The power of asking “Why not?”

Society loves to put us all in neat cultural boxes that often don't overlap seamlessly. When they do overlap, it sometimes feels like two continental plates colliding and seething. The idea I want to spread through my talk is for our creative lives to be metaphorical representations of the rhetorical question • "Why not?".

When society tries to stuff us into specific boxes and tell us we can't play in certain sandboxes creatively, this should be the question we subconsciously demand an answer to, while living passionate lives that don't actually wait for the answer.

This inspirational keynote will provide key takeaways when we consciously and subconsciously ask "why not?" through our words and actions.

Finding Your Extraordinary Voice

So, the word “extraordinary”, how do we define it? The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines extraordinary as "going beyond what is usual, regular, or customary." The Oxford Dictionary defines extraordinary as "very unusual or remarkable". The usual, The regular, The customary, are all that society has collectively placed value on physically and culturally.

"The messages we get as women in society is that we are not extraordinary"• Yomi Abiola

The work we do is ordinary, and sometimes unnamed. The contributions we make are undervalued. We strive to be seen and represented in areas that are traditionally eclipsed by men.

This inspirational keynote presentation, filled with personal anecdotes, visuals and imagery spanning my career as a travel photographer, is broken down into three steps • Discovery, Amplification, and Maturity • and I summarize how these three areas of reflection can help you along that journey to finding your own extraordinary voice.