What do you love so much that you want to make it better? Madeleine Derungs says that letting your passions guide you might be the best way to create tangible social change, even if that passion is country music. She unpacks gender and racial discrimination in country music, the importance of intersectionality and recognising the Black origins of the genre. Madeleine advocates for us all to embrace the discomfort that comes with acknowledging the injustices in our happy places and use our unearned privilege to make them happier places - “make the thing you love better because you’ve loved it.” Madeleine is a British/Canadian MSc Gender student at LSE focusing on gender, race and culture in country music. She has been the country music radio presenter for W!ZARD Radio Station since 2018, talking to over 50,000 young people every week. She uses her platform to highlight critical social issues and injustices in the genre, and after graduating hopes to work in the industry to create change from within. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx