Good morning.
I am honored to have been invited to join you today to humbly share some thoughts on leadership. Thank you to the excellent team at our good partners AmCham T&T for organizing this event and, as a general matter, for promoting women’s leadership.
The theme of this conference is #Give to Gain and we have been asking to be generous and share with others. I really love this sentiment and embrace it, and this has had me thinking a lot, as well.
My freedom project
If I may, I would like to begin by sharing a little context with you about myself and why the topic of leadership is meaningful to me. My leadership experiences were shaped as a child by women’s organized, competitive sports, as so many women of my generation were. I was born a beneficiary of Title IX in 1972. Title IX (that is, of the Educational Amendment in 1972) is a civil rights law that states, very simply:
“No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in…any education program receiving federal financial assistance.” Although the law applies to all educational programs, it became most famous for transforming women’s sports.
Before 1972:
• Schools spent almost all athletic funding on boys’ programs
• Many colleges had no women’s varsity teams = at all
• Athletic scholarships were rare or nonexistent
• Facilities and coaching minimal
In 1971 there were about 300,000 high school girls in the entire United States playing any sports. Today there are over 3.4 million.
Those girls are growing up – like I did – working as a team with leadership role, leadership grooming, and competition. And because I grew up after this law was passed, it actually seemed quite normal for me to be competitive and to be in leadership roles. The floor had been raised for me, and so had the ceiling.
A law changed that. A hard fought law.
I would go on in my life to assume greater leadership roles. I would say my greatest leadership role is being the mother of three grown children. Definitely the most resistant and feisty team I have ever led. Moms and dads will all understand my saying that.
And of course, I am deeply grateful for the leadership role that brings me to your shores as Chief of Mission at the US Embassy. My 22-year long diplomatic career has taken through nine assignments, seven of which were outside of the United States. Living in that many different countries gives you a particular lens through which to see the world. Due to some fate and some choice, I was exposed early in my career to issues of freedom, democracy, and human rights. I’ve worked specifically on human rights and democracy issues in the field and from headquarters. I will not name those countries specifically but I will just say I’ve worked in East Asia, the Middle East, and also the Western Hemisphere and in all of those places I have had as a focus political and economic freedom. I have personally been surveilled, harassed, intimidated and threatened as a US diplomat working on human rights issues. I have negotiated the release of 11 political prisoners, visiting them in prison, and been a witness to severe punishments including imprisonment, torture, and blacklisting of entire families for attempts to practice religion – specifically where I was, Christianity, asking for financial accountability for corruption by government officials, asking for education for underserved populations, and for wanting to vote in an election. By the way – these people were breaking laws. Because in their countries, the laws stated they had no right to practice their religion, no enfranchisement or right to vote, and there was no law in place to support their disagreeing with government officials – even when the disagreement was them saying a government official should not steal money. That is to say, not all laws are created equal. Some laws are oppressive, discriminatory and designed to protect powerful people. Another way to say is that some laws are ANTI DEMOCRATIC.
The Freedom Project of the United States
I’d like to step back a bit from my own experiences now and talk about what I call the freedom project in the United States.
That freedom project has a birthday this year and our democracy is getting old. 250 years ago this year – July Fourth, 1776, we declared independence from Britain. Our country was founded by tough minded revolutionaries who said “no more” -- that was hard fought. It has been hard fighting ever since. At our core, we are a country of people who said “no more” to some establishment, some economic system that oppressed them, some political system that disenfranchised them, some religious system that told them what they could and could not believe and how they could or could not raise their children. And people came from everywhere.
For two and a half centuries, American freedom has stood as a beacon of hope and opportunity for people who said “no more” to the countries where they were from — advancing free trade, open markets, and prosperity across continents. We gained inspiration from others and the American experiment in liberty, in turn, not only transformed our own society, but inspired others to pursue the promise of self-governance and free markets and economic opportunity. We would not recreate what so many of us fled – a small group of people dominating a large group of people and exploiting them and the system they created, for their own benefit.
The Preamble of the United States’ Constitution states this freedom project in those immortal words:
• who? “we the people”
• why? “in order to form a more perfect union.”
• Not an unreachable utopia, but something more perfect than what we had yesterday. Not them, but “we.” This is our work, our duty.
Our values of civil rights, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, democracy, a government of limited powers and scope, supremacy of the rule of law—these stand in stark contrast to censorship and repression. Where some seek to silence voices and restrict opportunity, the United States stands firm in defending the right to speak, to worship, to create, and to participate fully in society. These principles are American ideals – fundamentally we simply cannot change this about ourselves – it is our core, our essence, and also the result of centuries of people from all over the world fighting for that core. And yes, we continue to be imperfect. But imperfect does not negate the good. And we are still striving, which cannot be said of anti-democratic governments.
My upbringing and my life experience working on democracy and human rights as a US diplomat over the last 22 years lead me to believe these universal aspirations are those very elements that empower women and men everywhere to reach their full potential. I want to be on that side of history.
At the heart of this freedom project is our unwavering commitment to the rights and dignity of women. From the earliest days of our republic, American women have been at the forefront of progress—building community on the edge of a wilderness, teaching skills, running businesses, demanding civil rights, breaking barriers, and leading change. The struggle for women’s advancement is woven into the fabric of our history, and today, American women continue to drive innovation, lead in business, and champion justice at home and abroad. As I have seen in my 22 years of service, our nation’s diplomatic corps has been enriched by the voices and talents of women who have demonstrated that when women are empowered, societies flourish and economies grow.
Solidarity and the Responsibility of Freedom
I am going to come back to my personal experience as we contemplate this freedom project. I have two basic lessons from 22 years of living in different parts of the world, focusing on political & economic freedom.
• First, people wish to be free. To say/think, or assume on some level that some people wish to be enslaved or oppressed or beaten and jailed by their government for disagreeing with people in power is to say you have stopped paying attention and seeing those people.
• Second, people love and cherish their children and their families. They strive for their children and will do incredible things and make incredible sacrifices for the benefit of their children, including walking thousands of miles to the United States and standing up to repressive regimes at the risk of death.
So as we convene here thanks for the American Chamber of Commerce, we must also give thanks to those who came before us in our countries. Those who fought for independence in Trinidad and Tobago and those who fought for independence in the United States. Because without them – and without those hard fought laws like Title XI, those carefully crafted declarations of “no more” like the Declaration of Independence – we simply WOULD NOT BE HERE TALKING TODAY.
#Give to Gain
Freedom is a legacy in our countries but an imperfect one that we must continue to nourish, to support, and to push. I believe, as people who are born into this legacy, we also have the RESPONSIBILITY to “GIVE TO GAIN,” that is, we have the RESPONSIBILITY to support those still fighting for their freedom – here and abroad – in order to gain for ourselves that fresh appreciation and determination that supports our own democracy and free market systems, robust civil societies, which together allow us to be here today talking about freedom.
Therefore, 250 Years of Freedom this year in my county for me is a remembering, a commemoration, a thanksgiving, and a call to action. It is a timely platform to showcase U.S. leadership and to reaffirm our commitment to civil rights everywhere. And among the civil rights we champion, let us continue to lead by example to include robust representation of women at the table, at the podium, in the board room, and in the C-suite.
WE ARE TALKING ABOUT PEOPLE LIKE US
Our call to action is to #Give to Gain – give support to gain strength and solidarity. Let us draw inspiration from the women who have come before us, and from those who are leading today. Let us work together to break down barriers, to lift up every voice, and to build a world where women’s leadership is not the exception, but the norm. Trinidad and Tobago, may I applaud you for the robust representation women have in the offices of the Prime Minister, the President, and the Opposition Leader? Different women with different views and different backgrounds in leadership. There’s no one blueprint for women’s hardship nor should there be. I commend them as I commend the people of the Trinidad & Tobago. Impressive.
I would like to take a moment now to share reflections on people in the world – women in the world – who are part of women’s community who are saying “no more” and suffering deeply because they do not have freedom like the freedom we have. They are so brave and I am in awe of their courage.
• First, Mahsa Amini – or Jina Amini in Kurdish. This 22 year old Kurdish Iranian woman was arrested in Tehran in September 2022 by Iran’s “morality police” for allegedly wearing her hijab “improperly,” fell into a coma in custody, and died on 16 September 2022. Her death set off the nationwide “Woman, Life, Freedom” protests.
• Or can I honor the memory of thousands upon thousands of women (and children and men) who stood courageously in Iran, only weeks ago, cut down, gunned down by a death-loving, ruthless regime and hundreds of thousands of IRGC enforcers.
• And can we remember the Iranian women’s soccer team just this week? Some of them taking the difficult decision to seek political asylum and not go home. Others taking the difficult decision to go back to Iran and seen as “traitors” for not singing the anthem. What a terrible choice to have to make.
Closer to home:
• On January 1, a woman was arrested on a street corner as she headed to New Year’s mass, arrested, harassed. It was not the first time. It will not be the last, I am afraid.
• Berta Soler is her name, and she is used to this harassment. She leads a fight for basic civil rights for women and men. She has been a leader in this fight since 2011, and government leaders have been determined to deny her and others basic rights.
• That’s because Berta Soler leads the Damas de Blanco – the Ladies in White. These brave ladies gather all the time to protest government abuses. Which government? We all know. The Cuban government. Well, let’s use our words correctly – the Cuban dictatorship because they are no real elections in Cuba for decades. You the citizens can choose from My Choice for You # 1, My Choice for You #2, and My Choice for You #3.
• 70 years of crushing violations of civil rights. As we remember International Women’s Day, as we remember women who are fearless, who lead, even when difficult – perhaps you would even join me in applauding the sacrifice and courage of Berta and the Damas de Blanco.
Now even closer to home – here in Trinidad and Tobago, may I again mention Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, and her courageous words –– standing up for the people living under un-democratic governments, tyrannies of the Maduros and the Castros of this hemisphere? Thank you, Madame Prime Minister, for speaking for those who don’t have a right to speak. May we all find the courage to speak out in solidarity with those who are beaten down when they try to speak out for themselves. And may we all have the courage to challenge those very very small groups of people at the top who hold onto their power and dominance with every ounce of their strength because they do not want others to have power, to have any choices, to have freedom. It feels hard and sad, frankly, to accept this exists in our world still today, as we convene here in this beautiful place, with beautiful and articulate people who flourish as citizens of a democracy. Let us not take it for granted and let us #Give to Gain.
Recommitment
As we celebrate International Women’s Day internationally and Women’s History Month in the United States. As we gather for this Women’s Leadership Conference 2026, these commemorations of women’s contributions carry special significance for us.
As we mark 250 years of freedom in the United States, I am re-committing to the ideal enshrined America’s Constitution – “we the people” forming a “more perfect” union. As women in leadership blessed to be in free and open countries, we renew our commitment to championing the rights and leadership of women everywhere.
Let us continue to work together—across nations and cultures—to break down barriers, expand opportunities, and ensure that every woman and girl can lead, innovate, and shape the future. I am not suggesting everyone in this room should now become a human rights activist. And maybe you will not exercise solidarity with struggling women in Cuba or Iran. But the opportunities for solidarity are all around you. The call to action is a call to allow yourself to see, and to act.
Thank you, to the leadership and members of the American Chamber of Commerce of Trinidad and Tobago, for your vision, your courage, and your commitment to freedom and leadership that promotes a safer, stronger, more prosperous world for all. Thank you for inviting me here today. I wish you all a fruitful and enjoyable day at this conference. May we gain inspiration today from Mahsa and Berta – their courage and leadership. And let’s be the change we want to see, standing in solidarity as we #Give to Gain.
Thank you for your time and strength.