop and reserve my professional skills and move up the ladder, the proverbial career ladder. And these days, I think, especially with Generation Z, we see women who are interested in have a more dispersed plot line, perhaps in their career, that they are willing if a place they work does not offer them the level of satisfaction or help them to promote and provide them with the skills they need to succeed, that they might be willing to transfer them to other places in a way they didn’t before,” Larson said.
He also sees more problems with people feeling anxious and stressed permeating the workplace.
“So if we can provide ideas and coping approaches for younger women and also for women elsewhere,” she said.
Larson always encourages women to look at their career to see if it really serves them, and not to stay put if it doesn’t.
She also continues to encourage women to use their voice in the workplace and know they belong, something I never thought I’d still be saying 20 years later.
“I thought the nut we’d crack 20 years ago was imposter syndrome, because I have it, and most women I know of my generation have it, partly because we were the only ones in the room, often “, he said. “That said, it’s still a problem for young women. I see it all the time.”