'Me Too' Founder Tarana Burke: ' This is a movement led by and for survivors of sexual violence'

Yahoo Finance's Editor-in-Chief Andy Serwer sat down with 'Me Too' Founder Tarana Burke to discuss what inspired her to start the 'Me Too' movement to help survivors of sexual violence. ANDY SERWER: The best way to build influence, may be to share it. Tarana Burke is a perfect example. She has spent her career as an advocate, listening to and empowering young women of color. In that work, Burke coined the phrase “Me Too.” When the movement took hold years later, she made sure it included the struggles of women outside Hollywood. In 2017, Time Magazine recognized her as a “Person of the Year” for her efforts. Burke is here to talk about what “Me Too” achieved and how far our country still has to go. Hello, I'm Andy Serwer. Welcome to "Influencers," and welcome to our guest, Tarana Burke. Tarana, nice to see you. TARANA BURKE: Hello. Nice to-- thank you for having me. ANDY SERWER: So you are an activist, an organizer, and you began this at a very early age from my understanding is when you were a young teen. TARANA BURKE: Yeah. ANDY SERWER: So how did you get into this and what set you on this path? TARANA BURKE: I had a family that was very conscious. I had a grandfather who was really conscious, a Pan-African. My mother was very involved in community work and she raised me-- not necessarily to be an activist, but to be very conscious not-- I could identify injustice really early because of the books that I was given to read and the things I was exposed to. But then at 14, I joined the organization called the 21st Century Youth Leadership Movement, and it was a national organization. But it was based in Selma, Alabama, which of course, we know from the history, from the voting rights movement. And so I spent my summers-- actually, I spent my summers in Selma going to leadership camps, and then two other times a year we would also meet in mini camps. And, yeah, I started being an organizer because of 21st century. The purpose of that organization was to train the next generation of leaders and pass on this a legacy that they had created from the Civil Rights Movement and other movements. So I took this, like, body of knowledge I had from my family, and married that with these skills that I got from 21st Century, and, yeah. ANDY SERWER: So you were here in New York. In which borough? TARANA BURKE: In the Bronx. ANDY SERWER: In the Bronx, and then going down to Alabama back and forth, which-- was kind of been mind-blowing just in itself. TARANA BURKE: It was very interesting to be 14, 15 years old from the Bronx, and travel through Alabama in the 80s and early 90s. It was a very interesting transition. ANDY SERWER: So what specifically made you go towards working on young women of color and sexual violence? What specifically brought you to those topics and subjects? TARANA BURKE: Well, it was a progression. My work has always been focused on racial economic justice. And so that was, you know, like a foregone conclusion. I've done work in and for the black community, you know, from the very beginning. When I came out of school and I went to work for 21st Century, and I met a child in one of our camps who was a survivor. For the full transcript: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/influe... Subscribe to Yahoo Finance: https://yhoo.it/2fGu5Bb About Yahoo Finance: At Yahoo Finance, you get free stock quotes, up-to-date news, portfolio management resources, international market data, social interaction and mortgage rates that help you manage your financial life. Connect with Yahoo Finance: Get the latest news: https://yhoo.it/2fGu5Bb Find Yahoo Finance on Facebook: http://bit.ly/2A9u5Zq Follow Yahoo Finance on Twitter: http://bit.ly/2LMgloP Follow Yahoo Finance on Instagram: http://bit.ly/2LOpNYz