When you hear the name Nicole Richie, what's the first thing that comes to mind? Let me guess: it's either that she was once on The Simple Life, that she stars on Candidly Nicole, that she's Lionel Richie's daughter, or that she's married to Joel Madden from Good Charlotte. Well, there's so much more to the 34-year-old fashion icon. For example, Nicole Richie is empowering women with Pearl xChange, an event being held in Los Angeles on Nov. 8 where women of all walks of life will gather to learn from one another about conscious living, self-awareness, self-esteem, finance, family, how to build a business, and science. Richie tells Bustle via phone, "The point is is to bring women together who are in the process of building their lives."
It's about women, especially those who are in the early stages of their lives, putting the pieces together with help from other women. The first live event will include six speakers, including actress Gwyneth Paltrow, former astronaut and CIA agent Dr. Jeanette Epps, spiritual author and lecturer Marianne Williamson, CEO of Talk to Jess and social entrepreneur Jess Weiner, venture capitalist Shadi Mehraein, and life coach and psychic Dougall Fraser.
To be clear, Richie is hosting the event, but she by no means considers herself an expert, which is why she won't be speaking. As she sees it, she too is currently trying to build her life as a 34-year-old mother of two, wife, and businesswoman. Pearl xChange is something she is quite passionate about, which is why she's hosting and attending the event to learn from the speakers and other women in attendance:
I'm not going to be there as an expert like, "Listen to me, I know it all." I'm only 34 and I'm going to be there as a student and somebody who's ready to learn and take in all the information just like everybody else there.
In addition to learning, what really pushed Richie to create the event is that it unites women and shows them that supporting one another is a powerful thing. "For me, something that has always been so important to me and something I know that I need in my life in order to thrive is my female friendships," she passionately declares. "It's so important that women come together. We join together and we become stronger."
Actually, that's why the event is called the Pearl xChange. Richie explains, "One pearl, while beautiful by itself, when you add more pearls to the strand it only becomes that more valuable. That's how I view us." Who wants to crochet that on a pillow? Women are much stronger united than as adversaries, which is why Richie's a firm believer in women never being pitted against one another. She says,
We need to start looking at our differences as our greatest strengths. None of my girlfriends are the same. First of all, you see it with little girls. Little girls want to be just like other girls. We need to focus right now and help these girls understand that their power is in their individuality. They have something to give somebody else who has something else to give. It's only when we come together that we evolve.
That's exactly what Richie is doing with Pearl xChange and in everyday life, especially when it comes to her two children, Harlow and Sparrow. She wants both her daughter and son to understand that our differences are strengths and so are our weaknesses. Like with her children, Richie feels it's important to educate others that just because society says you should be and act a certain way, well, that's definitely not the case.
"[We need to] be strong in our strengths, but also be just as strong in our weaknesses," she says. For her, it's paramount that people start telling themselves, "OK, this other person has a strength in something that I don't. So instead of being jealous of that person, let me actually learn from them and let me give myself just another extra layer."
For more information on Pearl xChange or to purchase tickets yourself, click here.
