How To Be Like Elle Woods

Photograph by Aleksandr Simonov

This week, Mary Coleman recalls a childhood retentiveness sparked during conversations about disrupting toxic private attitudes and organizational systems in her latest post in the #makingairwaves DEI Changemakers blog series.

Elle Woods from "Legally Blonde" is i of my favorite fictional characters. I could recall of no other modern persona to amend symbolize the freedom of living from the within out.

If yous are unfamiliar with the movie and its – in my opinion, meliorate – sequel, here is a quick summary: Reese Witherspoon plays Elle Woods, a Californian blonde who applies and gets into Harvard Constabulary Schoolhouse to win over a guy. While ridiculed and dismissed at commencement for being a speck of pinkish in a sea of brown cardigans, she eventually charms and disarms her peers and becomes the class graduation speaker. In the process, she also exonerates a client in a murder trial with her noesis of hair intendance.

In the sequel, "Legally Blonde 2: Red, White, and Blonde," Elle heads to Washington D.C. to pass a beak banning animal product testing. She get-go takes the advice of longtime Capitol Loma staffers and tries to appeal to lawmakers' heads with statistics. When that does not work, she pivots and gathers stories virtually the lawmakers' childhood pets to obsess their hearts. The bill passes.

I was an immensely insecure and shy teenager when I commencement saw "Legally Blonde" in theaters. I wanted to exist anyone merely me in most situations, following the lead of friends instead of choosing my own path. And so I met Elle, my consummate opposite. She unabashedly handed out pink, scented resumes while I could barely bring myself to put a nerdy sticker on my binder.

Elle is successful in both films, not past donning a shabby sweater or black suit, but by leaning more into herself as a passionate, pink-loving firebrand. She never compromised herself, accepting defeat before conformity when the balance was tipped against her. I saw her as an anarchist through and through, unphased past those around her. On the other hand, I internalized everyone'south words and behaviors rather than allow them bounce off me. I wanted to be her.

In this week'south DEI Changemakers session, we talked nigh influencing those with rigid opinions within an system, especially those with positional power. Practitioners and stakeholders from many backgrounds and result areas shared their advice for collaborating with someone resistant to embed equity and inclusion in the workplace.

While their stories differed, they infused universal themes of needing to both know oneself and the motivations of others in 1'south efforts. Each presenter implored the imperativeness to remain steadfast in your values and viewpoints in finding alignment with the principles of even the almost stubborn antagonist. In doing so, their experience shows that you connect with them on a level that allows for the transformation of heads and hearts for lasting, genuine change.

I thought of Elle in "Legally Blonde 2." She tapped into her and the lawmakers' shared love of dogs to empathize with animals in need of a loving dwelling house and not a sterile laboratory. She knew why she was not effective with numbers and charts. She lost touch with herself and did not even endeavor to relate with those to whom she appealed. Realizing this error, Elle rallied the lawmakers with heartfelt communications interlaced with emotional petitions.

Now, 20 years later, I yet want to be her. Or rather, be like her. I want to enter any situation and be candidly me fifty-fifty if I am standing apart from others. I do not mean being steadfast in my perspectives and never open to new possibilities. I hateful recognizing that I volition never know everything and that I must embrace my ignorance of topics and pb with curiosity as much as I strive to embody my values and lead with confidence.

Those values mostly revolve around accountability, pity, empathy, and reliability for those like me looking to build an equitable and inclusive time to come. When I negotiate a challenge, I behave and persuade toward my ultimate vision of a society with people'due south wellbeing at the core. This is linked with as well being open to changing.

Of course, these movies are perky, fictional accounts of very backbreaking, non-fiction processes – trying a murder case, passing a bill – that are not only toxic but downright harmful for many communities. The systems and their embedded biases active exterior of a Hollywood soundstage can compound and overwhelm any passionate abet championing their values on the best day. It is not as easy as wearing pink and researching a lawmaker's first furry companion.

Or peradventure it is. "Legally Blonde" is based on a book of the same title by Amanda Brownish. Amanda wrote the fictionalized account of her fourth dimension in law schoolhouse. Apparently, she submitted copies to potential literary agents on pinkish newspaper and it stood out plenty to go chosen for publishing.

That worked for Amanda. Information technology would non piece of work for me. Certain, information technology would still stand out. But it would not be accurate. If I did submit a book typhoon, it would be on paper with flower seeds embedded. This way, the words tin can sink into the soil and blossom afresh once someone has finished reading.

We need charismatic personalities equally much as we need the cranks. Just as nosotros demand all the carpenters, cooks, cashiers, counselors, figurer scientists, and curators. This certainly is not revolutionary, every bit many cultures speak to the demand for universal balance. Yin and yang. Good and evil. Light side and dark side.

What we need to figure out is a way to make space for the remainder to truly exist and non exist skewed in favor of whatever population or geography based on cultural, political, and historical context. I do not have an answer, and I think there will be many solutions to this challenge. What I do know is that we demand to start now, and we need to commencement with everyone.

We need everyone leaning into their talents and skills to design new systems and processes that centre people through equitable access and inclusive spaces. What i person envisions tin exist greater with input from another, and so on.

One of my favorite creative projects is HITRECORD, started by Joseph Gordon-Levitt. The platform allows artists of any media the ability to share their work and build off the contributions of others. For instance, someone posts lyrics. Then, someone else illustrates them. Then, yet some other person puts it to music. And then the illustrations become blithe. What started every bit words on newspaper is now an interactive music video.

Without the vulnerability to allow others interpret their art and the humility to relinquish command over how those interpretations manifest, these artists would all the same produce beautiful pieces (the song higher up is a wonderful tribute to our universe without additional embellishments). However, with the added layers of imagination from peers merely as invested in the outcome, the pieces become more than than beautiful. They become imposing, illustrative, and profound.

In projecting myself into the world, I always think about how my thoughts, words, and actions affect others as much as how they bear on me. I do not believe we will achieve equity in any substantial, societal manner if nosotros only centre ourselves. This does not counter the demand to exist yourself. It is about being thoughtful and looking at the big picture with all its possible outcomes before interim.

I would desire others to extend that courtesy to me. Elle did not compromise herself in any situation, notwithstanding she also did non marginalize or put down others along the fashion. She appreciated who they were as much as she appreciated herself and allowed anybody to see themselves in the solution. She led with wonderment and used her energy to find common footing, not make enemies. If more of us did that, I bet information technology would exist a remarkable world.

Interested in reading more reflections inspired by Mary'southward participation in the DEI Changemakers program? Check out parts one, two, 3, four, and five of the series

Source: https://voqal.org/lessons-from-dei-changemakers-be-like-elle-woods/

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