Bhavana explores why self-defense is a challenge for women at work and in life and how we can take steps to overcome our fears and find the courage to ask for what we want. Research and life experience show that self-advocacy is difficult. Especially harder for women. But we have absolutely nothing to lose and so much to gain. In this reading, Bhavana asks us to remember who we once were and what we once dreamed of, to challenge our thinking, embrace who we are and simply imagine what is possible. Bhavana Bartholf is an award-winning leader and sought-after expert in providing vision and accelerating digital transformation for companies across industries worldwide. Bartholf has a diverse career spanning over 20 years at Microsoft in their customer success, sales, marketing, consulting and support activities. Today, she is responsible for advancing technical sales strategy across all solution areas to enable digital transformation for Fortune 500 companies. Throughout her career, she has served as a customer-focused, transformational leader, innovative technologist, STEM advocate, and ally for women and racial/ethnic minorities (REM). She has a proven track record of building high-performing organizations with a focus on growing female/REM workforces and is committed to driving systemic change to create inclusive work environments. This talk was delivered at a TEDx event in the TED conference format, but independently organized by a local community. For more information, visit https://www.ted.com/tedx

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