(see part 1)

Barbara Walters - ABC News and ‘The View’:

… On the other hand, I have been blessed with a fascinating career. One I never expected to have when I began as a writer on television. And if today, if a young woman comes up to me and says, ‘I’m in journalism because of you,’ I think that is my reward. I never had a mentor, and I am both grateful and so proud that I could be that for someone else.

Jonelle Procope - CEO, Apollo Theater Foundation:

You should always be open to opportunities and new experiences. You don’t always know where life is going to take you and where the next opportunity is going to come from. If you’re open to trying different things, you can eventually find yourself at the right place at the right time. Very often, you have to create your own opportunities by building on the expertise you have and capitalizing on it. You also have to be able to understand your strengths. Many women never step back to determine their strengths and look at their accomplishments, whereas men do that all the time.

Nancy Andrews - Dean, Duke Medical School:

… But in my senior year, some friends from Yale medical school persuaded me to apply to a combined M.D. / Ph.D. program so that I could work in areas of science that wouldn’t be as open to me with only a Ph.D.. This was in the late 1970s, and it never occurred to me that being a woman might be a problem. That was probably a good thing.

Sheryl Sandberg - COO, Facebook:

What I am asked about career strategies, I respond that you need two things: a long-term dream and one- to two- year plan. A long-term dream allows you to work with purpose to achieve real fulfillment. A short-term plan, makes sure you are learning and growing from the work you do each day. All the stuff of the middle is confusing at best and anxiety producing at worst. … When you try to plan every step, you miss opportunities. I believe that if you are open to opportunity and respect the people who share their dreams with you, the rest will take care of itself.

Helene Gayle - CEO, CARE USA:

I went into medicine because in keeping with the values my parents had instilled in us, I wanted a profession that allowed me to give back. When I was doing my residency training in pediatrics in an inner-city hospital, I saw so many children who showed up in the emergency room at night for non-emergency care because they didn’t have insurance to pay for regular health care. I realized that many of the things my patients were facing really were linked to broader issues. If I really wanted to have an impact and keep that child out of the emergency room, I had to look at other ways of helping tackle the underlying issues.

… we put a special focus on empowering women and girls, because we believe they hold the key to long-lasting social change in communities.

Dara Torres - Olympic medalist:

I’ve been in five Olympic Games in 24 years. People have told me how I inspired them. That’s a much more rewarding feeling than bringing home medals. People think they are too old to do something. Others put off doing something or don’t think they could balance being a parent to doing their work, so I guess they like my story. I feel like I’m going out there and doing my thing and loving what I’m doing I didn’t do it to try to show that a 41-year-old could do this. It just ended up that way.