Meena Harris

“Like a lot of folks coming out of the 2016 election, I was feeling sort of desperate and helpless in terms of the outcome we were facing.”

“My partner, Nik, is a full-time dad and I am working on Phenomenal full time. Nik was in tech forever, but he decided to take some time to think about his next steps after we had our second child.”

“We have a duty to show up in the world with meaning and purpose and commitment to doing good. And to use any privilege that we have to make positive change and to disrupt oppressive systems.”

“If I were to distill my household, it was a passion for social justice and a love for food and laughter.”

“I mean, I've been kind of bad at self-care. I struggle with tying my self-care to being more effective and more productive. Especially as an entrepreneur, it's hard not to.”

“My grandmother actually was not a lawyer, but it feels like I was surrounded by lawyers.”

“In fact, when I began selling 'Phenomenal Woman' T-shirts on International Women's Day last year, the campaign was supposed to run just through March, for Women's History Month. At the time, I hoped to sell around 500, maybe 1,000 T-shirts in total. We ended up selling 2,500 T-shirts on the first day alone.”

“I grew up surrounded by these strong, brilliant women who showed me what it meant to show up in the world with purpose and intention.”

“I never wear heels unless I have to, like if I'm speaking at a panel or going to a reception. I'm always in tennis shoes or flats, and I'm definitely someone who does high-low mixing, like wearing Adidas sandals with blazers.”

“While celebrities with large online followings certainly help to spread a campaign message quickly, they don't make an entire movement. I was strategic in obtaining influencer participation, but I also was intentional in finding ways to mobilise organic grassroots support.”

“My power outfit is feeling confident and well styled, thinking that my outfit is awesome.”

“In the work I do through the Phenomenal Woman Action Campaign, male allyship is a major priority, and we're constantly looking for ways to engage men.”

“This is the whole point of intersectionality - that it cannot only be a single-issue analysis of race and gender, and instead must consider the cumulative impact of various and simultaneous identities that compound the effects of discrimination.”

“I guess maybe my method is to take self-care where you can - even if it is something sort of small and it's not a whole routine. It's this idea of resetting, shutting down, stepping away.”

“You have to give employees a lot of autonomy to think more creatively and out of the box. You need to hire people who are going to understand how to do this responsively and strategically.”

“I wrote 'Kamala and Maya's Big Idea' because I don't want my daughters to think in euphemisms.”

“Working with different communities and organizations allows us to raise awareness in a nuanced and impactful way, while also giving us broad reach.”

“We must continue to raise our voices until there is full accountability, including police reform, as well as justice for us all and not just a privileged few.”

“Thinking like an entrepreneur means establishing a core audience of early adopters and constantly experimenting to make your product better and better. If your initial concept is showing promise and early success, keep iterating to refine and evolve your idea.”

“Men can be effective allies by making space and amplifying the voices of women around them. When each of us is an ally in our own sphere of influence - when we embrace the fact that representation is everyone's responsibility, all of the time - we won't have to go to the movies to see a world that's free of toxic masculinity.”