Author Chana Ginelle Ewing On How Identity + Intersectionality Can Unlock Human Potential

Our Favorite Black Leading Ladies

Kerry Washington in Scandal

Washington’s Olivia Pope is a D.C. fixer who keeps scandals under wraps for a variety of clients, including the President of the United States. Pope is beloved for many reasons, including the fact that she's an anti-hero instead of a purely good or purely evil character.

Zuri Reed in National Treasure

Reed's Tasha is incredibly complex in every aspect. She has great humor and takes charge in the group's adventures whenever she needs to. She can also hack her way into just about any system, and does it while wearing immaculate eyeliner and amazing clothes.

Lupita Nyong'o, Danai Gurira, Letitia Wright, and Angela Bassett in Black Panther and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

The women in Black Panther have redefined what it means to be a superhero. They're powerful, romantic, and incredibly intelligent, proving that you don't have to live your life embracing just one thing.

Issa Rae in Insecure

Insecure follows two best friends: Issa, who works at a non-profit and struggles with the lack of passion in her longterm relationship, and Molly, a corporate attorney who is successful in every area except dating. We love that this comedy is relatable and that it leans into the flaws and humanity of each character.

Raven-Symoné in That's So Raven

There are quite a few roles from Raven that we could include (The Cheetah Girls is still one of our favorite early '00s movies), but That's So Raven is the perfect pick. Not only was it funny and self-aware, but it also tackled issues like racism and body image in ways that its young audience didn't see much of at the time.

Janelle Monáe in Glass Onion

SPOILER ALERT: Monáe flips between two characters in this film (which you don't find out until half way through), and her complexity, persistence, and heartbreak is both amazing and satisfying to watch. Not to mention the fact that her character destroys the Mona Lisa, framing the man responsible for her sister's death. Iconic.

Tracee Ellis Ross, Yara Shahidi, and Marsai Martin in Black-ish

We love how this series shows an authentic Black family on primetime TV, as well as the fact that Ross' Rainbow (who's an anesthesiologist), Shahidi's Zoey (who is popular, feminine, and smart), and Martin's Diane (who's smart and witty) turn a lot of expectations about Black women on their heads.

Madison Bailey in Outer Banks

Because of her grief following John B.'s supposed death in the season 1 finale, Bailey's Kiara makes some questionable decisions in season two. But even when the decisions aren't the right ones, they're a realistic look into pain and processing grief. Kiara is unashamedly herself and isn't afraid of following through on what she believes in.

Taraji P. Henson in Hidden Figures

Not only is Henson's Katherine a mathematician and aerospace technologist (ie: a literal rocket scientist), but she isn't afraid to show real emotion — a scene from the film went viral on TikTok because of its portrayal of female rage.

Quinta Brunson in Abbott Elementary

This hilarious and heartfelt sitcom is like honey for the soul — it just feels good to watch. We love the way that it shows every aspect of the characters' personalities, from Janine's (Brunson) spunky attitude to Gregory's (Tyler James Williams) type-A nature. We dare you to watch this show without cracking a smile.

Rihanna in Ocean's 8

Rihanna's Nine Ball is many things: she's a hacker, she's a big sister, and she also looks amazing in red. Eight Ball is smart and scrappy, and knows exactly what she wants. In this case, that includes hacking into the Met Gala and pulling off a $150 million heist.

Halle Bailey in The Little Mermaid

We're super excited to see Bailey as Ariel this year. This is one princess that isn't afraid to tell the world what she wants, and we know that seeing the romance and music that we know so well at the forefront of this story is going to be a truly magical thing.

What Is Lucky Girl Syndrome?

Lucky Girl Syndrome revolves around the idea that the positive things you say out loud will become your reality. However, even though this newest form of manifestation is becoming widely accepted, there isn't actually a scientific basis for it.

"There isn’t evidence that we can speak things into existence," Goodman says. "This ideology has withstood the test of time and continues to morph into different forms of positive thinking." While our thoughts can emphasize our behaviors, a positive result doesn't necessarily come out of thin air. "It’s not as simple as thought equals something happening."

While traditional manifestation does involve the idea of good things coming to you, many of its forms still require agency on your part. However the "syndrome" of Lucky Girl Syndrome creates the idea that it's something you're chosen for, or that it's something out of your control.

It can be tempting to put 100% of your effort into positive thinking, but just like the old saying goes, nothing worth having comes easy. Our dreams take work!

"I have seen many clients attempt to use manifestation or wishing as a way to achieve something," Goodman says. "There has been a longstanding belief that if you simply believe it, it will come true. Unfortunately, this is way more complicated and work will almost always be required."

Turning your dreams into a reality often involves late nights and early mornings, but it's also vital to point out that the process looks different for everyone. "We can’t talk about manifestation without talking about privilege," Goodman says. "Popular manifestation texts propose that if you are positive and visualize what you want, it will come to you. This is interesting because it seems only certain people are getting what they want."

"There's no planning for obstacles that may occur, no assessment of individual abilities, and no action plan," Goodman continues. It's important to strike a balance between realism and idealism, and the truth is that there are so many factors out of our control that can derail our plans.

It's important not to set yourself up for shameful feelings when that derailing inevitably occurs. "When we don't consider our own limitations, systemic influences, challenges that may arise, or privilege, it's very easy to blame the individual if they can't make [their dream] happen," Goodman says.

Individualism plays such a large role in Lucky Girl Syndrome that it's easy to get into the habit of making everything about ourselves and focus all of our time and energy towards our own lives. "It can definitely become a stepping stone towards toxic positivity when we assume that everyone can achieve something simply by thinking about it," Goodman says. "This type of thinking can become extremely harmful for people with chronic illness, disabilities, or other struggles."

We're not empathizing with the people around us when we forget that they have different lives and different capabilities than we do, or when we put the same expectations on them that we put on ourselves. It's vital that we find a balance between those two things, and that we hold reality in one hand while still leaving the other hand open for opportunity.

"In order to get what we want, we have to know what that thing is and visualize it," Goodman says. "We have to believe that achieving it is possible. We can integrate external factors that may impede certain goals while also encouraging and inspiring people to take the reins and make their life exactly what they want."

Whether it's making a vision board or journaling, half the fun is in the dreaming. A study from Dr. Gail Matthews shows that people who write down their goals are 42% more likely to achieve them. Plus, when you write down your craziest dream and break it down into actionable steps, it becomes more manageable.

Not only can dreaming in this way be productive, but Goodman says it also helps you take notice of the good around you. "Believing that good things can happen to you and that you are worthy and deserving of good things can help orient your attention back to the positive in your life." That's a kind of positive thinking we can definitely get on board with.

As a Power of Women honoree, Mariska was recognized in regards to her work as an advocate for sexual assault survivors. She took the stage and used her platform to discuss rape and assault conviction reversals, shining a light on the recent overturned ruling in Harvey Weinstein's landmark NYC case. Here's what she said:

Today I want to talk about reversing convictions, and more specifically I want to talk to you about how impossible it is to reverse mine. It’s impossible to reverse my conviction that survivors matter. It is impossible to reverse my conviction that what happens to us matters, and that our society must respond to survivors with a more a compassionate, holistically, deeper, and more nuanced understanding of what healing means.

It is impossible to reverse my conviction that after a trauma, survivors can reclaim lives of hope, of possibility, of audacious risk, beautiful intimacy, and glorious, glorious abundant joy. And I stand before you as evidence of that statement.

It is impossible to reverse my conviction that we must listen to survivors as experts on what justice means. It is extraordinary how little their voices are consulted, let alone incorporated, in the process of deciding how to repair harm. Justice is not a one-size-fits-all journey.

It is impossible to reverse my conviction that patriarchal impunity has to end. Patriarchal impunity is when a male-dominated system exempts perpetrators from punishment. Studies show that only 20% of all rape cases in the U.S. are reported to the police, and that between 5 and 0% of all rapes result in a guilty plea or a conviction. So why do 80% of victims not report? Because they're met with a system that grants impunity to perpetrators; a system that blames victims; a system that accepts only those victims who are experienced as "real" rape; a system that completely misunderstands the neurobiology of trauma, which causes behavior in women that doesn't fit the picture of how a "real victim" would act.

Is that change needed that victims should just pull themselves together? Just buck up and report anyway? No. No, it's the system that receives them that needs to change

It is impossible to reverse my conviction — and the conviction of my extraordinary team, The Joyful Heart — that the backlog of untested rape kits can be brought to zero; that the testing of all new kits must be mandated; that we need a statewide kit tracking system; and that survivors have the right to access the status of their kits.

It is impossible to reverse my conviction that grammar — yes, grammar — that we use when we speak about rape must change. In the sentence, "A woman is raped," there's a crime and there's a victim, but there's no perpetrator. Where's the perpetrator? Where is he? Statistically, as we know, most likely he's walking free. He's so free that he doesn't even appear in the language about the crime that he committed. Is that not extraordinary? It's extraordinary that in the very grammar, the perpetrator goes free. Reintroducing perpetrators in the language of rape will make some very unwieldy grammar, but that's the nature of change. It's unwieldy, it's messy, it's uncomfortable, but it's necessary.

Hargitay continued on in her prolific speech to describe that rape shouldn't be considered a "crime of passion" because it's "not simply the next step in the trajectory of his passion" when a man takes a consensual hookup too far and assaults a woman against her will. She stated that it's "an exercise of power," doubling down that the language we use is important.

The speech went on to address that rape is both about power and control, as a "construct" that was "built, and assembled, and reinforced over time." She noted that there are people with these positions of power — and she specifically called out those in the entertainment industry — that could make a difference and aligned themselves to victims and survivors.

After this and some other remarks, Hargitay specifically called out the Weinstein conviction reversal. She said:

I do want to say something about the Harvey Weinstein conviction, specifically about the reason that it was overturned: too many women's voices. Too many women's voices were allowed to speak. Hallelujah! Amen! I can't imagine anything more beautiful than that. The Daily podcast episode talked about how it was so risky for the prosecution to have that many women testify. Risky to let women speak? You're damn right it is!

Too many women speaking brings change. Too many women speaking shakes the establishment. Too many women means we get listened to more, and people might actually hear what we have to say. Look what happened when women started saying just two words, right? Me too — just as an example — a tidal wave of change. Me too.

And then of course, there was the response: the Me Too Movement. The backlash. The examination of whether the changes that have come are lasting, or are even positive. Of course there's a backlash! What did they expect? For women to speak repeatedly, loudly, together, with a purpose — for there to be no backlash? The backlash is evidence of how powerful those voices were, how powerful those voices ARE.

Watch Mariska Hargitay's Full Speech Here

Turns out that your TV heroes really can be your IRL heroes after all. Long live Olivia Benson! Long live Mariska Hargitay!