Lawyer of the Year 25 www.lawyer-monthly.com Lawyer Monthly Women in Law Awards 2024 revolutionary protest has turned into a longer-term human rights movement that maybe, someday, will result in legal protection. But, to me, the shift is the bravery of women leaning into the power of their voices. It was Amini’s story—a story of literally silencing one woman’s voice—that sparked an entire movement of thousands of women and girls. And really, at the end of the day, laws only budge when enough voices are heard and not drowned out. Recognizing that, giving women a platform to lean into the power of their voices and share their stories has become a dominant part of my work in the last two years. Wow, that’s really powerful. Can you update us a bit more on those and other developments in your career? While I still work with organisations to increase opportunities for women, I’ve tremendously expanded my platforms to directly work with them so that they can stand up, show up, speak up, create impact, and be a force for good. Because I truly believe that the world is waiting for every woman’s story, I launched a publishing house that is run by women, for women. And I developed book-writing retreats, where I personally mentor women to get their stories out of their heads and into their hands. Over the past year alone, I guided nearly 40 women to successfully write best-selling books that drive change. It’s a powerful accomplishment for women to use their voice to facilitate impact and leave a lasting legacy. And it’s amazing to be a part of it! Also, in the last two years, I’ve significantly increased my speaking appearances. In addition to my signature keynote, “Ignite Your Impact: You Were Made to Change the World,” I speak to women on topics including becoming resilient, mastering their mindset, and creating a life they love. Ellie, when we last spoke with you in 2022, you were working not only with governments and NGOs, but also for-profit organisations to shore up social safety and equity as the pandemic starkly exposed discrimination and human rights violations toward the working poor, particularly women, who bore the brunt of the economic hardship. What evolutions, if any, in human rights have you seen since then? It’s too often a traumatic, awful, and, frustratingly, not unusual event that leads to exposure of human rights violations, like the death of Mahsa Amini in Iran. However, what has been unusual since 2022 is the number of women who are speaking out, owning their voices, and stepping into whatever power they may have. We saw this with the women’s uprising in Iran (and globally) that erupted in the wake of Amini’s death. What started as a USA “Giving women a platform to lean into the power of their voices and share their stories has become a dominant part of my work in the last two years.”
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