TEDWomen Co-Founder Pat Mitchell on Becoming a Dangerous Woman

Jackie Cutleramp160 You39ve written about being reared a quotgood girlquot in the South easy to smile never complainingamp160 How did you find your voicePat Mitchellamp160 When I got to college at the beginning of desegregation at the University of Georgia the civil rights movement and the women39s movement radicalized meamp160 There is no other way to say it they gave me my voice and a purpose and reason to be on the front lines and gave me a reason to leave behind all the expectations for girls coming of age in the South in the early Sixties which never felt like me anywayamp160 So it started thereamp160 Then a divorce and to get a divorce was a small trial in 1968 was another step to defying expectationsamp160 And then through a whole series of moves out of the South from teaching to television of pushing back barriers and fighting stereotyping and yes sexual advances all of the things that were a part of being the first or only womanJackieamp160 What sparked you to actionPatamp160 One instance further confirmed my personal commitment to equalityamp160 I found out a male colleague with the same job was making way moreamp160 I confronted the dean and was told that the male colleague had a family to raiseamp160 I didn39t quit and I didn39t lead the strike which I might have done at a later point in my careeramp160 But I was angry that rage we have all felt when we know we are being underpaid or undervalued I seethed inside I tried to make it as big of an issue as I couldamp160 I wrote the dean I protested but I needed the job so I stayed another year and then I left determined to fight for equal pay for equal workJackieamp160 How did you break into TVPatamp160 I was unemployed in New York with a fiveyearold sonamp160 I had left teaching for a writer39s position at the weekly Look magazineamp160 One morning I got a call from a WNBC reporter who said quotDid you know you are unemployedquotamp160 And I said quotNoamp160 I am at workquotamp160 They had announced their bankruptcy and I was out of workamp160 I heard this click in my head that said he knew this news about my life before I knew itamp160 When I left the building to go look for work I ran into a television reporter asking quotWhat are you going to do now that you are unemployedquotamp160 I replied quotI think I will go on televisionquotJackieamp160 Once you decided how did you make the jump from being an unemployed print journalist to working in TVPatamp160 The next day or two this reporter called me again to ask what I was working onamp160 I had spent months working on a story about the gang wars in Chinatownamp160 With his help I sat all day long outside the news director39s officeamp160 He finally saw me and after reviewing my Look story asked if I could do the story for NBC Newsamp160 I knew I was getting an opportunity to learn something about television and the next day I was in Chinatown with a television crewamp160 They had to tell me everythingamp160 Here is how you hold a microphoneamp160 Here is how you look at the cameraamp160 Because I had spent so much time with this community with this investigative report I had a lot of people talk to me who probably wouldn39t talk to a true television reporteramp160 I sat in the editing room and saw myself cut out of the story because I was unprepared for being on televisionamp160 But as I watched that night on the 6 o39clock news I realized millions of people had seen the story and I was hooked on the impactJackieamp160amp160What did you do nextPatamp160 I started cold calling and going on every possible opportunityamp160 Several months went by and I got rejections at every turn but I was learning more at every turn and I was waitressing at night to support my son and myself even with my master39s degree in Englishamp160 I was auditioning and applying for every job I saw executive assistant to production manager to anythingamp160 I finally thought I would have to give up go back to Georgia and get a teaching jobI called Jeff Greenfield who I had reported a story about when he was working for John Lindsay39s campaignamp160 I asked quotIs there a job on the campaignquotamp160 He said quotYes I need someone to help produce campaign commercials working with David Garthquotamp160 I spent the next three months on the campaign trail making hundreds of campaign commercials learning how to edit how to write and produce televisionJackieamp160 And you took that newly acquired experience and parlayed it into a steady TV job in BostonPatamp160 It was a fantastic local station and in those days local stations did so much local programmingamp160 I was one of two or three womenamp160 It was a time of breaking barriers almost every day coming into some sort of gender stereotype of quotYou can39t do thisquotamp160 We saw this as a great opportunity because no woman had done it beforeamp160 We had a chance to prove what we could do and have a great time as wellJackieamp160 What were the major takeawaysPatamp160 I said yes to every job as did the other women because we felt like we couldn39t say noamp160 Now I realize I could have said no and not taken on quite the stress because we were being paid for one job and being paid so much less than the menamp160 We had sexual harassment all those things now out in the openamp160 It was the age of silenceamp160 It was the age of protect your turf and don39t look at other women as alliesamp160 Compete and compareJackieamp160 You have reported hosted and produced and made your way up through the ranksamp160 What are some moments that stand outPatamp160 I was making more money than I ever thought possible even though it was half of what my coanchor was making and I had become well knownamp160 I had an agentamp160 I was getting job offersamp160 I realized I wanted to use the power of media to tell other women39s storiesamp160 We launched a daily womenfocused talk show and moving into independent production amp160I produced and hosted Woman to Woman which was for national syndication and just beginning to be a big dealamp160 And I had the privilege to put together an allwomen39s production teamamp160 We had onsite daycare because I wanted women not to face the challenge of balancing motherhood and career as I had facedJackieamp160 When did you feel you first cracked that glass ceilingPatamp160 Running my own company and employing women in the midEighties broke barriersamp160 Working for Ted Turner brought my first president39s positionamp160 I had negotiated from a point of strength a competing job offeramp160 The same was true when the offer came from PBSamp160 I felt empowered to ask for the right salary and title and hold out for itJackieamp160 When are you most encouragedPatamp160 I am most encouraged when I am in the room with other women leadersamp160 At conferences and forums that bring other women together not just women in media but women in all sectors and we share learning experiences and problem solve togetherJackieamp160 And when are you most discouragedPatamp160 I think a lot about this lately particularly when I see rollbacks on all the progress we madeamp160 It is happening in this country for sure and in many places around the worldamp160 But I don39t get discouraged in my belief that more women in leadership in decisionmaking positions more women supporting advocating sponsoring each other can be the shift that will get us back on the right trackamp160 A lot is necessary if we are to have a real shift in the power paradigmamp160 The current power paradigm is rolling back our rights not just in the US but also around the world and it discourages us from protecting and supporting each otherJackieamp160amp160Are you hopefulPatamp160 If I weren39t I couldn39t keep doing the work I haveamp160 I once asked Fidel Castro in the Cold War series I did for Ted Turner quotAre you an optimist or pessimistquotamp160 He said quotYou can39t be a pessimist and be a revolutionaryquotamp160 If you want to be a changemaker a problem solver it takes a certain belief that things can be betteramp160 It takes a certain kind of optimism that we can do it ourselves and we can dismantle our own barriers and can do that with women supporting each other and inviting men to be our allies and supporters tooamp160 It39s not women winmen loseamp160 This is a time for winwin to shape a more just and equal worldLike everyone else I have had failures and disappointments but I keep my grandmother39s voice in my head as one of her favorite sayings was quotFalling on your face is at least a forward movementquotamp160 I have lived my life moving forwardamp160 I am still on the journey and want to share the learnings with othersClick the social buttons above or below to share this story with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of 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TEDWomen Co-Founder Pat Mitchell on Becoming a Dangerous Woman

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Jacqueline Cutler

"About That with Carl Mayer": Involved Media Connected Audience Fall 2024 Report (Episode 5) - By Carl Mayer

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TEDWomen Co-Founder Pat Mitchell on Becoming a Dangerous Woman

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