Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton encouraged "Black-ish" star Yara Shahidi and the next generation to be the change they want to see in the world during a keynote speech at the Teen Vogue Summit in Los Angeles on Dec. 2.
The 17-year-old actress asked the 2016 presidential candidate if — given the rampant sexual assault allegations that have rocked Hollywood, Washington, the media and Silicon Valley this year — she would have approached President Donald Trump differently when he infamously followed her on-stage during the second presidential debate in 2016.
"I knew he'd be desperate because the 'Access Hollywood' tapes had just came out where he basically confesses to sexual assault," Hillary explained. "So I said, 'We have to be calm,' and I maintained my composure. But afterwards, I thought about that, and what would have happened if I spun around and said, 'You love to intimidate women, but back up, you creep!'"
"I think it would have been really satisfying," she added. "But I also think given the way women are covered… they would have said, 'She can't take it,' … or, 'We don't want an angry woman in the Oval Office.'"
Of the unfair double standard women face when it comes to emotions, HRC said we've got a long way to go.
"We have to make it not only safe for women, we have to make it possible for us to express a full range of human emotion…. without being so negatively judged," she said. "Remember when [Trump] called me a nasty woman? All of that stuff didn't end up hurting him that much because men are given a much broader range of emotions to demonstrate their authentic feelings."
"Be part of the changing culture so it's not viewed as disqualifying if you're standing up for yourself and speaking up for yourself," added Hillary.
The "Grown-ish" actress, who said she's "very excited" to become eligible to vote when she turns 18 on Feb. 10, 2018, acknowledged "there is a lot happening in our sociopolitical climate."
"Every day there's a new headline that's driven from this administration," she said. "I feel like there's an endless spiral of negative things that we can get ourselves into."
Rather than caving in to that negativity, the teen activist announced the launch of a philanthropic initiative called "18 by 18," which aims to target Gen Z voters during next year's midterm elections.
The Teen Vogue Summit also saw appearances from "A Wrinkle in Time" director Ava Duvernay and two stars from the film, Storm Reid and Rowan Blanchard.
Ava addressed the lack of diversity in Hollywood and how that influenced who was cast in the upcoming film. In addition to Storm and Rowan, Oprah Winfrey, Mindy Kaling and Reese Witherspoon also star in "A Wrinkle in Time."
The "Queen Sugar" executive producer said she specifically cast Oprah, Mindy and Reese to show not only ethnic diversity but also age diversity.
"Some people look at a 'A Wrinkle in Time' and think, 'It's just a Disney movie,'" said Ava. "But for me, it was the whole world. It was the possibility of taking a classic movie with these classic tropes with the biggest studio in the universe and saying, 'What if we take these roles that are usually one way and just subvert that?'"
Chelsea Handler and Teen Vogue Editor-in-Chief Elaine Welteroth also spoke during the Teen Vogue Summit.