The Conversation: Speechwriters

Kim Chakanetsa meets two women whose job it is to get inside the heads of Presidents and turn their thoughts and ideas into powerful oratory.

President Obama’s senior speechwriter Sarada Peri is the only woman on his team. She says a good speechwriter is like a ghost and her job is to inhabit Obama’s mind on any given topic. For Sarada, the goal is not to emulate what he sounds like - it is to understand how he thinks and then represent that on the page or teleprompter; ever-conscious that a single line from any one of his speeches could be lifted out of context and tweeted around the world in seconds.

When the first female President of Kosovo came into office it was Garentina Kraja she turned to for her speechwriting prowess. Together they wrote a speech about the women who were raped in Kosovo during the war and who felt they had been ignored and forgotten. It helped to change the whole national conversation on the subject. Garentina passionately believes in the power of words and storytelling to persuade hearts and minds.

Part of the BBC’s 100 Women season.

Publicity contact: MH2/Kayley Rogers