20th Century American Businesswomen

"It’s all about building a community around energy. I’m over the political squabbles and other divides that prevent us all from working as one team. I even argued in a Newsweek column that “big oil” companies should hire environmental activists like Greta Thunberg! Take all that energy and passion that people have to bring solutions, and have them contribute. Everyone stands to gain from what I call Energy 2.0 — the energy of the future, filled with renewable and other greener sources, as well as carbon reduction and carbon capture systems. This is what we’re building at ALLY Energy: one community around energy. And I’m determined to never give up."

"Dissect your experience. What is it about this experience that is causing you to feel the way you do? What lessons can be learned from it? There are lessons in just about every difficult experience that can strengthen you for the future. Ask yourself what you learned, what you would do in the future, and how you would counsel other people who go through similar difficult experiences. Often, you can even find a silver lining."

"Celebrate your successes. I’m the last one to give great advice on how to do this, because I’m often wary of doing this myself! My team members frequently have to point these out to me — holding global events, testifying in Congress, giving a speech about gender equality in Saudi Arabia, being selected for two positions with the federal government (ambassador to the Equity in Energy initiative and member of the National Petroleum Council). I’m usually focused on what I still want to achieve for the company, and don’t stop often to look at what’s already happened. But my team helps me do so, and that’s important."

"Everybody is running with this one now My friend who works at the NFL told me they’re saying it at the NFL. All I need now is Taylor Swift’s boyfriend to wear one. Wouldn’t that be great?."

"There are always critics. It’s really easy to say, “You can’t do something,” when you’re the one that’s not doing it! Don’t give in to that way of thinking. My experience on this journey proves that seemingly “impossible” things can be done."

"Eagles don’t fly with pigeons, OK? So go get your bread crumbs and get back to me tomorrow."

"When I started the business, most people said it would never succeed! They wrote off the whole idea that diversifying the energy workforce would be seen as a priority. They told me it would be a waste of time and money, that I was giving up my career for nothing."

"Be vulnerable. It may sound counterintuitive, but in order to build resilience, you first have to let yourself experience emotions. When you try to bury them, they just build up — and, one day, coming pouring out when you least expect it. You have to experience the lows to get to the highs. From cancer to Harvey, I’ve had to let myself feel down and accept support from loved ones during those times."

"Rinse and repeat! Keep going along the path you’ve chosen for yourself. I learned this early on, when I ran for student council in school. I wasn’t an obvious candidate, and often felt like an oddball in school. But I knew I could do a good job. So I ran five times before finally winning. That made the success much sweeter! When things are especially difficult, the idea of continuing can feel like too much. But remember that a crisis or chaos can provide an opportunity — the chance to try a new path to achieving your goal. It’s a moment to build your resilience and persevere."

"I love you guys, but I can’t say I’m not happy to see you leave,”. “I love you for coming and I love you for leaving."

"Build self-awareness. Figure out what’s behind those emotions. What fears and insecurities are at work in your psyche? When I faced cancer the second time, I had to accept that I had spent too much of my life worrying about what other people think. That perspective was drilled into me. I realized that those fears were largely responsible for how I was handling tough situations. Therapy can be helpful in his process, guiding people to understand their own mindsets. The true path to any kind of self-actualization is through being conscious about who you are. A lot happens in the mind, including unconsciously."

"When I was 12, I faced down a bully at school. She was always putting kids into the garbage. She got me a bunch of times. I kept trying to avoid her. Then, my dad told me to fight back. So one day when she came for me, I swung at her. She was shocked. It was all that much worse because I did so in front of the boys. It made a difference. She left me alone after that."

"My Dorinda-isms really just come from the moment — and I have a lot of them!"

"I think it’s a disgrace of you people!” she shouted. “I decorated, I cooked, I made it nice!"

"Coming out of the storm, I not only worked to rebuild, but also became more committed than ever to the mission. To tackle climate change, we need to usher in the most diverse, inclusive workforce to the field of energy. We need all ideas and perspectives. We need to act as one, and stop the bickering."

"In addition to losing my home, I also lost my business. It felt devastating. I also know we were among the lucky ones because my husband, daughter and I all made it to safety, and because we had the resources to rebuild. (I discuss this in the documentary film Hot Money, featuring Gen. Wesley Clark and Jeff Bridges.)"

"I’ve faced work bullies as well. At work, the violence wasn’t physical, it was more structural and psychological. But I learned to stand up to them as well."

"That would be Hurricane Harvey in 2017. Where my family lives in Houston, we were relatively safe — until the Army Corps of Engineers released the west side dams in hopes of preventing even worse flooding in other parts of the city. We had no warning, no time to escape. Suddenly, we were flooded. My daughter and I were rescued by strangers in a boat at our front door."

"I’m also a cancer survivor. I got cervical cancer at age 24, and battled it alone, without telling people. I didn’t want to pop the bubble of an image I had created — that I was building an exciting career, on my own, in a new city. When the cancer returned years later, I didn’t make that mistake. I was a wife and mom, and shared the information with family and close friends. I had a community. I was no longer focused on what other people might think, and was able to put more focus on what I needed."

"People use spectacularly different language to describe the same people"

"Our artificial intelligence-based software uniquely produces an accurate, unbiased, real-time understanding of what people are saying. These insights are used to increase marketing performance and build better customer experiences."

"If we can start mimicking...analogy-based reasoning in language, we can start letting(NLP-systems) go and learn new things about the world"

"Luminoso is a leading natural language understanding company that enables our customers to rapidly discover value in their unstructured text data."

"The software natively applies NLP in 13 languages. Analyses are conducted without having to translate the data. In these different tongues, our software can understand creative language (e.g. nuance, slang, topics) and emotional or passionate expression."

"NLP Systems Have a Lot to Learn from Humans"

"The Future of AI has always been in Partnering with Humans"

"The erasure of black history is intentional. And so we’re going to be intentional about counteracting that narrative and bringing the truth to our curriculum. And it starts with Annie Fisher."

"So, long ago I got the idea that the only way I could ever get ahead was to believe in myself and not the other fellow."

"I am happy in my work and I try to make everyone else happy by sticking to it."

"I’ve gone up against rich, powerful interests fighting for the rights of students and parents in charter schools and I have been successful."

"There are also charter schools that disrespect parents’ right to be involved, push out low performing students, English Language Learners, and students with special needs."

"The laws I changed empowering parents and protecting students’s rights continue to help families today."

"I am proud of my work and legacy as founder and president of the New York Charter Parents Association."

"My interests have always been ensuring that every child has equal access to a high quality education and that every parent has the right to choose the school that best fits the needs of their child."

"There are charter schools that respect parents and work collaboratively with them to ensure student success."

"The charters schools and charter lobby leaders that opposed me in 2010, tout the laws I passed when promoting charter schools."

"I was deeply concerned about the divisions between charter parents and district school parents that resulted from co-locations in public school buildings and the charter lobby’s strategy to pit parents against each other."

"I founded the New York City Parents Union in 2011."

"I would not have been successful in changing the charter school laws without the support of district school parents and the teacher’s union."

"It only becomes a sustainable and durable economic change for those farmers if we can substitute WFP with either a commercial market buyer or a government buyer."

"The issues that began the global consensus around the necessity for food systems transformation have not changed."

"That’s what we’re seeing and that’s why we get really excited about ‘Purchase for Progress’, because it’s made a difference across the entire value chain in a durable way."

"The teacher’s union has their issues with charter schools since most are not unionized. But, my stance is, “permanent interests, not permanent enemies."

"They embrace all of the reforms today. Some of them are still upset and dislike me for holding them accountable."

"The Inflation Reduction Act is a great example of a shift in policy."

"Those who manage capital, these aren’t just excuses they see them as responsibilities."

"That means more support for cooperatives and shared facilities models that can help farmers pool resources to scale their operations and attract capital."

"Here’s the reality the geopolitical situation is quite interesting today."

"We shouldn’t always buy from them because the reality is that if WFP is the only purchaser then it’s only a program."

"It’s the kind of government action that can help unlock private capital by creating new pathways for investment that weren’t there before, like by driving more capital into farms not just for what they grow, but for how they grow."