Ted Audio Collective

Not sure if you know, but I lived in Massachusetts for 17 years, mostly in Cambridge and Boston.

And one thing about these cities, there's cobblestone everywhere.

Cobblestone streets, cobblestone alleyways, cobblestone sidewalks, and it was beautiful.

But it also meant I spent a lot of money repairing broken heels, or just pulling my heel out of

the little crevice between the cobblestones or bricks.

If you've ever walked down a cobblestone street in a pair of heels, you know what I mean.

It's so annoying.

I recently read the memoir of Indra Nui, the former CEO of PepsiCo, and she mentioned

that many women ran into similar and even worse problems, injuries, from walking the cobblestone

pathways on their campus.

She talked about how for years, women were expected to have heels as part of their professional

wardrobes, and they would get those heels caught in the gaps between the stones like I did,

or even have to walk on tiptoes between buildings to avoid getting their shoes stuck.

Today, women aren't expected to wear heels to work as much, but cobblestones can still be

a pain for those who choose to wear them.

So you know one thing she did as CEO?

She got rid of those cobblestones and replaced the pathway with a smooth, heel-friendly

pavement.

For Indra, this was important not only because it saves her colleagues money on shoe repair,

but because it sent a bigger message to the women of PepsiCo that they belonged.

It's one thing to tell women and other underrepresented groups that they're valued in

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