In a society built largely for the ease of men, Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, and a bevy of other famous women have managed to thrive.

They seem to know just when to push forward or pull back, how to reinvent, and where to step as they mastermind their next success. How do they do it? And, more importantly, what can we learn from them?

University of Kansas Professor Misty L. Heggeness discusses her forthcoming book – Swiftynomics: How Women Mastermind and Redefine Our Economy – and explains how women across America are rewriting the economic playbook through grit, determination, and an understanding of the foundation established by their historical peers.

“Call it a feeling, a movement, a mood. I call it Swiftynomics,” she wrote in Fast Company. “It’s the style of iterative, reinventive, look-what-you-made-me-do feminism that has everything to do with how we interpret and understand the economic actions of women today.”

Heggeness is an associate professor in the School of Public Affairs and Administration and an associate research scientist in the Institute for Policy and Social Research at the University of Kansas. Her research – focusing on poverty, inequality and gender economics – has been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, Science, and NPR.

This Women’s Equality Day presentation is co-sponsored by the Women’s Equality Coalition of Greater Kansas City.