Greetings, Earthlings!

I'm Lena Dunham, and this is Women of the Hour.

I'm so excited to tell you that later this fall will be coming back for a second season.

We'll have twice as many episodes as the first time around.

We'll be exploring all new topics like faith and spirituality, solitude, aging.

We'll even have an entire episode devoted to cats.

Yes, the animal, not the musical.

And if that doesn't ring your chimes in a major way, then my friend, this is not the podcast for you.

We are cat freaks here, and we are proud.

While you wait for season two, I wanted to give you this special episode sponsored by Clinique's Difference Initiative,

an effort to inspire women around the world to make a difference in their own lives and the lives of others.

We felt they were the perfect partners for Women of the Hour, and their sponsorship will help bring season two straight to yet years.

Today I'll be speaking with three amazing actresses, actors from across the globe.

I don't like calling female actors actresses because no one calls like a lady poet a poetess.

Gina Rodriguez, Jessica Encosi, and Erin Dira Ibarra.

All these women are also passionate activists, which isn't always easy when you're a public figure.

Particularly one who's expected to look nice, say her lines well, and shut the heck up.

According to the internet, I'm failing at all three of these things miserably.

But don't we, as public figures, have a social responsibility to use our platform to listen, to amplify, and to speak out when we see injustice?

It may not always be easy.

Look at Jean Seaburg, whose support of the Black Panthers in the 1960s led the FBI to request the Cheebie neutralized.

But today I'm proud to speak with women who are not afraid to take a stand.

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