Ideas worth spreading

How to build your confidence -- and spark it in others

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Brittany Packnett Cunningham |

TED2019

• April 2019

"Confidence is the necessary spark before everything that follows," says educator and activist Brittany Packnett Cunningham. In an inspiring talk, she shares three ways to crack the code of confidence -- and her dream for a world where revolutionary confidence helps turn our most ambitious dreams into reality.

"Confidence is the necessary spark before everything that follows," says educator and activist Brittany Packnett Cunningham. In an inspiring talk, she shares three ways to crack the code of confidence -- and her dream for a world where revolutionary confidence helps turn our most ambitious dreams into reality.

This talk was presented at an official TED conference. TED's editors chose to feature it for you.

Donate to Black Girls Rock! Founded in 2006 by DJ Beverly Bond, Black Girls Rock is an organization built to empower and mentor girls of color through exposure to the arts and leadership training. Their flagship leadership program, Black Girls Lead, is a multi-week camp for girls from around the globe to build the skill of confidence and gain access to halls of power.

Donate to IFAW. Their tenBoma program supports female engagement teams and the work of Team Lionness, investing in and unleashing the power of women to strengthen conservation and communities alike.

About the speaker

Brittany Packnett Cunningham

Brittany Packnett Cunningham

Activist, educator, writer

See speaker profile

An activist, educator and writer, Brittany Packnett Cunningham uses every platform she has to teach truth that provokes people to action -- for the sake of freedom and justice.

Brian Lanker | Stewart Tabori & Chang, 1989 | Book

I Dream a World

Described in this talk as the work that helped Brittany first define confidence, this historic work borrows its name from a Langston Hughes poem and contains the portraits and stories of trailblazing Black women of the 20th century. The words and influences of some of these women will be captured in Brittany's forthcoming book, We Are Like Those Who Dream, due out in spring 2020.

Brené Brown | Random House, 2018 | Book

Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Hearts.

Author Brené Brown dares leaders to operate in confidence, certainty and boldness at work and beyond.

Brittany Packnett | Explore

"Falling in Love"

At the intersection of the personal and the political, Brittany Packnett blogs her complicated, funny, constant personal journey of self-love and confidence for young women looking to do the same.

This talk was presented at an official TED conference. TED's editors chose to feature it for you.

Donate to Black Girls Rock! Founded in 2006 by DJ Beverly Bond, Black Girls Rock is an organization built to empower and mentor girls of color through exposure to the arts and leadership training. Their flagship leadership program, Black Girls Lead, is a multi-week camp for girls from around the globe to build the skill of confidence and gain access to halls of power.

Donate to IFAW. Their tenBoma program supports female engagement teams and the work of Team Lionness, investing in and unleashing the power of women to strengthen conservation and communities alike.