Padma Lakshmi, co-founder of EndoFound, shared her endometriosis story on April 3 at the 45th annual Simmons Leadership Conference, hosted by Simmons University at the John B. Hynes Veterans Memorial Convention Center in Boston.
According to Yahoo Style writer Megan Johnson, Lakshmi discussed how her symptoms began when she was 13, yet she wasn’t diagnosed with the disease until she was 36.
“Nobody wants to call into work saying, ‘I have my period, I can’t come in,’” Johnson reported Lakshmi saying. “That was mortifying to me. I lost so many jobs. I didn't do well on some exams. I wasn't there for my family.”
Lakshmi was one of nearly two dozen speakers at the sold-out conference, which included comedian and author Trevor Noah, activist and writer Gloria Steinem, and TIAA President and CEO Thasunda Brown Duckett.
Billed by the university as “The Nation’s Premier Women’s Conference,” the event “brings together more than 8,500 professional leaders from around the globe—women and their allies—who want to better themselves, their workplaces, and the world,” according to the conference website. Past keynote speakers have included Michelle Obama, Maya Angelou, and Serena Williams. This year’s theme was “Creating Impact.”
Johnson wrote that during Lakshmi’s speech, she stated that she “nearly fell off my chair when I heard [President Joe] Biden say the word ‘endometriosis’ at his State of the Union” on March 7. Less than two weeks later, Biden signed an executive that calls on Congress to invest $12 billion in new funding for women’s health research.
To read Johnson’s story, visit www.aol.com/lifestyle/padma-lakshmi-says-she-lost-153954828.html. To learn more about the Simmons Leadership Conference, visit www.inclusiveleadership.com/simmons-leadership-conference.
