One of TIME Magazine’s 12 New Faces of Black Leadership, Brittany Packnett rounded out the 2019 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Legacy Series Keynote in the Memorial Union Monday night,

Packnett began the lecture by informing the audience that they will feel unsettled by the end, “Because I am not actually here to give you any answers. I am here to help you ask better questions.”

The lecture titled, “The Power of Knowing Your Purpose,” began like many other lectures, but then took a unexpected turn when Packnett said that she would be challenging the audience throughout the night.

“We’ve gotten one fundamental thing about purpose wrong, purpose is not about you. Purpose is hard, it is gritty. It will drag you kicking and screaming into a life you feel fully unprepared for,” Packnett said.

“Imagine yourself far into your future, waking up with a smile on your face,” Packnett said. “Imagine you heard the news that your wildest dreams came true. Imagine your mission was complete and work was accomplished. If you wake up on that day and the only thing different is you, then your dreams were too small and your purpose was energy wasted.”

The night consisted of everyone sharing their purpose with a partner, and redefining it step-by-step. Packnett said, “This is not a safe space, this is a brave space.”

“In 2019 it is not merely enough to be well-intentioned,” Packnett said.

Packnett encouraged the audience to ignore their own rankings, “It will let you believe that you’re doing the work. If you are doing the real work, then there will not be enough people that will like you enough to put you on those committees or lists.”

“None of us are free until we are all free,” Packnett said. “Your purpose has to move the world toward justice.”

Packnett, a former teacher, non-profit executive director, and Fellow at Harvard’s Institute of Politics is also a co-founder of Campaign Zero. Campaign Zero, is a platform founded on the basis of ending police violence.

Packnett is the author of the book, “We Are Like Those Who Dream, with One World,” and has become a voice of social-change, policy, and empowerment.

“My purpose, I believe, is to teach and speak truth that moves people to action,” Packnett said.

“Her voice is going to be making a difference for years to come,” President Barack Obama said in a 2016 speech about Packnett. She was praised at the 2018 BET Awards as “one of the fiercest activists of our time.”

Packnett said to always ask yourself, “Are you choosing to elevate other voices that might not be at the table? Are you willing to exit the table that is not welcoming to everybody, and build a new table that is?”

She is known as an activist, educator and writer, and has become a powerful leader within culture and justice for Black women everywhere.

Packnett said it’s important to make sure you share power, “Hoarding power is one of the practices in America that we are taught to believe is right. This is how you end up in places where voices are not heard, in a place where experience matters.”

On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Packnett was asked to be a speaker at the church of the famed civil right’s activist. She asked the congregation one simple question, “What kind of ancestor are you becoming?”

Packnett went on to explain that she was asking them if they will be the kind of ancestor that their children and children’s children can look to.

“Are you the kind that we can model ourselves after because you created justice in the world?” Packnett said.