Abdul El-Sayed — Abdul El-Sayed on International Women’s Day: "I’m honored to recognize the women who made me"

International Women's Day is more than about celebrations. about recognition. Today I'm honored to think through some of the women in my life who've made me better, who've challenged me, who've uplifted me, contributed to our family, contributing to this campaign. My moral compass is my Tata Soad, I spend a lot of my childhood summers with her in Egypt, so I think about her every single day. She was just a giant of a woman and somebody who has shaped me immensely. Um, I think there's this notion that strength is about being able to dominate, and I don't think that's what strength really is. I think strength is really about the ability to bounce back. And I think, in particular, about my mother and all of the different experiences that she had. Uh, I think about my stepmom, uh, all the challenges she had as a woman in STEM fields. But it's that ability to know who you fight for and to show up every day and fight for them to take the punches that life throws at you and to take them and then take the pain of that and turn it into love and turn it into opportunity for people around you. I think that's the essence of leadership. And I'm so grateful to have learned leadership, you know, at the at the feet of some incredibly powerful women. She's the kind of person who will both show up for you on your worst day, and call you out in moments when you're wrong, and she does not back down, which I'm really grateful for. She's so good at building and curating a community of people because she understands that partnership is not just a partnership you share, but it's the broader partnership that you're able to build in a community, the way you show up for people in their worst moments and the way that you empower them when they feel down and the way that you celebrate with them, the highlights of their life. Well, I understand that they walk in the world in a different way than I got to as a boy growing. And it puts you in a mindset to want to always show up and empower. One of the most important things I can offer, um, is to remind them that I know that they're strong, and that they're smart, and that they're beautiful, and that they're funny, uh, and I want to build in America, and then build a world where they have every right and every opportunity that anybody has. And I also, you know, recognize both as a doctor and as a father, the ways in which Republican effort to control women's bodies disempowers women in our society. And I want to make sure that they are the masters of their own bodies and not anybody else. I mean, standing up for America, where every woman has all the rights that any man has. It means asking, how do I try to be the kind of man who empowers folks? And so I'm just really grateful to be surrounded by such incredibly strong women, and it's not just in my family, it's on this campaign. It's the, the, you know, the mothers and sisters who are making this campaign possible as volunteers and supporters, and I'm just so grateful for them and for you. Happy International Women's Day. Yeah, sorry, I'm coming. I'm coming