In their own words, eight women share their stories on The Conversation

The programme will feature women who have made a difference within their communities, turned their personal tragedies into a fight for change, blazed a trail for others and smashed through the glass ceiling. 

The Conversation is a weekly global series on BBC World Service that features two guests in conversation talking about the issues, passions and careers that have shaped their lives. In the past the series has featured a diverse range of women from around the world including: stand-up comedians, presidential speech writers, investigative reporters, graffiti artists, nuns and jazz musicians.

In this new four-part US series, each episode will feature two women in conversation with each other. The BBC’s Kim Chakanetsa will present two programmes recorded in New York and Alabama, while guest presenter Lauren Schiller – from KALW radio and host of US public radio show Inflection Point - will be in San Francisco.

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The series will broadcast as follows:

The Conversation: My Son Was Shot

BBC World Service, Monday 3 April, 11.30-12noon BST

Kim Chakanetsa is in New York for an intimate conversation between two mothers who have turned their personal tragedies into national activism to reduce gun violence.

Nicole Hockley's son Dylan was six when an armed man burst into Sandy Hook Elementary School in December 2012, killing 26 children and adults. It remains the deadliest school shooting in US history. Nicole says life as she knew it ended that day, but she bears a responsibility to Dylan to prevent this from happening to other families.

Just a few weeks before the tragedy at Sandy Hook, Lucia McBath's teenage son Jordan Davis was shot dead at a gas station in Florida. Jordan was African American and the shooter was a middle-aged white man. Lucia believes race and America's gun laws played their part in her child's murder, and she now speaks out on both issues.

The Conversation: LGBT Women

BBC World Service, Monday 10 April, 11.30-12noon BST

Guest presenter Lauren Schiller talks to two women from different generations in San Francisco – where the women's role in gay rights history is rarely told.

Kate Kendell has been described as America’s Head Lesbian. She is Director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) and was heavily involved in the fight for equal marriage in California.

Robyn Exton founded the lesbian dating app, Her, in the UK in 2013 - but two years ago she relocated to San Francisco to be closer to her investors. For Robyn, the city has much to offer as a tech hub, but less in terms of a young gay scene.

The Conversation: Asian Americans

BBC World Service, Monday 17 April, 11.30-12noon BST

Lauren Schiller brings together two writers of Asian origin to discuss the narratives that shape their lives and how American they feel.

Yiyun Li is a Chinese-American writer. She moved to the US in her early twenties to study immunology, but then made the leap from science to creative writing. She has published four works of fiction and numerous essays.

Barbara Jane Reyes is an American poet who was born in Manila in the Philippines and raised in San Francisco. She did not have any role models growing up and never believed she could be a writer, until she saw the success of Amy Tan's Joy Luck Club. Barbara is the author of four collections of poetry.

The Conversation: Women In The Courtroom

BBC World Service, Monday 24 April, 11.30-12noon BST

At Montgomery's federal courthouse, where historic civil rights rulings were made in the 1950's and 60's, Kim Chakanetsa unites two Alabama women lawyers who are making courtroom history.

At 28, Briana Westry-Robinson is Alabama's youngest ever female African American judge. Briana now presides over a District court in one of the poorest counties in Alabama and she says her age is an advantage because she can still identify with the juveniles who appear before her.

Danielle Ward Mason is an award-winning trial lawyer, who specialises in fighting cases where medical devices and drugs may be harmful to women. She is considered to be one of the top personal injury lawyers in the state and has won large pay-outs for her clients in the country.