WIL 2014: What does an Academy Award-winning actress know about women in leadership?

A lot, actually!

We’re both proud and excited to announce that Geena Davis, the founder of The Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media (and yes, she’s also an academy award-winning actress who has starred in such movie classics as Thelma & Louise and Beetlejuice, among others), is today’s keynote speaker at our Women in Leadership Institute^™ .

She was inspired to become an advocate for women and girls after noticing a remarkable imbalance in the ratio of male to female characters while watching children’s entertainment with her young daughter. And as you’ll see in this video clip, she founded the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, to help alter how girls and women are portrayed in the media.

And her work in this area has led to another serious question: How will girls and women advance their careers if they are still portrayed as eye candy on TV?

She’ll be addressing this dilemma and sharing her vision for change later today.

If you’re weren’t lucky enough to make it to WIL this year, check out #linkageinc to see what you’re missing (and to find out more information about next year’s event).