For civil rights activists like Amanda Nguyen and Kelley Robinson, the road to a more equal future can be long and difficult. Two things crucial for getting there, they said in conversation with CNN anchor Abby Philip at Wednesday’s TIME100 Summit, are joy and math.

“I think joy is the most radical form of rebellion,” said Nguyen, who was a key force behind passing the Sexual Assault Survivors’ Rights Act in 2016 (and is also an astronaut). “I think in a world where so many people are fighting for the mere act of existence—whatever it is that they are trying to be—to have that joy in what you do and in the end state, that to me is my personal type of activism.”

Robinson is the President of Human Rights Campaign, an advocacy group for LGBTQ+ people, and she previously spent 13 years working with the Planned Parenthood Federation of America. She agreed that joy is necessary, and added it takes creativity to build a coalition by meeting other people in places where they find joy.

“The other part of it is math,” Robinson said. “How do you get to 50 plus 1. How do you get the majority of people to understand that the position you’re on is actually the one that’s going to carry our nation forward.”

Read more: https://time.com/6968824/time100-aman...

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