5 lessons learned at TEDxWilmington Women

Twenty-six women from around the world gathered last Thursday to share stories, empower one another and speak about issues that every woman can relate to.
The TEDxWilmington Women conference at World Cafe at the Queen drew the thought-leaders to the First State.
Here’s what stuck with us:

• Latisha Bracy’s talk was called “What Color is your Fence?” She used white picket fences as a metaphor. The dream her younger self aspired to was being married to a husband and living in a suburbs, picket fence and all. But when she reached her epiphany, she decided her dream was more unique. “One day I decided I didn’t want to live my life that way,” Bracy said. “I wanted to have a hot pink fence.”
• Sharon Livingston’s talk was called “Eight Signs of a Toxic Friendship.” It covered chemistry in relationships between people, as lovers and as friends. “There’s ‘good’ bad chemistry,” she said. “We can stay in bad chemistry until it explodes in our face.” Livingston described the signs of a toxic friendship and the constant cycle of negative feelings that comes with it.
• Anne Barry Jolles’ talk was called “Cracking the Grace Code.” She said grace can belong to anyone and is not limited to those who know they deserve it. “Everybody is eligible to receive it, just open up your heart to the possibility of it showing up in your life,” she explained. Which is why she created the Grace Trail as a way for individuals to find grace.
• Diane Capaldi is a self-proclaimed Paleo BOSS Lady. Her talk was called “Cultural Collision” and it was sparked by MS. “I lived a life on autopilot, it wasn’t until I asked why that I began kicking MS to the curb,” she said. Capaldi had MS for 30 years and became disabled in 2001. It wasn’t until she altered her diet to a modified paleo called the Wahls Protocol, a diet that was first introduced by Dr. Terry Wahls, that she finally felt healthy again
• Donna Duffy of E3 Marketing Solutions gave a speech called “Kairos Living in Chronos World: lessons I learned in an Arabic neighborhood” based on her time living in Nazareth, Israel, in an area called “Hai Al Warood,” which literally translates to “neighborhood of roses.” A realization of hers: “people trump places.”

Organizer Ajit George hopes that all attendees will take at least one lesson from the event and integrate it into their daily lives. “The idea is to inspire people to do something about the idea they heard, an idea worth spreading is not worthwhile if you don’t act on it,” he said.
Missed the event? George will be hosting another TEDxWilmington event called “Information is Power” during Delaware Innovation Week at the Wilmington Public Library on Nov. 17 at 10 a.m.
RSVP