You know it’s your girl #TEDTalks

Added: 2026-06-02

[00:00:00]My name is Lauren Kiana Palmer and I'm the CEO of the Kiki Palmer Company. A lot of my conversations with myself have been around fragmentation, integration, you know, the phases that we go through in our lives and how to realize when we should come out of those. And so, as I sat down and started to uh workshop my speech, this was what came out. You might think you need to earn more, prove more, or just keep moving long enough until you finally feel safe. It's so hard to say what I would want people to take away because I want them to feel free to take away whatever comes to them from the material. What I took away from it was that instead of thinking, "Oh my gosh, what if I lose it all?" What if that conversation turns to, "I'm so grateful that I have it." How much more expansion is on the other side of that thinking?

[00:00:50]You don't need another achievement.

[00:00:53]you need a break. Working with the TED team to me was invaluable to my growth as a writer. I've dealt with being in front for a long time and perception and ideas around my life. So when you get an opportunity to actually articulate from your own, you know, perspective, your experience, don't be afraid to, you know, be structured and measured about that. Some of the functions that saved you may be keeping you from the very you you were always trying to save. There's emotion, but then there's also just reality. And I think for me, I just approached my story from fact. This is the structure. These are the systems.

[00:01:30]This was the way. And I get to choose how I define myself. My parents showed me how to survive.

[00:01:38]I showed them how to dream.

[00:01:41]And my son is showing me how to live.

[00:01:46]Thank you.