Elizabeth Smart Delivers a Powerful Body Message as a Woodlands Area Leader Is Celebrated

Survivor and American child safety advocate Elizabeth Smart took centerstage as the featured speaker at The ATHENA Leadership Award luncheon at the Hyatt Regency Conroe hotel. Smart recounted her experience being kidnapped from her bedroom at age 14, how she survived a nine month captivity and repeated sexual assaults, and turned her story into a powerful movement.

Smart’s foundation aims to bring hope, empowerment and change in the fight against sexual violence. She encouraged parents to begin speaking with children at a early age about their bodies and body autonomy.

“It doesn’t start with those big, deep conversations,”  Smart says. “You can begin at a very, very young age in a totally age-appropriate way. We teach body parts all the time, but I feel like many of us are very hesitant to say penis, vagina, vulva. When in fact those are just body parts. They are no different than elbow, and it is important for us to refer to those body parts with the correct names.

“And then as they grow, I mean, you can instill in them very young, be like you know these are your private areas, and no one is allowed to touch them. And if we go to a doctor, I will be there with you. So that is something that you can start with.”

Elizabeth Smart’s presence at the ATHENA luncheon drove home its women lifting mission.

The Conroe/Lake Conroe Chamber of Commerce partners with ATHENA International to honor women who achieve the highest level of professional excellence, contribute time and energy to improve the quality of life for others, and actively assist women/girls in realizing their full potential. Award recipients have included leaders in education, business executives and nonprofit founders.

This year’s winner is Diana White, a retired CPA with a 39-year career in accounting and financial leadership.  In retirement, White supports local nonprofits, serving in a number of leadership roles. She is on the board of directors for the Conroe Symphony Orchestra, and is the president of the Friends of the Symphony, and  vice president of finance for the Texas Association of Symphony Orchestras.

Through her Retirements by Design initiative, White also encourages women to embrace retirement with confidence, purpose and intentional living.

White gives credit to her mother for being her leadership role model.

“She taught me to approach every challenge with confidence and a solution-focused attitude,” White says.

Elizabeth Smart’s Message

Elizabeth Smart urged the women in the crowd to keep the conversations going as their kids grow older.

“As your child ages, you also give them body autonomy,” Smart says. “For instance, it’s very easy to be like ‘Go give grandma and grandpa a hug.’ And you would think that’s very natural. But at the same time, it’s important for us to respect that if they don’t want to, this is their body, and if we force them to, then that’s causing them to not listen to their instincts.

“That’s causing them to feel like my body’s not my own. I have to do it because my mom said, or I have to do it because my dad said. No should always be an option, and we should be encouraging our children to say no from a very early age. Because no is a complete sentence.”

Elizabeth Smart keeps pushing to make a difference much like ATHENA. More than 650 people attended The Woodlands area luncheon this year — and next year will mark a decade of ATHENA luncheons.