This Young Women's Honors Speech Was So Important

During the first ever, very special Young Women's Honors, host Gina Rodriguez gave an empowering speech on how women are within reach of their dreams. While her opening remarks were short and sweet, she made it a point to hammer home what made this inaugural ceremony so important for women everywhere: regardless of age, race, or socio-economic circumstance, women are able to be whatever they want to be — including President of the United States of America. Rodriguez's speech really struck a chord steeped in meaning which resonated in the audience and — hopefully — will retain that power to resonate with each woman who goes on to watch her speech in the years to come.

Following First Lady Michelle Obama's short introduction, which emphasized the importance of young women receiving an education as the first step to achieving their dreams, Rodriguez took the stage. Once there, she took a moment to give her thanks and tell those in attendance why she was so excited for the first Young Women's Honors to happen:

Our honorees are everything I dreamt of having when I was a young girl. Now we get to do that for the next generation. We get to do that ourselves, for any generation, at any point, anything is possible. Especially now during this time we're living in...You are all extraordinary. You are brilliant, bold, you are transforming the world around you and in every day you remind us of the boundless promise that lies within every woman and girl on this planet.

Rodriguez's cherry on top of a very perfect speech came the moment she said that women are truly capable of doing anything, including being president, which earned a heart cheer from the crowd. It was an important reminder, especially after what's felt like a long, sometimes sad, sometimes confusing year (yes, I mean you, 2016). There is a possibility within every woman to achieve her dreams: we've already had spectacular roles models like Hillary Clinton to prove that. Rodriguez's mark was further proven to be true as the evening's ceremony proceeded to honor important Millenial women, diverse in skill, race, age, and experience, who were dedicating their lives to creating real change. Now that's inspirational. Don't you think?