This one's for you, Gloria

Today, Women Employed is on a mission to honor the amazing women who have inspired us. I love this campaign. There is nothing about it that incites any guilt or sadness or despair that the world will never, ever change. It is all about gratitude and empowerment and recognizing our interconnectedness to each other. We need more of that.

The only challenge was to slow my thoughts that raced through the many women who have inspired me, the many women who have hoisted me up on their shoulders through their books or lectures or kind interactions. I could write post after post about bell hooks,.Judy Blume, Margaret Mead, Julia Kristeva, Helene Cixous, my sixth grade teacher Mrs. Markewycz. And then there is Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who called to me from the pages of a very boring textbook in my very first Women's Studies class, took hold of me and has never let go. There have been so many women who have stepped into my daily life, by happenchance or some lovely and divine meeting, and have said something brilliant or reminded me of the possibilities or shown me with their lives how I may want to live. My grandmothers and mother are at the top of that list. Ann Christophersen, one of the owners of Women and Children First, is on it as well. They are in good company with the director of my graduate school program, who saw a spark in me and demanded I turn it into a raging fire, and a kind elderly lady I visited from church, who sent me handwritten cards from two blocks away. There are so many women to honor and they each deserve much, much more than a sentence or small thank you sent out to the universe.

Today, though, I choose Gloria Steinem. It's not a surprise, not a stretch, but it is the choice and the woman who would not leave me. When I was a little girl, playing Barbies in my room and dreaming up ways to dress sexy, my mother used to joke that she feared Gloria Steinem would burst through the door,  at any time, see me and take away her feminist card. Still, I wore my Ms. magazine t-shirt to kindergarten even though that year I also agreed to be Aaron Bilton's stewardess when he grew up to be a pilot. I went on to strut my stuff in tight Calvin Kleins and Sergio Valentes  and fill notebooks with bride drawings, but knew early on I would always keep my own name and might just become a mom without having a man in my life. I can't remember a time when I didn't identify as a feminist, can't remember ever feeling like it was my responsibility to stand up alongside other women.

A lot of people and feelings and words and ideas grew that in me. But it was Gloria Steinem who first made it all make intellectual sense, when it went from being just a feeling about what was right or how I wanted to live my life to a purpose, a calling, an academic and professional pursuit.

I've read so many of Gloria Steinem's articles, books, and speeches that I could not narrow down just one quote that reached out to me the most. And what I've loved about every single thing she's written is that she just says it, she just puts it out there in an accessible and still analytical, intelligent and straightforward way. I can untie theory with the best of them and am happy to Venn Diagram complex arguments, but Gloria Steinem's words just make it all make even more sense. She speaks my language.

Gloria Steinem still resonates in every issue of Ms. that I get. She still whispers to me every morning from a magnet on my refrigerator that says, "The truth will set you free. But first, it will piss you off." And isn't that the damn truth?

She's been criticized for being too mainstream by some, and too radical by others. I don' t hear any of that. I just see Gloria Steinem, standing tall and majestic, clear and strong, leading generation after generation down the path to equity. I like that image, and I like to see myself in the crowd she's walking in. And I'm pretty sure all those other women who've inspired me, are there as well.

Who will you choose to honor in the Women Employed campaign to acknowledge amazing women? 

Be sure to Tweet your choice with @womenemployed and add it to your Facebook status update.