San Francisco’s first-annual Be Invincible Women’s Summit featured a gamut of influential women speakers from former senior advisor to President Obama, Valerie Jarrett, to the Democratic Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi.

Photo by Jessica Celine

Fitting with the theme of invincibility, the event’s host, San Francisco Mayor London Breed – who was aptly introduced as “a boss woman running a $13 billion city in a pink suit and five-inch heels” – touched on the resiliency of women in the Bay Area to encourage those in attendance to apply their collective power towards obtaining tangible changes in matters of career advancement, health care, and family life within their communities.

The day’s events started with an interpretive dance performance from the group, Girl Brigade, complete with a drum circle, whose beatings reverberated throughout the halls of the Moscone Center and resonated a message of female empowerment felt by all. “We are women on the cosmic brink of becoming,” the young teens chanted as Beverly Anderson, Executive Vice President of Cards and Retail of Wells Fargo, and Valerie Jarrett entered stage left.

Photo by Jessica Celine

“Adventure is a swerve, not a straight line,” Jarrett tells Anderson during their conversation. “I thought having it all meant doing it all.” And yet, Jarrett felt unfulfilled in her prescribed 10-year plan: law school, professional career, love, marriage, and baby before the age of 30. “Whose ever had a 10-year plan that actually went according to plan?,” Jarrett joked to the audience.

Jarrett knew what she had to do, and that was to swerve into a role of public service in local government. “Sometimes the shortest distance you have to go is all the way around,” Jarrett continued. For Jarrett, this full circle moment came when she transitioned from a career in the public sector to that of advising the most influential person in America at that time, the 44th President of the United States. “For me, leadership is an unselfish act for the greater good. Yes it’s about empowerment, but it’s also about your obligation to the next generation,” said Jarrett. “Ladies, let’s change the world together. Swerve.”

Photo by Jessica Celine

The conversation then swerved to a dialog between Mayor London Breed and Speaker Nancy Pelosi. “Our diversity is our strength. Our unity is our power,” said Pelosi on the passage of the Fair Pay Act and Affordable Care Act. “We didn’t let any barrier stand in our way- if the gate was locked, we climbed the fence. If the fence was too high, we parachuted in.”

“Who said she could run,” Pelosi recalled many male members of Congress asking during her run for Speaker. “Poor babies,” she deadpanned to the audience. Upon her election as the first woman Speaker of the House, Pelosi recounts that these same men told her to “make a list of whatever women want, and they’ll handle it. Double poor babies.” Today Pelosi is using her political power to champion the reproductive rights of women in the 21 states affected by stringent anti-abortion laws. “Talk to me when you’ve had five babies in six years,” said Pelosi. “When you have, then we can talk about a woman’s right to choose.”

Photo by Jessica Celine

As the events of the day began to finish up, the last speaker, Judy Smith- founder, president and CEO of Smith & Company; and inspiration behind the TV show Scandal’s Olivia Pope- took the stage. Smith imparted three pearls of wisdom to the audience: look problems dead in the eye; stand in your truth; examine the root causes of the problem to ensure that it does not happen again. “Often times those closest to the problems in our society are those closest to the solutions.” Smith’s work with the Bay Area Young Women’s Initiative allows young females to conduct research on the problems most closely affecting their communities and allows these girls the opportunity to provide recommendations for improvement to their local lawmakers. “We want to empower young women,” said Smith. “This means establishing a foundation of loving yourself by any means necessary.”

Photo by Jessica Celine

By the end of the summit self-love was thick in the air, as all the women in the audience sang along to Ledisi. “Life can bring us through many changes,” the audience sang is solidarity. “It’s alright. Just don’t give up, it’s going to be alright.” A noticeable shift occurred in the atmosphere; one that pronounced that women are not just beacons of strength, but that as a collective we are indestructible, unbeatable, and impossible to overcome. Simply put, we are invincible.

By: Rachel Ladeby