On Saturday, Feb. 4, seven Marlborough students, Community Outreach Coordinator Miranda Payne and English instructor Sarah Wolf attended the “It’s Our Turn” conference at Brentwood School, which featured female celebrities and leaders who led panels to help young women learn about how to become or grow as leaders in their communities.
11 female students at Brentwood planned and organized “It’s Our Turn” with the help of two teachers, inspired by Maria Shriver’s “Pass it on” message, part of The Women’s Conference that she hosts annually.
“I thought it was a little over-the-top,” Madeline ’12 said. “That being said, it promoted a great message about women’s leadership, something we try to encourage here at Marlborough.”
The event began with a welcome from members of the “It’s Our Turn” Executive Committee and Head of School Mike Riera, followed by a panel discussion facilitated by U.S. Women’s Soccer player Alex Morgan, spoken word artist Azure Antoinette, best-selling author Katherine Schwarzenegger and actress and producer Raven-Symone. Next, attendees watched a special screening of the documentary “Miss Representation,” which was also shown to Grades 9-12 at Marlborough in January, and had the opportunity to go to a variety of panels facilitated by speakers ranging from Lady Gaga to CBS Entertainment President Nina Tassler.
“It was incredible to see how young some of these panelists were, creating million-dollar corporations at our age,” said Millicent ’12, President of Marlborough’s new Women in Leadership club. Millicent chose to sit in on the “It’s Our Turn to Become Entrepreneurs” panel. All panelists were aged 17 and under, and some run multimillion-dollar companies, including Emi-Jay, a manufacturer of hair accessories, and Violent Lips, a lip tattoo service started by Brentwood sophomore Isabella Haddad.
Millicent said that the although the carnival atmosphere and celebrity guests detracted from the overall message, the conference inspired.
“[The conference] gave me the impetus to really get the ball rolling on my own club,” she said. “I hope a few years down the line Marlborough will be able to hold its own women’s conference.”
