A Who's Who of Women Dropping Commencement Speaker Mics this Month
Wise women across the country are stepping up to graduation mics this month...and dropping them with style. Leaving freshly minted 2025 grads with smart tips, hard-won strategies and mantras we want to engrave on every gift, these commencement speakers are leaving it on the field as stadiums echo with cheers.
With new speakers being announced daily it's hard to keep track, so here's a quick list of Être favorites so far plus a calendar of upcoming addresses - click each video to play. Takeaways are highlighted - feel free to share with the new grads in your world or offer your own cap and gown advice in the comments! We'll be over here unable to stop humming pomp and circumstance...
1. Simone Biles - The world needs you to be bold.
Simone Biles 2025 Commencement Address at Washington University at St. Louis - click to play
"I have to admit, I am a little nervous!" Simone Biles noted at the start of her address at Washington University in St. Louis on May 12th. "You might think I’m used to the spotlight, but I would probably feel more comfortable if they had allowed me to vault onto the stage and do a little floor routine."
With a nod to her 11 Olympic medals and 30 World Championship medals, Biles continued: "People often refer to me as the GOAT. Not the animal, but the greatest of all time. I’m not going to lie, every once in a while, it does give me chills thinking about what I have accomplished in gymnastics. But I’m going to let you in on a little secret — being the GOAT was never the goal. All I ever wanted to be was the greatest Simone that I could be."
"You don’t have to be the greatest engineer, the greatest lawyer, the greatest entrepreneur, or the greatest social worker," she concluded. "You just need to be the greatest you that you can be, the greatest you of all time."
“The world doesn’t need you to be perfect. It needs you to be bold.”
2. Jennifer Coolidge - Just frigging go for it!
Jennifer Coolidge 2025 Commencement Address at Emerson College - click to play
“But when you find the thing that you want to do, I really want to highly recommend...just frigging go for it!”
“When I think about your generation and how passionate and vocal you are," Jennifer Coolidge said amid laughter at Emerson College the day before, "it makes me so happy because this is progress...Seriously, we need you. We need your strength. There is war and famine spreading across the world. As you know, protests on campus and across the world, like some you’ve had here, illustrate the need for the voices of brilliant, uniquely nuanced and qualified graduates, like you.”
Added wisdom from Coolidge? "Emerson has ignited these seemingly unattainable possibilities for you that now can be your reality,” she stated. “It is your ability to convince yourself you really can make it, because you have to be your own champion.”
3. Mia Hamm - Life is a team sport.
Mia Hamm 2025 Commencement Address at UNC at Chapel Hill - click to play
Speaking of champions, two-time World Cup champion, two-time Olympic gold medalist and four-time NCAA soccer champion Mia Hamm spoke at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill on May 10th, urging a stadium of students to remember and thank those who helped them along the way.
“Each of you will receive a diploma with your name on it...but written in invisible ink all over that piece of paper are the names of everyone who helped you along the way.”
And it takes a truly diverse team working together to move any ball. "A team with 11 Mia Hamms will not win the World Cup or Olympic Gold,” she told the rapt audience. “You need people with different skills, different strengths, different approaches to solving problems.”
4. Melonie Parker - Your voice is powerful even when it cracks.
Melonie Parker 2025 Commencement Address at Stillman College - click to play
Noting the early impact that the HBCU community had on her journey, Vice-President of Googler Engagement Melonie Parker began her address at Stillman College last week by saying "my own journey as a first generation college student was fundamentally shaped by the nurturing and empowering environment of an HBCU."
"There will be times where your path will be far from clear," warned Parker with a keen look. "Push forward anyway. So often we lead ourselves to believe that everything must go according to plan when in reality it is the moments we least expect that provide us with the deepest lessons."
“Know that your voice is powerful even when it cracks - so continue to use it.”
"There will be moments when faced with the challenges of the world that you will struggle to find your voice," she continued. "That's okay. Taking the time to define your voice will be one of the most personal journeys that you will ever embark on."
5. Dr. Huda Zoghbi - Live generously.
Dr. Huda Zoghbi 2025 Commencement Address at Rice University - click to play
Prize-winning and world famous neurogeneticist Dr. Huda Zoghbi spoke recently at Rice University, urging new grads to live generously. “This is the beauty of academia," she told them. "It is a gift economy, not a market economy. By being generous in turn, I have kept [my mentors’] original gifts to me circulating in the lives of my students and colleagues.”
“Ultimately, success is a team sport. We are all part of a great chain of learners...choose friends and loved ones who will help you become stronger in character, gentler in spirit and truer to your best self.”
“Pay attention to the opportunities that present themselves, because they may be necessary steps towards the future you seek,” Zoghbi noted. “Most of our greatest discoveries have happened through happy accidents.”
Who are some of the other women stepping up to 2025 commencement mics as we toss hats in the air?
Actor Elizabeth Banks will address the University of Pennsylvania later today, and Sandra Oh will be Dartmouth's graduation speaker on June 15th;
Thought leader Angela Duckworth will be the featured speaker at Bates College on May 25th (see more of her thoughts on getting your grit together in The Epic Mentor Guide);
Singer-songwriter Sara Bareilles will deliver the commencement speech for UCLA's 2025 ceremonies on June 13th after giving this address to the Berklee College of Music earlier this month; and
Olympian Katie Ledecky will give the commencement address at Stanford University on June 15th.
And there will be more - grad season is just warming up and it's already bringing some of us to tears. Keep your eyes fixed on these speakers and your ears tuned to their words - the next generation is listening and they'll remember these moments when they change the world.
Looking forward,
Illana
ÊXTRAS: Three bonus pieces of grad advice from The Epic Mentor Guide you won't want to miss: Ann Shoket's counsel on first jobs, dream jobs and building a big life, Jennifer Scott Williams' words about jobs that don't exist yet, and Tyra Banks' bankable tips on being over-prepared.
