21Ninety took over Atlanta’s Convention Center in downtown Atlanta to host Summit21, a two-day conference filled with masterclasses and boss ladies who were invited to guide women to become the greatest version of themselves. The summit was broken down into three parts consisting of beauty, money and impact to ensure that everyone benefited from the summit.
The 1,200 women in attendance were able to see intelligent, powerful and knowledgable speakers do their thing on stage and bless the audience with their guidance and advice. Some of the women gracing the stage was the founder of Curlbox Myleik Teele, founder of BLK + GRN Dr. Kristian Henderson and the VP of Teach for America and the co-founder of Campaign Zero, Brittany Packnett.
Brittany Packnett arrived to the Summit21 stage on two hours of sleep and effortlessly engaged the audience with her contagious energy powerful words. Packnett’s talk focused on honing and amplifying your power message and she helped the audience do just that by guiding them to find their own power message and using that to create a truthful and powerful impact.
Packnett described a power message as "a you truth that you are uniquely positioned to tell. That power message is only powerful if it inspires, activates and motivates people to do some nuanced systematic, systemic good and do better for themselves."
When it came to finding our own power message, Packnett encouraged the audience to go through a specific checklist to ensure that their message is indeed powerful. Here are some questions to ask yourself about your power message:
Is it authentic?
Packnett encouraged the audience to remain transparent by being the same person everywhere. She argues that you cannot be one person online and another in real life, "The secret to engagement on social media is to be the same exact person everywhere — the secret is integrity." She ensured that authenticity will keep your truth at the forefront and shared that she wouldn’t be one to say something on Twitter to Roseanne that she wouldn’t say next to President Obama. Ensure that your message is authentic to you, your truth and the gap you’re trying to fill.
Is it responsible?
After some intense research, Packnett found that her ancestors from her father’s side were actually buried in a plantation in Wilkinson County, Mississippi — a place where they were known and treated as chattel. "Knowing where my ancestors are buried means that I feel deeply responsible to them and every time I tell a lie, I disrespect them," shared Packnettt with the audience. She continued to tell the audience that if they have a platform, they have a responsibility and if you’re not speaking your truth, you’re not delivering your power message.
Will it activate?
To further ensure that your power message is at its full potential, you must make sure that it reaches your audience. Packnett kept this one simple by stating, "If it’s a truth that doesn’t move anybody then you might as well keep it yourself."
Is it accessible?
If all of your other boxes are checked, it’s crucial to remain accessible and have your power message be accessible as well. Packnett revealed that she learned this one the hard way and encouraged the audience to present their power message in a way that everyone can understand. "Not only will they say 'I can’t understand you, I’m moving on,' they will also say 'I feel disrespected by the fact that you didn’t care to make this in a way that I can understand.' That doesn’t mean dumbing something down, it means making something accessible."
Brittany Packnett concluded her talk with a reminder of what a power message means to her and how decipher what it means to you:
"Once Instagram goes down and once Snapchat is no longer poppin’, who are you and what do you have to say? That is your power message. Your power message is the thing in your heart that makes it beat fast, it is the thing that wakes you up in the middle of the night, it is the thing you keep trying to run away from but you keep getting pushed back to. Your power message, at its most foundational level, is, should be and will always have to be truth."
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