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Author Talk: ‘Becoming a Dangerous Woman’
Trailblazing media executive PAT MITCHELL delivers an inspiring keynote based on her memoir, Becoming a Dangerous Woman: Embracing Risk to Change the World. Drawing from her esteemed career, Mitchell highlights how women’s narratives transform lives, challenge stereotypes, and drive social progress. Mitchell’s engaging storytelling provides insights into the significance of elevating women’s voices, empowering audiences to recognize and harness the transformative power of their own stories.
Being Part of the Narrative: The Power of Women's Stories
Groundbreaking media icon and global advocate for women's rights Pat Mitchell has dedicated her career to sharing the stories of women-- all women, from all backgrounds, and walks of life-- as a way of creating change in the world. On the frontlines of three media revolutions-- as the first woman in broadcast journalism, one of the first women to start her own media company, and as the first woman president of PBS and of CNN productions-- Mitchell has seen firsthand the remarkable things that can happen when women's voices and truths are heard.
In these captivating, candid, and empowering remarks, Mitchell dives into the value and power of storytelling and how it is intrinsically related to female mentorship and leadership. Highlighting the beauty that is found when we see and hear narratives we can relate and aspire to, Mitchell empowers women to share their own story, receive the wisdom of those who came before them, and pave the way for those yet to come.
The Transformational Power of Media
Explore the profound impact of creative production on society with changemaker PAT MITCHELL, a visionary leader in media. In this enlightening talk, Mitchell shares thought-provoking perspectives on the evolving media landscape and its potential to drive positive transformation.
Pat Mitchell started her professional journey as an English instructor at the University of Georgia and Virginia Commonwealth University. An innate curiosity and the need to feel challenged led her to accept a position as a writer/researcher for the popular newsweekly, LOOK magazine. Only nine months later, LOOK stopped publishing, and Mitchell, an unemployed single mother living in New York City with her young son, was advised to "try television."
Over the next three decades, she created a body of award-winning work in front of the cameras as a news reporter and news anchor, national talk show host and White House correspondent, as well as behind the cameras as a creator and producer of documentaries and series, many of which focused on women’s stories, challenges and accomplishments.
In the mid-'80s, she left a secure position at NBC to establish an independent production company to create, produce and host the groundbreaking and Emmy-award-winning daytime series, "Woman to Woman," which was the first national program produced and hosted by a woman. "Woman to Woman" also became the first television series to be added to the Schlesinger Library on the History of Women at Radcliffe College.
In 1992 Mitchell approached media entrepreneur Ted Turner about producing a documentary series on the history of women in America. The resulting 10-hour series, A Century of Women, was broadcast in 1993 on the Turner cable networks and syndicated around the world. Turner convinced Mitchell to join Turner Broadcasting, and as president of Turner Original Productions and later CNN Productions, Mitchell was the executive producer of hundreds of hours of documentaries and specials, many of which were awarded Emmy’s and Peabody Awards for Excellence; several were nominated for Academy Awards for best documentary.
She was inducted into the Broadcasting and Cable Hall of Fame in 2009, named one of the Most Powerful Women in Hollywood by Hollywood Reporter and featured in Fast Company’s special report, The League of Extraordinary Women: 60 Influencers Who Are Changing the World.
In 2012, The Women’s Media Center honored Mitchell with their first-annual Lifetime Achievement Award. Mitchell has also been recognized with the Sandra Day O'Connor Award for Leadership, and was honored by the Center for the Advancement of Women for her accomplishments and contributions in the world of communications in creating a more equitable society for women. She is also one of 12 Americans awarded the prestigious Bodley Medal from the Bodleian Library at Oxford University. Mitchell was recently appointed by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi as one of nine commissioners to develop a plan to build a National Women’s History Museum in Washington, D.C. The commission delivered its report to Congress in 2016.
In addition to her accomplishments both on and off the screen, Mitchell is known for her humanitarian efforts and for her work as a dedicated member of numerous nonprofit boards. She is chair of the Sundance Institute and the Women’s Media Center. She is also a founding board member of V-Day, a global movement to end violence; a founding member of Mikhail Gorbachev's global environmental organization, Green Cross International; a board member of Acumen Fund; and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, and the International Women’s Forum. Learn more about the causes and projects to which she is committed.
Mitchell is a magna cum laude graduate of the University of Georgia with bachelor's and master's degrees in English literature (watch the 2012 commencement address she gave at her alma mater). She has also been awarded honorary doctorate degrees from several colleges and universities and is a much sought-after public speaker, advisor and consultant to foundations and corporations on issues of women’s empowerment and leadership development. She is the author of Becoming a Dangerous Woman: Embracing Risk to Change the World. She and her husband, Scott Seydel, have six children and 12 grandchildren and reside in New York City and Atlanta, Georgia.
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