0:00:00.973,0:00:03.202
While preparing for my talk

0:00:03.202,0:00:05.338
I was reflecting on my life

0:00:05.338,0:00:07.683
and trying to figure out

0:00:07.683,0:00:12.187
where exactly was that moment[br]when my journey began.

0:00:12.187,0:00:14.834
A long time passed by,[br]and I simple couldn't figure out

0:00:14.834,0:00:17.806
the beginning or the middle[br]or the end of my story.

0:00:17.806,0:00:19.757
I always used to think that my beginning

0:00:19.757,0:00:23.867
was one afternoon in my community[br]when my mother had told me

0:00:23.867,0:00:28.278
that I had escaped three[br]arranged marriages by the time I was two.

0:00:28.278,0:00:32.713
Or one evening when electricity had failed[br]for eight hours in our community,

0:00:32.713,0:00:34.965
and my dad sat, surrounded by all of us,

0:00:34.965,0:00:38.866
telling us stories of when he was[br]a little kid struggling to go to school

0:00:38.866,0:00:43.324
while his father, who was a farmer,[br]wanted him to work in the fields with him.

0:00:43.324,0:00:48.572
Or the dark night when I was 16[br]when three little kids have come to me

0:00:48.572,0:00:51.799
and they whispered in my ear[br]that my friend was murdered

0:00:51.799,0:00:56.536
in something called "the honor killings."

0:00:56.536,0:00:58.231
But then I realized that,

0:00:58.231,0:01:02.178
as much as I know that these moments[br]have contributed on my journey,

0:01:02.178,0:01:03.548
they have influenced my journey

0:01:03.548,0:01:05.707
but they have not been[br]the beginning of it,

0:01:05.707,0:01:10.003
but the true beginning of my journey[br]was in front of a mud house

0:01:10.003,0:01:12.626
in Upper Sindh of Pakistan,

0:01:12.626,0:01:15.482
where my father held the hand[br]of my 14-year old mother

0:01:15.482,0:01:17.502
and they decided[br]to walk out of the village

0:01:17.502,0:01:20.962
to go to a town where they could[br]send their kids to school.

0:01:20.962,0:01:23.168
In a way, I feel like my life

0:01:23.168,0:01:28.903
is kind of a result of some wise choices[br]and decisions they've made.

0:01:28.903,0:01:31.759
And just like that,[br]another of their decisions

0:01:31.759,0:01:34.986
was to keep me and my siblings[br]connected to our roots.

0:01:34.986,0:01:39.235
While we were living in a community[br]I fondly remember called [?????],

0:01:39.235,0:01:41.464
which means community of the poor,

0:01:41.464,0:01:45.156
my dad made sure that we also[br]had a house in our rural homeland.

0:01:45.156,0:01:49.150
I come from an indigenous tribe[br]in the mountains of Baluchistan

0:01:49.150,0:01:50.520
called Bravi.

0:01:50.520,0:01:52.331
Bravi, or Brohi,

0:01:52.331,0:01:54.328
means mountain dweller,

0:01:54.328,0:01:55.953
and it is also my language.

0:01:55.953,0:01:59.924
Thanks to my father's very strict rules[br]about connecting to our customs,

0:01:59.924,0:02:04.358
I had to live a beautiful life[br]of songs, cultures, traditions,

0:02:04.358,0:02:05.937
stories, mountains,

0:02:05.937,0:02:07.818
and a lot of sheep.

0:02:07.818,0:02:10.488
But then, living in two extremes

0:02:10.488,0:02:12.555
between the traditions of my culture,

0:02:12.555,0:02:17.745
of my village, and then education,[br]modern education in my school wasn't easy.

0:02:17.745,0:02:22.249
I was aware that I was the only girl[br]who got to have such freedom,

0:02:22.249,0:02:24.293
and I was guilty of it.

0:02:24.293,0:02:26.545
While going to school in Karachi

0:02:26.545,0:02:27.891
and Hyderabad,

0:02:27.891,0:02:32.466
a lot of my cousins and childhood friends[br]were getting married off,

0:02:32.466,0:02:34.950
some to older men, some in exchange,

0:02:34.950,0:02:37.249
some even as second wives.

0:02:37.249,0:02:39.478
I got to see the beautiful tradition

0:02:39.478,0:02:42.891
and its magic fade in front of me

0:02:42.891,0:02:45.817
when I saw that the birth of a girl child

0:02:45.817,0:02:48.092
was celebrated with sadness,

0:02:48.092,0:02:52.829
when women were told[br]to have patience as their main virtue.

0:02:52.829,0:02:54.640
Up until I was 16,

0:02:54.640,0:02:57.798
I healed my sadness by crying,

0:02:57.798,0:02:59.794
mostly at nights[br]when everyone would sleep,

0:02:59.794,0:03:02.023
and I would sob in my pillow,

0:03:02.023,0:03:05.297
but until that one night[br]when I found out my friend was killed

0:03:05.297,0:03:09.291
in the name of honor.

0:03:09.291,0:03:11.218
Honor killings is a custom

0:03:11.218,0:03:14.306
where men and women[br]are suspected of having relationships

0:03:14.306,0:03:16.141
before or outside of the marriage,

0:03:16.141,0:03:18.300
and they're killed by their family for it.

0:03:18.300,0:03:22.735
Usually the killer is the brother[br]or father or the uncle in the family.

0:03:22.735,0:03:27.007
The U.N. reports there are about 1,000[br]honor murders every year in Pakistan,

0:03:27.007,0:03:29.445
and these are only the reported cases.

0:03:29.445,0:03:33.183
A custom that kills[br]did not make any sense to me,

0:03:33.183,0:03:35.761
and I knew I had to do[br]something about it this time.

0:03:35.761,0:03:38.152
I was not going to cry myself to sleep.

0:03:38.152,0:03:40.660
I was going to do something,[br]anything, to stop it.

0:03:40.660,0:03:42.726
I was 16. I started writing poetry

0:03:42.726,0:03:45.954
and going door to door[br]telling everybody about honor killings

0:03:45.954,0:03:48.229
and why it happens,[br]why it should be stopped,

0:03:48.229,0:03:52.455
and raising awareness about it until[br]I actually found a much, much better way

0:03:52.455,0:03:55.102
to handle this issue.

0:03:55.102,0:03:58.701
In those days, we were[br]living in a very small,

0:03:58.701,0:04:01.162
one roomed house in Karachi.

0:04:01.162,0:04:05.179
Every year, during the monsoon seasons,[br]our house would flood up with water,

0:04:05.179,0:04:06.236
rainwater, and sewage,

0:04:07.541,0:04:10.768
and my mom and dad[br]would be taking the water out.

0:04:10.768,0:04:15.807
In those days, my dad brought home[br]a huge machine, a computer.

0:04:15.807,0:04:18.384
It was so big it looked as if[br]it was going to take the half

0:04:18.384,0:04:20.358
of the only room we had,

0:04:20.358,0:04:23.864
and had so many pieces and wires[br]that needed to be connected.

0:04:23.864,0:04:25.954
But it was still the most exciting thing

0:04:25.954,0:04:28.740
that has ever happened[br]to me and my sisters.

0:04:28.740,0:04:32.850
My older brother Ali got to be in charge[br]of taking care of the computer,

0:04:32.850,0:04:36.785
and all of us were given, like,[br]10 to 15 minutes every day to use it.

0:04:36.785,0:04:39.850
Being the older of eight kids,

0:04:39.850,0:04:42.335
I got to use it the last,

0:04:42.335,0:04:45.074
and that was after[br]I had washed the dishes,

0:04:45.074,0:04:47.837
cleaned the house,[br]made dinner with my mom,

0:04:47.837,0:04:50.949
and put blankets on the floor[br]for everyone to sleep,

0:04:50.949,0:04:52.922
and after that,[br]I would run to the computer,

0:04:52.922,0:04:54.269
connect it to the Internet,

0:04:54.269,0:05:00.608
and have pure joy and wonder[br]for 15 to 10 minutes.

0:05:00.608,0:05:04.694
In those days, I had discovered[br]a website called Joogle.

0:05:04.694,0:05:07.550
[Google] (Laughter)

0:05:07.550,0:05:11.474
In my frantic wish[br]to do something about this custom,

0:05:11.474,0:05:15.352
I made use of Google[br]and discovered Facebook,

0:05:15.352,0:05:19.137
a website where people can connect[br]to anyone around the world,

0:05:19.137,0:05:23.618
and so, from my very tiny,[br]cement-roofed room in Karachi,

0:05:23.618,0:05:25.638
I connected with people in U.K.,

0:05:25.638,0:05:27.658
U.S., Australia, and Canada,

0:05:27.658,0:05:29.005
and created a campaign

0:05:29.005,0:05:31.907
called "WAKE UP Campaign[br]against Honor Killings."

0:05:31.907,0:05:35.529
It became enormous in just a few months.

0:05:35.529,0:05:37.851
I got a lot of support[br]from all around the world.

0:05:37.851,0:05:39.802
Media was connecting to us.

0:05:39.802,0:05:42.611
A lot of people were reaching out[br]trying to raise awareness with us.

0:05:42.611,0:05:46.953
It became so big that it went from online[br]to the streets of my hometown,

0:05:46.953,0:05:51.527
where we would do rallies and strikes[br]trying to change the policies in Pakistan

0:05:51.527,0:05:53.269
for women's support.

0:05:53.269,0:05:56.891
And while I thought[br]everything was perfect,

0:05:56.891,0:06:00.768
my team, who was basically[br]my friends and neighbors at that time,

0:06:00.768,0:06:02.858
thought everything was going so well,

0:06:02.858,0:06:07.409
that we had no idea[br]a big opposition was coming to us.

0:06:07.409,0:06:10.474
My community stood up against us,

0:06:10.474,0:06:14.351
saying we were spreading[br]un-Islamic behavior.

0:06:14.351,0:06:18.601
We were challenging centuries-old[br]customs in those communities.

0:06:18.601,0:06:21.549
I remember my father receiving[br]anonymous letters

0:06:21.549,0:06:24.034
saying, "Your daughter is spreading

0:06:24.034,0:06:26.658
Western culture[br]in the honorable societies."

0:06:26.658,0:06:28.887
Our car was stoned at one point.

0:06:28.887,0:06:32.787
One day I went to the office[br]and found our metal signboard

0:06:32.787,0:06:37.779
wrinkled and broken as if a lot of people[br]had been hitting it with something heavy.

0:06:37.779,0:06:41.216
Things got so bad that I had[br]to hide myself in many ways.

0:06:41.216,0:06:43.143
I would put up the windows of the car,

0:06:43.143,0:06:47.415
veil my face, not speak[br]while I was in public,

0:06:47.415,0:06:50.782
but eventually, situations got worse

0:06:50.782,0:06:52.523
when my life was threatened

0:06:52.523,0:06:54.358
and I had to leave back to Karachi

0:06:54.358,0:06:57.632
and our actions stopped.

0:06:57.632,0:07:01.045
Back in Karachi, as an 18-year old,

0:07:01.045,0:07:06.501
I thought this was the biggest[br]failure of my entire life.

0:07:06.501,0:07:08.011
I was devastated.

0:07:08.011,0:07:11.656
As a teenager, I was blaming[br]myself for everything that happened.

0:07:11.656,0:07:13.792
And it turns out,[br]when we started reflecting,

0:07:13.792,0:07:19.666
we did realize that it was actually[br]me and my team's fault.

0:07:19.666,0:07:24.821
There were two big reasons[br]why our campaign had failed big time.

0:07:24.821,0:07:27.561
One of those, the first reason,

0:07:27.561,0:07:31.230
is we were standing[br]against core values of people.

0:07:31.230,0:07:34.712
We were saying no to something[br]that was very important to them,

0:07:34.712,0:07:36.849
challenging their code of honor,

0:07:36.849,0:07:39.356
and hurting them deeply in the process.

0:07:39.356,0:07:41.725
And number two, which was very[br]important for me to learn,

0:07:41.725,0:07:43.930
and amazing, and surprising[br]for me to learn,

0:07:43.930,0:07:47.111
was that we were not including[br]the true heroes

0:07:47.111,0:07:49.317
who should be fighting for themselves.

0:07:49.317,0:07:53.752
The women in the villages had no idea[br]we were fighting for them in the streets.

0:07:53.752,0:07:56.538
Every time I would go back,[br]I would find my cousins and friends

0:07:56.538,0:07:59.162
with scarves on their faces,[br]and I would ask, what happened?

0:07:59.162,0:08:01.902
And they'd be like, our husband beat us.

0:08:01.902,0:08:04.781
But then we are working[br]in the streets for you.

0:08:04.781,0:08:06.383
We are changing the policies.

0:08:06.383,0:08:09.355
How is that not impacting their life?

0:08:09.355,0:08:13.906
So then we found out something[br]which was very amazing for us.

0:08:13.906,0:08:17.366
The policies of a country

0:08:17.366,0:08:21.777
do not necessarily always affect[br]the tribal and rural communities.

0:08:21.777,0:08:25.771
It was devastating, like, oh,[br]we can't actually do something about this?

0:08:25.771,0:08:28.813
And we found out there's a huge gap

0:08:28.813,0:08:32.969
when it comes to official policies[br]and the real truth on the ground.

0:08:32.969,0:08:34.421
So this time, we were like,

0:08:34.421,0:08:36.232
we are going to do something different.

0:08:36.232,0:08:37.625
We are going to use strategy,

0:08:37.625,0:08:40.318
and we are going to go back and apologize.

0:08:40.318,0:08:42.710
Yes, apologize.

0:08:42.710,0:08:45.473
We went back to the communities[br]and we said we are very ashamed

0:08:45.473,0:08:47.121
of what we did.

0:08:47.121,0:08:50.621
We are here to apologize,[br]and in fact, we are here

0:08:50.621,0:08:52.107
to make it up to you.

0:08:52.107,0:08:53.501
How did we do that?

0:08:53.501,0:08:56.217
We are going to promote[br]three of your main cultures.

0:08:56.217,0:08:59.189
We know that it's music,[br]language, and embroidery.

0:08:59.189,0:09:01.325
Nobody believed us.

0:09:01.325,0:09:03.903
Nobody wanted to work with us.

0:09:03.903,0:09:07.618
It took a lot of convincing[br]and discussions with these communities

0:09:07.618,0:09:11.310
until they agreed that we are going[br]to promote their language

0:09:11.310,0:09:13.562
by making a booklet of their stories,[br]fables, and old tales in the tribe,

0:09:13.562,0:09:20.574
and we would promote their music[br]by making a CD of the songs

0:09:20.574,0:09:24.405
from the tribe, and some drumbeating.

0:09:24.405,0:09:26.216
And the third, which was my favorite,

0:09:26.216,0:09:29.397
was we would promote[br]their embroidery by making

0:09:29.397,0:09:31.812
a center in the village[br]where women would come every day

0:09:31.812,0:09:34.064
to make embroidery.

0:09:34.064,0:09:36.038
And so it began.

0:09:36.038,0:09:38.151
We worked with one village,

0:09:38.151,0:09:40.960
and we started our first center.

0:09:40.960,0:09:42.818
It was a beautiful day.

0:09:42.818,0:09:44.002
We started the center.

0:09:44.002,0:09:45.441
Women were coming to make embroidery,

0:09:45.441,0:09:49.505
and going through a life-changing[br]process of education,

0:09:49.505,0:09:50.875
learning about their rights,[br]what Islam says about their rights,

0:09:50.875,0:09:55.054
and enterprise development,[br]how they can create money,

0:09:55.054,0:09:57.306
and then how they can create[br]money from money,

0:09:57.306,0:10:01.184
how they can fight the customs[br]that have been destroying their lives

0:10:01.184,0:10:02.902
from so many centuries,

0:10:02.902,0:10:05.688
because in Islam, in reality,[br]women are supposed to be

0:10:05.688,0:10:08.853
shoulder to shoulder with men.

0:10:08.853,0:10:10.455
Women have so much status

0:10:10.455,0:10:12.405
that we have not been hearing,

0:10:12.405,0:10:13.938
that they have not been hearing,

0:10:13.938,0:10:16.956
and we needed to tell them[br]that they need to know

0:10:16.956,0:10:19.696
where their rights are[br]and how to take them by themselves,

0:10:19.696,0:10:23.991
because they can do it and we can't.

0:10:23.991,0:10:25.733
So this was the model which actually[br]came out, very amazing.

0:10:25.733,0:10:27.706
Through embroidery[br]we were promoting their traidtions.

0:10:27.706,0:10:30.237
We went into the village.[br]We would mobilize the community.

0:10:30.237,0:10:32.977
We would make a center inside[br]where 30 women will come

0:10:32.977,0:10:36.065
for six months to learn about[br]value addition of traditional embroidery,

0:10:36.065,0:10:41.104
enterprise development,[br]life skills and basic education,

0:10:41.104,0:10:44.215
and about their rights[br]and how to say no to those customs

0:10:44.215,0:10:48.186
and how to stand as leaders[br]for themselves and the society.

0:10:48.186,0:10:51.158
After six months, we would connect[br]these women to loans and to markets

0:10:51.158,0:10:57.078
where they can become[br]local entrepreneurs in their communities.

0:10:57.078,0:10:59.865
We soon called this project Sughar.

0:10:59.865,0:11:04.485
Sughar is a local word used[br]in many, many languages in Pakistan.

0:11:04.485,0:11:07.341
It means skilled and confident women.

0:11:07.341,0:11:12.449
I truly believe, to create women leaders,[br]there's only one thing you have to do:

0:11:12.449,0:11:16.791
just let them know that they have[br]what it takes to be a leader.

0:11:16.791,0:11:18.510
These women you see here,

0:11:18.510,0:11:22.573
they have strong skills[br]and potential to be leaders.

0:11:22.573,0:11:25.615
All we had to do was remove[br]the barriers that surrounded them,

0:11:25.615,0:11:28.494
and that's what we decided to do.

0:11:28.494,0:11:31.443
But then while we were thinking[br]everything was going,

0:11:31.443,0:11:34.043
once again everything was fantastic,

0:11:34.043,0:11:36.110
we found our next setback:

0:11:36.110,0:11:39.639
a lot of men started seeing[br]the visible changes in their wife.

0:11:39.639,0:11:41.380
She's speaking more,[br]she's making decisions,

0:11:41.380,0:11:44.259
oh my gosh, she's, like,[br]handling everything in the house.

0:11:44.259,0:11:48.578
They stopped them[br]from coming to the centers,

0:11:48.578,0:11:52.502
and this time, we were like,[br]okay, time for strategy two.

0:11:52.502,0:11:55.010
We went to the fashion industry in Pakistan

0:11:55.010,0:11:58.493
and decided to do a research[br]about what happens there.

0:11:58.493,0:12:03.810
Turns out the fashion industry in Pakistan[br]is very strong and growing day by day,

0:12:03.810,0:12:07.316
but there is less contribution[br]from the tribal areas

0:12:07.316,0:12:08.941
and to the tribal areas, especially women.

0:12:08.941,0:12:14.555
So we decided to launch our first ever[br]tribal women's very own fashion brand,

0:12:14.555,0:12:18.085
which is now called Nomads.

0:12:18.085,0:12:20.267
And so women started earning more,

0:12:20.267,0:12:23.263
they started contributing more[br]financially to the house,

0:12:23.263,0:12:26.304
and men had to think again[br]before saying no to them

0:12:26.304,0:12:29.903
when they were coming to the centers.

0:12:29.903,0:12:31.343
In --

0:12:31.343,0:12:34.106
(Applause)

0:12:34.106,0:12:36.265
Thank you, thank you.

0:12:36.265,0:12:40.212
In 2013, we launched our first[br]Sughar Hub instead of a center.

0:12:40.212,0:12:43.602
We partnered with TripAdvisor

0:12:43.602,0:12:46.714
and created a cemented hall[br]in the middle of a village

0:12:46.714,0:12:51.752
and invited so many other organizations[br]to work over there.

0:12:51.752,0:12:54.097
We created this platform[br]for the non-profits

0:12:54.097,0:12:56.860
so they can touch and work[br]on the other issues

0:12:56.860,0:12:59.995
that Sughar is not working on,

0:12:59.995,0:13:02.619
which would be an easy place for them[br]to give trainings,

0:13:02.619,0:13:04.314
use it as a farmer school,[br]even as a marketplace,

0:13:04.314,0:13:07.146
and anything they want to use it,

0:13:07.146,0:13:09.259
and they have been doing really amazing.

0:13:09.259,0:13:12.789
And so far, we have been able[br]to support 900 women

0:13:12.789,0:13:16.039
in 24 villages around Pakistan.

0:13:16.039,0:13:20.544
(Applause)

0:13:20.544,0:13:24.328
But that's actually not what I want.

0:13:24.328,0:13:31.410
My dream is to reach out[br]to one million women in the next 10 years,

0:13:31.410,0:13:33.059
and to make sure that happens,

0:13:33.059,0:13:36.217
this year we launched[br]Sughar Foundation in the U.S.

0:13:36.217,0:13:38.701
It is not just going to fund Sughar[br]but many other organizations in Pakistan

0:13:38.701,0:13:43.020
to replicate the idea

0:13:43.020,0:13:45.760
and to find even more innovative ways

0:13:45.760,0:13:49.591
to unleash the rural women's[br]potential in Pakistan.

0:13:49.591,0:13:51.564
Thank you so much.

0:13:51.564,0:13:54.606
(Applause)

0:13:54.606,0:14:00.016
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

0:14:00.016,0:14:02.849
Chris Anderson: Khalida, you are[br]quite the force of nature.

0:14:02.849,0:14:06.982
I mean, this story, in many ways,[br]just seems beyond belief.

0:14:06.982,0:14:11.602
It seems incredible that someone[br]so young could do achieve this much

0:14:11.602,0:14:15.480
through so much force and ingenuity.

0:14:15.480,0:14:16.780
So I guess one question:

0:14:16.780,0:14:19.311
this is a spectacular dream[br]to reach out and empower a million women:

0:14:19.311,0:14:24.535
how much of the current success[br]depends on you,

0:14:24.535,0:14:27.298
the force of this magnetic personality?

0:14:27.298,0:14:34.868
How does it scale?

0:14:34.868,0:14:36.934
Khalida Brohi: I think my job[br]is to give the inspiration out,

0:14:36.934,0:14:38.165
give my dream out.

0:14:38.165,0:14:40.487
I can't teach how to do it, because[br]there are so many different ways.

0:14:40.487,0:14:42.902
We have been experimenting[br]with three ways only.

0:14:42.902,0:14:46.175
There are, like, a hundred different ways[br]to unleash potential in women.

0:14:46.175,0:14:48.953
I would just give the inspiration[br]and that's my job.

0:14:48.953,0:14:51.507
I will keep doing it.[br]Sughar will still be growing.

0:14:51.507,0:14:54.595
We are planning to reach out[br]to two more villages,

0:14:54.595,0:14:57.575
and soon I believe we will[br]be scaling out of Pakistan

0:14:57.575,0:15:00.361
into South Asia and beyond.

0:15:00.361,0:15:03.914
CA: I love that when you talk[br]about your team in the talk,

0:15:03.914,0:15:06.096
I mean, you were all 16,[br]18 at the time.

0:15:06.096,0:15:07.861
What did this team look like?

0:15:07.861,0:15:09.509
This was school friends, right?

0:15:09.509,0:15:14.478
KB: I was, like, do people believe here[br]that I'm at an age

0:15:14.478,0:15:17.102
where I'm supposed[br]to be a grandmother in my village?

0:15:17.102,0:15:19.842
My mom was married at a nine,

0:15:19.842,0:15:26.988
and I am the oldest woman not married[br]and not doing anything in my village.

0:15:26.988,0:15:30.285
CA: Wait, wait, wait, not doing anything?

0:15:30.285,0:15:32.653
KB: No.[br]CA: You're right.

0:15:32.653,0:15:35.556
KB: People feel sorry for me,[br]a lot of times.

0:15:35.556,0:15:39.480
CA: But how much time are you spending[br]actually back in Baluchistan?

0:15:39.480,0:15:41.367
KB: I live over there.

0:15:41.367,0:15:44.199
We live between, still,[br]Karachi and Baluchistan.

0:15:44.199,0:15:47.543
My siblings are going to school.

0:15:47.543,0:15:49.424
I am still the older of eight siblings.

0:15:49.424,0:15:53.464
CA: But what you're doing is definitely[br]threatening to some people there.

0:15:53.464,0:16:00.940
How do you handle safety?[br]Do you feel safe?

0:16:00.940,0:16:01.985
Are there issues there?

0:16:01.985,0:16:04.075
KB: This question has come to me[br]a lot of times before,

0:16:04.075,0:16:10.390
and I feel like the word fear[br]just comes to me and then drops,

0:16:10.390,0:16:16.520
but there is one fear that I have[br]that is different from that.

0:16:16.520,0:16:18.633
The fear is that if I get killed,[br]what would happen to the people

0:16:18.633,0:16:19.608
who love me so much?

0:16:19.608,0:16:24.090
My mom waits for me til late at night[br]that I should come home.

0:16:24.090,0:16:27.735
My sisters want to learn so much from me,

0:16:27.735,0:16:30.196
and there are many, many girls[br]in my community who want to talk to me

0:16:30.196,0:16:31.729
and ask me different things,

0:16:31.729,0:16:34.910
and I recently got engaged.

0:16:34.910,0:16:37.324
(Applause)

0:16:37.324,0:16:40.552
CA: Is he here? You've got to stand up.

0:16:40.552,0:16:44.058
(Applause)

0:16:48.098,0:16:51.720
KB: Escaping arranged marriages,[br]I chose my own husband

0:16:51.720,0:16:56.178
across the world in L.A.,[br]a really different world.

0:16:56.178,0:16:59.034
I had to fight for a whole year.[br]That's totally a different story.

0:16:59.034,0:17:04.189
But I think that's[br]the only thing that I'm afraid of,

0:17:04.189,0:17:07.393
and I don't want my mom to not see anyone

0:17:07.393,0:17:10.342
when she waits in the night.

0:17:10.342,0:17:11.874
CA: So people who want[br]to help you on their way,

0:17:11.874,0:17:14.777
they can go on, they can maybe[br]buy some of these clothes

0:17:14.777,0:17:17.099
that you're bringing over

0:17:17.099,0:17:21.441
that are actually made, the embroidery[br]is done back in Baluchistan?

0:17:21.441,0:17:22.369
KB: Yeah.

0:17:22.369,0:17:24.343
CA: Or they can get involved[br]in the foundation.

0:17:24.343,0:17:27.309
KB: Definitely. We are looking[br]for as many people as we can,

0:17:27.309,0:17:31.117
because now that the foundation's[br]in the beginning process,

0:17:31.117,0:17:34.158
I am trying to learn a lot[br]about how to operate,

0:17:34.158,0:17:36.387
how to get funding[br]or reach out to more organizations,

0:17:36.387,0:17:38.315
and especially in the ecommerce,[br]which is very new.

0:17:38.315,0:17:43.632
I mean, I am not[br]a fashion person, believe me.

0:17:43.632,0:17:46.929
CA: Well, it's been incredible[br]to have you here.

0:17:46.929,0:17:51.944
Please go on being courageous,[br]go on being smart, and please stay safe.

0:17:51.944,0:17:59.978
KB: Thank you so much.[br]CA: Thank you, Khalida. (Applause)