While working in the social media marketing space, I’ve had some conversations concerning marketing to teens. The question is always, How do we speak to teens? Are they even on facebook, twitter, etc? How do we know? There’s sometimes a sense of exasperation around the subject, as if it’s impossible to predict what teens want to hear, and how to tell them.

In my current position, I have the opportunity to listen to teens and hear their stories. I’m still new in my role, and it’s a temporary one, but one thing I’m taking away from it all is that I can learn a lot by listening. I’m learning how to shift the conversation from How do we get teens to listen to us? to What do teens have to say?

Speaking of teens who have something to say, I recently discovered Tavi Gevinson, founder of an online zine for girls, Rookie Mag. She gives a brilliant TED talk about feminism and more in the video below. My favorite quote:

“Women are complicated. Women are multi-faceted. Not because women are crazy, but because people are crazy, and women happen to be people.”

Give it a watch, and let me know what you think!