Speaker 1: I get inspired by women because women are so strong.
Speaker 1: Take it for granted that you are stronger. Just take
Speaker 1: it for granted. Don't don't doubt your strength. Oh this
Speaker 1: is a beautiful thing that I use when I get depressed.
Speaker 1: If you if you doubt your power, you give power
Speaker 1: to your doubts. That's a good one. That is the incredible.
Speaker 1: The one and only Dean von Furstenberg, the creator of
Speaker 1: the iconic rap dress, Global businesswoman, dedicated philanthropist DVA is
Speaker 1: a woman who never stops innovating or evolving. I'm a
Speaker 1: land vere and this is Seneca's Women to Hear. We
Speaker 1: are bringing you one hundred of the world's most inspiring
Speaker 1: and history making women. You need to hear. Dion von
Speaker 1: Furstenberg has accomplished enough for ten lifetimes. Starting in the
Speaker 1: nineteen seventies, she parlayed her best selling rap dress into
Speaker 1: a fashion empire. She also devoted her resources to empowering
Speaker 1: other women. Her annual DVF Awards give fifty thou dollar
Speaker 1: grants to women who are changing lives for the better
Speaker 1: within the last few years. Dion has also launched her
Speaker 1: hashtag in Charge campaign to connect women with each other
Speaker 1: and She's collaborated with the Girl Scouts on a special
Speaker 1: scarf and bag. Dion has also put her energies to
Speaker 1: use for another famous female. She's raised more than a
Speaker 1: hundred million in dollars for the Statue of Liberty. I've
Speaker 1: had the privilege of knowing Dion for many years, and
Speaker 1: I had the chance to talk with her during an
Speaker 1: onstage conversation at a Seneca Women Forum. Listen and learn
Speaker 1: why Dione von Furstenberg is one of Seneca's one Women
Speaker 1: to Hear Dion, I love being with you, icon, innovator, inspiration.
Speaker 1: I think you have so much um from the wealth
Speaker 1: of your experience that you can share and and maybe
Speaker 1: we can start by talking about the young people, because
Speaker 1: I I hear this a lot. I'm on a campus
Speaker 1: a good bit and UM, you know it's it's what
Speaker 1: advice do you have for me? How do I start
Speaker 1: on this road to a purposeful life? And millennials today
Speaker 1: really want that kind of balance. Uh. It's funny. I
Speaker 1: I kind of relate very well with the millennials because
Speaker 1: when I was twenty five, that's what I wanted and
Speaker 1: I got it very very quickly. So UM, I relate
Speaker 1: to to the millennials. But my first advice before anything
Speaker 1: is always tell you that the most important relationship in
Speaker 1: life is the one you have with yourself. I mean,
Speaker 1: that is the number one rule for your own strength,
Speaker 1: for your own confidence. I mean you may have wonderful relationships,
Speaker 1: but you could lose you could lose you could lose
Speaker 1: your mother, you can lose your husband, you could lose
Speaker 1: your health, you can lose your wealth, but you never
Speaker 1: lose your character. So I think the first the first
Speaker 1: advice is that make sure that you create that little
Speaker 1: house within yourself that is your support system that you
Speaker 1: have that complicit it with yourself. That means you have
Speaker 1: to be hard on yourself. That means you have to
Speaker 1: be demanding on yourself. But then after your heart and
Speaker 1: and demanding and discipline and all of that, you can
Speaker 1: also have fun. So remember be serious at the base,
Speaker 1: and if you're serious at the base, you could be
Speaker 1: frivolous on the top. And Okay, so the first step
Speaker 1: is that have make sure that you and yourself are
Speaker 1: your best friend forever. And that requires a lot of practice.
Speaker 1: That requires to continue to have a relationship with not
Speaker 1: delude yourself, be you know, continue the dialogue with yourself.
Speaker 1: And then once you have that, then you look at
Speaker 1: the world. You look at the world, and you're young.
Speaker 1: Just be curious. Look at all the doors that are
Speaker 1: in front of you, and the least glamorous door maybe
Speaker 1: your door. So push the doors, be open, be open
Speaker 1: to everyone and everything, because you don't know what is
Speaker 1: going to be the one thing that will be your
Speaker 1: thing in order to be yourself and to become yourself,
Speaker 1: so be be your best friend, and then start design
Speaker 1: your life. And you heard it here good advice. So
Speaker 1: so then there there are those of us who you know,
Speaker 1: have worked for a long time, are looking for that
Speaker 1: next chapter, shall we say, or at three and wanting
Speaker 1: to do something perhaps that's more meaningful. Is less of
Speaker 1: that drive that we've experienced. It's a different kind of
Speaker 1: a drive, you know. I think that we have three
Speaker 1: stages in life. We have development, which when I was
Speaker 1: young I thought would be up to thirty and then
Speaker 1: I pushed the thirty five and and then you have
Speaker 1: the middle is the milliers who are supposed to be
Speaker 1: enjoyment but often not not. And then and then you
Speaker 1: have the third part of your life, which is supposed
Speaker 1: to be fulfillment because it's the time that your children
Speaker 1: have children, and all of a sudden you realize that
Speaker 1: you were actually a good parent because they repeat, they
Speaker 1: repeat the same thing that you you thought they never heard.
Speaker 1: So you have something you wish you hadn't so right,
Speaker 1: but anyway, so you really um, So that's really important.
Speaker 1: And experience. All of a sudden you have this incredible
Speaker 1: thing called experience. And I remember when I was young,
Speaker 1: I could never I asked my teacher and they couldn't
Speaker 1: explain what experiences. And the truth is, experience you cannot
Speaker 1: explain what it is until you have it. So it's um.
Speaker 1: And so of course philanthropy and giving back and being
Speaker 1: having a purposeful life happens, and but it should happen before.
Speaker 1: It's just that, you know, sometimes philanthropy could be intimidating.
Speaker 1: You know, it's like landscaping. Oh can I cut that drink?
Speaker 1: And I planned that trink? You feel like you need
Speaker 1: a greenhouse and you need somebody to tell you that,
Speaker 1: and then you do it yourself and you realize, oh, yes,
Speaker 1: trees do plants, you know, do grow. So I think
Speaker 1: it's about it's about paying attention. Paying attention is what
Speaker 1: it's all about. First you build your saying, and then
Speaker 1: you pay attention to others. And just by paying attention,
Speaker 1: just by doing a little thing, introducing this person to
Speaker 1: another person, you can make magic happen. We all have
Speaker 1: a magic wand all have a magic wand and it's
Speaker 1: important that we use it. And the way we use
Speaker 1: it is by paying attention to everyone and everything. No
Speaker 1: one is truly boring if you actually get to the
Speaker 1: truth of them, and and and and to the intimacy.
Speaker 1: So you know when I have a secret, because you know,
Speaker 1: sometimes you go to dinner party. I don't go in
Speaker 1: so much anymore. But and they sit you next to
Speaker 1: a really really really really boring man and you say,
Speaker 1: what am I going to do? And then the trick
Speaker 1: is make him talk about his mother, and then all
Speaker 1: of a sudden you see the little boy that he was,
Speaker 1: and it's so much more interesting. She has a PhD
Speaker 1: in psychology too, But I failed to say that, Oh
Speaker 1: that's terrific. Seneca has one hundred women to hear. Will
Speaker 1: be back after the short break. So, Dion, you you're
Speaker 1: you're a businesswoman, Um, you're an innovator, You're a philanthropist,
Speaker 1: So for these kinds of successes and these various facets
Speaker 1: that you've been engaged in, you need to be able
Speaker 1: to generate ideas. You need to be stimulated. Where does
Speaker 1: this well spring come from? You know, one of the
Speaker 1: things we've been talking about UM is the need for
Speaker 1: innovation being a part of our lives. Where do you
Speaker 1: where do you get first? First of all, let me
Speaker 1: tell you there's no such thing as being successful and
Speaker 1: just sit down and sit on your success, because it does.
Speaker 1: It's not like that when people may think you're a success,
Speaker 1: you may yourself feel like a total loser because you're
Speaker 1: going through a very difficult time. So life is like
Speaker 1: an ongoing thing. You know. I write my diary. I've
Speaker 1: written my diary all my life, and whenever I opened
Speaker 1: an old diary, it's actually quite boring because I said,
Speaker 1: I'm always at the turning point of my life. It
Speaker 1: seems like all I did was turn, turn, turn. So
Speaker 1: where do the ideas come from? Well, it's life, it's
Speaker 1: your life, and it's really it goes very fast. So
Speaker 1: it's about opening your eyes and looking at the colors
Speaker 1: and looking at the people and and having the experience
Speaker 1: and being engaged with what happens around you, and and
Speaker 1: then you'll never be bored, and then you'll always be engaged.
Speaker 1: And you'll make lots of mistakes, but mistakes make you.
Speaker 1: You know, from a mistake, you turn it around and
Speaker 1: do something good. I guess we now know where you
Speaker 1: get all of your inspiration. For the two things that
Speaker 1: I'm inspired by is nature. Nothing is more inspiring the nature. Nothing,
Speaker 1: the colors, the textures, the beauty, the mixed of things
Speaker 1: that it's just overwhelming. So for me, that's luxury. To
Speaker 1: find nature, to find space for me, that is absolutely luxury.
Speaker 1: And then I get inspired by women. I get inspired
Speaker 1: by women because women are so strong. So let's just
Speaker 1: forget about take it for granted that you are stronger.
Speaker 1: Just take it for granted. Don't don't doubt your strength.
Speaker 1: Oh this is a beautiful thing that I use when
Speaker 1: I get depressed. If you if you doubt your power,
Speaker 1: you give power to your doubts. That's a good one
Speaker 1: and very good one. And so the most important thing
Speaker 1: is to really really believe in yourself. So we go
Speaker 1: back to the first question. Really, it's all about believing
Speaker 1: in yourself. I will briefly tell you my mother's story,
Speaker 1: because my mother's story is really what explained who I am.
Speaker 1: During the war. Imagine, during the war occupied occupied Belgium,
Speaker 1: a girl gets arrested twenty two years old, goes to
Speaker 1: the concentration camp for thirteen months, um gets liberated because
Speaker 1: the war is over. She weighs forty nine pounds. She
Speaker 1: could barely move. She could barely move, but when she
Speaker 1: feels the little question and name state of health, she wrote,
Speaker 1: excellent health. She could move anyway. So little by little
Speaker 1: she went back to her home. Her mother fed her.
Speaker 1: Six months later, the her fiance came, came to Belgium,
Speaker 1: they got married. The doctor says, you're absolutely utally cannot
Speaker 1: have a child for at least five years because you
Speaker 1: won't survive and the child will not be normal. And
Speaker 1: sure enough, nine months later I was born, and I
Speaker 1: was not normal. So my mother is my example of strength.
Speaker 1: She taught me fear is not an option, no matter what,
Speaker 1: never be a victim. And and and she every year
Speaker 1: she used to write, and she used to tell me
Speaker 1: God saved me so that I can give you life.
Speaker 1: By giving you life, you gave me my life back.
Speaker 1: You are my torch of freedom. So what she put
Speaker 1: in my hand as a baby is the torch of freedom.
Speaker 1: And I didn't realize any of that until I was
Speaker 1: much much later, and I realized that's what I fight for. Freedom.
Speaker 1: Freedom is everything. Freedom is health, freedom is financial, freedom
Speaker 1: is being able to speak. The more important freedom is
Speaker 1: being able to be who you are. So my word
Speaker 1: to you is trust who you are. You are so
Speaker 1: much better than you think you are. Don't be afraid
Speaker 1: of your own strength. And once you know you're strong,
Speaker 1: you don't have to show. It doesn't matter you know it. Oh,
Speaker 1: I've become a I've become a life coach. I think
Speaker 1: I think you need. That's a good thing about getting old.
Speaker 1: So let's go quickly about getting old. Why are we
Speaker 1: going to get it? I mean we don't. We only
Speaker 1: have what we want to talk about getting old? Yes, yes,
Speaker 1: because it's an achievement. I am, I am be being older.
Speaker 1: Being older is an achievement. I turned seventy this year,
Speaker 1: and I tell and I tell everybody because first of all,
Speaker 1: I like the sound of it. I like them to
Speaker 1: say oh really, oh that they don't mean it. But
Speaker 1: also because it means that I made it and truly
Speaker 1: having lived the life I lived, I should be hundred
Speaker 1: and forty. So don't be afraid of the years. When
Speaker 1: I see a young girl who's thirty five, but she's
Speaker 1: afraid to say her age, I mean that is insanity.
Speaker 1: When the child is said, oh you're ten years old,
Speaker 1: Oh you're twelve, who you're fifteen, and then all of
Speaker 1: a sudden, what we don't say the age anymore? And
Speaker 1: that's insane. Well, you know they say it's a state
Speaker 1: of mind, and there's no not. In my mind it's not.
Speaker 1: But you will forever beyond no matter how you feel
Speaker 1: physically if you and I doubt, I doubt that you
Speaker 1: feel bad physically, So anyway, I don't know. Enjoy. I
Speaker 1: think you need your own show. Enjoy your life and
Speaker 1: enjoy who you are. That's my message, and what a
Speaker 1: great message. As I said, DVF is one of a kind,
Speaker 1: so much wisdom. Here are a few things that really
Speaker 1: stayed with me from that conversation. First, I love Deon
Speaker 1: saying that we all have a magic wand and that
Speaker 1: we can use it by paying attention to everyone and everything.
Speaker 1: That way, life is never boring and we can do
Speaker 1: so much good. Second, Dion also reminds us that we
Speaker 1: are all more powerful than we think. All women are strong,
Speaker 1: says DVF, but she cautions when you doubt your power,
Speaker 1: you give power to your doubts. Lastly, Dion dem straits
Speaker 1: that the most important relationship we can have is with ourselves.
Speaker 1: We have to be good to ourselves but also be demanding,
Speaker 1: and we need to recognize that our individuality is our
Speaker 1: greatest source of strength. Tune in next Tuesday to hear
Speaker 1: about our next featured woman and discover why she's one
Speaker 1: of Seneca's one hundred Women to Hear. Seneca's one hundred
Speaker 1: Women to Hear is a collaboration between the Seneca Women
Speaker 1: Podcast Network and I Heart Radio, with support from founding
Speaker 1: partner p And. If you like what you heard on
Speaker 1: the show, rate and review it on Apple Podcasts, we
Speaker 1: hope you'll join us for our next episode of one
Speaker 1: hundred Women to Hear, where we can all listen, learn
Speaker 1: and get inspired. Have a great day.