March is here and you know what that means: It’s Women’s History Month — a time to celebrate the vital role of women in American history. Let’s take a look back at some key milestones:

1980: President Jimmy Carter issued a proclamation stating the week of March 8th, 1980, as National Women’s History Week.
1987: Congress declared March as National Women’s History Month.

Every year a special presidential proclamation honors the amazing achievements of so many great American women.

This year’s theme is:

“Celebrating women who tell our stories, who have been active in all forms of media and storytelling, including print, radio, TV, stage, screen, blogs, podcasts, news and social media.”

Some of the inspiring women featured in this year’s list include Barbara Walters, Oprah Winfrey, Maya Angelou, Toni Morrison, Gertrude Stein, Marjory Stoneman Douglas, Maria Elena Salinas, Anna May Wong, and many others.

A Woman to Spotlight: Taylor Swift

Personally, I think one powerful woman was left off the list: Taylor Swift. Swift was born in 1989, two years after Congress declared March as National Women’s History Month. Whether you like her or not, she’s a woman that needs to be recognized. Why? For starters, the demand for her show tickets alone led to a congressional hearing. Also, Swift sold over 2 million tickets for her concert — the most ever sold for an artist in a single day.

I attended the opening weekend of Taylor Swift’s Eras tour with my daughter, Gia, and a few of her best friends. I went to the concert for Gia and was not a “Swifty” at the start of the concert. By the time I walked out, I was completely converted. I’ve never seen so much sequin, fringe, sparkle, purple, pink, blue, and every color of the rainbow, and so many women across different age groups at one event.

This was the second show on her Eras tour and Swift played 44 songs for over three hours. There were several costume changes, dances, and stage layouts — the overall production was incredible. The set list was cut up into acts representing the different eras from her 10 albums. Her opening song was Miss Americana & The Heartbreak Prince and she came out in the fabulous sequin bodysuit and knee-high boots that I kept seeing on social media. Then Swift put on a blazer and sat on a conference table as she sang her song, The Man, a derisive evaluation of gender inequality in pop music.

I know we’ve all heard the ups and downs of Swift’s life from falling in love, going through breakups and broken friendships, fighting with record label giants, and her fans suing Ticketmaster. She’s shared most of these moments with the world in her song lyrics. Her song, Shake It Off, is a classic example of letting things go and moving on even when people are talking negatively about you.

I noticed that she had a tremendous amount of gratitude for her fans and she kept saying “thank you” to the audience, especially toward the end of the concert.

Swift-Inspired Emotional Intelligence Lessons

The concert ended with Swift’s new song, Karma, which is about protecting your peace of mind. I hear it in her lyrics, “Karma is the breeze in my hair on the weekend, Karma’s a relaxing thought…”

Here are some key emotional intelligence (EI) lessons we can all learn from Swift:

Be authentic and people will follow you
Don’t listen to the “haters” and just “shake it off”
Be resilient and optimistic even when life gets you down
Have personal drive and stand up for what you believe in
Live fully — write, sing, dance or play a musical instrument
Don’t be afraid to have fun and be yourself

Thank you Taylor Swift for being a woman who isn’t afraid to tell her story, while remaining a positive role model for so many generations of women.

Keep the Conversation Going

Don’t limit the celebration of women in history to just one month. Keep the conversation going and share your thoughts. Perhaps share who inspires you most. I’d love to hear your story — let’s chat. Leave a comment below.

About the Author

Bobi Seredich is a recognized speaker, author, trainer, and successful entrepreneur specializing in leadership development. She has spent over 20 years of her career dedicated to creating, directing, writing, and presenting leadership programs for top companies in the U.S. and around the world.

Bobi is the founder of the Southwest Institute for Emotional Intelligence (SWIEI) and Managing Partner of EQ Inspirations. In 2001, she founded Equanimity, Inc. also known as EQ Speakers – a speakers’ bureau and leadership training company. It quickly became a top speaker bureau that booked hundreds of speakers with large Fortune 500 clients. EQ Speakers was sold in 2012 and continues to be a leader in the industry.

In 2020, SWIEI launched a new online emotional intelligence (EI) training program. This is transforming and improving how leadership training on EI is delivered, learned, and applied.

Her book Courage Does Not Always Roar – Ordinary Women with Extraordinary Courage, was published by Simple Truths in 2010. The book is a collection of her experiences and stories of women who’ve had the courage to overcome very difficult life events.

Her passion is to guide individuals and organizations to a higher performance level through her own business knowledge, inspirational stories, and leadership EI training. Bobi lives in Arizona with her husband, Roy, and 10-year old twins, Alex and Gia.

By Bobi Seredich